#anyway the game as a whole was fun! haru is such a fun and interesting character

[michi-chelle]

aaaaaaaa i did it ✨

[ali-dot-txt]

yo i played persona 5 for the first time (III)

Alright, so this post (previous one here and first post in the chain here) is going to be about my general final notes and about Hina as a character.

Despite all my gripes, I did end up enjoying the game. I wouldn't have poured 230 hours into it if I'd hated it.

But most of the enjoyment I wrung from it was a result of the mod and the personal headcanon I spent the whole game developing. I really don't think this game would've been for me without that, which is why I don't intend on playing Persona 4 (well, at least until that game's female protagonist mod gets off the ground). I might play Persona 3 Portable as that game's female protagonist after a little break, though.

The final tally of Hina's Confidants:

Sorry to all the Yusuke fans.

Everyone's final stats:

In 2017, this would be about 88,000 dollars? Which is an absurd amount of money for her to just have on hand.

Favorite characters? I guess I'll list the characters:

Hina (cop-out, i know, but I like her a lot)

Futaba

Haru

Lavenza/the twins

Sojiro

Sumire

Ann

Ryuji

Akechi (he really jumped up in the last arc)

Hifumi

Sae

Morgana (he really jumped very late in the game as well)

Yusuke (sorry, Yusuke fans)

Iwai (I feel like I'd like him more if I'd got further in his Confidant)

Chihaya (same as Iwai)

Makoto (a sudden and incredible fall)

Maruki (he's the worst therapist ever, but he's pretty interesting when he's not talking way too much and his final scenes are really good)

Skilled Gamer (gonna be real, I don't remember his name)

Ohya

Takemi

Mishima (would have preferred if he was removed entirely)

Hina never met Kawakami outside of class and never spoke to that politician.

Anyway, as for Hina...

She's maybe my favorite player character in any video game ever. The slight jankiness of her implementation lent her so much charm, and characterizing her was a ton of fun, especially with how close my trans headcanon seemed to the game's reality. Does that affection transfer to Akira/Ren, or other people's genderswapped Jokers? Well, no, not really. I can't say I'm an expert on the way people view Joker as a character, but from a cursory glance, I feel like Hina's distinct enough from the popular interpretation that she's basically an entirely different person slotted into the role of protagonist. Maybe that's conceited of me.

Hina has the most common family name in Japan, and I thought Hina was the most popular given name in Japan in 1999, the year she was probably born. Turns out that wasn't the case, Hina is actually much more popular recently. The actual most popular name for 1999? Miku. So if I'd had accurate data, she may well have been called Miku Satou. Probably not though.

Hina didn't have friends in her hometown, partially because she was really quiet as a kid and partially because everyone started avoiding her after she started coming to school in a girls' uniform.

Hina's parents have been supportive from the beginning. In fact, her name is from them (she requested it). Also, they sent her to Tokyo with a maid outfit in her box of stuff, which is extremely funny. She calls them once a week, early on Sundays. She doesn't tell them about her phantom thief activities.

Hina's legal name is changed, but not her legal gender (people only ever call her Hina, even in situations where they'd have only read her name off legal forms, so her name must legally be Hina).

Hina largely doesn't react when people misgender her because she's used to it.

When Maruki mentioned that Hina might make a good counselor herself someday, the headcanon wheels started turning in my head and I realized that that's really fucking good. Hina wants to go to university to become a youth counselor, because she saw what happens when someone has the worst counselor ever. Not to mention Hina wanting to help kids like her who might not react well to an authority figure telling them how to live is really sweet.

Hina's trying to create a real version of her Phantom Thief outfit she can wear casually. She has red gloves in her winter school outfit! Why else would she have those? She's going to get white glasses frames next.

Hina isn't good at talking to people, but she comes off as confident because she also has a hard time speaking in any particular tone, so she almost always seems to be talking without reservations.

Hina is an only child. (Fairly sure this is an element of most people's imagined Jokers. No way does this person have siblings.)

I don't think most of the harsh things I put in quotes to indicate that Hina said them are things she actually would say. I think she's probably thinking them.

Hina has a gaming PC in her hometown. Her buying that laptop was because she was going stir-crazy from not having access to a desktop computer.

Hina likes Morgana much more than I do. She doesn't think of him as a big brother (lmao), but she does love him like a brother.

In contrast, I think Hina has exactly as much disdain for Mishima as I have.

Hina isn't really invested in Akechi. She thinks he's a terrible weirdo who she wishes would stop talking to her. When she learns about his actual motivations, that switches to thinking of him as kind of pathetic. She wishes he would have talked to her about his issues at all, because she probably could have helped him deal with them like she helps literally everyone else, but she's not so broken up about him not being in her life anymore. (In contrast, I actually quite like Akechi now that I get what they were going for with him.)

Hina is good at schoolwork, but she's lacking in common sense.

Takemi actually never misgendered Hina, and Maruki only did so once. It's pretty funny how the medical professionals are consistently the least transphobic people in the game. I wonder why that is? 🤔

Hina got really good at making coffee and curry in the year she spent at Leblanc.

Hina being shorter than regular Joker is especially funny because her animation speed has to be adjusted, so she walks really fast in cutscenes where she moves places. She has to move that fast to keep up with people.

Hina's relationship with Haru is going to cause an absolutely awful scandal if it ever becomes public. I have no idea how they're going to deal with that, but hopefully they'll figure it out.

Hina doesn't really find any new friends when she moves back home, but she's alright with keeping to herself and focusing on her studies while having friends she can talk to online and a cat who can talk.

Hina might be rejected from a lot of universities for her criminal record or her transness. She might've had her record expunged, but she still spent time in juvie, not to mention the heavily political implications of her actions might risk scandal for any university that she enrolls in. She might end up having to apply to universities abroad, where the Phantom Thieves and the events surrounding them weren't so much in the public consciousness.

Anyway, that's Hina Satou. I might write fic for her someday? But she requires a lot of context to really understand her. I care about her a lot, and people understanding her is important to me for some reason.

And finally: some of my favorite screenshots of Hina.

[1moremilgram-enjoyer]

Continuing on "Haru's quest to annoy FF about every character in Milgram because they had the bad luck of getting interested in it basically at the same time he did" (/lh) Next on the list of prisoners is Fuuta. I remember you once said that he's one of your favorites along with Amane, Mikoto, and Muu, so I'm interested to hear you cover him !

Ah, so that’s why you’re doing this, your character motivation. The lore thickens. /lh

Yeah, I like Fuuta quite a bit. I’m always a sucker for protag foils, and since we can consider Es and even ourselves as the protag(s), then obviously I was going to love Fuuta. His views on justice are really interesting when considering we kinda do the same thing he ended up in Milgram for, deciding on people’s fates with horribly incomplete information and trying to justify to ourselves why we’re in the right for causing these people psychological pain. Not like it’s gonna stop me from voting people guilty when I think it’s deserved though lol.

CW: Cyberbullying, mention of suicide and murder.

(T2) Q9: How do you feel about the first trials results?

F: You’re the same as me.

Oh yeah that’s the good shit right there.

That is certainly a huge factor, Fuuta is great as a reflection to some of Milgram’s main themes and I love him for that. Even if his personality is maybe reminiscent of some other characters I’ve seen (when did Xander Matthews and Ace Markey have a secret love-child and why does he have a Bakugo complex), he’s still unique enough that I don’t see it as much of a problem.

And let’s not kid ourselves. Part of me enjoying a character sometimes comes from loving their song, and not only is Bring it On a banger like no other, Backdraft is probably my favorite Milgram song.

There’s also just a certain amount of hilarity that comes with the fact that people in Trial 1 managed to inno someone they believed to be a damn organ harvester then turn around and guilty my guy for having a Twitter account. Truly the most unforgivable of crimes.

It’s especially interesting now with Backdraft the theories around his “murder”, because I actually think it may be one of the more unclear ones in terms of what happened. You might have seen there’s a theory he wasn’t the one to start the witch hunt on the girl that ended up dying, which I find is quite believable even if we still have to explain what was going on with that photo he took of someone’s home in his Undercover silhouette thing. But what’s even crazier to me is the goddamn Undercover kill shot where his victim has both shoes on, unlike Mahiru’s and Kazui’s. Does this imply it wasn’t a suicide? Is it because whoever has the orange spray paint that shoots really straight at the one graffiti’s forehead actually murdered the girl themselves? But Fuuta still got blamed for it?

Hey remember when I said the more headache inducing a character the more I’m going to love them?

Anyways, I also think it’s cool how much Backdraft references the events during Milgram themselves. I love Es appearing in a prisoner’s song, too, especially with the whole “the one shadow from Purge March kinda looks like Es thing”-

Oh yeah Amane! I love her dynamic with Fuuta so, so much. They’re so cool and awesome and great and I hope Fuuta doesn’t get too indoctrinated but also I think it’d be kinda funny. I don’t think it would happen though, I trust big bro Fuuta will help Amane reject her cult’s teachings please I need them to have a wholesome ending where they just eat cake and play video games together you know Amane would beat his ass in any game even though she’s probably never touched a videogame in her life-

I am immensely normal about them, as you can clearly tell.

Anyways, some other things which I find really interesting.

(T1) Q1: What is a friend?

F: Folks you can get hyped over the same thing with

(T2) Q16: Do you have a lot of online friends?

F: I don't know if we were friends or not. There were times when we had fun together. But I don't know if I can call it that.

Am I reading this wrong or did my guy change his definition of what a friend is specifically to exclude his old friends? Because that’s some crazy character development right there.

(T1) Q9: Do you have apologetic feelings for who you killed?

F: I never killed anyone. Didn't you hear me? I thought you were a guard!

(T2) Q6: Do you remember the name of the person you killed?

F: I'm pretty sure I do. I saw it often after all.

So he’s admitting he did kill someone in a way. More character development.

(T1) Q10: Which prisoner do you get along with the most?

F: I'm not anyone's happy friend. Well Haruka's younger, so I take care of him.

(T2) Q2: How do you feel about Haruka?

F: This isn't the time to worry about other people. Plus it's not like he's a kid either.

More changes, my guy really is very different from trial 1 himself and I think that makes him extremely compelling.

Okay I need to stop or I’m gonna be here forever, this guy is just all kinds of silly. Anyways, love him. Please don’t get indoctrinated into Amane’s cult.

(T2) Q14: What are you thinking about now?

F: Maybe because I'm anxious, but I want something to rely on.

