#persona octopath au fic

[throne-anguis]

Behold. A Persona au thing where it's just everyone being emotionally constipated. Please tag Bean in this. Anyways hope you like it and hope you get well soon

-------------------

From: [Number not found]

Got on the wrong bus. Going to be late. Say hi to Hikari and Kura for me, I’ll be there in about 30 minutes.

(10:00 AM, 6/6/2xxx)

Just saw the news. You’re out right?

(10:26 AM, 6/6/2xxx)

Jin Mei?

(10:28 AM, 6/6/2xxx)

Jin Mei did I just see you run back into the burning building because I swear to gods I will kill you if you don’t come back alive.

(10:36 AM, 6/6/2xxx)

I’m serious get out. I don’t care what work you forgot just get out. Get out of there now.

(10:37 AM, 6/6/2xxx)

-------------------

Temenos walks into the kitchen. “What happened to Hikari on June 6th?”

Immediately Kazan drops the cup and starts stringing together a series of colorful curses as it shatters on the ground.

“Ah, my apologies. I didn’t know you were holding something. I’ll go get the-”

“Why do you want to know what happened on June 6?”

Temenos blinks. This is new. This is very new. For the week and a half, their third roommate would usually say dry comments, banter with Temenos, or respond to questions with a consistent flat tone.

This is…

“It seems I struck a nerve,” he says.

Kazan slowly breathes in and out. “Look. You had no connection to the event so I’ll be nice and I’m going to be the first to tell you to back off.” The man went to the closet and retrieved a broom. “This has nothing to do with my current goals so I don’t know why you’re asking me this.”

The Private Eye grabs the broom from the other’s hands. “I’m asking because my friend had something to do with it and right now, with the police slowly catching on, we need as much evidence to prove that Hikari is innocent in the little fire that you orchestrated.”

Kazan scoffs. “First off the fire was not my idea. I objected to it being a fire but fucking-” He catches himself and closes his mouth.

Temenos tilts his head. “Go on. Who insisted the crime to be arson?”

Kazan glares at him. “But my bosses,” he corrects. “-Insisted on it being a fire because it would be easier.”

“Easier? How would a fire be easier? Accidents happen. Someone could have left their stove on. A tragedy but something that can be written off as an accident.”

Silence.

“Is it connected to the fire of June 6?” He continues.

Kazan flinches.

Temenos tilts his head, awaiting an answer.

The clock ticks on and the glass shards remain on the floor, unmoving.

“Temenos,” Kazan says slowly. “Let go of the broom.”

“Not until you give me an answer.”

“I don’t want to talk about this and I would rather not have Crick wake up because of me shouting.”

Temenos did not let go, because he never knows when to let go. “Give me an answer.”

“Let it go Temenos.”

“Give me an answer then Kazan.”

Temenos was never good at letting things go, and that was rather good for him in finding answers.

The answer he got was a harsh shove onto the ground, several pieces of glass cutting into his arm, and a bruised side.

What then followed was several attempts for Kazan to grab his phone, one successful attempt, a realization that there was still a password, a cracked phone screen from being thrown at a wall, and a muffled minute long scream from the man.

Temenos doesn’t bring it up again.

-------------------

“Ritsu…isn’t that the building Hikari and his mom were at?”

“What do you- Oh my god.”

“Brother, Hikari is okay right? He probably left early right?”

“I- Mikka stay there I need to- I need to- Just stay there I’ll be back soon!”

“But what if you get hurt!”

“It’s fine I just- I just need to make sure everyone is okay!”

-------------------

Throné clears her throat. “So…you and Hikari are friends right?”

“Don’t associate me with that weakling. We are not friends.”

Throné narrows her eyes. “That ‘weakling’ is one of the strongest people I know.”

Ritsu laughs. “You weren’t the one who grew up with him.”

“But I was the one who lived with him when he had everyone turn away from him.” Throné sighs. “That’s not why I’m here though.” She pushes a newspaper clipping towards him. “You were friends with him so that means you know what happened on June 6th.”

The man coughs for several seconds before clearing his throat. “I- Sorry what?”

“June 6th. Hikari was involved somehow and the last time we asked Hikari he closed up. Temenos tried asking Kazan and what he got was a cracked phone and some glass shards in his arm.” She looked him in the eye. “You were childhood friends with him so you knew what happened on that day.”

“Well yeah of course I- Yeah of course I do,” Ritsu stammers out.

“Can you tell me then?”

“I- Well…I-”

Ritsu breathes in and opens his mouth, only to have a pitiful croak come out.

“Sorry let me just- That’s a hell of a question so I- So what happened was-”

The words cut off, as if something is keeping him from saying anymore.

“Are you under NDA?” asks Throné.

“No! No I’m not!” exclaims Ritsu. “I can tell you, let me just- It’s-” He opened his mouth and the words get caught. The man closes his eyes and takes a shaky breath in and out. “The fire was-” A hitch, a lack of air, and then a shake of a head.

“...Do you not want to talk about it?” Throné says gently.

Ritsu shrugs, he’s gripping his arms tightly.

“Can you write it down?”

Ritsu thinks for a moment, opens his mouth, before shaking his head.

“Okay. That’s okay.”

Throné hears several napkins being grabbed from the napkin holder.

“...Do you want to eat something? My treat. I have some extra money.”

Ritsu nods, bowing his head in an effort to hide the tears falling.

-------------------

“Brother!? Hikari!? Ms Kura!? Has anyone seen Hikari? Has anyone seen Hikari and Ms Kura? Has anyone- Where’s my brother!? Has anyone seen my brother!? I- BROTHER!?”

“Miss, I need you to step away and let them get help.”

“That’s my brother! That’s my brother, what happened to him!? Why is he- Is he breathing!? Is he-”

“Miss, please-”

“NII-SAN CAN YOU HEAR ME!? HIKARI!? NII-SAN!?”

“I assure you Miss your brother and friend will be okay but you have to step away please-”

“What happened!? Why was there a fire what- Is he going to be okay?”

“We’re going to do everything we can but please go and step away. You can follow us but right now they’re both in critical condition. We will do everything we can to ensure both of them will survive.”

“What happened? It was just- It was just a visit for Ms Kura and- Where’s Ms Kura? Where is she? Why isn’t she here?”

