#smallishsona au

[theminecraftbee]

okay so. hear me out. but. au concept--

joel is one of many people affected by a Vanishing. its a phenomenon sweeping the country--people simply not showing up for work, school, life one day, as though they've vanished from the face of the earth. it's almost possible to mistake for normal missing persons cases, if it weren't for the way a few of the higher-profile Vanishings have happened to people who shouldn't have been able to vanish at all, let alone in a way that wouldn't be noticed until too late. look at joel's hometown. the people monitoring the dam were supposed to be redundant, and yet--

anyway. not like he cares or anything, except for the fact this stupid disaster or whatever has left him without anywhere to live or anyone to live with, and he still has a year of high school left, so he can't just do whatever he wants. luckily there's this school in a town called new hermiton that agreed to give him a scholarship to finish his education in the name of recovery and solidarity or whatever, and it's kind of a shwankier school than he'd normally go for, but it's free and, more importantly, they're willing to pay for his lodging, and he can't really turn that down. and it's not like he has a choice but to upend his entire life now. so packing what few of his belongings survived into a bag and getting on a train and moving across the country to a new school it is, he guesses.

(he's been having nightmares that inexplicably feature swarms of blue butterflies. last time he checked, lakes don't have butterflies in them. although maybe it's a metaphor or something, on account of the butterflies saying stupid stuff about how people who are remembered can't disappear, and even a false world cannot be erased if it's watched over, and how fate depends on him holding people in his heart. thanks for saying the same stupid shitty platitudes his social worker told him, just more cryptically, butterflies. real cool.)

new hermiton, it turns out, is a small city. while new hermiton academy is a newer school, much of the city is older. he's moved into a nice enough flat in an older apartment building. he has another cryptic butterfly dream. he thinks he remembers someone trying to urgently warn him of something, but it's all... shaky. that morning, he goes to the school for the first time. he's greeted by a fellow transfer student, skizzleman, although apparently he already knows some of the other folks in town, and transferred here so he could stay with them. but it's at least someone else in a similar enough situation to joel, especially since joel can just tell by the way people are looking at him that skizz didn't have much of a choice but to be here, either, and best friends with impulse or not, he's on his own too.

so. a friend. maybe this school won't be that bad, even if joel keeps having nightmares, and even if the weather here is weirdly cold for july, and even if his new homeroom professor keeps on looking at him really weirdly. (aren't professors supposed to be better about stupid rumors anyway? what's that mr. hills's deal?)

and then, two days later, he waves skizz off at the end of the school day, and gets skizz's friend, impulse, at his door, desperate to hear that skizz had just come to stay the night in joel's shitty lonely apartment, because otherwise it looks like--come on man. joel's already having a shit time. the universe deciding to go after his one existing friend too? he promises impulse to help investigate that night, in the vain hope that Skizz isn't one of the Vanished. joel gets a splitting migraine trying to follow their path back, though, and they have to stop for the night.

skizz is reported missing the next morning. joel resigns himself to cutting himself off from the people around him, as per usual. then, strangely, mr. hills corners him as he goes home.

"you'll need this," he says, and shoves what feels like a cheap butterfly knife into joel's hands. "uh, remember, trust your heart! you'll know how to use it."

"what," joel says. "hold on. you're supposed to be a teacher. why are you giving me this. i know for a fact my file says i have like, ptsd or whatever, which is stupid, but you definitely aren't supposed to be giving me a knife, you weirdo?"

"you'll know how to use it," joe hills says again. "goodbye! believe in yourself!"

mr. hills sprints behind a building before he has to explain anything else. joel is left standing on the sidewalk holding a knife, staring after him.

so. that's weird as hell. joel shivers in the cold and continues on his way home. the butterfly knife feels heavy in his pockets. he should probably report that guy to his social worker or something, but actually talking to his social worker feels like conceding defeat. joel can take care of himself. he can prove he can take care of himself. just watch him. step one: go out to get ramen because he forgot to buy any food for his apartment.

he sees impulse putting up signs as he eats. impulse looks miserable. joel thinks about how skizz, just in the short time he'd known him, had sort of unintentionally given away that he felt isolated after his mother Vanished. that impulse was a great friend, but impulse didn't understand what it was like. he never really SAID as much, but--

it's not fair to impulse, for that to be the last thing impulse remembered of what was apparently a friend since childhood. and joel doesn't care about any of these guys, but he can still pay his check and go out and help impulse go looking. he's no good at comforting people and doesn't know this guy, but joel had been alone too, sitting on the roof and crying, when the helicopters came.

except when they go back to the path by the school, joel's head starts to hurt again.

he looks up and there's a butterfly.

"hey, impulse, are butterflies common here?" he asks, a little desperately.

"i mean, not really, why?" impulse says.

"uh," joel says, and gestures. the two of them stare as the strange yellow butterfly circles in place.

"okay, so that is kind of weird," impulse admits.

"right?" joel says. "the only way it would be weirder is if it were blue." impulse gives him a look. joel does not explain.

it starts to fly away.

"we should follow it," impulse says, his voice getting a little dull. "yeah. we should follow it."

"what? no! no we should not follow the haunted butterfly, are you nuts?" joel says, but it's a bit too late. (maybe this is what the knife is for: stabbing impulse. it would be an effective method of stopping him!) he chases impulse down, down to the river, where yellow butterflies are swarming. impulse, as though possessed, simply steps into the swarm and falls through them to the water.

joel's, uh, freaking out more than a little bit? he'll admit he's freaking out. he dives forward to try to grab him, only to realize that he doesn't see impulse anywhere.

a single blue butterfly lands on joel's shoulder. "do you hold his heart next to yours?"