Please. Fuuta you’re like the only one there who might be able to reach her Fuuta please.

Anyways, I gotta go before those two rot my brain further. Hope you enjoyed! Take care!

[mayordoi]

haru okumura/noir from persona 5! :) i like her design. more commentary under cut (it's just a ramble about my process)

so,, this was a very improvised piece. i randomly covered a half sheet of paper i had lying around with gesso. originally this was to create a very clean edge when i peeled off the tape masking the margins, but i covered the whole paper to keep it a consistent texture. i was pretty interested in the rough texture the gesso made the paper when it dried... very rough and crunchy. i wanted to do some ambitious oc art, but inspiration really left the chat!! so i just drew some fanart of something simple... persona 5 has been on my mind lately with my new game+ run i'm doing.

anyway, i wanted to color the character with marker, and my markers did not like the paper texture!! they blended super strangely (the ink just kind of sat on the surface) and i might have damaged some nibs ☹️ i lost some faith in this piece when that moment hit and just started throwing stuff at the wall and make the most out of this piece i already progressed pretty far on. i painted the background to test out some new paint i got and went ham with colored pencils (and a little bit of fineliner) to add texture and detail-- this was really fun! then went on to add some superfluous elements with paint pens until i was bored.

this rant was totally unneccesary i'm aware. but the experience working on this was quite interesting... it was pretty experimental and improvised, and i learned what would work and what would not. would like to attempt another greedy mixed media piece with the ups and downs i saw withh this one.

[queenharumiura]

Complete crack but Mage got me into it, 5996.

[My KHR ship game] ||Accepting|| @whiskeysmulti Reminder: This is me just talking in general, so in no way is RP portrayals or anything being considered her. All Neo in her head. Characterizations are based off what I think would be interesting set up for the ship.

Hate it | Am Neutral to it | Ship it | love it! |

Readmore time

-

Phew… well… I mean… you and I talk about a lot of stuff so you already know my stance on how I think Mukuro and Chrome are just a unit. A duo, are supposed to be together. So anything that breaks them up is kinda SQUINT to me. Still, the dynamic of 5996 sounds fun to me, lolol so I mean… yeah… I suppose I could ship it lololol. (So much for they are a duo, and they are supposed to be for each other amirite?)

We’ve seen the way that both Gokudera and Chrome have developed as characters throughout the series. He certainly becomes a bit more patient (in regards to the violence) and he is able to open up to more people. He can accept more people into his life and be ready to do what he can for them. He’s a very loyal kind of character who inwardly feels a lot of things, complex emotions but may not be very aware of what the complex emotions mean.

Emotional intelligence a lil slow with him. Chrome has more emotional intelligence I’d say but it is also a bit… flawed in a sense? I think in due time it will heal and be better because it does seem that she’s a bit more wary about people, especially if they extend goodness towards her. Likely due to her experiences in her ‘past life’ meaning her life as Nagi.

The ways in which I think that they can work well together largely stems from the fact of their pasts. Both have some hurtful history when it comes to parents. Gokudera feels his father had his mother killed and he lost his mother on the day of his birthday. Chrome… as we know… was basically being abandoned by her parents if you really think about it. How the mother refused to ‘cut herself for the sake of that child’. Both have the pains of their parents, and this is pretty different from a whole lot of the Vongola crew. Tsuna has a wonderful mother who loves him (yes I’m ignoring Iemitsu, but we know he cares too). Haru has a doting father canonically. We can assume she has a loving mother as well. Yamamoto has a good dad, no idea on mother. The Sasagawas surely have a good relationship with their parents. Lambo basically has Nana now.

These two have pains from their pasts with parents that could possibly let them feel a bit out of place when with the others. It is a bit different when you talk to people who had such a vastly different upbringing than you did from what I personally noticed. Sometimes it can make you feel out of place and it could feel harder to relate. They both may be able to feel more in tune with each other in such circumstances. Like if they ever take a step back because they don’t really know how to act in situations of say… parent teacher conferences, or the days where parents can come in to watch how their children are at school. Both of them may feel out of place there even though Gokudera has Bianchi. I’m not sure if Chrome would have someone stand in. Maybe someone from Kokuyo--?

Anyways I think they could bond in such situations because they get it. They understand how it is. Chrome is a polite girl, reserved, and isn’t too nosey. Her personality isn’t too strong. It does work kind of nicely in the sense that they wouldn’t really have issues of altercations and fights because of having two strong personalities. What I do think is nice is that because of their differences in personalities and vibes, that they could rub off on one another. Gokudera can learn to be more calm and patient. Learn a bit more of her passive kind of attitude, and she can learn how to be more assertive. To be more dominant, and to be more defensive when it comes to herself. Don’t just take whatever nonsense people say to you (looking at you MM).

They could be a good influence on each other. I can see as the right hand, Gokudera would want to look out for all the guardians, and with his general distrust in Mukuro, he would look after her. If he for any reason thinks that Chrome isn’t being treated well, he’d watch out for her. He is a bit awkward about things but he’s also pretty logical and efficient. I could see him dropping hints to the girls so they could check up on Chrome if he worried. If the situation was something that he thought he could deal with, he would step in himself, but more the more emotional affairs, he’d leave that to the girls. He’s considerate in that logical way.

The main source of contention, I suppose, would be Mukuro. He and Chrome are a unit and she does ally herself to him. The biggest character development for her is wanting to stand on her own and be able to stand side by side with Mukuro. To be a warrior alongside him. With that kind of a set up, it is a bit more difficult to have the room to accept someone else into that equation, especially someone who doesn’t quite trust the person you’ve tied yourself to. Makes it a bit more complex.

However, we do know that Gokudera is a pretty stubborn guy, so it is possible that he was worried about Chrome and as the right hand, made it a point to check in on her often. This results in him spending more time with them and he gets to understand Mukuro better and maybe come to terms with the idea that he can sorta trust the guy, and be more or less okay with him due to Chrome’s positive influence of her wanting for everyone to get along. I see her trying her best so that both sides can come together and accept each other. Help Gokudera see that Mukuro isn’t so bad, if you take his entirety into account.

One day that it may work is that though they are a unit and they work great together, Mukuro doesn’t see Chrome as anything past a sister or another extension of himself. IF he were to regard Chrome as such, then I could see there being room for Chrome and Gokudera being able to be a couple, since then it opens her up to seeing people so as long as Mukuro gives the okay. He would care for having someone who can protect Chrome and be there to take care of her. Someone who would be able to understand her pains and be patient enough to work with her through them.

Gokudera has a very protective aspect to his personality so he could protect her fine. He isn’t one to see anyone as lesser because they aren’t skilled, are sickly, are less charismatic, etc. He sees people for who they are and that’s it. That is a great quality to have for a person who may struggle to see their own worth as themselves. It is good for someone who has insecurity issues. It’s good for someone who may doubt themselves, etc. I’d suppose a good way to look at it is that Gokudera doesn’t have expectations for people, he just looks at them for what they are. It’s a lot harder to do than most would think.

You may look at someone and have expectations without realizing it. Like you may think that they may do such and such for you, or that you may want to enjoy writing out certain scenarios with someone and that you hope that they’d be excited about it just as much as you are. You may hope that they’ll like the same ships that you do for example. People just have expectations and hopes for people. Gokudera doesn’t really do that and he looks at people for who they are and what they’ve shown themselves to be.

Tsuna is a bit of a curve ball because Gokudera does seem to have expectations for him based off how he acts, but it’s really based off the feats that Tsuna has done when in dying will mode. He knows and has seen Tsuna do great things. A lot of what he says and boasts Tsuna for aren’t exactly incorrect because Dying will mode Tsuna IS a part of who he is. So yeah, Gokudera is one who sees people for who they are. So he won’t get disappointed or anything if they turn out differently than he thought or came off as weak.

He's a great source of support in that way because you can count on him to just like you for you. He observes and gets to know who people are based on their actions.

His temper sure is a thing, but I think Mukuro could forgive that lol. I think if it came to that kind of a situation, Mukuro would be okay with entrusting Chrome with him when Mukuro wasn’t around to watch over her. I think it’s a good dynamic of two people who could become comfortable with each other, console in each other about their experiences and both try to go down a path of healing. Just journey on the path of healing together and support the other when possible. It’s kinda sweet.

I suppose for some cute ideas/scenarios… hm… like Gokudera letting it go if someone is talking shit about him because it’s not worth his time and energy and Chrome going nope, I’m going to talk to them. Asserting herself because she doesn’t want anyone talking badly about him and she’s not backing down from it. Like lil Chrome putting her foot down to really assert herself for his sake. I feel like that would be a oh, this feels nice, to have someone care this much for me and it comes from someone who normally has a bit more of a passive side. Ahhhh… yes… good food.

AS THE CERTIFIED MUKURO DISDAINER THAT I AM- jk, but imagine a spat between Gokudera and Mukuro and Chrome actually takes Gokudera’s side for once. Mukuro feeling like a brother who got betrayed by his sis, and Gokudera feeling like oh- OH! She took my side, in your FACE, Mukuro! But there’s always that side too where he feels touched that she was willing to take his side against Mukuro because she does value his opinion and his stance on things. It isn’t just her devoted loyalty to Mukuro that makes up who she is. There’s more to her than that. I just find it simple but cute. Mhm mhm. I like small things like that. Sue me.

I… like the idea that Uri is very hissy towards most people and other animals, but she starts to notice that Chrome starts having more of Gokudera’s scent because they spend a lot of time together and so she curiously just walks right up to the girl to sniff her and then gets taken in by her calm and sweet aura. We know Chrome likes cats so it’s like oho, I like this one! She’s very nice! Just curl up to Chrome and hiss at Gokudera. Just rub up against Chrome a lot. If the owl comes around, sucks to SUCK! YOU GO AWAY! You can have Gokudera (for now). So you have Uri just bonding with Chrome and Gokudera and Fukurou having no other choice but to bond together over them losing to Uri. (ehehehehe) Then they just get used to that too and the day Uri notices why is that owl and my master getting along well? He has treats for it too? NOT ON MY PAW!!!! THAT’S MY SPOT! Kekek. Willful Uri. BEST

-

I did my best. Again, this is in no way associated to RP and what portrayals I see on dash. This is just a thought exercise based off how I think things could work.

