#fuukas all like THE REAPER IS HERE

[temporary-joyride]

NOBODY TOLD ME THE REAPER WAS GONNA CLIMB THE FUCKING STAIRS

[randoimago]

Hello, can i request a headcanon reaction For akihiko form p3?

How would he react that he really cares about s/o when he nearly lost them? (Maybe a Reaper encounter?)

Almost Losing S/O

Fandom: Persona 3

Character(s): Akihiko Sanada

Note(s): Anon, he's gone through enough, why you gotta make him sadder?

Akihiko

Kotone had asked that everyone split up to look for the exits and treasure faster. All he heard was Fuuka mentioning Death before Kotone called them all back. Akihiko was halfway there when he heard the chains.

There's been many close calls in the past, he has seen the terrifying Reaper before. His heart is hammering as he gets to where Kotone is waiting by the transporter to the entrance. But he doesn't see you.

"I should go look for them," he says, looking to Kotone, who disagrees. She states it'd be more dangerous if he did. And while he wanted to argue, he knew that she's right.

His heart continues to pound in his chest as he watches and waits for you to arrive. Junpei already got here, but you haven't. The chain noises are getting louder. He can see the fiery red outline of the Reaper.

Just when he's ready to yell for you, he watches you slide into view, stumbling a bit around the corner you had come from. A strangled yell leaves his throat as he sees the Reaper's gun move to hit you, only for you to duck and dive to the group. Kotone is quick to activate the transporter.

Akihiko doesn't know rather to cry or scold you, instead he just pulls you close and holds you tight, his heart still pounding away. He doesn't say anything, but he hears Kotone mention that we should go back. He is still silent as he holds your hand in his to the dorms. He doesn't have to ask before you follow him to his room.

"Please, don't scare me like that again," he whispers as he holds you close, finally letting out the tears. You hold him back and let him cry.

[twilightknight17]

Today on P3R, we’re technically covering three play sessions, because I didn’t have time to make a post before Katsucon. But a lot of that was Tartarus, so it’s not actually too much. ^_^

(Katsu pictures are coming at some point.)

Anyway, we’re off to Tartarus to train some and play with the new special attacks we got last time we were here! And get a little higher while we’re at it, so, let’s g--

Oh god oh fuck not you

It’s not the boss version, so it’s fine, but I didn’t think things showed up as enemies until after they were bosses???

The other reason we were in Tartarus was to get black quartz to trade to the guy in Escapade for a discount on fashion glasses. (Is there somewhere that will buy my gemstones? The police station won’t, and I get why, but like… I just have these.)

She looks very nice in those, actually.

Back at school, we’re still having a time. Odagiri of the student council has moved on to accusing the vice president over this one cigarette. And is not being diplomatic about it.

I’m gonna mess up his social link just because I keep not agreeing with him on these things. X’’’D

I’ve also met Keisuke Hiraga of the art club, who is a very good artist, but his dad is a doctor, so he’s also… Very Fussy. XDDDD

I can now hang out with my friends in the dorm, and I still think it’s weird that it calls them social links when I can’t start any of the girls’ links yet, and I can’t actually link with Junpei and Akihiko. I had tea with Mitsuru, though, and watched DVDs with Yukari, read manga with Junpei, and cooked with Akihiko. It’s nice! And some of them do give me stat boosts and items, so that’s cool.

I’m smooth now~

...well, shit. Here we go.

Minato’s theurgy skills are apparently the fusion spells, which you’re allowed to use even when you don’t have the actual personas with you, which is nice. The two I have so far are Orpheus and Apsaras’ Cadenza, and the Jack Bros doing a standup routine, which is cute.

I also got my first introduction to the Reaper. None of these floors really seem large enough to worry about it, so I think this appearance was scripted. Easy enough to get away from, though.

Nice.

Wait, what??? Can it do that??????

Once we found the missing girl, we escorted her back to the entrance, and I kept going til I found the next barrier floor. We’re done for now, so it’s time to go work on some more requests. Liz has a good one here. :D

I love that all the Velvet attendants have a soft spot for Jack Frost.

We also get our first intro to Koromaru!

Apparently he walks himself each day, since his owner at the shrine passed away. He stops for pets, but then carries on with his routine all on his own. He’s such a good dog. T_T

Ikutsuki drags us away from fussing over Koromaru to have a proper SEES meeting. He’s concluded that the Full Moon Shadows we’ve seen so far follow the Arcana from I to IV, and that there should theoretically be eight more, spanning from the Magician to Strength. And if we destroy them all, it will get rid of Tartarus and the Dark Hour, and we will have saved Iwatodai from Apathy Syndrome!

...they are us. There’s not much more we can say, Ikutsuki.

Yeah, let’s go to the mall after that seriousness. We can check out a new social link!

...oh yeah because this won’t go wrong.

School is still kicking my ass because this school is insane. But Junpei gets it, at least.

I can’t spend time with Fuuka unless my courage is badass-level, because apparently her food is just that scary. She wants me to be a badass, Mitsuru wants me to be a genius… Is Yukari gonna want a casanova or something? X’D

And even though Mitsuru wants me to be a genius, she called the police because she thought Junpei’s messy room meant someone had broken in.

And, as my last act before leaving for Katsu, these guys have made their first appearance, executing people in the Dark Hour based on requests on a revenge website. I don’t know how they wake people up from the coffins, but Tattoo Man over here is blasting people with a real gun, so that’s gonna be a problem~

.

[KATSU INTERMISSION]

.

I return from my convention, happy and optimistic, and school is immediately still full of bullshit. XD

You know, Keisuke, if you dad doesn’t want you to be an artist, and wants you to take over the hospital, why does he have fancy paintbrushes?

Anyway, Keisuke is about to win an art contest and gain the opportunity to study art abroad. And his dad is actually encouraging him to study abroad, so now he doesn’t know if he wants to do it because he doesn’t want to do what his dad wants. It’s kind of ridiculous, but the Fortune Arcana is all about choices, so… I guess.

We’re also off to fashion club to hang out with Bebe, who is actually surprisingly lovely despite being French. I appreciate his utter weeaboo enthusiasm. But… his aunt passed away unexpectedly, and he doesn’t know if his uncle will support letting him continue to study abroad. So not only is he upset that his aunt is gone, he also might have to leave the country he loves.

Neither were you, dude! It’s okay!

This is not quite NieR Automata levels of “everything is bad”, but things are pretty bad. I mean… people are just leaving the Lost laying on the sidewalks. :/

The Lost are the ones with Apathy Syndrome, but everyone else seems pretty apathetic, too.

I took Elizabeth to Iwatodai Station, and we had a lovely time.

The takoyaki lady can see her, which, don’t worry, ma’am. Just showing my weird cousin around. She won’t tell me what’s in the takoyaki instead of octopus, though, because apparently the knowledge would be detrimental. Which… okay, Liz. Thanks. That’s not worrisome at all.

When last I saw Maiko, she was planning to ask her parents why they were getting a divorce, in the hopes of being able to fix it. Which, not a great plan, but I couldn’t actually stop her. She wants to talk now, though, so we’ll see how that wen--

WHERE IS HE

Maybe we can throw them into Tartarus. Fucking hell. Maiko wants to run away from home so that her parents are forced to work together to find her, and I am NOT allowed to beg Mitsuru to let her stay at the dorm. This sucks so much. She wants me to keep her plan a secret, but good lord. This is going to go so badly.

