that's all she wrote!

★ ryuji sakamoto ★ persona 5

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used to be a phantom thief or whatever 😎 

a lil’ vulgar, but he means well <3

literally just gotta be semi-nice to him once and he’ll already lay down his life for you

emotional baggage? in my comic relief character? it’s more likely than you think

he is cringe… but he is free

insert the obligatory “for real!?” joke here yourself

A pro-crying revolution!? She doesn’t know what that means, but she is definitely down for it. If it meant that there’d be no shame in adults crying, SIGN HER UP!

“You’re my friend now!” She says with a nod. She places her small hand on him. She’s not entirely sure if it’s what he needs. Some form of comfort since his mother too he also back at home. He probably misses her and it’s probably hard to stay strong and yet THEY do need to stay tough.

“Skinned knees and all. Mamas are going to be super proud of us.” For Sarah, she will do her best to be the strongest. She may be alive after all!

“What’s your name? I’m Girl.” She’s ready for his reaction. She’s gotten so many odd reactions from just her name introduction alone. 

critical hit to the heart! it’s true he’s been feeling homesick ever since he got here, but he wasn’t expecting any comfort -- let alone from a little kid. no point in getting teary-eyed in the middle of a park, though, so ryuji’s sorta grateful she moved the topic along to introductions instead.

“girl, huh? foreign names sure are weird sometimes. prolly british or somethin’... but i’m not judgin’! it makes ya sound all mysterious~!” he gives her head an enthusiastic pat, already moving on from the fact that ‘girl’ is not a common name at all (it definitely helps that he’s not too knowledgeable about these things in the first place). “i’m sakamoto ryuji, but you can call me ‘big bro ryuji’! or just ryuji, if ya want. both work.” laying it on a bit thick, eh?

 “Take what happiness you can lad. You never know when those above, or below will take it straight from under your nose.”

Wether he is dissing a certain demon remains to be seen until that demon comes into the city. 

 “So, this Japan. How is it? Is it…fun?”

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“oof, gettin’ all preachy with me?” ryuji scoffs, but there’s no real malice behind it. the scholarly advice kinda reminds him of a certain coffee shop owner back home, so he doesn’t mind the familiar feeling it brings him. “sure, though... i’ll keep that in mind.”

he chokes on a big gulp of water in response to olgierd’s question.

ya want some.

He shouldn’t even HAVE to ask. Or maybe it should’ve been the other way around. EITHER way, he offers and she bounces out of the bench she was seated on and runs toward him. When she gets close enough, she exhales a “YES PLEASE!”

Time to overshare. Sorry Ryuji!

“I arrived like two days ago and I haven’t really eaten much of anything. I’m STAAAAAAAAAAARVING. I know there’s food at the house, but I can’t find my way back hooooooooome and—and—AND I can’t work this stupid phone.” 

“Please help me?” Will he fall for those pup-dog eyes? 

wowza. it takes a couple seconds for ryuji to fully absorb her rant, during which he gapes at her open-mouthed like a fish out of water. eventually -- still feeling a bit frazzled -- he slides one of his burgers across the table for her in defeat. he was looking forward to eating it (like c’mon, it has bacon in it), buuut it seems like she needs food way more than he does right now. plus, he’s a dumb teenager and the puppy-dog eyes pretty much have him wrapped around her finger.

“o-oh, yeah! i could totally help n’ stuff! i’m, like, practically an expert on this place--” no he’s not. at all. still, he likes the feeling of being relied on, so he’s allowed to tell one itty bitty white lie, right? “maaaybe i could walk ya home after ya eat, just to make sure ya find it? b-but not in a weird way! obviously!”

 “I had a gang of misfits to take care, as well back in my days, the Wild Ones we called them. Alas, their not here.” Olgierd is not too particularly miffed about it, knowing he taught them enough to care for themselves with himself gone. 

 “There we go…”

After one show of movement, Olgierd had gotten the hang of the chopsticks. Scarily so…

 “See, some people learn better by example.”

the wild ones...? damn, that sounds straight out of a comic book series... 

dorky thoughts aside, he can definitely see this guy leading a misfit group. guess they have more in common than he originally thought -- both being outsiders and all.

Piper snickered as what he had said it was very true. People in Spirale do indeed have something special to them, that the Institute, if ever here might even take advantage to this. 

As he was quite interested and hearing his question about Super Mutants, she responds with accurate answers based on what she have seen in her adventures throughout the Commonwealth.

“Super Mutants in my world are quite different to yours. They’re green, tall, bulky, dumb and dangerous at the same time. You will know their turf looked like if you’ve seen meatbags displaying outside and inside of it. From wooden nailed boards to heavy weaponry, they’re definitely a threat if left not taken care of.” That is literally her best answer but she added. 

