#also I finished p3r so ye...

[just-posting-kalone]

Akihiko Sanada from the hit game Persona 3?!

[bilestat]

the silent realms in skyward sword have no business being as nerve wracking as they are

[twilightknight17]

Last night on P3R: middle-school SEES, struggling with my social calendar, the Abyss of Time, questionable movie choices, and oh god we finished Sunset and now I’m hitting sad stuff in everything else I’m playing/watching too.

I’m still in Tartarus from last time, so I can knock out a few more floors before we go home. I’ve been introduced to a new thing, though, and it’s a Big Hand!

I kind of love how goofy the hands are. They do a little dance and sometimes it syncs up with the music. ^_^

After that, it’s time for the next gatekeeper floor! And it’s--

...oh. Oh god. Is this it? I’m not ready for this. I’ve got Mitsuru with me, but oh man. Not the Table.

……

...false alarm. This is a Terminal Table, not a Crying Table. We’re safe for a little longer.

That wasn’t so bad.

Also, I got a weapon for Shinji as a quest reward, and it’s a crossing sign from in front of a school. It’s so silly.

I rolled through the next set of floors pretty quick, but I don’t think anyone’s quite prepared to take on another gatekeeper. Everyone is pretty drained in terms of SP. So we’re gonna head home for the night, and go learn some more nonsense from school tomorrow.

...all right, actually an acceptable discussion related to the book we’re reading. But hey, sometimes your soulmate can be your rival! Seven years from now, two rival soulmates are gonna be climbing through a cognitive space station!

This is not a fair discussion when Minato’s soulmate still isn’t here for another month and a half.

Anyway, Mitsuru is very worried about Shinji. He wants to extend his leave of absence from school again even though he’s come back to the dorm. So I guess he’s been absent for two years now? She really wants him to re-enroll, though. She, Akihiko, and Shinji were the only three members of SEES originally, back when the three of them were in middle school.

Apparently they could barely handle the first floor of the tower, which… They were children, so I’m not surprised. No adult supervision, either, and Mitsuru only had minor navi powers. I’m surprised none of them got killed. At least Ken has all of us who’ve already learned to fight to keep him safe.

They promised that they’d all graduate high school together, which explains why Mitsuru is so invested. She clearly cares about both of them a lot.

You can hand over the extension form here, but there’s also the option to hold onto them and go find Shinji to talk again. So… I guess you can literally just end the events there if you choose to not take the form back and go pry.

...there’s nothing we can do?

And any miracles I can make will come too late. If only my sister was here… It’s just a cruel twist of fate that which twin survives the car accident determines whether Shinji can live ten years later.

He says he’s happy to spend time with me, though.

This isn’t fair, you can’t hit me like this after the fic Jade and I finished and the end of MGS4 and the fic my other friend is writing AND--

God. And he doesn’t want to tell anyone.

At least Junpei is happy. He really, really likes Chidori. But he’s willing to go at her pace on everything.

Good for you, my guy.

Let’s go upstairs and check on Ken. He’s banging something around in his room, so probably good to make sure that he hasn’t dropped a box on his head or something.

He’s fine, but he does ask me to come in, because he wants to ask for a favor. Turns out, he’s got a pet hamster!

...you’re gonna be fine, Ken. But okay. What’s the little guy’s name?

……amazing. Yes, I will take care of Hamburger, but I’m also not gonna let anything happen to you. Everyone here is going to take care of you. You’ve noticed, right?

Because you’re the youngest and you’re our collective baby brother/kid. No one wants you to get hurt, and it’s unnerving how you talk like you don’t matter, and like you’re not planning to make it through all this alive.

Maybe school will be less depressing. It’s a good day to go to art club. Apparently Keisuke’s dad is very enthusiastic about him studying art abroad! And he says he’s going to go! But then he immediately says he’s not excited about it, so… Keisuke, seriously. What do you want to do?

Ah, well, I’m sure he’ll figure it out.

And then a box falls on Minato’s head, and everything goes dark.

Keisuke gets Mina to the nurse’s office, and after he wakes up, checks him over. Apparently Minato has dodged a concussion. He blames himself, because apparently he’s the one who put the box on the shelf. He’s not used to cleaning, because the maid does all of that at home.

Right. Sure. Careless at cleaning because of the maid. Cool.

He really seems to like the idea of being a doctor, and he’s afraid that if he goes to become an artist, that’s it, he can never be a doctor.

So… sounds like you made a decision, dude.

Keisuke. What. Do. You. Want. For fuck’s sake.

Anyway. So people have been talking about the culture festival all week. There’s gonna be a haunted house. There’s gonna be fried food. The archery club was gonna do a maid cafe, which I know because Yukari was so mad she was gonna have to wear a maid dress.