"i'm going insane," joel says.

"no heart is meant to be completely alone. do you hold his next to yours?"

"this isn't happening," joel says. "this is like a stupid manga or something. it's not happening."

"there is still time to save them; you must hold your heart strong, or the consequences will be dire. i believe in you."

the butterfly vanishes.

"fuck it," joel says. "if i drown then it's nothing people haven't expected of me anyway."

he steps through the swarm of butterflies.

that night, he drags both impulse and skizz out of the river. they're all freezing cold. shadows and strange, yellowy liquid still cling to all of their skin. also, joel stabbed himself, which like, glad to know that's what the knife was for, apparently, and the scar is warm and comforting. he can feel his--persona, and don't ask him how he knows that--shifting under his skin, under the mark on his hand. it said its name is pygmalion; it says it is a piece of joel's soul.

this is all patently insane. but skizz and impulse are alive and NOT eaten by shadow monsters, so even if they're both a little unconscious, joel takes that as a win.

they lie on the ground outside the river. someone stumbles across them. "well give me some teeth and call me an alligator. you got out on your own," breathes a fellow student clutching a dagger. joel thinks he's in the class across the hall. also--

"what are you talking about," joel wheezes.

"you found it on your own. you can find them?" the student says. his eyes are wide. something in joel's soul recognizes something in the student's. something in joel's BRAIN puts two and two together and realizes why mr. hills gave him a knife.

"no. no, go away, i don't want to be involved in this," joel says.

"well, don't you think it's too late for that?" the student says, and joel passes out. he's pretty sure the butterflies have to be laughing at him. in fact, as though to mock him further, after passing out, he doesn't even get to avoid it forever, because he wakes up in a glowing blue boat. there is a man with white-blonde hair, blue eyes, and a blue outfit leaning over him, poking him.

joel takes no responsibility for punching him. he'd do it again, too, as the long-nosed man sitting next to the unmanned steering wheel welcomes him to the velvet room.

(this, joel realizes later, all rather sets the tone for what the next year of his life is about to become.)

#hermitcraft #joel smallishbeans #smallishsona au #THAT'S RIGHT BABY ITS THE PERSONA AU I WAS WAFFLING ABOUT #because i'm playing p3re right now this is pretty p3 inspired but also expect elements of p4 (my fav) and p5 #i. do not know enough about p1 and p2 to be using all these butterflies but FUCK IT WE BALL. #a bee fic #KIND OF I GUESS I'LL PUT THIS THERE. #anyway the idea is that this au is half a crack au and half DEEPLY SINCERE #because the JOKE is that joel hates every minute of being a persona protagonist #but the OTHER bit is that joel is genuinely an extremely loyal guy who would do VERY WELL as a persona protagonist #you just have to drag him there kicking and screaming #(sort of in a very. p3-esque way)

[phoenixtherobot]

I am absolutely falling in love with @theminecraftbee 's smallishsona au, and more specifically, Jimmy being the Velvet Room attendant!

#mcyt #jimmy solidarity #joel smallishbeans #hermitcraft #smallishsona au #I AM BOUNCING OFF THE WALLS HERE #I LOVE PERSONA AUS #I EAT THAT SHIT UP #my art #phoenix draws #HI IF YOU HAVENT SEEN IT YET PLEASE CHECK IT OUT #look. i KNOW second said Igor is the one shuffling. but i couldnt help myself drawing jimmy shuffling at least once #anyway. HI HI HELLO

[crystaldoodler]

A very long post of doodles relating to @theminecraftbee ‘s smallishsona AU (sorry for the tag again). I think of this AU while wandering Tartarus, so, I’ve had a lot of time to think. This post is really long and has a lot of rambling so, I’m putting it all under the cut. I’m sorry world I have too many words and rambles in me

First up, character designs!

I used primarily their mc skins for design, with only a few rl things thrown in. But, I didn’t bring them up so the colors are off a bit.

Starting off with Joel:

He’s following the persona protagonist tradition of mostly wearing the school uniform correctly, but with some minor embellishments. I’m still debating whether or not to add more, but w/e. His signature color is green.

Then Skizz and Impulse:

The greatest dichotomy of time to design, Impulse I knocked out on the second go, but I’ve done many iterations of Skizz and I still am not satisfied with this design. The ripped sleeves looked too out there (to me, at least) but nothing else seems to work so I settled for the shirt under uniform shirt look. Something I struggled with that these two emphasize is making them look like teenagers, and what they look like, and also keep to the anime style, and also my own incompetence with drawing facial features so It’s something all of these lack in. Impulse is yellow, and Skizz is blue.

Scar and Grian are next up, Scar’s facial Scar is from summoning his persona, because he stabbed himself in the face lol. Not much to say about these guys, I settled on orange for Scar and red for grian, which I am still struggling with beacause mumbo:

is ALSO red. So I guess they are just, both? red? If you look at the party select screens in persona though, the characters have pretty strong color coding, so I guess I’ll figure something out. If anyone is still reading: help. Anyway, mumbo wins the award for wearing the uniform the most normal (except for the tie)

Last but not least, Gem!

