#finally peppino being truly happy

[sonicasura]

Here's another crack idea that popped into my head. Persona 5's Ren Amamiya/Joker being the biological son of Pizza Tower's Peppino Spaghetti.

Is it dumb? Yes. Is it absurdly stupid and insane? Yes. Do I regret this? FUCK NO. Let Joker be half crazy Italian with an even more nutty father who WILL pile drive god if he has to. Also his last name for this shall be Spaghetti, Amamiya being his middle, cause I ain't half assing things.

(Putting a link to Part 2 here and make sure people check the reblogs for this as I added an extra page!)

Peppino is the anxious father that does his best to raise his kid despite the various issues he has to face. Whether it be finding a decent school, make sure there's some money for a little rare treat, or keep Ren's awful mother from breaking shared custody rules. Do not trifle with this man.

Any rat/mouse/raccoon in the restaurant? Those are Ren's pets who eat the insects and scare off the bad customers. (Kid does lemonade stands to buy pet friendly soap alongside basic necessities.) Peppino doesn't question it since they make his son happy and take care of the pests.

Ren absolutely helped around the pizzeria whenever he could. First time Peppino cries is when his kid made his first pizza. The second being a 12 year old Ren getting him a well made chef's hat for a birthday present. (You can say our boy already has Rank 3 proficiency.)

All the Pizza Tower weirdness can be considered normal for Joker as he doesn't exactly come from the Personaverse. (I wholeheartedly believe in Ren being a sheer cryptid, even more after seeing this comic.) His mother just dumped him there during her turn and left Ren in that neighborhood where he comes across Shido. Yes, Peppino absolutely lost it when his precious little Spaghetti didn't come home that night.

He looked everywhere for Ren and the events of Pizza Tower only put a big fat Stop Sign to that for quite awhile. Meanwhile the younger Spaghetti didn't have a fun time adjusting until Persona 5 truly kicked off. He wasn't thrown in a rigged court trial.

Ren just knocked Shido's lights out then fucking outran the cops like his Pops would on a 3rd lap game wise. He finds Leblanc and camps out there for two months. Well until Sojiro barely manages to drag Ren inside as his sanity(heart) couldn't handle this strange homeless teen facing the harsh elements. The kid running like an insane Usain Bolt when startled didn't help too.

Ren is absolutely homesick thus his Persona get to hear it the most. (I'm aware of the sheer irony with a French Persona having an half Italian wielder.) Arséne is very curious to meet Ren's father at some point and cackled upon hearing his charge's antics.

The other Thieves have no clue about how bizarre their leader's origins is. Funnily enough, Haru wholeheartedly believes in Ren's stories despite even Morgana considering it a crazy tall tale. (She got rewarded with a video of an 8 year old Ren having a breakdancing contest against his dad while sentient pizza toppings cheered them on.) The guy doesn't blame his other friends and is instead waiting for the chance to blow their minds like the gremlin he is.

Well Ren can thank Royal's Third Semester cause guess who shows up for the true boss fight?! A wild Peppino at Mach 4 speed about to pile drive his kid's former councilor. Haru is the only person not gawking when Ren's dad drags the unconscious man out before FINALLY being able to hug his kid.

Joker gets an extra gift than just him and his friends being able to keep their Persona. He can now visit everyone with a simple press of his phone. Sojiro and Peppino absolutely butt heads in a mostly friendly father flavored rivalry. (Ren doesn't notice at first as he's too busy showing One Shot Kill Medjed to Gustavo.)

Peppino absolutely fainted when his son drops an entire suitcase with enough money to not only pay off the debt but to even refurbish the diner and still have cash leftover. Maximum money perks can make Mementos a good place to grind. Ren always converted a chunk of his spoils to the appropriate currency so he can help his dad.

Peppino's Pizzeria is a secondary hangout for the Phantom Thieves and absolutely gets subjected to Persona shenanigans. Game Night is for everyone despite the fact Carmen/Milady/Arséne tend to cheat at cards. Peppino takes it as an excuse to do it too.

The older Spaghetti does his best to support his son and his friends. Whether it be making pizza that grant great stat buffs, help in battle if Ren can find a Golden Pizza Cutter whenever traversing a dungeon or offer some simple advice. Peppino will continue to drop kick anyone who gets in the way of that.

And this anxiety driven beat shall play at maximum volume.

[simslegacy5083]

NSB (Straud Legacy) Gen 9 Ep 81: Settling Differences

Luigi’s excitement about his new relationship hadn’t made him forgot his vow to make amends to sims hurt by his previous reckless behavior.