I go home to stew on my thoughts and play computer games for babies to up my courage.

However that works. X’D

Lastly, I’ve reached my first choice that could potentially reverse a social link, I think?

We commit scandalous hand-holding, and it’s nice. Chihiro clearly has a crush on me, but I don’t know who I want to date, yet. OBVIOUSLY, I have my preference, but since my preference isn’t available, I dunno. Fuuka is nice. Mitsuru is… great, but also SO far out of my league. XDDD

Pharos came back for my one-week full moon reminder, so I guess that’s up next. They keep implying it’s gonna be the Lovers shadow, since couples are passing out and someone mentioned Shirakawa Boulevard, but I thought Hierophant was next.

Ah, well.

[locallegion]

Honestly I'd probably get way more into actually writing Fanfiction if all my ideas weren't just really weird shared-universe crossover stuff. Okay, backstory - When I was like 9 or something I asked my brother why Shadow the Hedgehog didn't ever smile. We ended up going back and forth and suddenly we're making up an entire alternate universe where Sonic and Shadow team up to defeat Freddy from iCarly's mom because she turned evil. We were 9, cut us some slack. We always used to make continuations to that story and universe with wild crackships and everything. Like Sonic ended up with Jill Valentine at one point, it was weird. We stopped talking about it after a few years but those chats left a massive impact on me because I've had that shit continuing on in my head for Y E A R S. Like since I started just making things go along in my head;

The events of Sonic Unleashed happen but the Werehog is his own seperate person outside of Sonic but he's super chill and stuff.

Sonic turned bad and got taken out by Cassie Cage. Y'know, from Mortal Kombat because I was OBSESSED with MKX when it came out. Kung Jin was my main and he's still like the major side character if that's even a thing. Like that only happened because I was desperately trying to not seem cringe to the audience of 1 who knew this was even a thing (it was me)

Fox McCloud and Wolf O'Donnell get married and move to London so there's an entire London Arc where fuckall happens.

The events of the Mass Effect trilogy happen because the planet being split into pieces wasn't bad enough now the fucking REAPERS are here.

The cast from the end of the first year and the cast from like 2017 end up fighting, causing the timeline to be reset with Cassie and Sonic ending in a stalemate as the universe fucking starts again.

Multiple retcons because my hyperfixations changed.

If you think I stopped at any point you're wrong. It's genuinely something I've wanted to write about in fanfiction for years now but I'm a terrible writer and it'd require way more action scenes that I'm willing to endure writing, they'd be awful. Oh about that new universe

Hey so the Avengers were a Kirijo Group project set up right after Mass Effect 3 happened. Shepard exists, got the perfect Destroy ending and is genuinely just trying to wind down after the whole 'saving the galaxy thing' but now she's working alongisde Akihiko, Aigis, Mitsuru and Fuuka with the project both because she can fight but also its good PR. Team Dark is also there because why not.

Cassie is not only still important to the universe but is Shepard's successor because hey, she beat the shit out of Shinnok one time, she has to be good.

Kung Jin is now a Persona-User because he shares a VA with Yu Narukami.

They, along with Garrus, Wolf, Fox and Rocket Raccoon (The GOAT) defeat a resurrected Andross in London.

Somehow, Black Doom returned. He gets taken down by Shadow (again).

Bowser and Goro Akechi are besties because they met at Jazz Jin (The Jazz bar from P5R) and Bowser happened to be doing a performance that night.

The Mario Movie is technically canon but because the ending was happening the same time the rest of New York was under attack its just considered a weird part of the larger battle.

ah shit half the universe got wiped out and literally everyone is going through it. also shepard is g o n e

Cassie, Jin, Rocket, Bowser, Akechi and Ashley Graham are a team now like a week after the whole Snap incident

They immediately have to fight Mephiles the Dark. Send Help I'm in too deep

[mystech-master]

So, let’s go through each of the BBTAG fights in the 4 o.g. story modes and see which ones are necessary for character stuff. I may not want to use a fight if there is another fight with the same characters I want to interact but doesn’t have a dumb joke assigned to it.

Now I know Tag Team means tag-in-tag-out stuff, but I am just going to look at these fights as two on two fights with a designated opponent for each fighter.

Episode Blazblue

Ragna and Rachel vs Waldstein and Linne: Initial fight so kind of necessary. Linne and Rachel having some banter, maybe Rachel being able to find out about Linne’s curse, meanwhile, you got Wald tossing around Ragna before Ragna goes Grim Reaper on his ass.

Ragna and Gordeau vs Ruby and Blake: 1. I like Ragna and Gordeau’s interaction, 2. Have members of RWBY learn of Gordeau and Ragna’s Soul Stealing Powers and 3. Really you can switch up who fights who, because with Ragna vs Ruby and Gordeau vs Blake you got similar color schemes, but the other way with Ragna vs Blake and Gordeau vs Ruby you got actual Sword vs Sword and Scythe vs Scythe.

Ragna and Chie vs Hakumen and Carmine: Obviously Ragna has to fight Hakumen and Chie against Carmine b/c Hakumen would CRUSH Chie, plus this is where Ragna could earn some point with the I.T. by helping Chie. Of course, since this is post-CS/Pre-CP Ragna he’s a bit more gruff, blunt and not as nice with it, but he’s still helping kind of. Kind of like how Shinjiro was with Minato (yes I use that name STFU), Yukari, and Junpei when they were about to get mugged in P3.

Ragna and Waldstein vs Kanji and Azrael: Like I said, ignoring this one. Dumb joke, no good interactions, and I prefer Ragna and Kanji’s interactions in Episode P4A.

Ragna and Nu-13 vs Aigis and Vatista: As much as I don’t want Ragna to suffer this, this is the only way for him to have any contact with Aigis, the Shadow Operative, so she can report it back to Mitsuru when this is all over.

Ragna and Noel vs Hyde and Linne: This meet up is necessary since this is where they talk about plot stuff, Ragna’s hostility here is understandable considering everyone before his was all like “LET’S FIGHT!” without using any brain cells. While it starts out hostile they do become more amicable over the course of the conversation.

Side note: I do like it when Ragna says Observer, of course either meaning an overseer or the Blazblue term as one who makes things reality by acknowledging them, and Linne sees the term as “Supervisor”. It’s just stuff like that in crossovers that I like, the clashing terminology and stuff.

Ragna and Hazama vs Weiss and Orie: Weiss and Orie becoming aware of Ragna’s bounty, thus allowing some tensions during later meet ups. Although IDK how this will affect Hazama trying to act all friendly with the other worlds when Weiss and Orie saw him all chumy with Ragna, plus if they later see both Ragna and Hazama activating their Blazblues, with the similar activation codes, and they learn that Hazama/Terumi made the Azure Grimoire, with Ragna’s being a prototype in a way. That might not work out for him.

I’m skipping the Es fights since IDK if I’d even add Es in this.

Episode P4A (most of these I feel like should be kept since this is the only fight where almost the entire faction all joins up)

Yu and Yosuke vs Gordeau and Carmine: initial battle, so necessary. Could be someone different, since these itneractions don’t really matter.

