#yusuke is 'in charge' but like.... barely

[mo-ok]

dream sentai team, I have dubbed them

Super Sentaisuke

[symphonic-scream]

Yells!! kindly demanding some more late P5R AU 🤲🤲

Hell yeah brother

So, I'm gonna clear up some stuff I saw in reblogs and shit

Akechi is alive! He's an adult and still under Shido's thumb. Shido is the Prime Minister, has been for a while, and Akechi is. Still taking out any competition

There was less of a panic around the mental shutdowns initially cause the media wasnt reporting them clearly. Now they are

I did like this one take I saw, I wish I remembered who said it (take your credit in the replies please) but it's a more mature setting without being too edgy and angsty. I specifically want to highlight the idea that rebellion doesn't die when you become an adult. That that fire burns on, and adults can also change the status quo and make a difference. That you can still try

And, since more than half my notes are them, here's some MakoHaru

They share a bed from the first night Haru and her kids move into the Shitbox.

Haru's so exhausted all the time, but she's used to using all her energy on her children. So, she's stunned to tears when she wakes up, not from Hanako's crying, but to find this woman, who's practically a stranger, swaying softly in the dark, humming a song to a snoozing Hanako

She remembers her husband, and how he wouldn't hold Tenji. How he scowled when his son would whimper as a baby, and-

They're both touch starved. Very quickly they begin to cuddle in their sleep, and slowly it bleeds into their waking hours. Makoto placing a hand around Haru's waist as a sign of support. Haru bumping their hips together playfully. Sitting thigh to thigh. Brushing arms as they dash through a palace. Heads leaning together in the back of the Mona Bus.

By Strikers, Haru will be taking classes to finish her high school diploma and get into college. She works at a local bakery. Makoto is working at the same Garage Ryuji does, and starts doing the taxes and such for the others and the shop

Makoto doesn't take any initiative in their relationship at first. She lets Haru recover, and lets her take the lead. Makoto, of course, is also the one to draw the boundary about waiting for them both to be stable. Haru agrees of course. Neither deny their feelings, just agree to not hurt each other

Tenji adores Makoto. He's 4, and already protective of his Mama. So, he's super happy about living with someone who puts his Mama first. Makoto is so different from his Father, and he hugs her legs when he comes home from school

Both Tenji and Hanako resemble Haru a lot. He's got her hair colour and texture, nose, and smile. She's got the hair colour too, and Haru's eyes. Her smile too

It's, tough for them both for a while. Makoto struggling to quit two bad addictions (smoking, drinking), and Haru dealing with the legal fallout of trying to charge her husband with abuse and neglect while filing for divorce

Also!

Futaba is so excited to learn about all the new internet stuff. Instead of her big rest, she goes on a deep dive of everything that's happened while she was in her coma

Extra details!

Ryuji's thief costume has a leg brace for his knee!

Yusuke's tail acts like a real one. Shows his emotions more

Haru's endurance and speed increase over time, since when she awakens her persona, she'd given birth like. A month before at most

Makoto, Yusuke, Ann, and Futaba have a group chat where they log their meals together. They're all helping each other eat regularly, and celebrate hitting weight milestones

Haru and Ryuji gym buddies! Makoto and Ryuji coworkers! Ryuji and Ann roommates! Ryuji getting so much positive reinforcement from his gals, just. His friends love him he's so sweet and genuine

There'd be a lot of healing. A lot. Strikers would be more like a roadtrip to celebrate how much they've all grown in the like, 2 years since (I'm making the time gap larger)

Gonna lay out the ages for sure for sure

So like, Akechi, Haru, and Makoto are 21-22. Making Haru barely 18 when she had her son ahah-

Joker, Ann, Ryuji, and Yusuke are 20-21, depending on time of year

And Futaba and Sumire are 19-20

[yusuke-of-valla]

So the four factions of the PvP section are "I want to go back", "I want to move forward", "I want us to stop fighting before we decide anything", and "I don't know what I want".

How do you think the berries would align, because if we achieve a four-way split that'd be insane.

You can justify anything if the character is traumatized enough!

Naoto's team "I want to go back" because hahaha he's Not Prepared to be the oldest, learning that he's not great at being in charge and looking after the kids as Mina and Ham. Also I think it's funny if Naoto is BOTH team "change the past" and "let's extra judicially murder this guy"

Ok hmmmm splitting up Kasumi and Sumire is hard but I think Kasumi is team "I want to move forward" because "everything's fine, we'll get through it, nothing's wrong" is also a core thing for her I think. It's the same reason she doesn't see issues with Sumire until things are already boiled over, she's ALWAYS looking towards the future (what coping issues? Not really processing trauma? What are those?)

I'm gonna be honest I felt this way when I first watched the answer and I still feel this way now, I think "I don't know" and "everyone stop fighting" are the same team to me. Like I don't know why Junpei and Koromaru are fighting Aigis.

What I'm saying is that I don't think it super matters who goes where so I'll say Sumire is team "I don't know what I want," and Yusuke is team "I don't know what I want but please stop fighting"

And Shinjiro is not here. He's still in a coma. Idk I can barely account for whether two people should get the Wildcard powers, much less Shinjiro

[brokenhardies]

Foolsuke Ryuji Arc Two Shot pt 1

Summary: After the mysterious hacker group Medjed targets the Phantom Thieves, an unlikely ally steps up to help them. This is, of course, on one condition -- they change the heart of Ryuji Ohya.

Characters: Fool!Yusuke, Magician!Sumire, Chariot!Makoto, Lovers!Goro, Emperor!Akira, Priestess!Haru, Hermit!Ryuji (mentioned), Heirophant!Ohya

Tagging @inkwell1013, @thebigpapilio, @latenitewaffles and @ryutabas, all people who seem interested in my Foolsuke content!

The calling card had been slipped under the door to Crossroads Cafe. It was blank, but still bared the familiar look of the groups' cards - minus the insignia, which was poorly drawn on top of the card, as if in a rush - with not much put down.

“So, you found it when you returned home?” Goro asked, taking a sip of his diet soda.

Yusuke nodded. “Yes. There isn’t any information on it – not a name, nor a crime.” 

“This is strange…” Haru muttered. “Someone had to put it underneath the door to the cafe.”

“It could be Sans.” 

In response to Akira’s statement, the group darted their heads to face him. Sans had been an unlikely ally to Yusuke and the rest of the Phantom Thieves - however, when they offered to help with Medjed, they only did so with something in return. 

Sumire put her paws on the table. “They did mention ‘preparing the necessary tool’...” She mused, “...It could be…” 

“They want us to change someone’s heart?” Makoto exclaimed, her eyes wide. “But they didn’t give us any info on it… Gah, this makes no damn sense!”

“We have to be vigilant,” Yusuke began, “Maybe we should just wait for them to get back to us.” 

It wasn’t like Sans not to text them. Yusuke had figured that the strange ‘hacker’ had nothing better to do – they mentioned how they weren’t going to school, offhandedly commenting how they ‘dropped out’ the year previously, without mentioning much else. 

Yusuke didn’t know anything about Sans’s identity, aside from small hints they’d gotten from brief interactions; Sans had called Crossroads to remind Yusuke to turn the sign over one night, causing Yusuke to assume that they were male (or at the very least, masculine presenting like they were) and through the multiple text messages they had received, Sans texted similarly to the rest of Yusuke’s friends. 

So their only assumption was that they were male and around their age group. That was all they had. Summer vacation was coming up, so it was likely they had all the time in the world to think about what Sans had been planning… And that’s when Yusuke got another text from them;

SANS - hey dude what the hell?

SANS - i sent you the calling card why haven’t you done anything?

SANS - do you want medjed to be stopped or not?

YUSUKE - I do want Medjed to be stopped, however

YUSUKE - You didn’t give me any information on whose heart you wanted us to steal

YUSUKE - We need more than just a blank calling card

SANS - so what the hell do you need? this is important!

YUSUKE - Well, first we need a name 

YUSUKE - We need to know who you want us to send the calling card to 

SANS - alright. ill give you his name;

SANS - ryuji ohya

xxx

“Wait, ‘Ohya’?” Sumire began, reading over the text messages once Yusuke had left class - with a noticeable bruise from being unable to dodge Ushimaru’s chalk throwing - “As in Ichiko Ohya?”

“The woman you’re living with?” Makoto exclaimed, pressing a wet cloth against Yusuke’s forehead. “What does she have to do with this?”

Yusuke winced. “I’m not sure…” They muttered, watching as Goro leant back against the railing of their hideout. “I don’t believe she or Lala-chan have any family.”

“We have to figure this out.” Goro began, “Whoever this Ryuji Ohya is, they seem to be important to stopping Medjed.”

“Maybe he’s in charge of Medjed.” Akira commented. “You mentioned Sans had experience with ‘hacking’, maybe that’s how they know this guy.” 

“That could be a possibility, Akira-kun, but…” Haru stated, her head bowed, “Wouldn’t they have told us if they knew the head of Medjed?” 

“Maybe they can’t–Dammit, Yusuke, stop squirming, it ain’t a big deal-” Makoto was struggling to deal with the fidgeting Yusuke as she spoke, “Maybe they can’t talk about being linked to the head of Medjed? It’s like a Kaneshiro thing.”

“You think this Ryuji guy’s blackmailing them?”

“Could be a possibility–” Makoto groaned, “Would you hold still? Do you want that bruise to be permanent or not?!”

“Sorry, sorry…” Yusuke winced, holding the washcloth to their forehead. They looked up and paused. “I don’t think Ryuji is connected to Medjed.”

“What?!”

“Mako-chan, keep your voice down!”

“Sorry, sorry…”

“What do you mean you don’t think he’s connected to Medjed?” Goro asked, “You mean Sans wants us to target a completely unrelated person?”

Yusuke shook their head. “No. No. I believe that Ryuji and Sans are the same person.”

There was stunned silence, as Yusuke took a deep breath in and began to explain;

“A few days after I first arrived in Tokyo,” Yusuke began, “I got a call from Sans on Crossroads’ phone – they told me to turn the sign over. That was when we started messaging. They had access to Crossroads' phone number, and also knew that I was there. Considering that we know that Sans is a hacker with knowledge of Ohya’s cafe…”

“They must be related to Ohya-san.” Sumire finished. “W-We should ask Ohya about this when we get home.” 

xxx

When they returned home, Ohya was cleaning up for the day. Lala had probably left a few hours earlier, which left Ohya and Yusuke with the run of the establishment. This was going to be hard, Yusuke figured as such. Ohya was quite closed off about her personal life, which meant it was going to be hard to even get information out of her. However, it didn’t hurt to try.

“Hey, kid.” Ohya greeted with a wave. “How was your day?”

“I want to meet Ryuji.”

Yusuke heard a glass that Ohya was holding hit the ground with a bang and shatter. She swore, looking over her shoulder at Yusuke, her expression having become a glare.

“How the hell do you know about that?” She exclaimed. “It has nothing to do with you, kid. Just keep your head down and focus on getting through this year. I’m going home. Make sure you clean up. And don’t forget to lock up.”

