#literally only the first two months of the blog had no p3 on it. which is funny given how much p3 has stuck around since then

[crescentfool]

i just realized this blog is going to be three years old this year 🤯

[princekirijo]

This is the first time I've rlly heard about Riku since I followed you, what's his deal? :0 would you mind telling me a little bit about him?

HELLO THERE YES ABSOLUTELY I WILL TELL YOU ALL ABOUT MY BOY!!!!

Ok so this is the first ask I ever answered about him and it is a semi good summary of his plot but a lot has happened since then (it was over a year ago) so I'll go over it again here for convenience. This predictably got long af so it's under a read more.

Also if you want any more random bits of info you can find it by searching for "riku kirijo" on my blog (or on Tumblr itself he has his own tag 💀)! I make random little fact posts about him so there's more info in those. You'll also probably find my older art for him for his previous design, but the last art piece I did is his design as of now and probably won't be changed cause I'm super happy with it. Also if you look under "oc tag" or "au tag" I tag some random posts with those if I think they fit the au (it's usually silly jokes and stuff).

Basically Riku is my Persona 5 OC and he's the eldest (and only) son of Yukari and Mitsuru from P3 (I'm sure you know by now I'm a massive Yukamitsu fan but if not now you do 💀). Now obvs there's not enough of a time gap in canon for this to be possible so the gap in this AU is about 30 years, I haven't worked that part out yet. He also has one sister (Yuna).

Riku's story starts really about two years before the events of P5 (btw I mean Royal but I'm just gonna refer to it as P5 cause I'm lazy). Basically he was feeling very lonely, had a hard time making friends and felt he needed to step out of his moms shadows. So he decides to move to Tokyo to get a chance to live out on his own and have a change of scenery. Because he's only 14/15 at the time he can't live on his own and for reasons I'll go into another time, his moms can't come with him. So enter Chiyoko Hatanaka, one of Mitsuru's high ranking staff who offers to become Riku's guardian of sorts while he's in Tokyo. Mitsuru agrees and Riku moves to Tokyo with her enrolling in Kosei High (he's in the same class as Yusuke and Hifumi).

However a few months after they moved, Hatanaka starts to drop her nice act and reveals her true colors and starts abusing Riku (both physically and mentally). I won't reveal the reason why as that's a huge spoiler and I plan on doing something with this story eventually. Riku doesn't tell anyone ofc because he's too scared (Hatanaka has some serious dirt on the Kirijo Group which she uses to blackmail him). So Mitsuru and Yukari have no idea this is happening but have noticed weird changes in his behavior whenever he comes home to visit.

Fast forward to just after Madarame's Palace and Yusuke mentions to the thieves that there's someone he'd like to look into - Hatanaka. He and Riku had this kind of mutual understanding of what was happening to them but never really acknowledged it (they didn't know how - I planning on going into more detail another time). The thieves agree after they see her name on the Phansite (anonymous request from Riku himself). At the TV station the shujin trio actually meet Riku (he's there because Yukari or Mitsuru are giving an interview idk yet). He introduces himself after telling some creep hitting on Ann to fuck off and he's very chatty and kind UNTIL Hatanaka shows up when he becomes super quiet. The thieves are like huh that's weird we should look into this chick for sure. So they do and ofc she has a Palace.

They start investigating and they find out her palace is at her and Riku's apartment (more of a penthouse) and the keyword is Studio. The palace is called "The Studio of Arrogance" and is modeled after a TV station. Riku accidentally gets dragged in and captured by Hatanaka's goons. The thieves find Hatanaka interrogating a chained up Riku where she reveals a few things (again spoilers) and torments him. He has enough, breaks free of his chains and then BOOM Persona time.

His persona is Pimpernel, the titular character in the book The Scarlet Pimpernel. He specializes in Physical and Aqua (Water element from P2) attacks and his best stat is speed (easily the fastest thief).

Riku and the thieves fight off against her goons, and escape to a safe room where they tell Riku everything. Riku also wants to change Hatanaka's heart so he teams up with the thieves with his code name being "Noble". I have a WIP of his phantom thief outfit and Pimpernel so I won't say much about the design for now (purple Flynn rider that's the best mini description I can give 💀)

After they've beaten Hatanaka's palace and changed her heart successfully the rest of the story is pretty much the same but with Riku in it. Mitsuru, Yukari and Yuna also play big roles because the three of them move to Tokyo to stay with Riku after they find out about the abuse. They each have their own background arc too but aside from Mitsuru I don't really have any ideas for them yet (even Mitsuru's is a concept idea).

And that's pretty much his story for now at least! If there's anything specific you want to know please ask because I will literally sit here for hours and rant about him <3

[disneydreamlights]

Ticole, Skyuuya, Matt/Luca, NiNick, Syrice/Alex, Akiham, Shuake, Chrobin

 Like per usual, fandom ships above read more. OC ships below.

