#and don't care as much about p5 even if i do still like it (haven't played it but i've watched my moms play it several times)

[kumakuma-circus]

every persona protagonist has a ridiculous intricate polycule because they all have extreme amounts of rizz-

[risette-blast]

PERSONA 2 INNOCENT SIN SPOILERS AHEAD! DON'T READ THIS IF YOU'RE REMOTELY INTERESTED IN PLAYING THE GAME AND HAVEN'T BEEN SPOILED ON IT!!

(oh there are also traitor spoilers for P5 in here, but I feel like anyone who has played P2 has also played P5 already lol)

so last night, I finished P2IS. the ending still hurts by the way lol. but i've had a bit of time since then to think about the game in retrospect. so i wrote up a thought dump with sort of my "initial" thoughts on the game on twitter. afterwards, i decided to repost it here but with more detail since i'm not constrained with a character limit the same way I am with twitter (it's still gonna be in bullet points bc I don't really want to structure this like an essay haha)

this game's ending really was brutal. this is the main thing I've commented on ever since finishing the game, but it truly is awful. Maya is stabbed and killed, Lisa can't even heal her with Dia no matter how much she tries. the Earth is destroyed by suddenly stopping its rotation, causing the resultant inertia to instantly kill everything. in the end, it just turns out to be a rigged game between Philemon and Nyarlathotep (god that name is hard to spell lol). and then the entire cast is forced to go back in time and forget their memories with each other and everything to prevent the world from ending again. it's truly a cruel fate for them, I really did want them to have a happy ending so it just really hurts. 😭

a lot of this game's moments hit hard due to how good the OST is. this has honestly gone up to being one of my favorite Persona OSTs, and given how strong its competition has been, that's a noteworthy feat.

the gameplay was ass lol. I can't pretend it was good, it's worse than P1 in some areas which is wild (still liked IS more overall though, 1 has some very questionable mechanics)

now apparently this is specific to the PSP version, but man the menus were so slow. thankfully I was playing on an emulator so I even had this option but I genuinely just sped up the game somewhat frequently just to get through the menus more quickly

it was also probably the easiest Persona game I've ever played. P5R is genuinely harder. i'm not even kidding. I've gone on and on about how easy P5R is (on twitter), but P2IS makes P5R look challenging in comparison.

the characters were great. i didn't think I'd care about them as much as I did. they all had wonderful bonds with each other. personally I felt like yukino was the "weak" link, and like she doesn't have the bonds the other do so it only makes sense. and even then? she has some great moments and is genuinely well written too. I had played P1 before this but yukino wasn't in my party so she essentially disappeared; it's nice to actually get to know her.

that said, I don't rly like how P1 and P2 both kinda hide extra character details behind very optional dialogue that's easy to miss. it's not nearly as bad in IS though bc they get more characterization in the main story, so a lot of the characters in IS resonated with me more on a first playthrough than 1's characters did.

I've heard some people say P2's shadow encounters are better than P4's. I'm not sure I agree with that at least just from IS, but I thought they were pretty competent. I did like that they built up to the shadow encounters throughout the game, it's an interesting approach.

...personally I still like the P4 shadow encounters more overall. I just also really like the way the IS shadow encounters were handled too especially in the context of the story.

the dialogue about personas and masks was really cool. I wish the new Persona games did acknowledge that everyone has multiple masks they put on. the only characters from P3-P5 who really explore this imo (as far as I can remember) are Rise and Akechi, and even then, it's not nearly as substantial as 1/2. Rise's arc is more about her accepting that she can have multiple selves that are all her, and with Akechi, while he has two different masks that represent both the facade he presents to society vs his true nature, it's just a case of facade vs true nature, whereas IS acknowledges that everyone has multiple masks they present to society that form a full self.

I personally wasn't too invested in the romance options, and the game clearly didn't consider them super important either seeing as they barely affect the story or interactions, but I really did like that Jun was presented as a genuine, serious option. also it's not like P3-5 where it's kinda subjective, I feel like Jun just fits the best especially in retrospect.

I now truly understand why newsona's mechanics (calendar, s.links, etc) wouldn't work at all. there's no room in the story for that.

I didn't think the pacing was the best tbh. it feels like not a lot happens at first, then they throw a ton of story at you halfway through the game, then a lot more near the end. it could've been distributed a little better. I hear EP is better with this though.

