#i seen how akihiko and mitsuru look I HATE IT I HATE IT SO MUCH I WANNA EAT GRAVEL

[hecksupremechips]

Akihiko becoming a cop is something that simply doesn’t happen in the coma route cuz Shinji would see that shit and be like Aki what the actual hell is wrong with you

#persona #persona 3 #akihiko sanada #shinjiro aragaki #akishinji #i guess #im making it that way lol #see if you know me you know i actively avoid p4 arena like the plague both cuz i hate p4 and cuz #i simply have no interest in how the p3 characters turn out if this is whats being done to them #i seen how akihiko and mitsuru look I HATE IT I HATE IT SO MUCH I WANNA EAT GRAVEL #the only character i care about is ken really i approve of him getting to be a funny teenager i love my baby boy so much #but i watched the akihiko social episodes for reload and he talks about becoming a cop and i was just like. of fucking course 😞 #we just cant escape this shit huh theres always gotta be a cop character for some reason #i consider this a bad ending for him cuz even though atlus and their copaganda loving asses would probably looove to tell me otherwise #theres literally no way shinji would stand for that shit like my guy has beef with the kirijos and was a homeless addict #so you know cops wouldnt like him and hes seen some shit #they had to kill him cuz hed tell the truth sldjks #i definitely am gonna explore this dynamic in my fic but you know. no way in hell is aki gonna be a cop on my watch lol #maybe he can be like. a PE teacher or some shit akskkls

[narrators-journal]

‘Fan of Au’ huh? Well if you Insist. RedRiding p3 au

How do the Persona react to the ‘Pretty Bird’?

How often does Ryoji set his courting goals onto Orpheus when Mint isn’t responding?

So, now seems like a p good time to remind yall that I have not touched the persona 3 game. I know my knowledge from google, my honeybee, and the movies alone. So, if these personas have personalities, don't come for me, I deadass only knew three of them by name without google lololol

Hermes

Hermes is a pretty laid back persona, much like his creator, but he's also pretty efficient with his work. So, having a shadow just...vibing around would be annoying at first, but he'd get used to it. So long as he's not a threat, Hermes is fine.

Io

Io is much like Yukari. She has some raging trust issues, and is a little hot tempered. So, having Ryoji around makes her uncomfortable, but she's pretty quick to adjust. It's the shit like him running around, screaming for attention or food, or being creepy that would eat at her whenever they meet.

Penthesilea

As a persona meant more for recon than fighting, Penthesilea fucking HATES Ryoji with a passion. Mitsuru doesn't mind him, feeling he's more like a cat or a puppy. Cute, but slightly annoying. Her persona though, is not a fan. She's aware of how much of a threat Ryoji is, after all, so they don't get along.

Juno

Juno is like Penthesilea, she doesn't like Ryoji. She's a very aware persona, so his threat level makes her hostile. Which is, yet again, a difference from Fuuka's personal opinions. where Fuuka rather likes Ryoji because he's cute and harmless, and will eat her cooking, but her persona is guarded and distrustful of him.

Nemesis

So long as Ken likes Ryoji and is unharmed, Nemesis doesn't mind the little shadow. She keeps an eye the little creature, but otherwise is unphased by him being around. Ken likes him pretty well and maybe even wants his own pet shadow.

Castor

Castor met Ryoji exactly once and proceeded to try and stomp him into a bloody puddle. For the sake of Shinji and Minato not getting into fisticuffs, and Castor not nearly getting bitten in half a second time. They are never put together again, and when Castor does make the odd appearance on emergency missions, Ryoji is kept firmly under Minato's arm in his 'snow suit'.

Ceasar

Admittedly, Ceasar couldn't care less about Ryoji being around. So long as the shadow isn't being hostile and doesn't give him a reason, he won't go looking for a fight. While Akihiko might be a tad lacking in strategy, Ceasar does try to think ahead. And mauling a shadow he has seen take on Castor without breaking a sweat is just, not a good use of his energy.

Orpheus

Orpheus is...conflicted about the little shadow, much like his wielder. On one hand, the little bird creature is darkly cute, so he's very fond of him. But, he's also shown a human level of comprehension and an aggressive desire to have his user as a 'mate'. So, while he does care for the creature, he's also weirdly flattered at his affections and is admittedly more attached than he normally is. Yet, those opinions do waver a bit whenever Ryoji goes out on a mission with the group and starts puffing up or bringing him food to try and court the persona. Orpheus doesn't know what to do about that, and isn't sure what that means, if anything.

#persona 3 #little red riding hood au #persona 3 au #Ryoji Mochizuki x Minato Arisato #Monster!Ryoji #persona #ask #Ryoji Mochizuki #male persona 3 protagonist #SEES #Minato Arisato #Makoto Yuuki #headcanons #I did my best

[wherestarsarestillasleep]

second batch of p3p impressions, just met aigis. talk to me abt persona games

-Akihiko is so autism. “hey girl did you know the breaststroke is the most efficient swimming method due to ababaabba” “i have no interest in this information.” autism to autism confrontation

ALSO why is his social link a different arcana than his persona?? Ik in the base game he didn’t have a social link and still had an associated arcana but like, Minato also had a Magician slink and they still gave that to Junpei

also it’s funny that the stat requirement to start his slink has absolutely nothing to do with his own standards

-persona games are so fucking fun and addictive. it’s impressive they’re split into two very different kinds of gameplay and they both manage to be pretty evenly fun and engaging. im way more optimisation brained with this one than 4 and 5 and you can restore your whole partys hp and sp for a fraction of the amount of money you naturally make exploring tartarus and apparently originally if you went to the ground floor tired party members would leave but i guess not in portable so like. It’s just completely viable and optimal to do everything possible in tartarus on one ingame date only in a huge chunk so that’s what i’ve been doing. i was in there so fucking long. the dark "”hour””

-Okay so in persona 5 for the first arc, maybe also the second, you are introduced to ryuji and he fucking rocks. he’s so cool he’s set up to be a really great character i would love a lot and for the duration of kamoshidas palace he is that. also in persona 5 for most of the phantom thieves they have a cool plot focused on them for the dungeon you recruit them and then the writing has little idea what to do with those characters for the rest of the game. the result is ryuji is awesome for one maybe two dungeons and then is replaced by an imposter because his main story focus is over and the priority with his character then becomes making him fit better into the Persona Funny Pervert Bro Character trope which mostly fucking sucks and makes ryuji mostly fucking sucks

Junpei is presumably the character that started that archetype for yosuke and most-of-the-game-ryuji to follow, despite this for the first while he highlights the good parts of that archetype the funny bro who is your friend half and then it got harder and harder to continue liking him as i progressed and then the beach scene was predictably dogshit and added him to the very large pile of persona characters who i have to mentally overwrite significant things about in order to like them

When you first meet him Yukari assumes he’s hitting on you but it seems like no he was genuinely just being nice and concerned about a new transfer student and his social link continues being that he is your bro and he even offers to be your wingman for other dudes with zero jealousy and then his main story dialogue is. not that. And like. I assume he has the same july jealousy arc with the male protag because it is mostly about him generally feeling insecure and directionless but it Really Fucking Looks Worse with femc route when Junpei has more than one case of dialog about how He Should Be The Leader Cause He’s A Strong Man And You Are Girls it looks like THAT’S the main reason he’s so pissy for a while. he does earnestly apologise though. i still want to like him but i hate persona

-YUKARI though yukari is good i like yukari more and more i still haven’t seen as much of her link as some others but she’s thoughtful and outspoken. i dont have as many words to say about her but i like her a lot and that she takes initative on things and called out mitsuru and shuji directly and also apologised for it later as well. also i was very confused for a while why she couldn’t take a single hit when she had the same endurance as Minako that was because she was tired.

-Mitsuru is so cool and pretty and epic. that is all. maybe if you were a Genius she might spend time with you. Fuuka is my friend :). Akihiko is my favourite probably.

Currently Yukari is maybe the least useful party member and fell behind a bit but i like the look of her final skills in the end. Junpei for the last 2-3 boss fights has been almost exclusively rotating buffing everyone else also it is great that he can take a hit. Mitsuru is great for big damage and big heals and I like that Akihiko can passably fill any role you want him to be in at any point

It’s so cool that persona has both constant party members in your actual party members and a constantly rotating party in your personas because fusing newer higher level ones is much more likely than levelling your personas quickly enough to keep up. I made Oberon a while ago and he’s mad good, he’s still statistically up to par with higher level personas and with the skills i have on him he can take any role. in 4 and 5 i didnt pay all that much attention to exploring beyond the basic mechanics but taking deeper advantage of all the very many gameplay options they give you is really satisfying because persona games are difficult enough going out of your way to do all that leaves you well equipped without trivialising, at least this early into the game

-been trying to do all elizabeths requests but 1. i just missed exactly one on accident 2. fuck the golden shadows im not doing that ive managed to enter combat with exactly ONE hitting it from behind and then it had advantage and ran away immediately within battle?? 3. the requests where you get her an item from someone on a specific date i thought that was just the FIRST available date so i missed a lot of those... Also it sucks that enemies only drop items for her requests after you accept the request so I had to go back down floors

-odd that pharos main story link is a couple lower than sees main story link

-winning the low bar of least homophobic persona game. ik i just got past the part with the transphobic scene but i guess they removed it from either portable or femc’s route so I haven’t actually seen that

#p3posting

[stupid-sloot-headcanons]

I was wondering if there are any eng vas or dubs you do like, personally I like the haikyuu dub cause a. you can understand everything said in the background b. it sounds natural to me like people would actually talk like that and c. I think the voices all sound different and fit the characters cause in other animes it's hard to watch the dub cause the voice doesnt fit how I imagined it

feel free to disagree

I grew up with the Bleach English dub and I think it's alright (tho I prefer Aizen and Kenpachi's original VAs, iirc they changed them for some reason), and the same goes for Durarara and Death Note for the same nostalgic reason.

Baccano also has a very nice dub that I would actually listen to again and think it's one of the few times a dub is just as good if not better than the Japanese version.

Cowboy Bebop's original dub is regarded as the gold standard of English dub voice work, and while I prefer the original Japanese I definitely agree. It's the best and most consistent quality English dub I've ever seen.

Hellsing (the anime and the OVAs especially) is also regarded as good, esp Crispin Freeman's performance as Alucard! And a side note, the parody version of Hellsing also has surprisingly great voice acting as well.

I don't care for the English dub of Free! but the other parody series 50% Off! is top tier.

As far as consistent quality goes, Persona 3 4 and 5 have good casts in English. 3 is weaker than the rest; Fuuka and Aigis have the same VA (she also voices Fuuka's friend for some reason?) but her role as Fuuka is easily the worst performance in the game...except for maybe Ken. Aside from that there are a lot of great English performances: Mitsuru, Igor, Elizabeth, J Michael Tatum as Theodore, Laura Bailey as FeMC, Liam O'Brien as Akihiko, Vic Mignogna as Junpei, the main dude from Strega that looks like methed-out Jesus.

Kingdom Hearts also has good English voice acting, but your mileage might vary. It's a little unfair though considering they've got Disney voice actors with literal decades of experience and talent for a lot of the cast, but still. The cast list is also so funny to me: You got Hayley Joel Osmond, Jessie McCartney, James Woods, David Boreanaz, Christopher FUCKING Lee, one of the Backstreet Boys or NSYNC as Demyx iirc...Kingdom Hearts is such weird bullshit, I love it.

Persona 4 has a lot of English VA veterans that do a nice job. As annoying/grating as Teddie can be, his English voice is way better than his Japanese voice. Like I cannot play P4 in Japanese because I hate it so much lol. And despite hating Amanda Winn Lee as a person, this is one of her best and most well-remembered roles for a reason. I prefer Naoto's original VA over Mary Elizabeth McGlynn, but McGlynn does a fine job. Chie's original VA gives the lowest quality performance, whereas her Golden VA has more personality and is less flat/more accurate to the character imo.

Persona 5 had a large cast of people who I'd never heard before, but I enjoyed all of them! Makoto's VA also voiced Trish in the dub of Golden Wind and despite not liking dubbed!Jojo for the most part, she does pretty dang well there too.

Panty and Stocking is one of the other rare examples of an English dub being better than the original imo, and that's largely due to Panty & Stocking's art style and vibe that was intentionally styled after American cartoons. It's the only time I've really been able to stand Monica Rial's voice, and is probably her last role where you can tell ahe's giving a shit.

While we're talking about English VAs though, for the love of fucking GOD if you like Silent Hill do NOT play the HD collection! Not only is it a disaster and insult on every other level, but the new voice actors are fucking awful. It's odd because almost all of them are industry vets but their worst performances are all in the HD Collection. The original Silent Hill 2 and 3 VAs are miles better even with less experience, and I have a lot to say about why the HD Collection is fucking atrocious.