AkiHam:

big spoon/little spoon: Akihiko is big spoon. He’s like a lot bigger than Minako if I’m remembering correctly.

favorite non-sexual activity: You can’t tell me they don’t have eating contests regularly. Mr. Protein beef bowl and Ms. Don’t Touch My Food or I kill you both have to fight over this.

who uses all the hot water: Minako, I cannot explain this thought but Akihiko seems like the guy who would shower in an absolutely cold shower. Minako meanwhile will turn the water up to eleven.

most trivial thing they fight over: “Akihiko you need a diet other than protein” “No.” Okay so here’s the thing, Minako and Akihiko are the type of couple to fight over the stupidest things but never anything serious. So it’s probably something insanely dumb like who destroyed the most Shadows in Tartarus.

who does most of the cleaning: Minako. Akihiko’s room is sorta a mess if I’m remembering the room explorations correctly.

what has a season pass on their dvr/who controls the netflix queue: Minako watches a ton of TV and thus pays for all of it. Akihiko just watches whatever she does.

who calls up the super/landlord when the heat’s not working: Akihiko calls Mitsuru, because she’s probably his landlord.

who steals the blankets: MINAKO IS A BLANKET THIEF YOU CAN’T TELL ME OTHERWISE.

who leaves their stuff around: Again Akihiko’s room is kinda a mess, I’d bet he leaves his stuff all over the place.

who remembers to buy the milk: Akihiko? Remembering to buy anything other than protein? Nah.

who remembers anniversaries: Both of them. Akihiko writes it down for months to make sure that he doesn’t forget and Minako just naturally remembers because she remembers all important dates.

Who cooks normally? ...I wouldn’t trust Akihiko to cook. I really wouldn’t.

How often do they fight? Playful bickering? Probably a fair amount of times. Serious arguing? I can really only think of one in my headcanon, because I headcanon that Akihiko was the one who pushed Minako to make the right decision on New Years Eve, but it took a fight to get them there, so it’s very very rare.

What do they do when they’re away from each other? Akihiko does boxing and training, as well as his studies. Minako does her various club and school activities and socializing.

Nicknames for each other? Minako calls him “Aki” after their rank ten, and she’s one of few people to do it. I headcanon that he calls her “Mina” in return.

Who is more likely to pay for dinner? Minako has a ton of money after P3 sooooooo...

Who steals the covers at night? Again, Minako’s a blanket thief, she totally does this.

What would they get each other for gifts? HEY I’M SUPER FUCKING EMOTIONAL OVER THIS MINOR P3 SPOILERS FOR THE SOCIAL THING THAT SOLD ME ON THIS BOY. Okay so on Christmas Eve Akihiko buys Minako a music box which is a) The best item in the game (seriously, unlimited SP heals, it’s awesome) and b) is symbolic of a promise. Every Christmas afterwards he plans on buying her jewelry, as a promise to each other that they’ll both make it out and defeat Nyx and it’s basically his hope for the future and I love this boy so much. As for his gift, Minako makes them all, because Minako is super crafty.

Who kissed who first? I had to think about this for a sec and I’m pretty sure it was Minako who does this? I think???

Who made the first move? ...Minako

Who remembers things? Minako naturally remembers, Akihiko makes notes in an effort to remember.

Who started the relationship? YOU THINK AKIHIKO CAN START ANYTHING ROMANTICALLY??? You have to tell this idiot how he feels to start romancing him.

Who cusses more? Minako has surprisingly bad language, neither of them use a lot but I think Minako might a bit more?

What would they do if the other was hurt? Minako would beat herself up because she failed her team. Akihiko would prepare to kill anything in his path, anything in an attempt to bury his pain and lose himself.

Shuake:

big spoon/little spoon: Akira is a big spoon in any and all relationships and that’s final.

favorite non-sexual activity: I can see the both of them spending hours sitting over some kind of puzzle or strategy game and either working together or going against each other.

who uses all the hot water: Akechi spoils himself in some ways now that he can and the hot water is definitely a thing he can spoil himself with.

most trivial thing they fight over: Knowing these two? Literally everything.

who does most of the cleaning: Both. Akechi can’t handle messes because he needs to have control over every little detail possible. Akira is just a naturally neat person and so he tidies up quickly.

what has a season pass on their dvr/who controls the netflix queue: Akechi does and he uses it for kids animes. This is a boy who was obsessed with hero animes and the like.

who calls up the super/landlord when the heat’s not working: Akira. Akechi probably wouldn’t care and just put up with it. Even if he hates the cold

who steals the blankets: Morgana steals it from both of them, much to Akechi’s annoyance.

who leaves their stuff around: Like with the cleaning question, I can’t really see either of them doing this.

who remembers to buy the milk: Akira, he’s probably in charge of food in general for the two of them, so he takes care of it.

who remembers anniversaries: Both of them remember this at least.

Who cooks normally? Akira’s a good cook, Akechi doesn’t really care half as much about food, you know, despite running a food blog.

How often do they fight? A lot, especially in the beginning. As time goes on though they mellow out considerably.

What do they do when they’re away from each other? Akechi has his work as a detective to fall back on, and the two also have a lot of studying to do.

Nicknames for each other? God I cannot see either of these two using cutesy nicknames ever.

Who is more likely to pay for dinner? Akechi probably pays for most but there are at least a few times that Akira decides to try and pay.

Who steals the covers at night? Akechi, he gets colder easier if you want my opinion so he would need more blankets at night.

