#is so painfully sad

[wyrdle]

Ikutsuki Backstory ideas and other character thoughts

Jotting this down for my own reference for a hopeful future comic about this pun man as well as for anyone interested in the babygirl lmao. Also I can't believe so little exists to help flesh him out more

Persona 3 spoilers under the cut

Ok so I haven't finished the game, but I've sped run reading wikis and watching movies and clips, pardon me if I get any details wrong. I also don't know the other games, but am semi-aware of some of the links between Ikutsuki and them.

Anyway:

Ikutsuki rambling about The Fall and a Prince out of the blue is painfully one of the worst twists I've ever seen 😂 You don't lore drop your way into justifying your motives lmao. I'd have liked some hints about his past, and then a final explanation for it. Whilst I understand it's meant to be a sudden twist, it just turns out anti-climatic and even annoying narratively haha.

So, to fill out how Ikutsuki's backstory, I was thinking it'd be rad if we saw his actual research days with Kirijo's CEO / Mitsuru's gramps. I'd likely scrap that they were actively looking to invoke The Fall, and have them primarily focused on the time-bending abilities of Shadows, all being scientists dedicated to helping humanity genuinely.

I dislike the idea of such a large group of scientists being omnicidal maniacs/Nyx worshippers, so I think simplifying the Kirijo family's guilt to simply accidentally fucking up their experiments and causing such catastrophic change to the world to be a better go at it.

Enter Ikutsuki, who is a part of this research team like every other hopeful/morally decent scientist. The experiment goes awry, Shadows are released en masse, Professoer Shuji Ikutsuki is swathed, bathed, consumed by this writhing dark mass that tells him about The Fall and whispers about the Prince who will be grandly rewarded for it.

In his canon pre-suicide speech, Ikutsuki talks as if he believes the current world has lots of wrong in it, going to the extremes of wanting to cleanse and rebuild it. I think it'd be fitting for him to start off as this hopeful scientist, cheery and dorky, only for him to go through the trauma of direct exposure to Shadows + being the lone survivor amidst the wreckage and dead bodies of his colleagues.

It's a combo of real-life horror and supernatural Persona weirdness that motivates him into being the manipulator/cold scientist he is. Idk if my timeline of events is right, but post-Tartarus formation, ikutsuki kicks off figuring out plans for The Fall in earnest. Prompting his secret research on children for inducing Personas etc. (I think Strega and Ikutsuki weren't involved with each other, so for this I'd say yeah, he'd be the one responsible for that instead of Kirijo group in general.)

Other fun things for him is that surviving the sort of possession by Nyx's fragments during the formation of Tartarus gives him 'the Potential'. AKA he discovers he can exist in the darkest hour, and is eventually the one who researches himself to enable others to do so as well. It's just more reason for Kirijo group to not suspect him, and even owe him for his work.

I'm likely getting plenty of canon timeline of events off, but I think it'd be really cool for the Chairman himself to be similarly affected by the Kirijo group's experiment alongside the SEES members. Albeit, in a way that fucks him up into becoming the antagonist. Not to say he has no free will/is being actively coerced by Nyx, but that singular moment of interacting with the Shadows changed him and his outlook on life quite drastically.

Lastly, I'm pained that he doesn't really fit into the group. I think there's so much potential there for him to actually be a part of the SEES gang, holding some genuine affection that's a remnant of his pre-Shadow affected self, even going as far as having hesitation/second thoughts. Idk lol, canon Ikutsuki's death is waved off with little impact beyond how he killed Mitsuru's dad, when this guy the SEES team trusts/looks for direction kills himself in front of them. There's no emotional pay-off or pain, his death/twist reveal is just an event that happens lmao. I'd have liked to see Ikutsuki genuinely be an adult figure all the kids needed, and for them to feel the sting of his betrayal on a more personal level than what we got.

Anyway, TLDR, I feel like this helps make Ikutsuki a better villain lol. His fingers are in all the pies already!!! Use him!