Yu and Chie vs Tager and Makoto: Electric vs Electric and fist vs foot, since I’m trying not to flanderize them, Makoto and Chie won’t immediatly be all “KUNG FU *WATCHYA*!” so I’d tone that down a bit considering the situation.

Yu and Yukiko vs Hakumen and Rachel: Like I said before, I’d like to see how Hakumen, and maybe Rachel, reacts to the Wild Card. Since in Arena, Yu’s Wild Card Power of Friendship aura made Elizabeth, aka the one who oneshots Erebus (the manifestation of mankind’s desire for Death) every other month, step back. So imagine how Hakumen, mr. Power of Order/killer of the Black Beast would react to that.

Yu and Chie vs Jubei and Platinum: Kind of wish Kanji was here since this is his intro in the episode, that and Platinum needs to get smacked, but making it a girl on girl fight is fine I guess. Then you have maybe Jubei’s reaction to the Wild Card and Yu’s truth powers (I wonder if the Orb of Sight could reveal Terumi’s true form like Jubei’s Sekigan?)

.....wait is Kanji just not playable b/c he was DLC at the time, okay then screw that noise.

Yu and Yosuke vs Linne and Orie: Okay Naoto has no excuse for not fighting here like Kanji excpet for maybe beign DLC at the time, so Yu and Naoto vs Linne and Orie. Come on seeing Orie’s Thanatos clash with a Persona would be cool. Or at the very least the Persona characters assuming she has a Persona, it wouldn’t be a stretch for them.

Yu and Ragna vs Weiss and Ruby: Should I keep this in? Since it is a moment where people call Ruby and Weiss idiots for blindly trusting System inspite of being the one who summoned them. Plus a lot fo stupid lines from Ruby. The ony thing this does is give Ragna a chance to prove himself to the I.T.

Ignoring Es fights like I said but I do want to keep the offscreen fight of Ragna and Kanii vs Hakumen and Rachel (Kanji’s lighting resistance against Rachel, HA!). Also they were playing Naoto’s theme from the Arena games at the time, so that was kind of off for me.

Episode Under Night In-Birth (half of these is just Hyde’s “Must Save The Girl” tendencies coming in)

Hyde and Waldstein vs Rachel and Naoto: No good interactiosn outside fo seeing how Hde and Wald fight as a team, like maybe Wald pulling a fastball special with Hyde.

Hyde and Ruby vs Yosuke and Chie: Stupid reason to start with Hyde thinking they were bullying Ruby when it was a mistake, and well all know that even if Ruby is like a year or two younger tha Hyde she’d kick his ass. But I know people want to have Ruby be amazed at the Insulator, but I won’t have her be all “YOU HAVE COOL WEAPONS! LET’S FIGHT!” Like I wanted RUby to have more of a personality, but this is too much.

Kind of a side note, but when Ruby brought up weapons with Jaune in Volume 1, she wasn’t all in his face about it immediately, they were apparently talking for a while before bring it up naturaly in a conversation. It felt more....real, to me.

Hyde and Gordeau vs Makoto and Blake: Only here for the Makoto and Blake interactions.

Hyde and Weiss vs Azrael and Carmine: no one here should be fighting with, against, or near Azrael. This is just here for Hyde to play knight in shining armor to Weiss. You Hyde/Ruby shippers might want this so he can earn points with Ruby for protecting her BFF.

Hyde and Yukiko vs Platinum and Noel. More bad cooking jokes, that all of a sudden make Yukiko good, but I think that’s just to make Noel the focus of the joke since this is BLAZBLUE Cross Tag Battle. More Hyde saving the girl in a way, but I’m slightly more for it since Platinum suffers. And hey, System said the losing TEAM had to eat it, so maybe Noel eating her own food can result in her getting better.

I mean seriously, Yukiko apparently got better at the end of her Social Link in Persona 4 (If I recall) and I THINK that there was one line about Fuuka improving in Arena or something (someone please help me on that, I know she gets better in P3P as part of her SL there, but I really don’t think one should cook, even if they like it, if they suck at it), taking that away from them is kind of insulting.

Hyde and Yu vs Jubei and Jin: Insulator vs Musashi (the swords that cut through anything) and Power of Friendship vs Power of Order. I got asked a while ago on what would happen if Isnulator and Musashi clashed and this would be a good chance to explore that. Plus Jubei seeing both the Wild Card and the Insulator would be interesting.

Also, Jubei with Jin goes with Blazblue canon, as at this point (between Cs and CP) Jubei is training Jin on the Power of Order).

Ignoring Es fight

Episode RWBY (this’ll be hard b/c I am TRYING to tone back the anime bullshit with RWBY)

Ruby and Weiss vs Noel and Makoto: System didn’t intervene here and they were just like “We have to fight over the Keystone”, considering RWBY’s themes of unity and such you’d think they’d try and be amicable, before System jumps in. Weiss could even TRY and be civil with the apparent Faunus in front fo them dressed rdiduclously (seriously IDK who else in RWBY during Vol 1-3 wears shit like Makoto who, as Kokonoe said in one of the HMPK segements “Is a strong breeze or a cough away from a major wardrobe malfunction”).

But still Weiss and Makoto on the front with Ruby and Noel as long range support wiht their guns.

I do think Weiss saying they should split up is dumb though.

Ruby and Hazama vs Hyde and Carmine: Alowing Hazama to get some connection with Ruby so he has someone to vouch for him at Beacon when/if he tries something there.

Ruby and Rachel vs Vatista and Platinum: Rachel landed on Ruby, gave her snark, because Platinum and Vatista were trying to ask her questions about the situation, Ruby is TRYING to be cool-headed and ask questions, but Rachel is being a butt and forms a tag team with Ruby just to shut Vatista and Platinum up. This could be used as a way to make Rachel seem untrustworthy.

side note, Vatista asks if she “should switch to a beefy, macho, muchle-type body...” So....can Vatista shapeshift? I mean we know she had an older looking form before she gave up one of her wings to give the Insulator to Kuon in UNI’s backstory. SO does that mean she doesn’t have to be a loli and maybe this form is just o conserve energy or something?

Ruby and Waldstein vs Hakumen and Tager: Hakumen attacks Ruby and Tager tries to intervene, Hakumen says smething interesting “This world may be jeopardized if elements from conflicting worlds interact” in this case Ruby and the keysone.

And like....seithr, ars magus, personas, EXS, and Dust and aura coliding WON’T cause things to fuck up? Especially Hakumen, who has kind of a messed up existence at the moment.

and whe Ruby brings up what Rachel told her, Hakumen gets all on the offense, once again maing Rachel seem untrustworthy. Or at the very least not willing to be cooperative.

Hakumen begins to do his thing but Wald pulls a Hyde and comes in to scold them for attacking a little girl.

I would like to see Hakumen sense the Silver Eye power lying dormant in Ruby, and then lay down some cryptic words here though.

Like comparing the Silver Eyes to the Power of Order is interesting b/c the SIlver Eyes work with love and protection, unlike the Power of Order which is mostly used as a weapon.

Ruby and Weiss vs Gordeau and Orie: scythe and scythe vs rapier and rapier.

1, Orie blowing her cover by saying she is with Licht Kreis, although given the circumstances I doubt that matters. Also she kind of fights on Hyde’s behalf for Ruby getting Hyde’s keystone, and speaking up when she heard his name.

2, Weiss being all too eagar to fight, IDK if this would be in character for canon Weiss.

