#i'm trying to move away from the metaverse

[cosmogyros]

What's the best alternative to Facebook currently? I really need to get off that site, but I also need to somehow convince everybody I'm connected with on FB to follow me to whichever new platform I choose, so it's gotta be good. And hopefully not too confusing for older and less tech-savvy people to join 😅

(Obvs I'm not telling most of my FB friends my Tumblr URL. These are two separate worlds, and separate they shall remain.)

[writers-reach]

Hey! Can I have headcanons of persona protagonists [ Yu,Minato,Ren] kissing SO for the first time? Thank you!

persona 3/4/5: first kiss headcanons (minato arisato, yu narukami, ren amamiya)

notes: no spoilers, gn!reader, fluff, ren amamiya for persona 5 protagonist

minato arisato

a bit nervous, but shows it by being a bit more quiet and shy than usual.

hides his gaze under his lil emo bangs as he asks to kiss you!

probably in his room after hanging out all day at the strip mall

"hey, um, do you want to, like... kiss? maybe?"

you're ecstatic and your heart quickens at his cute look and shy demeanour. he was just adorable!

you agree, and he leans in with his hands on his knees. he's about to press his lips to yours when he brushes his bangs from his eyes (just so they don't get in the way)

his lips are decently soft, if not a bit chapped (in his defense, it's been a cold autumn so far). he's a bit tentative when kissing but overall he's just a bit nervous about your boundaries!

gives you the cutest look when pulling back.

"...you're cute."

NO HE'S CUTE

yu narukami

probably asks you to kiss him first while on a walk on the hill overlooking inaba!

he stops walking, his hand in yours, and turns to look at you. he grabs your other hand and smiles as his eyes meet yours

"it's been a great day so far. thanks for going out with me." he flashes you one of those charming grins - god, they melt your heart!

"of course," you reply, "i love spending any time with you."

"yeah." yu replies, seeming a bit... out of it. like something else is on his mind.

"what's up?" you tilt your head and yu can't help but find it super cute!

"it's just-- i... okay, listen, you're super cute and i'm so lucky to be your boyfriend, may i kiss you?"

wow. that came out... all at once. after recovering from his quick word vomit, you nod with a blush on your cheeks. with that affirmation, yu moves in slowly.

he lifts one hand to cup the bottom of your chin and leans in. his eyes shut gently and he presses his lips to yours.

he's firm yet gentle, definitely sweet. he's probably kissed people before, but none of that matters when he pulls back and looks into your eyes with the most adoring gaze you've ever seen

ren amamiya

he's been acting strange all week. walking you to and from places, stammering and trailing off his words... hell, he's even been acting fidgety in the metaverse when he usually dons the persona (heh) of the confident joker, leader of the phantom thieves!

eventually, it gets to be so much that you confront him after an excursion to mementos.

as you two are walking back from the subway, you pull him aside.

"hey... is something up? you've been acting weird all week, and i'm getting worried. you know you can tell me anything, right?" you ask.

ren glances aside, not really feeling like being honest. instead, he only mutters, "can we go to my room?" in response.

it makes you start a bit, but you understand the sentiment. he wants to talk alone.

so, you two go to the attic above leblanc and sit down on the edge of his bed. he, once again, starts to fidget.

"what's on your mind, ren?" you ask.

"i just... uh..." ren's lip trembles slightly as he tries to explain. he eventually gives in with a sigh. "we've never, like, kissed, have we?"

you pause. "no...? no, we haven't."

it's a moment before ren responds, smiling. he pushes up his glasses.

"i think we should." wow, okay. smooth ren is back. but he's still a bit of a dork, especially with those glasses.

"like, right now?" "right now. if you want to, that is." "duh i want to, idiot!" you scoot closer to him and smile softly at him, waiting for him to make the first move. he suggested it, after all.

ren moves closer and soon closes the distance with a kiss. his hair tickles your forehead. you kiss back as one of your hands finds its way to hold his, your fingers intertwining.

when he pulls away, he's still smiling, but he isn't trying to hide his blushing cheeks.

"...you're free all evening, right? wanna do that some more?"

a/n: i tried my best! my writing chops for the protags are a bit rusty, but i hope you enjoyed! i tried my best to not fall into tropey pitfalls with these guys (aka trying not to write yu as a chad or w/e)

[lagunapoint]

I finished Vows and Vengeance, and below is a stream of consciousness, thoughts, tears, and spoilers for the podcast. Sit down next to me oh I have so much to tell you

I cried at the end of the podcast. And I was putting off listening to the last episode I didn't want it to end. Silly, right? I got attached to the podcast, to the characters, the atmosphere, to the way I could just disconnect from the world and not use up almost any energy.

I was just sitting there with a cup of chamomile tea, hoping it and the podcast would help me reach nirvana, but instead of peace and the reunion of the main characters, I was wiping away tears and gave up any hope of going to bed early. This is why I love the Dragon Age plots and characters.

And it’s so familiar, that bitter acceptance at the end… when you're wiping away tears but realizing that life goes on? That evil was defeated, but your heart is lying in pieces in the corner? And you just have to move on?

She tried so hard to save him. Nadia. She did everything she could. She learned to accept herself, the people around her, others' care and help. Do you think the Nadia we heard in the first episode would have trusted Lucanis or Emmrich so quickly? Or left him alone to perform the ritual? She deserved happiness. In my metaverse Nadia and Elio were supposed to be together, and Solas spanked. But something went wrong. As always. And I don’t understand. Is there a Solavellan context here, or my rambling become completely incoherent?

Solas is stuck in the Fade. He needs to be saved, right? Lavellan will worry and try to save him. We’re counting on a happy ending.

Nadia's beloved is stuck in the Fade. She worries and tries to save him. And what? He’s dead. She couldn’t save him because he died almost immediately and there was never any hope, to begin with. haha thanks a lot.

I’m trying, trying, I really am trying not to connect things that have no connection. But. But I can't help but stir up this storm inside me and project the story onto Solas and Lavellan. And I'm vibrating and shaking because it’s tearing apart my canon, my heart, and I can’t think about it anymore.

Yes, it was a great story. I want a second season. I want more of these audio dramas. I’m waiting for the game, but I loved listening and doing little rituals before each session, whether it was a cup of tea, a box of chocolates, or a short post here. It was awesome. How about you? :)

[killian-whump]

Okay... so there's a new Colin interview here. It's a joint interview with Rothberg, so be warned of that if he's someone you can't stand. Like all of us. We all can't stand him.

ANYWAY. Moving on. I'm going to put my thoughts about it here, because I have a lot of thoughts - some good, some not-so-good, and I like to share them. Plus, I'm a little bored.

Colin says this about the TSR show: "I love music, I love acting, I love film, and it was an opportunity to get to speak to some really incredible creators and stuff like that, so it was a lot of fun." Which is exactly what I've thought all along - he's in it for the fun of talking to some rock stars about topics he loves. No news there.

He talks more about the interviews and interviewing and the interviewees and... if you're seeing a trend here, I don't think that's on accident. It's obvious this is what Colin's involvement is about. I don't honestly think he could care less about the tech aspects of the project.

Which is why, predictably, as soon as they start talking tech nonsense, they switch to talking to Rothberg. He babbles some bullshit, throwing tech buzzwords around like confetti, then tries to drag Colin into his bullshit by reminding everyone he's a producer on the show: "Having his tutorage, you know, and I've worked in the industry for many years, but his insights into producing is mind-blowing. It was something I was actually shocked to actually see the levels of his knowledge and his foresight, and it has really kept the team going."

Now listen. Being a "producer" on a project can mean anything from nothing to everything, and we don't know where the truth lies - but I don't see Rothberg giving Colin much creative control here at all. Maybe - Maybe - when it comes to the actual interviews and the people/subjects they choose to focus on - you know, the interview stuff Colin's interested in here that Rothberg doesn't seem to give two shits about. But the rest of this project, all the parts we don't like, I highly doubt Colin's leading the team on that front. But nice try at trying to make it sound like he's involved in your tech bro nonsense, Rothberg. Nice try.