I do have a few issues with the way the plot was presented. tbh it was just a little absurd lol, and also revealing that the whole story was Philemon vs Nyarlathotep (again, tough name to spell lol) at the very end was kinda mid. maybe I'll like it more with the context of EP. but what really made the story for me was ultimately the characters and their development, not so much the actual events in the plot itself, if that makes sense.

I love the ending theme, kimi no tonari. when you realize that the sumaru city (and a lot of songs in the game) share the same general leitmotif it just makes you sad to hear them in retrospect 😔

[todayisafridaynight]

LISTEN I KNOW HOW IT SOUNDS BUT I SWEAR HE WAS DISTINCT FROM RGGJO STILL 😭😭😭 HIS DESIGN WAS LOUD IN A DIFFERENT WAY 😭😭😭😭😭 though As A Whole it was probably the result of someone saying he should go full RGGJo in 8 several months prior to when I had the dream, so not wrong. But it would be fun to see a shift from "Nothing in life matters...😞" to "Nothing in life matters! 😎" would it not...

I've always thought Drink Link was meant to evoke Social Link? Because in Japan it was called #DRAMA. I was never the biggest fan because it's one of many "translations" in Y7 that are just changing something that was already in English and doesn't require cultural context to understand. Like IMO whether it's seen as an improvement or not, it's just not the localizers' job to "improve on" the original; let them be cringe and let them be free...

And also it gave ammunition to Persona fans who refuse to experience anything but P5 and decided to go "wow! it's just like P5!" at every little thing Y7 did from the VERY FIRST trailers onward (including BE AN RPG) And That Shit Got Old Fast </3 Sorry </3 But I do think this one's very much on purpose, localization-wise. So I forgive you :)

RANTING ASIDE. OR. SEGUEING INTO MORE RANTING. Literally like I don't even care if it's as part of the Kasugang or Kiryu's Geezer Squad... Give Jo five minutes with Tendo or hand him over to me so I can make sure he's enriched and well-nourished... these are my demands... that man is my everything......

Because it would be SO funny both ways. We don't know who all will be in each party, so either he's stuck with Adachi (Definitely A Character) (Affectionate) (Also Has Already Told Him He'd Rather Kill Him Than Send Him To Jail So. Awkward) or maybe with Kiryu's he'd have more people around his agw, But if not, The Inherent Comedy of two bitches called Jo and Joryu who have almost the same haircut 💀💀

Exactly though, nobody in the Arakawa Family is neurotypical and I FULLY believe Jo would be at his best when put into Situations, like Mine is. It's something I reeeally miss from RGGO because of the pre-finale scene with RGGJo and Mitsu having a drink at their favorite bar... they haven't been there in a while, and RGGJo doesn't wanna spoil the mood, so he's not hostile in the slightest... and when he gets up to leave he says he "forgot his wallet" and makes Mitsu foot the bill (ICONIC for completely different reasons depending on whether he's telling the truth or not)... whereas in Y7 I DON'T EVEN KNOW IF THE ARAKAWAS HAVE A FAVORITE BAR

it could be funny- whiplash inducing, but that'd undoubtedly be why it'd be funny wouldn't it ♪(´▽｀) he could've been some sacred third thing- just more RGGJo influence injected in Y7Jo mayhaps..

anyhow it dont sound like you forgive me when you just got mad at persona players for makin comparisons and here ive gone and done such a thing LMAO（；´д｀）（；´д｀）in any case, i know how you feel about translations so i wont press the topic: if it aint broke etc etc, i understand how you feel so it's ok (❁´◡`❁;;)

double 'jo' def woulda been funny, if not has always been a small thing worth jokin bout that ive had in the back of my mind (though ive already said that: i have a broken record of a brain at this point, if not that it just points out how silly i find the idea) LMAO. i've always enjoyed antag-turned-party member anyhow, so it wouldve been fun to me regardless of what it brought ♪(´▽｀)

[dentwy]

number 6: persona 5 tactica

i got this game a week before it came out because atlus in their infinite wisdom just so happened to release it a week before it was supposed to be out. genius! finished the game yesterday, so that's like, a month and 12 days for 30 hours of videogame. probably not too horrible considering i've been a bit busy, the thing is that it also felt like i've been playing this game for years. i did not feel like writing anything for this game originally, but since it ended up taking so long and kinda wanted to post one more thing before the year is over, guess this is it.