“Miss we know as much as you do, right now we’re trying to get the wounded and control the fire so please-”

“She’s dead. Oh gods she’s dead isn’t she. She’s-”

-------------------

“What happened on June 6th?”

Rai Mei blinks. “Well that’s- That's a bit forward, I have to admit.”

Agnea looks away sheepishly. “Sorry it’s just- We know that you, Hikari, Ritsu, and Kazan were all friends once and something happened on June 6th so we assumed that you would know something about it. We tried asking about it with the others but they just-”

“Closed up?” Rai mei finishes.

Agnea nods.

“Right- The Fire that was-” She takes a deep breath. “I’m sorry Agnea, I don’t want to talk about it, ever. I would rather have it drift away from my life, just like most of what I have.”

“Can you at least tell us why it’s a sore spot for all of you?”

“Agnea, please,” begs Rai Mei. “I don’t want to talk about it because I know if I do I won’t be able to do anything for the rest of the day. I don’t want that.”

“Did- Did someone die?” Agnea asks hesitantly.

“...Yes. That’s all I will say.”

She moves to get up before Agnea grabs her. “I- I’m sorry. I understand,” she says. “I understand what it’s like to lose someone close to you and- I’m sorry you had to go through that like I did.”

Rai Mei looks at her for a moment and nods. “Thank you for understanding.”

-------------------

“...It’s my fault isn’t it?”

“Hikari you’re 13, and from what you told everyone you were attacked first and did what you thought would be the best option after watching your mom die in front of you.”

“But I hurt a lot of people in that action right? So it’s my fault.”

“Hikari-”

“Jin Mei and mother would still be here if I didn’t start it. Rai Mei said it herself.”

“Rai Mei is grieving she isn’t in the ri-”

“It’s okay. You can blame me too. Jin Mei was your friend.”

“...I uh- I need some air.”

“...Hey Hikari, if it helps, I don’t blame you. It was an accident.”

“Ritsu, I don't think any part of what I did was an accident.”

-------------------

“Hey Hikari, you’ve been acting off all day and uh. So has Oboro and Ritsu.” Partitio rubs the back of his neck. “I know you don’t like talking about it but it’s June 6th and I don’t think stuffing everything inside of you is healthy.”

Hikari pales. “Is it- Is it that obvious?”

“No it’s just that- Look we’ve been peeking around at your past to try and help and June 6th kept coming up and-“

“Oboro lashed out, Ritsu went quiet, and Rai Mei avoided the topic when you tried to ask them.”

Partitio blinks. “Uh. Yeah. Yeah that’s exactly what happened.”

Hikari lets out a mirthless laugh. “That sounds right for all of them.”

“...We don’t have to talk about it, in fact we can never talk about it if you want,” assures Partitio. “But if you ever do want to talk about it then we’re here. I want you to know that.”

Hikari looks away.

“Hey Hikari, if you want we can go and-”

“Today is the anniversary of my mother and friend’s death.”

Partitio blinks. “I- Oh hells Hikari I’m so sorry, we didn’t know. I’m so sorry.”

“...My mother and friend died in the fire that I caused that day.”

Suddenly, everyone’s reactions make much more sense.

“They shouldn’t blame you,” Partitio says.

“They don’t. At least I don’t think Oboro and Ritsu does. I haven’t talked to Rai Mei in a casual conversation for so long that I uh- Still don’t know if she blames me.” Hikari pulls on his sleeves. “It’s not a big deal, it's just. Every year all of us would at least- Try to talk? I guess? We would try to smooth things over and it always ends with us kind of making progress. It was just something done to have some sense of closure but it was nice.”

Hikari looks away. “And now, this year, was literally the worst year of my life. I found out things about my friends that make me question whether they were my friends in the first place, my life has been uprooted, I don’t actually know if I want to continue college, and now I just-“

He takes a deep breath. “My mom liked flowers and I don’t have any-“ His breath hitches. “I don’t have any flowers.”

Partitio looks at Hikari and slowly reaches for Hikari’s hand. “Hey uh…I know it isn’t the same but- If you want we can find flowers. Or make some. I don’t know. But we can do that and- Maybe we can go somewhere your mom and friend would have liked to see if they were still here.”

Hikari sniffles and wipes his tears. “Yeah that- That would be nice. Thank you Partitio.”

AWH GSRKLJLK!! Sweet ending to the emotional wreckage the Travelers but the fire gang (tm) through. @beantothemax summoning you.

There is so much happening with all of them, Temenos would absolutely pry like that to Kazan. Both of them being calm in their own chaotic ways makes it even better to see Kazan lashing out at him. Ritsu going silent and unable to speak so much that it concerns Throné here is a sight. I like Agnea being the one to confront Rai Mei about it. She doesn't pry too much but Rai Mei still doesn't want to lose her calm.

They all know when to stop. The inquisitor being the exception, but that's in Temenos's nature and I don't think anyone would be against Kazan for lashing out. I like the idea of him being concerned for Crick waking up (even if its just an excuse to get Temenos off his tail). The lashing out is probably going to wake him up anyway but that seems like one of the only times since the betrayal that Kazan has acted violent towards them.

Love Partitio being the one to get Hikari to open up a little. Despite the loose tongue reputation Hikari genuinely trusts him and the idea of him going to find flowers with him as comfort is so sweet!!

[drainbangle]

absolutely shaking you /pos about your persona fit designs for the oct2path cast, I gotta know if you have any persona thoughts about them

Aw thank you!! Right now, I don't have any set ideas for all the gang's specific Personas; I think initially, I was gonna have the progression be OT1 travelers for everyone's initial Personas -> gods for ultimate Personas, but I felt like I could do something more with it, so that didn't stick.

I do have detailed ideas for the healers' Personas at least, along with approximations for how long everyone's had their powers.

Since I went into this not wanting to have a specific wild card since everyone's a protagonist, everyone can use multiple personas and access the Velvet Room. However, due to the *gestures* natures of some of Temenos and Castti's storylines, they get some unique stuff w/ their ultimate personas.

...Specifically to do with Temenos 3 SH and Hunter & Apothecary 2.

— Temenos

Regarding canon divergence

I mentioned it on Twitter (albeit, not here) that Crick does not die in this AU. This tends to go for anything I write involving Temenos' storyline, since I generally do not agree with Crick's death as a writing decision; mostly for Temenos' writing's sake than anything.