3. Orie mentioned a restriction. Didn’t System just say there was a punishment? Is it both?

4. Once again Weiss being all too eager to mock and fight. But maybe she is in a bad mood because she has also been having to deal with neandertha;s who don’t care about the situation and are just like “FUCK YEAH, FIGHTING!”

5. Now I may not be too up to date on UNI’s Chornicle Mode, but I don’t know if Orie being THIS against working with Amneisa would be what she would be like.

6. Gordeau is being amicable, but him saying “hate the monk, not his robes”, makes it sound like he is still a member of Amnesia. But if I recall, he quit. Does him working for them as a mercenary count?

7. Orie saying she is devoted to her mission with her ego being secondary should be kept in mind when characters want to be major assholes and make demands of people instead of being nice.

Okay I’m done with that

Ruby and Es vs Yosuke and Yukiko: with that stupid Ninja and Geisha comment, plus I already said I was ignoring Es.....yeah I’m going to skip this and the next one, even though by that logic Ragna won’t meet Ruby. I can fidn some way for this to work, sionce Ragna saving Ruby gets him points with Yang and the RWBY characters.

Alright that seems to be all. Blake got a few fights in but no Yang. What fight would you guys want to see her in that I could add onto here?

[shadowtarot]

TTI: So the Crawling Darkness has taken matters into his own hands. What’s happening to Deathbringer now that the Crawling Darkness is making him lose his free will?

Thieves in Inaba Part 90

The group, now being led by Ryoji makes haste through the crumbling tower. The cracking and whaling echoes throughout all of Inaba. 

Makoto looks back at the tower, worry spreading on her masked face. Sae taps her back lightly. 

“Hey, you need to stay focused Makoto. We have a city to protect.” She states, her tone serious. 

“Sis?! When did you get here?” 

“She’s with us.” Kou waves, striking a shadow with the sword he brought. 

“I…see. But wait you all should be in the the gym! It’s not safe here!” Makoto is really worried now, looking over everyone. 

Adachi shakes his head. “These guys aren’t gonna just turn tail, kid. If they’re insisting on helping…then let ‘em. We’re at the end of our rope anyhow…”

“But…”

Ai chuckles a bit. “You’re used to playing hero right, Phantom Gal? Well we can too. We did it before.”

Kazushi and Kenji high five each other. Hifumi looks around them as more Shadows come to the cloaked girls aide. 

“Queen, you are our leader currently. Give us orders.” 

Makoto sees everyone around her and grants a solid nod. “Alright. Form a protective area around the house and it’s surrounding areas. If you have a gun stay to the back, melee up front. Adachi and Marie, catch.” 

She tosses them both a Soma. 

“You sure are a natural leader, kid.” Adachi shakes his head. 

“Well, I do plan to go into the police force after all.” 

Futaba tracks everything going on. “Great. Makoto and her escortees have been cornered. But they seem to be fending them off.” 

“Shit. Should we turn around then?” Ryuji asks.

Ryoji shakes his head. “There’s no time. You need to reach the top before this whole place crumbles into nothingness.”

“Great. Then we just gotta pray old death is willing to square up.” Yosuke sighs. 

Chains rattle, which causes the navigators to gasp. 

“I sense death!” Fuuka exclaims. 

“Great…and I just got back.” Shinji shakes his head. “Well, are we going to fight or book it?”

“Wouldn’t it be suicide if we try to fight a Reaper right now? The whole building’s coming down!” Labrys points out.

“Our numbers are enough to over whelm it. We should be fine if we’re quick about it all.” Minato states. 

“You heard him! No using your Persona though, we can’t afford to expend too much mental energy.” Ren adds. 

The group rush the oncoming Reaper all at once. 

Chihaya looks over her cards, as Takemi walks to the trio at the table. 

“Tarrot hm? And what are you doing with these during a crisis?”

“We’re supporting a kid who’s in the middle of all this crap. And why do you care?” Ohya states bluntly. 

“Because that ‘kid’ is someone I owe a lot to.” Tae retorts. “He’s in Inaba right?”

The three nod, which makes Tae smile. 

“Then I think he’ll do just fine. He stopped one crisis after all…” 

Ren’s eyes focus, drawing his knife on the reaper as it goes down. 

Kenji manages to shoot down a Shadow. “We’re actually wining! These Shadow things are nothing when there’s this many of us!”

Maiko nods, dodging a shadow the best she can. “I’m not gonna lose! I made a promise to spend time with Minato, and I’m not gonna waste it!” 

Minato slices through shadows with his katana, determination shining brightly in his eyes. 

Kou and Daisuke are back to back, panting a bit. 

“I’m not…giving in…not yet. Inaba’s our terf after all! So we have home advantage!” Kou strkes a shadow. 

“On your left! Look out!” Nanako calls out

The duo move out of the way, only for the Fox to slash the shadow with a knife. 

Yu moves fast, lighting spells shooting out at any shadow before him as the group goes higher and higher up the tower. 

But close to the top, a figure stops them. Cloaked in a familar robe and breathing heavly, it smirks down on the group. 

“Servants of Philmons will….welcome.” 

“You…what has become of you?” Akechi questions, hand hovering over his sword’s hilt. 

“My dear friend Maou, oh how useless he has become.” He cackles. “A puppet that can no longer be used is mere garbage. This puppet’s role has just ended.”

“So you took over his body?” Yu is in disbelif. “This..is..”

“Inhumane? Is that what you were going to say, seeker of truth?” Nythotep laughs. “But of course it is…but I am no mortal.”

“Yeah, you got that right…you’re a piece of shit that needs to wiped off this place!” Sho shouts. 

“If you must threaten me like that, then do not hold back Wild Card..show the full extents of your power!” 

While the Crawling Darkness clearly laughs, Maou himself seems to be in pain. This doesn’t go unnoticed by Minato, who quietly nods. 

The final battle…has finally come. 

[tacitusauxilium]

Unforeseen Circumstances // Ch. 01

Unrequited love is the most painful thing to feel, and yet, Fuuka is persuaded to try her hands at getting Junpei’s attention, no matter what. However, after multiple failed attempts, what will she do when she catches the eye of the boy with the maroon peacoat? The heartache that comes with falling in love might even be more than she bargained for. 

Rated: M - English - Romance/Hurt/Comfort

Chapter 1;; The Beginning of the End

October 4th, 2009

Her heart was racing and pounding in her ears—she told the twins that she knew where Shinjiro and Ken was. And, on top of sensing those two, she shivered and felt Takaya was nearby as well. She didn't have the heart to tell anyone because if all of her friends were holding her back, then this attempt to save their lives will be futile.

Fuuka Yamagishi held her evoked closer to her chest, knowing that if she couldn't run faster, someone would get hurt—or die. She knew deep down that Takaya was filled with malice over wanting her down and out—they did still have Chidori to this day. It ached her heart knowing that what she was going to do may be the dumbest, stupidest, and idiotic thing she ever did. It would top anything Junpei ever did.

Even if it was for someone she loved and that love was unrequited.

Feeling beads of sweat running down her face as she carefully maneuvered the train tracks back to Iwatodai. She cursed softly, wishing that Lucia's power was so much stronger—she could barely sense Ken and Shinjiro as far as they could be from the whole group. She assumed Akihiko and Mitsuru had a reasoning as to why they were together, but Fuuka has no time to listen to them.