But, a typhoon is rolling in, so the festival is canceled, and isn’t gonna be rescheduled despite Mitsuru’s efforts. And after school on Friday, we head straight home, because the wind is starting to really kick up.

But… there’s still one person wandering around Port Island Station.

He’s not worried about the oncoming storm. He wants to talk, specifically about Chidori. He asked if she was okay. If we were taking care of her. If she was being a problem.

...no, you dumb asshole.

He also wants to bitch at me again about how we want to stop the Dark Hour.

Apathy? Maybe if you’d caught me six months ago. I have people I like now, and a reason to care. Meanwhile, you’re sitting there talking about how I don’t understand the ‘true value’ of my powers. What value is that? Wandering around at midnight killing people, like you do?

Minato is drenched by the time we get back to the dorm, because the downpour has kicked in and the typhoon has properly arrived. Everyone is a little cranky about missing the festival (except Yukari), and Minato’s got chills and fatigue from getting soaked, so he opts to go to bed early because he’s not feeling well.

…uh. Hi? Is the elevator about to crash?

Igor says that he hasn’t called me in my dreams in a while, and wants to open up some more special fusions for me to do. Which is great and all, but like… I am trying to sleep because I am sick. Can we do this any other time?

I see. Well, that’s… vague? Are you talking about like… the other Full Moon Shadows? The Clockwork God? Do you know what’s about to happen and won’t tell me? Although I guess you can’t help it, considering who made you.

Even if he wasn’t always like that.

Well, let’s get a good night’s sleep and see how we feel in the morni--

Minato. Mina. Darling. It’s MONDAY. You slept for TWO DAYS?

So, according to Q, Minato was feeling well enough that the team went to Tartarus last night. And Igor left the Velvet Room at some point, making it unstable enough to crash the elevator into the Abyss of Time. Apparently it’s not just the Abyss that no one remembers. They don’t seem to remember the instigating trip to Tartarus either.

Weird. But understandable I guess.

Anyway I missed two days of possibly playing my MMO all day. You could have at least showed me my teammates checking on me!

I guess I’ll spend my vacation hanging out with Shinji. Senpaiiii, teach me to cook!

...senpai is mean. XD

But apparently I’m a menace in the kitchen, so maybe I deserve it.

Let’s go to the movies, too!

Yes, we’re seeing this. It’s a movie about cute animals!

…….oh fuck me this is Watership Down isn’t it

Shinjiro-senpai I’m so sorry.

He sounds like he’s about to cry. X’’’’D

I thought it was a nice movie!!!!

Well, now someone has wandered into Tartarus again, so let’s head back, and check in with the Velvet Room about those new fusions. I’m not a high enough level for them yet, but it can’t hurt to look.

...why does it get its own fire attack. Why does it inflict charm.

WHY IS ITS LEVEL UP ITEM ITS HEAD. WHAT HEAD.

God.

After buying everyone new weapons and fusing some more personas, we’re probably going to be in Tartarus for a while. Because, well…

I’m broke.

So next time, yeah, we’re gonna save people, but also, time to look for so much money.

[sillyfudgemonkeys]

I mean, given that P5D flopped and Atlus stopped making dancing games but kept/keeps on making P5 spinoffs I'm doubtful that Atlus would make tactics games whether P5T does good or bad (plus I feel like its every other time I hear about it I hear a persona fan mentioning they're not a fan of tactics games so it's def not just a thing on this blog)

Hahahaaaaaa......yeah............

Tbf I don't see a REASON for a dancing game atm. That's more of a game to celebrate the music (or throw it in the trash and set it on fire like P5D did, RIP to P5D you shouldn't have come out when you did)

Also tbf PQ2 didn't sell THAT much better (I think the sales were fairly within what Atlus is/was used to tho? only like 20000 less....then again that might've been OLD data I was looking at). And there hasn't been a Q game since....but tbf Atlus isn't popping them out AS FAST as when they were having their P4 era. (we almost got like 3 games in one year? TT0TT god everything was moving so fast in that era)

Probably cause of quality contr-I can't even finish that sentence.

Ahem. Probably cause of scope maybe.........except PQ2 was roughly the same story length as PQ1......or at least ONE SIDE of a PQ1 playthrough (tho some bits of PQ1 did repeat on each side, A LOT didn't). (there's also the fact they released it on a dying/dead console ahhhhhh, unrelated to scope but still TT0TT)

Uhhhh ummmmm, oh! P3/5D! Right- no I notoriously lambast them for CUTTING content that a single P4D could handle. Half the "story" and less songs. (of course this is considering P3D, P5D, and P4D all separate games on their own....which they are....and were sold as...................separate games......full price....games.....)