She’s wearing a longer skirt than the usual uniforms and also some big-ass boots. Also, she’s a sea monster thing? So, I was thinking, staring at SEES cool new uniform things and thinking about the Phantom Thieves and how cool their outfits are and realized the persona games have at least some design change to separate their daily looks from shadow hunting. Even if it is only glasses in p4 lol. So, I thought maybe weapon holsters? but, that seemed a little too generic. So! I decided to combine how I normally draw the hermits (and a lot of the fandom does) as having non-human traits as the big things setting their combat looks apart. It is both a) fun to draw, b) creates an eye catching and distinctive design for combat and c) is really funny. I thought it was funny so I drew a comic about it:

and here’s a sketch of what everyone looks like and also the transformation gives them very distinct eyes, for no reason other than I think it looks cool:

mumbo is a normal human btw (or at least, he appears to be)

Welp,that’s all I got. If I look at these drawings any longer I will hate them so here they are, yippee. Also, Bee/OP, sorry for exploding; I am into persona and hermitcraft right now so this AU is like a perfect storm to give me brain rot.

#hermitcraft #persona #my art #smallishbeans #smallishsona #i have other comic ideas but i dont want to be annoying ahhh *explodes*

[theminecraftbee]

Joel sits awkwardly at a family dinner table that isn’t for him.

It’s nice and all, he reckons, for Impulse’s family to invite him over after he leaves the hospital. Even before—everything—Joel’s family hadn’t really been the “big meal around a big table” type, so he’s getting some new experiences here too. And it’s nice and all, that they want to thank him for his role in finding Skizz.

But like. It’s not like he or Impulse or Skizz could explain how it happened, when asked. “Magic brain ghosts” and “evil butterflies” and “Joel still isn’t certain all of that was real and is trying to pretend it wasn’t” puts a damper on that. Also, adults are kind of shit at talking around the fact Joel’s whole family is dead, so he gets the sense he’s sort of harshing the vibes, you know?

Still. It’s a nice gesture. He guesses. It’s free food at least, which is decent, and as close as Impulse and Skizz are, every time one of Impulse’s family says something stupid, Skizz taps Joel’s leg with his foot or steals a roll or something, and it makes Joel feel…

He’d have been sad if Skizz had died, probably. Like, he wouldn’t know. He didn’t come here to make friends, he came here to get a degree and get out. Also, that’s stupid, because it’s not like Joel would have known he was missing a really awkward congratulatory family dinner in which Skizz kept on trying to sneakily steal beans. Probably would have just moved right on. He’s not… friendly.

But.

They stand outside afterwards, waving by to Impulse, promising to walk together so that neither of them Vanish. They’re quiet.

“Thanks, man. That meant a lot to them,” Skizz says.

“Yeah, well, I can do stupid things for free food,” Joel says.

Skizz laughs. “It was nice having you there, too. Man, they’re even worse with you! It’s like not knowing you means they’re even more awkward about family tragedy.”

“Trust me, most adults are way worse. You should see my social worker,” Joel says.

“Didn’t he ditch you, dude?”

“Haha, yeah, he did,” Joel says.

They stare up at the streetlamps together.

“I was really ready to go for a bit there,” Skizz says. Joel’s hackles raise. Oh no. Emotions. Bad. Go away. “It was like—man, it felt like the whole world was empty. But when you showed up, it’s like I remembered… I’d miss dinners, dude.”

“I have no idea why, that kinda sucked,” Joel says, baffled and sarcastic, because he’s a moron who can’t handle emotional conversations, this is why everyone avoided him at the funeral, stupid.

Skizz breaks out laughing.

“You’re great, man! I’m glad we met. Uh, my place is only a block away, and I won’t go following any stupid butterflies. See you at school?”

“Yeah man. See you,” Joel says—

I am thou.

Thou art I.

Thou hath formed a new bond.

With the power of the Chariot Arcana, you shall build the chains with which to hold on to reality.

RANK 1!

“What the hell?” Joel says, tripping over his feet. “What? What? Where did—what the fuck that wasn’t Pygmalion oh god do I have more than one voice in my head—”

“Dude, are you okay?”

Skizz’s almost frustratingly strong and comforting arms grab Joel.

“Tell me you heard that,” Joel says desperately.

“I—I don’t know what you’re talking about. I could take you back to the hospital—no?”

“I am either crazy or am going to end up in a government lab?” Joel says, voice getting high and squeaky.

“We can ask Mr. Hills about it? He came to talk to me after I woke up in the hospital, apparently he like, knows stuff,” Skizz says.

“I don’t wanna,” Joel says.

“Tough luck, buddy, you just almost fell over and cracked your head open!”

Suddenly, Joel remembers a long-nosed man and a blonde in a very blue boat. He remembers a cryptic conversation about bonds and power and their importance. He takes a deep breath. “Can you cover your ears for a moment?” he says.

“Yeah, sure thing, why—”

Joel, as loudly as he can, screams. He hears several birds fly away. He pants.

“…Joel,” Skizz says.

“Yeah thanks man don’t worry about it let’s never speak of this again I’m sure it’s nothing. I definitely didn’t have a weird dream about this and should go to bed.”

“Yeah, okay, whatever you say,” Skizz says cheerfully before laughing, which Joel continues grumbling about all the way back to his apartment.