And then Colin interrupts Rothberg with, "I only played it down so that he'd say something nice about me. That’s all." Classic Colin being Colin and saying Colin things. But... we also know why he played it down, lol. We know, baby. It's okay. We love you.

So then they start talking about Colin's music career and Rothberg says, "We have very big exciting plans for Colin’s music stuff."

NO YOU DON'T.

BITCH, YOU DON'T.

Don't you touch my baby's music stuff. Don't you even breathe on it. Don't you look at it. It's not for you. I swear to God, if you taint his lovely musical offerings with your money-grubbing douchebag ways, I will hunt you down and do terrible things to you. I'm so upset right now, I cannot even think of terrible things to do to you, but believe me, I will think of them and do them and you will be sorry.

O'Donoghue just laughed, "I’m saying we’ll see. That’s what I’m saying." Oh. Oh, okay. That's Colin-speak for no. Whew. Do not let that man have anything to do with anything he doesn't already have his hands on, Colin.

I need a moment. I need to calm down. Dear God. I need a drink. Maybe a long vacation. I'm too old for this shit.

Anyway, so Rothberg goes on some more about the Metaverse and all these big plans about immersive games and meet-and-greets and a bunch of other things that are on the "roadmap" - a word that basically means nothing in meta-speak, because 95% of the things on it will never, ever happen. Tech bros are basically selling you the idea of things they could do - even though most of them are impossible and/or not financially feasible. He adds, "Of course, there'll be all kinds of wonderful retail opportunities." because of course there will be. If he could get away with it, he'd stick Colin in a box on a street corner and charge people a grand a pop just to look at him.

Then the interview gets to something actually interesting - Once Upon a Time. Even Colin gets visibly interested at this point: 'I also shared that I had purchased a prop from Once Upon a Time a few years ago. It wasn't particularly exciting (Liam Jones' enlistment papers from "Good Form"), but O'Donoghue instantly lit up.' This is why we love this precious cupcake. He wears his heart on his sleeve and when he loves something, you know it.

He takes the interviewer on an adorable tour of the stuff he took from the Once set that I think we're all jealous of. And he goes into what the interviewer calls a "passionate description" about the show and what it means to people and how much it means to him that he was able to be a part of it and... You know what? I'm just gonna say what I already said: When he loves something, you know it.

They talk about the possibility of a reunion (and nothing he says here is indicative of one in the works, so settle yourselves down) and Rothberg chimes in that they could do the reunion in the metaverse and Colin replies, "Or a reunion in the metaverse. But, look, what was great about Once Upon a Time..." which translates to:

Have I mentioned lately that I fucking love him?

The interview continues with more of Colin talking about his experiences on Once and... Look. It's obvious where his heart is and where it isn't - and overall, this is a good and fun interview with Colin, minus the parts where Rothberg and his dumb ideas have any part in what's going on.

And yes, we're going to keep dunking on Rothberg forever, because he's a coward who never once addressed those of us who were speaking out about the n-f-t nonsense for months - but then attacked someone speaking out for the first time because he thought he saw weakness in her that he could exploit and mock. In doing so, he exposed himself as an ableist asshole to us all, and I have no respect whatsoever for him. Also, you fuck with one of us, you fuck with all of us. We don't put up with bullies in this fandom.

But we sure do love Colin, and that hasn't changed.

And this project is all about using Colin's likeability, Once's popularity, and Colin's already-existing fanbase to prop up and fund Rothberg's tech bro fantasies. That hasn't changed, either.

But Colin knows what's up. We know what's up. We can enjoy the Colin goodness where it shines through and toss the rest.

[godbirdart]

; w; Sorry saw you reblogged that post about neopets making the rounds and as a long time Neopets player I'm trying my best to combat the spreading of misinfo. Feel free to ignore this!

we did NOT ditch the NFT bros on neopets, the head of the NFT project bought the site from Jumpstart and while the neopets metaverse project has been cancelled they only said there's "No Current Plans" when asked if they were still going to make NFTs/Crypto. The team behind the metaverse project also had huge issues with bigotry.

While the neopets team did state they would have more freedom and control they've made plenty of false promises and themselves spread misinformation about the NFT project in the past. We're not out of the woods yet I'm afraid.

oh sure they're still offering support for the digital collectibles that are already out there. they won't shut down any of their NFT projects abruptly cold-turkey. i don't think anyone really expected them to, either.

still though, according to the email update they are transitioning away from metaverse at the very least;

sure they don't expressly state there won't be any NFTs at all but i think it's still a W that they're moving away from metaverse and crypto bs. ik we've been burned by TNT before but any step away from crypto/NFTs/meta should still be encouraged and met with loud, positive reception. they're goin through a major transitional phase and this is a pivotal opportunity to say: [this] is what we, the userbase / fans, want.

not waving off the bigotry issue either i just haven't kept up with TNT / neo and don't know much of what's been going on so i really can't say much on it.

[frickin-sumi-from-persona-5]

i need to get p5r post-canon headcanons (some of these aren't really headcanons they're just me making my own b plots lmao) off my chest. i finished royal last night and i have so much i wanna talk about. its headcanon dump time i guess

(obviously huge spoilers for persona 5 royal)

fyi- these are all super unorganized and some of them don't make a lot of sense without the others. Sorry this is a mess lmao i just wanted to throw my thoughts out there.

also! i named my mc Ren

- akechi didn't die that's not canon. when the wish star thingy turned mona into a helicopter it did so because of ren wishing hard enough for all his friends to be safe. this extends to akechi & maruki and both of them made it out alive

- when he goes into the velvet room after grabbing maruki, ren thinks akechi geniunely did die and starts having a full on breakdown and then akechi just says something to the effect of "you never change" and ren turns around to see akechi leaning against the wall in the velvet room and ren is relieved

- meanwhile akechi is just like "well. i'm alive and i have to accept the consequences of my actions long term now. what the fuck. i hate this guy" but is secretely happy ren cared that much

(fwiw i ship ren/sumi/akechi as a poly trio but they aren't together as of the end of royal, just ren/sumi with akechi kinda third wheeling from time to time)

- after maruki's palace, he still has azathoth as his persona but decides to discontinue any further research.

- on that note, the metaverse wasn't erased. lavenza hand waved that well enough the first time. it takes a little bit for it to get back to normal though. the new path in mementos is still there and mementos just kinda changes gradually over time anyhow

- ren actually did let maruki go through with his plan originally, but lavenza was able to help him go back and make the right choice. because of this ren deeply wants to see a future where him and all his friends are alive and happy

- after the battle with maruki he begs sojiro to let him stay at leblanc and sojiro really does try but ultimately joker has to leave

- Akechi being revived after everything went to normal means he's basically homeless, ren makes sojiro reluctantly agree to let Akechi stay in the attic.

- Akechi has to work at the cafe at first but he can't make coffee for shit so Sojiro just lets him off the hook.

- Ren is heartbroken on his return to his hometown (somewhere close to but not specifically Inaba, maybe Okina?)

- Futaba and Sojiro make a good case for him to come back, and Shujin academy actually backs this up because of his performance last year (also Kawakami)

- after a few months away Ren moves back to youngen. The metaverse has kinda settled and it's back to normal, and the phantom theives resume business as usual

- im. basically just writing fanfic here lmao

- Haru and Makoto move in together to save on costs. Is this gay? time will tell

- Ryuji transfers to a different school due to the move but still hangs out with the gang

- Ann does study abroad after all, and she's sad to go but she wishes the theives luck from wherever she goes (maybe Los Angeles?)

- Haru keeping Okumura foods never happened either. She was able to mostly dissipate the company in an effort to try to distribute the wealth better. Of course, this didn't actually work completely and there are still many powerful ex-okumura foods executives out there, but Haru is happy she did her part.

- Around the time or Ren returning, the phantom theives go through a big transformation of trying to determine their values (as well as who they are).

- Ren makes Akechi stay around with the phantom theives and the entire team kinda hates him except Ren and Sumi, although eventually people start warming up to him.