The first sim he wanted to mend fences with was his co-captain. Since being paired up to lead the E-Sports team they’d hung out a few times to talk strategy and Luigi had come to appreciate that Beau was a fantastic judge of character who hid a kind spirit behind his spiky demeaner.

Thanks to Peppino’s curious generosity, he would have an excellent opportunity to chat when he handed over the fertility clinic refund.

Any chance that Luigi might catch Beau before practice was cut off when a second pregnant teammate intercepted him on his approach.

Jade’s obvious excitement when he arrived had him frantically calculating, wondering if her “condition” could possibly be a result of their one-night stand. He set those odds at impossible just as she opened:

“Looo-eeegeee! Look! Brice and I are expecting a new little gamer!” With a much friendlier demeanor than when they’d last parted ways she continued more quietly. “Hey, I’m sorry about last time we talked man. I wasn’t in a great place, but this little pea…” she stroked her belly lovingly. “Really brought Brice’n me together y’know? Really put what matters into perspective. I’m glad you and me didn’t get entangled in anything complicated.”

Luigi expressed happiness for her, certainly overjoyed that Jade’s baby had helped focus her back on her own family, and off giving him trouble.

Luigi escaped Jade’s enthusiasm and began what turned out to be a fantastic practice session, finally finding a chance to chat with Beau at the end.

His teammate offered a small “go ahead then” gesture when Luigi asked to speak to him. Leading them to a quiet corner of the large open multipurpose workspace he presented Beau with Peppino’s gift, smiling as his eyes went wide with surprise when he realized what was inside.

When Luigi saw Beau’s shock turn into embarrassed anger instead of happy acceptance he started talking fast, pouring out a hasty explanation of the idealistic nature of wealthy ancient mages. Beau’s attitude mellowed: “Hmm, well of course your highness would find this kind of thing natural.”

He stowed the simoleons away safely and added “Thank your old family friend for everything, on behalf of me, Brianne, and our tiny tot to be.”

Glad to have delivered the gift, even if the exchange was unexpectedly tense, Luigi skated past the topic of his “suspiciously lucky” family line, as Papa Jack had advised him time and again. Instead, he took a deep breath and launched directly into his planned attempt at deepening their relationship.

“Beau, I know we got started off on the wrong foot, but since we’ve been “stuck together” as co-captains I’ve truly come to think of you as a friend.”

“So, I just want to put out there, again, that I’m really sorry about hurting your arm that night at the club. I didn’t mean for it to happen, but that doesn’t excuse how I acted. I wish I could undo the past, but more usefully, I want to show you that our future is going to be better.”

He wasn’t sure how Beau would react and was immensely relieved by the comfortable smile that broke out over his friend’s face. “Don’t be so full of yourself. If I hadn’t had a Mt. Komorebi sized chip on my shoulder, our Spooky Day fight wouldn’t have happened, but then I wouldn’t have met my wife. So, screw your wish to undo our past! If I had to, I’d fight you all over again to keep it!”

A relieved Luigi wished Beau a good evening, but his friend brought him up short with a sassy: “And where do you think you’re going!?”

Seeing the twinkle in the other sims eye Luigi fired back “I was heading home before I have to watch you drop that baby right here in the commons!”

Beau countered “You won Spooky Day fisticuffs, and I just demolished you in our first Scuffle of the season. “No-one’s leaving or getting born until we settle this with a tie breaker!” So, I’m thinking… Ping Pong is just physical enough to give you a sporting chance despite your raging lack of skill.”

 “If you really want your unborn child to witness your hopeless loss, I am happy to oblige” Luigi replied, following him downstairs to get started.

View The Full Story of My Not So Berry Challenge Here

[3nding]

Sanremo Italian Song Festival: love at first sight

It all started with Inna, my Russian teacher. I thought that she had had enough of my tardiness, lack of concentration, yawning, incomplete homework; while I prepared myself for a severe chastisement, I still tried a “You are right, from tomorrow I will put more effort”. Much to my surprise, Inna, instead looked at me with resignation and started singing “Parole, parole, parole…” (words, words, words..). I said, “Pardon?”  And she answered, in Russian, “Slova.”