What would they get each other for gifts? Akira goes out of his way to find Akechi limited edition Featherman merch. Akechi gets Akira small sentimental items, because that’s the sort of thing Akira appreciates.

Who kissed who first? Akira’s the smooth one, he’s the one who kisses first.

Who made the first move? So Akechi confesses first, he absolutely does not expect Akira to respond but then Akira does and he’s like “??? Somebody actually likes me?????”

Who remembers things? Akira has a much better memory when it comes to smaller things. Akechi has a good memory, but his focus means that he doesn’t always remember when it matters.

Who started the relationship? Akechi

Who cusses more? DEPENDS because when Akechi wears his pleasant boy face? He hardly ever curses, but the moment he drops the facade, he has no filter.

What would they do if the other was hurt? Akechi would kill. Akira would do what he can to protect and hold off.

Chrobin:

big spoon/little spoon: Chrom is big spoon that’s all I’m saying.

favorite non-sexual activity: Chrom just really likes listening to Robin read. They kinda mutter to themself a lot over the text they’re reading and they just have quiet conversations over whatever the story is, probably some bickering over the story as well.

who uses all the hot water: Chrom is spoiled and uses way too much hot water. Everybody in the castle hates him for it, not just Robin.

most trivial thing they fight over: All I can think of is the F!Robin/Chrom supports where the entire thing is just trivial fighting and honestly? That’s probably it.

who does most of the cleaning: Robin. I cannot imagine Chrom ever having a clean home or organized whatsoever.

what has a season pass on their dvr/who controls the netflix queue: I feel like Chrom would be the one with this. He’s a total nerd and he tries to get Robin into the same stuff as him.

who calls up the super/landlord when the heat’s not working: Chrom is the landlord.

who steals the blankets: Robin steals the blankets. When you spend all that time in a cloak you’re bound to prefer things warmer, and thus they try to steal blankets all the time.

who leaves their stuff around: Robin. They clean it up later but they’re an organized mess and while they’re working it means things end up in random places until they’re done doing their tactician stuff.

who remembers to buy the milk: Frederick. Robin and Chrom are banned from anything that involves food or groceries.

who remembers anniversaries: Chrom puts forth like super extra effort on the anniversaries to make sure that Robin always has one to remember.

Who cooks normally? Again, Frederick.

How often do they fight? Almost never. Robin and Chrom trust each other explicitly and know better than to step on each other’s toes. The only time they’ve ever truly fought was when it was revealed Robin was Grima.

What do they do when they’re away from each other? I mean...Chrom has a kingdom to rule, Robin has strategies. They both have friends to hang around and kids to take care of. They just kinda go about their lives.

Nicknames for each other? Just all sorts of general pet names, no real specific nicknames that stick.

Who is more likely to pay for dinner? ...I mean Chrom’s a prince, I think he has money.

Who steals the covers at night? Chrom does. Sorta. It’s more like he serves as Robin’s covers and then uses the covers for himself.

What would they get each other for gifts? Robin’s gift is that they pay for all the damage that Chrom causes around the castle and doesn’t tell other people. That and they get him small things that make them think of him, like it’s more gifts from the heart than anything else. Chrom gets Robin memories. And I mean that literally, he’ll buy them things based on things that they’ve done. So even if they forget, they remember.

Who kissed who first? This is the only thing I’m pretty sure Robin did first, in secret, in the tactician tent after Chrom confessed.

Who made the first move? Chrom. Robin is not about to date during the middle of a war, let alone the person in charge of the army.

Who remembers things? Robin makes sure to never forget anything, since they’re always worried about that.

Who started the relationship? Chrom. Again, Robin wasn’t even willing to move forward with it until after the war. Chrom was.

Who cusses more? Chrom has a sailors mouth and you can’t convince me otherwise.

What would they do if the other was hurt? Based on his reaction after what happened to Emmeryn? Chrom probably goes mad in grief and fear. Robin has a much quieter method, and chooses to make the more strategically sound option while trying to keep Chrom safe. They stay rational.

Ticole:

big spoon/little spoon: Nicole is too small to be the big spoon and honestly? That’s a shame.

favorite non-sexual activity: Is dragon raising a valid answer? I’m pretty sure it’s dragon raising Nicole loves her pet dragon. Also hanging around with their friends.

who uses all the hot water: ...honestly Nicole? She showers in water so hot it probably burns.

most trivial thing they fight over: Do they fight???? Nicole is bad at fighting people she cares about and Tip is timid as hell I don’t even know what or when they’d be fighting at all?

who does most of the cleaning: Tip definitely prefers to do the cleaning. Nicole helps out whenever she can, but Tip does it more.

what has a season pass on their dvr/who controls the netflix queue: Nicole. Mostly for Disney stuff. *shot*

who calls up the super/landlord when the heat’s not working: They own their own house.

who steals the blankets: Nicole wraps Tip in all the blankets and then admires the cute blanket burrito that is the product of all her energy.

who leaves their stuff around: Probably Nicole??? I’m honestly not really sure.

who remembers to buy the milk: Pretty sure this is Tip. He probably has lists and triple checks them.

who remembers anniversaries: I don’t think either of them could forget honestly. Tip is hyperfocused on remembering every single important date and Nicole is just super dedicated where she never would.