- Ren convinces the Phantom Theives to let Akechi stay around because he thinks that the phantom theives of all people should believe in letting people change. They agree on the condition that they check if Akechi has a palace. He doesn't and so he stays around. He does come to geniunely regret his actions and tries and makes up for them.

- After spending YEARS not dare letting anyone see any flaws with him, Akechi becomes just kinda burnt out. He's just a pathetic little failboy now and he knows it and hates himself for it. He's not good at asking for help

- Also Akechi 100% has some kind of trauma disorder/personality disorder. I don't know too much about it but from what I know i wanna say i headcanon akechi with npd

- ren is transmasc. there's not much of an in-universe explanation that would make sense here but he's trans. he has tboy swag.

- ren is kinda fucked up but has grown used to the horrors(tm) and doesn't give a fuck anymore.

- there's no good headcanon i can make with ryuji. like he's just a guy and we love him for it

- ann absolutely has a crush on shiho and i ship them. ann thinks she's "just an ally lol" until one day it hits her and she's like. oh. i'm gay.

- yusuke is probably bi or something. you cannot tell me he doesn't like men in some capacity. actually wait maybe he's aro/ace spec. i don't even know with him i just think my man's funky.

- also yusuke is 100% autistic. i think most of the phantom theives are kinda neurodivergent in some way, but Yusuke & Futaba stand out as being the Autistics of the bunch(tm)

- Makoto wanted to be a police commissioner but kinda comes to the realisation that won't do anything so she kinda just has a crisis. Both hee and Haru spent their lives accepting oppressive systems and they're kinda just recoiling at what they'll do now.

- Futaba doesn't make any new friends in school but she's happy things are back to normal. She's in the same class as Sumire.

- Haru has no idea what to study in college and neither does Makoto. She ends up taking Psychology and Makoto ends up taking intro to law even though neither of them are sure what they want for the future.

- Akechi ultimately resigns from going to school but helps Ren & Sumi out with homework when they ask

- Sumire and Futaba get Kawakami's class as their homeroom. Futaba calls Kawakami a "milf" and it annoys Sumi. Futaba knows it annoys her and she does it on purpose.

- Sumire is trans. Kasumi isn't. Sumire looked up to her sister and wanted to be a girl so when she finally got the chance to be someone she looked up to and erase her guilt of course she took it. A big part of the reason why she didn't want to stop being Kasumi was gender dysphoria. Sumire wasn't her name prior to this I can only assume she had a deadname. Maybe she chooses Sumire to honor her sister.

- Hifumi becomes a phantom theif eventually. I've speculated about this too much and now I want it to be real.

- Akechi and Sumi have a showtime attack. I'm not sure exactly what It would entail but I can picture Akechi saying something like "I can be elegant when I want to"

- After Hereward forms, Akechi is no longer a wild card. As Akechi grows and recovers as a person, his metaverse outfit changes, and eventually it looks like something along the lines of his White Suit, but with a different color palette. The top mask part of his helmet/mask is the only part that sticks around, now my boy has his hair out and can breathe (and take off his mask dramatically like the theater kid he is)

- The Royal Trio probably become a proper trio like sometime in the early fall (after ren comes back to yongen). Akechi and Sumi are initially very jealous of the time they spend with Ren but come to realise that the time spent with the three of them is the time that matters most of all.

- The Phantom theives ultimately decide that because of the money and treasure they get from Infiltrating Mementos/Palaces, most of them don't need jobs. They spend their money cautiously so they don't like. Fuck up the economy and/or tip off law enforcement.

- Eventually members who were undecided with their lives ultimately resolve to be one of the phantom theives and just do that full time. Sumi, Yusuke, and Ann are exceptions right now, with Sumi chasing her dreams to be a Professional Gymnast. Somewhere much later down the road I think the phantom theives decide to follow these goals as a team. Sumi and Ann traveling for work could probably make a great cover for the Phantom Theives.

(although i'm not thinking about their characters beyond ren graduating high school. this is more their POV and what they aspire to do for the future)

- I imagine the phantom Theives kinda just become like Tokyo's superheroes in that they have threats come up from time to time and just kinda deal with it as necessary

- People can talk to their personas at any time, but can only summon them in the metaverse. A lot of Personas have things to say throughout the day that they make some commentary on. Most of them are fairly reliable for advice, but don't technically know any more than the person they're apart of.

- Joker is a bit of an exception to this rule, due to having more than one Persona. If he wants to talk to them he kinda has to tap into his mind and see them all. It's not particularly difficult it just requires a little bit of focus, and there's usually not much of a reason to do it.

- Also his personas manifest physically in the velvet room as well.

- At a certain point Mona just kinda comes into the velvet room too and just fucks around while joker is working his ass off to fuse the most overpowered persona

- i don't really know anything about strikers but quite frankly if i ever get around to playing it i'm gonna disregard half of it as not canon and then just take the most important story elements and also sophie and just incorporate it into my perception of persona 5

- Maruki considers teaming up with the Phantom Theives, and ultimately decides against it, although he helps them out every now and again.

- Personal favorite. Maruki was able to manipulate mementos to his will and create a whole new path, and The Phantom theives are curious in seeing if they can do the same thing. After a bit of work, they end up creating a safe room that takes on the appearance of theives den. This has the effect of the cognition believing the Phantom Theives are safe and out of the way, making it easier for them to slip by the radar.

- If Futaba is ever really busy Lavenza subs in for her and does the navigating.

It's kinda funny how canon-divergent all of this is. Because I'm normally someone who religiously sticks to canon and doesn't like it when fanworks stray too far from the established canon. That said, Persona 5's ending felt kinda sad and I want some copium. not me casually rewriting their reality in my mind the day after beating dr maruki

anyhow now i gotta play strikers :3

[insomniac-astronomer]

Strange Situation: Episode 2 - First Morning

Series Masterlist

WARNINGS: none!

Description: The young avengers are living in an apartment together. However, they have no idea that each other are superheroes. They begin making ridiculous excuses for their injuries and being out late.

America's POV

I wake up to the sun shining through the blinds on my new window. My heart feels very accomplished this morning. I got to wake up in my bed in my apartment. I finally have a home.

Running through the metaverse is great, but I'm tried of trying to find the ones with free hotels every night.

Suddenly, something in the sunlight catches my attention. It almost blends right into the brightness, but there is a different way it shimmers.

It is long and a silvery-white see-through wisp of . . . air?

For a moment, I can't look away. My eyes are glued to its strange shine. My whole body feels warm and relaxed.

It starts drifting toward me-

BANG!

"Ow, shit!" Kate yells from somewhere. My eyes dart to the door, then back to where the wisp was a second ago, but it is gone.

I take a breath and shake my head. I must be imagining things.

Kamala's POV

I am awoken by a loud bang from outside my room. I groan and roll over to my side, but a slit of sun smacks me right in the eyes.

"Ugghh," I turn to the other side, no longer feeling tired.

Cassie's POV

I was in the middle of stashing my Stature suit under a pile of clothes in the closet when I hear a loud bang, causing me to jump backward and slam my head against the closet door.

I blink away the couple of tears that came to my eyes and walk to the kitchen.

"You good?" I ask, seeing Kate with a scattering of trays around her feet.

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine." She angrily kicks a tray. "I was trying to make breakfast for everyone and instead I woke them all up."

"Nah, I was already awake." I give her a comforting smile. She shares one back.

"So . . ." Kate purses her lips and clicks her tongue. "How'd you sleep last night?"

Oh, you know, just vivid dreams of the Quantum Realm, nothing too spectacular. "Pretty alright, you?"

"Yeah, these mattresses are comfy, right?"

"For sure, comfier than the one I had at home actually." I brought my own mattress and traded out the one that came in with the apartment, but she is clearly struggling to find a topic.

"Yeah, it was crazy. Haven't been that comfy since the mattresses as my fifth grade getaway camp." She laughs and almost drops the pan she's trying to fit in a cabinet.