And so, she left, leaving Yusuke to clean up the shattered glass that Ohya had dropped. Sumire jumped out of their bag and sat on the counter as they tossed the glass out. 

“It seems to be a hit.” She stated, as Yusuke nodded. After cleaning and locking the place up, they returned upstairs, where a text was waiting for them.

GORO - Were you able to ask Ohya about Ryuji?

YUSUKE - I tried. It appeared that she didn’t want to talk about it. Told me it had nothing to do with me.

AKIRA - That’s strange

AKIRA - Maybe there’s a reason she doesn’t want to talk

HARU - While Sans may be our only hope of defeating Medjed…

HARU - We need more intel about Ryuji from Ohya

GORO - Trying to get it from her could make it worse

YUSUKE - Yes. As far as I know, it’s likely whatever goodwill Ohya and I have created during these past couple of months will be gone.

MAKOTO - Wait. You think she’ll kick you out for asking a simple question?

YUSUKE - I’m not sure. I don’t believe she would. My mother would have her head if she tried.

AKIRA - Considering I owe a great deal to Ohya-san and Yusuke as well

AKIRA - Discord sowed between the two would be quite detrimental

AKIRA - Not just to them, but to all of us as well

MAKOTO - That makes complete sense Akira!

MAKOTO - If Yusuke gets kicked out, it’s likely they’ll be arrested again

HARU - We should wait for her to say something about it herself

GORO - Lala-chan could also know something about it as well. We could try to get it out of her if absolutely necessary 

YUSUKE - Agreed.

xxx

Since getting information from Ohya or Lala was pretty much null and void, Yusuke was pleasantly surprised when Makoto suggested asking around the neighbourhood before school that morning. While they got limited information when they did so in the afternoon, the only lead was that Ohya had been purchasing more food than was expected for someone who lived on her own.

The second lead was when Yusuke returned home to see Ohya arguing with an older man about something. 

“You’re the one who tipped them off about Ryuji,” She stated, her eyes narrowed. “You shouldn’t have done that. I have no intention of talking to you about Sayaka.”

“Tipped off?” The man asked, his voice tinged with confusion, “Whatever are you talking about?” He sighed, “Back to what we were discussing; I will have to suspend your parental authority. I assume that is what you want, yes?”

“What?!”

“Considering the state of your son, as well as the rest of your family.” He continued, “There is nothing in your favour. Or would you rather I bring this to domestic court? Our chances of victory are 99.9%. With these suspicions of abuse… There’s no way you could avoid having your custody revoked.”

“You’re going that fair?!” Ohya exclaimed, “I told you, I don’t know a damn thing about it!”

“We’re extremely serious about this, Ohya-san.” The man stated, “As long as there’s a possibility that cognitive psience is linked to those psychotic breakdowns…”

Ohya huffed, folding her arms and looking away from the man. “You win.” She said, voice sounding defeated.

“Thank you for your cooperation,” The man smiled, “I will contact you at a later date.”

“I’ll doubt there’ll be anything of use, though.” 

“That’s fine.” The man continued, “It will be up to us to decide if your information is necessary or not. Next time I come here, it will just be for a cup of coffee.”

And with that, he left, walking past Yusuke. Yusuke paused once the strange man left the establishment, noticing that Ohya appeared even more frustrated than before. 

“‘Next time I come here…’” She mocked, “There won’t be a fucking ‘next time’! Get outta here you piece of shit!”

Yusuke flinched, in response to Ohya’s shout. It was clear the man had upset her for some reason, and they weren’t quite sure why. 

“He is so good at making me wanna tear my damn hair out!” She slammed her fists on the countertop. “Bastard…” Before she glared in Yusuke’s general direction. “How much of that did you hear?!”

Yusuke rubbed the back of their neck. “A large portion of it…”

“Yeah, and that was too damn much!” She sighed, looking away from Yusuke. “Sorry you had to hear that, kid.”

“Is Ryuji your son, by any chance?” 

It was blurted out too suddenly, causing Ohya’s expression to shift into one of shock and surprise. 

“Wh-What? That’s enough!” She glared, her voice harsh. “Just behave yourself and stop sticking your nose into other people’s business! I have half a mind to kick you out right now!”

Yusuke flinched, in shock from how suddenly Ohya lashed out at the question. They didn’t notice their phone was buzzing in their right pant pocket. It took them a second to respond, their voice small.

“Sorry, Ohya-san.”

“Lock the store up.”

And with that, she left, leaving Yusuke alone. 

“Yusuke-senpai?” Sumire popped her head out of the bag, “Your phone was buzzing.” 

Yusuke frowned, sitting down in one of the stalls and taking their phone out of their pocket. What they saw surprised them.

SANS - im sorry for all the trouble i caused

SANS - im calling off the investigation now

xxx

“They’re what?!”

Yusuke had shown the message to the rest of the Phantom Thieves at the hideout the next day. Makoto was stunned, to the point where Yusuke was convinced that they almost got strawberry soda over their uniform after she spat it out in surprise. The entire group was now crowded around Yusuke and their phone, reading Sans’s final message to Yusuke.

“But they were the one who wanted us to find Ryuji Ohya in the first place!” Goro exclaimed, “There’s no reason for them to just… Call it off like that!”

“They could feel as though they’re in danger.” Haru continued, her voice solemn, “You mentioned you saw someone talking to Ohya-san last night, Yusuke-kun?”

Yusuke nodded. “They were talking about cognitive psience, and custody rights. When I asked Ohya about Ryuji after that, she just started yelling at me.” 

“He was threatening Ohya-san?” Haru frowned, looking down in contemplation.

“Huh?” Makoto stated, looking at Haru. “What’s up, Haru?”

“I-It’s nothing…” Haru continued, “The information you got from last night, is that Ryuji is Ohya’s son, and he’s being… Abused by her? I don’t know Ohya as well as you do, Yusuke-kun. Do you think that she would do something like that?”

“Never.” Yusuke said.

“I would like to believe that too,” Haru frowned, “But we don’t have any evidence outside of what you told us.”

“Considering that they called off the investigation after that argument,” Akira stated, “That only gives us more evidence that Ryuji Ohya and Sans are the same person. You mentioned that Sans seemed to be able to listen in on private conversations, right?”

Yusuke nodded. “Yes. And they mentioned being sorry for the trouble they caused.”

Sumire stuck her head out from Yusuke’s bag. “We never asked if they were certain that this Ryuji Ohya had a palace…” 

“We also need the keywords to get in if he even has one.” Makoto commented.

Sumire looked up at Yusuke. “Do you still have their contact details, Yusuke-senpai?” 

Yusuke nodded, beginning to text Sans once more;

YUSUKE - Does Ryuji Ohya have a palace?

There was a few seconds before Sans responded.

SANS - a what? what are you talking about, man?

SANS - we already called this shit off, why are you still talking to me?

YUSUKE - Because I’m curious.

YUSUKE - If you feel like you’re in danger - we could meet up, privately.

SANS - meet up? what shit are you on?! 

YUSUKE - It will just be me – no one else.

SANS - that won’t work, man!

SANS - im not able to meet in person, soz dude

“Unable to meet in person?” Makoto stated, reading the text over Yusuke’s shoulder. “What are they talking about?”

YUSUKE - What do you mean by that?

SANS - i mean im not able to meet in person!

SANS - look, i called this shit off bc i didnt want to put you in danger

SANS - ichiko got so mad when you asked about me

SANS - wait

SANS - shit

YUSUKE - Was that a first-person pronoun I spy? 

However, the message didn’t go through. Instead, Yusuke saw an error message staring them right in the face. 

“It seems they shut the whole operation down.” Goro frowned. “Possibly because we figured out Sans was Ryuji Ohya the whole time.” 

“There seems to be nothing we can do…” Makoto paused. “Well, if the operations been canned, we may just have to wait for them to get back. How ‘bout we relax? We can get sushi, my treat.”

xxx

While sushi was delicious, it was clearly tense - the shadow of Medjed looming over the Phantom Thieves. And even with Takamaki accosting them after the fact, it was clear that wasn’t going to be enough to get Sans - actually, Ryuji - to hear them out. He’d cut off contact with Yusuke, which meant that he’d given up. The operation was cancelled. However, there was one slight thing;

“We could stake out Ohya-san’s house?” 

In response to Haru’s statement when the group returned to Crossroads, the group was surprisingly tense. Haru had become their main strategist during Kaneshiro’s palace, acting as their advisor and the brains of the situation. This was a risky decision. Something that would likely lead to something bad happening. 

“What?” Makoto asked, “Are you crazy?”

“Yeah, I thought we all agreed that we weren’t gonna do that!” Goro continued. “Ryuji called off the deal, it’s over.”

“Yes, however,” Haru continued, “There has to be a reason Ryuji-san wants to change his own heart. We’ve never seen this before.”

“Haru’s right.” Yusuke said, causing the entire group to face their leader. “Most of those we’ve faced before have been utterly despicable people. Aside from when Ohya got upset with me for seeking him out, he’s never faltered on this plan.” 

Sumire looked down. “If this fails, we’ll have to apologise to Ohya-san for sneaking in.”

Yusuke nodded, as the rest of the group did so. That was when the group arrived at Ohya’s house at night. It had begun to rain, and there was really no shelter. Thanks to Sumire’s lockpicking skills – it was a miracle as to how a small rabbit could be able to unlock the gate with such tiny paws – the group had managed to get into the house.

The place was dark when they entered. No light aside from an ajar door and no sound aside from a TV in the distance. It was quite unsettling, almost like Ohya wasn’t there.

“Ohya-san isn’t that old, right?” Makoto whispered, “She shouldn’t be asleep now?” 

“I’m a bit worried.” Goro whispered, “Should we go in and check on her?” 

Haru winced. “Please excuse us, Ohya-san!” She exclaimed, taking the first step into the hallway.

A scream after the sound of thunder caused the group to disperse, with Yusuke finding themselves with Makoto latched to their leg. It was an amusing image, of the ‘charge commander’ of the Phantom Thieves gripping her leader’s leg, almost so tightly it would cause blood.

“Are you scared of the dark?” Yusuke asked.

Makoto chuckled, her voice nervous. “What? Me, scared? N-Never!” 

The fact that she nearly fainted after another thunderclap betrayed her assertations. Yusuke smiled. 

“Stay close to me.” They stated, to which Makoto nodded. 

She stood up, somewhat awkwardly, and latched onto Yusuke’s shoulder. It would’ve been funny if not for the fact with every rumble of thunder, Makoto was about ready to collapse. Yusuke wasn’t as strong as they were in the metaverse in the real world, so it meant that the much tougher Makoto was going to bring them down with her with every misstep. Yusuke paused.

They could sense someone’s presence. The ajar door began to creak open as Makoto’s mouth was agape. In the corner of the doorway, Yusuke saw a flash of bright yellow hair shine in the lightning strike. They also noticed… The silhouette was missing its right leg.

Makoto screamed. 

A loud, masculine cry let out as the door slammed shut and Makoto crumbled, gripping tighter onto Yusuke’s leg. Yusuke could swear she was muttering ‘save me!’ repeatedly under her breath. That was when a torchlight startled both parties.

Ohya had returned. And she did not seem happy.

