✨ PRESENTATION ✨

Local artist decides "fuck it, references are hard to find, let's start taking a pic every so often and posting it to tumblr" but it's day two this time

No credit required, but like, feel free to tag me with what you make, I'm interested.

I wrote a fic about the fierce deity! I enjoy his character in a lot of other fics, so I figured it'd be fun to try writing him myself. I'm not all that experienced a writer, at least not with fiction, so constructive criticism is very appreciated! Just like,, don't be mean I'm still learning.

HHHHGIHJHJJJL GREAT NYX THIS IS AMAZING!!! Ough augh this looks like absolute torture, especially for Ren. Stuck with the cheery detective prince but without any of that deeper Akechi. Just.. something wrong, wearing his face, insisting everything is fine.

Something seems off about Akechi lately...

I'm starting to think it was never real in the first place, just a figment of my imagination lost to the recesses of my mind. On the upside, there are a lot of really freaking cool black mask Joker designs out there. Like, damn persona 5 artists did not have to go that hard but they did anyway and it's glorious.

I swear I am scouring the globe looking for that one freaking black mask redesign where they have him iridescent black pants and called atlus cowards but I can't find it anywhere it's so upsetting

Some very important additions, I had no idea that conversation with Pharos existed but I actually adore it and think they really should've had Pharos interact with more of the main cast actually, he's such a little guy™

I need more people to write Aigis and Ryoji as friends, post-game or in some canon divergence au. They are made to be opposing forces, to clash for the fate of the world, but the purpose designated for them by their creators is not the purpose they chose to follow. They become friends in both because and in spite of what they are, because who would better understand their struggles? Neither is truly human, but they are both people. People who doubt their own humanity. They validate each other's struggles in a way no one else could, before affirming that yes, you are a person, you worked so very hard to be a person and I recognize that struggle and say that it is ok if you don't understand all the nuances of humanity right away, I won't judge you, because I am the exact same way.

Yes, Aigis initially saw Ryoji as dangerous, and he was, but I want them to grow past that. I want them to be able to look back at their first clash and think about how much they've grown since then. I want them to tell each other that the fact that they feel remorse for the lives lost is a clear sign of their newfound empathy for others, and that yes it's difficult, grappling with those feelings, but they should face them head on for the sake of those lost lives. I want them to come to see the other as one of their closest friends, the one they can turn to whenever they need.

Aigis and Ryoji should be friends, because they chose to be more than the enemies they were when they first met.

Prayers of the Moon

Have a mediocre painting of my favorite twink that I made at like,, midnight last night. As a treat.

Alt versions, because I'm indecisive

Y'all my brother snatched my phone out of my hand earlier during the SINGLE, SOLITARY TIME I was writing a Ryomina kiss- not even anything spicy, just a kiss, and he was like "nope" and gave me my phone back. I was both mortified and annoyed because he said Ryoji's name was a typo because apparently he doesn't know anything about persona 3. I made this to cope.

Y'all it was literally the first time I ever wrote two characters just kissing, how was that when he decided to read my work for the first time????

Thoughts about Akechi because he's infected my brain

We really never see the "real akechi" in Persona 5 or even in Royal, I think. That's not to say there aren't honest moments and real emotions, but every moment we have with Akechi is him trying to get us to serve some greater goal of his. In vanilla that goal is obvious: he wants to get close to you to further his vengeance on Masayoshi Shido. In the third semester that goal is less obvious but I'd say he wants you to think he's an irredeemable monster and that you shouldn't care about him so you reject Maruki's deal. Third semester is slightly more honest with Akechi- his convictions and feelings are all real, but he portrays them in whatever way will get you to do what he wants while keeping you at an arm's distance.

I think the only moment in the whole game where Akechi isn't putting up some sort of mask is after you beat him in the engine room. Before he's kinda having a big feelings moment so while it's honest, it's an extreme. After? He has no more reason to act, he just has his one request: destroy Masayoshi Shido in his stead. And you do, for the last request of the boy you never really got to know.

So who is the real Akechi? I don't think Akechi knows himself, I think he's lived so many years with a mask as Shido's Assassin or the Detective Prince or a pleasant boy that he doesn't know which is real. I don't think we'll ever see the real Akechi, not in anything mainline, both because they better not be making another Persona 5 and because there is no 'real' Akechi without the masks, without the deception. His character is like Joker's, he's constantly tailoring himself to be what he needs to be because that's the only way a bastard child like himself can survive. It's why I like wildcard Akechi fics so much, because he's just as malleable as Joker. They're rivals, after all.

Reading this and then reading the comments and reblogs feels like people are deliberately missing the point and continuing to describe the places where shuake's 'toxicity' is on display. Mainly, the interrogation room. Y'all, y'all, they're enemies in the interrogation room. Akechi has no choice but to kill Joker in the interrogation room, because Shido wants Joker dead. The interrogation room and all the lying and manipulating each other outside of it all happen because they are doomed. They're both pawns in a twisted game, manipulated against each other to suit their respective roles. We never technically see them in canon outside of some sort of doomed context (even in third sem) but they still manage to make each other better even when they're doomed. Akechi gives up his revenge plans for Joker, and Joker lets go of an 'ideal' reality with Akechi to respect Akechi's wishes. They both improve after meeting one another, it's definitely not toxic.

common misconception is that shuake is toxic: WRONG. they are doomed. it is not them that fucks up their relationship; in fact, they actually are shown to improve each other rather than detriment. its their circumstances that fuck them up so so bad. literal god pit them against each other. they love each other but the world does not love them