"Yep, great mattresses." Oooookay, this is going well. I don't think I've ever talked about mattresses more in my life. "Sooo, what do you do for a living?"

"What?" She turns around, very alarmed.

"Sorry, if that's . . . not okay to ask."

"Oh, no. No, sorry, just caught me off guard. I, um, just got expelled from college so . . . undecided." Kate awkwardly shuts the cabinet and turns to face me. "You?"

"I work at a little coffee shop a bus ride away." I give her a smile, trying to help her feel more comfortable.

I hear footsteps from behind me and turn to see . . . America, I think, entering the room. She looks lost in thought.

"Good morning!" Kate says brightly.

"Huh?" America snaps back. "Oh, morning."

Great first morning.

Kamala's POV

As I'm struggling to find a matching outfit within the what seems like hundreds of moving bags to go through, I realize I forgot to put my bangle on.

I hop back up on my bed and reach under my second pillow to grab—my bangle? Where is it?

Shit.

First day and I already lost the one most important thing I needed not to lose. I frantically look through bags until I find it hidden under a box of poptarts in one of my food bags, right where I put it. And then promptly forgot.

I step out of my room with my toothbrush, headed for the bathroom when I hear the front door unlocked. I'm nothing if not nosey so I have to go see who is leaving already.

To my surprise, a confused looking boy is standing in the doorway, holding a backpack.

"Um, maybe I got the wrong apartment?" He mumbles to the four pairs of women's eyes staring him down.

"Yeah, uh, our other roommate is supposed to be a . . . Petra I think." Kate looks around for confirmation.

"Oh, um, okay. Bye." He shuts the door.

We look at each other for a moment.

The door reopens.

"Okay the landlord gave me a key that works on this door. Maybe it was a typo? I'm Peter." He fiddles with the key.

"Oh, okay." Cassie says warmly. "You can come in."

"Well," he freezes, "if you're not comfortable living with a guy . . . I didn't know who I'd be living with . . . it was last minute and—"

"Hey," Cassie smiles. "It's all good. We don't bite."

"Yet." America says from a dark corner of the room.

We look at her.

"Sorry, bad joke." She smiles sheepishly.

". . . Okay then. Um, sorry." Peter walks in. "I'm Peter."

"Hi Peter, I'm Cassie." Cassie is already such the mom of the apartment.

"I'm Kamala." I smile.

"Kate." She awkwardly waves.

"I'm America." She emerges from the shadows and shakes his hand.

"Well." Cassie claps her hands together to get our attention. "Now that we're all here, I propose we go to dinner tonight to get to know each other."

There are a few vague head nods, so I say "yeah, that sounds okay."

"Great!" She smiles. "We'll go a five then."

This is going to be a long lease.

Buy me a coffee?

I need ideas lovely readers. I would love comments on some events you would like to see happen in future episodes!

[startgamc]

@gyokushou

"My apologies again for the inconvenience." Their meetup had been cut short by how recognizable he was. It was rather annoying that he found himself watching his back outside of the metaverse too. Togo was the leader of the Phantom Thieves from what he'd deduced already, and he was trying to extract what information he could out of her...

But heaven forbid that any of his fans see him spending any amount of time with a member of the opposite sex.

As if he had time for such frivolous activities anyway... "I appreciate you agreeing to move our conversation somewhere away from prying eyes. My fans can get rather jealous, I'm afraid, and I would hate for that to come back to you."

[moodymeangirl]

also something that is hard about choosing to be more present is feeling everything constantly. lately, we're disassociating/shifting between alters seemingly day to day. some people, esp Merri who was hurt bad this year, are missing from the front a lot more. sometimes i feel her in my control room, hanging out while i front (which is nice i love her). but she's weakened and needs time to heal. it's basically just been me ( @mmgdaisy )and @mmgbump lately. and the occasional jump forward by @mmgemma , @cuntghost , or The Maintainer (who doesn't blog). @mmgnexgenn and @mmgdead r also a lil more close to the front than usual. but @mmgmeredith , @mmgmarcus are way less around. which ik seems like not huge but both of them had been deeply involved on managing the fronting. Merri was, along w me and Bump, one of 3 main fronters. And Marcus (they/he) had previously been around in the control room to help Bump w processing emotions while she fronts, which is crucial because her anxiety is so intense. Maybe I'm so tired bc I'm doing my shift and parts of her shift. I'm also trying to make space for Merri to appear / heal. I think that's why Emma and Maintainer and even CuntGhost have been helping w tasks from the front. Fuck even DeadEmma came forward and helped process some emotions (that's wild bc she's like years dead from grief and heartbreak*.) And like, all this was a result of emotional upheavals, not the recent change away from feeling numb.

The change away from numbness Has increased the brains switching and dissociative states, and destabilised our pattern. We're unable to numb out the feelings from any angle:

The malaise of how the world is and has been, the melancholy of lesbian and otherwise romantic loneliness, the shame and guilt of trying my best to pray on time, the adhd stress of all tasks, the cptsd stress of deliberately entering a growth stage in spite of symptoms worsening, the autistic stress of having black n white thinking so vivid i can't physically see sometimes, the identity stress of feeling like if I just consume better ill be a fixed identity**. And much much more probably.

I didn't know how much feeling we were managing thru suppression and hiding behind the lil dopamine hits on the doomscroll. A lot, it turns out. I'm so, so glad to be deliberately moving away from numbing, defining, and living inside the instagram app. Soooo glad to be actively making efforts to re-install my sleep hygiene coding. Proud that @mmgbump and I recognised we couldn't get to sleep without our phone any more. Glad we happened to leave our phone at Jambo's 11 days ago, and that we embraced those circumstances. That we felt what freedom from the metaverse is actually like and immediately knew we our normal needed to be separated from it.

I'm pround that inside those 10 days, we've suddenly been capable of our best most frequent praying habits, we've eaten more veggies than we have all year, and despite feeling more intense uncertainties, our existential anxiety has disappeared. We r doing the work. We are also doing the existing and we are doing the loving life and people.

It's just that going from a created comfort zone of numbing and suppression into a better world of complete feeling stays hurting. I am constantly scared and emotionally in pain, which is significantly disabling for a brain that is a DID system and also has cptsd, plus other disabling conditions.

**something i do not want. i want system. but as much as it's also a blessing and the joy of all joys - truly my soul sings - like living in this Dunya with any disabiliy, every single difference makes daily life socially and emotionally terrifying.

*and no, idk how she's here if she's dead. maybe cos there's all of us she needs to wait till Allah takes us all ie something to do with soul and brain being tied to the dunya still, maybe she's just an imprint, maybe she's more zombie than ghost idk.

[the-silver-peahen-residence]

~~Blazing Blitz's Palace/Metaverse~~

"Combine them huh? Hmmm..that should work but we gotta be sure they count. Judging from how Oblivion sounds, were running out of time." Skull was worried as Fox and Morgan goes to see if she was alright but the bloating was swelling or getting dark as they look seeing Blitz shaking her head.

"Tch, you little idiots..why can't you just learn to not meddle in something that don't involve you. Just hand her over and I might not think of killing you." she warns.

"Fat chance lady! You're not getting our friend." Skull said seeing captain kidd fire at her but she sighs to deflect the attack hitting the wall.

"You....really are starting to annoy me!" she said having the tendrils fire at him as two stabs Skull's shoulder and leg as he winces.

"Skull!" Fox quickly goes to cut the tendrils as she winces to pull them back while Skull was wincing shaking his head.

"I'm good, I'm good.." he said wincing with one eye but he was fine.

~~ADA Office/yokohoma~~

"She seriously shorten the time. Shit, we got two minutes in counting now.." Dazai was worried seeing this but he saw the flashing gun fire and hearing some things slashing. Seems both Hellmare and Yoshihiro was trying to keep the main computer safe while Fosh worked. Their was more noises before hearing something crashing while seeing another dim light. Wait, was that a fire!?