He works best when interacting with another character (e.g. Crick, Throné) so when you kill off the one character he has a real rapport with, a lot of his scenes in Temenos 4 suffer as a result. Not to mention, it does read like Crick got killed off to give Temenos a personal reason to pursue Kaldena as if she didn't already kill his adoptive father.

Note: I love Kaldena though. Crick is a friend but his murderer is an oomf to me. I've been cooking up a fic for her and I like her a lot.

It's not an uncommon occurrence to kill off a detective's ally when they get too close to the truth. But in this instance, I can't say I like how it's pulled off. NTM Temenos already gets to deal with a pretty significant loss, discussed below.

(The joke answer here is that I need one of every element covered in the team, so Crick lives to see another day.)

Roi

Remember that snippet I wrote about Ochette killing a shadowy monster? That was Roi. He was experimented on by the MO (most comparable to Strega here) in an attempt to fuse Shadows with living humans, and it didn't go well. It resulted in him becoming a monster like he did in canon.

Temenos learns of this a bit before when SH takes place —which is around mid-October here— and he and Ochette are both horrified. He doesn't blame her for having to defend herself, especially when it's clear Roi was beyond saving at that point, but he's still upset over the circumstances regardless; and it's opened up a wound he's been trying to ignore.

So at this point in the story when SH takes place, Temenos' mental state isn't doing too great. And it'll only get worse for a bit longer!

Stormail

During when SH happens here, it happens pretty similar to canon: Temenos and Crick realize that Vados is dead, Crick begins to doubt the institution he's working for, and is attacked by Kaldena— who, here is probably like. Chief Prosecutor or something.

Crick is attacked near the local courthouse while investigating on his own during the Dark Night (our Dark Hour equivalent). He's bleeding out, and can't heal himself. Lucky for him though, only being able to operate for an hour means Temenos and co. are active around that time, and the team finds him losing consciousness fast.

One fun thing to note about Persona is that a living person can become a Persona for a specific user through a strong desire to protect their loved ones after death.

So, when Temenos finds Crick bleeding out with wounds too deep to heal normally... he thinks of all his loved ones screwed over by the law, how Crick may very well join that number, and thinks only that he cannot —he will not— allow that to happen.

This, combined with Roi in canon thinking of protecting Temenos despite everything, repeating only snippets of his last conversation warning him to protect him... Roi becomes Temenos' ultimate Persona, and the surge in magical strength is enough to keep Crick alive long enough to get serious medical treatment.

— Castti

Eir's Apothecaries

Like in canon, all of Eir's Apothecaries have died prior to the travelers finding Castti. While IDK if all of them were Persona users (Malaya, Castti, and Trousseau definitely were tho), rn I think all of them were aware of Persona stuff and tried to use their resources to heal people affected by Shadow attack.

Claude, as part of the MO trying to bring Vide into the world, tried to recruit them for their medical and scientific knowledge, but they refused.

Trousseau, however, was swayed and soon enough, tried to kill the rest of the team as part of his desire for humanity's end. The rest of the group, aside from Malaya and Castti, died trying to get the two as far away from him as possible; and even then, the two were on their last legs due to his Persona's debilitating attacks.

Malaya, realizing that they both couldn't survive, instead used all of her power to fully heal Castti. This causes whatever Persona she had to, not fuse with Castti's (not yet), but just transfer over to Castti p much.

Castti doesn't remember this. When the travelers (the team atm being Temenos, Osvald, Ochette, and Throné) find her, she starts off with two personas.

Castti's memories

When Castti recovers her memories and fights Trousseau, she and Malaya's Personas fuse to become a completely new and stronger one. It combines their Personas' designs, and carries some elements of Malaya's physical appearance too— representative of her loss, albeit, with the knowledge that she will always be loved and watched over by her departed loved ones.

However, her character development (and unique Persona stuff) doesn't stop there.

Hunter & Apothecary 2

In this Persona AU, Personas are formed from the knowledge of limited time and that life is given value through the existence of death. This is the contract that binds Personas and their users, thus making it possible to go against that.

When Hunter & Apothecary 2 rolls around, I imagine that it happens real late into the year— like, mid-December as everyone's preparing to face Vide. I imagine the tone here is... honestly a lot like P3's fourth movie, where because of the sudden time limit (and feeling of responsibility) everyone's really stressed out.

Like canon, Vide's main target to get rid of is Castti due to her vast medical knowledge, battle prowess, and her being a source of emotional strength for her allies. He plays on her feelings of powerlessness as a medical professional, along with exacerbating her guilt that comes with being Trousseau's mentor.

At first, the group notices she's less social and starts to skip meals. But for a day or two, chooses to not leave her room. While the rest of the group aren't doing... fantastic, this is especially alarming.

Because Persona contracts are formed around valuing limited time... if a user becomes apathetic towards death, what do you think it means for them when they break that contract, even briefly?

They can go berserk— at least, in the movie adaptation. Warning for depictions of strangulation in the video linked.

So, Castti gets attacked by her Persona. It isn't Malaya like Temenos' is Roi, but is a separate entity summoned through her love and grief. Becoming apathetic towards life and death goes against her contract, thus making it go berserk.

Ochette finds her and like canon, has to fight it to get it under control before it kills Castti; but afterwards, she has to rest and recover from that.

How long everyone's had their Personas

Ochette, Agnea, and Partitio's are awakened mid-story.

Hikari's was forcibly awakened as a child, and underwent experiments growing up. He wasn't born with the ability to summon a Persona, he was forced to learn how.

Throné's in a similar situation. For the sake of adaptation, the main part I'll focus on when adapting Claude is his desire to find the best candidate for a Vide vessel. Throné is an artifical Persona user created for the MO's experiments, but does not need suppressants where her former colleagues did.

Because I follow the theory that Temenos is a claudelet, the same also applies to him. He's adopted by Jörg at age 6, and was found after one of the MO's experiments went terribly wrong during a full moon — during an early (failed) attempt to bring Vide into the world. He was about to die due to injuries from an explosion, right when the Velvet Room (likely run by like. the OT1 cast taking shifts basically. probably) realized it needed outside power to combat Vide's descent. It reached out to Temenos, having him sign a contract to accept a limited amount of time, and to value what time people have left alive.

