𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵

Totally cool being second banana or whatever.

[kaeruninja]

Indie, selective, mutuals only, and sporadic activity Hanamura Yosuke of Persona 4. Duplicate, OC, crossover friendly. Spoilers for all games. Est August 8, 2020.

Persona is rated M. Topics like death, violence, suicidal thoughts, etc. will appear.

Currently not accepting new writing partners unless I know you.

If you aren't an RP blog, please ask to follow. RP blogs are different from regular blogs.

Rules | About | Verses | Bonds | Prompts | Sideblog

Liz, she/her, 21+, other blogs: @chibitantei, @kaminaribancho

[spaced-out-muses]

"Yep. That's all there is. Nothing else we need to worry about, at least."

[kaeruninja]

“Yeah, guys love games. That’s all there is this month...”

[spaced-out-muses]

"It's June, Hanamura. You know what that means." Proceeds to walk away and doesn't fucking elaborate.

@kaeruninja

[kaeruninja]

“You mean there’s a bunch of game announcements and birthdays, right?”

[fatexbound]

@kaeruninja said: 🎨 - open your heart to one of our souyo variants

Send me a ‘🎨’ for an aesthetic or mood collage for our muses. | Accepting

They're stupid and awkward and I love them.

[kaeruninja]

“Well, I don’t mind if you’re gay! But I’m not. So.”

[kaeruninja]

“So we have hip-hop in the stone ages, the creation of a..., double page spreads of uh, as Naoto would probably say it, copulation and uh...”

Final Verdict: 3/10

[kaeruninja]

I’d love to have the Magician manga officially translated and on my shelf because it’s my Yosuke holy grail of good content even if it comes with Udon’s bad localization of Hana-chan as Yo.

[dinomites]

FUNNY MULTIMUSE BLOG RIGHT HERE. WITH A STRANGE ASSORTMENT OF MUSES FROM PRO/JECT MOON'S GAMES TO RO/BLOX OUT OF ALL PLACES??? You should totally follow @/dinomites for whimsy as the blog is, in fact, open for crossovers, AUs, and duplicate-friendly! The mun also not a minor! And would prefer to interact with blogs with muns that are 18+!

[kidwcnder]

@kaeruninja | Starter call

Despite having obtained a lot more money than he had expected from his various part-time jobs, the one at the bookstore in Shibuya was one of his favorite ones. Surrounded by books, working with his boss and facing the occasional agitated customer about not finding the book they desired or returning it in an awful condition. Tatsu didn't care about all that as long as he was happy, got paid and went home safely.

Then right as he was about to zone out due to his headache, he spotted a new face walking in. The orange hair was hard to miss.

"Welcome." He said, bowing politely like he was taught. "What are you looking to buy?"

[kaeruninja]

Having an itch to read English books meant he had to look in places that were a bit special. Yu had suggested this store as a place that had a decent selection. Yosuke entered the shop, the gentle chime of a bell above his head. Just as he was looking around, an employee called out to him.

“Uh, I’m ah... looking for some English books. Like books written in English. A friend said you have a large section so I was wondering if you have something by... Pratchett?”

The English name rolled off his tongue like sandpaper scraping against a rough wall. He was sure that he flubbed it but he hoped it was enough to clue the boy in.

[kaeruninja]

“It was free!”

Ignoring the looks of his friends, Yosuke went on to play... Car Mechanic Simulator 2018 because it was free on St-

[kaeruninja]

Forgot about my drabble tag and saw ancient 2020 ones, so I thought I would try rewriting to see if my writing as improved in any capacity.

......It really didn't. Old for reference.

It’s midnight, made darker with the power outage and clouds hanging in the sky. The hallway is a vortex to nowhere and Yosuke wonders if he’ll be swallowed up whole. A fear of the dark is something primal, said a horror novel he had picked up on a whim years ago and then put down because even in broad daylight, that alone was enough to scare him.

The longer he stares, the more Yosuke thinks about monsters in the dark and under his bed, where he cried one night in first grade because he got spooked by his own jacket hanging on a hook.

Which is stupid because he isn’t a kid anymore and has the power of rational thinking and maturity on his side—which his friends debate on but that isn’t the point.

Because it’s stupid and he isn’t going to shit his pants, he sucks in a deep breath and walks, floorboard creaking and croaking as he does. Both hands move around this way and that, feeling for walls and tables and other things he couldn’t fucking see because of the power outage.

A hand bumps into someone, pushing them forward. A single creak. “Sorry,” he says, in the quietest voice he could muster.

Nothing.

“Hello?” When he moves his hand forward, there’s nothing but empty space and the feeling of dread and more dread crawling his skin and bones and stomach. The atmosphere becomes heavier, rushing torrents of rain in his ears, constriction in his chest.