#smallishsona au #joel smallishbeans #skizzleman #a bee fic #WELCOME CHARIOT ARCANA #figured I’d come poke this some more. still getting through the ‘opening tutorial’ part of the game. #this is where you’re railroaded through your first social link so you can learn how that mechanic works lol #I AM bending the rules by having it be skizz instead of the fool thanks for asking #I just think he deserves it. #also skizz being the first male friend also breaks the magician rule #but like. HE DESERVES IT. #and scar isn’t far off I can do what I want.

[theminecraftbee]

Joel stares at the ceiling. It’s sure a hospital ceiling alright. Grey tiles, fluorescent lights, a steady beep in the background. Great. He’s in the hospital his first day in town. He’s sure that bodes well for the future of his time in Hermiton, truly. What had he been saying to himself before he arrived? That he just had to survive one more year of high school and then he could go be a hermit in the woods or at least pass his exams to get that architecture degree he used to dream about.

“Oh, you’re awake! You’re the last to wake up. It’s just exhaustion, don’t worry. That always happens the first few times you summon your Persona. Your body gets used to it and stops trying to force you into the ground the moment you enter Real Space again eventually.”

He tries very hard not to groan out loud. If he doesn’t move or make any noise, maybe the weird guy won’t notice he’s awake. Maybe he’ll go away and like, whatever adult in town is currently supposed to be in charge of him will show up and sign some paperwork and Joel can leave.

There’s a long, awkward silence.

“You know, I can tell you’re awake. I already said so,” the stranger says.

“Shut up, I’m trying to make you go away,” Joel says.

The stranger snorts. “What, you don’t want information on your two friends you apparently risked your life to save?”

Joel… would kind of like that information, actually, but he’s not just going to say so.

“It’s not like I know them. I’ve been here five days. Idiot,” Joel says.

“I don’t know. Seems a lot like you know them,” the stranger says. “You’ll probably get to know them even more soon, after we do an assessment to make sure it’s safe for you all to enter Altered Space. It’s just been me and Scar for so long, I didn’t think other Persona users would ever show up!”

“What,” Joel says. “I don’t believe in Personas. They’re stupid. I was lucid dreaming. This is stupid.”

“Can’t you still hear yours? I think I’d go insane if I stopped.”

Yes.

“No.”

“Well then, maybe you’re the weak one. A strong Persona user would definitely still hear their Persona,” the stranger says, and look man, Joel doesn’t want to be doing this, but he can’t let ‘maybe you’re the weak one’ stand. It’s a matter of honor. Of pride.

“No, buzz off. I’m the strong one. I didn’t just awaken Pygmalion, I kicked ass using Pygmalion. Stupid Skizz and Impulse passed out immediately. And I was the only one who knew how to get to Skizz so, so, screw you, I’m super strong with your fake brain ghost thing.”

The stranger is quiet for a long moment. “Did you say you knew how to get to Skizz?”

“Yeah you just follow the evil butterflies. You should know, since you’re crazy,” Joel says.

“Oh my god,” the stranger says. “Oh my god. This changes everything.”

Something sinks in Joel’s stomach. “Wait, what does that—”

“I have to go tell Mr. Hills. Meet us when you get out of here, a doctor should let you out once you’re awake! But I have to tell him! Being able to preemptively find entrances to Altered Space! Fighting off a shadow and rescuing people your first time summoning a Persona! Me and Scar won’t have to be alone anymore!”

“No, I, uh, was lying, stop that,” Joel says unconvincingly.

“See you!” the stranger says.

“You forgot to tell me what happened to Skizz,” Joel says, finally sitting up to try to stop the stranger, but it’s too late. He’s already gone. Joel stares blankly after the space where he’d once been.

“You also forgot to tell me your name, you moron,” Joel says weakly.

He buries his head in his hands, breathes, and calls the nurse. If his strange classmate isn’t going to tell him what’s actually happening, then Joel’s going to find out for himself.

(Power throbs beneath a scar on his hand. A voice whispers agreeing remarks in the back of his head. He has way too many aches and pangs for last night—or, well, however many nights ago it was now—to be fake. But for now, he just wants to know Skizz is okay and go back to his stupid apartment and pretend none of this happened. Is that too much to ask?)

#smallishsona au #a bee fic #joel smallishbeans #grian #(not named but he’s the other persona user here) #I have decided I am going to write various ficlets for this au. click on the au tag to go find the first few posts if you’re confused. #let’s get this thing started with: joel wakes up in the hospital after his first battle and IMMEDIATELY regrets everything

[theminecraftbee]

Sorry if I skimmed past something but where would Bdubs be relative to the AU?

GOOD QUESTION! he was one of the last people who i was trying to find a place for in the social links and i just sorta. ran out of space. (i was between him and beef for high priestess, for the record, but beef fits the actual persona archetype for that WAY better than bdubs does, which left bdubs as one of the unlucky ones that i ran out of space for.)

that said i have had an IDEA for what he could be doing: owns a pharmacy, sells drugs to kids.

by which i ACTUALLY mean he's a normal guy selling normal pharmaceuticals, he's just bdubs so he's kind of weird about it. he is increasingly deeply concerned by the number of otc painkillers this kid is buying though. like, legally he doesn't have to stop the guy, but morally? yeah he's got some QUESTIONS. i think it would be funny if there's a questline of bdubs like. trying to follow this kid and find out what he's doing with, uh, well.

bdubs voice: okay look why on EARTH did you buy our entire supply of energy drinks, like a collective galleon of rubbing alcohol, half a shelf of tylenol, and a box of, for some reason, herbal vitamins. i don't even think you can MAKE anything with that. if you're in pain you can tell me i can give you a SPECIAL SOLUTION but i think that just makes a hideous potion at best? joel, exhausted: you know what don't even worry about it.