[shihalyfie]

hey! goofy ask time because this question has been on my mind for a month: which characters from each series would be the most likely to set up a ttrpg group/who'd be into DnD

Ooh, this sounds fun! From what I hear DnD itself isn't as overwhelmingly popular as it is here (the Japanese market tends to not like games that require anything besides six-sided dice), but TTRPGs in general are definitely popular, so this'll just be from the perspective of a TTRPG in general. Forming one requires setting up a specific group and being able to make a clear time commitment for it, so...

Adventure/02: The 02 kids already meet up all the time anyway, so they probably would be open to it. Out of the Adventure seniors, Mimi seems like she'd be into it. The others, I'm not sure if I could see them being willing to commit to a full schedule, but they'd probably be up for oneshots or anything of the like. Ken GMs because he’s the only one to consistently have the right disposition and patience for it (they tried it with Takeru and it was a disaster). Incidentally, one of the most popular TTRPGs in Japan happens to be Cthulhu Mythos, but Hikari never learned the name of the Dark Ocean creatures’ god so it’s probably fine...right..?

Tamers: Hirokazu and Kenta start one. Juri thinks it’s interesting and ropes Takato into it too. The others probably abstain (Jian deliberately keeps Shaochung out of this). Hirokazu GMs and nobody has been able to take that position from him.

Frontier: They all start one under the premise it’ll give them a reason to meet more often. They roleplay their Digital World adventure, with some, uh, “interpretive” versions of the actual events. After a ton of squabbling, Junpei ended up GMing, but even then it doesn’t always go perfectly.

Savers: Chika and Ikuto get into it with a group at school (neither GM). Yoshino’s actually part of a casual group, but she’s never telling anyone.

Xros Wars: Yuu GMs. He got Taiki and Tagiru into it. One time Kiriha joined, and he was totally trying to pass it off as if it were simulating important tactical strategy. Nobody bought it.

Appmon: The whole group does it at Kashinoki Books to kill time. Haru and Ai are both reasonably good GMs, but Hajime turned out to be ridiculously good at it.

Adventure: reboot: I suppose sometimes they do it in the makeshift garage, although in the end I think Mimi was so forceful about GMing (and not very well) that they decided to go back to ordinary board and card games.

Ghost Game: Kiyoshirou absolutely has his own group of college students. Sometimes he GMs, sometimes he’d rather play with his own elf character or something. Hiro enjoys it when you loop him in, but he doesn’t really commit to it, and while Ruli enjoyed it once it was too much of a commitment for her...

[starz4valen]

the colors of persona 5 are driving me insane on this fine morning. /pos

the main colors used throughout the game are red, black, and white, and the ways this could connect to the phantom thieves is just RAGGHHH

first, red. red symbolizes the passion the thieves have to change the hearts of people and reform society, and (i believe) is integrated into each character. joker his gloves, ryuji has his little tie thing, ann’s whole outfit, yusuke’s mask and tail, makoto’s eyes (which is very interesting and i think is also meant to symbolize her views on justice and how she believes it should be upheld regardless much like her father, and her eyes are a much brighter yet dark red compared to sae’s which are a muddy reddish brown, which probably is meant to symbolize how she’s lost her sense of justice in favor of fighting her way to the top,) futabas goggles, several parts of akechis outfit, even haru’s eyes seem to be a muddy kind of red (which may symbolize how she was kinda just. thrown into the phantom thieves last minute and is still figuring herself out, and is still seemingly trying to figure out how to feel about her father, etc) but also highlights the danger that they know they’re getting themselves into. they know they’re risking some shit, especially as the story progresses and the risks get higher and higher due to the police being on their ass and also the possibility of dying in the metaverse was always there.

next is black. black can represent security/safety, and is most likely a symbol of the security that people felt with the phantom thieves around. additionally, joker, makoto, morgana, and futaba have lots of black in their designs. (ryuji also seems to have a lot of deep gray? omg they do care abt himmmm 🥺)

finally, white! white represents innocence and hope, which i feel are two things the thieves have a lot of. at first, when the group was first made, it’s clear the phantom thieves is just a bunch of teens fucking around and having fun. additionally, the power of the personas and phantom thieves have given not only the people of japan hope, but also themselves. even after kamoshida, the characters and the even the school in general seem a lot more hopeful!

bonus round: BLUE!! blue flames can be seen when everyone casts their personas, and blue represents peace and tranquillity, so perhaps awakening to their personas and accepting the rebellion within their heart have given the thieves a sense of peace.

anyways im autistic how are you?

[lilyhoshikawa]

i've probably asked this before but top 5 persona characters!

Dndjbdjd u have!! And it remains a toughie dbdjdbdb and very subjective depending on my mood but I think I’ve at least nailed down a solid group

1. Futaba. She’s extremely well written, complex, and so much fun. She has intense moments of severe traumatic pain, cute and inspiring moments of shy confidence and sparks of brilliance, and fun mischief moments of little gremlin sister. The game doesn’t explore her to her fullest potential imo, but that’s what Deja Vu is for. It means a lot to me to have a character like Futaba around with her moments of serious, painful trauma and the gradual process of healing and recovery, the clear anxiety and sensory struggles she has due to her autism and psychosis, and the lovely and adorable moments she’s able to have with the main cast. Plus she’s a fashion icon (usually. Atlus as per their brand are creeps at times) A cute gay gal with a lot of heart and depth and love for her family.

2. Akechi. Definitely would break the number one spot if this was Jae’s list and for good reason. Even within the existing canon of persona 5, Akechi is by far the most complex and interesting character. Morally gray, difficult and messy. But I think we really struck gold with them in Deja Vu and I fully intend to ensure we keep striking gold! There’s so much stuff left on the table with Akechi’s in-game interpretation and so much muddled in the popular consensus model of fandom, but moving beyond that there’s so much to explore from new angles. I truly think it opens up a whole new experience when u start to look at them not as a meme or tumblr “sexyman” (Akechi is like, 16-17 btw) or an edgy joker-type character but as a teenager with trauma, an abuse victim, and a morally gray character making bad choices in a desperate situation. Beyond that, I think- with my bias- that looking at them as a transfem or trans character at all adds a lot to our interpretation as well. There’s a lot of really bittersweet, vivid and beautiful stuff to be drawn out of their story and I’m glad every time we’re able to drown out the stigma and do something amazing with them.

3. Minato/Minako. I don’t consider them the same character but for convenience and ease I grouped them here bc they occupy the same story role. Persona 3 is just a game I’ll never get over. Maybe it’s because I played it during a very developmental time in my life, because of the nostalgic memories I have for it, but I think there’s more to it than that. It’s a beautiful game about death and grief and remorse and resignation. It’s a game about suicide, the meaning of life, making peace, choosing hope. This is the persona game where the messaging in the game itself is the strongest in my opinion and it’s no better encapsulated by the protags and their stances on death. Minato, a depressed loner who doesn’t fear death but cannot truly live, and Minako, who (in my interpretation anyway) loves the beauty and joy of life even as she can’t find herself fully able to become attached to it knowing it’s all finite. Characters broken by the existential dread of life, who learn to hope. Who learn there is something worth fighting for anyway.

4. Ann. She’s… god, she’s probably received the worst treatment of any persona character, and that’s a category with some stiff competition from the likes of Naoto, Rise and Haru. The game tells a compelling and beautiful story about an abuse victim who chooses to fight to protect her dearest (girl)friend, who chooses to spare her abuser for the sake of a greater good, who is so fucking angry but so very invested in doing good and bringing about justice. And then? It sticks her in a skin-tight catsuit, sidelines her and treats her as a ditzy comic relief character, and makes her the target of constant sexual harassment and ogling by the player and characters alike. Ann occupies the same territory that many Lovers characters in the series have, but it’s really at its ugliest with her given her history. It’s a gigantic hypocrisy. And if the game won’t do right by her, then god damn it, vane and I will. An abuse victim with a story to tell and a heart as big as the fires of her rage. And she will always have deserved so much better.

5. This is the flex spot for me and usually a toughie. In the past I think I’ve given this slot to Naoto, who I continue to have a soft spot for due to awakening my childhood transness, but I’ve really soured on their story and persona 4 as a whole more and more over time, become more convinced that many of its elements need discarding entirely. I’ve also given the slot to Morgana, because kitty, but the reality is that his arc doesn’t stand out to me whatsoever. This time the slot definitely goes to Kasumi, who is undoubtedly one of my favorite persona characters just… with massive, massive caveats. I can’t in good conscience put her anything higher than 5 because… almost everything I like about her is technically non-canon. Kasumi’s treatment in the game isn’t just bad- it is, don’t get me wrong, she’s a victim of disgusting abuse and psychological meddling- it’s actively destructive. The game does a fantastic job of coming up with an interesting and fun character and then blowing that up to give you the thrill of an exciting twist. Kasumi up to the third semester is a complete delight with fun scenes and a charming personality and dynamic with the other characters, including the wonderful and often overlooked detail of being Akechi’s only real friend. And then all of that is utterly discarded to create a twist to shock the audience, throwing away the character we had to replace her entirely with somebody else, someone we are expected to see a simply her “true self” but is actually more like a separate personality altogether. I don’t know how vane managed to salvage her jumbled mess of an arc so well in Deja Vu, but by god did she do it. It’s only thanks to vane’s wonderful interpretation that I can enjoy Kasumi as a character at ALL without having the unreality kick in and launch a fucking anxiety meltdown. Vane’s managed to make a wrangled concept for a character into two new incredible characters who are both delightful and so much fun every single scene they’re in. Deja Vu readers once again continue winning.

[thenightshift-if]

Main Cast - Haru

Name: Yun Haru (surname first) Age: ??? – appears to be in late 20s Gender: Selectable male (he/him) / female (she/her) / non-binary (they/them) Class: Vampire / hotel guest Occupation: Consultant

Description

You met Haru online some years ago and have kept in touch ever since, although you’ve never actually met face-to-face. In all those years, they never mentioned that they’re a vampire. Maybe that’s why you’ve never really been able to figure them out?

These are the things you know: They live in L.A., but it feels like every other week they’re on vacation somewhere around the world. They’re involved in about a million start-ups, but you have no idea what they actually do. They also own way too many cars. Seriously, who needs three sports cars? And there’s always someone new on their arm in their photos. With their looks and charisma, you imagine they’ve left a trail of broken hearts in their wake.

However you feel about Haru, they helped you out when you needed it the most and got you the job at Casa Serena. Of course, they also failed to mention the whole vampire thing. Lucky for you, they’re going to be staying at the hotel for the summer! Their antics are sure to make your nights more interesting… or exasperating, depends on how you look at it.