So normal about this long haired, bespectacled, goofy middle aged man. He has such dad energy, and I love the angsty narrative of being corrupted lol

pls yell about him to me tq very much

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Assisting Acquaintance Acquired.

[First] Prev <–-> Next

[medicalunprofessional]

neighborhood watch

[gabichanwrites]

Can you imagine how much worse the Thunder Saga would be if Polites was still in it.

[atlasisntdead]

Hey unpopular opinion but JJ dying isn't bad writing, it's just sad. It's devastating and I bawled my eyes out, and it sucks that actors not being super professional is possibly what led to this, but it does make sense character wise. Like I can't say it doesn't. And I think they did a great job writing him off, I certainly prefer him dying over being written off Alex Karev style (character assassination of the century). I'm also interested to see how this affects the group.

I don't know, it just seems to me that everytime something unfair happens in a story, there's people saying it's bad writing, but...unfair things happen all the time? That's actually a very interesting thing to explore if done right, and I feel like it was in this case.

[onlymywishfulthinking]

"I was his, and he was mine." [x]

[abaddown]

Breakup

OK, OK, I'm going to go home and break up with her. But what do I tell her? "I deserve better." Jesus, no, definitely not that. Even if that's true, only women say that. "You deserve more." Now, that's pretty good. But she's gonna start to get all unintelligent and tell me I'm good just the way I am. That's the way it is. Haha. "I want to live." That'll take the edge off. I might as well say I want to fuck half of Europe. Let's see. "I think we should be apart now so we can be together later." That's not bad, but I don't want to be together later. I'd spare you the hysterics, but I'd be constantly harassed about when that later was. "I'm in love with someone." That seems pretty definitive, but she'd want to know who the bitch was, and it would start a never-ending interrogation about where I met her, when we met, was the sex good, do I regret it, did I think about her, why I didn't tell her, blah blah blah blah... "I cheated on you." Same thing. Oh God, the easiest thing would be to just disappear without a word, never pick up the phone, never answer her texts again. Okay, it's a little bit of a chick thing. "I don't want kids yet." And then she says, "Neither did she. "I want a baby now." She'll end up saying she does too. "I need to focus on my career now." I'm sure her mothering side would come out and assure me that she'll be supportive, patient, that I can build my career, that she's there for me and won't abandon me in the hardest times. Too bad. Wait a minute! I should make her want to break up. Then how much unnecessary crying and screaming would be saved. I'd pretend a little bit, "Oh, no." and then that's it, hat, coat, goodbye. But it would be too long a process to wait. "Something's wrong, this isn't working." I can hear her saying, "But what, tell me what's wrong, I'll change, just tell me what I can do differently! I know you love me, it's just a moment of desperation, believe me, we can work it out!" No, we can't, I don't want to. Okay, I've got a big mouth now, but I actually loved her and I still love her. Just not the way it should be. Like she did me. But I don't want to hurt her. She's a sweet girl. If I said, "I'm sorry, but I don't love you the way I should and the way you deserve. I'm sorry.", you know what? She'd start to tear herself up, eat her insides out, cry for weeks and look for reasons why she'd gone wrong. I don't want to hurt you. That feeling either comes or it doesn't. Or it comes and then it goes. I'm gone, what do I do?

If you break up with a woman, why does she always, at all costs, try to convince you that you're stupid and don't feel what you feel? I can just decide if I want to be with someone or not. Women, I swear, think that we men are so mentally retarded that we don't recognize when we really love someone. God, how many times have I listened to break ups and say "I know you love me. Deep down, you love me so much, you just don't realize it. You're really going to regret this." It's simply impossible to break up cleanly, without scandal. What do you have to say to that? Fuck, is it that late? Look, she's calling again, asking where I am, what I'm doing, when I'll be home. I'm gonna have to talk to her and break up with her. I'm gonna go. I'll call you later.

- Hey, girl, I'm home. What's all this stuff, you going on a trip?

- No. I'm moving.

- You're moving? Where are you going? Why are you going away?