#answered #smallishsona au

[theminecraftbee]

care to elaborate on etho as lovers?

my friend lei suggested it and I haven’t stopped laughing mostly. but also okay. he’s the popular guy at school that everyone thinks is cool and mysterious and gets rumors spread about him and everyone a little bit wants to get with him. and he gets assigned joel’s lab partner and everyone keeps on going up to joel going YOU’RE SO LUCKY… YOU GET TO WORK WITH ETHO… WHAT I WOULDN’T GIVE TO WORK WITH ETHO… and joel is like. what. why are you like this about him. hello??? and then the magic tarot card voice in his head informs him that his friendship with etho is “the lovers” and joel, out loud, says “YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME.”

it does not get less absurd from there.

#answered #smallishsona au

[theminecraftbee]

I think I’ve mentioned this before but the problem with putting Lizzie in the smallishsona au is that, because I’m somewhat basing this more on hermitcraft, I worry sticking her in here would inherently kind of reduce her to her relationship with Joel, which doesn’t feel… fair? like I’m willing to do that to Jimmy because he has ten million aus already, but I didn’t want to stick Lizzie in the velvet room because that is an inherently kind of subservient role with a character arc that is DIRECTLY about bonding to Joel. and then also I made Joel’s backstory “everyone he loves is dead” and like, as much as I joke about constantly fridging, say, Grian, I am WAY MORE RELUCTANT to kill off Lizzie to make a man sad for The Obvious Reasons.

with that prologue: as I was typing this I realized the FUNNIEST WAY for me to include Lizzie in this au and I think it’s canon now because it’s a way for her to cameo that does not reduce her to her relationship with Joel or center around that relationship in any way. and it’s ALSO really funny.

I think she should take over Tanaka’s Amazing Commodities actually. every Sunday she comes on TV and sells you the worst scams you’ve seen in your life. and you have to buy them anyway. because sometimes they’re unique items you can’t get in any way but with these stupid catchy infomercials. she is not sorry about it. she is making so much money. Joel has received so many sketchy packages. he is suffering.

DO YOU SEE THE VISION,

#smallishsona au #this STARTED as me trying to explain my discomfort with a lot of the lizzie cameo suggestions I get #but it’s ended with me MAYBE COMING UP WITH ONE IM HAPPY WITH??? #anyway. tell me this doesn’t fit her.

[theminecraftbee]

> check social links

(Which Social Link should I check on...?)

0 FOOL School Rescue Committee Should this really be an official school club? The group of Persona-users that I'm in now, whether I like it or not. At least I'm helping people by doing all this weird magic nonsense...

I MAGICIAN Scar A fellow Persona-user a year below me, although my senior in fighting Shadows. He's dragged me into his scam crystal-selling operation, which is actually weirdly fun.

II PRIESTESS Beef Pretty large and muscular for a priestess, but sure, I'll bite. A volunteer EMT who is trying to decide whether to follow his family's wishes for university.

III EMPRESS Gem A fellow Persona-user in my year. She wants me to help her study for entrance exams, apparently. Not sure why she's asking me, I missed an entire semester? But it's good enough study for me as well.

IV EMPEROR Impulse A fellow Persona-user in my year. He has a single-minded devotion to overworking himself, despite the fact he seems to be trying to prove it's fine for some reason.

V HIEROPHANT Xisuma An older man who hangs out in the local tea shop. Keeps trying to parent me for some reason, although it seems like his relationship with his actual family's a bit less good, so maybe that's why.

VI LOVERS Etho My lab partner. The whole school's obsessed with him for some reason. My only solace is that he seems to be just as disconcerted by that fact as I am.

VII CHARIOT Skizzleman A fellow Persona-user in my year, and my first friend in this town. I'm helping him find a part-time job. He's sort of ridiculously cheerful, but I know he understands me better than most people.

VIII JUSTICE Grian A fellow Persona-user a year below me, although my senior in fighting Shadows. Keeps dragging me into his pranks, although for such a gregarious guy, he's weirdly isolated.

IX HERMIT Joe Hills One of my teachers, and the head of the School Rescue Committee. He's, frankly, the most bizarre guy I know, and I don't know what to make of any of the "wisdom" he tries to impart on us.

X FORTUNE Tango Apparently, he's a bit of a prodigy in the robotics club, but he first came to me to confess he's considering quitting. I have no idea why this is my problem, but Impulse frowned at me about it, so here I am.

XI STRENGTH False A local martial artist who's been decorated with a number of titles. I just wanted her to teach me how to fight better, but apparently, she's starting to doubt her own fighting ability as well.

XII HANGED MAN Jimmy Igor's assistant in the Velvet Room. He's a bit of an idiot, but he's also my idiot. Mostly wants to request I escort him to places in the human world, although he wants specific fusions sometimes too.

XIII DEATH Cleo A "florist" in town who can source us weapons and fence goods from Altered Space. I'm pretty sure she's actually Yakuza, or at least criminal. She and Joe know each other, although strangely, she doesn't seem to remember from where.

XIV TEMPERANCE Iskall and Stress Two priests at the local shrine. I work for them occasionally to help them with odd jobs around town. They share some common past they don't like to talk about.