Who cooks normally? Tip

How often do they fight? Honestly??? Like never. I don’t think they’ve fought once. I really don’t. I can’t remember rping any fights for them.

What do they do when they’re away from each other? Hahahahahahahahaha. Okay we’re going with normal away from each other and not that alive/death thing. Nicole’s probably hanging out with Ian and Charles or in the arena earning a little bit of extra gold if Tip’s with Ian and Charles and they’re not together. Tip’s probably reading or helping take care of Celestia.

Nicknames for each other? There was a weird phase where Nicole called Tip “Tippy” in SC but uh...neither of them are really nicknamey people tbh.

Who is more likely to pay for dinner? I mean they share funds pretty much always since rp funds are collaborative anyways.

Who steals the covers at night? ...honestly Nicole. She’ll never admit it, but she gets cold super easy.

What would they get each other for gifts? Man Tip bought Nicole like...a house, won her a dragon, I don’t think she’s topping that. But she does at least try. I think honestly though in all seriousness they tend to just get each other little things. There’s not really any big things but just tiny little signs of happiness.

Who kissed who first? Nicole, for sure.

Who made the first move? Nicole asked Tip to raise a dragon with her, so I’d say it was probably her.

Who remembers things? Both do.

Who started the relationship? Tip confessed first, so I guess that’d mean he was the one to start the relationship.

Who cusses more? Nicole. She has...moderately bad language. Tip cursed once and it was so ooc I almost washed his mouth out with soap.

What would they do if the other was hurt? Tip would try to heal her right away, and do what he could to keep her stable while boosting other people so they can get out of the battle. Nicole would...go murderous whoops.

Skyuuya:

big spoon/little spoon: Yuuya’s too tall for Sky to be big spoon so I guess she’s just gotta be the little spoon here.

favorite non-sexual activity: We’ve put these two through...so much...are they even allowed to have fun??? Is that legal??? I think at this point so long as they’re together and alive, it’s a favorite activity. (On that note though, I am a music bitch. I remember you headcanoning Yuuya playing Saxophone and I always like the idea of Sky playing flute. Let them play some duets when they have free time together.)

who uses all the hot water: I can’t see either of them doing this honestly? Forgetting their situation I don’t see either of them as long shower people.

most trivial thing they fight over: Their relationship is built on bickering it probably has something to do with Yuuya being dumb of ass.

who does most of the cleaning: Both, they’re both clean enough people where I can’t see them just kinda leaving things a mess if they have a chance to clean.

what has a season pass on their dvr/who controls the netflix queue: So it’s actually Sera’s but Sky has a profile and so whenever they go on dates she just casually puts it on.

who calls up the super/landlord when the heat’s not working: Yuuya would if they had a landlord. Spoiler alert: They kinda don’t despair world ain’t a place for that.

who steals the blankets: Sky. She’s long since learned that Yuuya would rather her have them than himself and so she ends up just taking them for herself.

who leaves their stuff around: They don’t really have a lot of stuff, but Sky’s a lot more likely to do this than Yuuya is.

who remembers to buy the milk: Good memory means that they both manage to remember.

who remembers anniversaries: Both of them do, but given that Yuuya’s a foppish romantic he has a tendency to remember them earlier and do more of the prep work for celebrating.

Who cooks normally? Sky probably does it more often than not. I’m sure Yuuya does on dates because he wants to treat Sky well but outside of that? Sky.

How often do they fight? I’d like to think after the conversation where Sky learns Yuuya’s a spy in PoD, they very rarely have a true fight. Most of them afterwards would probably come after Sylvia and Leone are born, and the two of them have to come to terms with the fact that if something happens to them then that fucks the kids but also neither really wants to stop trying to save the world, if they ever happened at all.

What do they do when they’re away from each other? Sky does a lot of training, or reaches out to contact Sera and do offworld missions. Yuuya does a lot of his spy stuff, or hangs around Hiyoko and Sakuya. (If Sakuya will let him.)

Nicknames for each other? Yuuya calls Sky “mon amie” which I guess technically he kinda does to a lot of people, but he gradually reserves it only for Sky when she does become his love. Sky meanwhile calls him “birdbrain” which started as a meta joke (because Yuuya’s a Hatoful Boyfriend character get it?) and an insult but gradually just kinda became this endearing name. Like if anybody else called him that it’d probably be mean but there’s no real other way to describe it besides teasing at this point.

Who is more likely to pay for dinner? I’m pretty sure Yuuya would want to treat Sky for dinner as many times as he possibly can, even if she doesn’t let him.

Who steals the covers at night? Sky makes extra efforts to share them, because neither of them are full cover thiefs. But on really cold nights she might steal the extra ones.

What would they get each other for gifts? A Keyblade Okay so first of all I have to just like...make this clear, I think in general getting gifts for each other is very difficult between the two? The nature of the world kinda makes it hard to do traditional gifts, so I think the gifts are less possession in nature and more like...experience gifts. So like for a gift they might take each other to a peaceful night where they can pretend the world isn’t ending.

Who kissed who first? Sky did. Mostly to make him shut up after asking for one. Mostly.