"Those stupid things are trying to cause a fire..." Dazai heard Yoshihiro's voice as he slashes the flames with his blade covered in water but saw more parasites appearing or some falling on the ground while some was screeching even louder to try attacking Hellmare. Yoshihiro quickly cuts the parasite in half panting to see it squirming on the ground.

~~Real world~~

Blitz was tried, angry, and annoyed as she was limping to get into town. If she can find a spot to hide, she can head into the metaverse again. She didn't know of her blood trail but their was not many out because of this but she was angry while limping. More blood leaves her but she was panting. She wanted to murder the others for this. Her plans being ruined but she only remembers Iron Titan but he still was always too hardheaded for his own good.

As she gets near, she winces to look around while trying to see some of the parasites moving to try covering the wounds and heal her.

"Tch..I guess it can't be helped..I'll just have to make everyone suffer for ruining my plains. I am so close..I just need to...find a way to get back at them....well..no matter. I already have a back up plan I just need to get away from this damn crash site."

~~Blazing Blitz’s Palace/Metaverse~~

She giggled still shoving them back but looks to have some try and grab Oblivion. Right away, Skull hits the goo away from her using a metal bat but he was looking seeing the guys fighting them off from grabbing her.

“I know! We need to find a way to get through those trendils of hers. It’s keep us away from even getting close to her.” He said. He could have their other personas summoned but seeing how their own was being distracted was a little hard.

Now that was the real question: Working together.

The boys then heard what Gerald said. “Team attacks?” they said. As Blitz was about to attack, she winces from a sudden pain. The hell? She held her head but had a feeling something happened in the real world.

Keep reading

[trrickytickle]

Two Can Play At That Game (gift for @toweroftickles)

Fandom: Ready Player One, lee!Art3mis, ler!Parzival

A/N:  (Reimagining of the scene where Art3mis scares Parzival with a Xenomorph arm)

2ND GIFT hope u enjoyyy. have we talked about ready player one BECAUSE WE NEED TO TALK ABT READY PLAYER ONE MY LOVE FOR THIS MOVIE WOULD HAVE EXPLODED OUR DMS I LOVE EVERYTHING ABT IT it may be a bad movie by others’ standards but i think with the themes of dystopia the product placement was done right. anyways enough of that, MEERRRRRRYYYYYYYY CRISIS i lov parzival x artemis. idk y but i think that both them and halliday r autistic lol i might elaborate but it isnt anything serious just something i notied in them behaviorially ANYWAYS hope u like im so grateful for u

The life of a Gunter was as hard as it looked. To find the keys, for one, would require the infinite knowledge of Halliday's inner workings- which were comparatively easy to find in the age of the OASIS.

Halliday Journals- OASIS' Library of Alexandria, the sole source of such information wasn't like any of the other mind-bending zones of this virtual metaverse, such as a replica of Pandora from that movie way back then, to stranger things such as an exact replica of the Tower of Babel chock full of people seemingly ...tickling each other. No matter how quaint, these locations were the brainchild of the very person Wade Watts-or as he was known here- Parzival- was most grateful for.

But he didn't expect.. all this. Even after his rise to fame when he found that first key.

"Hey, it's Parzival!" A Beetlejuice suit-clad man, as rotund as his inspiration pointed, causing a stampede of avatars, all inspired by his endeavors to crowd around him for some words of wisdom or a quick photo-op. The shutters blinded him while some avatars on the shorter side leaped up for a closer shot. That wasn't all. Using their set of four arms, a Goro lookalike rammed through the crowd and rudely pushed the others away with a mighty roar, jostling Parzival aggressively.

"You're famous now! You can't- just go- wherever- you want!" "Goro" yelled, pulling Parzival away with all the strength he could muster (which was a lot).

"No-no-no-no-no- I-" he tried to bargain to no avail as he was dragged into a secret opening planted in the wall. Green Tron lines provided atmosphere as the two stood face-to-face.

"Huh?"

"Goro" sneered and snarled, then look down to see something  moving in his chest, like a baby kicking its leg out. His stomach rumbled, and out came- an honest-to-goodness Xenomorph, screaming at Parzival's blue tinted face.

"GAH!" He jumped as it lunged straight at him with a snarl straight out of the movie. It retracted, noshing at "Goro's" skin by snipping it like a pair of scissors till there was no piece of Shokan in sight...

Well, maybe that Xenomorph wasn't so honest. Art3mis taunted him, playing with the once horrific alien parasite like a sock puppet., chomping its jaws together. With an uncharacteristic sternness, Parzival yanked the bloody puppet off her hand while she was already buckling down in sweet and melodious laughter.

"Haha- ha-haha-ha!"

"That is.. That is not funny!" Parzival attempted a rebuttal. Art3mis was predictably still in stitches, holding her stomach as she chuckled deeply. While the spunky streamer cooled down from her giggle-fit, he had an uncharacteristicly shit-eating grin smack-dab on his face like an anime character with a band-aid on their nose trying to look cool.

"But this is!" He swiped through his inventory, eager to find a fitting rebuttal and landing on a set of eight mechanical tentacles identical to the ones Doc Ock had worn in the 2004 movies, using one of four mechanical tendrils to grasp Art3mis by her jacket.

"Hello, Art3mis.." Parzival teased, poking at her already exposed sides to rub it in. To his suprise, she squeaked gingerly.

Like adding salt to a wound, he joked-

 "Oh, so you're a ticklish one, huh?"

"No- I'm- Fine. Have it your way."

Art3mis could only look away in embarrasment as he drummed his fingers against her sides continuously, then spidering them onto her tummy as he shook her around with the prehensile arms. That trip to Avatar Outfitters was pricey- but her reactions were worth just as much as the Zemekis cube.

"Ah-hehehehe-heeee! I-hi-hi'm ticklish, you got me!" She scissor-kicked the air to no avail, while she was a grasp from the mechanical arm away from falling.

"Oh, but I didn't get you good enough yet!" Parzival's grin was contagious- well, he was tickling her. Moving one of the tentacles down like Art3mis was a stuffed bear in a claw machine, he tazed his fingers into her armpits, causing her to squeal.

"EEEE-ahaha, yohohou should be glahad this is s-AAAAH!-soundproof!" she yelped, as Parzival played around in her worst spot.

"Soundproof, you say? So you don’t mind if I go heeere-” he smirked, poking around at Art3mis’ stomach, massaging it with prods of his fingers, even going up to poke each individual rib. 

“Yohohou’re mean! Ihihi- lihihisten! I have something to tell you!” With the notion of information, Parzival relinquished his grasp, and the item back into his inventory, and Artemis had a moment to catch her breath. 

“*huff* *huff* I-hehe- I deserved that.” She smiled,a glint in her heart that enjoyed Parzival’s playful flirting. “Well- You’re the Parzival now. You’re famous, you need to have a disguise.”

In that moment, Parzival realized two things- she was absolutely right, and that Art3mis was truly the most beautiful living thing within the walls of OASIS’ HD display. 

[dragondemoness]

Please do part 3 of Jack Frost request on the day the phantom thieves sent the calling card Jack Frost accidentally found skill card psiodyne on joker bag during the boss fight with mariko shadow the phantom thieves are having a really hard time then they thought they gonna be defeated Jack appear and full of bravery he attack shadow mariko with psiodyne saying after very attack hee ho that for yelling at me that for making me and my fiends frost almost pass out and that for hurting my dads

I have to say, I'm having way too much fun with this series~ I hope we can do a part four

Our Little Buddy - Ryuji Sakamato x Male Reader Part Three

It had been a day since your last encounter with Mariko Hyodo. 

Since then, you and Ryuji made sure to keep Jack Sakamato (Last Name) away from her. Nothing was gonna upset your little buddy on your watch.

Now you had the calling card written, and all that was left to do was post it. While that was being done, you and Ryuji took Jack on a walk, wanting to give him some fresh air.

It was late at night, so nobody else was around. While you were walking, Jack found an empty card on the ground.

"Ho?" He tilted his head, curious.

He had seen Joker give these cards to Yusuke, and he could apparently make these cards useful.

So after returning to the camper, he gave the card to Yusuke.