Temenos does not remember any of this, and in this specific adaptation, did not originally have white hair. He has the Velvet Room's white hair as a result of his contract... which is renewed prior to the beginning of the story when he and Osvald began their investigations. It's how the team is able to find the Velvet Room in the first place (but can all use it), as Temenos pretty much got the key sealed inside him as a kid. This is how I'm adapting him being chosen by Aelfric for now, but could be subject to change.

Temenos will be fine. He'll die for like 5 minutes though.

Castti's was awakened before the story with no issues. She has some later though, as you can see.

Osvald awakened his when he realized Harvey framed his family, but couldn't train it until Temenos got him out on parole.

[beantothemax]

“If I died when my mother did, would anything have changed?”

“Probably not. Your brother is another candidate. You’re just more convenient.”

“…Convenient. Is that what people think of me? Just a convenient person to be around? To use?”

“Oh definitely. I mean look at yourself. You certainly look the part.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Hikari, you’re a people pleaser for as long as I knew you. Your father was distant from you, Mugen hates you, and your mother is gone. I would include friends but that seems to be fluctuating on a daily basis. You want people to see you and appreciate you. You don’t help people for the sake of helping them, you help them so you can feel better about yourself and so that they can look at you. Anything for the people is just a lie you made up so that you can justify all of this.”

“What about now? I lied low just like you told me to, and here I am tangled up with all of this, helping people without even trying. What should I call that?”

“Circumstance. You were there at the time so they asked for your help and since you have a bleeding heart, you help them. It escalates and now you’re here.”

“…Maybe I am doing this all for a selfish need to be seen. But at least I’m doing something. If I can help people even for a little bit then the world gets a bit better.”

“Hah. It’s a wonder your the Harbinger of the End. With all the optimism you have for the world, no one would really notice that you could end it in an instant.”

“Stop that.”

“I’m just saying the truth.”

“…I don’t want the world to end Kazan. It’s bad right now but we don’t know if it can get better or worse. And I like to think it can get better. Most people are just that. People. Everyone is trying to get by and I like to think that it’s the small kindness that they do that helps it get better.”

“Doesn’t do much against everything else though.”

“That’s a fault of the system, not of themselves. People are flawed. They’ll always be flawed. We just hope they make the right choices and are kind. We try to be kind to each other and try our best. Because what else are we supposed to do?”

“…Wow. I try to get you to kill me so that the world would end and you still believe things can get better?”

“What else am I supposed to do? I can’t die because, as you said, my brother is always an option. I can’t let the world end because my friends are all in it. And I can’t just hide after my brother is taken care of because what kind of existence is that?”

“All good points. You truly are in a harrowing position.”

“You know, when I decided to talk to you, I thought that you would try to turn me to nihilism. Surprised you haven’t done that yet.”

“No use in preaching to an audience that doesn’t listen. You clearly have your own path you want to follow, so. That leads to the big question. What are you going to do about this?”

“…I don’t know. I don’t know how to stop you and the people you work for but I won’t stop fighting for the Dawn. Does that answer satisfy you?”

“I suppose. Honestly I am just waiting for what will happen. If the world ends then I’m proven right. If it doesn’t then I’m proven wrong and, well. I’ll admit, that option sounds much more interesting than the first.”

KIWI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! KIWI IM SHAKING YOU FRANTICALLY HOW DO YOU DO THIS EVERY TIME

HIKARI. HIKARI JUST TALKING ABIUT HOW YEAH THE WORLD’S NOT THE BEST VUT WE DONT KNOW IF ITLL GET BETTER OR WORSE UNTIL WE SEE IT……… GAAAAAAAAAAH I KNOW ITS THE SAME MESSAGE BUT IN THIS NEW CONTEXT ITS JUST… EXPERIENCING TOO MANY EMOTIONS

@throne-anguis

[auncyen]

tagged by @cateringisalie - tagging @darrelodin, @bad0mens (but don't feel obligated obviously!)

How many works do you have on ao3? 138

2. What’s your total ao3 word count? 434,082

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Persona 5, Octopath Traveler 2 are the active ones; previously wrote quite a bit for Bravely Default and some for Final Fantasy VII.

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

Perhaps unsurprisingly, these are all P5 fics. Also the top two really ARE the two fics I started on the p5 kinkmeme lol! (They had non-kink prompts as well)

When the Cat Dragged In the Trickster (2172) - AU where Ann is the PT leader; when Morgana runs away, he recruits the delinquent who sits behind her in class. Hiatus'd for way too long, I do want to resume it I just kind of. psyched myself out hard lol

Our Partner is Who? (1471) - no metaverse AU. Plays fast and loose with how Japanese school works to force Ryuji and Ann to work with "the scary delinquent" for a project. They realize he's not as bad as the rumors say.

Infringe (1039) - not all Joker Palace fics do this (or have a fairly ironclad reason for doing it), but a number have the thieves break the rule of a unanimous vote to investigate Joker's Palace behind his back. This is about how that could go wrong.

Stall and Crash (997) - Things go very wrong during a battle in Shido's Palace when a status effect sends Joker's mind back to the interrogation room.

Overload (623) - Minutes after summoning Satanael, Ren collapses in Shibuya square. Spurred by a prompt about giving p5 a p3-esque end (though, notably, Ren doesn't actually die...but at the point it leaves off, he's not in a good state, either)

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I try to. I don't always. I have a bad tendency to overthink and so I can get myself with "am I saying this right/did I respond to everything/AUGH IT'S BEEN TOO LONG".

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Oh gosh if you wanna go way back in time to fanfiction.net I feel like some of the Shadow Hearts fic might count lol BUT actually. In recent ao3 memory. Killing Hope is a fic that explores a timeline where Ren sold out his friends in the interrogation room, and now that he's dead and most of the Phantom Thieves are captured, Akechi is setting out to tie up one last loose end. It is 100% a bad time.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Heaven Never Could Describe reunites Maruki and Rumi. Like it could have been even sappier. But it's already pretty sappy.

8. Do you get hate on fic?

Not really. I've occasionally gotten overbearing crit or a backhanded bookmark ("not as good as [different fic with somewhat similar premise]") but in terms of getting outright hate I've been lucky.

9. Do you write smut?

No. Like I have, if you really dig through ao3 and ff.net profiles you can find it, but I barely read it and the stars gotta align for me to want to write it.