As she made it carefully off of the tracks and into Port Island Station, she heard a gunshot ringing throughout the surrounding area. Her heart dropped to the center of the Earth as she shook her head—this was becoming more serious that she thought. She had to stop her legs from shaking and knowing this was best for her allies, and for her.

Lucia urges Fuuka toward the boys—she didn't really need her help since the smell of gunpowder was enough to draw anyone awake from their coffin-like status. Once she was within meters of them, she took a couple deep breaths and listened in on the conversation around a corner—she had to be careful on how to walk into the situation.

Her eyes darted to Shinjiro clinching his stomach in pain—the smell of copper lead to her seeing blood oozing from his side. She almost gagged—Fuuka's hand moved from her mouth and back to her heart. Fuuka forgot to give back Shinjiro's pocketwatch to him—she found it by asking Officer Kurosawa if there was anything in he lost and found. She found an old pocket watch with someone's date of birth and initials. Obviously, she deducted it was Shinjiro's by the initials and by asking Kurosawa if it was his. It took her a good few days to get the clockwork fixed and all shiny. But she never could give it back to him.

And she feared she would never be able to.

Fuuka's heart strings tugged at her as she could see Takaya playing with his revolver. "Now," Takaya moves a little closer to the SEES members, his voice getting rough and annoyed, "there is one among you that has the power just like Chidori does. Where are they?" He uttered, pointing the gun towards the injured Shinjiro.

She could sense the turmoil inside of Ken and Shinjiro's hearts—they knew it was her, they knew if they told Takaya, she'd be targeted. All because they have Chidori and they don't have Fuuka. Before Ken could speak, Fuuka took a leap of faith and walked into the scene, under the shadows, as her knees were buckling under the pressure.

"It's me."

Shinjiro and Ken's eyes darted quickly towards the petite female.

"Yamagishi—! No!" Shinjiro cried out as he winced in pain, even though he moved a millimeter—the bullet was doing more damage if he even moved a bit.

Takaya let out a laugh that echoed all around them, but then frowned. "Is this a joke? …why have you appear now?"

Fuuka gripped her evoked again, still against her chest, knowing she had to keep cool, calm, and collected. Outwardly she was, but internally, she was freaking out. "Because I sensed them from where we battled the full moon shadows." She slowly spoke. Fuuka was speaking the truth—she then saw Ken coward behind Shinjiro, knowing he was the most vulnerable at the moment.

Takaya considered the few words that Fuuka spoke. He considered that she looked weakly, that she could sense them from a considerable amount of distance, and within seconds he pointed the loaded gun towards Fuuka. She put her evoker down to her leg and into its holder. Fuuka put her right hand up to her chest, only to try to calm her rapid heartbeat. Closing her eyes, she felt how heavy and tense the situation was now.

She could sense the others would be here in a couple minutes—Lucia was unknowingly sending a distress signal to the others. If she didn't do anything to save Shinjiro and Ken—but then, a thought came to her mind. If only I could stall, everyone would get here and then everyone would be fine until the Dark Hour ends. Would even Takaya—?

"She…will do."

Fuuka's eyes shot open the moment she heard the gun go off. She could hear Shinjiro and Ken's screams mellow out of existence as she felt the bullet grazing her hand and her chest being pelted by the bullet. A small ding could be heard, but it was drowned out by the boy's cries and screams for her. It took Fuuka a moment to realize what really happened. Her hand dropped to her side as she noticed blood flowing off her hand and down her chest.

This is how it should be, right? …an eye for an eye? A navigator…for …another?

Her fingers dripped with blood as Takaya let out a boisterous laugh as it echoed in the alleyway, as if the Reaper was laughing along with him. She fell to her knees as Ken darted to her side—she saw that her vision was fading. She could feel the others coming around the corner—she could barely see Akihiko screaming out his Persona's name, trying to attack Takaya who was already long gone; Minako immediately went to Shinjiro, so did Mitsuru, too.

Fuuka felt ridiculous. She was literally bleeding for a boy she cared so much for, and yet he still drew the eyes of their leader to her. Minato and Junpei went towards her as she lowered her head, hiding the tears that were falling from her eyes as Minato checked her horrid wound. They didn’t care about what happened in the past--she was more important now.

"The…the idiot—!" Shinjiro cried out, taking a heavy deep breath. "—she offered herself in f-front of Takaya—!" He coughed, spitting up some blood as Minako tried to heal his wounds with some bandages. Shinjiro got up slowly, darting his eyes at Fuuka and feeling his heart twinge in pain and worry.

Fuuka leaned towards Junpei, the one closest to her, as her blood began to stain her clothes and his as well. "Why…? Why Fuuka? Wh-what was the point!?" He whispered softly to her as he saw Minato taking her pulse. His worried eyes said it all—Minato had an idea, but magic wouldn't work since something of this magnitude couldn't be healed by something this bad.

Ken was shaking with fear and anxiety—his friends got injured and yet, he was unscathed. Akihiko noticed this and pulled him closer to him in a side hug. Fuuka lifted her head slowly, seeing everyone's eyes on her, especially Shinjiro's. They eyes linked for but a moment, as she closed her eyes. "T-tell Shinjiro…senpai…" she whispered as she watched Minato coming closer to her. "…I am sorry…a-about his pocket watch. …I-I think the bullet…" Fuuka gripped Junpei and Minato's arms as she let out a heartfelt cry of pain, sorrow, and heartache.

Yukari felt anxious now, beginning to voice her concerns. "Isn't the Dark Hour almost over?" Fear began to shine in her eyes as Junpei began to pick her up and nodded along with Minato. It seemed they have the right idea and thought at the same time.

"…we should get going. By the time we get to the hospital, the Dark Hour should end…" Junpei murmured softly, feeling as if this was going to be futile. He turned towards his allies and Minato began to list commands out to SEES. "Sanada-senpai, Kirijo-senpai, sister… we need to get them both to the hospital—it's only a stone's throw away. Junpei and I will take Fuuka—you guys should take Aragaki-senpai. Yukari, Aigis, Koromaru," the dog barked as he heard his name, "take Ken-kun back to the dorm. He needs some support and to keep him distracted." He mentioned to them quietly as Junpei could feel the cold blood hitting his shoes.

As Junpei watched his senpais and their other leader take off with Shinjiro, Junpei began to take a mad dash with Minato at their side. He had to shake his head to remove the negative thoughts. She will make it—she is strong. She is strong. She is—

Junpei kept pounding those words into his head as he felt his blood run cold the moment Fuuka's body went limp. Just how much blood…has she lost!? Junpei felt his eyes grow as he pulled at Minato's arm, his head shaking as they tried to pick up the pace even more. His heart ached as sweat rolled down his face and his back—he was in saying that once they got to the hospital the Dark Hour would end.

However, it wasn't saying much as Fuuka was slowly fading in Junpei's arms, the color already drained from her face as if she decided to give up already.

[vitalpen]

Persona 5: Remember the Reaper Pt 4

(So hey, remember me?  Remember this?  Remember this awesome art made for this?! I do!  And now I’m back after taking way too long!  Part 4 is ready to roll, starting off with an exchange that I agonized over for several days.  Hope you enjoy!)

Joker took a reflexive step back.