Yusuke took the card from him and inspected it.

"Ah, I see. Where did you find this, little one?"

Jack pointed to one of the windows.

"Out there, ho!"

Yusuke nodded.

"I see. Well, it may not be from the Metaverse, but I should still be able to make something with this. I will have it to you tomorrow."

Jack nodded and thanked him before heading back to his spot in the cooler and going to sleep.

Next morning, it was go time.

The calling card had been posted, and now it was time to enter the jail

Yusuke gave Jack the card he had found, now containing the powerful Psi move Psiodyne

Jack hadn't told you or Ryuji that he had found it, wanting to save it for a later date 

He wasn't sure why, but he felt like he needed it for something

When the Phantom Thieves entered the Jail, Jack walked alongside you and waited while you fought your battles

He still didn't want to attack his former fellow Shadows

He understood them, after all

After all was said and done, the Phantom Thieves arrived at Mariko Hyodo's castle

Jack felt disturbed at seeing his former boss again

You could detect his fear, and kept your hand on his shoulder to help calm him down

Eventually, Hyodo grew irritated with the Phantom Thieves trying to reason with her, and her shadow grew into a larger, even more disturbing one

Now, it was time for battle

It had been almost half an hour, and you had gotten nowhere.

Every time Hyodo swallowed someone, you dropped a chandelier on her and made her spit them back out, only for her to swallow someone else again.

Eventually, you ran out of chandeliers.

Haru's Persona was the most effective in causing damage, but her Persona was well out of energy, as were the others.

You and Ryuji tried to tag-team her, but you both only ended up tired and hurt.

Hyodo's shadow laughed tauntingly at you and your fallen comrades.

"Come on! Is that all you can do?! You're all so weak!"

Haru winced at her words, hating what had become of her old friend.

Jack seemed to have the same reaction, remembering what she had said to him and his former fellow shadows.

He looked at you and Ryuji, supporting each other to the best of your ability.

He hated to see his new family hurt, especially the two of you.

He knew he could stand by and watch no longer.

He reached into your bag and took out his Psiodyne card.

Now was the time, and he used it and learned the move. 

As Hyodo prepared to finish you and your friends off, Jack ran up to her and used his new move.

It was incredibly effective, and it caused a great deal of damage to Hyodo's shadow.

She recoiled, and she faced him with an angry glare.

"Well, well. If it isn't the absolute failure of an employee that once worked for me. You couldn't do your job right back then, but you can now, for this sad little group of thieves? How pathe-"

Jack cut her off with another Psiodyne attack.

"Hee! Shut up, ho!"

He landed another attack, and another.

"Hee! That's for yelling at me every day, ho! That's for hurting my friends, hee!"

And he landed another one, hard on Hyodo's face.

"And that's for hurting my dads, ho!"

You and Ryuji exchanged a proud look.

You watched your little buddy, happy to see how far he had come.

Jack kept attacking Hyodo until eventually, she collapsed, and returned to her original Ursula-lookalike form.  

You stood up and ran over to Jack Sakamato (Last Name) and gave him a big hug.

"Jack! I'm so proud of you! You did an amazing job!"

Jack looked up at you.

"I did, ho?"

Ryuji joined you and ruffled Jack's hat.

"Hell yeah, little guy! You really kicked that ugly hag's ass!"

Haru stood up and gave him an uncomfortable look.

"Um, please don't call her an ugly hag... But you did amazing, Jack!"

Your fellow Phantom Thieves also stood up and congratulated Jack.

"Hm. I see you made good use of that card. Well done," Yusuke said with a smile.

Jack smiled widely and jumped on you.

Never in his life had he ever felt so important, so significant.

Now that Hyodo was down for the count, you, Haru and your fellow Phantom Thieves finally got her to listen to reason.

She finally admitted her wrongdoings, and took her crown off her head.

She turned to Jack and weakly smiled.

"And you, little one... I'm deeply sorry for all hardships I've caused you. You truly are a brave little soldier. I do hope you can forgive me."

Jack looked up at her in shock for a moment, before nodding with a smile.

"Hee! No hard feelings, ho!"

You and Ryuji smiled at each other, proud at how far your little buddy has come.

With Joker and the Phantom Thieves, you retrieved the Desires and exited the Jail, happy to put yet another mess behind you.

After arriving back to Sapporo, you watched Hyodo's apology speech with the rest of the Phantom Thieves.

In the middle of it, you realized something that was bugging you.

"Jack, where did you get that Psiodyne card, anyway?"

Jack thought for a moment before he looked up at you.

"Hee, found a card on the ground, ho! Mr. Yusuke made it for me, ho!"

Yusuke nodded proudly.

"It was an honor to use my artistic talent to assist in our otherworldly adventures once again!"

You sweatdropped at that.

"Right... Thank you, Yusuke."

Then you remembered something; the Sapporo Jail hadn't disappeared. So Jack Sakamato (Last Name) could go back in if he wanted to.

You dreaded to ask him, but you loved him, and would support anything he wanted to do.

Ryuji seemed to sense your anxiety, and rested a reassuring hand on your shoulder.

You cleared your throat before speaking.

"So Jack... The Sapporo Jail is still intact. With Hyodo gone, you can go back and live with your old friends, right?" 

Jack's eyes widened for a moment.

"Ho?"

"I-I'm just saying, if that was something you wanted to do... I'm not stopping you."

Jack looked away for a second, before throwing himself against your side while laughing.

"Hee hee, don't be silly, ho! Jack wants to stay with his dads and his new friends, ho! Jack would never leave family behind!"

You couldn't say how happy you were to hear that. You smiled widely and lifted your little boy into your lap and hugged him tightly.

"Hee! I love my dads, ho!"

You chuckled and patted his head.

"I love you too, Jack. My little buddy."

Ryuji flashed a grin and patted him on the back.

"Yeah, I love ya too, bud. I'm real glad you decided to stick around."

You smiled as Hyodo finished her speech, solidifying that the Jail infiltration was successful.

You planned to tell the Phantom Thieves about Jack's experience with Mariko Hyodo, but decided to wait for the right moment.

You weren't sure what the future held, but you couldn't be more glad your little buddy would be a part of it.

[nexttrickanvils]

Ryuji and Akira Misc 3?

I'M SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONG! ;_;

And I'm sorry this is kinda dumb but then again with the prompt: "I think I just ripped my pants" I guess there was no other way. 🤷‍♀️

---------

“Hey where’s Skull?”

“What do you mean where’s Sk…”

But Joker’s question was dropped when he looked behind him and realized only Panther, Mona, and Fox stood before him.

“He was just…”

“Perhaps he’s still upstairs and didn’t hear you announce that we were moving on?” Fox suggested

Joker sighed and looked at Mona.

“Mona, go ahead and transform. Panther, Fox, you two stay in the van. I’ll go up and check for Skull.”

They all nodded and Joker made his way back up.

He couldn’t help but worry a bit, he liked to think they were all adjusting well to the whole Metaverse thing but then again sometimes there were… blanks in Mona’s memory that could be concerning.

Thankfully when he arrived on the floor above, Joker immediately spotted Skull sitting on the bench looking no worse for wear. Though he could hear him mumbling to himself…

“Dammit I can’t believe this shit. What am I supposed to d-”

“Skull?”

“EFF!”

Joker winced as Skull practically jumped off the bench in surprise.

“O-oh, it’s just you man. Save that ninja thing for shadows, dude. I don’t think my heart can take it.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” Joker said as he chuckled

“With that said, are you alright? Why didn’t you follow us downstairs?”

Skull then suddenly turned red and looked away from Joker.

“I-it’s stupid.”

“You’re not hurt then?”

“Nothing but my pride.”

“Then what’s the problem?”

Skull hissed and put his head in his hand as it looked like he was trying to figure out the best way to explain this.

“...I think I ripped my pants.”

A silence fell between the two and Skull just kept getting redder and redder.

“Dude please just say something and put me outta my misery. Dammit this is why I stick with baggy clothes!”