persona 5 tactica feels mostly feels like a nothing game. i wasn't expecting a lot before the game came out, i went in fully expecting it to be mediocre at best and i suppose my expectations were met. the unfortunate part is that a side of me feels disappointed this is what we're getting after scramble already set a good standard. if you're making a spin off it should at least add something to the original material (in my opinion). we already got a full-blown sequel with a different gameplay style that did all it had to do, and pulled it off right. tactica on the other hand is a game i honestly couldn't play for more than an hour straight at a time.

i love persona 5 so i can't complain too much about getting more out of it, but it obviously does increasingly feel like they're milking it as much as it can. joke's on me i guess since i'm still buying whatever they release and joke's on me when i play the phantom x if it ever does get translated. such is life.

tactica starts right after the events of royal, meaning the metaverse is supposed to be gone, joker is going back home in a couple of months and everyone's shit has already been dealt with. from the very start there is essentially, nothing to add to what we already know or to the characters we've already spent countless of hours with. i don't want to make this a constant comparison with scramble, but considering that game happened a bit further into the future, we got to see what was going on with their lives, how they're doing after a while of not seeing each other, how things have been treating them and how it feels to reconnect with those you care about (even if it's not like they've lost contact or anything). meeting with friends you haven't seen in a while is already nice as it is. what tactica has to offer is 2 new characters and like, xcom gameplay.

erina (or "elle" i guess but the localization team just picked a better name) is really fun. i like her design, she's a rebel, she's always been fighting for her freedom and you can tell. fiery spirit and forever confident attitude. even if she can get a bit too rash at times, she never means wrong and tries her hardest to help others, even at the cost of her own safety. toshiro while an entertaining character, he doesn't really leave a big impression on me. more often than not he feels like he's a plot device rather than an actual character. damn! it seems like he lost his memories, just like morgana. his rich fiancée is an asshole? haru can surely relate. his father is corrupt and strict; yeah, futaba and yusuke get that. ryuji too while we're at it. this is something i've noticed tactica loves to do. initially it seemed logical to have the phantom thieves share their past grievances with the characters going through the same as they once did. they understand what it's like and they are able to help them out, but as it keeps going it just underestimates what those moments actually mean to them and it mostly starts to seem forced.

however, if we're gonna talk characters, seeing futaba at the peak of her character arc might be one of the stand out points of the game. she gets along with toshiro really well and it's kinda just nice to see. also, lavenza, because since she only shows up nearing the end of p5 always getting to see more of her is cool.

the gameplay itself is fine? i think overall it's not that interesting. the enemies aren't challenging, you have way more options to do things to them than they do to you which always ends up balancing it towards your favor i believe. having 8 characters at your disposal from the start of the game while only being able to select 3 at a time is not something i'm fond of. in the end, i ended up using the same 3 guys throughout the entire game. joker is kinda the dude i'm used to always having so i like having him, erina seems appropriate to have on since she's the new one and most relevant to the plot, and then i just like yusuke so he stays on. the game does reward swapping out characters with extra hp and sp bonuses for the characters you haven't used, but it was never something that would make me feel i should change anyone. maybe if hp and sp were more limited level after level i'd have more of a reason to swap them out? but with the skills you have it's a bit hard to get low on either, and it just resets anyway after the level is over. i'm also not particularly into this kind of games so there's that too, take it as you will.

every character has a gun you can buy or create, every character has a persona you can assign to them and should probably fuse (even though fusion in this game is way less interesting as they can only have 2 skills at a time), every character has their own skill tree to upgrade and unlock stuff. added to the fact the ui feels cluttered and unintuitive, it doesn't really make the experience that much fun. you have a "prep" menu that has an option to select party members, another to change weapons, another to upgrade skills and another to change personas. it also has "quests" which is to view quests, not start them. the "hideout" menu you can replay missions, view a report of your stats or whatever, buy weapons, and, of course, a second quest button for actually starting quests. there also a "v. room" button because velvet room wouldn't fit. inside the v. room you can disassemble weapons and make new ones which you can't do in the same place and you also have to press the button at the top instead of the one at the bottom to disassemble because otherwise you're just gonna equip the weapon. obviously selling the weapons from the shop button wasn't logical, so instead you need to go into the v. room and do it from here every time you buy a weapon.