Who made the first move? Technically Yuuya did. I mean he flirted with her in like...the first ten minutes of meeting her.

Who remembers things? Both of them. As spies and heroes, having a good memory to do things is kinda a very important skill to have.

Who started the relationship? Sky confessed, so that’d mean probably her.

Who cusses more? Yuuya. Sky very, very rarely curses, if ever, so he kinda wins by default.

What would they do if the other was hurt? HEY ZOE REMEMBER WHEN SKY GOT KILLED AND YUUYA JUST COMPLETELY SHUT DOWN LIKE FIRST HIS EMOTIONS AND THEN HIMSELF. I do. I still hurt. Holy hell ow. Anyways he would probably do whatever he could to save her to avoid that happening because never ever again. Sky herself is likely trying to suppress her panic response, and just does her best to get him to a healer like...as quickly as possible. They’ve been through this much together and she’s not about to let him die now.

Matt/Luca

big spoon/little spoon: Luca is little spoon for one big important reason, he is absolutely terrified to like close Matt in in any possible way because he wants to avoid causing a panic attack.

favorite non-sexual activity: A part of me wants to joke and say Matt’s a corruptive influence and their favorite activity is stealing and sneaking but in all seriousness it’s hard to say. I’d honestly probably say playing sports together, since while Luca’s a huge dork, he’s also fairly good in shape and decent at several sports, while Matt you’ve mentioned has issues with doing less...active activities, so it allows him to keep moving as well. Matt also probably sometimes just does running and Luca draws him.

who uses all the hot water: Both do so it’s whoever showers first. Matt’s a little shit and probably does it on purpose to annoy people. Luca’s Luca and spends an hour in the shower so that uses a lot of hot water.

most trivial thing they fight over: Lila’s dogs. Matt adores them long after they’re no longer in the apartment, Luca still insists their monsters.

who does most of the cleaning: Luca’s very much a disorganized mess. His entire house will only have an organizational method that makes sense to him. So Matt probably has to be the one to do this.

what has a season pass on their dvr/who controls the netflix queue: Luca’s the only one of these two who cares enough about movies to have this.

who calls up the super/landlord when the heat’s not working: Considering at least the current apartment is in his name, Luca has to do this.

who steals the blankets: Matt probably doesn’t even need them but he is absolutely enough of a bastard to do this. Until Luca gets pouty and cold.

who leaves their stuff around: See the above answer. Luca’s method of finding things is just leaving them lying around until they show up again. 

who remembers to buy the milk: Luca has to. He needs milk to feed his cute kitty.

who remembers anniversaries: So while both Matt and Luca remember the big one, I feel like all the other ones? That’s Luca’s specialty. “Happy anniversary of the day we got together the first time, like back when you were in the cult.” “Happy anniversary of the day we broke up.” “Happy anniversary of the day we first met” because Luca is that kind of a dork. He does eventually drop it down to just the day they resumed dating and any other days afterwards...eventually.

Who cooks normally? Isn’t it just canon that all Kubricks are good cooks if their name isn’t Ian? I mean Luca definitely can cook and does, but Matt is better so Luca insists he does it like...9/10 times.

How often do they fight? So Luca is very even temperament over all. Enough prodding will make him upset but Matt tries not to prod him ever to that point, so I really don’t see it happening that often, so maybe a few times?

What do they do when they’re away from each other? Matt’s probably committing crimes, or I guess track or spending time with his family, Luca’s probably hanging out with Lila or drawing or practicing archery.

Nicknames for each other? Luca calls Matt “Matty Pie” once after hearing Dan do it, but never again. Since Luca never really uses nicknames for him, I don’t see Matt really doing them a lot for Luca either. Unless the codenames count. They probably use Fang and Wolf a lot even after the Phantom Thief stuff.

Who is more likely to pay for dinner? I mean technically the answer would be Matt since he’s always giving Luca free coffee drinks and stuff but the actual answer is Luca. He overall has a bit more money to spend, especially once all the cult stuff is done, and doesn’t mind treating Matt to some things.

Who steals the covers at night? This time it’s actually Luca. He gets cold easily and if anybody’s going to do it it’s going to be him.

What would they get each other for gifts? Do the daily coffees and wolf ears they’ve already gotten each other not count???? Or the kindness and forgiveness Luca always gives???  No okay in all seriousness Luca’s probably constantly conspiring with Ebony for stuff like in OSF and they work together on their gifts and theme them. Matt’s always giving Luca free drinks anyways.

Who kissed who first? So technically, Luca went in for the kiss first, but he accidentally triggered Matt. So we gotta give it to Matt, who after he calmed down chose to kiss Luca anyways.

Who made the first move? I think Luca flirted first? Admittedly this could’ve been either of them and I’d absolutely believe it.

Who remembers things? Matt has a good memory for a lot of the stuff in their relationship and about Luca, but Luca takes things above and beyond because he feels like it’s super important to like...remember every detail about Matt that he can. Especially given Matt’s mental health.

Who started the relationship? Matt asked Luca out the first time, but when all is said and done it’s Luca who asks Matt out the second time.

Who cusses more? Matt. It has to be Matt. There’s no way it’s not.