He turns around. A pair of eyes, staring at him from inside the dark. When he blinks, those eyes also blink.

Fuckthisfuckthisfuckthis!

The darkness is a blur as he runs down the halls and rounds a corner. The racket he’s making is worth two hours of lecturing from Mom and Dad but he doesn’t care right now because he just wants to run run run away from whatever the hell is in his room and whatever the hell he touched.

By sheer luck, he makes it down the stairs in one piece. He heaves and pants steps closer to the kitchen. Yosuke doesn’t even remember why he had woken up in the first place but that doesn’t matter. He’ll spend the night out here because nothing w-

creak

He sees two-

He bolts out the front door and slams it shut and runs, forgetting shoes, wincing as pebbles and sharp rocks attack his feet. He makes it to the opposite end of the small street, back towards one of the neighbor’s walls as he stares at the front door to his haunted hell house.

The clouds disappear and reveal a sea of stars and the moon, all of it shining down upon his house. Half an hour passes by and nothing comes out.

He approaches.

A hard swallow. He turns the knob, pushes the door open, and-

Nothing.

Nobody’s there to chase him or give him a lecture running in the halls and slamming doors at such a godforsaken hour.

There’s nothing.

He stands in the kitchen for a few seconds.

--

It’s morning when he comes down stairs, hair perfectly combed because he spent an extra ten minutes in the bathroom today. Dad is gone, Mom is at the table, quietly sipping her tea.

Yosuke rubs the back of his neck and laughs awkwardly. “Sorry for the racket last night. Might’ve fallen down the stairs.”

She stares at him like he’s grown extra arms, then laughs. “It’s too late for April Fool’s, Yo-chan. If you were running around and making a racket, I would have heard it.” She stands up then and places a hand on her hip, while the other points at him accusingly, but he knows she’s just playing a part. “And you’d never hear the end of it, young man!”

...

She laughs again and he laughs along with her.

After a breakfast of orange juice and waffles, he returns to his room, ready to scoop out the things needed for class today. Something stops him, though, that something being a taped up photograph of him and Saki, the same one he found in the TV World version of Konishi Liquors.

“I...”

He distinctly remembers returning there once, and that was to retrieve some liquor Yu needed for some reason and a weapon. He’d left the picture on the counter alone.

But it’s here now.

He swallows, picks it up, turns it around. I wish we talked more, Hana-chan is written on the back, and he knows for a fact it wasn’t there before.

His heart stops in his chest and his hand starts to twitch because.

The writing.

It’s hers.

[kaeruninja]

Following how the Velvet Room has a different appearance for the Wild Card, I thought it would be fun (and obnoxious) to think about how Fool!Yosuke’s room would appear. Including the desire he has for something exciting and feeling like Inaba is a boring town, I imagine his room would take the appearance of a place that acts as a stop before adventure.

Which I felt was an airport lounge (the fancy and nice kind though lol).

It would resemble something like this, but on a smaller scale and more blue. The windows would show foggy weather, naturally. There wouldn’t be any sounds like an aircraft taking off, any clocks in the lounge are all stuck at 11:59, which only adds to the discomfort. It doubles as a representation of the anxiety Yosuke has in regards to solving the case.

[fatexbound]

A light pink color dusted his cheeks upon feeling his arm around his waist. He experienced this closeness only once in his life, and it was with Yosuke. He still couldn't believe it. That he would feel the same or that their friendship would get to this point. It's new. Exciting. Frightening, at best, for both of them. But Yu knew... that they'd make it.

Everything would be okay.

He wasn't sure if his uncle would approve of it if he ever told him, however... it didn't matter now. Just this warmth.

He nestled himself a little closer, letting out a soft exhale through his nose. "We should do this more often." He spoke quietly, not wanting to ruin the atmosphere. "Although we should probably pay more attention to the movie first. Teddie told me you bought snacks."

Salty snacks were a blessing on occasion.

"I'd like some if you don't mind."

[kaeruninja]

Yu leaned in more and much to Yosuke’s dismay, sent another wave of heat to his cheeks, along with a rapidly thumping heart he wondered could be felt. “That’d be nice,” he murmured, matching the tone. His gaze remained firmly rooted on the screen, a gesture that certainly wasn’t romantic. However, as if to cover for him, Yu didn’t seem to mind if they were more focused on the movie compared to exchanging maybe flirtatious remarks and riffing on the movie.

And the snacks were probably important too.

That jolted him out of his stupor. With his free hand, he reached for the jumbo shrimp flavored, twist shaped snacks and moved it closer to the center so Yu could easily reach for it. He let out a sheepish chuckle and scratched his cheek. “Sorry, they’re so good that I couldn’t help but hog it all.”