#sloot's essays #sloot bitches about things

[catboyminato]

punk!Minato brain rot at 2 am headcannons isn’t this quality content

do I wanna know and daddy issues as a person

he has an undercut bc I said so 🔫

probably gets dress coded like every day tbh (that’s disgusting and rude ❤️ his fit is incredible 😌)

leather jackets and doc martens type beat

probably customized his Gekkoukan uniform so much it doesn’t even look like a uniform 😭😭

canon: hello my name is minato nice to meet u ig

this Minato: why the FUCK do u a have a gun and can I try it and what the FUCK is going on out there what is that ugly ass green that graces my delicate eyes

Mitsuru “oh wow! I hate him.” kirijo

SEES has a fuck jar for every time he says fuck

minato, opening a door: what’s up fuckers

Minato, making a sandwich: where the fuck is the bread

Minato, watching TV: what the fuck im not crying it’s just dusty as fuck in here

SEES, broke: pls,,,,stop

“kIrIjO-sAn wHeN dO i gEt tO bLoW sHiT uP”

extremely disappointed that his persona is Orpheus he wanted smth cooler

“who the fuck plays a Lyre?? what the fuck is this?? intro to theatre?? give me the cool big scary one that popped out of u rn” —Minato Arisato

Orpheus: :,(

“fuck the system and eat the rich”

“what about Mitsuru-Senpai?”

“eat. the. rich.”

Mitsuru absolutely despises this man with a burning passion

junpei thinks he’s cool (and is jealous but who wouldn’t be tbh)

yukari thinks he’s refreshing compared to miss “I SiGneD YoU uP fOr SUMMEr ScHool” and mr “pRoTein”

now she’s stuck with mr “good morning everyone, *looks at Mitsuru* not you though, you can choke”

at least he has a sense of style 😽

he doesn’t like Mitsuru (omg what gave that away 🙀)

he thinks she’s 1. too stuck up 2. is rich and eat the rich and 3. is partially the cause of this whole mess 😻

no longer boy with headphones he’s boy with foul mouth 😌

lowkey kinda smart but you’d never be able to tell

✨tattoos ✨

literally always coming back to the dorm with bruises and scratches and nobody knows why

spoiler: it’s bc he’ll hear ppl talking shit about his friends (yeah even Mitsuru🔪) and will beat the shit out of them 😼

he got into a brawl in the hallway with 5 kids after he heard them talking shit about Shinji after he died ❤️ as he should king

Shinjiro and Minato said “tough on outside but softies on inside” rights and that’s what they bond over 😽

they’re lowkey pretty close and bc I said so Minato met Shinji early after exploring that part of town he’s in

now they’re punk buddies 😼 (is Shinji punk agsjashajsh oh well ❤️)

Minato would actually die for each and every one of SEES even if he doesn’t show it

the tough guy facade was born from his parents death as a coping mechanism so he never got hurt again 😝

Minato “im a motherfucking wildcard bitches” Arisato

peircings 😼

he looks scary we know but you’d never guess he spends time with like a 9 year old and buys her dinner and listens to her problems (we stan)

we love a man who can sit and listen 😌✨

yukari saw him buy Maiko takayoki and decided “hmm this is new” and thus began the cycle of “hes not so tough after all”

Junpei’s “he’s not so tough after all” was him spending time with the elderly couple who runs Bookworms 😌

Akihiko noticed how, if he could, Minato would take hits for teammates

someone tried to mess with Fuuka and he sent them to the ✨h o s p i t a l✨

fuukas realization was when the scary looking boy who cuffs his jeans and has tats made friends with her 😽

Mitsuru’s took a hot minute bc uhhhhh slowburn 🤠

hers was how he continuesly tried to help the student body even tho they rejected him bc uh he’s kinda ✨s c a r y✨

which was like?? interesting to her tbh bc these were the kids who dubbed him the outsider and yet he still strived to help them 😾

so she made the twink part of student council

and he kinda went off ngl 😀

and that’s on being a valuable asset ✨

although he only calls Mitsuru “daddy issues” which pisses her off ❤️

her personal ✨d i s c o v e r y✨ is him lending his blazer (HAJSHS the “blazer” covered in pins and chains 😭😭 which is ripped in some places 😽) one day as an umbrella 🥺

“you’ll catch a cold, daddy issues”—says the bitch soaking wet after letting her use his jacket

when he’s a gentleman 😫

when they get past the enemies stage to friends 😩

mitsuru thinks his perspectives are outlandish and refreshing

“just say no tf”—his answer in being told she needs a fiancé

did he lie tho 😭

apologizes for being a dick 🤩

will beat the fuck outta anyone who disrespects his rich friend ❤️

haha kinda scary when he’s mad ❤️

what’s that wipes blood from mouth while smiling aesthetic cause that’s him

fashionable king we love to see it

ceo of smirking

ceo of “hey daddy issues”

ceo of “fuck”

he got his earring stuck to his pillow once and only Shinji knows

“Does it fucking look like I read?” —Minato arisato who read the entire twilight series and is an Edward stan

akihiko likes to brawl with him cuz he thinks his street fighting style is nifty

can literally hear him from a mile away due to his loud ass chains and boots (stealth 0 ❤️)

has small monochromatic Arcana inspired tattoos littered around his torso (it’s a game of where’s Waldo 🤩)

“I don’t listen to pop.”—says Minato on his way to listen to One Direction

Mitsuru likes to ask what each tattoo means (sometimes it’s just like “idk i saw a guy I beat up once have it and I thought it was cool 😼”)

“rude boy” (what not based off the rihhana song where did u get that 🤠) is Mitsuru’s nickname for him

likes collecting pins 🤠

has way too much jewelry yukari will just steal some occasionally 💀

lowkey self conscious about being seen with Mitsuru

lmfao imagine seeing this punk who only wears leather jackets, doc martens and ripped jeans holding hands with the literal polar opposite of him

taking 🖤🩸🛹 and ❤️📚💳 to a whole a new level

he thinks she can do better and doesn’t want to tarnish her name 🤧

mitsuru learned from him it’s not her obligation to give two flippity flying fucks and WILL hold his hand as they walk down the hallways 😌✨

LMFAO imagine ure just a regular student and all of sudden the student council president who owns the whole damn school walks in wearing the foul mouthed blue haired punks jacket 😭

“What in the wattpad”—Gekkoukan

“what in the goth x prep”—SEES

Minato has fine ass eyeliner sorry I don’t make the rules ❤️

in conclusion punk!minato is best Minato

#not me making most of this mitsumina #his aesthetic...the ✨p o w e r✨ #slowed songs with reverb are his aesthetic ❤️ #mitsumina but make their song ✨r u d e b o y✨ #someone draw it #persona 3 #minato arisato #makoto yuki #mitsuru kirijo #yukari takeba #junpei iori #fuuka yamigishi #akihiko sanada #shinjiro aragaki #p3 #sakuya shiomi #my shit #door talks #headcannons

[rayless-reblogs]

the effect of The Caligula Effect

I just beat The Caligula Effect, a game I heard about years ago, but always understood to be a semi-bad Persona clone full of angsty-looking high school kids with superpowers. But I was eventually convinced to play The Caligula Effect: Overdose, an expanded rerelease that allows the gamer not only the opportunity to play alongside the Go-Home Club – a group of students who are searching for a way to escape the virtual utopia that entraps them – but also the chance to simultaneously join the Ostinato Musicians, another group of students who are determined to preserve the utopia and their idealized lives within it at all costs.

I'm a big fan of Persona, and this isn't the first clone I've played. Last year I tried out Falcom's Tokyo Xanadu. As far as I'm concerned, neither game approaches the quality of the latter three Personas, but in terms of visuals, gameplay, and story, Xanadu has Caligula pretty well beat.

I like Xanadu. But between the two, Caligula is the one I like more and care much more about.

Justifications below the cut. Also some extremely vague spoilers.

The Bad: The Caligula Effect has major shortcomings in many, many areas. For me, the battle system is clunky and bland (though if I raised the difficulty, I might find it more interesting). The character models are awkward. The environments are repetitive and the levels are too long. And as far as battles go, you are literally just fighting other students – no interesting monster designs anywhere. Those are a few points, but there are definitely more flaws that could be gone into.

But if you've followed me for a while, you know that the games that end up grabbing my attention aren't necessarily the most deserving. So here's what I like:

The 2D art is lovely. The characters have changeable portraits based on their emotions, as per Persona, but the menu features two full-length portraits for each character, Go-Home and Musicians alike. The elegant, silvery art style is gorgeous, and it's a shame it wasn't used more prominently and creatively, rather than the awkward 3D models. The main visual motif is flowers, and to that end each Go-Home member has unique (and highly symbolic) flowers associated with them. When they access their superpowers, each of them is shown with a stake driven through their heart, surrounded by their flowers – a striking and unusual effect. The desaturated colors in the characters' designs make their flowers stand out all the brighter.

And definitely check out each character's status screen because their portraits hint towards their true personalities.

Speaking of which –

Caligula mimics Persona's Social Link system (it doesn't use the term Social Link, but that's what I'll use here), allowing you to grow closer to your teammates on both sides of the ideological conflict. Not all of the Social Links are written equally well – some are more interesting than others – but a number of them are intertwined (even across both teams in the Overdose release) and become very engrossing as you try to figure out how events fit together. And who these people you're working alongside really are.

Like Persona, several of your teammates are motivated by personal trauma. As great as Persona 3 is, it can start to feel ludicrous how many of its characters have dead parents. (In fairness, their traumas aren't just that they have dead parents – but most of them have at least one dead parent and it gets old.) In Caligula, the traumas feel varied and more unexpected, touching on subjects I haven't often seen in JRPGs. For example, I guessed Mifue's trauma fairly early on, but was surprised at how seriously it was eventually depicted. I thought I figured out Ayana's quite quickly, only to have my theory pulled out from under me. Izuru's Social Link ended up shocking me at one point, then made me more thoughtful as I listened to him analyze himself. I've heard Kotono's arc wasn't universally liked in Japan, but I was really happy to see her specific backstory handled, even if it made her more complicated than a typical pretty girl in a high school game. And when it came to Shogo's, I immediately started to downplay the seriousness of his past – only to be proven quite wrong.

And it's not just the heavy stuff. Going through characters' Social Links (and talking to them on the game's texting feature) often changed how I felt about them. When I first met Suzuna, I was instantly fed up with her timid personality and thought I was going to hate her. She ended up being one of my favorites, the change not so much due to big story events but because of small details about her personality. I disliked Ayana and Naruko early on, but softened as I got to know them. This is especially noticeable with the Musicians. If you only encounter them as the Go-Home Club, they'll be rather flat, easily dismissed antagonists. Getting to know them on their own turf reveals characters who are often as fleshed out and interesting as the main cast. And again I was surprised at who I ended up really liking, like Sweet-P and Shonen-Doll.

Another, more subtle, thing I enjoyed – in different Persona games, a number of your teammates are very cool people. Eriko's mysterious and interested in the occult, Mitsuru's this unattainable school celebrity, Akihiko's a star boxer, Ann's a professional model, Yusuke's an artistic prodigy, Rise's a literal teen idol. There are certainly talented people among your teammates in The Caligula Effect, but for the most part, you're all nerds and losers. And that goes for the villains as well. Most of the characters aren't that socially impressive, either because of their personalities or they have very powerful reasons for turning away from the mainstream. And while many of them grow and change, they're not really wish-fulfillment characters.

One last thing I want to touch on – this virtual utopia our characters are struggling in is rather deceptive. Everyone within it takes on the role of a high schooler, but this doesn't always reflect who they are in reality, adding another layer of interest for me. Without going into specifics (because one of the most fun things for me was trying to figure out who people really were), a (vague) number of these characters are adults, not teenagers. And many of them are motivated by very adult concerns, such as dissatisfaction with their professions and questioning their positions in their adult lives. One of the main tensions of the game is whether it's better to direct yourself as an adult in the often-disappointing real world or whether it's better to remain a child free from responsibility in the virtual world. Despite all the game's high school trappings and tropes, I found myself wondering who the intended audience really was.

Caligula's main story is pretty flat and basic, much less sophisticated than the plots of the Personas or Tokyo Xanadu. But because of the characters and the multitude of B-Plots you go through with them, the game still has a compelling, and even adult, quality.

It's not a great game. I can't stress that enough. The first handful of hours are terrible. I think one reason I'm so into it is that I entered the game with very low expectations. But its characters have a lot to offer, and for me that ended up being the heart of the game. So I liked it.

#the caligula effect #lucid #suzuna kagura #(being the pictured characters) #meta #rayless reviews #i'm not going to do game reviews as a regular thing #but i had a lot of thoughts after beating this game #and may post a few more thoughts in the future #persona #tokyo xanadu #mine

[kumeko]

A/N: For the Persona @wegotyourbackzine! I decided to write about Mitsuru and her changing the relationship throughout the game. I also couldn’t resist putting some Akihiko/Mitsuru hints. XD

Summary: Friendship. That had a nice ring to it. Mitsuru stared at the group of people living in the dorm and realized she wasn’t as alone as she thought.

…

…

…

…

Summer

 The hot summer sun beat down with no reprieve and Mitsuru shielded her eyes with a hand as she walked home. Not escorted, not driven, but walked. She didn’t even have a bodyguard behind her, trailing her inconspicuously from five feet away. And while that was all strange enough, it was not as strange as the two boys walking slightly ahead of her. Her associates. The word didn’t sound right but Mitsuru wasn’t sure what else to call them. Certainly not friends or even classmates—neither Akihiko nor Shinjiro were in her school, let alone her class.

 Holding his jacket over his shoulder, Akihiko looked over his shoulder. The bandage on his face looked like it was glued there, she couldn’t remember seeing him without one. “What did you call those monster things again?”