to add salt to the wound the quests aren't even good. there are really only 3 types of quests which imply killing everyone in one turn, getting to the end of the stage in one turn, or moving an object to the end of the stage. the one turn missions are specially bad because it's a bunch of trial and error until you figure out what the hell they were expecting you to do. some of them are fine to be fair, they need a bit of thinking but it usually takes so long for you to do and you only have one chance anyway that you simply have to think 12 steps ahead. first ever quest was specially bad because i just so happened to buy a skill that made my eiha stronger, thus, more expensive, which meant i simply didn't have enough sp to keep going. i had to leave the quest, go to the skills menu and remove it to then go back into the quest. delightful.

another thing that completely irks me off is the "memo" which you can open at any time just in case you forgot who the characters are. it is blatantly obvious that this is exclusively for the people that have never played persona 5 already so they wouldn't know who these people even are or what they're talking about. i am fully on board with accessibility, but, to me, it feels like they're spitting on my face. more often than not it gives you the sense that they're targeting first timers, rather than people that actually want to experience the story and want something extra from the game they already enjoyed. i'm not that naive i know they rather get more people to buy the game than limit it only to already established fans, but still.

something i must mention is that i do really enjoy the style of the game. the art and character designs are cute and work well in their own right. they don't particularly stand against the full body sprites and models of the regular game, but they manage with what they have. the places, backgrounds and cutscenes look good. the special event art that you get is really nice and i wasn't even expecting to see the animated segments so that's awesome. to my surprise, there's seemingly more blood in this game than in regular p5! i will always love seeing these little guys talk to each other, even if maybe not for long in the case of this game. the scene where joker has to imagine who he would marry is a bliss, and the same goes for later on when they have to disguise themselves as samurai and geisha. if there is something atlus will prove themselves to do well, is to fill these games with a unique style that stands in its own right.

here is where i start getting into spoilers for tactica (and some persona 5 royal later on!). if you haven't played either for whatever reason and happen to read this, no idea what you're doing here so whatever, i have to talk about the plot.

the "kingdoms" in this game happen to be inside of toshiro's head. i suppose everything in p5 always takes place inside someone's head, so not much surprise there. we get to learn that, wow, this guy's life sure sucks, but i don't particularly have a lot to say about the first two. his fiancée is bad, his dad is bad. it was nice getting the backstory with his mom, and again, seeing futaba connect with toshiro over it, getting him back on his feet and getting him out of the toxic mindset he's starting to develop, just how she once did.

the third kingdom is where things actually get going. mind you, this is 80% into the game already. so toshiro used to have a friend in high school, eri natsuhara. with her help, they tried to take down the shady vice principal of their school, way before the phantom thieves were even a thing. it ties well into the same scenario that presented itself into joker, ann and ryuji less than a year ago. however, it didn't turn out as well for them. they exposed his crimes, but then everyone's lives just turned for the worse. eri almost died and everyone blamed toshiro for it. now the thing that gets me about this is 1. she almost died because she got pushed into a moving train by the vice principal, toshiro didn't really have anything to do with it and 2. she didn't even die. i get that they insinuate that the students just latched the blame onto him for how the situation inside the school turned out as his actions did technically lead to it, but it wasn't even just him. he may have led the students to expose the guy, but never really forced anyone did he? in fact they came to them first to talk about it. besides, eri almost dying is surely traumatic, a life changing moment for her; yet she doesn't really regret their actions. all of this added up to him probably just blaming himself for everything more than everyone else did. you know, the mind plays tricks with us and he surely feels like it's his fault more than anything else. she still didn't even die though which like makes it less impactful? she proceeded to tell him he should not regret it and to stay strong. i suppose the fact his memories being hazy in this world means he doesn't recall her words until a bit later, but the fact they present it as such a turning point in his life to only show that she's fine and that nothing really happened after that puts a bitter taste in my mouth.

it would be fine if toshiro himself simply felt bad for it himself, and it meant so much that it changed him as a person. while some of this is true, the issue stems from this entire world being created by a god that really just felt like fucking with him. salmael, the god of stagnation, who was bored on a sunday afternoon and targeted toshiro of all people. i quote "he envisions a world of tranquility and peace for all mankind, but its utter disregard for agency threatens to amputate the possibilities of the human will." why toshiro? if it's supposed to be peace and tranquility for all mankind why is he doing it for this guy alone? even if persona always just needs to make the final boss a god, i like the idea of a god trying to break their will of rebellion, but he just made an entire world to fuck with his mind alone. why are the phantom thieves even here if that's the case? never explained.