10. Do you write crossovers?

No. Occasionally I like to pitch an idea off the cuff but it's rare for one to compel me into writing. Do think p5 x aa fics are fun but I haven't had any particularly strong ideas for one myself.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not to my knowledge.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Not to my knowledge.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

No, I haven't had the best luck with partner projects so I always feel like that might just drive me and/or the partner nuts lol

14. What’s your all-time favourite ship?

Tiznes is still pretty nice lol although I feel like OF ALL TIME it'd probably have to be Clerith.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but probably won’t?

Overload would be nice to finish but is probably dead in the water. To be fair to myself, it was spontaneously spurred on by an ask and never did have a firm plot to begin with, just headcanon about what couldcause Ren to have a near-death experience at the end of p5. There were some vague thoughts about how to have him recover/how MUCH he'd recover (one idea was that while he recovers enough to do basic self-care like eating/dressing and can hold conversations and do some simple tasks, it's dicey, at least in the fic's time frame, if he'll ever recover enough to be fully self-sufficient in the future and the team recognizes that and tries to help him have a safety net)/even a thought about pulling in p5r elements (it was started before royal came out but has no contradictions iirc) but at this point. it's easier to say "that was interesting but I don't know how to finish it" and move on.

16. What are your writing strengths?

I feel like I'm fairly good at digging into characters and getting their motivations right?

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Getting stuck on projects in ways where I feel like I can't even write like I can string one word to another but I've completely lost any perspective of how anything connects in an interesting way

WHEN THE BRAIN FOG ROLLS IN IT'S LIKE SILENT HILL

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

Don't lol

I have done it, in a very old Shadow Hearts fic, but honestly unless the POV character has decent proficiency in the target language they'd have trouble parsing it anyway, and if they're fluent they can just understand and "hear" it as...what it means in the language you're writing in. There are occasions it may make sense but I think most time it's more trouble than it's worth.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Shadow Hearts according to my ff.net profile but that's because I deleted my very first ff7 fic off there lololol

20. Favourite fic you’ve written?

for all the headache it's caused me I do like When the Cat Dragged in the Trickster

for an oldie tho. I like What Crossdressing Says About Character (ff7 fic about Cloud & Aerith in the sector six segment).

[sombrerokiwi]

Democracy will decide.

[wardencommando]

Byacolate’s Fic & Original Writing Commissions

Ratings: Gen - Explicit

Canon, AUs, Original works

Main fandoms: Dragon Age, Hades Game, Overwatch, Disco Elysium, Dungeons & Dragons, Pillars of Eternity, Mass Effect (trilogy, Andromeda), MXTX Novels (Heaven Official’s Blessing, Scum Villain’s Self Saving System, MDZS), Baldur’s Gate, Elder Scrolls (Skyrim, Oblivion), Fallout Series, Borderlands, Tolkien (Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit), The Adventure Zone, Persona 5, Critical Role Season 2, Song of Achilles, The Old Guard, Octopath Traveler, Dishonored. Hit me up for anything not listed above and I’ll let you know!

OCs and kinks welcome!

Private or public

Pricing: $1USD/100 words (i.e. $20/2,000 words)

If you have any questions that aren’t answered above, feel free to ask! You can hit me on the Tumblr messenger, or email me at gildergreens@gmail.com 🌻

[randomidiocyncrazies]

Tagged by @enbyboiwonder (rather, i saw their open invitation and tagged myself)

Rules: Post the names of all the files in your WIP folder regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous.

Let people send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them and then post a little snippet of it or tell them something about it! And then tag as many people as you have WIPs. (You can make your own post or reblog this one!)

i have... a lot of concepts that i, at some point in time, thought interesting. some are quite recent, while others have been on the back-burner for YEARS (like, more than a decade ago). the list of my WiPs are under the cut, sorted by fandom/category (such as original writing and tabletop rpg projects) in alphabetical order.

some of them i have absolutely no intention to resume working on, but for the others... who knows? maybe inspiration will strike outta the blue—i did recently finish up a fic for a fandom that i thought i’ve left for good...

tagging: @obstinaterixatrix, @dork-empress​, @dragonomatopoeia, @den-liner and anyone else who wants to do it, consider yourselves tagged—i’m always interested in hearing about the creative projects of other folks! (also, no pressure if you’d rather not participate)

2.43

2.43 Pyre AU

Odaoki 5+1 get-together fic

Odaoki names

Attack on Titan

My TOTALLY REAL Girlfriend (Who’s Gonna Live in Wall Sina With Me)

SnK background swap

Dangan Ronpa

ishimondo: courtship for fools (+perspective shift)

GEAR Fighter Dendoh

on legacies

definition configurations

common knowledge

Homestuck

alpha kids food headcanons

Sessionswap

Imperial Uncle

mid-autumn festival

Merchants Mei Yong and Zhao Cai vs corrupt officials???

JJBA

josuyasu home

josuyasu first time

KHR

Gokudera Asuka

MDZS

LingYi 鼓瑟鳴琴

Octopath Travelers

tentative old flames

Stonegard Historian/Sculptor

“alfyn had never let us down”

Original stories

Academy of Verona

Storytale Cycle

Rosen Circle Chronicles

in the cradle of the ocean

Persona series

P2+P4 lift the fog

P3 hidetoshi+keisuke go go go

P4 Twin Dragons fic 

P4 talk of the town 

p4 reborn as personas

p4 background swap

p4 epsilon

p4 while you were sleeping

P4 Adult IT AU (developed with @obstinaterixatrix)

Sk8 Infinity

lol crackship

Tabletop RPG

fifteen years after the passing of hero adair

last rite of the sunset superstars

My secrets are my weapons

olden days, golden years

party of bards

Rivals 2 Lovers

this is [not] a place of honor

[laora-ryn]

Fanfic Review

tagged by @sapphireswimming, @ninthfeather, and @hawk-in-a-tree ! went back in the thread a little to get some extra questions, because I could lol

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How many works do you have on ao3? 100 ahhhh. I posted #100 in August, and apparently my brain liked the round number enough that I haven't posted anything since ;0;

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What’s your total ao3 word count? ...1,143,375...jesus christ

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How many fandoms have you written for and what are they? 18! "main" fandoms: Gundam 00, Harry Potter, Fullmetal Alchemist, The Hobbit, The World Ends With You, Persona 3, Supernatural, Danny Phantom, Kingdom Hearts "side" fandoms (only one offs, or crossovers): Bleach, Final Fantasy 13 + 15, Persona 5, Lord of the Rings, Van Helsing, Legend of Zelda, Doctor Who, Octopath Traveler

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Are there any new fandoms you want to write for? Of fandoms that aren't in the lists above, I have fic ideas for Assassin's Creed, Gnosia, and The Hunger Games. P5, DW, and OT will ideally be in "main fandom" list at some point lmao

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What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Byzantine (HP/FMA)

Desiderium (Hobbit/LOTR time travel)

Symbol (Danny Phantom)

Chrysalis (FMA)

Yggdrasil (Hobbit)

Honorable mentions go to Penance (HP/FMA) and Men and Angels (FMA), which were wildly popular on FFnet, but since they got back-posted years later to AO3, their numbers here are lower.