 “Shadows,” Mitsuru answered quickly. “What you summon with the Evokers are—”

“Personas, right?” Shinjiro filled in, his hands in his pockets. Mitsuru resisted the urge to correct his posture, to straighten his slouched back. Like this, he seemed as tall as Akihiko instead of towering over him. “I can’t believe this is real. It sounds something out of a fantasy book.”

“Or a video game.” Akihiko grinned cockily, swiftly jabbing the air in front of him. “Secret identities, fighting at night, saving the world—we’re like superheroes.”

 “Superheroes?” Shinjiro raised a brow, his expression wry. “Can’t think of one that has to shoot themselves in the head to use their powers.”

 Mitsuru rubbed her forearm uncomfortably. It was mildly disturbing how easy it was to press the cold metal to her head, to pull the trigger. To watch them do the same. Maybe she had something in common with her grandfather after all. “It does sound…silly, when you put it like that. Unfortunately, the design is required. It has to be stress-inducing.”

 “More stress-inducing than fighting monsters in the middle of the night while surrounded by coffins?” Shinjiro asked. She couldn’t tell if he was serious or just rhetorical. His dry tone didn’t help.

 “Quit complaining.” Akihiko cracked his knuckles. “At least we can fight them.”

 “Fighting addict.” Shinjiro rolled his eyes before turning his attention back to her. “Where’d you say the dorms were?”

 Mitsuru looked up at him. “They’re…”

 She stared. Just when had Shinjiro gotten so close? Even Akihiko was, for that matter. At some point, they’d started walking abreast one another, the two boys flanking her, and she didn’t know what to make of it. Of the sound of her footsteps being echoed by two others. Of her voice being answered by another. A dog barked nearby, breaking her from her thoughts, and Mitsuru masked her unease with a polite smile. “Just past this temple.”

 -x-

Fall

 The sound of laughter echoed through the halls and Mitsuru paused as she closed her bedroom door. From the third floor, she couldn’t clearly make out their voices, only a messy cacophony as her companions teased one another. It was a sound she’d been hearing more often these days. Involuntarily, her lips curled into a smile and she locked her room.

 Heading toward the stairs, she glanced at the nameplates as she passed them: Aigis, Yukari, Fuuka. The floor below was equally occupied, and her feet felt light as she descended to the ground floor. When they’d first arrived here, it had felt almost ridiculous to have three people in such a big building. Now they were nine strong and the building was more full than empty. Though it seemed the majority of residents were all crowding around the lobby. “What’s happening?”

 “Mitsuru-senpai!” Crouching next to Koromaru, Junpei waved eagerly as she stepped onto the landing. “You gotta see what Yukari bought Koromaru.” He slowly rose, his shoulders shaking with laughter. “Have you ever seen anything so stupid?”

 “It’s not stupid!” Yukari flushed a bright red and swatted Junpei with a rolled-up paper. “Aigis said he likes it!”

 “Of course he would, he’s a dog.” Junpei cracked up again, undeterred. He covered his head with a hand, blocking her attacks. “Like he knows what’s cool or not.”

 “Is that relevant?” Aigis asked, bemused. She cocked her head. “He is a dog.”

 “What are you…” Mitsuru glanced at Koromaru and blinked. Then she blinked again. Perched on his head was a white headband with a pair of fluffy, white, distinctly not dog-ears. “Are those cat ears?”

 “The pet shop put out their Halloween costumes,” Yukari defended weakly, averting her gaze. Quietly, she mumbled, “And I…never had a pet before…”

 “I think they’re cute,” Fuuka agreed, squeezing Yukari’s shoulder. She gave a sympathetic smile. “Even Koromaru should get to dress up for Halloween.”

 Mitsuru glanced at the plastic bag by Yukari’s feet. The overly stuffed plastic bag. Just how many costumes did she buy? Koromaru cocked his head, the headband staying on firmly. It was a little cute, she had to admit. Just a little. “I suppose so.”

 “Ugh, is this a girl thing?” Junpei turned to Makoto with a grimace. “You don’t like them too, do you?”

 Makoto crossed his arms, studying Koromaru seriously. As usual, he took his time, scrutinizing the whole affair with more gravity than needed. “They—”

 Cutting him off before he could finish, Junpei groaned. “Why’d I even ask you, Mr. Popularity. Where’s Akihiko when you need him? Wait…” He stared at Koromaru and a wide smile spread across his face. “Hey, Koromaru, I’ll take you for a walk today.”

 “…huh?” Taken aback, Yukari snapped her head toward him. “You hate taking him for a walk.”

 “What lies! As though I could ever hate walking Koromaru. He’s saved my life so many times. Besides, I should do my part to help out.” Already heading toward the door, he whistled lightly as he picked up Koromaru’s leash. “Come on boy! And keep those ears on!”

 Fuuka started at his receding back for a long moment before she leaned closer to Yukari and whispered, “You don’t think he’s—”

 “Picking up girls?” Yukari sighed, crossing her arms as she glared at his departing figure. “Oh, he definitely is going to try.”

 -x-

Winter

 “It’s cold.” Mitsuru adjusted the scarf around her neck. Even layered up as she was, winter’s chilly bite clung to her bones and refused to let go.

 Trotting quickly on the sidewalk in front of her, Koromaru yipped softly, his tail low. Not a single part of him resembled the dog Mitsuru was used to, the excited canine who lived for his evening walks. Then again, with everything that happened in the past year, she couldn’t blame him. Between the numerous sacrifices to stop Nyx, Mitsuru wasn’t sure she could smile anymore either.

 “He says…” Aigis stared blankly at Koromaru. The wind picked up. She blinked. “He says…”

 “It’s okay, I can guess.” Rubbing her hands in front of her mouth, she tried to warm them with her breath. “It’s been a while since anyone took him out for a walk. Everyone’s too busy, I guess.”

 Aigis softly added, “The dorms are really quiet now.”

 “I suppose now that we no longer have to fight, there isn’t really a reason to stay.” Mitsuru forced a crooked smile and patted Aigis on the arm. “I’m glad you came. I can’t remember the last time you left the dorms.”

 “Yeah.” Aigis stared straight ahead. “Normally, he…”

 A long beat passed. Mitsuru lowered her gaze, blinking back tears. It wasn’t too hard to picture a quiet boy with headphones strolling next to them, a sympathetic ear ready for their problems. Loss was a waterfall, ever pouring, and it leaked into every aspect of her life. She had a company she wasn’t ready to manage. Friends whose deaths she couldn’t explain. Everyone would remember Shinjiro as a delinquent. And no one would remember Makoto.

 Even now, she hadn’t managed to remove their nameplates from their doors, the finality of it all too much. She’d peaked in once, just once, the rooms left as though their owners would return at any moment. Shinjiro’s cookbooks stacked messily on desk. A CD case left open on Makoto’s desk.

 Koromaru whined, pressing his body against her leg and Mitsuru crouched down to pet him. “I miss him too,” Mitsuru murmured, burying her hand in his fur. “All of them. My father…” Her voice cracked and despite it all, it was still too hard to talk about him.

 “Miss,” Aigis repeated, stretching out the word. She gripped her chest and looked down at Mitsuru. “Is that what this pain is? Missing? Longing?”

 It was sometimes too easy to forget how new Aigis was to emotions. To being human. Standing up, Mitsuru embraced her gently. “Yeah. That is exactly what it is.”

 -x-

Spring

 The key turned with a soft click. There. It was done. The dorms were closed. Everyone had moved out and they had even managed to clean out every room, including the chairman’s. Somehow, his loss hurt more than anyone else’s, even her father’s. Despite what he did, her feelings toward him couldn’t settle, rage and loss warring with every thought. She wished it was more clear-cut, that it was easier to hate him.

 “Are you done?” Akihiko asked, pulling her out of her thoughts. “Or did you forget something inside?”

 “No, nothing.” Reluctantly, Mitsuru pulled the key out of the lock. Taking a deep breath, she turned around and down the steps. “It’s finally over.”

 “Yeah. The dungeon, that time loop, everything.” Akihiko stuffed his hands in his pockets, walking on her left as they headed to where she’d parked her bike. “Can’t say I won’t miss it; it’s been, what, three years since we moved in?”

 “A little more than that.” Mitsuru brushed her hair off her shoulder. It was longer now than when they’d first met. The distance between them was shorter than was back then too. If she wanted to, she could reach out and touch him. “I always thought it was too big for us.”

 “Too big?” Akihiko snorted, amused. “More like too small—do you know how hard it was to find food when Junpei scavenged the kitchen?”

 “Yes, because I’m the one who had to stock the fridge.” Mitsuru laughed and that also was something that changed. “But it served it’s purpose.”

 “Yeah, I guess it did.” He rubbed the back of his neck, a thoughtful expression crossing his face. “You know, when we first came here, I didn’t really think much of it. But now…it’s home.”

 “Home,” Mitsuru echoed. Yeah, that was the word for it. Home. A bittersweet feeling bloomed in her chest. “I’ll miss it. How close we were to everyone.”

 “Me too.” He patted her shoulder comfortingly. “But my college is just ten minutes from your university, and well…we’re all still friends, right?”

 She reached up and squeezed his hand. It had been scary, after Makoto died, when everyone was drifting apart. Now Aigis and Yukari were roommates, now Fuuka was organizing monthly meetups, now Ken was getting ready to join them in high school. They were still connected, despite everything. “Yes.”

 They were all still friends and the future didn’t look as dark and scary as it used to.

 Reassured, she smiled teasingly. “So, what was that about you becoming a cop?”

#persona 3 #mitsuru kirijo #akihiko sanada #aigis #shinjiro aragaki #koromaru #yukari takeba #fanfic

[ravenoftheskyes]

Daughter of Evil (p3 Evillious chronicles AU)

(AN: Why am I starting a new WIP? Idk. Let’s just get into it. I’m using Ketsuban’s Daughter of Evil cover as the basis for this. Also I used like one line from Enn Sings’s Bystander/Daughter of White cover. Check them out! Also, Even though I normally use Minato/Minako for the twins, I thought Kotone/Sakuya would be better for this. Also this time, the AU’s up on @yusuke-of-valla’s blog.)

There was once upon a time in another place

An evil kingdom who no person dared to face

The port kingdom of Iwatodai, a strong kingdom known for its power and ruthlessness.

And the ruler was a girl so mean

A tiny little princess of only age fourteen...

Kotone Shiomi, crown princess, and ruler. She never took the title of queen. Out of respect for her mother, she waits till she comes of age.

So much furniture littered her abode

Her loyal servant who’s likeness surely showed

Sakuya Kirijo, adopted son of Takeharu Kirijo, who was killed early in Kotone’s reign.

Josephine was what her horse was named

All the riches of the world is what she had claimed

Kotone’s loyal dog, Koromaru. She and her dog were almost inseparable. She always made sure to give him the best.

If you’re short on money, that’s no fearful thing

Just take it from those whom you dangle on a string

Mitsuru Kirijo, daughter of Takeharu Kirijo. She hated the princess. Kotone killed her father. She never understood why Sakuya loved her so much. Wasn’t he his father too? And now she’s robbing the whole kingdom blind, with unreasonable taxes.

To those who feel that they want to bring me down...

You’ll just tidy up my gown!

“Now, bow to me!” Kotone screamed out.

“Princess Kotone, why must you take all our money like this?! I have nothing left!” Mitsuru spoke, while on her knees, begging.

“I am the princess! My word is law! Guards, take her away!”

“Sakuya, how could you?!” Mitsuru screamed, as one guard with black hair and glasses and another with silver hair dragged her away.

Sakuya bowed his head in shame, his blue hair cascading down.

Evil flowers steadily bloom

With an array of colorful doom

But the weeds who feel that they want to stay,

They’ll just die and feed me the same anyway.

Kotone smiled as she saw Mitsuru dragged away, her red hair whipping as she turned to Sakuya.

“Did you see that? She begged!”

Sakuya did not respond.

The princess held a love for a man

Of blue who wasn’t very much her fan

Akihiko Sanada, prince of lands across the sea. Engaged to Kotone since they were children. He thought she was ruthless, but he was prepared to marry her for the good of the kingdom. That is, he was...

Instead, he chose his neighbor’s girl

Of green who’s eyes shone like a pearl.

Akihiko met Fuuka Yamagishi on a trip to the city. He was captivated by love at his first sight of her. Fuuka, however didn’t share his feelings. She was in love with Yukari. Akihiko still realized that he would never be happy with Kotone, and broke off their engagement.

The princess knew this and was filled with rage

She called the minister, locked in her cage

And she said in a small voice to not be heard

Make sure the green country is badly stirred

“See to it that all the women with green hair are dead, they shall thrive, in these lands no more!” Kotone told Sakuya, with a tight-lipped frown.

Sakuya didn’t visibly flinch. The princess’ word is law. He must obey.

Houses of the people were burned to the ground

So many voices would no longer make a sound

The people who had suffered so much pain

Didn’t get pity from the one who’d slain

Sakuya led the shadow war. But then he saw Fuuka. He left her in a well, to keep her safe.

Fuuka did not survive. Akihiko found her, dead in the well. He and Yukari mourned her.

Sakuya regret everything at the moment he realized Fuuka was dead.