Apparently, that was the wrong move, because the cold smile only widened.  “Oh?  A curious reaction.  Surely, you know by now, there’s nowhere to run back to.”

Joker had a feeling, but he had to get eyes on the wall that had replaced the staircase before he admitted it. “Who are you?”  Joker demanded, trying not to let the creeping dread into his voice.

“A memory of the dead,” the man replied vaguely, smile seemingly permanent on his face. “A fleeting existence at the edge of the world’s memory.  Just as everything else here.” He spread his arms out and glanced around, gesturing toward their surroundings.  "Except of course," his eyes landed back on Joker, "for you."

"Yeah, and I'm feeling real special," Joker snarked.

"As you should," the pale man laughed, "after all, it's not often one is allowed to experience memories that aren't theirs."

"And whose memory are you?"

"Whose indeed," the man's smile widened further.  "A question you've no doubt been asking since you arrived here.  Who would remember such odd architecture?  These infinite, winding halls?"

"Oh, buddy," Joker's hands tightened into fists, "you have no idea how sick I am of people being vague when I ask them questions."  He stood as threateningly as one could against a man with a gun.

The pale man didn't answer.  Instead, he took a step forward.

Joker took another step back.

With clearly defined, punctuated movements, the man wrapped his fingers around the revolver's handle, and tugged it from the belt.  “Would you care to join us?  Here in this labyrinthine recollection?  Recalled only by a select few?”  He pulled the hammer back and steadied his arm.

Joker's heart pounded like a drum, he was stuck in a hallway, way too far to have any chance of making it to the guy before he shot.  All he could do was stare in horror as the man's hand tensed, and it slowly pulled the trigger.

Click.

He flinched hard and his heart skipped a beat as he prepared for death.  But there was no shot.  After a moment, Joker opened his eyes, finding the man still pointing the gun at him. The hammer was no longer pulled back.

The pale man chuckled.  “Feeling a little skittish, are we?”

Joker’s eyes narrowed and he bluntly replied, “You aimed a gun at me.”

“Are you so afraid of death?”

Joker didn’t answer.  He wasn’t playing into this psycho’s game. Instead, he looked at the four way intersection they were in, taking account of every detail that he could of the creepy purple architecture.

There was an odd gurgling growl, identical to the one that he’d heard upon first stepping into this place.  He didn’t think the pale man’s smile could get any bigger, but it found a way.  “Do you hear them?  Man’s folly, crawling to get you.”  The gun went back into his belt and he turned around.  “You’d best start running, they’ll be here soon.”  In only a couple seconds, he had disappeared into the dark entirely.

What replaced him was a set of glowing dots.  It wasn't hard to figure out that they were eyes.  More pairs quickly joined the first.  They varied a little in height, but all of them were fairly close to the ground.  With a wet slap, a hand came down on the floor out of the dark.   As soon as it found a grip, it began pulling the attached body forward.  The creature was a strange, darkly color blob, half melted.  Its other hand came forward, gripped the floor, and pulled itself further along.  Quickly more hands joined it in the light, revealing more than a dozen other identical creatures.

Strange and alien as they looked, joke knew a shadow when he saw one.

“Oh crap” Joker muttered.  He took several more steps back and was given an abrupt reminder that the stairs were still gone.  "Oh, crap!"  He frantically scanned the area, evaluating the left and right pathways.  Without a second thought (or a first one honestly), he took off sprinting toward the shadows.  In response, the shadows heaved themselves forward, lunging to head him off. At the last moment, Joker hung a right, barely dodging a swipe aimed at his head.

Then he sprinted.  The heavy impact of each step echoed as he ran through this new, equally unwelcoming environment.  Behind him, the shadows desperately hauled after him, reaching out with enraged gurgles.  He was only barely faster than them; he was gaining distance, but not nearly fast enough to lose them.  The shadows showed no sign of slowing down either.  They were going to chase him until they caught him.

It was even more impossible to keep track of where he was in this place than in the school.  The abstract gothic patterns around him were entirely foreign, there was no way to figure out where anything was.

Already, his legs ached with fatigue, his arms felt heavier, and his lungs burned.  He needed a plan.  He needed a weapon.  He needed his persona.  But none of the above was coming to him.  He was lost, on his own, getting tired, and with a horde of shadows stampeding after him.

“Wait, the gun!”  Joker pulled out the SEES gun and aimed it backwards, pulling the trigger.

Nothing.

“You know, I guess it’s my fault for hoping this thing did anything!”  He growled to himself.  He started hanging turns whenever he saw them, desperately trying anything he could come up with to lose the shadows.  He didn’t even try to keep track of which ones he took, he was plenty lost already, couldn’t get much more.

He didn't know how long or far he ran, but the next time he had a conscious thought was when a sound caught his attention. Somewhere off in the distance, a motorcycle revved its engine.

“What the…?”  Joker couldn’t tell where it came from, but he definitely heard it. Makoto?  Much has he didn’t want his friends out here looking for him, Johana splattering these things all over the walls sounded really good right about now. He looked back to check the shadows, still there.  

And so was the bike.

It wasn’t Johana, but it clearly didn’t care about the shadows either.  It cut right through one, sending bits of black slime flying as it did.  Joker hugged the wall, but didn’t stop running. As the bike neared him, he got a better look at the rider.  White shirt, black skirt, red armband.  That was all he made out before it as passed, heading down the hallway in front of him and turning a corner.

He’d seen that arm band before.  Dark hair, Junpei, Yukari, and Akihiko had all been wearing one.  “Mitsuru?” He wondered.  She was the only one he hadn’t seen yet.  Unless that was Fuuka.  “No, that was Mitsuru,” he decided.  She sounded like the type.

The train of thought couldn’t get much further, the sound of a crash saw to that.  “Uh oh.”  Joker forced himself to move just a little faster, heading for the turn the bike had taken.

What he found was only half what he expected.  The bike had indeed crashed, pieces of it were scattered across the floor away from the main wreck.  But there was no sign of the rider.  What there was, was a massive bubble, just sitting in the hallway, spanning nearly the entire width.

Joker couldn’t say what made him choose running into the bubble as his course of action, but that’s what he did. He ran right into it, literally. He passed through the surface with no resistance.  With no impact, he ended up stumbling a few steps forward before regaining his balance.

There was a moment of confusion, followed by the terror-filled moment of realizing he’d stopped running, followed by several thunks.  He turned back to look at the shadows, who had all run into the bubble too.  But unlike him, they couldn’t get through. Joker stared at them for a moment as they relentlessly charged into the bubble again and again.  Finally processing the fact that he was safe, he fell to the ground, panting heavily as he caught his breath.  The agony of fatigue took a good couple minutes to subside,

The bubble held against the shadows, for the moment at least.  That gave him time to examine the new landmark.  It was definitely the motorcycle from before.  It was mounted with some weird-looking electrical equipment on the back.  He couldn’t tell what any of it did.  The bike was damaged, something had hit it hard.  There were two crowns stuck into the blown out tires.  Joker tried to pull them out, get something sharp to fight with, but they didn’t budge.

A noise caught his attention. Static.  Among the equipment, there was a small radio that still seemed to be working.  Static was coming through the speakers, cutting for just fractions of a second to let a voice through.