XV DEVIL Ren The student council president. He's bizarrely mad with power on a good day, which is weird, because he's also bizarrely kickable on a good day. Keeps on trying to rope me into the Student Council.

XVI TOWER Doc An inventor trying to invent a safe new clean energy source. According to rumors, his last try exploded, killing his lab partner, which constantly makes me question why I'm here.

XVII STAR Zedaph Proprietor of the famous local "Mystery Stir Fry Extravaganza". Frankly, his creations terrify me more than Doc's do. I have no idea why this is Impulse's favorite restaurant.

XVIII MOON Mumbo A fellow Persona-user in the year below me. Apparently, he still gets bullied a lot, but he has a scheme to, and I quote, 'learn to be something scary, like a horse.' Good luck with that, mate.

XIX SUN Pearl An artist that I've always admired. Recently, she was in a terrible car accident, and her hands now constantly shake because of it. I still think she can draw organic shapes better than me, though.

XX JUDGEMENT Soul Reappearance Committee Judgement. Hah. I guess you'd call this Judgement Day, sure.

XXI THE WORLD ... It's me.

#smallishsona au #a bee fic #WOO I HAVE THE FINAL LIST OF EVERYONE! #some of joel's descriptions here actually give away the social link plotline #but a FEW of them actually do not. #but WOO HERE ARE THE SOCIAL LINKS! :D

[theminecraftbee]

smallishsona au: in which joel smallishbeans is the world's most reluctant persona protagonist.

My ongoing au in which Joel is a wild card in an original Persona setting, based on Persona 3/4/5 but not the same as any of them. He and the other members of the cherry blossom hill in Season 10 will awaken to their Personas and try to explore Altered Space, a mysterious realm people are vanishing into, in order to rescue the Vanished and save the world. Also, Joel will do this while despairing the whole time that he somehow ended up in a story that wants him to make friends to get superpowers. That also.

The Story So Far (actual ficlets, listed here in in-universe chronological order):

1: Basic premise/Joel arrives in New Hermiton, hints at Joel's backstory. Written as a bit more of a general au post than a fic, but the important first chapter of this story. Some of the mechanics weren't finalized when I wrote this so some of the keywords are wrong.

2: Joel wakes up in the hospital after awakening his Persona, first proper ficlet.

3: Joel forms his first Social Link with Skizz.

AU Tag:

smallishsona au (contains everything to do with this au on my blog)

chronological tag (only works on desktop, shows all the au posts in chronological order, by which we mean "order i made them" not plot order.)

Important Premise/Mechanics Posts :

Premise/World Mechanics: contains all the basic information on what Persona even is, as well as an explanation of the specific mechanics this specific "Persona game" that I made up runs off of. Contains important concepts like what Altered Space is, what the Vanished are, and how Personas work.

The Main Party: contains the current information on what the main party is, what order they join in, what their Persona and combat abilities are like, and a few little hints as to what they are like themselves.

Social Links: a list of all of Joel's social links, as described by Joel. Gives an arcana to every single social link Hermit.

Velvet Room Mechanics: the specifics of how Joel's velvet room works for him, how Igor fuses Personas, and a little about Jimmy.

Additional Notable Brainstorming Posts:

Velvet Room Jimmy initial thoughts

Early social link brainstorming for Cleo, Xisuma, Doc, Scar, Skizz

Early version of party brainstorming

Early explanation of AU/premise

Additional small "Persona theming" thoughts

Party weapons brainstorming

Lizzie thoughts

Joe, Scar and Grian before the main plot

Bdubs the teacher and pharmacist

Etho, the lovers

Bonus:

Art of Velvet Room Attendant Jimmy by @/phoenixtherobot!

Comic of Etho and Joel's first meeting by @/crystaldoodler!

#smallishsona au #hermitcraft #joel smallishbeans #OKAY i think this is all the important posts for the au! let me know if you'd want anything else here! #i'll go link this in my masterpost now

[theminecraftbee]

can I say as I do elizabeth’s requests. god making jimmy the velvet room attendant for joel was SUCH a funny choice actually. I think he acts like a beleaguered fail man so much that joel doesn’t realize at first that jimmy like. is still a supernatural, possibly immortal man from another dimension, who, and this is key, is very much not human. so joel is like “yes he’s the weird little man only I can see. we have a teasing relationship. he is somehow one of the only sane people I know though, don’t tell him I said that.”

except then jimmy starts requesting of joel to get escorted places in the human world from time to time right. asks joel to take him to a “laundromat” to “do laundry” and joel is like. why are you saying it like that. sure. this’ll be funny. and he’s expecting jimmy to make a LITTLE BIT of a fool of himself. he is NOT expecting that jimmy straight-up doesn’t know what a washing machine is. like jimmy squints at it and asks how it doubles as a torture device. he’s heard doing laundry is a kind of torture. and joel goes WHAT. and jimmy says yeah he doesn’t really get it this is fun to sit and watch though. and joel goes WHAT???

and this is the first time joel takes jimmy out of the velvet room. joel immediately on returning goes “I need to make a list of places to take you that will confuse you the most possible” and jimmy is like “BUT YOU WOULDN’T ACTUALLY EXPLAIN WHAT THE PURPOSE OF LAUNDRY WAS STOP MOCKING ME???”

anyway the point is that velvet room jimmy remains hilarious,

#smallishsona au #side note: I love Elizabeth. best velvet room attendant for real.