He went home, bloodied to Kotone.

He cleaned himself off and served her some brioche.

Kotone, chipper as ever, said “Oh, it’s tea time!”

Evil flowers steadily bloom

With an array of bloodied doom

Even though the flower is so very refined

The thorns had driven its garden to decline

What the princess and her servant did not realize, was that Akihiko and Mitsuru had joined forces. They were planning to execute the princess. They plotted and planned, and finally the day came where the joined armies revolted.

To defeat the princess was no easy task

But the people could no longer wear their mask

Like a flock of birds, they were led by

A red lady mercenary into the nigh

Mitsuru, decked out in crimson armor. She ran up. Some say she said some words. Some say she was silent. They all agree on one thing.

She was telling her father revenge would soon be her’s

All the anger that had built over the years,

Now consumed them without any fears

And her army was battered from the green war

Their attacks were not much of a chore

Mitsuru and Akihiko cut swathes through the army. Some say they were possessed by Penthilisea, spirit of ice and Polydeuces, spirit of thunder.

Once they fell the countrymen surrounded the court

The servants ran away as time was running short

Little woman princess would never pose a fight

And she was finally captured in the night

The last servant seen running was said to be Sakuya.

“You’re such a disrespectful man!” Kotone screamed, as Akihiko dragged her down to a dungeon. Akihiko said nothing, not trusting his voice.

Evil flowers steadily bloom

With an array of funest doom

How the paradise that she made for herself

Put this broken doll back on the wooden shelf

Kotone turned around and fiddled with her hair, as she was shut in the cell.

There was once upon a time in another place

An evil kingdom who no person dared to face

And the ruler was a girl so mean

A tiny little princess of only age fourteen

Kotone sat in her cell, having changed out of her extravagant red dress into a simple brown one.

Mitsuru and Akihiko walked up to the cell.

“Sakuya, how could you?!” She whisper-screamed.

“How could I what? Kill our father, Kill Fuuka, or save my twin?”

“All of them!”

“Kill me if you wish. Let Kotone live.”

“You will never explain, will you?” Akihiko said, to the boy disguised as his twin.

“Never. I will protect her.”

“You bastard. Death is too good for you.” Mitsuru said, pure venom in her voice.

They both stalked away, letting the kingdom think Princess Kotone was about to be killed. Little did they know, the assumed dead Prince Sakuya was truly about to be executed.

Sakuya fiddled with his magically swapped hair. He made a deal with Orpheus, master of strings. He manipulated his fate and her’s. A bit of magic, and Kotone and Sakuya switched hair colors temporarily. When he died, his sister would get her hair back.

He smirked, knowing his sister would survive.

She was to be punished at 3’o’clock,

When the church bells resounded atock

The person who was once royalty,

Was bored in jail with no loyalty.

Sakuya slept, waiting for his fate.

At the time that eventually came

The church bells to her sounded rather lame

Without looking into the faces of the crowd

She said with her eyes in a shroud.

“Oh, it’s tea time!” Sakuya said, hoping he mimicked his sister’s voice well enough.

Kotone stood up, head still in the hood. Her hair would give her away if she stayed much longer. She cried, and then ran.

“I’m sorry, Sakuya...” she said to herself, under her breath.

Evil flowers steadily bloom

With an array of colorful doom

Now the people speak of her without a second thought

The daughter of evil had received what she sought

#persona 3 #kotone shiomi #sakuya shiomi #minato arisato #hamuko arisato #minako arisato #mitsuru kirijo #fuuka yamagishi #akihiko sanada #yukari takeba #long post

[themiracleisstillwaiting]

now if its possible, shinji for the ask thing?

FAVORITE THING ABOUT THEM: He wears a beanie on his official outfit and for around 4 years of my life, I also always wore a beanie on my head at all times cuz I couldnt control my hair. So ya know, relatable.

Seriously, though: He’s probably the best Persona 3 character, who carries a whole lot of the theme on his personal arc, like the fact you’re gonna die and how you live your life, matters. Also ,the way he is a victim of circumstances, but doesnt ever complain about that, and just accepted his terrible destiny… in a way, there’s a lot of dignity on how he carries himself, you know?

LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT THEM: If you want to. Like, if you really want to, or just doesnt think much about it, you could easily define his character by “tsundere” traits. I obviously hate this characterization and want nothing to do with it, but  judging by how some people characterize him and Aki, you would not be guilty of thinking like that. Weirdly enough, in PQ thats pretty much his thing.

FAVORITE LINE: He has some of the best and most significant ones. “Live” for Ken, but “ “Adios, asshole.”and “Still alive? … Good” when he comes to help.

BROTP: Shinjiro and Hamuko is Good Stuff, good quality content. Shinjiro and Fuuka is also flawless. Shinjiro and Junpei learning how to deal with each other has a lot of potential. Shinjiro and Yukari/Mitsuru growing to care about each other, same.

But Mitsuru and Shinjiro is, ultimately, the real thing. Shoulda’ve been canon brotp if you ask me.

OTP: Shinijro/Akihiko was the Air I breathed for around 3 years of my life.

notp: Shinji/Hamu mostly because… of the fandom’s characterization of it, rather than for the actual ship.. Shinji/Fuuka cuz is mostly a bro thing to me.

random headcanon: His dad left him and thats why he end up on the orphanage. This left him with a lot of issues around his self-worth. He used to pick fights against other kids and didnt want to make friends with anyone cuz he was convinced his dad would come back to pick him up.

He took in a bunch of part time jobs while living on the street, so he knows a buch of restaurants around town, and other places that could accept him to at least wipe the floor.

unpopular opinion: I have come across with two characterizations of Shinjiro that usually go like “UwU Shinjiro secret baby, likes cooking and fluffy things” and “Shinjiro is an asshole who cant put two sentences together without cursing” and I’m pretty sure both of those are an exaggeration.The real guy lies in the middle. I especially dont agree with the first one, though.

According to his dialogue during battles, he’s pretty much on his natural, by fighting out Shadows, cursing them out and is generally rude, too. Dude, he fights shadows with an Axe, with traffic signs! Some of his first lines on his social link are laughing of  a wound he has on his mouth that he forgot he had, and it was due to Aki punching him, which he takes lightly. He hangs out on that suspicious corner of the town on which all the other delinquents seem afraid of him.He literally fights them all without difficulty, on the movie.You dont get to be a person like that, without being comfortable with the idea of wrecking the next idiot that crosses your way or talks about crossing your way, and to become that, you need a lifetime of fighting others, and being good at it. You also need to be smart and knowing your way around town, like bars, clubs and underground meeting places. It struck to me how Shinjiro refers to the owner of the Club Escapade as his friend. That implies knowing the towns underground and nasty places and not only knowing of it, but knowing about it intimately. Thats pretty much where he lives.

That being said, none of this cancels out the fact Shinjiro likes cooking, seems to be an nurturer of  others by nature, and gets along well with animals. It kinda goes with it, actually. He seems to be a mysanthrope so he likes animals best, has no wish to grow closer to others cuz he already accepted his death, so of course he’s not out there cooking for everybody he meets, and being affectionate and cordial. Its not as much about him being shy, despite the fact he`s awkward, its about him having no wish to get out of his way to connectwith others, since his one everlasting connection is alreay giving him such a pain in the ass, anyway. I’m not saying that Shinjiro enjoys being a tough looking guy with a bad reputation, but its not just some kind of appearance he’s trying to keep up as if it was a farce, it does seems part of his personality.

People who try to cancel out Shinjiro’s tough-semi-aggressive tendencies and behavior because of his more soft side, rub me out the wrong way cuz like… you do know people can be well rounded on their interests and facets, right? You do know tough guys are capable of tenderness, in fact, most people are, right? Like,one thing doesnt cancel the other and we dont really know who Shinjiro would be if he wasnt on his “guess I’ll die” state of mind, anyway so, a characterization that tries to make him soft and uwu and tsundere rubs me the wrong way, since you’re deliberately trying not to think on a heavy part of his characterization so you can have a softer shinji, which makes him kind of an archetype of a character, easy to describe on two sentences, just like Mitsuru, Aigis and Akihiko. Both, the fandom and also PQII seem to sin on this.I also believe that on the Persona 3 original game, he wasnt supposed to be interpreted as your typical good looking guy, - taking a look at his first sketches; because of that, I try not to think of Shinjiro as your generally attractive dude. Of course, Shinjiro has a way cleaner design on P3DMN, which I dont mind, so its not something I would fight for, or anything.

song i associate with them: Los campesinos Avocado Baby:“I had a friend who / had made a flag day /blood on their hands from / shards of a heartbreak I have known friends who crack from love’s weight blossom in ribcage, until their backs break Oh it won’t get better, that doesn’t mean it’s gonna get any worse. You’re final draft'a life-long love letter, signed to the man who will be driving your hearse.”  favorite picture of them: I dont even know, but a good 90% of the Shinjiaki pictures I’ve seen probably made my heart beat faster, when I was really into them as my p3 ship.Can I toot my own horn and say this one? Its mine, from here.

#shinjiro aragaki #persona 3 talk #akishinji #shinjiaki #aragaki shinijro #long post #text post #long text post

[mystech-master]

Ragna in the other BBTAG worlds

I asked a while ago for ideas as to where Ragna could end up post-CF as his “retirement” world, I’ve gotten like 3 suggestions; Bleach (mainly to pair him with Kukaku Shiba, but given everything else happening in that world he’ll have no chill there), Animal Crossing, and Mario Galaxy (on the Comet Observatory with Rosalina and the Lumas)

but today, I want to take a look at how he’d fare living in the worlds presented to us in BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle. Just for the hell of it:

Long post bellow

Persona: if Ragna were to end up living in the Persona world thing might be difficult at first, he grew up in the middle of nowhere and the woods and lived in a post-apocalyptic dystopian future, so there will be a bit of a culture shock. But if Akihiko can run around shirtless then this world will be fine with someone like Ragna. I think he might end up working with the Shadow Operatives, hey he was raised to fight so may as well put his supernatural power and fighting ability to use against the Shadows right? I mean the Kirijo group managed to make an identity for Aigis when she attended Gekkoukan High in P3, so they could make Ragna have an identity. Since the dude has Son Goku levels of education I ‘d find it funny if Mitsuru put his ass through some kind of education program or something. I mean it is never too late to get an education and I’m sure there are many real-life examples of people who couldn’t go to school for some reason or another. Also, I’ve said this before, Ragna might give of serious “Shinjiro” vibes to the Shadow Operatives, so they might be able to navigate his personality a bit better. Mitsuru can be the cool-headed one w/o being a bitch like Rachel, Akihiko would make a good sparring partner, he’ll treat Aigis and Labrys right since he treats the Murakumos like people, Yukari is pretty normal compared to most of them and can also get annoyed by their antics so Ragna might like her (he enjoys the company of average/normal people since they aren’t too zany for his tastes), Ken is pretty mature for his age, but Junpei might get on his nerves. But also, if Ragna enters around P4 Arena time, then if he stays there a few years he could be present for the Persona 5 story, and THAT would be a fun setting to play in with Ragna.

Under Night In-Birth: it being a modern world won’t be too much of an issue, like with Persona there’ll be some culture shock but lots of the people there are also kind of weirdoes. If he ends up with the main good guys (Hyde, Linne, Waldstein, and Vatista) we can just add another guy bumming around Hyde’s house.  Helping train Hyde, spar with Wald, cook for Linne (give her actual good food and she’ll be worshiping you I bet), and Vatista May remind him of Lambda so he’d be chill around her. But another idea could be him being a mercenary like Gordeau, like maybe the two becoming friendly rivals or something (I just liked how chill he was with Ragna in BBTAG’s story oka, sue me). Also, I could totally see Hilda trying to recruit Ragna into Amnesia because she hears about him being the SS-Class criminal trying to take down the keepers of the order of his world, much like how she is trying to do to Licht Kreis, she tries to get a little flirty with him, but Ragna declines b/c 1. When he was taking on the N.O.L. he was doing it for revenge, Hilda is just doing it for shits and giggles (10 points to whoever gets that reference), 2. Ragna can totally sense danger coming to from this chick, and 3. the dude is at least smart enough not to stick his dick in crazy. He and Merkava would have an interesting conversation, Merkava being a beast with a man within, and Ragna being a man with a beast within.

RWBY: Okay this might depend on where in the timeline he’s put (Pre-Volume 3 like in BBTAG, or Pre-Volume 6 like what I’ve been thinking of), but let’s stick with the Beacon arc-like in BBTAG. The current state of the world is: Cinder and her team are in disguise as Haven students, Roman is arrested, everyone thinks the threat is gone and that the Breach was the big plan, but the Ozluminati know better and are just trying to keep the peace. Ragna is a very aggressive person and easily angered, not a good thing when dealing with Grimm, which are attracted to negative emotions. Also, may I remind you that the Grimm have no souls, and thus are immune to Ragna's Soul Eater power drive which is partially what has allowed him to be such a dangerous threat in his world. In fact, his power is WAY more suitable for fighting people, considering the Huntsmen and Huntresses powers come from their Aura which comes from their soul. Like, he just grabs them and watches that Aura meter just drop FAST. Also, I’m not sure if he’d even be able to gain Aura and a Semblance himself with the Azure Grimoire also fucking his soul up. Ironwood might just say to kill/imprison this guy before he becomes a threat while Ozpin might try and be a bit more diplomatic if he at least hears about his nicer exploits (maybe from Ruby). And no, I do not know how his Soul Eater power could be used on the Maiden Powers or Ozpin’s reincarnating soul. MAYBE it could be used to kill Salem by consuming HER immortal soul instead of just physically killing her, but I do not know if it could be used to rip the Maiden Powers out of their hosts. He and Qrow might talk about their shitty lives but when Qrow offers him a drink Ragna declines b.c Ragna’s Azure Grimoire healing factor also works on toxins (seen in the Variable Heart manga where he shrugs of Shiori’s poison), also I think Ragna views Alchohol as a bitch’s way of dealing with problems. A fight between him and Raven would be interesting also, like them giving each other lectures about family: Ragna giving Raven shit for abandoning Yang (who I assume he might bond with), while Raven says that he has no right to talk about family considering the state of HIS.