Galvanized, Joker grabbed the radio and frantically started messing with the dial.  It took several minutes, but he managed to start making out full words. The voice coming through was Mitsuru Kirijo.  There was still way too much static to hear full sentences, but he managed to make out the words “Akihiko” and “Shadows” in the voice of Mitsuru Kirijo.

He grabbed the responder attached to the radio.  “Hey, can you hear me?  Hello? Mayday, mayday, is anyone there?!” The few seconds of solid static seemed like an eternity with the shadows still knocking at the barrier.  He was about to throw the thing to the floor in frustration.  But the sound of Mitsuru’s voice stopped him.

“Who CRRSH this?”

Adrenaline in full swing now, Joker talked as quickly and clearly as he could.  “My name is Joker, I’m a persona user like you, but I can’t use my persona here, I've got. I need to know how you summon it.”

“Do you CRRSH evoker CRRSH gun CRRSH.”

Gun?  Joker looked down at the SEES gun.  “What about it?  It doesn’t shoot.”

“I need CRRSH your head CRRSH trigger.”

Joker felt a pit form in his stomach. Even in its depleted form, the message was clear.  She was telling him to put the gun to his head and pull the trigger.  Despite the fact that he was fairly sure it wouldn’t fire, something about the idea made him shudder.  He cast his eyes down to the nonweapon in his hand.  For some reason it felt a little heavier than before, the polish looked a little darker.  Maybe it was the prospect of how he was apparently supposed to use it.  If this was still Mementos, then there was the chance it would fire, just like the model guns did.  But this wasn’t a model gun.  Hell, apparently it wasn’t even a gun.  And it hadn’t fired before.  But then, he’d seen lot of crazy shit in the past few months, maybe it only fired when pointed at him.  Was Mitsuru telling him to kill himself?

He growled and ran his fingers through his unkempt hair, he was thinking about this way too much.

The sound of a crack behind him drew his attention.  He slowly turned around to face the facts.  The bubble was starting to break.  “Uh-oh,” he said with a deadpan stare.  Time was up, he had to decide.  It was either use it and possibly kill himself, or not use it and guarantee the shadows would rip him apart.  “Well, here goes nothing.”  He faced the shadows taking the gun in his right hand.  With slow, reluctant movements, he raised it up and placed the barrel against his temple.  He breathed in, then out, then in again.  The world seemed to slow.  His hand tensed, he screwed his eyes shut, and he pulled the trigger.

Thou art not I, but I am still thine.  From the sea of another soul, I come forth.

There was no heat, no pain, no blacking out.  But there was the sound of a gunshot right in his ear, along with breaking glass.

The feeling that overtook him was different than what he was used to.  He was used to the pure rush of seemingly boundless power that came with summoning a persona.  But this felt… more controlled.  He was used to it bursting forth, rather than building up and flowing out.  The words he heard in his head just moments before seemed to hit the nail on the head.  This wasn’t his power.

At that moment, the shadows broke through the glass, swarming into the orb.  But before they could get any closer, three chords from a harp played behind him.  A wave of searing flames flowed forth, enveloping the shadows.  They writhed in the heat, quickly burning away into scorch marks on the ground.  Just like that, the threat was gone.  

Joker stood there for a moment, acclimating to the energy flowing through him.  Come to think of it, didn’t even know who he was summoning.  He turned around to face the persona and stopped.

He didn’t know this one.

Discovering new personas wasn’t uncommon, but typically he either met them as shadows, or through Caroline and Justine. Yet here he was, looking at a marionette-esque thing with a harp on its back.  The only one that had ever just shown up was Arsene.

And that probably meant something.

The static on the radio cut out abruptly, replaced by a hum.  Joker looked back at it.  The readings on the machines had all lip back up, and all said the same thing: “6/8: The Empress and the Emperor”.  A voice started coming out of the speakers, crystal clear, and not Mitsuru Kirijo.

“You know, one of the things that always made me laugh was just how much went wrong whenever the big shadows showed up. Fuuka was already in Tartarus. She’d been stuck there after some other girls locked her in the school gym at night.  Now those other girls were supposedly hearing ghosts and then ending up in the hospital.  That meant they were waking up during the dark hour.  One of the last ones, Natsuki was her name, we took her to the dorm  We had no idea what part of Tartarus the gym turned into, so the only way we were going to find her by doing the same thing. So, we broke into school.  Well, Junpei unlocked a door at least.”

As Dark Hair spoke, the persona faded away.

“So me, Akihiko, and Junpei head in to find Fuuka, Mitsuru and Yukari stay down below.  We find Fuuka just fine, but it was right after that that everything just went to hell.”  Dark Hair chuckled.  “On the way back, Akihiko puts it together than the big shadows come on the night of the full moon.  Guess what tonight was?  At that exact same moment, Mitsuru sends us a broken up transmission that they were under attack and that Natsuki had shown up.  Oh yeah, there were two shadows this time, because apparently they were going easy on us before.  We booked it back down there, took out the shadows and got acquainted with Fuuka’s persona.  From that point on, she took over for Mitsuru on being the navigator.  Which meant Mitsuru was coming with us.  Another month and two more shadows down.”

The moment he stopped, the static returned. There was no sign of Mitsuru’s voice either.  With the shadows gone, the only thing left to do next was move on.  Joker held tightened his grip on the evoker and walked away from the bike, feeling far more confident.

“His name is Orpheus, by the way.”

Joker spun around just as the lights on the radio finally died for good, with even the static going quiet.

[c-is-for-circinate]

Wow I can't help but see the line "nobody but the three of them belongs here, not really, not Mitsuru’s dad or Ikutski or the new kids they’ve taken on as green apprentices, not anyone." and think that it is going to be an absolute fucking catastrophe having that sort of additional barricade between the kids in persona 3. Not that I don't think they can't be together and have their relationship, but it sounds like it ends so poorly, and I can't really articulate why.

Oh yes.

(Except for the things it actually fixes.)

And here is why: because P3 is in its very core a game about isolation.  You’ve got this bunch of kids just barely managing to grab onto each other, like clinging to the edge of a rooftop--holding on with all their strength but just the very tips of their fingers.  Putting another barrier between people onto that--no, it’s not going to be good.

Except that Mitsuru Kirijo, queen of self-control and taking everything upon herself, has just spent two years living not just with Akihiko (king of single-minded determination and hyperfocus) but also Shinjiro, who makes her breakfast and calls her on her shit because he’s one of the only people in the world not afraid of her.  And if Shinji’s paying attention to Mitsuru’s moods and needs and forcing his way under her skin, suddenly Akihiko is, too--because when it’s the two of them alone, Akihiko can sink into his own crap and respect Mitsuru enough to leave her to hers, but now there’s a third player in the game and all the rules change.  Now there are two people who know about Miki and the way Akihiko goes tight around fire, two people giving Shinjiro a reason to keep control, two people who know everything Mitsuru does about her family and don’t blame her.

So now we don’t have three isolated people mostly living in their own worlds.  We have three people living in a shared world, completely isolated from everybody else.

(Literally isolated.  Nobody else enters this dorm except the Saturday morning maid.  Nobody else in the whole world, it seems like, is awake during their hour, when they can roam the streets like royalty or gods, weapons in hand, and kiss each other in full view of the whole world and nobody at all.)

So it means that all three of them do actually have the life skills of opening up and relying on other people that they lack in canon!  Which is good, sort of.