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Which of your fics do you want more attention for? Every single one of my 00 fics, tbh. It's a tiny fandom but it still makes me sad because I'm really proud of them :(

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Do you respond to comments, why or why not? I try to! except sometimes my brain is an ass about it

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What sorts of things do you normally write? I uh got a little infamous in a few fandoms for the angst/tragedy side of things lol. Anymore I tend more toward angst with a happy (or at least not terrible) ending, found family, trauma recovery, dramatic irony/revelation fics where the reader has more info than many of the characters (looking at you, Bring Down the Sky)

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What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending? Oh lord, hope you were looking for a list lmao, because it's impossible for me to pick. in reverse posting order, going down my ao3:

our fury burns, a TWEWY haunting AU that I guess isn't angsty so much as Dark As Fuck

Empty Promises, a DP fic where Danny dies in chapter 1, and the rest of it is people dealing with the aftermath. it is, i have been assured by many people, awful

this is the way the world ends, a Gundam 00 AU where [redacted] survives their death in canon, only to die horribly a few months later. [other redacted] blames themselves and there is, um, all sorts of trauma to unpack

Phantasm, a Supernatural fic that I don't even remember the details of anymore except it is Dark As Fuck and Sam dies at the end

Ash Like Snow, an old Harry Potter/Fullmetal Alchemist fic set in an HP Dark Timeline, where Ed, Ling, and half of Al's blood seal show up in the Great Hall during their fight with Gluttony.

Honorable mentions go to Promised Eternity (FF13) and Asymmetria (FMA). They're both grimdark fics I started and then decided were Too Much, Even For Me, so I abandoned them halfway through.

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What’s a fic that pushed you out of your comfort zone? Idk what it says about me that?? I don't know?? the only thing I can think of is my 100 word drabble collections (Gundam 00, TWEWY) since i, uh, don't know the meaning of brevity lol. But yea other than that, nothing I can think of? And I can't tell if that's a testament to my comfort zone being Very Big, or me limiting my fics to things I'm familiar with lmao

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Do you write crossovers? What’s the wildest one you’ve written? Occasionally yeah! I wrote several Harry Potter/Fullmetal Alchemist fics back in the day that were pretty well received. I think the latest crossover I wrote was a TWEWY/Gundam 00 fic that I'm particularly proud of (but got next to no traffic, since neither of them are huge fandoms OTL)

Wildest?? i mean the crackiest one was probably Dimensional

-

Have you ever received hate on a fic? yeah back in the day on FFnet, tbh I'm just glad the concept of 'flames' isn't around much anymore, it's so pointless

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Do you write smut? if so what kind? i am way too ace for that

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Have you ever had a fic translated? A lot of them actually!! I have them (+gift fic art) all archived on this page

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Have you ever co-written a fic before? Hooooooo boy this one takes me back. Yea, ten years ago I had 3 friends on a forum on FFnet, and we made a joint account to post all our co-written HP/FMA stuff. Playing God was the biggest one, but there were a bunch of oneshots too. You can read them here

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What’s your all time favorite ship? Lockon/Tieria and Christina/Lichty from Gundam 00. they deserved better

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What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will? Yggdrasil, and I feel awful about it ;0; I had big plans for it, but it's definitely a case of "bit off more than i could chew, and found plot holes, and got overwhelmed" so :(

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What are you currently working on? Currently, the main one is the next installment in Bring Down the Sky. It's taking so long since I don't know how the next several blocks are gonna be split fic- or chapter-wise, so I'm pre writing a lot of it to figure it out as I go Px I've also got a set of character studies of the season 1 Ptolemy crew from 00, but that's uh 2.5 / 11 done so that's gonna be a while There's more in my WIP folder but those are the ones that are probably at the front of the line for posting!

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What are your writing strengths? I've been told by several reliable sources that I'm very good at The Angst lol. I also pride myself on characterization and character interaction in general! My fics are definitely character-driven

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What are your writing weaknesses? Action scenes are a WIP for me otl. I'm also very bad at like, describing visuals for people? Since I'm 100% one of the people who doesn't visualize things in their head at all, so I forget a LOT of the time that people appreciate that lmao

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What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic? I mean, depending on the fandom, it's kind of inevitable? For multilingual characters, I only write out the dialogue if the POV character can understand what's being said Main example right now is Lyndsay Dylandy (Lockon's mom in 00), who I write as severely deaf and speaks in Irish Sign Language. The people around her are fluent, but randos around town (and the kids' friends, the first several times they come around) aren't When it's in those people's POV, I just write that Lyndsay is signing, and if the friend need to know what she said, one of the kids translates for them. For Lyndsay's POV, if the person's vocalizing, she does better if they're facing her, and talking louder, and is patient if she needs something repeated. She can read lips okay but it's not fool proof, so in non-ideal situations i tend to write vocalized dialogue from her POV with gaps in the parts of speaking that she would miss (ends of sentences, hard-to-parse words for lip reading) Tbh it's been a really interesting thing and I'm working hard to get it right - I've got mild hearing loss myself and am learning ASL, and I'm modeling Lyndsay's progressive loss after a close friend with the same condition. She wears hearing aids, but still has a lot of issues with hearing/understanding if she's not on her A game.