Appearance + other info

They’re confident (some might say cocky) and flirty and frequently display an alarming lack of impulse control and good judgment. You might not always need or want their help, but don’t worry, they’ve got your back anyway.

Haru is Korean-American. They are bi and can be either cis (male or female) or non-binary, depending on your choice.

They have dark brown eyes, a warm beige complexion and a lean, toned body. Their short black hair is always so artfully tousled and their bangs always fall across their forehead so perfectly that it can only be the result of a lot of time and care. Their left arm is fully tattooed and their right arm has the beginnings of a half-sleeve. They also have a fun bat tattoo, much to the distaste of other vampires! Their style is a mix of carefree and deliberate down to the smallest details. Haru's height is 177 cm.

Please note that some of this information may change during game development.

[daz4i]

B, K, M, N, P? <3

thank you!!!! ^_^🖤🖤🖤

send some letters?

B - A pairing–platonic, romantic or sexual–that you initially didn’t consider, but someone changed your mind.

my friend yuuri got me interested in yusuke/ann as a qp relationship 👀 they got some really cute takes and fics abt their dynamic it's so nice!!!!

K - What character has your favorite development arc/the best development arc?

kageyama tobio my beloved..... askljfldhg maybe it's bc i just told a friend abt him so he's fresh in my mind but. he really does have such a beautiful development and it's so touching to see him not only be loved and appreciated and growing from his past, but keeping these connections for years and seeing how he learned to work in a team...... my baby. so proud of him 🖤

M - Name a character that you’d like to have for a friend.

yu narukami. hands down. he's my bestie actually we meet up every third saturday for some tea and catching up

ok this is where i started rambling so n and p under the cut!

N - Name three things you wish you saw more of in your main fandom (or a fandom of choice).

reading comprehension. amen

aslkjfdgh fr tho:

i wish people were more open minded when it comes to nuance and duality and depth. like i talked with a friend today abt how ppl just refuse to read goro in a nuanced way and take him and everything he says at face value and obviously he comes off as unlikable that way aksfjg but like you also just took away everything that makes his character interesting?? so obviously you can't enjoy him that way??? anyway. i have some rage abt that

polyshipping 👏👏👏👏👏 true abt every fandom tbh. i want more trios quartets and whole ass groups being in romantic relationships. i'd say p5's fandom is generally better at that than others but it's still lacking with anything that isn't like, some basic trios or just polythieves and it's a bit disappointing. so lemme tell you abt my ship of akira/goro/haru/yusuke-

more honesty and genuine creation. like don’t get me wrong there’s plenty of it, but there’s also so much cynicism, like with how meme drawings become more popular than actual serious fanart, or how on certain social medias posting genuine creations, opinions, or pure enjoyment just comes off as cringey and something to make fun of

honestly these are true abt any fandom not just persona akjsdhg but! yeah

P - Invent a random AU for any fandom (we always need more ideas).

i honestly really wanna see some superhero aus for persona ngl. like i read a fic like that abt p4 + p5 but they still sorta fought against shadows and such and! no! i want super villains!!!

i think when it comes to powers it’s just. basic mutants shit really. if anyone’s interested i might think up specific powers for everyone but like that’s not the focus rn so!

since i brought up both p4 and p5 i’ll just. go ahead and make one for both. not at the same time tho bc i kinda want it to mirror the games, in a sense

so p5’s obvious. the actual villains from the game, their shadows can even be their villainsonas and their goals as villains are related to that, they just work through different methods that are more sci fi than realistic, and they get beat by the team (who are still vigilantes ofc) in real life

for p4 tho! i think instead of a murder mystery it’s like, a mystery of someone kidnapping people and creating clones for them to sort of replace them? and that’s what their shadows are! and yu starts as a hero (with maybe teddie as a sidekick) to first save yosuke and then he adds people to the team as they save them. when a person beats their clone they get a superpower through that, something abt radiation or w/e, this is how the clones were created and having the same person twice creates a cosmic imbalance and this is how the universe corrects it idk.

i think it would ultimately bc namatame who created these clones, like he got some divine message about society being impure and having to replace the people in it with new ones to save them

no idea how adachi and mitsuo will be involved yet (if you’re reading this you’re welcome to chime in with your own ideas!!!) but i do know dojima is the cop in charge of the investigation and he gets so frustrated with this team of vigilantes who do his job for him because they’re possibly putting humanity in danger by messing with forces none of them understand yet and all those basic superhero tropes aksjfkhgd

[yomigaere]

Some frank spoilery thoughts on Tribe Nine episode 9 (heh):

*Ota's zerg rush of runners was a hilarious galaxy brain move, if nothing else.

*It was very, very easy to see coming from a million miles away that Minato Tribe would all forgive Kazuki and accept him as a True Nakama, and that Kazuki would admit that he liked being with them after all.

*Rejoice, Ojiro fangirls! Your husbando is confirmed redeemable and Minato Tribe are going to save him in defeat-equals-friendship fashion and make him smile again and have him finally see the fun in playing XB!

*I still like Enoki, but I liked her more when she was with Ota Tribe smiling at people getting cut up and squashed by falling billboards. Shame she'll probably just be Taiga's unwanted yandere waifu now, and doubly so if she ends up actually joining Minato Tribe. (Also, holy sexism when Haru and Taiga faced her...)

*I'm about 50-50 on whether or not Fucho actually died at the end. On one hand, his last line sounded very much like Last Words, and being killed by Kiyoshiro seems like a fitting end for him. On the other hand, we don't see what happened after Kiyoshiro brought his knife down, and IIRC one of Kiyoshiro's voice sample lines on the official site is something like "huh, why'd I let you live?!", so as far as I'm concerned Fucho's death is far from guranteed (plus we've seen he can easily snap his bones back into place, so who knows what else he can survive). I personally want to believe he's still alive, because I was hoping to see at least a little bit more out of him, but I guess we'll find out in a week or two or three's time.

*Meanwhile, I think it's 99% guranteed that Tenshin is dead for real. (Holy shit, a plot twist I didn't necessarily predict!) No way could that old man have survived a punch from Ojiro that practically caved his chest in... good riddance, to be honest. He was a total cartoon villain anyway, so he had to go, and if this show's going to have any actual character deaths other than Shun then Tenshin absolutely should be one of them.

*Did this episode completely forget about Yasuhiro? He didn't show up or get mentioned at all, after that whole thing with him in last week's ep. I was surprised he got brought back in the first place, as I thought he was just a throwaway character who only existed to establish Haru as a bullied woobie in the first ep; if the narrative wasn't going to bother with actually doing anything of value with him, even if that thing was just showing how far Haru has come since the beginning or whatever, then what was even the point of bringing him back?

*This ep also seems to have forgotten about Minato's win order that Ota Tribe would help patch up their diner again. (Was it even still wrecked? I admit I wasn't paying that much attention...)

*I bet the remaining three episodes are going to be very predictable. Next week might see a quick detour to Taito, because a) there's a scene of Hanafuda hitting a ball with his pipe in the second PV that still hasn't appeared in the show itself, b) Taito's theme song hasn't played at all yet and there's no way the show's gonna finish its run without the fan-favourite (going by views on the official YouTube channel) Tribe theme song ever playing. Other than that, we'll have the final Minato vs Chiyoda showdown, and I'll be bloody amazed if it doesn't end with Minato winning and Ojiro being redeemed.

*After all the complaining I've done here, I just want to say I never had particularly lofty expectations for the T9 anime in the first place. I was always more interested in how the game would turn out and was never that taken by how the anime adapted the designs (garish colours, simplification of designs even when the animators still keep forgetting design details afterwards); honestly, I figured it would be a win if the anime just got me liking the characters and world and wanting to see more of them elsewhere. Then again, I expected Akudama Drive to be a brain-switched-off trainwreck at best and was surprised by it being legitimately good, so I admit part of me hoped the T9 anime would also turn out better than it has...

[crashingmeteorz]

post-war ba sing se bimbo headcanons

so zuko becomes the firelord, and jin and jet think it’s hilarious. he’s so good at it. he’s so charismatic. they’re like “who the hell is this guy? when did he get mature and responsible???” and song’s like “when zuko wasn’t doing stupid shit, he was stopping you two from doing stupid shit, i saw this coming a mile away.”

jin joins the kyoshi warriors, and is overwhelmed by all the pretty girls she’s working with, but for the most part it becomes a sisterhood. she will forever and always have a severe crush on suki, however, and really, can you blame her? so when suki reciprocates, jin writes song a four-page essay about it.

anyway, when zuko asks the warriors to come to the capital, obviously jin’s there, too. jet and song show up almost immediately after jin does.

“what, you two are hanging out without us now?” song asks them accusatorily. “it’s not fair that only you get to see jin, zuko.”

“yeah,” jet says. “and i used to see zuko shirtless a few times a week. and i thought i was lucky! now jin’s a kyoshi warrior and she gets to see it every day?”

“she does not!” says zuko. “yeah,” says jin, while shaking her head the opposite.

attempts on zuko’s life are about as common as rain showers, so song starts testing basically everything he eats with some of her chemicals. every time she finds something insidious, she tracks down every link in the chain that got the food to him, and finds a way to rectify the situation. she doesn’t trouble zuko with this, because he’s got enough going on. also, he probably maybe wouldn’t approve of her methods.

(song is not inherently violent, but when it comes to her family, she’s downright vicious).

jet wants to get in on the action, but between song’s disarming sweetness and the kyoshi warrior’s intimidation, zuko’s basically protected. what he isn’t, is good with people.

zuko can make grand dramatic speeches all day long, but when it comes to the council, or local government officials, or merchants, or literally even jet, he’s the same awkward kid jet met on the boat to ba sing se.

“you are never going to make it as firelord.” jet tells him from the couch he’s lounging on while he watches zuko practice a very basic interaction in the mirror.

“okay, fuck you, too.” zuko says miserably.

“sorry, i wasn’t clear,” jet says, standing beside zuko. “you are never going to make it as firelord without me.”

jet tries in vain to get zuko to lie better, to present himself differently, to deceive just a little bit, but it just isn’t happening. zuko doesn’t even want to lie, he doesn’t want to be like his father and azula, so they take a different approach.

instead, jet teaches him how to spot liars, and how to play the game. it’s basic stuff, like let silence linger because they’ll want to fill it if they’re afraid you don’t believe them. ask them bizarre questions so they overcorrect. if they’re complimenting you too much, they’re trying to deceive you.

to jet, it’s survival. to zuko, it’s like a whole world has opened up he never knew about. he hangs on to jet’s every word, and at the end, he asks that jet join him in council meetings, naming him an ambassador from the earth kingdom.

this is how jet discovers that he’s AMAZING at politics. he can’t believe how easy it is. he considers taking it up as a hobby when he gets back to the earth kingdom.