[the-masked-ram]

A Game of Chance- Chapter Two

CW: CW: Slavery, light master/slave relationship, gambling, PTSD, hybrids, mating, marking, biting, blood, pain, torture, violence, original fem character, oc x Hiei ----

Chapter Two: Two Souls, One Chip Hiei stared at the metallic glitter of the plastic in his fingers. He hadn’t tried calling forth the demon trapped inside the chip since he had received it. The others had no luck getting into the back room, so he was the only one of the four of them who had come back with evidence. “Listen pacifier-breath! I did this part-time spirit detective gig as a favor to you; I have a job now and need to do that whole demon king thing. Keiko is gonna kick my ass,” Yusuke snarled. Koenma nodded and waved his hand flippantly, “Yes, yes, I am very grateful. But sadly, we have not yet found a replacement for you. I just wish you had come back with more of a clue. Hiei?” “What?” he asked, glancing up. “Bring that here,” the prince said, motioning to the poker chip clenched in Hiei’s fingers. His eyes narrowed, annoyance flickering through him at Koenma’s tone, but he pushed up from the wall to place the object on the desk. He took his hand away, only to feel power snag at his fingertips, like static cling. As if the demon inside was trying to get him to stay. He frowned down at his fingers, rubbing them together, irritated by the prickling sensation running across his skin. Then Koenma’s small hand moved to scoop up the poker chip, only for him to withdraw his hand with a cry of surprise. Sparks flew from it, bright red and brilliant orange, streaking across the space to the spirit prince’s skin like small bolts of lightning. “What!? What is that?!” Kuwabara exclaimed, shuffling closer to the desk and like the idiot he was, he also tried to pick up the chip. The shock this time was more violent, vibrating the plastic object and causing the oaf to snap his hand back not only in surprise but with also a yowl of pain. “Fool,” Hiei scoffed. “But you were holding it just a second ago,” Yusuke said, fixing the fire apparition with critical stare. “So I was,” Hiei said eying the unassuming disc with suspicion. “Pick it up, Hiei,” Kurama said calmly. He shot the fox a glare, narrowing his eyes distrustfully for a moment, before stepping back towards the desk. His energy slipped out to touch the chip and was greeted with a welcoming brush of reciprocating youki, it was barely noticeable, but still he felt it. His aura wrapped around the small charge, drawing more, encouraging it to grow and when his fingers touched against the solid surface of the chip a shimmer coated the surface. The glow grew until it coated his entire hand, and he drew back in surprise, there was no pain, just a persistent tickle on his hand that was unlike any energy he’d felt. Then in a burst of shimmering orange, a form appeared, collapsed in front of the desk. Yet… it wasn’t what Hiei expected, it wasn’t the large beast he’d originally seen. The power signatures and scents were completely different, and he was thoroughly confused. In front of him was a naked woman, shorter than him by several centimeters, a tumble of wavy rust red hair obscured her face and her upper tanned torso. He could hear uncertain shuffling behind him, and he was positive the oaf was uncomfortable with her state of undress. “I thought you said a demon came from that,” Kurama said curiously. “I did… and it was originally. Obviously, there’s two souls in it, one is human, and one is demon,” Hiei said resolutely, scowl back in place, he understood no more than he had a few minutes ago. Kurama hummed noncommittally and stepped towards her crumpled form. Once he was a few feet away he bent over to look at her, and her head snapped up. Eyes of honey brown glared at him, her lips pulling back over her dull human teeth in an animalistic snarl. She swiftly moved into a crouch with a low rumbling growl. She sounded far too feral for a supposedly intelligent creature. The fox took a step back with a tilt to his head, his brow rising, “I did not expect that.” Hiei couldn’t help the smirk that crept across his face. Feeling an odd smugness when her teeth snapped at the air in front of her. “She’s wild,” Koenma said. “Hn. So, it would seem,” Hiei agreed coolly. “Can you get a read on her, runt?” Yusuke asked.   He sighed in response, this was becoming annoying, but he nodded once as Kurama moved back from her trembling form and Hiei took his place. The tension in the woman’s muscles didn’t leave, but her outward show of aggression lessened. The rabid snarl slipping into curiosity, her eyes glimmering with faint humanity. Hiei tilted his head, allowing the Jagan to open under his headband, and pressed into her consciousness. She didn’t fight him, but her mind was like a tornado of instincts and fear-based aggression. Swirling anxiety and paranoia leading to snarling rage just waiting below the surface. There were no human thoughts, no easily laid tracks of words or memories he could follow, just a blank slate of reactions and basal needs. Wait… he paused, sifting further into a part of her mind that was mildly calmer, an island of safety in a tempestuous storm. An image of his face drifted there, as he had looked in the casino, the dice in hands and the horrid green and red backdrop of the room he had won the chip in. His… the word whispered on a continuous loop in her mind, connected firmly to the memory of his face. He pulled out with a sharp inhale, eyes widening a fraction before his face fell back into a grimace. He looked down at her, her gaze which was carefully guarded looked back up at him, curious but uncertain, like a beast. “What happened, Hiei?” Kurama asked. He clicked his tongue, hesitating for a moment as he stared down at his hand and then looked at the woman. “Her mind is untamed. Like… the wilds of Makai. She has very little intelligent thought, it’s a lot like looking at an animal’s mind. Survival drives her, but apparently she… knows me,” he was careful to avoid saying how she thought she was owned by him. She was suddenly much more interesting than she had been a moment ago. He couldn’t draw his eyes from her, and he huffed out a sigh as he pulled off his cloak, revealing his torn shirt under it, to drape it over her bare shoulders. The flinch that came from her when the cloth touched her skin was violent. Hiei sneered in disdain. “So, you couldn’t get anything?” Koenma asked, his shrill voice making Hiei twitch in disapproval. “No,” he said, turning on his heel to look at the prince. “I am not adept at reading the minds’ of beasts.” “Master,” the word was barely audible like a whispered breeze in the trees. Hiei turned at the distinctly feminine voice. She was staring at him, the cloak just barely covering her front. He rose a thin brow and cocked his head curiously. “What did you say?” Hiei growled. Her body stiffened a flash of understanding rippling through her gaze, “Master, yours.” She whispered, the woman’s voice stronger, her body shifting a hair closer. Hiei took a step back, his face twisted into a look of irritation. “Well, well, looks like someone has an admirer,” Yusuke said with a laugh. “Idiot,” Hiei snarled, lowly. “It’s because I have the poker chip.” The words slipped out faster than he’d expected, and he was unable to stop them. Kurama tilted his head, Kuwabara seemed to freeze, and Yusuke cocked an eyebrow. “You mean…,” Kuwabara said slowly as his one brain cell worked over the information. “You have a contract with her?” Kurama supplied curiously. “Not like I knew it was going to happen!” Hiei huffed, folding his arms over his chest, studying the woman. “They didn’t explain the rules?” Koenma asked, slowly walking towards the feral human. She turned and snapped her teeth at him, and he squeaked, falling back on his ass as he scrambled out of the way. Hiei scoffed and looked at the woman with appraisal. “No,” he sighed. “Would have been nice to know though.” “Quite,” Kurama provided, once again turning his green eyes back to small human from the chip. “She doesn’t seem to have any more spirit energy than normal human,” Yusuke murmured. “Yeah, why would they choose her?” the idiot asked. “And why would there also be a demon’s soul locked in that thing with her?” Hiei asked with a narrowing of his eyes. So much unanswered and she merely tensed, prepared to fight but all he could see was the absolute confusion and fear in her body. She was oblivious to how pivotal to this case she was, all she knew was her entire world had changed.

[webbedphantom]

Please repost, don't reblog

Character Sheet

Full Name: Aaron Amamiya

Nicknames: Ren, RenRen, Spider, Menace, Moose knuckle?

Aliases: Phantom Spider, Spider-Man (Not his name, but people call him this anyway)

Pronouns: Cis Male He/Him/His

Height: 5'9" (175cm)

Age: Verse Dependant; 16-42

Zodiac: Aries, Year of the Dragon (Not that he cares)

Spoken Languages: Japanese, English (he's bilingual)

Physical Characteristics-

Hair: Short, Dark, Curly.

Facial Hair: Verse Dependant. Usually none, but in his 30s, he'd have a goatee similar to Sojiro Sakura.

Eyes: Gray-ish blue

Skin tone: Fair? (I don't know how to properly describe it)

Body Type: Verse Dependant. Skinny in his high school days, but as an adult, he's like an Olympic Runner. Very athletic build, though as a teenager, his muscles could easily hidden by a t-shirt.

Voice: Sharp, somewhat commanding and confident when on the job, but can also be lighthearted and witty. Stutters a lot when flustered

Dominant Hand: Right Handed, though is fairly proficient with both

Posture: Slouches slightly, typically has his hands in his pockets. Much more relaxed when with friends.

Scars: Very few despite how often he gets into fights, as he heals rather quickly with his Persona's magic. He does have a few small ones on his back.

Birthmarks: None

Most Notable Features: His hair, always a mess of curls.

Childhood-

Place of Birth: Tokyo, Japan

Hometown: Tokyo, until his parents died. Then Kyoto

Siblings: N/A (as far as he knows anyway)

Parents: Akira Amamiya (Father, Japanese, Deceased), Cereza Kurusu (Mother, European, Deceased), Mika Amamiya (Aunt, Japanese)

Adult Life-

Occupation: Inventor/Engineer/Cognitive Psi-entist

Current Residence: Crappy apartment in Yongen Jaya, Tokyo

Close Friends: Ryuji Sakamoto, Futaba Sakura, Makoto Niijima, Ann Takamaki, Yusuke Kitagawa, Haru Okumura, Sumi Yoshizawa, Hifumi Togo, Yuuki Mishima, Goro Akechi, Sophia

Financial Status: Barely making ends meet

Driver's License: Thought about getting a motorcycle license, but he doesn't really need it

Criminal Record: for Aaron - Assault (False Charge) For Phantom Spider - Assault, Breaking and Entering, Evading Arrest, Assaulting a Police Officer (a crooked one, but still), Defamation, Causing a disturbance, Trespassing, and of course, vigilantism

Vices: Overthinking, Enjoying his work too much, Lying, and trying to do everything himself

Romance -

Love Language: Words of Affirmation, Physical Touch, Acts of Service, and Quality Time

Relationship Tendencies: He can be extremely nervous and awkward, especially when on a first date. He also doesn't have nearly as much confidence without the suit on, so if they know his secret he may rely on that. With the suit on, he can be a lot more of a tease, but will do his best not to go too far. He will ALWAYS put his partner first, no matter what, and tries to be as transparent as he can... without causing them to worry to much. May also be insecure about whether his partner loves him for him, or for Phantom Spider if they know his secret.

Miscellaneous -

Character's Theme Tune: Spider's Web by TryHardNinja

Hobbies to Pass the Time: Playing Video Games, Reading American Comics, Tinkering with his Inventions, Web Swinging

Left or Right Brained: Right-Brained

Self-Confidence Level: With the Suit on- He's overly confident. Without it- Rather Low

Tagged by @hxpelessnurse (Wasn't expecting this, but thank you!)