He was half tempted to crack a joke, something like they were more irresistible, but he felt that would ruin the atmosphere they had going now. Not only that, but he was determined to curb his tendency to shove his foot inside his mouth, especially in a moment like this!

It hadn’t been five minutes since he focused on the movie again, but the line about fate and destiny in relation to love hit him like a truck and he couldn’t help but think about a similar question that occupied his mind for a few hours.

“You think we were destined to be like this...? To fall in love, I mean. I know it’s cheesy but...”

[kaeruninja]

She shares chapstick with Kyouko one time and everyone thinks she’s in love with her????

Kyouko and love are two words that do not belong in the same sentence!!! She is indecent and gets on her nerves and she thinks she’s hot stuff and-

[kaeruninja]

Yoshiko stared and stared at the uniform laying on her bed, dismay piling up the longer she stared. She had been so excited in high school, finally graduating from the childish sailor uniform that marked her as a middle school kid. The blazer was sleek and mature and sure, it was annoying to iron and make sure she looked nice in it, but she felt more like she was climbing the stairway to adulthood and that was the best part.

Now, she was being forcibly dragged back into middle school, except the colors were gray and yellow instead of white and blue and red for the ribbon.

The winter version looked hideous compared to summer, which made things worse since the summer uniform would only be worn for one-third of the entire year.

From what she gathered, the school was incredibly lax with customization, a perk she didn’t have with her previous school. She could wear a nice jacket or a top, something to hide it, so she could pretend that she definitely wasn’t going to spend her high school years being reminded that she was stuck wearing a sailor uniform.

She gave it an accusatory point and glare. “This is your fault for ruining my life!”

Being a sailor uniform, it accepted her accusations in silence.

“Ugh...”

[fatexbound]

He glanced at the same piece of supposed gold Yosuke found, and shook his head. "Me either. But it's better than some customers screaming in my face to hurry up at the register." Some days were the worst, but he enjoyed at Junes nonetheless. He's sure that their teachers would call this important in connecting to nature.

"If we find anything good, we might be able to sell it. Daidara-san takes any kind of material we give him." He had a lot of questions about his business, but they didn't matter right now. Looking around some more, he found what seemed to be orange patinas in the wall. "Oh, this is a nice color..." Alongside it were iron-rich minerals.

A hand was lifted to touch it gently. "Do you think we should take this? I bet there's more. Maybe gold too!"

[kaeruninja]

Yosuke let out an awkward laugh. “Can’t argue with that.” Aiya, the rental store in Okina, and the daycare assistant job was no Junes, but when it came to dealing with people, he could relate to the exhaustion that came with it. Well, in the case of the daycare one, he could give the kids a pass, even if he felt like pulling his hair out sometimes.

Instead of continuing to sift for minerals, he paused. The plate was set on the side and he dipped his hands into the river, the cool water swiftly moving past his fingers. He marveled at how clear the water was and felt tempted to drink from it right then and there. 

“Yeah, these would be the most normal things we’ve brought him. But we’d need to find a lot more. I feel like a hundred small flakes are worth one Shadow drop.”

He glanced over at Yu’s pan, the orange a stark contrast against the wall it was embedded in. “Now these are worth bringing over to Daidara.” In his excitement, he grabbed the pan he set aside and brought it closer to the wall, as if to mark their new work zone. His heavy backpack settled on the floor with a mild clank and he pulled out a hammer and chisel. “We gotta get to work!”

[kaeruninja]

Thoughts behind why I picked Yosuke’s Personas for his swaps, just so I could get rid of these explanations from taking up space in my mind.

Fool | Izanagi -> Izanagi-no-Okami

This one is self explanatory since Izanagi is given via handshake by Izanami, I only put it here for the sake of putting it here.

Chariot | Urashima Tarō -> Sarutahiko Ōkami -> Kamunaobi no Kami

The part that drew me to Urashima as Yosuke’s initial Persona here was that after he left the Dragon Palace, he was like a stranger in a world he once knew. While Yosuke’s circumstances obviously weren’t the same, I felt that Yosuke quitting baseball and not knowing what direction to take his life in, or feeling out of place in a world he knew was similar enough. As another bonus, Urashima helping the turtle can be a reference to Yosuke helping whoever the Priestess is in this situation and becoming their friend.

For Sarutahiko, while baseball isn’t a martial art, I liked the symbolism of the misogi. He moves past the feeling of being directionless and feeling like he doesn’t belong, and thus, ‘purifies’ himself of any doubts.