What would they do if the other was hurt? Matt would no remorse just stab whatever the hell hurt Luca and then get the boy out of there. Luca does what he can to ensure Matt is stable, and keeps him away from whatever hurt Matt. So like...if it’s mental trauma, he’ll do his best to reassure. If it’s physical, Luca will keep anything from hitting an unconscious Matt.

NiNick:

big spoon/little spoon: Nina is the little spoon and Nick’s the big spoon I cannot imagine Nina as the little spoon.

favorite non-sexual activity: Amusement park dates. Nina loves them in general and given they got together in a Ferris Wheel, it makes for a nice reminder of happier times.

who uses all the hot water: Honestly nine times out of ten they probably shower together, so they both end up using the the hot water at the same time.

most trivial thing they fight over: Getting out of bed in the morning. Nick’s a morning person and likes to try to do things. Nina absolutely wouldn’t leave the bed until 5:00 PM if she had her way.

who does most of the cleaning: Both of them, sometimes. It’s not that I don’t think one would do it more often than the other, I just know Nina once she’s up and moving has a lot of boundless energy and Nick probably likes keeping things cleaner, so they work on it together.

what has a season pass on their dvr/who controls the netflix queue: Honestly, I can’t see either of them having a Netflix account.

who calls up the super/landlord when the heat’s not working: N/A Nina and Nick own the house.

who steals the blankets: Nina hates the cold and would burrito herself a thousand times if it meant avoiding cold.

who leaves their stuff around: I would say Nina. Like I said I see Nick living fairly neatly due to how he was raised, but Nina on the flip side just kinda forgets she left stuff lying around in different places.

who remembers to buy the milk: Tip does, when he comes over to visit and is like “Hey guys you don’t have milk how am I supposed to make breakfast for you???”

who remembers anniversaries: Nick remembers and celebrates every single one of them regularly. Nina can get the big ones but Nick just likes looking for reasons to celebrate his girlfriend/wife.

Who cooks normally? Honestly, probably Nick. His dad is Tip, he probably picked up some cooking skills from him.

How often do they fight? I think for the most part, they’re fairly peaceful with each other after the ending of SW, but after Charlotte happens I do think there’s a brief bit of time where Nina and Nick end up fighting about their kids. Nina starts to realize their hedonistic lifestyle has had a bit of a negative effect on their kids and while Nick encourages a similar lifestyle Nina kinda wouldn’t agree with that one hundred percent and I could see that causing a couple fights.

What do they do when they’re away from each other? Nina’s probably over at Olive’s a lot, talking about whatever it is idiots challenging each other to balancing competitions do with each other. Nick’s probably spending a lot of time playing catch up with his parents.

Nicknames for each other? I couldn’t find any which is honestly a shame. These two could’ve absolutely come up with some stupid nicknames for each other.

Who is more likely to pay for dinner? Nick’s family is rich as fuck. I don’t really think it’s a question of which one does it.

Who steals the covers at night? If either of them do it, it’s probably Nina, but since they spend most nights cuddling, Nina doesn’t do it nearly as often.

What would they get each other for gifts? Nick gets Nina the most traditionally romantic gifts he can think of. Flowers, jewelry, sweets, and all that jazz. Nina tends to buy him a little more understated gifts, but she also managed to help him get the greatest gift of all time, mortality, so yeah. That was a good one.

Who kissed who first? I haven’t read the scene in years but I can safely assume Nick kissed Nina first in that baseball scene.

Who made the first move? Nick. I would consider more actions of his working towards a romantic nature than not.

Who remembers things? Nina’s incredibly flighty and a little dumb at times, so I would say Nick’s overall probably the one better at remembering things than her.

Who started the relationship? Again, Nick was the one who started it, since he’s the one who asked her out.

Who cusses more? Nick curses, Nina does not. At all. Even under duress. 

What would they do if the other was hurt? Nina had a mental breakdown when Nick got hurt. She cracked under the pressure and basically froze up and started crying. I’d imagine if Nina got hurt, he’d immediately put up a shield to keep her from taking further damage, and then try to get help.

Syrice/Alex

big spoon/little spoon: Look I absolutely do not care how tall Syrice may or may not be, he exudes little spoon energy and that means Alex absolutely has to be the big spoon.

favorite non-sexual activity: Alex likes learning about a lot of things, so I’d imagine he genuinely enjoys talking to Syrice about things like hacking and technology and having him teach him how to do it.

who uses all the hot water: Yuu. Syrice is a quick shower kind of guy to me and Alex has been conditioned not to take long showers.

most trivial thing they fight over: Syrice fighting?????? The only thing I could see them fighting over is Alex trying to get Syrice to loosen up and be himself a bit more.

who does most of the cleaning: Both. Syrice probably is under constant pressure at home to keep things clean, and Alex is so used to trying to be a perfect child he works hard to keep everything neat and tidy as well.

what has a season pass on their dvr/who controls the netflix queue: If Syrice doesn’t own the Netflix account, I’d be amazed.

who calls up the super/landlord when the heat’s not working: They’re children but also Syrice does it because Alex very much likes the cold and it’d take the house reaching below 50 for Alex to complain about it.

who steals the blankets: I don’t know for sure if Syrice would be the one to do it, but my gut says it’d be Syrice who gets all the blankets.

who leaves their stuff around: Neither of them. Both are very likely used to being super tidy so they tend to just try to keep things super clean in general.

who remembers to buy the milk: These two are the kinds of nerds who go to supermarkets with shopping lists so they don’t forget what they need to buy. Or at least Alex is and makes Syrice bring it with him.

who remembers anniversaries: I feel like anniversaries would be like...this huge deal for both of them. For Alex, they’re the days where he got a bunch of proof that people really care for him. For Syrice, they’re days where he met somebody who helped him grow out of his family’s shadow and so they don’t just remember them out of love for each other, but because of the amount of self love that they represent.