“you can’t do politics as a hobby,” zuko says.

“why not?” jet says. “it’s just fun. it’s not what i’m meant to be doing forever though.”

“do you have a mysterious job back in the earth kingdom none of us know about?” asks jin.

“yes,” says song, irritable from today’s batch of poison discoveries, “he’s working full-time as a little bitch.”

the more meetings jet attends, the more he wonders if politics really is for what he’s meant. arguing and debating delights him and, unlike the exhausted zuko, he leaves the debates feeling energized. but it just feels so bureaucratic, so useless compared to what he did during the war.

he’s so torn about it that he finally asks song for advice.

“i don’t know anything about politics,” she says tiredly. he’s playing idly with her hair after she’s had a long day of Keeping Zuko Alive. “why are you asking me?”

“because you don’t hold back,” jet tells her. “because you let me know when i’ve gone too far.”

song’s glad it’s dark in the lounge, because she can’t believe she’s blushing.

“well,” she says finally. “what would you be in it for?”

“what do you mean?” he says. “i just like it.”

“do you like the attention?” song asks. “are you just interested in the drama of it all? or do you want to make a difference?”

“i want to make a difference,” he says confidently. “i want to help the earth kingdom.”

“well, then, there’s your answer,” song says.

“yeah,” jet agrees. “no politics for me.”

“wait, what?” song asks him, because how did he reach that conclusion?

“it’s just smooth talking and paperwork. it’s not gonna help the earth kingdom,” jet tells her. “i’m not selling out.”

“is that what you think zuko’s doing?” she asks.

“of course not,” jet says, rolling his eyes. “but he’s also the firelord. that’s different.”

“and he’s your best friend,” she reminds him. “and you also happen to be on good terms with the avatar and the leaders of the southern water tribe, so you know you have influential people who will hear you out. if you want to make a difference, this is probably the best way.”

he’s quiet for a while. he almost looks disappointed.

“not every battle is on the battlefield, jet,” song says gently. “it’s not as glamorous, or as dangerous. it’s tedious and difficult and boring. but it’s what’s left, after the war.”

“i guess that’s the thing,” jet says sadly. “i don’t know who i am without the war.”

“i do,” song says with so much sincerity jet almost blushes. almost. he’s still, like, cool.

if they fall into a routine where song fixes his hair into something presentable for council meetings and jet forces her to take a break and enjoy the sunshine once in a while, zuko and jin don’t feel it’s necessary to comment.

for like three days.

“you stole my boyfriend,” zuko accuses song after catching her and jet kissing. the fact that sokka’s napping with his head in zuko’s lap as he says so doesn’t seem to faze him.

“you stole my ostrich horse,” she says, for the last time ever, “so now we’re even.”

“what’s with you and guys with weird facial hair?” jin asks as she stuffs her face with fire flakes, her new favorite treat. “first haru and now jet?”

“haru?” jet squeaks.

“i liked haru’s moustache,” song says thoughtfully. “i thought it made him look mature.”

“at least if jet grew a moustache i’d understand what everyone sees in him,” sokka says sleepily. “no offense.”

“you’re just mad i kissed zuko first,” huffs jet.

jet stops shaving that week. everyone notices.

when song and jet finally prepare to go back to the earth kingdom, jet privately asks zuko if it’s true that he and aang are considering founding a city that unites the nations. zuko tells him it is.

“well, i want in. whenever that is,” he says, and jet and zuko hug.

song and her mother open up a hospital and sanctuary that specifically caters to displaced families. jet reunites with longshot and smellerbee, and they drift around but tend to come back to the sanctuary. they often go out on missions to try and reunite families. it’s not quite fighting, and it’s not quite peace, so it’s a good transition for jet and his freedom fighters.

eventually, things slow down and so does jet. he starts walking around the village they’re located in without his weapons. a child asks song where she got the scars on her leg, and when she explains it was a firebender, the child says “oh, did he get in trouble?” song laughs and laughs, because for the first time in years, there are children who don’t know war.

jin doesn’t stay as a kyoshi warrior forever, but she does decide to settle down on kyoshi. she never really wanted the dangerous life, she just wanted some adventure and sort of stumbled into the chaos of jet and song and zuko. the quiet island is perfect for her. she still stirs up trouble once in a while though.

“COME GET YOUR IDIOT SHE TRIED TO RIDE THE UNAGI.” suki writes in two identical letters, one to jet and song and one to zuko.

“okay, whatever suki tells you, i want you to know she’s lying. i DID ride the unagi and it was SICK. sokka was here recently and said someone invented an image-capture thing is that true? because if it is i want you to bring one and come here ASAP so i can do it AGAIN.” says the fervent letter from jin that arrived three days after suki’s.

jet and song arrive promptly, song laden with medical supplies and a sternly-worded letter from her mother to jin. jet brings a camera.

zuko shows up a few days later with the latest in camera technology and a photographer, as well as his one-year-old daughter. he goes all-out because this is his and izumi’s first trip together. jet grumbles about being one-upped.

“you’re the firelord, you’re gonna encourage this?” song asks him, eyes furious but voice sweet as she plays with izumi. “excuse me, song, but the war is over, i have no jurisdiction here. if an earth kingdom citizen wants to exercise her right to be a dumbass she’s more than welcome to,” says zuko in his most diplomatic voice.

“and,” he adds more gently, “i missed you guys.” song still thinks he’s being ridiculous, but she gives him a big hug anyway.

zuko has to firebend at the unagi to stop it from eating jin and song is left to mend jin’s broken arm. jet takes pictures throughout the entire thing, from her climbing onto the creature, to getting thrown, to being bandaged up and laughs the whole time. song produces a second letter written by her mother which she was instructed only to give to jin in the event she rode the unagi.

all it says in neat hand-writing is, “i told you so. now come home so i can feed you, you ridiculous child.”

“i’m 24,” pouts jin, but since she’s the youngest, the group agrees heartily with song’s mother.

the five of them go to the sanctuary, where iroh is drinking tea with song’s mother and trading stories about their new respective lives.

zuko has to return to the capital in three days, iroh’s got his tea shop to run, and jin isn’t planning on staying long because her “super hot girlfriend is doing something extremely sexy” and she has to get back soon.

“jin, please, just talk normal for once in your life,” zuko begs her, bouncing izumi on his lap. “fine,” she says, “she’s being voted in as the leader of the island and i want to be there for the ceremony.”

jet realizes it’s not often he’ll have all the people he loves in one place, and quietly asks song something important.

they get married the night before zuko and jin leave, in front of jet’s freedom fighters and song’s mother and iroh. jin and zuko stand as their maid of honor and best man. zuko cries.

for the first time in almost two decades, all of them start to feel at peace.

ty so much for this au @azenkii writing about it is one of the most enjoyable experiences haha. is this update softer than usual? yes, of course, it’s what they deserve.

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[glisteningasahi]

[treasure] haruto - attention

"haru..."i whined as my boyfriend had all of his attention to the screen,playing video games with jeongwoo.

of course i understood that it was one if his rare free days and he wanted to enjoy,but it was one of the rare days we could spend time.

"y/n i am sorry but i-no jeongwoo,dare you to kill me!"he started but changed to talk to jeongwoo.

i rolled my eyes,a bit butthurt.

so i grabbed my phone and scrolled through my instagram feed.but being as unlucky as i am,it was full of boring posts that i wasn't really interested in.

starting to feel tired because of the boredom,i positioned myself on the pile of pillows on the other end and covered myself with a thinner blanket.

haruto must've noticed that i wasn't sitting next to him anymore because he looked around,only to see me almost asleep.

✧✦✧

i woke up from soft kisses on my whole face.

when i opened my eyes,i saw haruto leaning over me,smiling.

"you're awake?"he asked quietly and i nodded,still sleepy.

"me and jeongwoo will go to get some groceries.do you want something?"my boyfriend asked me and i nodded.

"mango juice."

"alright.we'll be back soon."haruto pecked my lips before standing up.

being super tired,i closed my eyes again,hearing the front door open and close,probably jeongwoo and haruto leaving.

suddenly someone sat down next to me,so i opened my eyes to see junghwan and junkyu sitting there,staring at me.

"hey y/n!"junkyu said a bit too nice.

"hey?"i said,closing my eyes again.

"we are hungry.."junghwan started,"..but we don't how to cook."

"so you want me to cook you something?"

they basically screamed yes,so i had no other chance than doing so.

in a slow movement,i put the blanket away and got up.

we all walked to the kitchen and started to look around the cupboards for something that we could cook.

"should i just do pancakes?"i asked and they nodded.

quickly,i searched for all of the ingredients and started to make the batter.

junkyu and junghwan started to have with the food when haruto came home.

"what are you doing?"he asked as he but the drinks he just bought in the refrigerator.

"panc-"i was about to answer but junkyu dumped some flour on top of my head.

shocked,i gasped when i felt it falling in my face and in my shirt.

"kim junkyu!"i whined loudly and laughed.

i started to chase him as haruto slipped out of the kitchen,what we barely noticed because we had just so much fun.

yet i felt sorry that i kinda ignored him so i followed him to his room.

"haru?"i softly knocked at his door and heard a soft hum as a response.

carefully i opened the door to see my boyfriend watching something on his phone.

"we need to talk."i quietly said but he shook his head.

"no,"haruto looked up from his phone,"you need to shower.you have flour everywhere."he chuckled.

he got up from the bed,walked to his closet and searched for a sweatpants and a hoodie.

"your body wash should still be in the drawer.or you can use mine."he laughed and i nodded.

quickly i walked into the bathroom and locked the door before taking a short shower,praying that i got rid of all of the flour.

i got dressed in haruto's clothes and walked back to his room with a towel on my head to get my hair dried a bit.

"you look cute in my clothes."haruto said and i chuckled.

"that's what you tell me almost every time i wear your clothes."i giggled and sat down next to him.