As mentioned in the persona post, Kamunaobi is part of a trio of deities that purify defilements and rectify calamities. With Sarutahiko being a symbol of misogi, I felt it was a natural connection to one of the deities that were born from Izanagi’s misogi. According to some, the Haraedo no Kami (Chie’s Persona) are separate purification deities from the trio Kamunaogi is part of, but it wasn’t my intention to give Yosuke a third tier Persona related to purification like Chie’s.

Priestess | Abe no Seimei -> Zōchōten -> Ebisu

The main reason for picking Abe no Seimei was mostly because there are a few stories where he displays great intuition, and this is something that is associated with the Priestess arcana. In one story, his rival challenges him to divine how many objects are in a box, but does some switching around beforehand, as a way to trick Abe no Seimi. However, Abe knows something is up, and sidesteps the trick. Besides that, he was a respected individual, and I thought out of all the swaps, Priestess!Yosuke would provide the best contrast with being in a respected position (family store vs Junes association).

Truthfully, I wanted to pick another one of the Four Heavenly Kings, but since Zōchōten already had fire theming, I figured that it would be best to stick with him. That being said, his correspondence with spiritual growth matches with some upright Priestess meanings and it can easily represent Yosuke having more faith in himself.

As I mentioned on the Persona page, Ebisu is sometimes associated with objects that wash up along the shore, which can tie into Yosuke’s family business dabbling in secondhand goods. His origin story has him with unfortunate circumstances, but he ends up finding happiness eventually, as well as being one of the Seven Lucky Gods and the most popular. Both of these can mirror the state of the shop and Inaba, with them being hard on luck with Junes and the dwindling population to flourishing later.

Emperor | Umisachihiko -> Minamoto no Tametomo -> Hachiman

Going off the really loose idea of Emperor!Yosuke getting into an argument with Katsuragi, who then moved and the rift was never repaired, I chose Umisachihiko as a representation of what Yosuke wished would have happened. Umisachihiko was rough around the edges and wasn’t the best brother in the world. While swearing to serve his brother for the rest of his life and for all future generations is a bit much, Yosuke wanted to find Katsuragi eventually and apologize, and he hoped that Katsuragi would accept.

Which makes his second tier Persona of Tametomo a bit awkward considering he fights against his brother, loses, is exiled, and eventually dies alone. I will say this was mostly so the transition to Hachiman would be smoother, but arguably, Tametomo represents the reality of the situation, that Katsuragi will never see him again and Yosuke will have to accept the fact that he hurt someone he cared about and he has to move on and be a better person for future friends.

For Hachiman, since he was believed to be Ōjin, who was an ancestor of the Minamoto clan (the same Tametomo comes from), as well as having a bow and arrow association (which Tametomo was very good at using), I wanted to connect him directly to Tametomo instead of taking a route where I switched the order of Tametomo and Umisachihiko. He is also associated with a dove, and while it may not mean peace in his context, the dove is a typical symbol of peace. I felt Hachiman would represent both the idea of forgiveness and the reality of the situation. Yosuke regains his hope and desire to one day apologize, but understands that he may not have the happy resolution he wants. (Can you tell I haven’t thought about him much).

Lovers | Yashimajinumi -> Ame-no-oshihomimi -> Futodama

There was barely anything about Yashimajinumi besides what I mentioned in the post. One other source mentioned he was very significant because his family ties showed the relationship amongst gods in the ancient texts and I... felt that was a bit off since there really wasn’t much on him, but at the very least, the concept of him being connected to others felt like a good fit for Lovers!Yosuke, both in terms of the team and the band to fans.

Similarly, there wasn’t much on Oshihomimi, but I liked the story of him turning down the offer to rule earth to represent Lovers!Yosuke having a more ‘whole’ vision about his future, understanding that music isn’t easy and not having such unrealistic expectations as before.

Futodama more or less just represented the idea of Yosuke in the future, with his music, making a difference on the lives of people, whether it was considered significant or not, but mainly at this point, I realized there was a lot of relation between Lovers!Yosuke and having Personas related to Susano-o and Amaterasu in some fashion, so I figured I might as well just keep the trend going.

Fortune | Momotarō -> Ōoka Echizen -> Omoikane

Momotarō being a boy hero fit well with Fortune!Yosuke, who isn’t a proper detective yet. Interestingly, depictions of Momotarō kept making him younger and younger, which I also thought fit a junior detective vibe to Fortune!Yosuke.

For Ōoka Echizen, since he is a historical figure, I thought this would be a nice transition from Yosuke having a fictional boy hero Persona to a historical one, which represents him becoming a detective or pursuing a career related to it more concrete. In this sense, he doesn’t imagine that he will be a great detective or whatever one day, he will become one.

Omoikane being a kami of intelligence and Fortune!Yosuke further being confident in his desires. Makes sense.