It also means that the Lovers Arcana full moon shadow almost kills them all.

It means that Thanatos doesn’t even show up until the second night they bring the second-years to Tartarus, when the Reaper corners the three kouhai apprentices (and Thanatos is powerful but all it can do is buy them an escape.)

It means the three senpai gritting their teeth over these new second-years, these new interlopers in their home, guess we can’t fuck on the couch any more, guess we can’t be ourselves here any more, and they go upstairs and lock themselves in the command room where the second years Are Not Allowed To Go because you are apprentices and you act by our command.

And it means that when Yukari doesn’t trust Mitsuru, she doesn’t trust any of them.  When Yukari doesn’t trust Mitsuru, she pulls Junpei and Minato and Fuuka along with her.

So a lot of things break.  But then on the other hand, when Yukari is feeling scared and suspicious and alone, she’s not doing it by herself in her dorm room.  She’s doing it in Minato’s dorm room, sitting on the bed next to Fuuka while Junpei leans his chin against the back of the desk chair, sitting backwards, and Minato stands or leans against the wall in his own room because somehow it always pans out that way and he doesn’t mind.  It’s not Yukari on her own feeling rebellious, it’s all four of the kouhai together.  And they’re the ones with the Wild Card on their side.

(”Dude, what happened in there?” Junpei asks the night after the full moon they spent on Shirakawa Boulevard, Yukari and Junpei standing awkwardly around Fuuka on a seedy street corner while Minato was graciously allowed to accompany their senpai and fill out the party.  Minato’s the senpai’s favorite, because he doesn’t talk back and has so much power, even though the senpai are still so much stronger.  They haven’t tapped a quarter of his power yet--he gains and loses skills faster than Mitsuru can learn them to order him in battle.  And after last night...maybe they’re not so much stronger after all.

He shrugs, though.  “We were Charmed,” he says, and Fuuka frowns.

“You and Mitsuru-senpai broke out of it so much faster than the others, though,” she says.  “I couldn’t even get through to them until you found them.”

“Were they...” Yukari starts, and then bites her lip.  There’s questions they don’t quite ask, even though she’s awake enough to hear footsteps down the hall towards Mitsuru’s bedroom sometimes in the middle of the night, even though she sort of knows.

Minato just shrugs again.  He doesn’t really get mad or hold grudges, he doesn’t really tell secrets.  It doesn’t really matter that Mitsuru had glanced at him naked out of the shower, and slapped him instantly.  It matters that she’d had to nearly break down a door and thrown a Bufula at the entwined bodies on the hotel bed to snap Akihiko and Shinjiro back into their own heads, but only because she’d been that much lower on power, Akihiko and Shinjiro that little bit injured when they’d started the fight against the full moon shadow.  Thank god.

“None of my business,” says Minato.  He still hurts pretty much everywhere.  He needs to go to bed early tonight.  A hot soak in the bath didn’t cut it today.

“But you had to fight that Shadow almost entirely on your own!” Fuuka bursts out.  She’s been upset all day and holding it in, but she says things in here, with them, that she won’t say in front of the senpai.  Knows better than to say in front of the senpai.  “Mitsuru-senpai and Shinjiro-senpai and Akihiko-senpai were Charmed for almost that entire fight.  Every single time it cast, it hit them again!  I’ve never seen ailment susceptibility that high!”

“They’re not invincible,” Yukari says.  “They want us to think they are, but they’re not.”

Minato doesn’t hold grudges, but it doesn’t mean he doesn’t take sides.

“The next section of Tartarus is open,” he says.  Elizabeth said so this morning.  If they wait another two days, the senpai will take them--will scour the floors themselves, one by one, and then let the three second-years fight their way in behind once Fuuka knows everything’s strength and weakness.  They’ll take on the huge guardian shadows together with one lucky second-year allowed to join the party for backup or support, like Minato did last night.  It’ll take a couple of days.  The senpai are even more exhausted from yesterday than he is.

“Wait, you want to go first?” Junpei asks.  “Without them?”

Minato shrugs again.  Fuuka looks scared, Yukari determined.

"They’re never going to risk letting us get as strong as they are if we give them a choice,” Yukari says.  “I say we do it.  No more letting them dictate how we fight.”)

[shadowtarot]

(Thieves in Inaba) Quietly, but then it gets louder, Nanako’s voice through each of the battle! Question is, is she actually there or is it another dream?

Thieves in Inaba Part 48

“Dammit! Nothing we do to these guys puts a dent in them!” Yosuke shouts. The Sacrificial room’s exit is blocked by a Reaper as the Brunette tries to defend his mentally drained comrade. Teddie couldn’t fight off the monster as he lay unconscious on the floor outside. 

“This reaper…it’s unlike any one I’ve faced…it’s powered by something…or someone…” Minato looks to his grim foe. “Ren, Yukari…run. I’ll try to hold this thing off. Find our hostage and find the others. Get out of here!” 

“No way! I’m not gonna let you sacrifice yourself again! Not when you’ve just come back to us!” Yukari cries out. “I’m staying.”

“As am I. No one can fight these things alone.” Ren states firmly, reloading his pistol. 

Mitsuru and Akihiko defend an injured Rise and Fuuka along with some assistance from Morgana. The cat puffs up. “This Reaper, I can tell from just looking at it…there’s a being powering it up. These things are normally powerful, but whoever’s juicing them up just created a monster.”

“And there’s probably more.” Mitsuru sighs. “This castle was one big trap. He knew we’d choose this one given Yu and co’s familiarity with it.”

Within the Sewer depths,  Nyarlathotep lets loose another maddened laugh. “I feel it, the life force of your comrades being whittled away by my army. So many deaths, and you’ll be to blame! AHAHA! The Black Masked traitor of Phantom Thieves, the lives of so many thrown aside because of how weak he is! Tell me, Princeling…do you truly wish to aide them? Or is it just an out to try and cleanse yourself of your past sins?” 

Akechi looks down, quiet at first. “You’re not wrong in my desire to want to alter how things went. My desire to change history is there…but I know that this is impossible. My only atonement would be to turn myself in and allow myself to be judged by the law. But another…fears being put in public eye. After what I have caused, and what was brought to light in Shido’s trial…I cannot allow it. So here I am…not trying to cleanse myself of wrong doing, but saving others from going through the same pain I have caused more times then I’d like…”

“Big words, for a human. But how can you ever think to stop me?” The suited man laughs. 

“Me? Stop you?” Akechi returns the laugh. “Oh, I apologize. My speech was merely a diversion.” 

“What do you-”

“Everyone! You can win this!” A young girls voice calls out to them all. Every Persona user seems to be powered up from this voice, Teddie and the Navigators even rising to their feet.

Akechi cracks his neck casually. “I sensed the presence of another Justice holder for a while. I’m not sure if this is a Wild Card thing or what, but all it means for me is…I can finally go all out.” 

He smirks widely, blue flames lighting up the sewers that shift to red as Loki is summoned. “Now then, let us see for sure if your statement was factual. Loki, do it.” Extending his hand out to the reaper beside his opponent, Akechi manages to take control of it. 

“But…how the hell did you?” 

“You picked the wrong person to mess with, Nyarlathotep . I don’t give a damn what happens to me, but if anyone else is going to suffer it might as well be you. And I don’t mind having front row seats.”