Ok ok Strikers! Yes Strikers. That had the scope that matched/exceeded Arena/Ultimax.... at least story wise. But....no one talks about Strikers for some reason. I thought y'all where hyped??????? It seemed to have sold well, but I dunno if that means it's liked..... (I have a VERY small sample size, but outside myself, all the people I've talked to IRL said they hated P5S TT0TT)

Wait why am I bringing this up? Maybe it's cause I miss the P4 era. TT0TT ajfksjf;d

Oh! No no, it's that, P5S is like the most successful P5 spinoff imo (didn't look at the sales but I think it might be the best selling Persona spinoff in general)....but we also haven't had a P5S2, or DLC for it (surprisingly/unfortunately), or another Persona game just like it (like P1S or Raidou S or yadda yadda).

That being said.......P5S was made with another company so....yeah...... that could be why jfsdljafdsakj

Unlike P5S, Dancing and Qs are made in house, P5T is too? I haven't been paying attention. TT0TT It could be they are just focused on T and...."Asa"? and P3R and/or something else. So that could explain the lack of another dancing game (or Q). Plus, again, the dancing games are more of a celebration. I can see a P5D2 happening as we get closer to P6 tbh (if not a P3/4/5D PS5+others port). (and I'm sure they are figuring out how to port Q to other places now they don't have the dual screen). I dunno, this part went on longer than I thought @_@ Just woke up and I'm rambly sorry

I mean Atlus has had the chance to do another Tactics game for years with the DeSu franchise, and those aren't even connected/have to be connected in a single timeline! And people are still waiting on 3! TT0TT So yeah I can see them just dropping it orz

(Yeah I've asked others IRL and they weren't exactly excited either TT0TT Tbh as long as I get another version of this artstyle again I'm fine with that, doesn't need to be a Tactics game.)

[carothepoet]

Short Cuts

A little fic about Sam’s season 4 haircut.

 “What are we doing today?” Emma, the hairdresser, asks cheerfully. Too cheerfully, Sam thinks. She fingers the ends of her hair, now hanging just past her chin. Past regulation length. She huffs a sigh.

Ever since the zatar’c incident, she’s felt twitchy and anxious, like she doesn’t belong in her own skin anymore. She and the colonel have barely spoken, and somehow that feels more wrong than the easy laughter and carefree flirting that were definitely breaking the spirit of the frat regs even if they hadn’t broken them technically.

She misses him with an ache that will not be ignored. It follows her to the lab, plagues her through all her experiments and equations; follows her home at night and plagues her sleep. She finds herself having the same dream over and over: the colonel handing Hammond his resignation, right before he takes her face in his hands, his fingers threading through her hair, and kisses her as if he was a dying man getting his last wish granted. It’s so vivid, so real, that every time she wakes up it takes her a good five minutes to realize it isn’t.

She needs a change; she can’t go on like this much longer.

And the hairdresser is still waiting for her answer.

“Just…” Sam gestures vaguely at her too-long locks. “Just chop it off. I don’t even care.”

Emma squints at her speculatively, and then nods, reaching for the spray bottle. “So, tell me about him,” she says carelessly, focusing on spraying down Sam’s hair and running a comb through it.

Sam blinks. “What?”

“Oh, come on. I know a heartbreak-induced haircut when I see one. I’ve been doing this a while.” Emma shrugs and smiles sympathetically.

Sam chews her bottom lip as Emma begins cutting her hair. Her indecision only lasts a moment.

“It’s complicated,” she says.

“Isn’t it always,” Emma responds without making eye contact. “Is he married?”

“No.” Sam looks down at the floor.

“Head up, please.”

“Sorry.” Sam lifts her head and sighs again. “He’s not married. But he might as well be.”

“Workaholic?”

Sam laughs bitterly. “Something like that. But so am I, so I can’t hold it against him.”

Emma doesn’t respond, just squints critically at Sam’s ever-shortening hair. “How are you liking this so far?”

Sam glances at her reflection. “It’s fine.” She doesn’t really care.

“Cool.” Emma resumes cutting. “So, both workaholics?”

“Yeah,” says Sam, trying to keep the sadness out of her voice. “We can’t be together because of the work we do.”

Emma shoots her a look.

“I know how it sounds,” Sam jumps in to explain. “But it’s not an excuse. It’s really the way it is. And we were fine, and we had fun, and it didn’t seem like a big thing; and then something happened one day that made us have to face it, and…”

What more is there to say? Echoing over and over in her head are the words, I care about her. A lot more than I’m supposed to.