Tagging @s1lver-bullet and @queenxfjustice because I know literally no one else here-

But if anyone else wants to try it, knock yourselves out!

[deathblossomed]

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐁𝐎𝐎𝐊 𝐎𝐅 𝐋𝐈𝐅𝐄 & 𝐃𝐄𝐀𝐓𝐇 𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐃𝐒

@thuganomxcs asked: our muses adopt a child together. Indulgent Tropes

𝐁𝐎𝐓𝐀𝐍 𝐅𝐄𝐄𝐋𝐒 𝐀 𝐂𝐇𝐈𝐋𝐋 the minute they step foot onto the property. A sizable house, built secluded into the woods that showed up like a spiritual bomb on Reikai's censors. Botan was sent to get a better look, to determine if this incident was man made or something worse. And, well, she rarely goes anywhere without Yusuke nowadays.

The property looks abandoned, foliage overgrown, vines creeping up the sides. Botan, with her eyes gleaming, can see the flow of energy, like it's feeding the house. Or worse, something inside. She wants to take it slow but there goes Yusuke, bursting through the door like he owns the place. He can sense it too, something foul in the air.

The inside doesn't look much better than the outside, furniture knocked over, things broken. The windows are boarded up. The electricity doesn't work so Botan summons a small ball of light to fly beside them. And above all, it's cold, like being in a freezer.

They move cautiously through the rooms, Yusuke's unbothered while Botan hovers close. There's something unsettling, goosebumps littering her arm. Pretty soon Yusuke can feel it too. When the air starts to smell of blood.

The room might have been the dinning room when this house was livable, with the remains of a table pressed against the wall. The floor is stained with blood and ash, a heavy miasma hanging in the air. Her head spins for a minute and she's quick to put up a barrier around them both. There's no bodies that she can see and no ghosts lingering. Just candles and talismans littering the floor. At the edges of the stains, she can barely make out what might have been symbols drawn previously, now soaked over.

Botan's trying to make sense of it while Yusuke pokes around. The sound of a door slamming alerts their attention and they both run into the hall to see a hooded figure running out the back and into the surrounding woods. And Yusuke, as usual, is intent on charging after them. Botan's about to follow when she stops suddenly, holding completely still in the silence.

She thought she heard something... it's quiet but... she walks slowly back toward the dinning room, stopping outside the hall closet... When she opens it, she finds the source. A baby, crying meekly in a pile of rags on the floor, like someone had stuffed them there to hide.

Botan immediately stops to pick him up, finding the baby ashen and weak, his ki fluctuating unsteadily. The air in this place is too heavy and if he was around for whatever had occurred... there was no way he was strong enough to fend it off. Botan clutches him tight to her and rushes for the front door, hoping the fresh air will clear his lungs.

She sits with the baby in the grass, stripping off the stained sheets he was wrapped in and replacing it with her own sweater. Cradling him in one arm, she places the other hand on his forehead, a soft blue glow seeping over his skin.

"Shhh, it's alright. You're safe now," she hushes, watching the baby settle, color returning to his cheeks. "There, that's better. Who would leave such a sweet thing in such a horrid place?" With the immediate emergency seeming to pass, panic sets in. Botan doesn't know anything about babies.. is she holding him right? Support the head, she's heard that before. He seems human, or at least mostly. She can't tell if the fluttering of his ki is situational or a sign of something more. And where could his mother be?

For now, Botan sits in the grass, the baby cradled in her arms, humming quietly with a barrier raised around them.

[acoldsovereign]

Continued from here. // @thuganomxcs.

Though she didn't hear the frightened cry of his Spirit Beast, she did witness it 'suddenly appear' out of nowhere and carry off some humans to safety. Anger gave way to irritated curiosity ('did I know about that before? Did he ever tell me?'). Next, was the release of his reiki (?)--ah, yes, that's the word he used (it wasn't, this was different but she never formally asked him)--which heightened his physical abilities. For some reason, the revelation of this aspect of his powers made her frown. How dare he keep that secret from her? How dare he lie about how strong he actually was?

She's never, not once held back in their fights. Maiz didn't know the meaning of holding back--she wasn't taught that. She was never taught to. That was a foreign concept to the Saiyans. Even when she was younger, when she was a kid, her combat instructor let her have it. Her tail strengthening training was grueling, arduous and torturous to get through! Bardock didn't care for her age, her sex, nothing--his motto that he passed down to her was, "there's no excuse." So, amidst the backdrop of chaos that she's created (people screaming and fleeing the scene, screwed up traffic, the explosion caused by the larger truck colliding with Yusuke's food truck--which was a pretty sight to her), she couldn't, for the life of her, figure out why he'd do such a disrespectful thing. Did she give off the aura of a weakling? Did he not trust her enough to be able to take his hits? Did he not trust himself enough to be able to deliver them at great cost to the Earth? What was it? What in Saiyan Hell was it?

She growled at him, her fists clenched so tightly that the bones of her knuckles brushed up against the insides of her flesh. Any more pressure would see them come straight out of her skin. For the first time in her life since she was a childling, her ki flared wildly--the method was similar to someone charging up. The ends of her half-wavy, half-spiky hair danced and swayed with the flow of her frosty-tinged energy (not exactly fire-like, given her base element but moreso akin to water). Waves of chill exuded from every pore of her body. "Calm down?" She grounded out.

Her eyes flashed dangerously. For a split second, both eyes turned golden before returning to their mismatched colors. She marched to him angrily--with purpose. (Her lips were pulled back and her teeth was bared, the end of her tail circled behind like a lasso or noose--)

Her intentions were to grab his neck with both of her hands and lift him up off the ground and snarl in his face, "How am I supposed to be calm when I absolutely hate you? When I hate how you ignore my feelings?!"

[thuganomxcs]

❝ poltergeist report: 𝐋𝐀𝐓𝐄 𝐕𝐀𝐋𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐄𝐒 | 𝐌𝐈𝐒𝐒𝐈𝐎𝐍: “Happy Valentine’s Day, Yusuke !” She beamed up at him before handing him a small box of homemade chocolates that she had spent the night before making. Inside there were mini chocolate candies, some shaped like Puu, while others mini food trucks and a lotus flower shape. | client: @adversitybloomed | 𝙰𝙲𝙲𝙴𝙿𝚃𝙸𝙽𝙶.

That was today?! Shit, he really hasn’t been paying attention towards the calendar, hmm maybe he could propose a special for couples at his truck later..the day was still young. However, before he could even 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙠 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙠 he has to contend with the feelings bubbling within his very soul. His hands taking the box and opening it to reveal the chocolate-shaped candies. Some reminded him of his floppy-eared spirit beast and the others..his truck and a rather special type of flower. “Oh geez.” Yusuke spoke under his breath..was he shy? Perhaps..damn this freaking holiday for awakening yet 𝘼𝙉𝙊𝙏𝙃𝙀𝙍 𝙨𝙞𝙙𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙝𝙞𝙢.

━━   ❝   𝐈-..𝐚𝐡𝐞𝐦, 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐤𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐭 𝐏𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬.   ❞  Yusuke could barely look into her eyes without his face cracking into a smile, honestly, it was soo hard for him to remain stoic in this moment. His finger picks up one of the candies and places it into his mouth and begins to chew before eventually swallowing. The taste brought a 𝙝𝙪𝙢 to sound from him. Such a delicious little treat. “Holy crap these are pretty good, might have t’ give ya the job to work with me..but you’d be in charge of the sweets.”

[5-pp-man]

helppp this was still in my drafts. ill add the original date later but we finished this game months ago.

-

WE'RE FINALLY DONE WITH TACTICAAAA AGHAGHHS took us around 56 hours. which is between what i expected. 50/60 hours. we're just glad its over and done with (for now. we'll revisit the dlc once we finish royal) its honestly such a shame that it ended up being the way it was.

it was like. ok the entire first area feels like a way too long tutorial. and then the 2nd area had some fun stuff but also felt like a drag cause they kept repeating themselves over and over again in typical p5 fashion…

the third area was easily the best because it finally had good pacing between story and battle amount and then the last area was like the last area in s frontiers were it was clear that they just. sort of ran out of time and just decided to recolour some shit from previous areas to throw at you

the final boss battle was kinda nice though but unfortunately we were way too overpowered on hard mode…? without grinding ever. ok then.

anyways shoutout to brigantine blitzkrieg. the only voltage move we ever used. used it like 8 times in that final battle. shoutout to ryuji in general btw he was almost always in our team. along w yusuke and ann. they were the dreamteam.

also fun fact. whenever lavenza would talk with spoken dialogue we would straight up cut her off because she talks terribly slow and we hate her <3

also i like the style of this game. sure. but i feel like it actively worked against itself whenever it would get really serious the boss designs in this game though? fucking phenomenal like they really knocked it outta the park w those and every p5 game should've used the offwhite in the menus of this one instead of the bright white. my eyes thank the designer of this game

and no way in hell ppl finished this game in 25 hours. shut the hell up no you didn't. i think its barely worth its price at 60 hours, but if people seriously did completionist in only 37 hours... then it for sure isn't

AND ANOTHER THING. Toshiro's audio was fucking abysmal. We seriously turned down EVERY other sound in the game just so we could hear him talk. Who is in charge of the audio mixing for atlus' eng dub. cause i don't even think they have someone for that. either that or they're sleeping on the job. Scramble had this same exact problem but that game didn't let you change volume levels so we just couldn't hear what some characters were saying for like 40% of their dialogue.

The music is this game was also... very unremarkable. Like the opening was nice. besides that, nothing really stood out. Which is a shame because we LOVED the music in Scramble, it was one of the things we got super hyped about.

[pugs-cats-bb-8]

Vanilla-Okumura

Oh, yeah this arc. I like Morgana. I just get PTSD from Okumura's battle. I hated doing the song in Dancing.

"Stress is the enemy of beauty". 🤣🤣 I can see Sae pulling this out later on.

Unvoiced conversation.

Help Futaba get rid of her unease. I want to say its worded differently in Royal, but I don't remember.

Ohya's boss sucks.

Unvoiced conversation. Pretty big one too. You would think it would be voiced.

I like to throw Yusuke under the bus.

Unvoiced conversation.

Ann and Ryuji, the blond extrovert twins.

"Don't worry about it". As he asks for the guy's personal info. Honestly, how fucking charming/trustworthy is Ren? I'd be kinda suspicious if a dude asked me for the full name of my problem and told me not to worry. I'd think I was about to be caught up in a murder charge.

Unvoiced conversation. Again, another big one.

Unvoiced conversation. Big one.

I love Futaba scaring that fuck head.

Does anybody actually use Fate Reading?

Unvoiced conversation.

I love how they just bought her a swimsuit without knowing her taste or size.

Batting cages aren't open at night.

I never knew what that building was I thought it was an office building, not a movie theatre.

I worked at the Beef Bowl twice and never went back. I got my precision elsewhere.

Unvoiced conversation. Eternal Lockpick became Perma Pick.

Kawakami doesn't ask questions, she just makes a lock pick and other things for you. 🤣🤣

No wonder I forgot Akechi has a first name. He barely says his first name.

Trauma dump and rank up.