- Out. You know why. I can't do this. Listen, I think we should cut this short. I don't know about you, but I haven't been happy in this relationship for a long time, and I don't think you have either. I think the best thing we can do is just quietly accept that this is the way it is and break up. We have no reason to be angry with each other, so we can separate from each other peacefully. I've got some stuff left here, and I'll pick it up sometime.

- But hey, wait a minute. Just like that? Are you seeing anyone? What's the matter? You want to talk about it or work it out? You're just gonna throw everything away? I don't get it. Is it me? But I love you. Let's talk about it. Let’s fix it!

- Forgive me, but I don't love you the way I should and the way you deserve. I'm sorry..

***

Then she walked out of the apartment. And I've never felt more in love with any woman in my life than I did with her, staring at the closed door.

[do-you-know-this-adhd-character]

Do you know this (noncanon) ADHD character?

Evidence under the cut!

This is my own submission with the help of some Discord friends <3

First friend's evidence:

tbh adhd zagreus is largely vibes to me but for more specific evidence:

inability to work a desk job properly no matter how much he tries. ability to run marathons thru the underworld 24/7. one is not an interest of his and the other is a thing he got obsessed with in 0.5 seconds. man struggles with directing his attention

the fact that he basically never wants to stay still ever, even the narrator gets on his case about this

additionally to above: iirc there's a line where he mentions he won't be able to get started again if he sits down, when you try to interact with chairs in the house, which. mood. gotta keep momentum going or the task doesn't get done.

rly thoughtful to his loved ones but still forgets to tell them his whereabouts or plans (thanatos)

no concept of time

nonexistent sleep schedule

the entire admin chamber flashback, honestly, just look at that

there's more bullet points probably i just don't have specific moments in mind to back em up

Second friend's evidence:

The man exists for short term dopamine hits - He gets demonstrable rewards and actionable improvements in his abilities with the low low cast of some physical pain after maybe twenty minutes of running around blowing things up, it's like the perfect loop for any adhd brain

Also as a pinnacle of adhd zag - It's only with actual long term investment that he gets better at playing the lyre, which means that most players won't go for it unless they're actively trying to get the prophecy done.

[transgenderfivepebbles]

can you love your everything too, for me?

[poolpvrty]

Well, I've been afraid of changin' 'Cause I've built my life around you But time makes you bolder Even children get older And I'm getting older too

The sun, the moon, and their star!

[snapbackslide]

Some familiar names supporting the GoFundMe for Madeline Gaudreau and baby Tripp 🥺

[girlbloggercrowley]

i am a believer in the s3 1941 kiss

[murdererofthumbs]

Seeing reactions after this episode is actually slightly hysterical? It proves that this fandom can be so blind-sighted by characters relations, that they forget what show they are watching. Like, I have always been a self-proclaimed Roman-girl, because I find him compelling and extremely psychologically interesting, and like all of these characters, to a certain extent, I do empathise with him on the level of trauma that he went through. But why the fuck are people surprised that THIS is how he behaved in this episode is beyond me. Oh, suddenly Roman is dead to you because he behaved in the way that was very much consistent with who he is? That’s who all of these people are, like come on, what do we think we are watching here? You didn’t really think he will suddenly become a defender of democracy because it serves a greater good of the country? He was the one to fucking choose Mencken as a president, he cherry-picked him for Logan, because he knew that their views align, that Mencken will be a smart business decision. This whole thing is a transactional procedure - they needed to get someone who will be willing to serve their corrupt interests. Roman doesn’t see a problem in having fascist as a president, because he will never be touched by the consequences of having that kind of man in power. He is very much safe at the top of the mountain, and who the fuck cares what will happen to the peasants at the bottom of the chain? In this way, he imitates Logan the most, because in the end of the day, people are units to him, to all of them really, some of them are just more willing to admit this than others.