[theminecraftbee]

finalized smallishsona au party, in true join order:

grian, justice. his persona is signy, and his weapon is a naginata. he's an all-arounder who gets both physical and magical attacks, with a focus on dark and light magic (eiha/kouha damaging skills and mudo/hama instakill skills alike). technically the earliest member of the team, also one of the three starter members of the team when joel joins. he has been doing this the longest out of anyone, and sometimes, it shows in ways that aren't so great.

scar, magician. his persona is majnun, and his weapon is bows. a magic and ailment-based attacker, but he gets healing and support skills in his moveset as well (that, story-wise, he focused on due to him and grian being the only two persona wielders for a while, and scar's persona being the only one suited for them). his element is wind/garu. acts as the early-game healer until joel gets better options, then settles into massive magic damage and ailments.

joel, wildcard/fool. he has many personas and roles, but his starting persona is pygmalion, who is associated with ice/bufu. his weapon is knives. his role in the party is to be everything for everyone all the time. no this doesn't say anything about him. shut up.

skizz, chariot. his persona is enkidu, and his weapon is brass knuckles. a heavy physical attacker through-and-through, the fact that his attacks cut his own hp to deal damage is unfortunately fitting for his character. what little magic he gets is fire/agi, but like, he's the party member that learns charge naturally, you will not be using those unless you have to knock over some guy's weakness and joel forgot to bring a persona to cover it. while his rescue and awakening happens before joel starts exploring Altered Space, it takes a little bit for skizz to join, as unlike joel, using his persona does not come naturally to him. also is the earlier members to get various buff skills.

mumbo, moon. his persona is ariadne, and he is the navigator. for those unfamiliar, the navigator does not enter battle with the rest of the party, but DOES have the ability to help buff the party, scan enemies for weaknesses, and do other helpful things to help the team, well, navigate. giving a man with anxiety an all-seeing web probably can't hurt anything, right? in my head he functions as a cross between fuuta's very useful scan and various dungeon skills (like the escape one), and futaba's very useful in-battle buffs.

impulse, emperor. his persona is siegfried, and his weapon is axes. he's the TRUE party healer who gets stuff like me patra (heals the party of any status effects), samerecarm (revives someone with full health), and mediarahan (heals the party to full health) as his persona gets to higher levels. he also picks up electric/zio skills for decent damage (although he doesn't have scar's magic stat and is very much built to heal most of the turns he's around). it probably says something about him that he gets healing skills once he truly awakens his persona, especially given skizz. while he's aware of his persona from the start of the plot, it takes until a bit of a ways into the plot for him to truly awaken to it. also, because this is an au and not an actual game, i can get away with the most effective party healer joining this late. any other persona game, he'd be one of the earliest members. for obvious reasons. (and the fact scar is their most effective healer for a long while is. DEFINITELY a plot point here.)

gem, empress. her persona is atalanta, and her weapon is swords. she's a late-game powerhouse type build, with powerful bufu/ice magic in combination with almighty/untyped magic damage. she can show up and cast megioladon on the shadows' asses, is what i'm saying. she also gets the debuff and buff skills that aren't already scattered across the existing party members, but unlike scar, she doesn't get concentrate, so she's not the PERFECT damage-dealer here. as one of the two party members who hasn't been directly tied into this plot from the beginning, it's possible she has her own motivations and things going on that the rest of the party doesn't know behind her awakening. but that would just be silly, right...?

#smallishsona au #yes i know i already have this masterpost but i want everything in ONE PLACE #especially since i plan on making a real masterpost for this au soon #also I changed impulse from odette to siegfried here #which keeps the swan lake thing but fits him SLIGHTLY better into emperor as an arcana #these are PROBABLY the finalized first-stage personas. luckily I don’t have to know their ultimates yet! lol. #I should also probably decide each of their weaknesses it strikes me. #OH WELL. WILL DO THAT LATER AND ADD IT TO THIS.

[theminecraftbee]

anyway so. as suggested. the joel smallishbeans as a persona protagonist au. so far my casting for it is joel as the protagonist, grian (and maybe scar??) as an older persona user who goes to the same school, skizz and impulse as two future members of the team, joe hills as a professor at the school who is helping gather and support the fledgling team of persona users--although, how does he know so much about all this anyway...?--and jimmy solidarity as the single non-hermit in this plot as joel's velvet room attendant, because i think it would be funny. at some point i'm going to sit down with a list of major arcana and hammer out what all of joel's social links are and what the rest of the cast would be but. think about it. wouldn't that be a FUN AU,,,

#smallishsona au #i just think he'd be a REALLY FUNNY PERSONA PROTAGONIST OKAY

[theminecraftbee]

continued smallishsona au thoughts: as inspired by the fact that I love everything about koromaru in p3, I’m debating if I throw jellie in this au as a cat that followed scar home and inexplicably has a persona. she joins the team. she is, and this is key, still just like, a normal cat, her only dialogue is “meow meow meow”. she DOES trap joel inside to watch theme park documentaries with her whenever scar won’t,

#smallishsona au #ON THE ONE HAND I DON’T NEED AN EIGHTH PARTY MEMBER #ON THE OTHER HAND……..