I love how there's two pronunciations of Medjed, depending on the person.

It's more flirty when it's not an auto rank-up.

Futaba's trying to drag poor Sojiro outside.🤣🤣

Me and my brother used to light the Smoke Bombs and run through the smoke. Probably not the best idea.

They're going to light the basket on fire. And kill Morgana.

You don't need a stat requirement to work at Crossroads? Kind-3, Precision-3

Lala's not voiced.

I would love it if he cross dressed. Morgana speaking the truth.

I swear in Royal there's four customers you can choose from. There is they added an Office Worker who gives you knowledge.

You only get 5,400 Yen (38.67 Dollars) for a Sunday😨😨. In Royal, it's 12,000 Yen (84.59)🤑🤑.

No mention of Sundays being the day to work.

Christ sakes, Ren 😋😋🥵🥵

I like how Makoto's top has kitty paws on the straps.

I love how Ann pulls one over on Ryuji.

I'd die if Ren look at me like that. Like I'd be a puddle.😍😍

I don't think Ren has any trouble stealing hearts.

Unvoiced conversation.

Yusuke and his lobsters🤣🤣

I like how in the anime, Ren asks if he has enough money for the train home.

Unvoiced conversation. 

like how they know they're in high school, but they still hit on them. 😠😠

Unvoiced conversation.

I can only imagine what Futaba hears.

Ryuji needs to stop putting his foot in his mouth.

Does Ren not like to type?

Unvoiced conversation.

No, not human Morgana 🙅🏻‍♀️🙅🏻‍♀️.

Don't you get Harisen Recover at R.6?

I never knew he grunted/thinking noises if you stayed on the map too long. Honestly, I thought it was some sort of intestinal distress. I also didn't know they moved it outside, to the city in Strikers. I heard it one night when I was alone. Scared the shit out of me. Took me three times of hearing it to figure out what it was. Look, I'm happy they're giving Xander lines, but can they give him more than simple sentences and sound bites? I ain't saying he has to read the phone book, unless that's a key story beat.😋😋😍😍 But I wouldn't mind more lines. Let's hope Tactica gives some new lines, or at least said in a new way.

The fountain pen was sold in Shinjuku? 

think they changed the descriptions for the 2nd tier Personas new moves.

Unvoiced conversation.

Unvoiced conversation.

120,000 Yen=849.55 Dollars.

Unvoiced conversation.

Unvoiced conversation.

I love how Sojiro doesn't care that you take Morgana to school.

Unvoiced conversation.

So Kin-Ki lost his Psychic weakness.

I think they made Ren faster.

I love driving down every floor of Mementos.

Sneezing while frozen is an accomplishment.

High Counter used to be called Counterstrike.

Hole Gold🤨🤨

I confuse Neko Shogun and Nekomata for some reason.

I think when most of your team is statused. The AI should prioritize whoever can hit a weakness, or Ren. Because a dead leader is game over.

I didn't know in my first playthrough, that Harisen Recover worked on all teammates. I thought it was only you. Imagine my surprise the first time it activated for someone else.

He's going to backhand somebody one day.

I know it's the game keeping you from doing things. But damn, Morgana rules with an iron fist.

Slight different question. Macadamia nuts are expansive.

As much as I don't like Kawakami. I do hate that her romance response is delayed. When I romanced her to get the award. I thought I messed up and didn't hit a romance flag. (Like Takemi or Chihaya). I get why but, it still made me think I messed up.

Mishima used to text you after every completed Mementos Mission?🙃🙃

Softer "yes" after you help Kawakami. Royal's is a bit louder.

Dude, you pay so much more money for the Big Bang 🍔 challenge in the morning. I mean I'd heard that you pay more but not 700 and then 1,000 Yen more.

Ren's going to drop dead of a heart attack.

Unvoiced conversation.

I love how if you lose at the crane game enough. Morgana won't let you play it anymore that day.

I hated going to the Maid Cafe. 🙅🏻‍♀️🙅🏻‍♀️

Was there always a conversation on the night of 9/6?

I thought when you're on probation that you can't leave the country. Or is that house arrest?

Unvoiced conversation.

They moved the picture to after they get to Hawaii.

Sexy pics are a no go.

When they question how long you're staying and why. It sounds like they don't want you there. Reminds me of when sales people bug me too much in a store. I'll walk right out. Although, you can't get back on the plane.

I'd rather room with Ryuji than Mishima.

These trips seem like they're PR for the school.

"The good-looking one". Okay Mishima.👌🏻

Unvoiced conversation.

Random Yusuke.

Unvoiced conversation.

I don't think Ren is a big photo guy.

Unvoiced conversation.

I love the lei loading scene.

Wouldn't it be funny if Ryuji's roommate's girlfriend was Ann's roommate?🤣🤣

They never thought of sharing.

I love how all those options apply to Akechi.

I don't think "I don't have a type" is in Royal.

Poor Mishima. The tap water thing is Mexico. Not the US.

Think Hawaii's boring. Try Hawaii without much voice acting.

"You'll get fat". Dude is cruisin' for a bruising.

Are Garlic Shrimp really foreign? They sell them at restaurants over here in the US. I can't imagine it's hard to make.

Unvoiced conversation.

I'm sure Mishima could get a girlfriend if he didn't seem like an incel. That and the fact that I think if a girl hugged him he'd cream his pants.

Unvoiced conversation.

"Secret lover coming after me with an axe".🤣🤣

As funny as that is they don't know that they met Haru, yet.

Also, are the localizers British? They just stuck the gift scene in there. Bye, potato 👋🏻👋🏻

Morgana should talk to him. I know Ren would listen.

"Here's your gift". 🎁 "Your principal's dead".🤨🙄 Nice greeting. Why would they care?

Morgana's at fault because he doesn't talk about his problems. Ryuji's at fault because he repeatedly calls Morgana useless and says Makoto and Futaba are better than him. He gets impatient when they stake out Mementos. Then he says "We don't care if you're useless". 🦶=👄

Unvoiced conversation.

That's because the principal sucked.

Cute Akechi face x4.

Unvoiced conversation.

I love how Ren and Futaba are the only ones worried about Morgana.

Different question.

They added the Morgana lives here things in Royal. Claw marks on the table leg. Paw prints in the dust. I think there's one more, but I don't remember it.

Different sound for the holographic screens.

I love this scene in the anime. Ren's line is 😋😋😍😍 "It means to help the weak and dethrone the mighty".

Women can be evil too, Ryuji.

YouTube comments led me to believe Haru was the black mask.

Different question.

I've lost track of where Ren was in the Mementos scenes. Because he's allergic to colour. I mean sure he looks drop-dead gorgeous, but he also blends in.

Foot meet mouth.

So help me God, Ryuji. We were so close.

Ann so should've smacked him.

I think he jumps out of the way faster in Royal.

Unvoiced conversation.

Did they change Haru's dad's voice?

There's no turning back now. Jesus, does the game expect us to marry and have kids with whoever you date? Hasn't they ever heard of breaking up?

"You'll be awarded an extraordinary gift". Yeah, a trip to the hospital for bypass surgery or a trip to the morgue.

Different question.

No chest to the left when you enter.

Black Ooze in Okumura's? I mean it makes sense but...

Smarf man.

What a creep.

I wish you could choose who it kicks out when you get a new teammate.

There's a sound when you hit the safe room doors? Maybe my fan's just too loud.

Different layout.

How is there like nowhere to hide?

Munching on sweets? Oh! Are they talking about the real-life counterparts?

If Queen's Necklace is weak to Gun. Then what is Koh-I-Noor weak to?

We're burglars🤨🤨

He was alone where did the other two come from?

New cut scene.

Haru has 6 Ammo!? Why does it go down to 1 in Royal?

I like the way they did the eavesdropping sections.

Yusuke learns Counterstrike way later in Royal. Like 2 whole palaces later.

"We're not far".🤬🤬 It takes so long to get there.

Different layout.

The robot's bopping to the music.

Different layout.

Unvoiced conversation.

Lilim is weak to Gun, Wind and Bless?

I've never seen a Treasure Demon that knows healing moves or buffs/debuffs.

Different layout.

Different colours for the hydraulic presses.

Different sounds for them too.

Koh-I-Noor has no weakness?

No lasers. Different layout.

I always thought Ryuji's 2nd tier Persona had an "N" at the end.

The urge to use every Persona, just so I can hear his voice. 😋😋

Different sounds for breaking the arms.

I didn't know you could pause the timer by opening the menu.

Unvoiced conversation.

No lasers.

Unvoiced conversation.

I don't like the airlock puzzle. But at least you get a nice view. 😏😏

Scathath? I don't see her till Maruki in Royal.

Different switch noise.

Different layout.

Really wish they gave the option to leave directly after clearing a path to the treasure. They stopped doing that after Madarame.

Wait, you could get an invitation for the next day even if you went to the palace that day? In Royal, that doesn't work even if you use Kawakami. That's why you do Futaba as soon as it opens. So, you can get the aquarium date.

Mishima definitely creamed his pants.

Even Chihaya knows Mishima isn't your friend. 🤣🤣 I've never gotten that scene because I'm always battling Okumura. They straight up just leave him. 🤣🤣

Takemi used to sell Homunculus?

Unvoiced conversation.

Doesn't tell you how many items you can make.

3 categories instead of 2.

Elemental throwables were grouped together.

Couldn't make multiple at once.

Different question.

I don't like Life Will Change instrumental.

Taking the long way around.

No enemy there.

Oh yeah, we have to go the long way.

No dialogue after you hit the door.

So, a minute in Vanilla versus roughly 20 secs in Royal. Although, you do miss out on a chest. But it's nothing that game-breaking.

There's no way this dude would change. He's better off dead.

"I will crush you all". More like you'll use other people as cannon fodder. 🤬🤬

Why does the timer still run when the dialogue's going? I mean it's like seconds, but still.

I like how he backflips.

You have to do this without Haru's baton pass. 😨😨🤬🤬

Mix of robots makes it a bit harder.

Okay, he does add more if you don't beat all of them.

No targeting specific people.

Same number of waves.

I hate the Executive.

"I need sushi". 🤣🤣

The first time I used Izanagi-No-Okumi-Piacaro. The second I used Magatsu-Izanagi. Third and fourth I shot him.

He has a lot more health in Vanilla.

You could take him on at LV.40-42? In Royal, you should be at least 44-45 or higher.

"He'll be fine". 🤣🤣 If dead means fine, then sure. He'll be fine.

What made him change?

Unvoiced conversation.

Added a question to Iwai's R.1.

Unvoiced conversation.

You could get skill cards out of chests in Mementos?

Added a question to Shinya's R.1. 

I like Shinya.

Different question.

When Bullet Hail activates the camera angle changes slightly. Same for Treasure Demons, although there's a bit of pause when that happens. It pauses a bit with Disaster Shadows too.

Depending on how much money you have. Getting 100K Yen could potentially help you.

"Just make sure no one sees you". Sure Morgana, nobody's going to see me building bombs and lock picks in class.

"Please leave". 🤣🤣 Look I know Akechi reads more as a yandere in Vanilla, but holy shit. 🤣🤣

Even though Chihaya's older than you. Her romance is pretty cute.