"yeah,you always look cute tho."

after a few minutes,i took the towel away and threw it in the corner of the room,planning on putting in away later.

haruto laid down comfortably and opened his arms."come here."

immediately i laid next to him and slung my arms around his torso.

i somehow got into the little spoon position so that haruto rested his head on mine and tangled our legs together.

for a while,we just laid there,not really talking.

"that's nice."i mumbled into his chest,to break the silence.

he hummed in response,making his whole chest vibrate.

"i am sorry."haruto said."i should have spent time with you earlier,i mean after you barely gave me attention earlier in the kitchen,i felt so bad."

"don't feel bad.it's obvious that you want to have fun in your free time.jeongwoo is better at playing video games anyways."i chuckled.

"yeah you are really bad at video games."he laughed.

after a while,someone knocked at the door.

it was yedam,asking what kind of pizza we wanted,because everyone was hungry but lazy to cook.

we told it yedam quickly and went back to cuddling.

we ended up watching something on his phone and laughed so god damn loud even though it wasn't even that funny.

"pizza!"jaehyuk yelled.

haru and i looked at each other before running to the living room.

as soon as we arrived there we cracked up.the situation was not funny at all but we still laughed so much,that the other members probably got annoyed.

while eating pizza,we decided to watch a movie,that wasn't really interesting.

my back rested against haruto's chest and his legs circled mine.

i happily ate my pizza pieces and the boy behind me had his head in my neck.

his breath tickled the back of my neck so i shivered,what haruto noticed and laughed.

suddenly,he shuffled a bit back and i turned confused around.

"just continue to watch the movie."he said and i focused back on the tv and i started to feel my hair getting braided.

"such a cliché."yedam rolled his eyes.

"jealous?"i raised my eyebrow and yedam looked disgusted.

"jealous?of you?never in my life."

i heard haruto laugh behind me.

"well,she is mine anyways."

[ootori-sibs]

Summer camp host club 6

Tw for blood, beartraps and hospitals,

Haruhi was asleep. Her dreams were filled with pictures of the monster Mr Hirano had described, beautiful and mysterious. She watched it prance about in the moonlight, it's behaviour wasn't dissimilar to that of a cat. She wanted to reach out and pet it, but she was afraid it would hurt her.

She then watched it switch between it's human and beast form, each time it enters it's human form, it's a different beautiful figure, genders changing every time, every single thing that Haruhi finds attractive. It was a selfish dream but she didn't mind it.

Her dream was cut short by one of the girls dragging her out of bed. "Come on Haruhi! You said you'd come to the lake with us!" The girl, Aimi, whined and tugged at Haruhi's arm.

Haruhi sighed and smiled at them, getting out of bed with a yawn. "Alright then, let me grab my bathing suit then." She got dressed quickly, before joining the girls outside the cabin.

It was quite early in the morning, the sun was only just peeking over the mountains in the distance. The air was crisp and cool, it wasn't cold however, just pleasantly warm. Haruhi walked with the other girls to the lake, watching from the grass as they took turns jumping in, laughing and joking as they did.

She was too tired to swim, so she just sat and watched them. One of the girls starts talking about how she's smuggled alcohol in her bags, and the girls begin to joke about having a party when the councilors are in bed. Haruhi thinks it's highly inappropriate but she knows better than to try and disrupt the fun of others, so she just sits there and begins to think about methods of ensuring they don't get hurt.

Breakfast rolled around and she and the other girls headed in from the lake, happy to find that pancakes had been made. Haruhi went to sit with the other hosts, minus Kyoya as the shadow king hadn't woken up quite yet. They looked at her swimsuit and it was Honey that brought it up. "Have you been swimming Haru-chan?"

Haruhi nodded. "Yeah, the other girls wanted to. I only really paddled though." She shrugs and pours some syrup on her pancake. "Did you guys sleep well? No nightmares about the story?"

It's an overall no from the hosts, but Honey starts talking about the dream he had where the maze was made of cake. Fortunately he is interrupted, unfortunately he's interrupted by a crash from the boy's cabin. The hosts look at each other in a panicked agreement, there's only one person still asleep; Kyoya.

They all hurry towards the cabin, a few others following suit. Haruhi is suddenly getting very anxious for some reason. When they got to the cabin, they saw a dent in the wall, and a very shell shocked looking Shin. A quick glance to Kyoya told Haruhi that he'd already gone back to sleep- good for him.

Mr Hirano pushed himself into the cabin, looking at the scene before him. "What the hell happened here? Shin, explain yourself." He glared at his brother, crossing his arms.

Shin looked at him with wide eyes, clearly still processing what had happened. "I- I only tried to wake him up?? So he wouldn't miss breakfast?" God, Haruhi almost felt sorry for the guy, he doesn't understand quite how Kyoya operates yet.

There was laughter, Tamaki was stood behind Haruhi and he was laughing. It didn't take long for the twins to chuckle a little too, but they were a bit more restrained in their mirth. People looked at him confused, Mr Hirano frowned deeply, raising an eyebrow. "What's so funny?"

Tamaki wiped nonexistent tears from his eyes. "Oh do forgive me, I just find it quite funny how stupid that decision was." He chuckles a little more at the confused look on both Hiranos. "Trying to wake Kyoya up, it's like-" he shakes with amusement, stifling his laughter. "I'm sorry, sorry. It's like having a deathwish! Isn't that right men?"

The hosts all nod, the twins piping up. "you should see what he's like if he only gets an hour!"

Mori nods silently, Honey jumps up happily. "Kyo-chan's downright homicidal when he's sleepy!"

Haruhi had to agree, shrugging and at least showing a little sympathy to Shin. "Sorry dude, they are right. Besides, you shouldn't have woken him up anyway- it's kind of rude."

Mr Hirano massaged his temples. "There will be no violence in my camp from now on, understood? I will let him off with a warning, make sure you let him know." The hosts nod and he turns to leave. Haruhi glanced at Shin and saw that he actually looked kind of guilty. She sighed and approached him.

"It's ok dude, literally everyone's done it at least once, he's not going to hold it against you." She smiles up at him, Shin smiles back, mouthing a silent thanks.

Tamaki meanwhile, has sat on Kyoya's bed, and is shaking him gently. "Kyoooyyyaaaa!"

"What?" The shadow king spoke, barely stirring.

"The councilor man said you're not allowed to respond violently when people wake you up."

"Then tell people not to wake me up. Now fuck off and let me sleep." Haruhi thought that was reasonable, and was all but ready to leave Kyoya in peace when Tamaki spoke again.

"But Kyoya! We're having pancakes, and I brought coffee cream." Haruhi wasn't sure what he meant by that, maybe the cream you put in coffee? But by the way the other hosts froze, the same way they did when anyone mentioned fancy tuna to her- she assumed it was like catnip for the demon lord.

And as if by some miracle, Kyoya sat up, looking at Tamaki in suspicion. "The good kind? With-"

"With commoners coffee, yes." Tamaki nodded, a small smirk appearing on his face.

"Ugh, fine, but I'm having the entire jar." He slowly got out of bed, going to grab some clothes.

Haruhi… was amazed, and by the looks of it, so was Shin. She silently followed Tamaki out of the cabin and back to where they were eating. "Are you sure he can have a whole jar?" The twins spoke in unison, sounding slightly concerned.

At this, Tamaki looked very smug, pulling out a very little jar. "I brought these because I knew he'd try and pull something like that." The hosts all look very impressed, they're even clapping. Haruhi has to admit that certainly is a smart way to out-maneuver Kyoya.

The contents of the jar is brown and thick, like a whipped cream texture. Honey must have noticed her looking at it in confusion, because he pipes up. "It's whipped cream! It's been mixed with coffee and now it's very strong and very creamy. Kyo-chan loves it!"

"He isn't allowed it, because he's supposed to be limiting the amount of caffeine he has-" Hikaru starts, letting Kaoru finish. "but it clearly hasn't worked."

Haruhi chuckled at that, the image of Kyoya being told he's not allowed coffee is very funny to her- she doesn't think she's even ever seen him drink anything else.

When Kyoya saw the tiny jar he was given, he was highly annoyed, but still happy to completely and utterly coat his pancakes in it.

Tamaki spent most of that morning doing little games and puzzles on his own, and the afternoon was spent with the twins. He was finally getting used to this little change of pace, it wasn't that hard in reality. The less introspection he did, the less things seemed to interest him, sure it was enjoyable, but nothing was so dramatically simulating. He was able to spend hours brainstorming themes like he could before, it seemed like his emotional conflict had finally reached it's finale.

Then there were the noises he'd heard when near the lake. He wasn't quite sure what they were, but when he got closer he realised what they were- whimpers and squeaks. But not from an animal. He could hear voices too.

"Hold still, don't move." That was Shin's voice.

"Fuck, shit, don't do that." Kyoya… Kyoya was the one in pain.

Tamaki sped up, approaching where they were. He froze when he saw the scene before him.

Kyoya was sitting on the floor, leaning against a tree and looking paler than normal. Shin was standing over him, shirtless and pressing his shirt to… some very deep looking gashes on Kyoya's right arm. At the sight of his best friend's blood, Tamaki felt his own boil. "What the hell are you doing?" His tone was entirely accusatory, and he didn't care to correct it, for all he knew, he was right.

"I didn't do anything!" Shin cried out, clearly very anxious. "He got his arm stuck in a bear trap! Go get help!!"

"No." Kyoya interrupted, clearly attempting to use his threatening voice, but it came off as more of his normal tone due to how weak he was. "Shin, you go." Tamaki couldn't help but feel a spark of pride at that, watching the confusion on Shin's face.

"What? But Kyo-"

"Go. Before I fucking bleed out."

Shin sighed and nodded, standing up and looking at Tamaki. "Keep pressure on the wound."

Tamaki nodded, rushing to Kyoya's side as Shin ran back towards the camp. He keeps pressing the shirt to the wound, trying not to hurt Kyoya. "What happened? Was he telling the truth? Was it a bear trap or…" he trailed off, not wanting to say what he was thinking.

Kyoya just sighed, it was heavy but laboured and made Tamaki's hairs stand on end. "He didn't do a thing Tamaki, he helped me out of it actually…" His words sent a jolt of guilt through Tamaki, but it was largely ignored in favour of worrying for Kyoya's safety. He worried deeply for his friend, and the blood made him feel dizzy.

He heard a quiet whimper, and looked at Kyoya in surprise, finally noticing the tears in his vice president's eyes. Wow… this must really hurt. Tamaki didn't think he'd *ever* seen Kyoya cry before. He shifted to an angle so he could cradle him, while still keeping pressure on the wound. He's surprised when Kyoya leans into the touch, just softly leaning his head on Tamaki's shoulder- the most affection Kyoya has ever shown. At least in a language Tamaki can understand.