And if that isn’t the understatement of the millennium. A statement that gave them some semblance of plausible deniability, and yet—she can’t forget his eyes when he said those words. His mouth said I care; his eyes said I love.

“…and I’m trying to forget,” she finishes lamely.

“That sucks,” says Emma.

“Yeah,” says Sam. “It’s been rough. We barely talk now and I’ve been awful to my other coworkers lately. I need a change.”

“Hence the haircut.”

“Yeah.”

It sounds stupid to say it out loud. But it is a distraction, and she really has been terrible to Daniel lately. Teal’c has given her a wide berth without asking questions, and she’s been grateful. Daniel, on the other hand, never knows when to shut up and keeps asking her what’s wrong. The last time he pressed her she told him to get the fuck out of her lab, and he hasn’t spoken to her since.

God, I’m a terrible person. She’ll apologize to him the second she gets back to the mountain.

“Hey,” Emma’s voice lowers conspiratorially, “is he hot, at least? If you’re gonna be miserable over him, at least tell me he’s hot.”

And Sam laughs. She’s beginning to feel a little better. “Yeah. So hot. And funny, too, which shouldn’t be a legal combination.”

“Sounds dreamy.”

“He is.”

Emma grins at her in the mirror, and she grins back. It feels good to have shared even a tiny part of her secret with someone outside of it.

“All done! What do you think?” Emma spins the chair around and passes Sam a mirror.

And wow. It’s a pixie cut, shorter than she’s ever had it before. She feels lighter than she has in weeks.

“Thanks; I love it,” she tells Emma.

As she leaves the hair salon it occurs to her that she just handled heartbreak in the most cliché way she possibly could have.

And she knows how the colonel feels about clichés.

I’m going to be okay. Eventually.

She smiles as she heads to Cheyenne Mountain.

*

Daniel blinks in surprise when she meets him and Teal’c in one of the long corridors under the mountain. He clears his throat, as if he’s trying to gauge her mood and figure out if he should ask her about her new hairdo or not. “So, how’s…things?” he asks finally.

“Daniel, don’t start,” she says before she can think. She holds up a hand, as if she can force words back in his mouth.

Daniel looks defeated.

She takes a deep breath. “Look, I’m sorry. Especially about what I said yesterday. I’ve been having a…rough couple of weeks. But I’m fine now, I promise. Okay?”

“Okay,” Daniel replies. He doesn’t look convinced. She shoots a pleading glance at Teal’c, who merely raises an eyebrow at her and says, “I believe Major Carter needed a change. It appears she has found one.”

To his credit, Daniel doesn’t ask anymore questions. He only says, “We’re going to the commissary to grab some food before our next briefing in 20 minutes. Wanna come?”

She shakes her head. “No, thanks. I have to stop by my lab first.”

Daniel and Teal’c walk away, and she continues down the corridor, deep in thought. So deep that she almost crashes directly into the colonel as she rounds the corner to her lab.

“Oh! Sorry, sir!” she exclaims, backing up and desperately hoping she isn’t blushing.

“Where’s the fire, Carter?”

“No fires, sir. At least not today.”

He doesn’t seem to hear; he’s looking at her hair and his eyes are soft and it seems like he’s about to say something when he catches her eye and thinks better of it. They can’t go down this road. This secret is locked up tight, in the room with the zatar’c detector.

Sam clears her throat, breaking the spell. “I heard we have a new mission, sir?”

He blinks and comes back to the present. “Yeah. P3R-118. Ice planet. The inhabitants appear to live under some kind of dome that shields them from the cold.”

Sam shivers automatically. “I hate ice,” she says.

They share a brief look, both of them thinking of how they almost died in Antarctica. It feels like it was both yesterday, and centuries ago.

The silence between them becomes awkward, and Sam gestures in the direction of her lab. “Well, I have to…” she doesn’t finish her sentence.

“Oh. Yeah,” he says, backing away from her. Just as she turns away he says, “Carter?”

She stops. “Yes, sir?”

“It’ll get…easier.”

She gives a mirthless chuckle and stops just short of rolling her eyes. “Will it?”

He regards her for a moment. His eyes look almost like they did in the room with the zatar’c detector. I care about you. A lot more than I’m supposed to.

“We can hope. Someday,” he says finally.

She shakes her head. “No shortcuts, unfortunately.”

“No shortcuts.” He looks at the floor. “See you in the briefing room, Carter.”

“See you, sir.”

He walks away.

She enters her lab and sinks down on the stool near her workspace. She hopes he’s right, that it will get easier. At any rate, she doesn’t think it could ever get more difficult than this.

She takes a deep breath and heads to the briefing room.

P3R-118 awaits.