Slightly different question.

I love all the Sonic references.

Morgana doesn't tell you if there's any targets left in the area. Nor does he tell you about where they are. You just have to keep going down and wait till he says something at the start.

Treasure Demons Null all elements they're not weak to. I've only seen that in Strikers, on Merciless. In Royal, they resist.

Also, Stone Of Scone is weak to curse, not fire.

Orlov is weak to curse and found in Sae's Palace.

Different question.

"You're always free". Damn, Futaba.🤣🤣 Poor man has to solve the whole of Tokyo's problems+save the world and you deliver that sick of a burn.

"It's not like there's any customers here". 🤣🤣

"You just had to get close to me". 🙄🙄 Dude, you're the one who wouldn't leave me alone! I've been trying to stay away from you!

"Please leave"x2

They moved Mishima-Dome Town back from 10-9 to 11-3. I've taken that meeting once. I wanted points on Shinya.

They turned 10-10 into a normal hangout. In Royal, you go to Nakano and meet Iwai.

Slightly different question.

"Oh please, give me a break". 🤣🤣 I love the way he says that.

[fangirlingpuggle]

Ok so I couldn’t sleep and started thinking what if Shiho became a phantom thief and now I have a whole ass very dumb AU...so here is the don’t you want to go apeshit AU.

So Akira has an umbrella doesn’t wait but does see Ann get into the car he arrives at school and see’s Shiho overhearing other students talk about Ann the keywords get spoken both are in the metaverse, standard plot happens Shiho freaking out especially when she sees Kamoshida’s shadow but also getting angry.  When the two end up in the metaverse again and Shiho sees a cognitive version of Ann she goes full beast mode and awakens her persona. She refuses to go see Kamoshida when he tries to confront her oh so angry over someone not following his orders Akira’s there and the pair confront him, he gets pissed and basically says he’ll get them both expelled and that he’ll up the ante on he rumours about Ann and other horrible things. Shiho and Akria are ready to murder him.

Kawakami storms in overhearing everything and PISSED she is ready to end him when he reveals he knows about her side job and not say anything or else. She is shaking with rage and gets caught up when Shiho and Akira re-enter the metaverse. She awakens her own persona. The group then leave with Morgana and deliver the calling card that she plasters everywhere.

Kawakami having a persona doesn’t really help because Shiho pretty much single handily charges through the palace and beats the shit out of Kamoshida’s shadow. Morgana steals the treasure and comes back and Akira just standing there cheering her on while Kawakami’s just stealing other treasures.

The only reason she doesn’t kill him is that that’s too easy in her opinion he’s going to live with it and suffer, he dies now his reputation survives even if the truth comes out the school could bury it she wants his reputation dead and buried and him to live the rest of his life suffering.

The group start exploring the mementos, Kawakami especially loves the treasures like no need to be a maid I can just steal all this shit from mementos... until finds out about the other shadows and finds Takase’s guardians and well... her turn to go beast mode.

She still goes for the treasure a lot she’s as bad as Morgana and is the one who sells stuff at Iwai’s... he’s pretty convinced she’s a secret crime boss with the amount of stuff she goes in to sell.

Akechi turns out is watching as black mask as they’re in mementos and honestly kind of impressed. When the groups traveling, they actually see black mask destroying shadows and Akira falls hard and fast he is a pining mess.

Morgana ends up staying with Kawakami because he can not deal with the PINING! Akira is waxing poetic about the guy they saw tear apart shadows with his bare hands.

Kawakami: I mean it’s fine it’s not like I’m a crazy cat lady, it doesn’t count if the cat talks back right?

Shiho:…

Akira:…

Shiho:…should we tell her that no one else being able to hear Mona and her holding full conversations with them it’s literally going to make her the definition of a crazy cat lady?

Also Ann and Ryuji started hanging out as he didn’t believe the rumours about her and defended her, and Mishima thinks that they are the phantom thief’s and keeps talking to them about it and Akira and Shiho overhear which is how the website happens. Ann and Ryuji are just very confused.

Ryuji:… dude we aren’t the phantom thieves

Mishima: Rrriiigghhht I gotcha

Ann: No we really aren’t

Mishima: Right I get it

Ann:…I don’t think you do

All other palaces under the cut... sorry this is very long

Palace 2

Shiho and Ann are on a date, Akira is sort of third wheeling when they meet Yusuke and then Madarame. When they get to Madarame’s palace they run into black mask and amongst Akira’s awful pining they end up agreeing to work together. Black Mask is basically just seeing how dangerous they are and if he should deal with them… but he seems the entire time flirting with Akira in their weird competitive way.

Black mask is ready to end Madarame when Shiho talks about how change of heart makes him suffer more that he has live with everything falling apart and death he’ll dies and the truth may never come to light and people will still respect and admire him but if he admits everything, he has to life his life with everything gone….

Akechi starts thinking after that. He agrees to help with a change of heart. Just to see.

He also agrees may help out other times to. Akira is beaming and Shiho regrets everything later that night when Akira won’t stop texting her!!! He doesn’t even what the guy looks like under the mask but still keeps texting about his eyes. HE HASN’T EVEN SEEN HIS EYES!

They steal Madarme’s heart no real problem.

Yusuke actually kept hanging out with Ann and the also Ryuji… Mishima is now even more convinced they are the phantom thieves.

As is Makoto whose following them around.

Ann, Ryuji and Yusuke have no fucking idea what’s going on.

Palace 3

Akira actually figures out who Akechi is as soon as he starts calling the thieves out, he has spent the entire of the last palace listening to the other talk and bantering with each other and as soon as they call on him and they start bantering lightly he knows. Shiho also knows she’s just sitting there paling like ‘Oh god no not in the real world to Mementos was bad enough not here to’ she doesn’t even care he’s a detective she cares that she’s not going to get any sleep from 3am pining texts… especially now Akira has actually seen his eyes.

They meet in the corridor and Shiho nopes out as they start flirting and Akechi realises, he knows and then freaks out and runs for it… now Shiho has to deal with moping Akira.

Kawakami actually decides for them to go after Kaneshiro after she’s focusing more on teaching and notices students acting odd and see’s some at Iwai’s shop while she’s selling loot. So, she decides they’re going after him. She finds out who he is with Iwai’s help.

They don’t actually get into debt Shiho using her volley ball skill and pretty much downing the bank. Which catches Black mask’s attention and he meets up with them Akira pretty much says he knows but doesn’t care and trusts Akechi even though said will catch them. Akechi is full of guilt.

Kawakami is ignoring the teenage bullshit and her and Mona are stealing everything.

Makoto ends up realising they’re not the phantom thieves but has got adopted into their friend group. She’s tried show Mishima the evidence they’re not phantom thieves but he just says he’s really impressed how dedicated they are to secret identities… they’ve given up trying to talk sense to him at this point.

Palace 4

Futaba still contacts the group as Alibaba and they figure out about her but well they’re in LeBlanc and Sae and Sojiro are there and they both end up there in the palace Akechi’s there to…

Best way to describe the palace is fucking trauma… it’s in this one that Akechi working for Shido as an assassin, Wakaba’s death, Akechi being Wakaba’s subject of her research, Shido being Akechi’s father and maybe Futaba’s father as well is all revealed it’s a lot…

Sojiro awakens his own persona with everything especially the monster Wakaba that gives Akechi a fucking panic attack and has him unable to fight. Sojiro goes full dad mode. Sae meanwhile is with Futaba’s shadow and helping Futaba remember what actually happened.

Pretty such Sojiro is like ‘I have now adopted my future son in law and will be arranging therapy for him’ when they get out as well plotting Shido’s downfall.

Futaba is much better after and deals with medjed also starts hacking into Shido’s systems to fuck with him because they may not be targeting him yet but she will be fucking with him.

Also, Futaba, Sae and Akechi end up debating feather man episodes and lore so much… Sojiro closes the café and turns the lights off and none of them realise.

Palace 5 not 4 yeah orders a bit different because Sae knows about the metaverse and in Futaba’s palace Akechi revealed Sae has one and she is not happy with that at all.

While Kawakami, Shiho and Akira are on school trip Sae decides FUCK IT she’s dealing with her palace and basically demands a calling card that Sojiro and Akechi end up scribbling on a napkin that she grabs and then demands they let her into metaverse.

Sae is beating the shit of her own shadow while Sojiro and Akechi just watch on awkwardly… at the end Sae awakens her own Persona and the group come back with a new target.

Palace 4 now 5 Akechi reveals he’s been ordered to kill the target and that Shido will know somethings up those leads to

Akira: Hey Sae… how hard would it be to fake a death?

They handle the place without issue change his heart there’s a fake announcement of his death Shido thinks he’s won as Akechi mentioned killed thieves in the palace… not knowing they are getting ready to end him… Sojiro is ready to 1v1 him.

Maruki palace

No one is happy, Sojiro and Sae have coffee broken coffee mugs and try to shank him when he walks into LeBlanc

End is him getting kicked the shit out of by team mom and dad while they’re yelling

“THIS.IS.NOT.HOW.YOU.DO.THERAPY!!!!”

Bonus dumb ideas

Mona tries flirting with Ann one time even though she can’t understand him Shiho threatens to have him neutered.

In mementos Sojiro insists on driving and has on numerous occasions threatened to turn this cat around if they don’t quiet down.

All palaces end up with Akechi and Akira doing their competitive flirting. The rest of them just ignore the two.

Futaba still helps out team and knows everything even if she doesn’t go in to the metaverse.

Sojiro meets Caroline and Justine and is just like well I’ve already adopted three kids what’s two more.

Sorry this is very very long and dumb I need sleep. Sorry.

[symphonic-scream]

Mmmm more of the Akechi Twins AU

If you're seeing this for the first time, it's an au where the P5 cast are in the P4 plot, ft twins Makoto and Goro

Ahem. Here's the direct notes

This be non-binary Makoto. Born afab, pretends to be a man, but in reality, feels like neithe

Spending life trying to find a way to not just be Goro's shadow, but they've lost themself along the way. They don't know who they are but Goro's twin. There is no Makoto, really. No one sees them as an individual

Until they get slapped by the Lovers, Haru, who accuses them of treating things like some sort of game. Makoto is shocked, standing there, hand to their cheek. Haru is glaring up at them with such fire

After they rescue Makoto, they ask them where they should bring them home. Makoto struggles to answer. She doesn't want to go home to Goro, that's not home.

"I, I don't,"

"...you can spend the night with me," Yusuke's words are soft. He lives with his Mom, who's illness has faded a little since the beginning of the year

Makoto spends a night in the old Gallery of Inaba, sleeping in a futon across from Yusuke. His mom offers them comfy clothes from Yusuke's pile of sensory clothes, and she silently hands over a sports bra. She doesn't say anything, but the look she's giving Makoto says "I've gone through this with one teen. No binder in bed"

Makoto has a "reunion" with Goro in the morning. His hug is tighter than they expected. He was acting odd after her TV appearance too...

Goro: you're such a dumbass. Fuckjng- stupid ass-

Makoto: can't even greet me with kindness? I see how it is

Goro: ...don't do that again. Next time I'll drag you home myself.