"I'm going to need to go to the hospital with this." Kyoya spoke, so quiet Tamaki had to be deathly silent to hear him. "When I do, I want you to call Fiyumi, I know she gave you her number." This was true, she'd told him to call her in an emergency or to let her know if Kyoya was sad- because heaven knows Kyoya wouldn't tell anyone.

"I will." Tamaki softly promises, mind still focused on making sure Kyoya wasn't losing too much blood. So focused in fact, he barely noticed when other people arrived, the gasps helped alert him though- as did Shin pushing him out of the way in order to help Kyoya up.

Mr Hirano was here, along with a few of the other campers, the entire host club had followed them too, looking to be slightly out of breath. Mr Hirano took a look at Kyoya's arm and took a sharp breath in through his teeth. "A beartrap did this? God, you're lucky it didn't take your arm off completely, a little twig like yourself." He touched the wound and Tamaki watched Kyoya restrain from punching him in the face.

Mr Hirano sighed. "Adrien's called for help, we're going to have to get you to a hospital."

"Would you mind taking me to a good one?" Kyoya asked, even when experiencing blood loss, he was ever the demanding one. "Preferably one owned by my father and not a rival."

Oh, so that's why. Tamaki had almost forgotten how ruthless the world they lived in was- sending Kyoya to a hospital owned by a rival was likely a death sentence. Mr Hirano didn't seem to understand it, but who was he to argue? They got Kyoya into a first responder car, with EMTs who instantly got to work on bandaging his arm temporarily.

Most other campers left to go continue their activities, but Honey and Mori went to ask Mr Hirano if they could borrow his truck. The remaining hosts looked to Tamaki for answers, he knew that expression- they wanted to know what happened.

"Shin was telling the truth," Tamaki began, feeling a pit in his stomach, "it was a bear trap. Kyoya's lucky to still have an arm." His words felt like a weight crushing them all, looking at his comrades he saw the same pain and worry in their eyes that he was sure were also his own. "He asked me to call Fiyumi."

When she answered the phone, he could hear the repetitive hum of her sewing machine. "Hello Tamaki, is there anything you need?"

"..." He took a deep breath, it was just his arm, it could be worse. "Kyoya's in the hospital."

"What??" He could hear the worry flooding her voice as she switched the sewing machine off. "What happened??"

"Bear trap." Tamaki was struggling to get the words out, by now they were in the truck. Haruhi leaned in and gently took the phone from him.

"Hello Ms Fiyumi, you haven't met me but I'm Haruhi- Tamaki-senpai's a little too distraught for a phone call right now, hope you don't mind." Tamaki couldn't hear what Fiyumi was saying anymore, only what Haruhi was saying. "Well Kyoya-senpai got his hand stuck in a bear trap so he's had to go to hospital," she was so much better at this then he was, and Tamaki was infinitely grateful, "yes, we made sure it was an Ootori owned hospital. Kyoya himself specified." Haruhi was just quietly nodding now, Tamaki just silently played with his hands. "We're driving over there now, uh, I'm not sure what location but it's near the summer camp?" She went to Google the name of the camp on her own phone but paused, responding to someone Fiyumi said. "Oh you know the location? Great, so we'll meet you there?" Tamaki was just staring out the window now, chewing on his shirt collar. "Alright, thank you

Bye."

Haruhi ends the call and hands the phone back to Tamaki. "How are you feeling senpai?"

"I'm… I'm just worried about him, he's supposed to be having fun…"

Haruhi sighed and put a hand on his shoulder, Tamaki is so very grateful for her level head. "Well, all we can really do is make sure we're there for him and you really were- you're his best friend, his favourite person. Just make sure you're there when he needs you, that's really all you can do."

Tamaki paused, nodding and giving her a slight smile. She was right, Tamaki couldn't do anything to help Kyoya out, other than at least try and keep him happy. But what Haruhi had said, about him being Kyoya's favourite person… that surprised him, he supposed he'd never even considered the fact that Kyoya could have a favourite person, let alone that it could be him. But he supposed that explained why Kyoya would rather have Tamaki by his side while in pain then Shin- his best friend who he's known for almost two years, or a dude he met like, three days ago.

Even as they walked through the hospital corridors, Tamaki couldn't get those thoughts out of his mind… his favourite person… Kyoya's favourite person…

He was however snapped out of his thoughts when he saw Yoshio Ootori himself enter the corridor, stop, look at them, then nod curtly. "Souh, Souh's friends."

They all nod in response, bowing their heads a little lower and mumbling a greeting. Tamaki frowns sympathetically, he couldn't imagine how worried the man must be. "I'm guessing you were told?"

Yoshio nods. "I was alerted the moment my son's name came up in the call, luckily I was already at this location." He adjusts his lab coat, sighing. "Would you care to tell me how you allowed my son to put his hand in a bear trap?" They were walking now, Mr Ootori leading the hosts presumably to where Kyoya was.

Tamaki wasn't exactly sure how to answer that, the way Yoshio spoke made it feel like it was somehow his fault, even if Tamaki had been nowhere near. "We weren't with him sir, I'm sorry." He bowed his head, hoping that was satisfactory for him.

Yoshio stares at him with burning eyes, clearly Tamaki's answer wasn't acceptable. The twins spoke up, speaking in shakey unison. "Yeah, we were nowhere near, if anything, blame his boyfriend."

Every single person there froze, the twins when they realised what they'd just said and who they'd said it to, the other hosts the moment they heard the word leave the twins lips. Even Yoshio froze, but for a much different reason.

After what felt like forever, Yoshio Ootori adjusted his posture, fixed his glasses the same way Kyoya does when it's serious time- in such a way that the light hides his eyes, and crossed his arms.

"What did you just say?"

[mypunkpansexualtwin]

Sumire and Ryuji from persona 5!

Hi volt! Sorry this took a while! Under a cut cause it’s gonna be a little long.

And for context for the rest of my followers, send me a character and I’ll talk about them!

Ryuji first! Because it’s the boy!

do I like them: Like him? Like him??? I adore the boy! That’s my boy! 

5 good qualities: 1) Okay I know a lot of people put it in the negative qualities, but his anger. It consistently comes from a place of compassion, of seeing people being treated less than they deserve! I love a good example of righteous fury and Ryuji has it in spades. Plus, for me at least, it’s relatable. 2) That said, even if it’s (in my humble onion) good anger, it can get ahead of him/out of hand, and he recognizes that. And when it goes too far, he apologizes! He knows, admittedly often in retrospect, when he’s gone too far and needs to make up for it. And then he does! 3) Loyal, kind of to a fault. He’s ride or die for the protag from day one to endgame, even if you take the options to be an asshole to him and throw him under the bus for the entire game. He’s still looking out for the track team even though they don’t want anything to do with him. He deserves better. 4) He loves his mama. 5) That smile. Enough said.

3 bad qualities: 1) Always putting himself down. He’s fantastic and needs his confidence back. No, honey, you do not deserve to be beat up by your ex-teammates from track. I’m gonna beat them up right back, and then the people who let you think this way, starting with Atlus. 2) Protag can’t romance him. It’s not his fault though. 3) Poor boy got slapped with the Token Perv designation. (There is a pattern here to his bad qualities that are more about Atlus than the character himself.)

favourite episode/etc: I love his awakening (granted, I love all the awakenings) but probably my favorite thing is when he just. Invites you to go fishing on his birthday? Without actually telling you that’s what day it is? He just decides that what he wants for his birthday is to spend the day with his best friend just chillin’??? But doesn’t wanna pressure you? He’s! A good! Boy!

otp: Akiryu, pegoryu, whatever you wanna call it. Skull and Joker are soulmates and that’s that on that.

brotp: Ryuji&Ann and Ryuji&Futaba are my favorites, but just in general he deserves all the friendships.

ot3 ot4: Ryuji/Akira/Makoto/Haru. I could go on at length about why I adore the potential dynamic here. But I won’t on this post. Feel free to ask me about it sometime though. Buuut it’ll probably take me a while to answer, fair warning.

notp: Honestly, as long as it isn’t something Overtly Gross (cause 16), I don’t really have a notp for him. He’s full of love that needs to be shared.

best quote: Listen, we all love the “bein’ free” and “my place is next to you” quotes, so those go without saying. Instead, consider: “My whole life I thought I was banned from watching R-rated movies because my mom told me it stands for no-Ryuji.”

head canon: Shit, normally I have a few dozen headcanons rattling around in my brain at a time, but today I got nothin’ that I can dredge up and put to paper (metaphorically) so instead, uh, this song always makes me think of him.

And Sumi!

do I like them: I really do, partly out of spite for the part of the fandom that doesn’t like her, mostly out of genuine enjoyment for the character.

5 good qualities: 1) I’ll say it flat out, I respect her saying that the Phantom Thieves aren’t a permanent solution to society’s problems and that while they’re doing good work for those with no other options, society as a whole would stagnate for relying on them and not facing their own problems head-on. Because she’s absolutely right (as seen in the 12/24 Bad Ending), regardless of the particular irony of her circumstances when she said it. 2) Her overall growth from depression and self-deprecation to unflinching determination is super admirable and tbh kinda resonated with me. 3) Again, respect for turning down the Phantom Thieves to focus on herself. I like an ally character who won’t immediately bend over backwards for a player character, it keeps things interesting. 4) Impressively sneaky. Very important for a Phantom Thief, even if she isn’t officially one until almost the end. Tailed them in Sae’s palace without tipping them off on the 18th, eavesdropped on the conversation with Lavenza and just turned up in Maruki’s palace like it was no big deal, she’s fuckin’ impressive. 5) Who doesn’t love a good cook?