There’s probably a lot more that could happen but I can’t think of anything else atm.

I’ll be skipping Arcana Heart since A. I barely know jack fuck about that series (the second game isn't even localized), B. the main powerset in that game seems to only go to girls, which leads to C. there are NO male characters, not even side NPCs, so Ragna would stick out WAY too much.

Senran Kagura: Much like Arcana Heart I don’t know much but I looked through character descriptions and some basic plot summaries here and there (mostly from TVTropes so please forgive me if I fuck something up, which I will) , so I at least get the BASIC gist of things going on. The only place I could think of Ragna going is him looking after or palling around with the Homura Crimson Squad. He isn’t one to join some big organization (the Good Ninja side won’t accept him after his MASSIVE body count in his world, and the Hebijo guys are way too intense), and depending on the timeline he could either help protect the Crimson Squad from the Hebijo team out to kill them for deserting, or he also likes to be independent and train/fight his own way. He could help Homura train for her next fight with her rival Asuka (plus she’ll be a fan of his meat cooking). He might try to get Yomi to add some more variety to her food instead of bean sprouts (cue fight). Hikage might freak him out since she looks like almost a female Hazama/Terumi, but she also struggles with socializing and likes to cook for her friends so after the initial awkwardness they might get along. Mirai hates being ignored so this might cause some annoyance to Ragna, but she’s also a bully victim. I could see him being annoyed by her but then later sees her getting picked on and his big-brother instinct kicks in and he helps, then they gain a sort of understanding. Haruka is the real beast here, the dominatrix sadist scientist who wants to make people her dolls, so Ragna might need to step up a bit to keep her under control (like I said I only know the bare minimum, she might not actually be that bad post-character development but I don’t know). Finally, just for the sake of it, I’m not too sure where on the power scale Ragna would fall in the SK universe. The most powerful person there is Sayuri/Jasmine, with I think Rin and Daidōji both sharing the second strongest spot. I’ll say Ragna is around Daidōji and Rin’s level because Sayuri/Jasmine would most likely be like Jubei level. Also because the power scaling in Blazblue is absurd so comparing the Shinobi (of whom only a few have unique powers) to the Blazblue cast (who have magical weapons and reality-fucking powers) is kind of unfair, plus it gives Ragna a sort of cap so he won’t be too unstoppable in this world. Finally, not too keen on shipping. I’ve been using the “half your age plus seven” rule of dating so to not make things weird, Ragna is 22 in my HC and the minimum age is 18 (lots of people say once your over 18 you can date whoever you want that’s older, but........no), but while a few girls in SK are 18 they are still in high school (the birthdays and ages don’t match up with their school years, and that angers me) so.....no, he just has a big brother instinct for the Crimson Squad.

I’ll also skip Akatsuki Blitzkampf b/c A. Like Arcana Heart above I barely know the story, and B. What little I have seen of the story isn’t.......much. Story Isn’t exactly a big factor in this series.

Lemme know what you guys think Ragna would get up to in these other worlds. I might add to this if another series is added to BBTAG.

#ragna the bloodedge #persona #persona 3 #persona 4 #p4 #p3 #persona 4 arena #p4a #persona 4 arena ultimax #p4au #under night in-birth #uni #rwby #senran kagura #arcana heart #bbtag #blazblue cross tag battle

[arsenicpanda]

OTPS

I was tagged by the lovely @lizzy92rc

1. Lelouch/Shirley (Code Geass): Their love is eternal and pure.  No matter how many times they're reborn, they'll keep falling in love.  God, she just loves him for who he truly is, not any of his many, many masks.  And he clearly loves her for being her, for her smile, like just look at Stage 14, Turn 12, and Turn 13!  And she’s one of the first things he thinks of in his final flashback.  They could do a lot of good together, I think, and I wish I could have seen it.

2. Izaya/Namie (Durarara!!): Their love is so twisted.  I just want them to rule Ikebukero with an iron fist and be shady and fuck angrily and hate having feelings for each other and manipulate teenagers for fun and profit.  Like, talk about peak “I don’t want to love this person, this is highly inconvenient, DO NOT WANT.”

3. Betty/Jughead (Riverdale): Their love is so smart and sleuthy and sweet.  Like, I love these two in all their forms, soft and hard, dark and light.  I want to watch them solve murders and commit crimes and lead gangs and snuggle and have kinky sex and try to manage Archie forever.

4. Jin/Tsubaki, Hakumen/Tsubaki (BlazBlue): Their love is intense!  God, these two.  I have no idea why Tsubaki loves Jin, but she really, really does, although she will confront him when necessary.  And Tsubaki is like...the only person Jin likes at all.  He's so nice to her, even when he's at his most dickish to other people.  And the Hakumen factor!  God, he's so SAD that his Tsubaki his dead, but he's so supportive of this Tsubaki, no strings attached.  He basically becomes her justice mentor, and I love it with all my heart.

5. Akihiko/Mitsuru (Persona 3): Their love is true teamwork and comraderie, and it could also kick my ass.  Like, watching them work together is great, and they respect each other so much.  I need to know more about the years that it was just them fighting shadows in Tartarus.  Also, neither of them can dress themselves, and that cracks me up.

Now then, who hasn’t done this?  Uh... @imreallyloveleee, @elizabethbettscooper, @createandconstruct, @karylma, @say-im-your-homie, @mogitz, @heavy-lies-the-crown, @stillhidden, @edgelordjonesthethird, @thugheadjones, @raptorlily, @crepuscolo-writes, @writeraquamarinara, @genderneutralmilkhotel, @shibbycat, @gaffsie, @alisoncollis, @a-true-janian-reply, @dreamer757, and anyone else who wants to join in

#about me #tag games #probably forgot some people like an asshole #and that's the last of these #sorry for the spam guys

[hecksupremechips]

Can we talk about mitsuham I think we should talk about mitsuham yes I’d like that very much

Imagine Mitsuru her life has been planned out for her by a bunch of men her choices are not hers to make every move is political she is nothing but a tool forced to fight as a child never allowed to burden anyone with her feelings. Her life isn’t hers, it’s never been hers for a second, she exists to further the careers of the men around her. The first two friends she makes are both boys and she was in charge of leading them, using them just to further the Kirijo agenda. Genuine friendship did blossom between them, but things fell apart pretty quickly. Shinjiro can’t control Castor, something is seriously wrong with him, he kills someone, then he leaves and the Kirijos cover it up. Was it to protect him, or to protect themselves? Mitsuru certainly doesn’t know anymore but she’s lost a friend and can’t reach him again, he’s too traumatized by personas and Akihiko is still there but he’s always so stuck on Shinjiro and Mitsuru feels like she failed both of them. Just more men for her to let down by not being good enough

Then there’s Kotone. Sweet, strong, clumsy, talented Kotone. She’s so bubbly and friendly, but behind those warm smiles is horrible loneliness. Pain. But she’s never ever gonna let anyone see that. She busies herself by taking care of everyone else, listening to their problems and never burdening them with her own feelings. She can just fix everything and make everyone happy if she works herself hard enough. She just has this way about her, so reliable and so kind

And Mitsuru watches Kotone from above. Trusts her to be the leader, or maybe she just wanted to push a burden onto someone else for a change. Someone who’s able to take on burdens with a smile for fucks sake. And Kotone leads, seemingly effortlessly, and is able to recruit several members in a short time and achieve just so much more than Mitsuru could in her entire lifetime. Just, perfectly. Without even possessing any prior knowledge of the dark hour or personas. And she does this while being so emotional, so social, so weird, so fucking cute, it’s absolutely nauseating. This should be fine, right? It’s what Mitsuru’s always wanted, for someone else to ease her burden. And hell, it’s a woman too, a woman who’s perfectly capable of doing it all without a bunch of men helping her. It’s inspiring, isn’t it?

But there’s the pain. The envy. Kotone is perfect and she doesn’t even have to try. Mitsuru on the other hand has been shaving herself down to nothing just to be allowed a place. She makes the perfect grades and wears the beautiful clothes and applies the fucking makeup and is mature for her age and never speaks out or feels anything that could possibly make her be seen as a human, a filthy fucking human. So why does a woman as unashamed as Kotone get to have it all? And why is Mitsuru still here, still acting as the Kirijo tool, still doing whatever she possibly can to hurt herself to make a man feel better? Why isn’t she useful anywhere? It’s not fair

And then when she actually spends the time with Kotone she’s trying so hard to be that wise and mature figure she’s always been, trying so hard to force herself to smile through the pain, but she’s talking to someone who can see right through that shit cuz Kotone Shiomi invented lying through her teeth to make others feel better. It’s annoying really, how Kotone is supposed to be the childish one, yet it’s Mitsuru who can’t get it together and can’t seem to look into those bright eyes without breaking. And Kotone isn’t disgusted by what she sees, even though Mitsuru is being unreasonable and emotional and talking about wanting to run away and how much she hates her life and how she’s not only eating fast food but enjoying it, letting herself enjoy an indulgence that won’t make her pretty anymore. No, Kotone sees this and listens and encourages it and celebrates it, celebrates how utterly human Mitsuru is. She holds her hand and says "let me take on your burden". And it’s horrible, this kindness, Mitsuru hasn’t even broken all her bones to make Kotone happy, so why is she being so fucking nice? And then something breaks, and Kotone defends her. Stands up for her against a man. Lets herself once again take a hit to protect someone else. And it’s just too familiar, too much to fucking bear, and it pisses Mitsuru the fuck off. And she is able to tell a man to go fuck himself, because no one gets to fucking talk to this girl like she isn’t the most amazing person ever to exist. Not after everything she’s done, everything she still does, not after giving her all and never once asking for anything in return. And in standing up for Kotone, Mitsuru is able to stand up for herself for the first time in her life. And she looks at Kotone and says "let’s take on each other’s burdens"

Oh and also they watch a scary movie together and hold hands and ride a motorcycle and Mitsuru calls Kotone adorable I mean that’s pretty gay man

#persona #persona 3 #mitsuru kirijo #kotone shiomi #mitsuham #girl is that even the ship name thats how fucking obscure this shit feels lol #but noooo you people dont UNDERSTAND you dont GET ITTTTTT they are everything to me your honor #atlus gimme the rights i can do this shit so much better #basically what im getting at here is that mitsuru kirijo is a lesbian and whenever i see her with a man I actually throw up #dont piss me off like that oooh #ive already decided that if i ever post that shinji fic im doing a mitsuru spinoff #cuz like first off her relationship with shinji is really interesting to me and i wanna explore it further but theres not much time in the #shinji fic its more just setting a foundation and i realized i didnt wanna leave them hanging like that #but i also wanna give her a fic cuz ive uh become a bit feral over her and mitsuham in particular #and basically i want her to maybe just uh. leave the kirijo group 🙊 and live her own life make her own choices #and kiss girls kiss a lot of girls and also she gains weight and stops wearing makeup and cuts her hair #she gets to be loved and she loves in return and i spray atlus with a gun shes mine now 👺

[dlamp-dictator]

Allen Rambles about Cross Tag Battle

So I already did an Under Night In-Birth Rambling a few months, and I don’t feel like retreading that game again for the sake of another half-baked Rambling like the Persona 4 Arena one. No, I’ll talk a bit more about Under Night In-Birth and it’s Light Novel elements another day when I actually have the drive to do so. Instead, I’ll  jump straight into talking about about Blazblue Cross Tag Battle, namely, expanding on my initial thoughts of it. 

I had a chance to play the beta of the game when it was available, had a lot of fun playing it, and left it feeling confident this game could sell well, but a bit uneasy as well. 

But first before I get to explaining that...

The DLC Issue

It wouldn’t be my Rambling unless I got out of the elephants in the room straight away, now would it? 

So... that DLC, huh?

I’m not gonna’ bother defending this, but I’ll say this much in its defense. The season pass and the game is about 70 US dollars all together. That’s 50 bucks for the game 1 dollar for every extra character. That’s not a bad deal on paper. Let’s be real here, Dragon Ball FighterZ has more expensive DLC than this and much more expensive season pass combo pack, Blazblue Central Fiction had more expensive DLC than this, and several other fighting games have done worse practices. Dead of Alive has cosmetics that total up to hundred of dollars. From what I’ve seen and played Street Fighter 5 has a handful of costumes can only be purchased with cash rather than the in game fight money, among a few other practices I’m not cool with. And we can probably go on and on about EA’s DLC practices. Worse has been done, and if an extra 20 buck for 20 more characters on an already decent rooster seems bad to you, then... well I think you haven’t been playing fighting games that long to not see this coming.