Makoto: ...yeah.

They silently take their stuff out of the apartment over the week they're out recovering. They have a fight about it, and Makoto needs this to grow into themself

Sayuri adores her son and the little nerd third year he's befriended

And Haru apologizes for slapping them. They're classmates now, and they should be friends,

And Makoto laughs, and it's the first any of them have heard of that sound from them. Makoto thanks her, for knocking some sense into them

Haru: ...oh no they're hot

-

Goro: hey. Where are you going to be staying?

Makoto: why do you want to know? So you can come yell at me there too?

Goro: ...your address needs to be updated for your prescriptions. Just cause I'm fucking pissed doesn't mean I want you to go off and ruin your fucking life, dumbass

It hurts more when Makoto starts to figure out what he's been doing

Makoto: WHY, WHY DO THIS?!

Goro: I'm fucking bored, that's why. Why shouldn't I? It's not like they matter more than me

-

Haru: I want to kiss them so badly,

Ann: mm, but they're dense as all hell, right?

Haru: URGH

-

Haru gets to have a family that's semi normal

Her uncle and cousin, much better than her dad ever was

Haru: ...I don't want to leave, this. This has been the most I've been cared for since my mom died,

Haru: she was my uncle's sister. They weren't close, and i could've gone my whole life without seeing Kaoru,

-

Makoto gets a new home with the Kitagawa's. Post story, Goro is getting proper help for the issues that caused him to corrupt so horribly, besides the whole god thing. But, he's also been charged. Makoto goes out to see him, visit him at the facility he's getting treatment from. And, they both barely recognize the person sitting across from them

At the end of the day, he's still their brother. They've been through everything together. Makoto doesn't know how to feel

Plus. He boinked Akira, their friend. That's also throwing them off

Makoto:

Goro:

Makoto:

Goro: ...it was good

Makoto: you're a whore

Goro: no, I'm clinically insane! Wrong again!

Makoto: ugh, and you're still a prick

They're both smiling a little

They'll never have what they had as kids. Never again. But they can be better.

-

The school trip to Iwatodai, there's an "error", puts Makoto in Haru's room. The whole class is confused. Makoto looks so, frozen. Haru just keeps glancing at them, and panics. Bursts out a "HAHA GUESS THEY GOT ME CONFUSED, SINCE MY NAME CAN BE A BOY'S, AHA-"

and. It fucking works? Everyone waves it off. Their teacher sits them down, asks if they're comfortable in that situation, and says they're only not changing it cause they're both trusted to be mature and behave

Makoto isn't out to Haru at this point. This is before they're really friends. Makoto has no idea why she did that

Makoto: you, didn't have to take the hit for this.

Haru: well there was some error, right? Akechi brother?

Makoto: ...yeah. Uhm. I'll change in the bathroom. Don't worry

Makoto takes the couch, curled up weird. Haru watches them, unsure what to make of them.

Haru: ...why didn't your brother also join our school?

Makoto: he doesn't share my views on most things. We're, not as alike as the media likes to think

Haru: I see.

Makoto: so, no, I can't get you in with him. He wouldn't care for it anyways,

Haru: oh, I'm much more interested in talking to you. You're more personable than you come across on TV

Makoto: ...I am?

Then, things happen. Haru slaps them, full of anger. Makoto makes a decision, takes an interview, to bait the kidnapper. Goro screams at them for it. They get rescued, and, find it's easier to breathe in the old dusty gallery

Then Haru finds them by the river. They have a talk about gender. Withing two weeks, Haru is shouting for someone to heal them, Makoto thrown into a wall during a dungeon boss fight, and they don't get up.

A revival bead does the job, but, Haru is still shaking

Makoto hisses when Haru gently removes their jacket later. Ann is sitting in front of them, the boys and Futaba waiting in the living room. Ann apologizes softly as she helps them out of their turtleneck, and Haru nearly sobs at the giant bruise blooming across their shoulder

"so, no binding for a few days?"

"Yeah, sorry, Mako,,"

"It's my fault for not dodging. Gya, I was, stupid"

"Don't. You're not at fault. Let's just get you healed up."

Ryuji is blushing a little while he hands over a large hoodie for them. To hide their form a bit, yknow? THIS AINT ROMANTIC EOTHER, JUET FRIENDLY, MAN! OR, UH, YOU!

Makoto smiles gently at him, thanks him. Haru is hugging their other arm. The one far from the bruise

She kissed the bruise earlier. When Ann left, she kissed them properly too

Everyone tries not to laugh at Makoto, back in their turtleneck, still wearing the nice slacks, and. Now this bright "RUN FAR" graphic sweater

Futaba: yo, Haru, you good?

Haru: ...just a little tired. That fight took a lot out of me, even though I wasn't fighting.

Makoto: here, I'll walk you home then

And they place their cap on Haru's head, running a hand through short, messy brown hair. Haru giggles softly, cheeks lighting up

People smile as they walk home together. They must be quite a sight. One of the famous Akechi Detective Princes, along with the youngest celebrity chef, walking home arm in arm

Haru hugs them tightly, on the door to Untouchables, breathing in the rainy air, and the cologne Makoto must've put on that morning

Haru: ...don't you have something to ask me?

Makoto: hm? OH! A date? Would you want to join me for a date Saturday after school? I can, take us to the city on my motorcycle?

Haru: ...you just keep getting hotter Jesus fuck

Local straight-passing celebrity couple wanting to be just normal people, sources say

Munehisa gets used to his niece leaving to go hang out with the "blue detective not-boy". He sees how she smiles when they lean down to kiss her cheek. He'll still worry a little, but he gets to worry less when she has the closest thing to a bodyguard for a partner

[uselesslesbiab]

What do SEES and the Phantom Thieves do for Halloween?

I originally wasn’t gonna make a post about either of these groups but I will indulge you and only you because you always send me like the best asks ever.

SEES

Akihiko insists on wearing a costume that allows him to be shirtless every year. He doesn’t care how many times Mitsuru reminds him that it’s October and it’s cold outside and that he’s going to be complaining within 5 minutes of leaving the house. She’s right every year.

Mitsuru doesn’t fare much better though; no matter what her costume is she’s always wearing the tallest heels in the room and then regrets her decision because her feet hurt like hell and she can barely walk. Akihiko gets mad that she’s taller than him.

Ken and Koromaru dress up as Russell and Doug from Up. Shinjiro very reluctantly dresses up as Carl.

Per Fuuka’s suggestion, they all go to a haunted house together. What’s the worst that can happen? They’ve all handled Tartarus, surely they can handle some cheap fake scares

They were oh so very wrong.

Junpei screams before they even get through the door. The spiderweb decoration got caught on his hat and he couldn’t get it off. Shinjiro smacks the hat off him.

Akihiko and Ken try to match each other’s bravado and manage to make it about halfway through without screaming. They get so wound up that they both bump into Shinjiro at the same time and jump about a foot in the air.

Yukari quite literally jumps into Mitsuru’s arms at some point in the middle and Mitsuru just carries her the rest of the way through

Well, almost the rest of the way. Chainsaw guy came out from behind a door and Mitsuru dropped Yukari and ran. Heels and all.

Minato and Aigis are the only ones straight faced and completely fine most of the time. Aigis has sensors that detect anything ready to pop out at her so she’s never surprised.

The rest of them think Minato’s just too tough or watches a lot of horror movies but really he was just listening to music the whole time and not paying attention.

Surprisingly, Fuuka’s the one who ends up punching a performer and gets them kicked out.

Phantom Thieves

They all plan to have a Halloween party at Leblanc. Shenanigans ensue.

Sojiro tells Futaba she can put up decorations as long as she doesn’t scare the customers. She doesn’t listen and puts up whatever she wants.

Or rather, she makes Morgana put them up while she puts together the perfect Halloween playlist. Morgana gets tape stuck to his paws and does the little cat thing where they lose their shit.

Ryuji and Ann are in charge of bringing the snacks. Yusuke somehow hijacks them on the way to the party and eats half of everything.

Haru comes in the bloodiest costume you can imagine. They don’t even know what she’s supposed to be she just has an axe and is drenched head to toe in fake blood.

Ren takes Yusuke to a spirit Halloween for the first time and he launches into an angry rant about how cheaply all the costumes are made and how it’s an affront to the art world. They are promptly escorted from the premises.

Makoto shows up in possibly the most boring and impractical costume of all time. She’s an egg and she cannot make it through the door.

Ren tries to cook a “spooky” version of Sojiro’s curry. All he did was make it super spicy and add way too much orange food coloring. It looks and tastes like Chester Cheetah took a shit on a plate.

Akechi shows up uninvited dressed as Batman because he’s a stupid little nerd. He does the Batman voice until everyone gets sick of him and Ryuji throws him out.

[kationella]

Welcome to another episode where we tackle the lore of the Persona series. This time we have...

The Velvet Room

The Velvet Room is one if the few things that appear every Persona game. We all know the basics, so let's go deeper than that.

This place was created by Philemon as a way to help users on their journeys and give them an extra boost, so to speak. It is unknown when it was created, but with the help of facts I will mention later, we can guess it was way before P1.

It's location, like the Sea of Souls, changes constantly. However unlike the Sea, it is easier for a normal person to gain access to it. Well, as normal as a Persona user can get.

The Velvet Room has this ability to appear wherever a guest needs it. Usually in a set of different locations in the city/town where their journey takes place.

Formally, it serves as a bridge between the "human realm" and the Collective Unconscious, where the multiple pocket dimensions lie.

Due to its nature, a guest is able to visit the room in their sleep, mostly because their presence is required at the moment.

It's appearance is supposed to be a representation of the journey the current guest is going through. It's usually a mobile appearance like an elevator or a limousine.

However, if there is more than one guest at a time, it will default to a literal velvet room.

Keep in mind that a guest is not the same as a visitor. A visitor can't gain access to the room by normal means and can't use their services (It is possible for people with high spiritual sensitivity to see the door, though).

A guest is bound by a contract to complete their journey in exchange for the benefits the room entails.

What are those benefits? Game mechanics, mostly. Like managing Personas and Fusion. Ya know.

It's demon/shadow counterpart would be the Cathedral of Shadows.

To be granted entry as a guest of the Velvet Room you must either:

A) Have been granted your Persona by Philemon.

B) Own the power of the Wildcard. I will cover the Wildcards in a separate post.

The denizens of the Velvet Room can bring visitors whenever they want, though.

You can deny the contract the Velvet Room offers, though it is destined that you'll end up signing it anyways.

Despite having created the place, Philemon barely visits it. Let's talk then about the true denizens of the Velvet Room.

We can't talk about the Velvet Room without talking about Igor. He is the first face you'll see once you enter through that blue door.

Igor's creator is currently unknown. All that we know is that he started as a doll that was given life by unknown means. Like a weird Pinocchio.

He practically manages the Velvet Room, being in charge of fusions. However, Igor must always use some object in order to be able to use this ability. In P1 and P2 it was a bone telephone, while in the rest he uses a deck of cards.

This doesn't mean that Igor doesn't have personal abilities. He doesn't say it outloud, but it's obvious Igor has minor precognition. Mostly focused on his guests.