“Are you sure?”

“Eh?”

“About the rip because I don’t see anything…”

Skull frowned, “I. Felt it, man! But if you don’t believe me, I’ll sho-”

As he turned around and tried to feel for the rip, Skull realized that his pants had seemed to fix themselves like magic… or

“...Wait what did Mona say about these clothes again?”

“That they’re our cognition’s view of a rebel. In other words…”

“Technically not real…”

Once again silence fell between the two young men but this time, Joker was the one to break it with raucous laughter.

“Sh-shut up, you asshole! I forgot okay!? I was too busy worrying about accidently flashing my underwear at Panther and Fox. And you know that damn cat would have had some stupid comment.”

“Ha hahaha, okay, okay. Let’s head back, Skull. Your secret’s safe with me.”

“It better be, you jerk or else the pants ain’t gonna be the only thing I’m ripping.”

The two came down and reunited with their team. With Joker reassuring the others that Skull was okay.

However the rest of the Mementos run didn’t last long due to Joker occasionally breaking into fits of giggles and Skull getting weirdly angry to everyone else’s confusion.

[mistresseast]

can you explain in more detail why you think the PT weren't good friends for akiren? i'm not asking out of hate or to start drama, i just never interpreted things that way and i'm genuinely curious. i don't think them being brainwashed by maruki makes them "bad friends", but i don't know if that's what you meant either. i'd love to read a proper explanation on this that isn't just people arguing in the notes of that post.

Hi! Yeah, I know the ~discourse~ climate is pretty touchy and not a good place to exchange ideas, so I’ll do my best to put my thoughts on this matter into words. 

Settle in, bc this one is long.

I’ll start off by saying I don’t dislike the PT, nor do I think they’re bad people, and honestly I think they love Joker a lot! Ryuji calling Akira after his fake death and talking about how his ideas on what makes a hero have changed because of Akira genuinely makes me emotional, along with dozens of other scenes with the thieves! They’re good kids who could be really good friends to Akira but that’s not what’s shown in the game. I don’t think it’s controversial to say Akira’s relationships with all of his friends are transactional. That’s kind of the point, all of his confidants arise out of deals, give and take, and in the metanarrative of the game, that’s how it works. You as the player help these characters solve their problems, and through ranking their confidants up, you get access to more gameplay perks. So it’s pretty even!! But like,,Akira, the character, isn’t the player. There’s no in-story mechanic by which he can cash in friendship points for being-good-at-killing-things prizes. Yes, he uses those abilities to not die in the metaverse, but there is no literal, in-universe way to explain how hanging out with someone translates to [insert gameplay perk here]. So you have to look at what is physically happening in the story. Akira hangs out with the PT, stands there while they have drama with another irrelevant character, and then one way or another their problems get solved and they swear to be Akira’s blood brother or whatever. Akira is a crutch for these characters, and they say multiple times that they wouldn’t have been able to do what they did without him. So all of their shit gets handled and Akira gets?? Like actually gets?? What? Inquiries about his well-being? Offers to help him? Questions about his life, his interests? No,,,not really,, But he gets access to a super powerful persona!! Yay!!! Bc everyone knows he’s just a little shadow-killing machine, right? And even the relationships he does get something tangible (as in separate from the mechanics of the game) out of, like Kawakami’s, are built on the notion that if Akira stops providing for whatever reason, the relationship will end. So essentially, Akira is under the pressure of filling whatever role his friends need him in for however long at any time, and he’s been led to believe that if he stops or fails, he will stop receiving any reciprocal care and acceptance.

(And I know this is all gameplay stuff, I know it has to be like this to codify the complicated process of human relationships, I know all of that, I’m just trying to find a deeper layer bc that’s what I do.)

This whole thing comes into pretty clear focus for me during the third semester when you visit everyone in the false reality. Everyone is happy to see him, of course, but they’re clearly wrapped up in their own happiness. Which is understandable, again, I’m not saying the PT need to be attached to Akira to be good friends, but it all still feels off to me.

If they know Joker, then they’d know it’s weird that he just shows up and starts asking these pointed questions while they’re in the middle of something. All of their other interactions with him have been led by them. Yeah, Joker approaches them bc the player has decided to hang out with them, but the other character always chooses the activity and leads the discussion. Akira showing up out of nowhere and asking them to “remember” and “move on” and whatnot should be raising some major red flags. And it clearly does, since their memories do start to return, but they’re all too scared of losing their happiness that they nope out of the conversation as soon as possible, without stopping to consider why Joker might be trying to reach out to them like that. They’re his friends; they should know he wouldn’t just be trying to hurt them or make them unhappy. After all, their entire relationship with him up til that point has been exclusively about Joker trying to help them. This doesn’t make the PT bad people, running away is a totally natural reaction in that situation. They’re just kids, and their minds have been manipulated to a point, but it’s not like they don’t remember Joker or the way they’ve grown since meeting him. In fact many of them mention how much they’ve matured recently, but they never actually relate that back to Akira, despite him being the primary driving force behind most of their personal arcs, even though they definitely remember him. Translation vagueness or deliberate nod to the idea that the PT don’t actually credit Akira with all the hard work he did after their initial lip service? Hmmm. Anyway, their failure to recognize that Joker is struggling just demonstrates to me what was set up all throughout their confidant links, that their relationships are transactional and that they don’t necessarily consider Joker and his individual needs outside of what he provides for them. And when they no longer need him bc that hole has been filled, he simply doesn’t occupy the same place of importance in their lives. 

Makoto’s flashback in particular stood out to me, bc it was from a moment where she was specifically talking about feeling like she finally found a place to belong with the Phantom Thieves (and by extension, with Joker), but then she desperately tries to brush it off. Obviously that sense of belonging wasn’t meaningful enough to her for her to want it back. And I’m not blaming her, of course, any teenager would choose to have their father back over being in a vigilante group lmao, I just thought it was telling that the devs decided to show us a scene that was originally meant to be heartwarming as an example of the harsh reality Makoto wants to forget. All of the flashbacks are from defining moments for the thieves, but that one specifically got me like *thinking emoji*

So his friends are hesitant, despite the fact that they must know something is wrong. It’s understandable, they all stand to lose a lot if someone messes with the status quo. I genuinely don’t think I would react any differently. But there is someone who reacts differently and against his own self-interest. It’s Goro, the one who has arguably the most to lose, who doesn’t turn away from Akira. He seeks Akira out and teams up with him to uncover what’s really going on, even though he has every reason to believe that prodding too deep will literally mean the end of his life. He forces Akira and himself to face the truth because he knows anything else would just be an insult to what they’ve suffered so far. He’s the only one who never flinches, and that, more than any of his friends’ come-to-jesusing (which Akira still has to initiate) is what Akira needs in that situation. For the first time (outside of the brief instances in the tutorial levels), we see a situation where Akira is actually the dependent one, the one who needs help, who needs support. And the only one who has ever provided that, unconditionally, without demanding anything in return, is Goro. I could go into how Goro’s confidant blows all of the others out of the water in terms of building both himself AND Akira as characters, but it’s been said already and by smarter people than me. But basically, despite competition being a core theme of their relationship, Goro is the only character who is portrayed as Akira’s equal. Their contests are all in the name of improving not just Goro, but Akira too. Goro is the only character who expresses an interest in Akira’s inner life and development, and as such he knows Akira better than anyone else. So when Maruki tries to trap them all in a gilded birdcage, Goro won’t stand for it and he knows Akira won’t stand for it either. That’s why he’s so betrayed if you choose to accept the dreamworld. You’re negating the basis of your entire relationship with him and going against your own principles. Out of every character in the game, the one who knows Akira best and refuses to abandon him even when that could mean his own death is Goro Akechi.