However, that’s on paper. In context, this is just flat out shady and I’d even say exploitative.

I’m not going to pretend that what Arc System Works is doing is okay. Let’s be real here, a lot of the assets we’re seeing are being ripped and reused from each character’s respective game save for some new animations, the gameplay itself is very simplified, and the fact that they announced such a large amount of DLC before the game was even released is already shady business. I hate it when companies do that, and Arc System Works shouldn’t get a pass for it either. 

Not to mention the fact that a portion of their EVO line up is DLC characters. That just kills me a little. I’ll admit that I have a negative opinion of the FGC and competitive fighting game community as a whole, and I’ve already talked about my opinion of EVO in the past, but I really don’t think this game deserves to be in the EVO line up when it only has a little over half its full cast in the game for competitive play, with about a fifth of that cast being DLC. That means you need to shell out at least 6 extra dollars just to have an idea of certain match ups and playstyles, or worse, play your main. That’s no where near fair on a competitive level, that’s a scam and I hope someone more familiar with the competitive side of the fighting game community calls Arc System Works out on it. If your main is locked behind a paywall then you have a right to be angry and even go as far as to boycott this game for this kind of practice. 

I’m not happy with the idea of paying to just to play as Orie and Naoto, but as I’ve said, worse has been done in the gaming world. If you aren’t buying this game for the reasons I mentioned, then I respect you’re opinion. However, I’ll also ask you to at least try and get this game on sale otherwise, as there is a good fighting game here, just one that needs to shake off a bad first impression. 

Ah, and speaking of the game...

This Game is Simple

Like I said, I took some time to play the Beta, and I have to say this game is a little too simple for my liking. Not that I’m some genius fighting game player that could tell you all the frame data and hitbox nonsense, but I feel like I’m grasping this game’s controls a little too fast for someone of my skill level. 

Let me explain. 

In the majority of fighting games I play I usually maintain a 10%-20% win rate, so I usually win 1 out of 10 matches. For a casual fighting game player that’s not bad considering I’m usually fighting competitive players, but with Cross Tag Battle I left the beta with a 50% win rate. That’s... quite a jump, but I don’t think that’s due to my skill, but how simple it is for someone that’s familiar with fighting game mechanics to understand the system. Now I’m also keeping in mind that everyone was learning the ins and outs of this game along with me during the beta, but this still.

This simplicity isn’t a bad thing. It works in the game’s favor and makes it much easier to grasp how all these characters works, which is needed for a tag-team style game, but it is something that makes me wonder how long this game will be popular. This game has two auto combos, for every character, and all the characters that aren’t from RWBY have a diluted moveset of their original game. It feels like you know everything about a character in about an hour of practice.

I had similar feelings about Dragonball FighterZ, all the character felt too similar to each other outside of some special moves. Cross Tag isn’t as simple and not all characters feel the same, but one of the big appeals of a fighting game is being about to learn a character for months and still find new techniques and strategies with them. Cross Tag Battle doesn’t feel like a game I’ll be able to do that in.

 Again, that’s not a bad thing, but it’s just something that has me wondering about the direction fighting games are taking... or maybe this is just a product of team-based fighters. That simplicity might be needed for the sake of everything meshing well. I mean, if Ragna could do all his rushdown stuff and have an assist to reset combos he’d be a nightmare to fight against. And Nu... don’t get me started on Nu.

 But then again, Skullgirls has a good balance of complexity, and the potential for 3-on-3 combat. All their characters feel and play in very unique ways too, so maybe my worries are founded in some ways...

But speaking of...

How Characters Play/Feel

Like I said, this game is very simple. These characters only play slightly like their original games. I've only played with a few people, namely my mains, but Yosuke doesn’t feel like the Yosuke P4A with his 48 mix-up tools, Linne and Hyde feel like themselves, but with less combo options than in their original game. Sadly, none of my Blazblue mains are in the current roster, so I can’t say much about them, but Ragna feels like a watered down version of himself at the very least. I think that goes for most of the cast. They all feel very watered down. This isn’t bad, it’s just different, and I’m not sure how I feel about that yet. 

I’m excited to know I’ll have Orie and eventually Izayoi in the game to play with, but I’ve seen gameplay of Orie, and she doesn’t play the way I play her in UNIEST. I get the feeling a lot of people are going to be playing around with the cast for the wrong reasons.

That said though...

The RWBY Characters

The RWBY characters play the best too me, but that should be obvious. They were made with this game in mind from the ground up. As such their combo animations are smoother than the rest of the cast, their sprites are a little nicer, and I can really see a lot of love went into make them feel and play like how they are in the show. The references and callbacks are great as someone that’s a fan of show, and I honestly think their voice acting improved a little in this game... then again, I’ve been hearing their voices for a few years now so I might just be a bit numb to how they’re directed in their series, but I’m surprised how well they mesh with the overall cast. I can see the shipping possibilities and fanfics already. I’m definitely going to have Blake in one of my presets when the game comes out, probably pair her up with Linne or Hyde.

Speaking of voice acting...

The English Dub

Thank God we have a dub again. It’s great to hear Patrick Seitz as Ragna again, and the rest of the cast as well. The Under Night In-Birh cast sounds great too, my favorites being Linne and Gordeau. Seriously, the UNIEST cast sounds great and their voice actors really capture their character well from what I’ve heard so far. It really makes me wish we got a dub for that game so those overlong light novel portions didn’t feel as long. 

I did little blurbs about voice actors when Elsword and Persona 5 voice actors were announced, and I’ll definitely do the same kind of blurb for Under Night In-Birth once all the voice actors are known. This game gives me hope that the next Guilty Gear will have a dub and then I can finally care about the story again.

But moving on...

The Roster (AKA Allen Gloats About Being Right)

So we know the full rooster of the game thanks to data miners (the buzzkills), and it looks like I can safely, confidently, and haughtily state that I was right with a few of my calls when I made my speculations. For the sake of maximum gloating I’ll give you all the breakdown from my Rambling on the matter.

Charge Characters

Mitsuru 

Kagura

Vatista 

Puppet Characters 

Carl

Relius 

Chaos 

Ken

Required By Popularity

Tsubaki

Adachi

Yuzuriha

Required by Tier List

Izanami

Margret/Elizabeth

Seth/Merkava

ArcSys’s Persona OCs

Labrys

Sho

Looking back, I wish I stated Nine instead of Izanami, but Izanamis were kicking my ass by the time I wrote up my speculation and I was very salty about that. I also wish I added Mika into my curve ball list instead of my wishlist, but... well, I can’t predict everything. Speaking of that wishlist, a few people made it like Izayoi, Hakumen, and Akihiko, but that was my personal wishlist and not a speculation, so I won’t count those.

Anyway, I got 5/14 right. I’d consider that pretty good for pure speculation.

My Hopes

I’m just gonna’ list these down, as now we’re getting into my unorganized thoughts.

A simple, fanservice-y story mode. Like I originally said, this game is Arc System Works fanservice incarnate. Frankly, trying to tell a serious story with all these properties, while possible, will just be a giant mess, especially trying to deal with all the quantum mechanical, timeline jumping, dimension hopping nonsense of Blazblue, so I really hope this story will be more like Super Smash Bros. Brawl’s Subspace Emissary where the story is simple and more fanservice for fans of all these series and just see everyone interacting with some fights in between. From what we’ve seen of certain cutscenes CGs being released this just might be the case.

Free DLC. I already bought the Season Pass because I’m a degenerate, but I really hope this game does what Skullgirls did and have all their character packs free on at least the first day of their releases. I have major issues with this kind of business practice and completely understand if you guys don’t buy this game because of it. I’m hoping Arc System Works will realize this and make all the packs be free for at least their day-one release to try and dowse the flames a little. And hey, the first pack and the rest of the RWBY team is free for the first while, so I think that’s exactly what their doing.

...

...

... 

I’m gonna’ feel like a chump for waste twenty buck if that’s the case, but hey, I do like the series.

A Good Single Player Experience. I know it’s a fighting game and all, but I hope it’ll have something that’ll make this game fun three years from now when the online community is dead. Something BBCP’s Abyss Mode (because CF’s is garbage) or Persona 4 Arena Ultimax’s Golden Arena Mode. Something like that. I doubt that’ll happen, but it’s a hope for a reason.

Overall, despite my mixed feelings, I hope the best for this game. And as we count down to the final days before release, I hope you all enjoy this game as much as I will.

Unless you roll out with Team UNGA. If you do, then fuck you, fuck your family, fuck your house cat, and everything you stand for.

#blazblue #blazblue cross tag battle #your dictator is speaking

[zee-isaiah-pugnacious7-blog]

In Defense of Junpei Iori

I want to start off by saying this is my own thoughts on the character. Whether you like/hate this character is your own personal opinion; respect my opinion, and I will respect yours. Thank you.

So, Junpei. The token comedy-relief/best-buddy of Persona 3. Friendly, funny, charming and sharing the same voice-actor as Edward Elric (plus several others), he is one of the more memorable characters of the series...

And yet... a lot of people seem to hate him. More often than not, some people comment that he’s one of the most annoying characters in the game! 

Ironically, my boyfriend--- who first introduced me to the Persona series--- was the one who brought up Junpei being a lousy character (He later took it back after noticing how similar the character is--- not even joking, they have similar issues at their homes). But it wasn’t because he thought Junpei was annoying--- it was mainly because... well, Junpei sucked on his team. 

My Boyfriend: Good luck having Junpei on your team. He wouldn’t follow my commands, kept dying, blah blah blah...

Me: *after playing the game* Dude, Junpei is a tank on my team! I’m not even giving him commands, and he’s helping heal the group, he can take a blow, yadda yadda...

(Maybe they can just tell when a girl is playing the game XD)

I get the feeling that’s one reason why people don’t like Junpei--- they have trouble with him on the team. ...Then again, if that were the case, wouldn’t everyone have at least one [other] character they hated having on their team? I guess, depending on the equipment, commands and experience, the characters you choose vary in performance.

...But c’mon guys, how many of us got angry at Mitsuru and her overuse of ‘Marin-Karin/Tentarafoo’? THE COMICS ARE EVERYWHERE!

Me: Okay, Mitsuru--- the Shadow is weak to Ice. Watch me use Bufu. *casts it, destroys enemy* See? Easy. Use Bufu skills. BUFU skills.

Mitsuru: MARIN KARIN!

Me: F*CKING DAMMIT, MITSURU, YOU’RE OFF THE TEAM! 

*ahem* So, yeah, no one’s perfect ^^’

But combat-performance isn’t the only reason I see people hating on Junpei. Like I said earlier, they find him annoying--- maybe they think he’s too much of a pervert (ironic in a game where you play as a guy/girl who can f*ck several people), or maybe they think he’s an idiot (Who’s playing this game, Yukari?), but more often than not, there’s a couple things that always come up...

Junpei’s want for attention, and how he gets jealous of the Protagonist.

Lets start with the fight for attention. During the first mission, Junpei is quick to rush ahead, trying to prove his potential. (And this may be a little late but I’ve never seen all the movie adaptations yet *only the 2nd one* so I’m just going by the game storyline). Clearly he wants to be in the spotlight, and *at first* sees fighting Shadows as some sort of game, up until he realizes just how serious it really is.

But think about it--- before awakening to his Persona, Junpei was a regular teenager. The creators themselves mentioned that Junpei was a crucial character because he acted like a real teenager--- cracking jokes, getting excited about having this power... I mean, how would you react if you were a high school student and found out you had a rare power? You’d be pumped, wouldn’t you?

Meanwhile there’s Akihiko, Shinjiro, Yukari, and Mitsuru who awoke to their Personas early on (for crying out loud Mitsuru awoke to hers when she was just a little girl! She was a chibi with power!). They managed to understand the concept of their potential--- and, since they had serious stuff going on in their lives, took this responsibility to heart. (It really hits you in the feels with Shinji’s case)

Now look at Junpei’s life--- living with an alcoholic father, having little skills and low grades... chances are, he was putting on a mask *no P5 refs intended*; behind that comedic behavior and charming smile was a teen struggling with depression, feeling like he was going nowhere in life. (You all saw his moment with Koromaru in “The Answer”). He awoke to his Persona--- not because he had some ‘mission’ to fulfill, but because he wanted to find a purpose in life.

AndthenhemeetsChidoriandfallsinlovebringinguphisdreamsofbeingabaseballplayerthenshediesinordertosavehislifeandyougethitwiththefeelsandhefindsanewreasontolivegaaaaaaaahhhhh---

Sorry! Got off-track for a moment there!

Point is, the moment he gets his Persona, he feels a rush of excitement, like his life has purpose after all! (This is emphasized after Strega encounters the group, bringing up that once the Dark Hour is destroyed everyone will lose their powers). So of course he’d want to ‘show ‘em what he’s got’ and try to impress everyone, because he’s trying to prove his self-worth.

Now lets bring up the part where he gets jealous of the Protagonist. 

I can hear you all, “Of course he’s jealous--- the protag is a badass who gets all the girls and is acing the exams, etc.* SHUT UP. JUST. SHUT. UP.