3 bad qualities: 1) Not her fault, but the big gap in the story between maxing her confidant early on in the game and then not being really relevant at all until 3rd semester save for a couple of “hey remember she’s still around” cutscenes leaves her feeling really isolated from the rest of the game. It’s more an issue of the writing not making an effort to connect her to the rest of the group/story at large. (I have my issues with Persona 4 Golden, but the New Girl confidant was at least better linked to the rest of the team during her social link.) 2) Girl I get the depression aspect, but why did you think Kasumi wouldn’t have mourned your death beyond, “well now I’m gonna keep working at this goal for both of us”??? (I know, I know, she is grieving, but a lot less that we see her do as Sumire, and again, the depressive spiral that made her take off like that anyways, but still.) 3) Another complaint more at the writing team than at the character herself, but I do wish that the protag could have been a little more of a smartass to her like he can to the rest of the team. “Are you going to the park cleanup too?” “Nah, I’m wearing my school gym clothes for fun.” Y’know, harmless sass like that. She suffers from a little bit of “Here’s The New Waifu, Now Love Her” writing. 4) Atlus, please give me a Confidant item that gives me those sweet, sweet perks back in NG+.

favourite episode/etc: Her second/real awakening during the third semester. Partly because by the time we got to Makoto’s awakening, the tearing-off-the-mask moment was more of a “okay you’ve seen this part, on to The Reveal” and that was disappointing because I liked how visceral and cathartic the first three were, and boy did hers fuckin’ deliver on that. It was fantastic.

otp: I’m a sucker for Sumitaba. Although Harusumi snuck up on me recently.

brotp: Ann&Sumire and Yusuke&Sumire, but again just give her all the friends. And then a couple more just for good measure.

ot3: Sumire/Enough Food To Fuel The Growing Athlete/Writing That Doesn’t Food Shame Her

notp: Again, as long as it’s not an Overtly Nasty, You Need Jesus ship (saw one person ship her and maruki and just. Yikes.), I don’t really have a notp for her. That said, my first playthrough was more “that’s my little sister” than a character I wanted to romance, so shusumi took a little bit of a brain adjustment.

best quote: “I am myself! I’ll never forget that again!” Fuck yeah, girl, heal from that trauma!

head canon: Haru and the Yoshizawa twins were friends as very little kids in the same beginner ballet class.

[remuswriting]

What I’ve Learned In My Creative Writing Class: Character

Disclaimer: I may sound aggressive and people may think I’m “calling them out” but I’m not.  When looking at things to address, I just scrolled through Tumblr to see what the most requested things were.  Nothing against anyone.

Here is a mixture of things I learned from my professor and have learned over creating characters the last 11 years.  In writing, character is probably the most important thing.  If you write a character that doesn’t keep the reader entertained or become attached to them, then your character isn’t doing their job. It’s similar to if we know someone super boring, typically we try to avoid them (I could just be a bad person though).  In x reader writing, Y/N is a character.  Characters need more than just a name and description but a backstory, personality, insecurities, and identity.

Backstory

I kind of blend backstory and personality in this but I think it flows together??

Y/N needs a backstory just like canon characters do.  They need a family, friend group, interests, childhood memories, and more.  The reader doesn’t have to know all these things but the author does.  How do you know what your character would do if you don’t even know your character? I’ll repeat this; Y/N is a character. We may not know how you picture them physically and can come up with that ourselves, but that’s all we can do. We can’t create a personality for Y/N because that’s your job.  I may get controversial in this.

You’re requested to write flirty reader.  Why is Y/N flirty?  How is Y/N flirty?  Are they trying to gain something from acting like that?  Are they just flirty on accident?  Have they always been flirty?  Did something happen that now they act like that?  You can tell when there is no depth to a character when you don’t have any of these questions answered.  I become more interested when a character mentions that Y/N hasn’t always been flirty like they are now and I’m curious as to why because it could answer one of the questions listed above.  I’m aware that requests like that are meant for quick fluff but I’m never satisfied with fluff.  There’s never enough substance to a character for me to really like it.  Before I point out other commonly seen things that could be enhanced, let me explain what I mean by the things I explain with one of my own pieces.

In Kisses, a Hinata fluff drabble I wrote, I pictured Y/N’s whole day as well as friends, relations to people, his college major, and why he shares government with Tsukishima before I started writing and only wrote 634 words.  I hinted at those things because it was important to in order to get the whole effect of what I’m trying to portray.

Y/N says his day is okay and his government class was boring, even with Tsukishima next to him. He hates his government class, which either means his professor sucks or it’s hot his strong suit academically. In this context, it’s the first one. He and Tsukishima share the same major: Paleontology.  He’s how Y/N and Hinata met each other and is decently close to Y/N.  They’ve matched up schedules because of this.  I didn’t write all of this because I doubt the reader wanted me to go on a tangent about it but I wanted there to be a justified reason of why Y/N mentioned Tsukishima so casually.  It also just adds more to me as a writer when writing because there’s more to work off of.

Y/N is close to Hinata’s teammates, which means they’ve been dating for a while.  He knows how Osamu owns an onigiri store and knows Atsumu well enough that he doesn’t particularly like him because of his personality. He’s nice to him though and tries to make him feel included because Y/N’s friends made him feel like the third wheel when Hinata wasn’t there.  It shows that there’s a kindness to him and makes you wonder if that’s why Hinata fell for him.

I thought of all of this before I started writing.  It adds more personality and depth to the character, even if minimal, if you know their backstory.  You don’t have to have an entire childhood backstory (unless needed) but it helps to know more about your character beyond the fact that they’re flirty.

Focus

Don’t focus a character around one thing.

The flirty character thing is part of a personality and can be woven into different things when done right. A tall reader shouldn’t be just about how scared everyone is of them because their height.  How does Y/N feel about their height?  Are they self-conscious?  Do they even care?  Also, for the love the god, stop requesting seven foot readers.  I have received four of those in the past and it’s unrealistic and annoying. So, Y/N is tall.  What else do they have about them?  Let’s say they are insecure of how tall they are, what do they do to hide that insecurity?  A fun example of what I’m trying to say is in “Roy Spivey” by Miranda July.  In the first three to four paragraphs, she mentions her height and what she does to go against it in a way.

For this reason, I always let men see me asleep early on in a relationship. It makes them realize that even though I am five feet eleven I am fragile and need to be taken care of. A man who can see the weakness of a giant knows that he is a man indeed.

This may not exactly scream “I am insecure of my height” by any means but she is aware of her height. Instead of sleeping, what does your character do to distract from their height if they’re self-conscious over it? Or do they love the fact they’re tall? If so, then what to do they do to show it off?  Being tall is something but how someone reacts to it is another thing.

This applies to more than just tall readers but also readers who blush all the time (Touma Kikuchi from Ao Haru Ride), short readers, etc.  You can use your characters so much better if you know they feel about the things you’re focused on.

Accuracy

If you’ve followed me long enough, then you know I have a thing about accuracy.  I do a lot of research for everything I write, even if I think I am extraordinarily knowledgeable about the subject.  This part is pretty optional depending on who you are as writer.  I like things to feel real and be accurate but there are people who don’t care about that. Neither side is wrong.  I do this a lot because of research I’ve done for novels I’ve written before and it makes me feel content.  For Haikyuu, I just know the timeline near exact to where I don’t have to check to see what month certain things happened in.  This is a me thing because I think it helps.  It may not, writing is all opinion based anyways.

Volleyball player/manager Y/N is a common thing I see and I have written for both of them.  I know literally nothing about volleyball, not counting what is taught in Haikyuu as well as the couple of matches my brother and I watched on YouTube, so I researched things.  Sports are one of those things that it is hard to be 100% accurate unless you know the sport.  I try not to write out game scenes because I don’t know how to explain what each move is but I can do a recap after the match of a character thinking it over. They’re thinking about how maybe the blockers blocked a spike or they fucked up a receive or how angry someone was when something happened.  If you write in third person, this creates a more first person like atmosphere and makes the reader closer to the character.

Accuracy with characters can do a lot to make them well-rounded and realistic.  This can go into other things besides sports like choir, band, cheer, soccer, basketball, etc. (I am actually decent at writing soccer because it’s the best sport ever.)

For me, realism and accuracy makes the story more enjoyable.  In my class, we discussed how flat character who are doing something incorrectly make us put a story down faster than anything else.  You have to see Y/N as a character in order to be able to use them to your full ability.  You can’t do half-assed anything with them because they are essentially more important than a canon character because it’s focused on them.  Basically, put the same effort into everyone you write but the focal character (usually Y/N) should be focused on more and should be the character you know the best.

Surroundings

Everyone is influenced by their surroundings. This typically affects their decisions and view but maybe not their personality.  I’ve discussed this before on Japan and LGBT, but I’ll do it again.

Let’s say that even though Y/N is the gayest person to ever exist, they aren’t likely to be open about it in Japan.  In my previously mentioned post, I talked about how gay relationships are still seen as taboo (it is decreasing slowly though) and usually fetishized.  Trans individuals are even more likely to not be open about it.  Wandering Son by Takako Shimura is one of my favorite mangas that talks about LGBT things but sadly it does make trans men feel slightly like a joke.  It shows the language and shame forcing trans people to stay in the closet.  From numerous articles I’ve read, the shame is decreasing but that doesn’t mean the struggle isn’t as bad as it has been.  I believe the youngest person to have sterilization surgery (what must be completed to be seen as your gender to the Japanese government) was 20 years old. Also, there are very few places they can go to receive hormone replacement and gender therapy.

I’m focusing on Japan for this because it’s where anime takes place.  I write male reader and I take this into account while writing.  It affects how they interact with others and their thought process.  Are they struggling with their identity?  What is their family like?  Even if their parents are accepting, are going to be open about it?  How far are they willing to go to hide it?

Understanding the surroundings of your character affects who they are and how they respond to things. This also takes part in their internal struggles and maybe what the conflict of the story could be if focused on their identity.

Internal Struggle

Everyone has at least one internal struggle.  Usually people have a lot more but in fiction you try to focus on one because real life doesn’t always transfer over in that regard.  Struggles make your decisions though because you’re trying to deal with it. Characters are meant to feel like real people.  My professor said that the goal is to write your character to where people will talk about them as if they’re a real person.

This can be difficult to do with Y/N but that doesn’t mean you can’t try.  I always try to think of what is a struggle Y/N is going through that is either easily seen or never addressed.  If I went through all of my one-shots, then I can tell you and explain why I did that.  Does having a struggle mean that people see them as real people?  No but at least there’s a chance they could.  I really tried to make Y/N in my ficlet First Words more realistic but I don’t think I did the best job.  It’s okay to not be perfect at it because it’s really hard to nail down original characters but reader characters are even harder.

It doesn’t matter how hard it is to make a character realistic because they do still need a struggle. There is character driven story and plot driven story; people prefer the first.  An example would be Harry Potter or there’s also Forest Gump.  We’re not focused so much on each plot point but what the character is doing during it.  We love the character more than we love the story.