as it turns out, erina is the memory that eri natsuhara left in his head all those years ago. which is nice. she also turns into toshiro's persona and now you have an extra party member for the remaining 12 levels of the game. which are really boring, and reuse the 3 bosses you've already fought. having a persona that is also a conscious being is a really neat idea, i dig it. it also does make it sad when she has to go once the battle is over, only leaving her will of rebellion behind. that is cool, i can't hate that.

i don't think there's much else i care about to talk in the main story, so i'm moving into the dlc. those motherfuckers at atlus knew that they could put the two most popular characters behind paid content and people would still buy it, and so i did. however, to be completely honest, the dlc was probably my favorite part of the game. besides the fact the royal trio will always be my favorite thing, it seemed a lot more put together at least.

to get stuff out of the way, i, again, do not enjoy the focus they put into making it as spoiler free as they can. i understand some people still haven't played p5r, but in the year 2023 i think persona fans can just get a game where kasumi is called sumire and akechi is his real self. akechi is a bit more complicated, i'll give them that, considering his ass is dead (duh). sumire i don't find much excuse. i suppose having to fit both them in the dlc asked for a moment in the story where they were both present and could actually fight alongside you, so before sae's palace it is. so pretty much, we have an akechi playing the role of the detective before he betrays you, and a kasumi without any memories of who she is, with her persona already awakened, while having turned down the invitation to join the phantom thieves. a bit of this creates huge plot holes in the story since neither of them knew the other one had a persona and was in the know of what the other one had to do with phantom thieves, but worry not, this is solved by amnesia, as once the dlc ends they simply forget everything. convenient!

another aspect of this that gets really weird is sumire talking about her sister while in this world, because as i mentioned, tactica loves to make the new characters relate to the ones we already know in one way or another. i believe you would know she used to have a sister by this point in the story? but not the details about it and having her reflect over it like that gets iffy within the timeline of the game, but i digress.

either way, the plot here isn't anything that exciting. you get transported into a different world; you need to help this girl fix her sister. what's fun about this is how there's actually some tactics involved into the stages (no way!). they apparently saw splatoon has been doing well and decided that's what should go for this mode as well, but it works surprisingly well. you shoot enemies and cover the zone in paint, if they're in your color you can hit them and get an extra turn, if they do it to you, they get an extra turn. there's no more covering here, just focus on where you stand and how you get the enemies in your paint. the fact you also can't even do anything while you're on enemy paint also adds an interesting factor to it. it's a lot more challenging and positioning actually matters here, so props to them for that. at the same time, you only have 3 characters to use which now makes complete sense, you don't need to buy to make any weapons as they simply give them to you, you only change personas you get from battles and you level up faster and can unlock skills much faster. the dlc is considerably shorter so it makes sense, but it at least makes everything way more straightforward and enjoyable.

the boss sucked though; it was not fun. as i was getting close to the end i thought to myself, "watch how they're gonna reveal this parrot is actually an evil god" and akechi says "don't tell me you're some kind of god?" and it was really funny. i also want to note that fairouz ai doing both sisters in the dlc is really fun, good for her.

let it be known #akechibouldering

in the end, persona 5 tactica is less than i expected it to be. not a cash grab, although it is $80 with the dlc you're simply gonna have to buy if you like these guys. i hope this marks the end of persona 5 spin offs, as much as i love the characters and i would play anything else they release (looking at you the phantom x), things have to stop at some point. even if this may not be the best ending, it may just be better than nothing. that, or just play persona 5 scramble for an actually fun experience.

[risingmoonyue]

Batman/P5 Crossover

-Sometime before Akechi but after Futaba or Haru

-Damian is sent to Tokyo to check it out for whatever reason (maybe they had a fight, or he’s going stir crazy, or he’s just the only one they can send at the time and didn't bother with all that "you're not old enough" business)

-Dami is younger than Futaba by a year or three or four

-He is baby

-He is transferred to Shujin as a child prodigy where he also immediately joins the "outcast" community because of his attitude and intelligence

-Talia goes too, manages to cut off all his communications with the Batfam, and is planning to take him home in a month whether he likes it or not

-For whatever reason, Batfam doesn't realize this??? (Like, either she's faking reports or they're too busy (think fight or chaos in Gotham scenario maybe???))