First of all, think about the FIRST time you play the game--- where your stats are at an ALL TIME LOW. Your intelligence is ranked at dumbass, you’ve got as much charm as a piece of cardboard, and you have less courage than Scooby Doo!

So you’ve got a guy with zero intelligence, minimal charm, and zip courage... and yet all of a sudden he’s elected Team Leader just because he--- big shock--- awoke to his Persona and *gasp* fought Shadows! Just. Like. Everyone. Else. 

Granted, there were reasons he got the Leader rank--- Mitsuru had to stay behind at the start in order to scan for Shadow activity, Akihiko’s arm was broken, Yukari was having confidence issues, and Junpei was the new guy---

Wait a minute! The Protag was the new guy too! Why was he elected leader? Why couldn’t he and Junpei have had a rock-paper-scissors tournament to decide? What, was it because Junpei wasn’t ‘serious’ enough? I’m pretty sure putting him in a responsible position would get him serious! (...or he’d abuse his power, much like many did when playing the game *cough*BikiniWarriors*cough*)

“But the Protag can use more than one Persona!” you may argue, but I’m talking about the very start of the game--- before you start your Social Links and start acquiring more than 1 Persona (and leaving poor Orpheus behind to rot lol). Like, out of the blue, Mitsuru just says “You can be Leader until Akihiko gets better,” ...then after Akihiko heals up, it’s like “You can keep being leader, you’re doing a great job.”

Okay, maybe I’m overthinking it. If Protag didn’t get the role of leader, we’d have no gameplay. Lets stick with Junpei. 

Granted as the game goes on, your stats do improve by the time you get to the Hotel. And thus when Junpei gets jealous--- everyone fights these two massive Shadows... and the Protag is getting most of the praise. Despite any reassurance you give him, he still gets pissed and ignores you for the week.

(Me: Nuuuuuuu! Junpei, come baaaaack! I’ll buy you ramen!)

And of course this is where a lot of people consider Junpei to be annoying, for throwing a b*tch-fit about the Protagonist being hot-sh*t. 

But, lets re-analyze what I mentioned before--- fighting Shadows is all Junpei considers himself good for. Heck during this time, he realizes he’s going to be a senior by the next year... and then what? What is he going to do with his life after high school?

Also, lets bring up the fact that he’s fighting Shadows with a well-respected valedictorian (Mitsuru), the captain of the boxing-team who has fan-girls surrounding him at the start (Akihiko), the most popular girl in school (Yukari), a girl with a rare Persona who helped her survive in Tartarus for 10 days/hours (Fuuka), and an emo-hunk every woman wants to sleep with (Protagonist). 

DO YOU SEE WHAT HE HAS TO COMPETE WITH?! Throw in a robot, dog, kid and the baddest of the badasses, and you’ve got a lot of pressure on your shoulders! *granted they don’t come in until after the beach trip, but still!*

Keep in mind, these are all high-school students. If there’s one thing I remember about being in high-school, it’s that I wanted people to like me and achieve at something. There was always someone much smarter, more athletic, more creative, and more charismatic than I ever could be. (...I can hear you all making fun of me for being a geek right now. Go on, laugh it up!) 

Junpei got jealous because the New Kid became a kick-ass leader (...depending on how well you play the game...) and he’s working his a$$ off to make something of himself in order to cope with a bad home life, lack of academic potential, and whether or not he’ll have a future after graduation. 

He wasn’t just jealous, he was suffering from anxiety. If he was the least-anything on the team, he lost his motivation. It’s no different than feeling depressed because someone believed you ‘weren’t good enough’ at something. 

I believe many of us have gone through that. It really hurts, and sometimes lashing out at someone who’s ‘better’ than you is the first response; other times you just shut yourself out from others, wallowing in your self-pity, trying to figure out if you’re worth anything...

But there’s something Junpei does that not many people do.

He realizes his mistakes and apologizes. 

He realizes he rushed in too fast during the first mission, and asks for a second chance when the group goes to rescue Fuuka. 

He realizes he was faulting the Protagonist for no reason *kinda like I did a minute ago* and apologizes to him for it. 

Junpei: Sorry for being such a d*ck to you...

Me: *choosing option* Don’t Worry About It.

Junpei: *softly* Thanks bud.

Me: *while fainting* Friendship saved~! 

(okay okay, that’s the last of the fan-girling, promise!)

As the game goes on, his character development gets better. He doesn’t even try to act like a class-clown that much after meeting Chidori (as Fuuka said, he acts more like a gentleman). ...It’s only during the trip to Kyoto that he reverts back to his perverted nature :P 

(Saying it now, DAMN THOSE HOT-SPRINGS!!!)

Moving on.

It isn’t until near the end of the game that we really see him change--- and we all know the reason: Chidori. 

You’ve all seen what happened, so I’m not going into detail here! 

Point is, her sacrifice was what really helped him wake up--- he developed a new reason to not just get through life, but LIVE it. The love of his life didn’t want him to just give up--- she wanted to see him achieve his dreams and be happy. 

After that, Junpei once again apologizes to the Protagonist, letting go of his jealousy and relying on his friend to help get them through this battle against the Dark Hour. 

Because there’s a double meaning to the ‘Dark Hour’--- it’s not just some creative title for Tartarus appearing, but an analogy on how everyone is going through their darkest moments. Losing Chidori is Junpei’s Dark Hour--- and he needs his best friend to help him get through it until it’s over.

Then comes Ryoji, bearing the bad news that Nyx is coming... 

This is where I really noticed a change in Junpei’s character. He’s scared, but reacts with anger rather than humor--- everyone’s losing someone already, then all of a sudden everyone’s going to die. 

Yukari, ironically, tries to crack a joke in order to try and lighten up the tension... and Junpei blows up at her! The vice-versa of the beginning of the game! 

This is proof that Junpei had been hiding his real emotions the whole time--- once things got serious to the point where its all ‘Oh f*ck we’re all gonna die’, he dropped his class clown charade. 

“He should’ve been serious from the start!” you may argue... 

But, lets face it, we had ENOUGH serious characters--- no-nonsense Mitsuru, training-focused Akihiko, hardass Shinjiro, truth-seeking Yukari, vengeance-seeking Ken, humanity-learning Aigis... geez I think Koromaru and Fuuka were the only ones not dead-serious about something! 

As mentioned, Junpei was using humor in order to cope with things; he let out his anger at Shinjiro’s funeral, but once the grieving period passed went on with his humorous behavior, keeping enthusiastic because it was his only defense. Losing Chidori was probably his breaking point--- finding out the world was going to end in two months drove him over the edge, and he just couldn’t take it anymore.

But, he chose to fight, alongside the others, even if there was a slim chance of success. He didn’t want to give up. He wanted to try--- and succeed. 

So I ask again... why do people hate on Junpei? Maybe you all have your own reasons outside of the ones I’ve listed--- whatever they are, it’s your opinion, I can’t tell you how to feel. This is just my thought on him.

Because, if you think about it, in some way we’re similar to the character. We often hide our real feelings until we just can’t take anymore. We get jealous of others, we get depressed when we can’t find a purpose in life. 

But many of us still want to try.

And I believe we shall succeed. 

Just don’t give up. 

#persona 3 #junpei iori #personal thoughts #no flames please #sorry if i rambled too much

[transiens]

It's super obvious, but still worth mentioning that yes, Makoto loves SEES more than anything---and I mean ANYTHING---in the world. At first glance, it's a "power of friendship conquers all" kinda thing. Y'know, that good ol' shounen anime bullshit. (That I shamelessly love. Fuck you.) But when you look deeper and see just how much they've impacted him, it's easy to see why he cherishes them so damn much.

- Yukari was the first person to sympathize with him, making him eventually realize that he's not alone in the way he feels. Nor is he the only one that the world's tried to screw over. And her calling him out on his shit in the first movie, to him, is her way of betting on his ability to move forward and change like her.

- Junpei was the first person to see him as just a regular dude. Makoto's quiet, "leave me alone" attitude either pushes people away or makes them see him as something other than normal. Junpei ignored all of that and instantly tried to befriend him despite how distant he was.

- Mitsuru was the first person to believe in him. She's not stupid. She knows that some run-of-the-mill Persona user isn't gonna make a good leader and isn't gonna blindly choose a leader while hoping nothing goes wrong. She had confidence in him and his ability to both lead and protect Junpei and Yukari. Not to mention she has no problem putting her life in his hands when she becomes part of the field.

- That insight and a firsthand look at his strength is what makes Akihiko treat him with the utmost respect. It can be seen as a similar sentiment to Junpei, sure. But keep in mind that Akihiko is A: one of the founding members of SEES, B: one of the strongest Persona users around, and C: the toughest guy in Gekkoukan. When someone like THAT respects you as an equal, that's something to be happy about.

- Shinjiro is sort of a downplayed example of the above, but still a very important person. As each and every time we see him, we see this brash, aloof, borderline terrifying dude. And yet he's got no problem taking orders from a guy like Makoto when he could just as easily tell him to fuck off. This is amplified by the fact that the only other person he's taken orders from was Mitsuru. That says something.

-Fuuka, without realizing it, is an inspiration and a key component in getting Makoto to change. Even when she gets mocked, ridiculed, and shoved into the dirt for trying to befriend someone like Natsuki, she still tries and doesn't let rejection bug her too much. Mind you, fear of rejection and pain is why Makoto is the way he is in the first place. To see Fuuka weather that and still keep going makes him feel like he can do it too.

- Ken and Koromaru give him something to protect. In Ken's case, it's because Makoto can relate to how lonely he is. Plus, because of how young Ken is, his struggles hit really close to home and trigger his compassionate side. And in Koromaru's case, it's cause it's impossible for him to be indifferent to a dog. No one can hate Koromaru. N o b o d y.

- Lastly, Aigis loves him unconditionally. Regardless of how you interpret her attraction to him (either as a lover or a doting mother), the fact remains that Aigis is the first person to genuinely care for him since his parents died. She may not be the only person to love him (as Yukari's feelings for him are canon as of The Answer and both Mitsuru and Fuuka are potential lovers), but she acts on it with no problem.

They were the first people to accept him for who he was, faults and all. More importantly, they saved him from his own loneliness and basically gave him his life back. It's why he's able to bounce back from ten years of emotional death and why he has no problem giving up his own life for the sake of theirs. Yeah, I already mentioned that his sympathy for humanity are what drove his decision to become the Great Seal. But more than that, it was so that he can do that one thing for the people who more or less saved his life. SEES is that important to him. Way more important than anything else in the world. Doesn't matter if it's a friend or a lover; SEES will always come first in Makoto's mind.

#y'all know the saying. #''if you're gonna date me; you're gonna date my friends.'' #or something along that line. #that 100% applies here. #any relationship he forms outside of SEES #is automatically destined to take a back seat to them. #and needless to say #whoever doesn't approve of them #isn't worth his attention at all. #and any insult or pain inflicted upon them #is going to be inflicted upon whoever did it ten fuckin fold. #this is a guy who will go the extra mile #and fight tooth and nail for those morons. #even if it kills him. #...it DID kill him. #mobile ooc tag. #god I wish I could use my headcanon tag on mobile--

[tacitusauxilium]

Unforeseen Circumstances // Ch.03

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

Chapter 3;; Straight into Despair

Flash back — September 4th

Fuuka knew today would be a better day. Junpei almost never did anything the day before a full moon battle. So, she knew his day had to be open. Right?

She walked out of her room, noticing that it was eerily quiet—Koromaru was sleeping on the floor near the stairs and yet, nothing. Fuuka carefully ran down the stairs as she felt her heart sank even more. Only people downstairs were Shinjiro, Mitsuru, and Akihiko.

She looked around for Junpei, as if he was a lost dog. She began by looking in every corner she could think of—behind the counter in the kitchen, the desk by the entrance, but nothing. Mitsuru noticed that Fuuka looked slightly worried and tilted her head as she closed her folder filled with paperwork for her father.

"Yamagishi, you look as if you lost something. Could I be of help?" Mitsuru asked slowly as Fuuka stood straight, a little startled, but shook her head. "Are you looking for someone?"

"Yes—well, I thought Junpei-kun was down here, but maybe I was wrong."

Akihiko was fixing his boxing gloves as he turned to face Fuuka from the couch. "Oh yeah—! He told me he was going out and won't be back until later today. Didn't say why, though."

Fuuka crestfallen—this was the second time in less than a couple days that she couldn't get any time alone with him. She began to wonder if this was even beginning to be worth it in the end. She sat down and leaned back in the lounge chair.

Now I look like an idiot. Again.

Shinjiro could sense that Fuuka was beating herself up again. "You should have listen to me, Yamagishi." He mentioned as he turned on the TV, trying to find something that caught his attention. "Iori is an idiot, remember?"

Fuuka sat up in her chair and pouted. "Yes, I remember fondly of what we spoke up, senpai. Just thought he would stay in—he did the last two times." Fuuka sighed, wondering what else she could do. "I just don't want to admit it, yet."

Akihiko and Mitsuru looked at each other, wondering what in the world they were talking about. Though, they did agree that Junpei was an idiot in his own way. "Shinjiro—" Mitsuru grinned as she knew what was happening. It happened to her a few times in her middle school years. Being duped by a guy who didn't like her back, though she was the one rejecting them most of the time. "—do you remember that dessert you made for me, a few years back?"