Also, like, “uuu, Roman was such a misogynist to Shiv this episode, he just didn’t listen to her at all”. Look, can we stop being delusional here for a second or is it some sort of selective memory situation? Roman is a misogynist. Kendall is a misogynist. Shiv, in fact, has a lot of internalised misogyny going on, and her being a woman never stopped her from pushing other women under the fucking bus, so let’s be real here for a second. And that is not to be said in defence of Roman, frankly nothing what I’m saying here is supposed to justify his behaviour in this or any other episode, but it’s more of like… reality check? I know that Roman’s self-destructive spiral and semi-decent behaviour at the beginning of this season might have clouded certain aspects of who he is, but please, go back to season 3 and count all the instances of him throwing misogynistic and, frequently incestuous jokes and innuendo, at Shiv? How many times he undermines her position on the basis of her being a woman? Or how Kendall, for that matter, uses similar arguments in 03x02? All the siblings use aspects of each other as weapons. Kendall is undermined because he is unstable, because he is a drug-addict, because he has a tendency of flying off on the cloud of mania, and crashing in the heap of depression. Shiv is crossed out because she is a woman, because she frankly has no real experience in the firm (which, although people might be super angry about that, because she is such a “girlboss” apparently, but this is a factual argument), because of her relationship to Tom and tendency to take several sides at the same time (with not much thought put into it). And Roman is frequently undermined because he is a freak and a pervert, because “there is something wrong with him”, because he is the weakest dog that is most easily manipulated, who crumples like a wet tissue if only to receive a bit of affection. They all weaponise their “weak” points against each other, because this dog-eats-dog mindset is focal to who they are as a family, to how they were brought up, to how Logan wanted them to be. So please, let’s not be surprised, when Roman suddenly uses misogyny as an argument against Shiv, because it’s not sudden at all, and it’s always been there.

I think what we have on our hands, is the same situation we had in 03x07 during Kendall’s birthday (and previous episode with Mencken), where some people are so outraged by Roman, and by his ability to shove the knife where it hurts, that they suddenly cross him out completely. Again, all these characters are bad people, there was never any doubt about that. They are compelling because of the complexities of their familial relationships, because of their childhood trauma and the consequences that this trauma has on them as adults. But they are still completely reprehensible as human beings, and I think some viewers forget about that and then get outraged when show about awful people features awful people. And I’m sure, either in next or final episode, something will happen and Roman will become sympathetic again, and he will regain his position as a “poor meow meow”, just as he did in the finale of season 3. Its always a fucking carousel with this character and people get sucked in and have their eye’s covered just to realise that nothing really changed, and nothing will change, because in this show people, at their core, remain the same.

[riwooga]

Forever thinking about Winter being in love with the PC…

Winter slowly realizing he’s falling for the PC, not only someone so much younger than him, but one of his own students no less.

The probable months of denial, of forcing his gaze away, of suppressing the fond smiles, but for every new interaction, every time the PC shows up with a smile and some new mysteriously procured artifact, nodding along in interest when he explains its origin… for every time the PC helps promote the museum, every time he hears them play along in the historic role play so fervently, goodness especially if the PC helped Winter not only restore the museum but helped him get his dreamed of field office too?

Regardless of how wrong it is, Winter feeling his heart stir for the first time in probably so long.. But he knows he’s too old for the PC, the dynamic would be beyond improper, and he knows he can’t let those emotions actually take root. All rationality in his mind probably berating him, of how he has children older than the PC, he’s past the years of his prime, not to mention again the severe taboo such a relation would have.

.. but I can’t help but imagine him sometimes wistfully thinking about if he was young again, letting his mind indulge in thoughts of what could be in another lifetime. Something he wouldn’t dare fully allow himself in this one. How he’d probably love to turn into a full on little archeological duo, exploring all the unturned nooks and crannies of the town, and even beyond.. but he’s not young and spry anymore, and him indulging, would almost feel like robbing the PC of that youth for themselves.

Maybe him going to the temple is half an attempt at also getting someone else to tell him that his actions are right, that he’s right to shut those emotions down, shouldn’t indulge. But even if encouraged to pursue, he knows deep down he can’t, no matter how much his mind and heart might disagree, he’s holding his morals tight, because what else can you really do in a situation so doomed to fall empty?

[seriost]

How do I say goodbye?

[imactuallysoup]

Doodle that might be coloured in

Bonus doodle

anyway ill update this post if I ever colour it