-Anyways, obviously Dami doesn't want this

-Somehow the Phantom Thieves hear about the situation

-Maybe he was assigned to shadow Makoto for a while, and they managed to overhear a phone conversation either to Talia or Dami trying to get in touch with the Batfam and nothing really working

-And eventually they outright see him fighting with his mother with him at some point (either in person or over a phone call) mentioning that she already disowned him, he's happy with his Father's family, and that he will head her family business over his dead body—and oh would you look at that, you already managed that, care to try again Mother?

-The PT's are understandably alarmed

-And learn her name from Damian (from Makoto maybe or someone else he bonded a little with) (MORGANA) (THEY GAVE HIM MONA FOR A DAY AND NOW THEY KNOW EVERYTHING FROM HIS MANY PETS TO HIS LEAST TO MOST FAVORITE SIBLINGS STARTING FROM TIM TO DICK TO HIS FAVORITE FOODS TO EVERYONE IN HIS FAMILY’S NAMES TO HOW STUPID HE FINDS EVERYONE AND WHY THEY'RE STUPID TO HIS FAVORITE MUSIC TO WHY ANIMALS ARE SUPERIOR TO HUMANS AND MONA’S LIKE OMG TMI BUT LOVED IT THERE BECAUSE HE WAS PAMPERED LIKE NO TOMORROW GOT ONLY THE BEST FOOD AND THE BEST BEDS AND TOYS THAT HE GOT TO TAKE WITH HIM BACK TO LEBLANC AND NOW AKIRA AND SOJIRO ARE LIKE DUDE WHY AND MONA’S LIKE IM KEEPING HIM THIS HUMAN IS GOOD SORRY AKIRA YOU’RE DEMOTED)

-The palace is basically a fortress full of assasin ninjas and clones

-Dunno what her keywords are tho

-Or her what her palace actually is

-Help?????????

-Cognitive Bruce, Ra's, Damian, Dami clones, and Jason (maybe rest of batfam??? Idk)

-Long story short, the traps are so assassin-y that they need someone who knows the actual Talia because egads, this is the closest they have all come to actually dying

-And they didn't really want to do it and were just gonna power through

-But Dami manages to find out and get in and of course uses his background to help out whether they like it or not

(-he's slightly off put by Joker's name, but then decides to just solely call Gotham!Joker "The Clown")

-At some point they are captured by the Shadow Talia who is decked out in super fancy traditional Arab clothing and probably every conceivable hidden weapon known to man

-Talia says Damian won't and can't ever change from who he "is meant to be", referring to him as her Alexander and basically brutally addresses all of his insecurities concerning the batfam and people and society in general

-And all this is kinda killing him cause he still loves Talia despite the fact that she killed him and had a violent citywide custody battle with Batman but he also loves the batfam too even if he would absolutely never admit it (except to maybe Grayson)

-Joker does his emotional kick-start thing and/or Dami is like Makoto and just gets so mad he triggers it himself, but either way, lo and behold, Damian is now a persona user, usurping Futaba's place as the baby of the team

-The outfit is kinda inspired by his future adult league outfit with the top and bottom and gold jewelry, but has a raggedy cloak with dull gold edges, a Robin mask and gauntlets, and his main weapons are batarang-sword hybrids

---acknowledging his past and moving on with his present

-Persona: Aladdin, Tsun Zu, Ali Baba, somone else???? Need ideas plz help

-Probably the fastest member of the group

-His small body makes his hits not as strong, but hoo boy can that kid move around

-Hits a lot and dodges most

-Most of his Persona abilities are physical and have high crit and/or are status affects

-Downside is he has not a lot of SP (compared to the rest of the group)

-And he has pretty good HP

-Those good ol' “superior genetics” have to be good for something after all

-Anyways they escape to find the treasure another day

-And Dami is all smug because HA you definitely can't stop me now

-And the PTs are just resigned to keeping an eye on the extremely competent snotty assassin/vigilante child

-They do like him though so it's not too bad (comes with learning all his darkest secrets via his mother and thought processes that tends to accompany watching someone at their lowest get a persona)

(-They do manage to temper him a bit and help him adjust better to actual society too that's nice)

-As such, they also know about Batman and Robin and his whoooole family. Both sides.