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What was the first fandom you wrote for? Most recent? First, a bad Harry Potter fic from when I was 14 - most recent, a much better Gundam 00 fic from August lmao

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What’s your favorite fic you’ve written? how dare you make me choose probably Nodus Tollens (TWEWY post-game trauma recovery) or the endings of stories that never got to be told (Gundam 00, an exploration of the Dylandys' backstory and the impact the war had on their family and friends)

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What fic are you most proud of? Same answer as above??? I guess I'm pretty proud of writing our own secret ceremonials for TWEWYtober 2020, 33k words within a month for 31 separate oneshots was impressive

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anyone who wants to Do The Thing can consider themselves tagged! @the-stray-liger, @neildylandy, @tieria-erde maybe??

[monopsys]

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rk1700 

simarkus 

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[throne-anguis]

Woe, another Persona inbox on ye. This time featuring Crick and the ramifications of not telling him anything.

----------------------------

Crick slams a file on the coffee table. “What does my Division have to do with the Mental Shutdowns?”

Kazan looks down at the papers and then at Crick. “Did you steal those?”

“T- That’s not important!” stammered Crick. “What I need to know now is if my Division is involved in the Mental Shutdowns somehow and if this goes up to the top or if it’s contained.”

“I think you're overestimating how many people I know that are in the Moonshade Order,” says Kazan. “All of us keep our identities a secret for one reason or another and the people I do know are people I wouldn’t trust. I only trust one person in there and that’s because I knew them prior.”

“But the police are involved. Otherwise you wouldn’t have had blackmail over Harvey regarding how he got Elena.” Crick crosses his arms and stands a bit straighter. “You said it yourself, you could tell them to reveal the actual legal documents and then the legitimacy on how exactly Harvey got Elena would have been brought to question and you would have been able to have Harvey occupied for a long time.”

Kazan blinks, stares at the files for a moment, and then takes a long sip of his cup of tea.

“So you remember that part. That’s good to know in the future.”

“You wouldn’t have told me if I didn’t remember!?”

“No offense Crick but all of us were going a bit crazy during that time, I kind of hoped you didn’t remember because I would just get exhausted if I had to explain it to you.” He takes another sip of his tea. “For several days I gaslighted myself into thinking the coffee was still wrong and right now I’m still not sure if Temenos’ bird figure was a mallard duck or a marbled duck.”

“It was a mallard duck. He switched it to a marbled duck last week,” says Crick. “Temenos just likes changing it every time it’s half a year.”

“Oh. That’s actually good to know.” Pause. “Did it cost another $150?”

“No." Kazan narrowed his eyes on him. "It cost $200," Crick says quietly.

“200- Ugh, gods Crick you could do so much better than some guy who spends $200 on ducks.”

Crick opens his mouth to answer before shaking his head. “Wait no! No, we aren't going to change the subject! And I’m not dating Temenos!” The officer points at the file again. “What do you know about the police and the Mental Shutdowns!?”

“Wait, you aren’t dating Temenos?” says Kazan, completely missing the question.

“No!” exclaims Crick. “I need to know what the police have to do with the Mental Shutdowns!”

“Crick, as I said before, you are severely overestimating how much I actually know about the Moonshade Order and the people involved.”

The man breathes in and out. “Okay,” he says.

“Okay!” he says again. “So you know nothing or at the very least you only know that the police are willing to turn a blind eye and help with their plans. So I’m on my own. Great.”

Crick started pacing. “There are several people who were willing to hide documents regarding who Elena’s true guardian is so that means they aren’t just rank and file officers but the higher ups.” Turn. “We know that you can access the Metaverse so to think that the New Delsta Police can’t is foolish. They may not be able to have the app but it wouldn’t be impossible to have gained it from someone else.” Turn. “Then, according to these files they’ve been writing off the Mental Shutdowns as heart attacks and nothing more.”

He stops and turns to face Kazan. “You were part of that investigation from the prosecution side, meaning you can also write them off as heart attacks, thus making the Mental Shutdowns have less plausibility.”

“Crick, do you actually need me to tell you an answer or are you figuring this out on your own?”

Silence.

With that, Crick went behind into the broom closet, reached his arm into the back, and took out Kazan’s phone.

“Wait, that's where my phone has been the entire time!? In the broom closet!?”

“Your password is 0718 right?”

“Why would I tell-”

“I asked around in the place you worked at and they said you took days off consistently on July 18th. Most people use birthday and anniversary dates as phone passwords so…”

The moment Crick entered the password the phone unlocked.

“The Metaverse app is the one with the Red Eyeball right?” asked Crick.

“Well yes but what does that have to-”

“Great,” he says, already clicking on the app.

“Crick what are you-”

He grabs his jacket. “Going out. Don’t burn the food and don’t answer the door if our landlord comes knocking.”

“Okay Crick but what does that-”

Keys? Check. Swiss-Army Knife Temenos bought for him? Check. ID? Check. “I’ll be back by the time Temenos arrives. You said it yourself, I have to figure this out on my own.”

“Crick are you going to the Metaverse because that’s a very bad idea considering you don’t have a Perso-”

He goes out, closes the door behind him, locks it, and makes his way towards the entrance of the building, already about to make his way to the New Delsta Plaza.

OH SHIT!!! This is going to be something for Temenos to come back to!! A disaster. Temenos is going to have the biggest panic realizing Crick is gone. He might even get mad (irritated, more so, Temenos keeps himself from getting mad) at Kazan until he explains the situation.

Keeping Crick out of the situation backfiring and doing the exact opposite of keeping Temenos's partner safe we love the angst. I could imagine Temenos rushing in alone even though his Persona has more of a healing specialty. The one person who can evoke emotions from him is Crick and that leads to him doing dumb things.

Meanwhile I love the antics with them; "Did it cost another $150?” / “No." Kazan narrowed his eyes on him. "It cost $200," Crick says quietly." and “200- Ugh, gods Crick you could do so much better than some guy who spends $200 on ducks.” Oboro, let the guy have his ducks-

Clever way of getting Kazan's (lacking) password for Crick. They may treat him like Temenos's himbo boyfriend but he is definitely giving it all for the team to get hidden information from the sacred guard oh no we know where this is going. Temenos prays Crick can awaken his persona.

[throne-anguis]

Persona beginning of what I think would work. Vibe check needed so uh. Blease vibe check because I know this fic is going to take a while.

------------------------------

When Rai Mei woke up this morning, she was immediately hit with a terrible headache, a weird feeling that something terrible will happen today, and several messages from Ritsu and Kazan each.