Who cooks normally? Probably Alex, he’s actually supposed to be a pretty decent cook.

How often do they fight? Alex is scared to raise his voice and Syrice is incredibly timid. When Alex isn’t trying to instill self love into Syrice I doubt they never fight at all.

What do they do when they’re away from each other? Alex is a reader, if he’s alone he’s probably curled up in a chair reading a book. Syrice is probably spending time around his family, working on some tech stuff.

Nicknames for each other? None that I can think of.

Who is more likely to pay for dinner? Syrice’s family is loaded they better be paying for dinner.

Who steals the covers at night? Given the above, I would say it has to be Syrice since Alex does not get cold easily.

What would they get each other for gifts? Alex very rarely, if ever, manages to save up the money to get Syrice a gift, but it’s always something like super heartfelt and something that immediately made him think of him. Like it doesn’t have to be good. It could be something awesome like a new camera (regular camera, not video one) or something dumb like a teddy bear but it’d just be something that just makes him immediately think of Syrice. Syrice meanwhile hacks Alex’s Amazon and buys him everything on his wishlist. (Not to that degree but still.)

Who kissed who first? Alex is absolutely going to have to be the one to do it. That or Yuu takes over and does it for Syrice because he’s tired of the two of them jumping around their feelings for each other.

Who made the first move? Syrice did, by going in and trying to rescue Alex from the shitty situation he was stuck in.

Who remembers things? Both of them tend to do a good job of remembering things in a general sense.

Who started the relationship? Alex asked him out for coffee, so I give it to him.

Who cusses more? Does Syrice curse at all???? I mean I guess Yuu does but Syrice???

What would they do if the other was hurt? I would imagine for Syrice, Yuu would come out and fuck up whatever hurt Alex. For Alex, he would definitely not really know what to do since he’s not much of a fighter, and would try to find a better fighter.

[zipgrowth]

When Colleges Consider Outsourcing Online Programs, Calculations Can Get Complicated

A growing number of colleges are turning to for-profit companies to help them run their online programs, and to help finance them. These companies are known as online program managers, or OPMs.

The relationships can mean a clash of cultures. One college official recalled a meeting where the head of a popular OPM showed up wearing a gold chain and talking about the “cost of acquisition” of students. That focus on sales can be uncomfortable for traditional colleges, who prefer to talk about their nonprofit missions of preparing students to be good citizens.

Yet many colleges are in desperate need of attracting students to their online programs. At the University of Virginia, for instance, officials recently announced layoffs of 38 staff members due to low enrollments in online courses offered by its School of Continuing and Professional Studies.

“We are a giant, wonderful university with a large endowment. I love everybody I work with … but we’re not skilled in management techniques, just in general,” said Kristin Palmer, director of online learning for UVA.

So expect to see more colleges turn to these providers, said Michael Feldstein, a consultant and co-publisher of the popular e-Literate blog, who has long followed the OPM market. A survey released last week by The Chronicle of Higher Education and P3-EDU, a conference on public-private partnerships to be hosted by George Mason University, found that 42 percent of provosts, chief financial officers and presidents surveyed said that expanding online programs was the area they most considered turning to a private company to help with.

Last week EdSurge hosted an EdSurge Live online town hall with Palmer, of UVA, and Feldstein, to talk about when it makes sense to turn to OPMs, and when building your own programs may be the better solution. The session follows on a pair of articles in EdSurge last month, one co-written by an OPM leader making the case for the model, and another by Feldstein noting that while OPMs can be attractive, they may not be appropriate for every college.

Below are highlights of that conversation, which have been edited and condensed for clarity. Or listen in on the discussion here.

EdSurge: Where did these outsourcing companies known as OPMs come from?

Michael Feldstein: Going back, even to the 1970s, even pre-dating online, there’s always been two challenges to launching new programs: money and expertise at execution. It costs money to start up a new program, and it takes a lot of expertise. Some of that is getting students in the door, and some of it is just having the people who have the expertise and who aren’t busy doing other things. [Or your people running the program] have 16 other jobs, and this would be a 17th full time job. And there are a lot of things that are fairly technical in a running program that’s fully online.

Another way I heard somebody frame online program managers recently is as investors [since many front money to build the programs in exchange for a cut of tuition for the next decade or so.] That’s another way to think about them.

The University of Virginia does some work with OPMs and does some programs on its own, right?

Kristin Palmer: We’re currently partnered with Noodle Partners in our Data Science Institute. We partnered with them because it wasn’t officially a school when we decided to move their degree program online. They have no faculty, they don’t have any instructional designers. It was that outsourcing model of, “We need help, and we want a partner to provide and then help.”