-Damian decided not to tell batfam because he does agree with the whole "most adults suck" mentality that the Phantom Thieves have; despite his deep, deep respect for his father and mother and Grayson, they all do kinda suck

-And he’s rather not get pulled out as he surely would if he told them

(-On a side note, he likes Sojiro

-The man gives him coffee, curry, and leaves him mostly to his own devices

-Instant win)

-He is dubbed "Mockingbird" apon return to the metaverse because of his freaky talented vocal skills in mimicking anyone and everyone's voice

-Eventually, they beat Talia

-She doesn't publicly confess to all her sins unlike everyone else

-PTs don't realize it worked until Damian came into school with a genuine smile on his face, and more relaxed than he'd been since he got there

-PTs are confused until Damian's like, this works out because hey, don't want to have several people assassinated and draw the entire freaking league to Tokyo

(-Which was probably why Talia didn't)

-They agree

-But she does break down to tears in Dami's arms and promise to ACTUALLY TALK CIVILLY with Bruce to try and make up for everything and try to fix up the league

-He stays for the rest of p5

-But steers all his reports very much away from the Phantom Thieves

-If anything, he downplays absolutely everything, and makes it seem like it's nothing super big but he's gonna stay a while to keep and eye out because y'alls are busy and I like it here and I haven't gotten expelled so there

-The PTs like to add funny stuff on there just to see if they’ll notice

-Like, Akira likes to have Dami describe his day in excruciating detail. Like, recounting the entirety of his nine or so months to Sae during police interrogation, excruciating

-Mona is pushing for the shiny stuff

-Yusuke just likes to put in bursts of randomness (Dami once mentioned that an acquaintance made another acquaintance T-pose in a church for art lol)

-Ann loves to rant about food

-Haru is always insisting on about feelings

-Ryuji likes to complain about everything and puts in ridiculous requests

-Futaba is just putting in every gen-z thing ever

-Makoto is actually responsible and tries to get him to talk about his progress in school and his social life

-And Akechi is absolutely nowhere near any of this and doesn’t know it exists

-When they have the Tokyo/Japan-wide calling card, Batfam sees it too because let's face it, that's totally the sorta thing that they would keep an eye out for even if he didn't look at the news in the entirety of the time Dami was in Tokyo

-And they send a message to Damian (the first actual communication they've had since before Talia) saying "WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON OVER THERE????"

-And with the entirety of the Phantom Thieves looking over his shoulder, Damian's just like "Chill dudes, everything's fiiiiiiiiiine"

-And they're like "UH WHAT PART OF THIS IS FINE????" because they've dug around a bit and found every news report, and oh hey, this isn't anywhere near as calm as Damian described and he’s being super OOC and what’s going on?!?!?!?!?!

-And Damian, being egged on by the most of the PTs, just sends a winky face

-Just

-😉

-And he's smug, because it's still chaos over there so they can't actually come get him and try to pull him out because he's being super ooc

-Which means he's free to do what he wants/needs in the meantime

-Cue the end of the game

-And Dami is going with them on their summer road trip and cackling because the batfam is scrambling to find him in Tokyo but lol nope he's in a van the Japanese government tried and fail to follow

-And he found all the trackers like, a year ago

-Every

-Single

-One

-They eventually track him down to Akira's house where they're calmly eating dinner (and they've been expecting this for the past week so Mona was keeping watch just so they could pull this off) and talking about how uneventful the school year was

-Cue mass confusion in the batfam

-As the PTs enjoy just confusing them so much

-By talking to Mona

-Talking normal then crazy then normal again

-And just generally being their normal selves lol

-They explain absolutely nothing beyond gushing about how much progress socially and academically he’s made (gotta embarrass the baby of the group somehow) and making sure that if Dami absolutely has to go home that he's able to stay in touch

(-Later, Damian forms his own hero persona outside of Batman and Robin)

(-He names it Mockingbird)

(-Batfam proceeds to have a brain aneurysm while the PTs dab their happy proud tears out of their eyes on their regularly scheduled tea time at the Wayne Manor)

(-Damian sends a private plane every week or two lol)

(Bonus: ARTTTTTTT)

(Psst if you guys have ideas for art, outfits, interactions or scenarios, let me know)