She, of course, brushes all of this off. Headaches are something that followed her throughout her life, she knows now to avoid loud areas and wear headphones while she’s on the train. The weird feeling of something terrible happening? It’s a feeling that is just natural in life, it doesn’t mean that something bad will actually happen. The texts from Ritsu and Kazan? That’s a bit odd but this past year has been weird for all of them so it would make sense they would try to contact her again.

…Even though they only really talk once a year.

So nothing this morning really strikes Rai Mei as odd. Abnormal yes but nothing that is particularly worrying.

What made Rai Mei worry about her day though, was the fact that Hikari is now knocking on the fire escape window with a panicked look on his face.

Rai Mei blinks, looks down at her coffee, and then back at Hikari.

She opens up her Messages App.

[From: Ritsu]

RAI MEI WE FUCKED UP SO BAD

YOU DONT UNDERSTAND WE FUCKED UP SO MUCH

WE NEED TO GO AND TALK FOR REAL AND NOT GET ARRESTED

WE CANT EVEN GO TO KAZAN TO DO SOME WEIRD SHADY SHIT BECAUSE HIS BOSSES MIGHT KILL HIM OR SMEHT

(7:34 AM)

[From: Kazan]

Hi we need to talk both about the whole mess all of us are and the accidental mess that has been happening for a while.

May have went and been part of said mess.

That feels weird to write out.

Also if Hikari is there can you let him in? It’s part of a plan.

Before you protest it’s a good one this time and is needed.

Mainly because all of us had to split since the Detective’s bosses think he’s a terrible person when really he’s been trying to prevent a whole mess from happening. He got framed or something like that.

Oh and there was also the small fact that me and Ritsu were technically kidnapped by him but details, details.

By the way there’s going to be a lot of people in your apartment so don’t freak out if people start doorbelling your apartment number.

(7:45 AM)

Rai Mei looks back at Hikari, stands up, and opens up the fire escape.

Hikari relaxes and smiles at her. “Thank you Rai Mei, I’m sorry that the choice of my entry is a bit…unconventional but I swear I have a good reason for it.”

Rai Mei awkwardly smiles back. “It’s fine. It’s been a weird year and Kazan texted about letting you in.”

“Oh,” he says.

“Yeah…”

They both stood in the apartment in silence.

“Do you want to have tea?” she asks hesitantly.

“That would be nice, thank you.”

---------------------------

“So…” she says. “Why are you here?”

Hikari shifts awkwardly. “Mainly to hide and to regroup. We don’t have a lot of options at the moment and this is the best idea we have so far.”

“No I mean- Why are you here?” she elaborates. “I knew you were staying here because of whatever plan Kazan cooked up but this feels excessive. I would have thought you would be out after last month. Especially since it’s been almost a whole year since the…”

“Fire in my apartment and the death of my father? Yes, I would have thought so too.”

Rai Mei blinks at the bluntness of the statement. “Are you okay?” she asks.

Hikari nods. “Yes Rai Mei, I’m fine. I long ago made my peace with the whole thing and it still hurts but it doesn’t hurt as badly as before.”

“Oh. Well then.”

They go back to awkward silence.

Hikari breathes in slowly. “This isn’t what I wanted to talk to you about though. There’s something I need to tell you.”

Oh. Oh that’s never a good sign. When one of them has something to tell the other it’s usually a death, legal trouble, or both at the same time. Hikari had both happen to him this year and now Rai Mei dreads what other trouble Hikari got himself in that warranted Ritsu and Kazan texting her that they need to talk.

“You’re going to need to suspend a lot of belief for this.”

Rai Mei scoffs and attempts a light tone. “We had to suspend belief over the fact that Kazan managed to stop your father’s business from being sued out of existence. I think I can suspend my belief.”

Hikari leans back in his chair. “Okay,” he says. “Okay.”

He takes a deep breath and leans forward. “What do you know about the Phantom Thieves?”

“Well all I know about them is that they’re Vigilantes who apparently steal people’s hearts and the Sacred Guard has declared them as criminals of high interest.” She takes a sip of her tea. “I believe they also exposed a Professor from Montswise University for the kidnapping of his daughter, framing a fellow professor, and a lot of other crimes I’m surprised he hasn’t been convicted of.”

“The last part is actually because Kazan told people to stop covering for him so honestly thank him for the last parts.”

“Kazan what-”

“That’s not the point though!” He exclaims. “The point is that uh. The point is-” He furrowed his eyebrows.

“Rai Mei,” he says finally. “How bad would you react if I told you that I was one of those Phantom Thieves?”

“...Hikari,” she says slowly. “Did you join a vigilante group while you were hiding from your brother, who was trying to pin the fire on you?” She looks Hikari in the eye. “Hikari, I need you to tell me the truth right now. Did you join the vigilante group?”

“No no! I didn’t join them!” he exclaims.

She leans back onto her chair and sighs in relief. “Oh thank gods you didn’t. I don’t know what would happen if I found out you were actually-”

“I’m uh…the leader of them.”

Rai Mei stares at Hikari.

“And I may have been the one who first started the group,” he adds sheepishly.

Rai Mei continues to stare at Hikari.

"...Sorry?" he says.

Rai Mei breathes in and out.

“Okay,” she says. “Okay! Now I’m suspending my belief. Tell me what happened and how this all correlates to just- Everything that’s happening.”

Hikari nods. “Well first off, it kind of started last year. The day Kazan went and just dropped me off at the new apartment I’m living in…”

GKJL LOVE IT SO FAR. Enjoying the Rai Mei centric while she's been primarily uninvolved for a while. Her paranoia-turned-numb until she sees Hikari banging on the fire escape door and has to drop everything and check if this is normal or not is funny and I like that portrayal of her.

Rai Mei's reaction is hilarious but she's got to accept the fact for her friend anyway. And poor Hikari panickily trying to explain the entirety of what's happened to them that she isn't aware about.

Hikari is putting his trust in her but damn after that long and without having a very positive view of the Phantom Thieves it can be a risk for him. The fact that Kazan and Ritsu are also relying on her right now and he's backed into a corner asking her for a favor.

And that's just the thing Rai Mei needs to get into right now after rarely speaking to them and hardly recovering her trust at all after the incident-