“How do you know the Italian singer Mina?” I asked her. Inna soon abandoned our language class in favour of a nostalgic monologue about her memories of watching Sanremo Italian Song Festival on channel 1 of Soviet State TV when she was a young girl. I started reviewing the images that I had registered recently, but not put into the “correct” context: posters advertising Al Bano’s concert (October 2013), Celentano’s songs on the radio, and being apostrophized with the gag from the song of singer Toto Cutugno “Un Italiano? Un Italiano vero?” (“An Italian? A real Italian?”), all in Moscow. I surfaced from my thoughts and in her dulcet, calming tone Inna continued. “The streets were empty, people no matter their age, were glued to the television set, from grandparents their grandchildren. We girls would make sketches from the clothes and would sew identical ones for ourselves. We found it most unusual that Romina was taller than Al Bano, so we would gaze at her feet but there were no high heels, she was wearing flats! Was she a giant? He a midget? We ignored the height issue and concentrated on the fashion and decided we liked them too, the “balekti”, ballet flats. We would sing along, although we didn’t understand what the lyrics meant, except for ‘Felicità’ (happiness). My love for the Italian language was born with Sanremo, and consequently the reason for studying it at University. Italian is a sweet, mellow language, which makes it remarkably close to the essence of the Russian soul. For us Russians, Sanremo was a breath of fresh air, a window on Europe, the only one on the Western world. The Festival of the canzonets, all about love, passion and happiness, was the only western TV show the Soviet government would allow to be aired”. 

The reason why Soviet TV broadcasted the Festival is a mystery that maybe finds its roots in the Russian love for classical music, for the “Bel Canto”, in the first cultural agreement between Italy and the USSR in 1960. Already in 1965, Gianni Morandi and Rita Pavone were with the Cantagiro (Italian summer Festival) at Gorky Park in Moscow. Anyway, no matter the reasoning behind it, what is hard fact is that the Festival of Sanremo is a piece of musical

heritage enjoyed as much by Russians as it is enjoyed by Italians. In 1973 the radio transmitted a programme about former Festival winners like Mudugno, Bobby Solo and Peppino di Capri. Inna’s father recorded this production with a reel-to-reel tape recorder and then made pirated prints. That’s how “Non ho l’età “ (“I’m not old enough”) by Gigliola Cinquetti conquered the whole apartment block. The first time songs from the Festival were aired on television was in 1982, during a show about “foreign melodies”. Ten songs were shown in 1983 and in 1984 programmes were made exclusively about the Festival, which were then aired in the whole Soviet Union giving the performers universal glory! From 1987 onwards, San Remo has become an important part of the Russian Kultura, keeping pace with Perestrojka, and two evenings each year have been dedicated to the Festival. In 1989 clips of all the winners were broadcasted. In 1990 all of the competitors were examined. In 1991 and 1992 both of the two Finals were shown from start to finish. From 1994 to 1998, when Russia was hit by a crisis, Sanremo Festival adapted itself and was transmitted in a limited version. Silence for 15 years and then…Sanremo returned on the crest of a wave in 2013, shown live and for the full five nights of its entire length! This exciting event saw Toto Kutunio performing together with the Red Army Choir singing “L’Italiano”. Furthermore Andrei Malakhov, (a popular Russian TV presenter), dedicated his show “Tonight” to the Festival. On that occasion he reminded of: “In 1987  Sanremo Festival was shown purposefully on Holy Easter night, on 19th of April  (to prevent people from going to Mass). My parents were absolutely against me watching that show “on that very holy night”, so I had to record the concert and watch it later”.

After Malakhov’s show was aired, the demand for holidays to Italy and Sanremo went through the roof in travel agencies. Italian songs from that era onwards were all the rage into every single radio and TV show, and the records signed by the State label, Melodia, were everywhere. Al Bano and Romina Power, Ricchi e Poveri, Pupo, Mattia Bazar, Riccardo Fogli and much more were invited for music tours in Moscow, Leningrad and in many, many Soviet Republics until they were finally given the privilege of being awarded a show in the Kremlin in 2005 – the ultra-special “Sanremo Gathers Its Friends.” This also involved singers that were less well known in Russia, like Amedeo Minghi and Anna Oxa, to perform together with famous Russian singers, like Valeria, Nikolay Baskov amongst others.The decision of showing San Remo in the 80s was an absolute goldmine of opportunities for a handful of artists that, maybe inadvertently, wrote the soundtrack of Russian history and inspired the love for Made in Italy in the ex Soviet Union.

The moral is: Sanremo was born during the Cold War. It grew throughout the Soviet era, survived its decline and blossomed in the global age.

A “Real Italian” miracle: long life to Sanremo – truly Russian too!

- WebArchive