I want to reiterate: I do not hate or even dislike the PT!! And tbh I don’t really think they “abandoned” Akira. That post, imo, is supposed to be kind of hyperbolic. Unless it’s referring to how many of them literally sprint away when he comes to talk to them lol. I look at it more like a commentary on how thoughtlessly the PT act as soon as their wishes are granted. I know it’s set up linearly for story purposes, but isn’t it kind of sad how no one checks up on Akira in the week he’s going around talking to people? Especially after he’s been acting so comparatively weird? It’s not unusual that they might be caught up in other stuff, but while you’re going around and visiting everyone, you don’t get a single text or call from ANY of the thieves, for a whole week!! Goro even comments on it directly with his pointed little “I’m sure you’re just as close as you were before” comment. God, he’s such a bitch. Ultimately, the PT do get their acts together, and it’s partially out of the realization that Akira is struggling alone against something and needs their help, which I love and appreciate. I think they are good friends who want to support Akira, but they can’t understand him past the role they’ve placed him in, and until they do, they’ll never be able to be what he needs. Akira loves his friends and knows he can rely on them in most ways, but those relationships will always be dogged by the pervasive fear that he must constantly earn the right to have the relationship at all. What he needs MOST is someone he doesn’t have to perform for, and from what we see in the game, none of the thieves fit that bill. Except Goro. 

I know this was long and rambly and probably pretty disjointed but I wanted to be as thorough as possible and all of my thoughts just sort of gushed out. Obviously ymmv about all of this depending on how you interpret the game, but this is what I arrived at thanks to my analysis so this is what I have for you! Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk

[cynamonowo]

"apologizing right before they pass out" akechi & haru :3

someone fucking help them

***

Without her hat on, Haru can feel the blood wetting her hair and dripping down her temple. She grits her teeth and wills away the pain before glancing at Akechi. During the fight, the Shadows got to him too, so now he's just as battered, arms wrapped around himself with a scowl. Haru looks away and shakes her head, leaning on the wall by the safe room. 

"You guys okay?" Oracle says through the Metaverse connection. She sounds as tired as Haru feels.

"Yes, we're fine, let's move on," Akechi answers, his voice uneven. When Haru gazes at him again, he catches her eye and frowns. "Are the others done yet?"

Oracle blows a raspberry. "Nope, but they've only got a few more places to check." She pauses, then adds, "Joker says that as soon as they find this goddamn tape, we're getting out and going for ramen."

"Wonderful," Akechi snaps. 

"Thank you, Oracle," Haru says pointedly. 

While she's not about to admit it, she does understand Akechi's frustration. This Palace is nothing like what they've encountered before, and today quite a chunk of their team was unable to join their exploration. Both Haru and Akechi have joined the front group, but, after a few rather troublesome battles, Akira had them pull back and try to rest. Haru wipes her forehead with a handkerchief and sees it come out blood-stained. She bites her lip and wishes they could be done already.

"Hey, Okumura." She flinches, then turns to see Akechi probably. He's staring at her with a grimace, wobbling on his feet. "I— Well. My apologies."

Before Haru can open her mouth to ask, Akechi crumples to the floor, limp and heavy. She barely manages to catch him before he hits his head on the tile.

"Oracle!" Haru calls out shakily. "Crow's down!" She slowly lowers him to the ground before pulling his helmet off. There's a wide gash on his temple, spewing blood; Haru allows herself to swear under her nose. Lucy doesn't know any Diarama skills, and she's used all her healing items during the fights. She's useless.

"Noir, fucking hell," Oracle hisses out. "I'm sending Panther your way. Violet, listen— Joker's right, we should leave— Hold on, hold on—"

Haru tunes out Oracle's nervous rambling and focuses on the unconscious boy slumped by her side. With blood smears on his cheeks and mouth twisted in pain, he doesn't look like someone who murdered her father. He looks like— like a victim. And isn't that who he, in fact, truly has been for all this time?

Haru's heart aches. She glances at her axe, but the dark thought doesn't even fully form before it's replaced with sorrow. 

Gingerly, Haru takes her handkerchief to dab away the blood from Crow's face and waits for help. 

[indoorcoyote]

with all respect this is kind of like saying the ~metaverse~ will inevitably replace the regular 2D internet just because it's shitty and corpos like it; the fact that virtually nobody ever used it despite the billions spent on development suggests new technology that is worse in certain critical ways does actually have to have some features that are both new and widely recognized as good to be adopted by the general public

the advance of small, thin, light phones and tablets over brickphones and laptops isn't out of some conspiracy to make them fragile on purpose, it's happened because people find low size, thickness, and weight to be explicitly desirable qualities for their portable computers! it's nice to have something that's not a pain to carry around and that can fit comfortably in your pocket (for phones), or in a normal-to-small bag or purse (for tablets); when you hurt your back lugging around a too-heavy laptop or try to shove a too-thick rectangle of a device in your pocket you feel this. and on top of that, subjectively, many people think they look cool or are, like, technologically impressive for being so compact.

it's all these readily apparent and widely agreed Good Things about these technologies that lets bad but less obvious things about them, like their fragility and gated OSes and privacy violations and planned obsolescence, slip under the radar or be blamed on the customer: you know, it's clumsiness to drop and break your phone, you totally could've anticipated and knew where to look for the settings that keep official spyware from running on it, it's your fault for not upgrading such an outdated device, and so it goes. people do tend to get mad at these when alerted of their existence, but very many, like, normie laypeople are either never alerted or are willing to put up with what they know of the bad things for the sake of the good things.

and then you have holographic screens. unlike the fragile but pretty smartphones and tablets, the bad things about them are glaringly obvious. it's like, plusses:

the "screen" itself isn't breakable due to being immaterial

improved compactness over normal screens, assuming the projector is relatively small

looks cool and ~sci-fi~. dipshit venture capitalists love it!

minuses:

image quality is automatically worse because it's fucking transparent; details are harder to make out unless you have it in front of a plain background, colors are faded and altered by what you see through them, and most examples in media are grainy and relatively low resolution, with conspicuously old-fashioned minimalistic vector-based uis to try and cover somewhat for this. contrast this with real life tech's promotion of, you know, like, fucking ludicrous 8k UHD shit that brags about its color depth and viewing angles.

it's a privacy disaster because it's fucking transparent (!!!), people can see what's on your screen even when it's facing away from them, and it's a privacy disaster in the most obvious possible way, not some abstract-seeming "anonymous megacorp stealing my data for ads" way but literally "anyone nearby can see exactly what i'm doing at all times, no matter how sensitive".

if we assume the holograms use some sort of technology that's conceivably achievable in real life rather than straight magic, what we're talking about almost certainly becomes once again a display with a physical screen (onto which images are projected), at which point it becomes breakable and not "really" 3D and the transparency becomes a horrible deliberate choice

if we're being really generous and assuming the holograms are a descendant of modern free-space volumetric displays, real life's closest approximation of star wars-type "holograms", then even if a reasonable amount of compactness is achieved, displaying anything at all is computationally intensive and requires a lot of moving parts, and if you touch the image it's disrupted. other technologies like "using a powerful laser to turn molecules in the air to plasma" and "handwavey nanobot swarms" are even more ridiculous and impractical

if the holograms are literally magic then sure, i guess there can be no downsides, they're made of hard light forcefields and look exactly like real life and are self-contained computers and ai brains. but that ceases to be science fiction imo

like. do you see what i mean. sorry this reply is so fucking long by the way

(postscript: as for laptops losing ports and drives, it's a matter both of compactness/lightness again and of that like: cheap laptops are usually targeted at people who couldn't afford a full desktop and so have financial incentive to be feature-light, while pricey laptops either are ceo sludge for people who don't know shit about computers which is meant to look expensive and little else, or are for gamers, in which case they often do keep a lot of features at the cost of being bulky and heavy. computer professionals and serious hobbyists usually have desktop computers with plenty of ports and drives and what have you already, and so aren't considered as a special market!)

hater opinion before i go to sleep: the ubiquity of holograms makes me so fucking mad, the way they're depicted in scifi is pure inexplicable magic. like genuinely physically impossible. but no they've gotta be everywhere replacing all screens (a role in which they're obviously inferior no less!!) in all media. and having all sorts of properties ascribed to them that are even more physically impossible. grumble grumble grumble grumble