"Mitsuru, I made you a lot of desserts. Be a bit more specific."

"I was a small, sweet you made. You said that milk chocolate was too sweet so you make dark chocolate."

Shinjiro took but a moment to think of what Mitsuru enjoyed. "Eclairs. Is that it?"

"But of course! You made them better than the cooks at my family home, Shinjiro. You know, I would—"

"Not going to happen."

Shinjiro was quick to silence that offer. He hated the idea of charity for himself—couldn't fantom the idea of working for Mitsuru, someone who helped him so much that returning the favor didn't seem so favorable to him. Fuuka thought of the idea of eclairs, wondering what they would taste like and smiled.

"Senpai, could we, I don't know, try to make some?" Fuuka asked, beginning to pull her phone out to look for recipes. "I am sure we can work together and bring about the same sweetness Kirijo-senpai mentioned."

Shinjiro turned towards Fuuka, his hand putting down the remote and frowning. "…you want to try cooking? I thought you were still a beginner. At least, that's what our leader kept saying."

"Well, yes, but I made onigiri the other day without burning the rice." She held up her finger and pointed towards Shinjiro. "…but that's all I have been able to make." She lowered her hand, her finger curling back inward.

Shinjiro crossed his arms, wondering if they even had the ingredients to make said eclairs. He had to close his eyes and think for a while.

We have the simple ingredients, but everything else might have to be bought.

Fuuka didn't realize how deep in thought Shinjiro was. It made her a bit happy to have someone other than Minako cook with her. "…senpai?" Fuuka called out to him, wondering how deep in thought he really was. Opening his eyes, he turned to Fuuka and got up.

"I will have to go buy the ingredients. Also, we won't be able to get them done tonight. You'd want the cream to sit overnight. It'll taste better that way." Shinjiro explained slowly. "Also, while I'm gone, can you go and check to see if we have a baking sheet and parchment paper?"

Fuuka began to pull a pen and piece of paper from the desk, after she dashed over when Shinjiro decided to list off what they needed "Oooookay." She finished writing that down and turned back towards Shinjiro as he had his fist holding up his chin. "Anything else?"

Shinjiro shook his head. He moved towards Fuuka, grabbing a piece of paper and looking for a pen. Fuuka gave him hers and she couldn't believe how fast he was writing down the ingredients. A couple blinks and he was done. I am impressed—he knows more than he lets on. She thought as he read what he wrote. "Yamagishi—"

"Yes?"

"Make sure to keep everyone out of the kitchen when I come back. Because I'll need your help to make these." He shoved the list in his pocket as Fuuka watched him leave through the door.

"D-do you need help? Or an extra set of hands?"

Shinjiro stopped as Fuuka asked if he'd need some help. It was odd—no one usually asked him for help, it was the other way around usually when no one even asked for help, he'd help anyone who needed it. "…" he let out a sigh. "Sure, but I'll carry the bags, before you even ask. And check the kitchen first, before we leave." Fuuka nodded and made it to the kitchen, double checking everything she was told to find.

Mitsuru got up from her seat and forked Shinjiro a few 1,000 yen. "For this, and for yourself. And no buts." She stated as she held up her finger to him before he could open his mouth. He grinned and shook his head before pocketing the money.

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever you say, Mitsuru."

After several hours passed and many batches of horrible eclairs later, and almost close to midnight, Fuuka was happy to have at least 10 or so eclairs that were passable. Out of the 50 Shinjiro helped her made. "Well, I guess I'm good only 20% of the time." Fuuka remarked, but still felt proud of herself. "And everyone can have one—except Aigis, and Koromaru-don't want to make him sick."

Shinjiro shook his head. "I don't get it—how can you be so happy about failing 80% of the time? That's not good, Yamagishi." He pointed out as he did the dishes. Shinjiro couldn't understand how she saw the good in the bad.

"I know, but this is something good to look forward to. I couldn't make anything this great—Minako-chan will be thrilled to try these out." She smiled. "Maybe she could join us next time." Fuuka looked up at the clock, noticing how close to midnight it was. At least everyone was safe and back in their rooms. Fuuka put the good eclairs in a container and put them in a place so that Junpei wouldn't eat them all.

After crossing paths with Shinjiro to put the food away, she felt her heart skip a beat once everything turned dark—the Dark Hour was upon them and Fuuka forgot how dark it really gets. It was eerie, but something she still had to get used to. "…this still scares me after all this time." She murmured as she had to reach for the flashlight that was next to the fridge. "Perhaps we should head to bed? It's an early morning for me."

Shinjiro nodded, but added a small grunt as he could feel his Persona raging inside of him. Fuuka thought it was a sign of confirmation. Shinjiro didn't want to let go of his shirt, clenching it tightly at his heart. He couldn't let Fuuka know about this, not her, not yet. However, Fuuka felt something was off, but wasn't sure what it was. Lucia instantly pushed her towards Shinjiro, Fuuka's hand reaching out to his freed arm, and something within her made her freeze. Their eyes seemed to glaze over as their minds were filled with a vision.

It was as if they were in a warm, open meadow-Fuuka's hair blowing in the breeze, long, loose, and smooth. Shinjiro right in front of her-the air warm and the meadow filled with flowers. Their eyes gazing upon each other, as if they've known each other for a long, long time. Fuuka and Shinjiro looked older-more mature and happier, as if something came along and whisked them here, away from reality. As if it was a look into the future yet to be seen.

She didn't know if it was Lucia doing it to her or Castor doing it to Shinjiro, but it was a warm sensation going through their bodies. It was as if Lucia was trying to calm the beast within Shinjiro. Fuuka could feel something cold rolling down her face as she could tell if it was her crying or Shinjiro crying.

Somehow, someway, it worked as Shinjiro began to release his shirt slowly, his fist hurting from how hard he was squeezing his shirt. Fuuka felt as if she was in a trance—her heart pounding in sync with Shinjiro's—as she stared deeply into Shinjiro's eyes. It was, as if, a red string connected them.

Fuuka had to almost force herself to break the connection. She was in such a deep trance that the Dark Hour was already over. Fuuka didn't see anything, but Lucia made her feel many things—especially the pain that Castor was giving to Shinjiro. And the softness of Lucia trying to calm someone so untamed.

They both sat in silence—Fuuka didn't even realize that she was staring at Shinjiro until they broke off from each other. Fuuka removed her hand from his arm, her cheeks flushed red for…embarrassment? Happiness? She couldn't even distinguish what she felt. "Senpai… …I… did you see...felt what I felt?" She whispered softly as Shinjiro looked at his hand—not clammy like it usually is after a flare up.

The suppressants…didn't do half the work of whatever Yamagishi did to me. What the hell…just happened?

Shinjiro was bewildered at the fact. He just nodded silently, his beanie being pulled downward as he felt uncomfortably…at peace. "…you should go to bed. It'll be the best." He somehow let the words fall out of his mouth. Fuuka turned the flashlight off, laid it on the counter, and walked carefully out of the kitchen. Once she got to the stairs, she made a mad dash to her room, as quietly as she could.

Shinjiro put his hand on his chest—his heart pounding normally. It irked him. He reached for the pills inside of his peacoat and looked at them for a moment. For just a nanosecond, he was going to throw them away, down the sink. But he knew it was a fluke. Nothing this good could ever happen to him. Right?

Flash forward — October 10th

"Why the hell isn't anyone doing anything!?" Shinjiro yelled as he had to be pushed back into his wheelchair by Akihiko.

"Shinji, chill. They are doing all they could for her." He mentioned, trying to rub his shoulders to release tension. Shinjiro was yelling at Mitsuru, since her family owns the hospital, and not happy that Fuuka seemed to be in the same state she was at the beginning of the week. He turned towards Fuuka and frowned.

"Shinjiro." Mitsuru sat on the same side Shinjiro was on and leaned towards him. "They are doing the best they can. Yamagishi had a weak constitution before she was even here. You've read her files—she never fought off illnesses easily." Mitsuru slowly explained to him, hoping that would calm him down. She hated to resort to the bitter truth. "Yamagishi might not recover—you need to understand that, Shinjiro."

Shinjiro shook his head violently. "No! Fuck that! She…" Shinjiro pulled his beanie off of his head, relieved that he only has morphine on him now and that he'll leave the hospital soon, and gripped it tightly. "…no, I'm staying until she's awake!"

Akihiko sighed as he almost wanted to slap his best friend in the face. "Shinji, if you were here, would Fuuka do this? No—she'd probably be out there fighting. Now," he turned to crouch down to his height, "Minako might actually do this, but she knows she is waiting for you. She hates to see you filled with anguish."

She does? I thought she… is she even with Aki? Then again, she wouldn't tell anyone but Aki her feelings.

"…tch." He lowered his eyes towards Fuuka again—her teal hair slightly messy, as if she was tossing and turning in her sleep. "…!" Shinjiro felt his heart beating fast, his lungs taking away his breath. Mitsuru's eyes grew in worry as Akihiko knew what this was—he saw it all too well in the past.

"Where is your—" Akihiko began to ask as Shinjiro gripped Akihiko's arm and shook his head. "But—!"

"Give me…Yamagishi's hand…!" He cried out, feeling the despair of Castor wrangling him in to reality. "T-trust me!" Akihiko nodded as their hands made contact as Mitsuru and Akihiko observed what was happening.

His mind travelled back to the first time it happened within the Dark Hour. The big open meadow with flowers around them, it made his eyes grew that Fuuka wasn't there in front of him. But, he could smell the lavender that was on Fuuka's hair, and the chocolate aroma of the eclairs again. Lucia reached out, mentally and in Shinjiro's mind, to Castor, pulling the creature into her warm arms. Fuuka's heart monitor went off—escalating pass a pulse of 100 and her heart rate in the 140s as Shinjiro shook his head. "D-don't…do anything…"

The seniors looked at each other, the alarms going off loudly and annoying—Mitsuru was about to yell at Shinjiro, but then it was over in the blink of an eye. Shinjiro squeezed her hand tightly as his breathing went back to normal—Fuuka's own heart rate and pulse back to regular ranges. Subconsciously, her thumb brushed across his own hand, making Shinjiro jump slightly.

Senpai…you should fight for me. Please.

His eyes grew—he turned to Mitsuru and Akihiko, their eyes as wide as his was. "I am…surprised. Did Yamagishi tell you about this?"

Shinjiro shook his head. "We found out about a month ago—something about her Persona…keeps my Persona relaxed when it's riled up. I…Hell, I can't explain it either." He murmured as he turned his eyes back to Fuuka—her voice seemingly gone, leaving him feel a bit lonely.

"…Shinji." Akihiko softly uttered. He was taken aback. "…is that why you don't want to leave her side?" He asked slowly. Shinjiro nodded.

"If this will get me off my damn suppressants, then why not?" He seemed to have some hope in his voice. "Besides," he wanted to add more, but nothing seemed to came to his mind but one thing, "…I feel her calling out to me."

"…could be that she is communicating with her Persona." Mitsuru suggested. Shinjiro didn't move an inch—he was focused on Fuuka. Mitsuru looked at her watch on her hand and turned back to her allies. "Listen. I don't have time—my father wants an update on Yamagishi in the next hour. I…" She almost didn't want to break his heart.

Mitsuru realized that Shinjiro had fallen for her, so hard that if she never woke, he would be a mess and irreconcilable. "…did not know you and Yamagishi were close. But, stay as long as you feel the need to. Akihiko," she turned towards him and nodded, "stay if you must, but I'll arrange for a group meeting in a few days. We need to talk about what to do about Tartarus and the shadows."

Akihiko nodded slowly, stating to Shinjiro that he'll be back-his stomach was roaring loudly as he quickly made his exit, along with Mitsuru. For the first time this week, Shinjiro was finally alone with Fuuka. He rubbed her hand with his thumb. "Come on, Fuuka. Say something more, please." He whispered softly. Mitsuru was standing outside of the doorway, not fully leaving just yet. She wondered what in the world could calm Shinjiro's Persona so easily, without negative effects. It made her curious and she looked inside the room as she could see Shinjiro's heart ache.

If she doesn't wake up, what will he do then? Mitsuru pondered in her mind. She is our only navigator--and I cannot force my Persona to navigate again. It'll be harder on me-- She stopped as she watched Shinjiro stand up, but then he sat back down, laying his head on Fuuka's bed once more.

Mitsuru-senpai...

She jolted from her spot, wondering who was calling out to her suddenly.

Do not worry. I'll be sure to lend my help anyway possible.

Yamagishi...!

Now she knew Shinjiro wasn't crazy--Fuuka could do more than she ever thought she could. It made her wish she asked more about Fuuka and her Persona when she was alive and awake.

I'll get Shinjiro back to you-just give me a few more days. ...I promise.

If you say so.

Mitsuru walked away, her arms crossed, as she felt a smile appear on her face. For now, she would have to keep this to herself. She wouldn't let her father know about the power that Fuuka holds deep within her soul, within her heart. "If you say so, Yamagishi." She whispered outloud, as she walked outside. A warm breeze passed through her hair as she felt a bit more confident about Fuuka getting better and the promise she intended to keep.

#unforeseen circumstances #chapter 03 #shinji/fuuka