He does have full control over his retrocognitive abilities, which helps him to read the personalities of those around him based on their lifes. Not only that, but in one of the P3 dramas Igor is capable of sharing what he sees in the past with another person through a flashback of sorts.

Aside from this Igor can do minor spiritual healing, through so far we have only seen him dealing with curses.

Next in the list we have Belladonna. The singer of the Velvet Room with her masterpiece: the Aria of the Soul. Her voice is meant to enrich the soul and open your heart.

When you enter the room she will help to provide a calming sensation in the middle of your journey. Clear your mind.

But of course, the Aria of the Soul would be incomplete without Nameless, the piano player. Only he could play a song like that with his eyes covered. His role is the same as Belladonna, only he plays music instead of singing.

Nameless also has a minor job as a reminder to Igor of the costs of Personas since the old man always forgets.

Nameless mentions the following:

"That is why 90,000 and 155 nights have passed since I closed my own eyes."

If we do the math, those would be around 247 years. Persona 2, the game where he mentioned this, takes place in 1999.

With all of this information, we can say that Nameless has been playing his role since 1752. A probable date of origin? Who knows.

Both Belladonna and Nameless can sense the current status of the collective souls of humanity through their music.

Let's talk now about the Demon Painter. His most notable characteristic is that he is the only confirmed denizen to have been a human before, having lived in Sumaru City before his employment. Apparently his painting skills were so exceptional that he was offered immortality and a chance to reside in the Velvet Room. The Demon Painter skills actually remind me of Yusuke, so there's some food for thought.

The Demon Painter claims it has been decades since he became immortal. This would make the date of his employment between 1909 and 1979.

Belladonna and Nameless have been confirmed to still live in the Velvet Room (how big is it, anyways?) but nothing has been said of the Demon Painter.

Now we move onto the attendants. So far we have Margaret, Elizabeth, Theodore and Lavenza. Each attendant aids one guest at a time, making exceptions when it comes to their guest's party.

Only Lavenza has shown the ability to transform into a blue butterfly, so we can assume the others can do it too.

None of the attendants are human and have no knowledge of humans themselves. This leaves the possibility that they were created recently for the Persona protags in the open. How come Elizabeth hadn't tried to explore the human world before on her own?

Talking of Elizabeth, she's currently the only attendant that has basically abandonded her job to roam the human realm and search for a way to free Minato from the Great Seal. This may apply to Theodore on a minor scale with Minako.

From what we have been told, it is possible for Elizabeth to gain her own contract to start her own journey.

One last curious thing is that apparently the room uses a lot of spiritual energy to just exist. This is why a spiritual being must be constantly "powering" it so it works correctly. This being is usually Igor, explaining why whenever he isn't there, the room starts to malfunction.

As of the latest games it seems that the velvet siblings have learned how to control it without Igor's help.

Since it was inspired from a story from Edgar Allan Poe, I'll headcanon that he was a Persona user and you can't change my mind.

Questions I don't have the answers to:

- Where did the Velvet Room denizens come from?

- Did Philemon sense when Yaldabaoth took over the room?

- What happened to the Demon Painter?

- What will happen once Elizabeth completes her journey?

- What does the contract say exactly?

- Do you offer your services to the Velvet Room or are you recruited?

- Since Tamaki uses shadows instead of Personas, would she go to the Cathedral of Shadows instead?

- Where were the rest of the denizens when Yaldabaoth took over?

[kazimakuwabara]

A Name Chapter 11

Previous Chapter HERE

****

“Are you fucking kidding me!?” A dull roar sounded from somewhere behind them.

Kuwabara, walking literally side by side his personal walking heater, turned around to glance at the person shouting. Hiei stopped walking with a sigh, “Ah... there they are.”

“We were barely gone a day!” Kuwabara mused, tone impressed, “They’re fast!”

Hiei turned, hooking his arm around Kuwbara’s waist, just so he could be sure Kuwabara would still get the heat off Hiei’s flared aura. It had started snowing in this part of demon world, and really Kuwabara wasn’t dressed well enough for this weather. But, thankfully, Hiei had no problems keeping one human warm.

“Well... we would have gotten much farther if you’d let me carry you,” Hiei sighed, looking irritably out at Yusuke who was charging forward, Kurama quickly trailing after him.

“No way. I’m like nine feet tall and you’re like three feet nothing! It’s too weird!” Kuwabara said with a frown.

Hiei gawked at Kuwabara, as if he’d said the wildest thing he had ever heard.

And then he threw back his head, and out a startlingly loud laugh.

Kuwabara had too look down to make sure he was hearing right. But yes, Hiei was cackling, looking... disbelieving in his own amusement. Memories of not, there was no way Hiei was someone who laughed like, that, normally.

In the middle of his laugh, a blur, swearing up a storm and practically radiating with anger, sacked Hiei and shoved him to the ground. The blur resolved itself into Yusuke, and then he swung his fist into Hiei’s face. Hiei took the blow, looking quite bored, and then sent an answering punch into the side of Yusuke’s throat.

Kuwabara shivered now that his walking heater had been thrown to the ground, but he didn’t interrupt their fight. Actually, now that he was watching a fight, it looked kind of fun!

“What the hell were you two thinking!?” Kurama muttered, suddenly appearing next to Kuwabara; throwing an arm around the taller man; carefully dodging Kuwabara’s bad arm.

“Sneaking off is one thing, but you should have dressed warmer!”

Kuwabara greedily pressed into Kurama, looking to steal any warmth he could get, “Don’t blame me! Blame Hiei! He dressed me.”

Hiei was on top of Yusuke, trying to strangle him with a rather bored expression on his face. He loosened his grip to look over his shoulder, and snapped, “You should have warmer clothes! If you’re going to be a weak pathetic human, then do something about your terrible body’s ability to maintain its temperature!”

Yusuke slugged Hiei across the face, and then grabbed a handful of snow and slapped it into Hiei’s forehead. Hiei swore viciously, and Yusuke took his chance to roll on top of Hiei. He then leaned on to Hiei’s neck with his forearm, while with his free hand, kept smacking more snow against the side of his face.

“I’m pretty sure I didn’t ask to be b-born a hu-human!” Kuwabara said, starting to stutter now.

Kurama ran a hand up and down Kuwabara’s arm. With a soft tut, Kurama sighed, “Yusuke... let Hiei up! Kuwabara needs him.”

“Ow! He’s fucking biting!” Yusuke shrieked.

“Really you two! Stop!” Kurama snapped, “Kuwabara’s going to freeze out here!”

With great reluctance, and several petty slaps from each other, Yusuke and Hiei separated. Hiei stepped forward towards Kuwabara, and Kuwabara stepped close to Hiei.

Kuwabara sighed as Hiei radiated warmth. With not an ounce of shame, Kuwabara wrapped his good arm around Hiei and pulled him close, “Oh thank God. I was getting really cold!” Hiei nonchalantly allowed himself to be pulled into Kuwabara’s core, seeming to be unbothered by the closeness.

Yusuke and Kurama were both a little quiet, their eyes staring at Hiei, who was rather casually letting Kuwabara hug him.

Kurama pointed at Kuwabara’s arm around Hiei with his brows raised, and eyes wide with a question.

Hiei shrugged carelessly, and leaned back against Kuwabara’s waist, the larger man sighing with gratitude as he was warmed up.

Yusuke squinted, his anger momentarily forgotten so he could mutter, “There world has turned upside down. What the hell am I looking at?”

“When did you two get so close?” Kurama added with a warm smiled.

“We’ve been close,” Hiei answered defensively.

At the same time Kuwabara asked, “Were we not close?”

There was a moment of stunned silence, and then Kuwabara looked down at Hiei, his face pointing a noticeably downwards. Hiei’s face was still placid and impressively blank, but his ears were red.

Yusuke was had been raging just a moment ago, burst into loud laughter, and Kurama was all smiles, saying in a pleased tone, “Well, I’m glad to see you being more honest!”

Hiei growled, muttering something under his breath while Kuwabara shrugged, smiling at the group.

Without preamble, Kuwabara stated, “Hiei is taking me to see the Áine Sovereign Blade.”

It went quiet, but Kuwabara smiled easily, “You’re welcome to join us if you want. But if not, get out of the way. Hiei and I can manage on our own. We’re almost there already.”

That comment made Hiei smile smugly, while Yusuke’s mouth fell open, and Kurama looked oddly offended.

“I can help you steal a sword!” Kurama muttered with a little huff at the end of his sentence.

“I’m not so sure,” Kuwabara said, one of his brow’s lifted high, “You two were all uncomfortable about talking about the sword the other day!”

Yusuke sighed, sulking a little, “I...” He sighed forcibly, and balled his hands in his fist. Puffing up his chest he blurted, “I don’t want you to die!”

Kuwabara blinked, and the scrunched up his face, narrowing his eyes as he tried to understand, “Why would I die?”

Kurama put a hand on Yusuke’s back, and then looked at Kuwabara, his green eyes serious, “We were... are, both concerned the sword... if you interact with it again... might decide to finish the job. People... have never survived an encounter with it in regards to also using the mirror. The Path and the Blade... no one makes it after using the two for a wish!”

“But you did,” Yusuke said, voice sad but also full of pride, “Despite your arm, and despite your memory. You’re alive.  And... and that’s... it’s a miracle.”

Yusuke reached out for Kuwabara, and Kuwabara held out his good hand. He let Yusuke clasp it tight, and Kuwabara gave a returning squeeze. Yusuke, in a low and somber tone, whispered, “We almost lost you. And if... If your arm never recovers, and you never remembered. I was just so happy to have you alive! I don’t... I’m afraid to press our luck.”

Kuwabara smiled a little, his expression subdued as he ruminated over Kurama and Yusuke’s fears.

After a long stretch of quiet, Kuwabara sighed, “I have to see that sword again... but you should have told me your fears rather than trying to just keep me from asking!”

Hiei let out a grumpy sound of agreement before adding, “You should have let Kuwabara talk to you, rather than trying to ignore it. He’s had a vision.”

Kurama and Yusuke perked up, both their mouths hanging open.

Kuwabara’s also fell open, and a blush crawled up his neck, “I-I don’t think it was a vision!”

But as he sputtered, Hiei turned to look at Kuwabara, “It was more than a dream. Why would you look into it otherwise?”

Kuwabara’s mouth opened, and then closed. He repeated this process several times until finally, he managed to sputter, “I... I... Something is just... telling me to look into this.”

Hiei nodded, looked at Kurama and Yusuke and flatly stated, “Visions.”

Kuwabara was about to shout something at Hiei, what he wasn’t sure, but he was going to shout, when Kurama gently touched Kuwabara’s arm.

“Kuwabara... please tell us about... your vision. Or dream, whatever you want to call it... please tell us about it.”

Yusuke still clutching Kuwabara’s hand nodded, “Please tell us man. We’ll listen to you this time.”

Kuwabara sighed, sagging a little, but not with any dissatisfaction. He was actually feeling relieved that they were going to listen... and so he straightened his back, and as the snow of demon world fell around them, retold his dream of the strange girl who said she’d help him.