[theminecraftbee]

also i think i'm going to make the final lineup for the school rescue committee as follows (with the actual mythological/legendary/literary figures for each persona being a thing i'm willing to take suggestions on; they're all meant to be famous lovers/members of pairs, though, to fit with the theme of this persona game being 'bonds between people'):

joel: our protagonist and wildcard, he is whatever the party needs him to be, as is typical for a persona protagonist. his first persona, however, is still pygmalion (and is the only one i have strong design opinions on; if there's ANY opportunity to make empires references...) uses knives.

skizzleman: physical damager. also has agi skills but he's in the vein of like, chie junpei or ryoji, in that he mostly just gets those to make battles a little easier early on, and he REALLY should only be doing damage with heavy physical skills. i'm sure this doesn't have a self-sacrifice metaphor in it at all. has enkidu as his persona. uses brass knuckles.

scar: early-game magic user, largely focused on magic and status ailments, although he gets some healing too (largely because he had to when it was just him and grian, is the implication; once another healer joins the team it becomes abundantly clear that the correct tactical move with scar is to use him as a magical nuke and ailment setter). leaning towards majnun for his persona. uses bows.

grian: dark and light skills, with a particular focus on instakills. i think he's the "balanced" earlygame party member, with an equal spread of physical and magic skills and fairly even stats... which ironically makes him good earlygame, but much worse lategame. he's probably a little fine with that, though. his persona is signy. uses lances.

impulse: our party healer! gets zio skills. not too much to say about him, his stat spread is "party healer", just mentioning its a little unusual he joins late as the party healer. i am REALLY UNCERTAIN with him for what his persona should be; for some reason my brain is offering "odette" but i'm not sure i can justify it. uses axes.

mumbo: NAVIGATOR! mumbo is the navigator. he's like, trying his best, man. also not much to say here, a navigator is a navigator. his persona is ariadne.

gem: a late-game powerhouse and bufu user, as well as the late-game guy who comes in and gets almighty skills. she's focused on pure damage i think, but also gets a number of interesting buff skills maybe? i'm picturing her in the same general combat archetype as like, naoto, for the record. her persona is atalanta. uses swords.

and i THINK that makes the entire magical mountain crew, for the entirety of the school rescue association!

#smallishsona au #i am having. SO MUCH FUN with this au guys. #including some behind-the-scenes concepts for my back pocket for later.

[theminecraftbee]

Despite knowing next to nothing about Persona I am super interested in your Persona AU, is there any more information on it or is it just those two posts?

so far those two posts only! but because i sort of wandered into fic-writing territory, the basic premise, for those unfamiliar with persona:

this is an original plot, not the plot of any of the existing persona games, but it is meant to mimic what persona plots are like. as mentioned at the start, people are mysteriously vanishing in incidents that are making the national news (including in ways that affect our lead characters' lives). like any of the mysterious bad things that drive persona plots, these are being caused in some way by the existence of otherworldly creatures called Shadows, which are monsters made from humanity's collective unconsciousness.

joel, our protagonist, has recently moved to a new town, new hermiton, and is starting at a new school. (this is also Persona Protagonist Standard; hilarious side effect of it being a persona au is that it's technically kind of a high school au). in this storyline, it's because the people in charge of the dam protecting his town Vanished, and as a result, the dam's flood gates weren't opened when they needed to be, the dam collapsed, and joel's hometown was destroyed. yikes, i'm sure that backstory isn't affecting him at all. he was invited to new hermiton academy to finish his schooling.

however, on arriving, he quickly stumbles into the world of Shadows. for my story, it involves following a butterfly to an unpredictable location, where the border between the real and unreal is thin, and then using that to go into the world of Shadows. (i think i might call it the unreal world? i don't know, workshopping that.) there, he discovers he's a persona-user; that is to say, he's one of the lucky few capable of summoning a persona and fighting shadows. a persona is a representation of a person's soul (i am thou, thou art i), as well as a representation of a mythological or legendary figure of some kind. it grants supernatural powers to the user.

for the record: joel's starter persona is pygmalion, and his starting element is wind. also, in this au, summoning a persona requires stabbing yourself with a special knife, and then using that scar to summon the persona afterwards. this is Middling on the scale of 'edgy ways to summon your persona' in the series, lol. however, joel is special: he's a wild card, which means he will actually throughout the story gain the ability to use other personas and swap them at will. this is a special power only he will possess.

it turns out that he's not the only persona-user in town. grian, one of his classmates, has been attempting to fight shadows mostly on his own, with the help of his teacher, joe hills. joe can't summon a persona, but knows enough about the other world to help grian and now joel out. (although, that's... kind of weird, right...?)

joel now must balance his school life with, you know, fighting shadows to save people from Vanishing and, eventually, to save the world. to figure out WHY the shadows have started Vanishing people, too. and, unfortunately, he can't skimp on the "balancing his school life" aspect, because you see, to a wild card, the bonds he makes with other people are vital. joel will collect social links, each represented by a tarot card. each of these social links are his relationship with another person or group of people, and raising those social links makes him more powerful.

he'll also collect more party members, them represented as one of his social links each as well, and he'll bother his velvet room attendant--jimmy, who's supposed to help him fuse personas and give him cryptic guidance, but like, it's jimmy--and manage to fight his way through the trials and tribulations of being a mildly unwilling video game protagonist in a game where half of the story is having to kind of be everything for everyone at once, and also constant weird things you have to do for the plot.

and that's what i have so far of the au! i am sort of just. making it up as we speak,

#answered #smallishsona au