We have had other experiences with partnerships that have totally gone south. Our undergraduate Commerce School was in a partnership with an OPM provider that we have terminated prematurely because of a communication guffaw. I don’t think we’ll ever work with that OPM provider again. I won’t say who it was, but that was a disaster.

Then we have other programs that are self-made. Some are successful, some are not. We just announced we’re laying off half of the individuals in our school for Continuing and Professional Studies by mid-May. It’s because enrollments down 68 percent. They have 13 different online programs in cybersecurity and project management, and a lot of fantastic programs, but they’re hosted locally. They don’t have marketing.

Can you say more about what went wrong with the OPM arrangement that failed, so others can learn from that lesson?

Palmer: Yeah, if you do go down the OPM route, you really have to make sure that there’s a cultural DNA match with your partner. We’ve seen in the conversations coming off of the article that Michael has written, and the other article, that we don’t really look at universities as a business, and OPMs are very much a business.

There can be some cultural clashing there, because they do marketing and they look at return on investment and cost per student acquisition. I think those are all valuable numbers to look at, but I think having that clear, open communication of what our expectations early on [is key]. What does success look like? What kind of numbers are we going to track? Where are we comfortable or uncomfortable?

Ours was a communication issue, where they reached out to people that they should not have reached out to, and it was the straw that broke the camel’s back.

But you say for another program, the OPM model is working. Is that because for the latest one you’re doing you didn’t have the staff to do it without a partner?

Palmer: I think we didn’t have a lot of options on that program. It was a priority for the provost’s office to move it online. We had the program existing, but to Michael’s point, the faculty that are helping out with that program, it’s job number 17. They’re already fully committed, they’re the faculty that everybody wants to have in their classes. Balancing how to pay that faculty, and our timelines, and having the structure of working with an OPM provider really helped on, “Okay, we’ve got a project manager, we’ve got instructional designers.” It was extremely helpful.

What questions should colleges ask as they consider partnering with an outside company to run online programs?

Feldstein: Outsourcing is associated in this country with outsourcing manufacturing jobs to Southeast Asia. In higher ed, the better analogy would be, “We outsource our LMS hosting to LMS companies.” [In that case, there are times when a college will say,] “Gee, there’s a third party that I would feel strongly, we’d be better off if someone else did that on a permanent basis and I’m okay if they make money on it.”

Second, when I look at the difference between paying someone a fee and paying someone a revenue share, are my concerns related to an emotional reaction? A reaction to the differences in how those affect the incentive structures to the way we develop and price our programs or a mix of those two?

More specifically, it feels icky to take student tuition and give a percentage of it to a for-profit company, even if the net result is something that’s good for the student. You have to get past that, if you’re someone who works at a university or somebody who feels committed to the mission.

That’s a different issue than saying, “You know, if we give a percentage of our revenue to a corporation for the long-term, that might affect how we think about providing tuition discounts to students, or which programs we decide to develop in the first place for online programs, because we’re only getting 50 percent rather than 100 percent.” There are complex financial calculations. You have to put on your green eye shades and figure out how those impact your decisions.

Palmer: We love discussing stuff. We are in the business of talking about ideas and bumping ideas off of each other, and coming up with ideas that other people don’t necessarily agree with and talking through them. We have these cultural conversations about what the university is even about. Is it job prep, or is it a well-rounded individual or is it creating new knowledge?

All of that’s totally legit, but 36 people in one of our schools found out on Friday that they’re going to have a job change that’s not anticipated, and that’s the reality. We are a giant, wonderful university with a large endowment. There are certainly challenging people, but I just love where I work and who I work with. But we’re not skilled in management techniques, just in general.

[Audience question from Kelvin Bentley, assistant vice president for digital learning innovation at University of West Florida]: I just wonder if OPMs’ time in the sun is limited, given that schools need to change from within to be more flexible and affordable, [as] online ed is such a saturated market already. Most schools that use a decent model for online, how will they be able to maintain quality over time of their courses and programs?

Palmer: We’re in a phase where we’re trying to adjust to our business and figure out how to serve lifelong learners. That framework for learning through your lifetime doesn’t exist right now. It is an evolving market, but it’s certainly nice to have the flexibility of working with a partner. We’ve been talking about revenue sharing, [but] there are also fee-based providers [that don’t require] a 10 year commitment with a 50 percent revenue share.

Feldstein: [The standard OPM model] was really engineered to solve a pretty well-defined problem. My impression is that, for those who have that problem, it solves that problem pretty well. I don’t think it’s going away anytime soon. In fact, I think the opposite is true. I think it has a long life, a long runway. [To succeed online,] you have to get much better at marketing, you have to get much better at differentiating, and quality is going to be one of those differentiators. Those are all things that OPMs sell on the ability to do.

Now, do they all deliver on those promises equally? Well, no. But that is something that some of them do quite well. Let’s also not forget that the United States is not the entire global market, either for students or for university clients.

When Colleges Consider Outsourcing Online Programs, Calculations Can Get Complicated published first on https://medium.com/@GetNewDLBusiness