“As most of the Super Mutants in Commonwealth and Far Harbor are quite nasty, there are some few but good Super Mutants, like Strong. He’s a super mutant but he can be a good ally, Erickson who is one but sells dogs for caps and Virgil of the Glowing Sea too but he became human from his own experimentation of FEV.” Here goes her accurate answer for his question. She awaits for another if there is something else in his mind.

“m-meatbags!? huh!?” how’s he supposed to respond to that? he didn’t think anything else could surprise him at this point, but every new piece of info this lady shares still feels like a hit upside the head. maybe that’s why she’s wearing a hat...

okay, but it’d be a good idea to stop standing there like a shocked dope and actually say something. “you must be some type of grade-A badass to survive through all that, man! how are ya even alive? if i saw one of those mutant guys i’d prolly pass out!” sure, he’s fought weirder things in the metaverse, but something like that existing outside of a shadow-infested palace... there’s no way a regular person would be able to fight everything in that commonwealth place without a persona, right? unless...

She doesn’t mean to get him concern, but she suppose if anyone heard that they would be. Maybe being less blunt would help, huh? He seems to be alright though. He doesn’t push further about it and instead he keeps things light. She likes that. SHE really does like that he is sharing a little secret. “Mhm! your secret is safe with me.” She promises. Not just any promises, she PINKY promises. 

“Adults cry, too? how come they need to keep it hidden from others?” It’s something she always wondered. She’s seen her Mother cry a bit here and there, but she always did it when she thought Girl was asleep or outside playing. 

“They feel much better. I think they’ve healed already.” and at the mention of parents? Well, she can’t hide her expression but dammit she’s trying. 

The image of her mother from one of those situations in the Mistwood is still fresh on her mind. She still doesn’t know if it was real or if it was just the mist playing tricks on her brain. 

“Mam is back home,” She mumbles. “BUT I’m not alone! I have many, many, MAAAAANY friends.”

She’ll do the same. She’ll do her best to keep things light for the both of them!

d’aww, he hasn’t done an actual pinky promise since he was tiny! it should be illegal for one interaction to be this wholesome! uh, minus her question about adults crying -- he genuinely has no idea why they’ve gotta keep it hidden... that’s just how it is.

“huh, i never really thought ‘bout it. maybe ‘cause snot’s gross? that’d be a pretty dumb reason, though. we should start a pro-cryin’ revolution!”

oh crap -- maybe he shouldn’t have brought up her parents. he can tell she’s trying to keep up a positive attitude (dang, what a strong kid!), but even he notices the dip in her mood. does she mean her mom’s back home in her original world? like, this girl’s living by herself!? “th-that’s cool! friends are great! heck, now ya have ‘MAAAANY friends’ plus one more. me, i mean. i’m your friend now.” yeesh, that didn’t come out awkward at all. 

She watches him and although it stings just a tiny bit, it’s not too bad. He’s careful and she appreciates it. and while he’s not mother he is gentle. She wonders what he sounds like. Does he have a soft gentle voice, too? She can imagine that being the case with how soft he is. On top of that though, she can feel the playful tone. His smile reminds her of someone. Not her Mother. Her mother didn’t smile the way he did. Her’s was always hiding something. 

“Did you used to cry a lot? I cry a lot. Even when I don’t get hurt.” She isn’t afraid to admit that. Pink hues lowers to glance at these super cool dinosaur themed bandaids. She places a finger over it and then looks at this kind stranger. 

She giggles , “Thank you.” She really is a champ isn’t she? That’s why she got cute bandaids!

"y-yeah, you do?” man, lil’ kids sure can be blunt sometimes. ryuji really hopes she isn’t crying all the time because of bad stuff going on in her life -- he’s been there at her age, and the thought of this girl going through anything like that... well, he’s having a real freakin’ hard time holding back a concerned frown.

instead, he decides to keep the mood light for both their sakes. “did i cry a lot? man, like ya wouldn’t believe!” he makes a show of looking around for any would-be listeners, then puts a finger to his lips. whispering, he continues, “and y’know what? i still let a few tears loose when the goin’ gets tough... but that’s a secret between us, ‘kay?”

 “Wheres the fun in that? Thats quitter talk.”

Or rather Olgierd, in some childish moment didn’t want to get forks. he wanted to learn something new, something excited that others would consider mundane. 

 “Show by example!”

“sir, yessir!” teaching just by eating? if only school was this easy. he digs back into his bowl, making his movements as clear as possible for olgierd.

“Sadly, it already was. Life in my world is very difficult to survive. Mutated animals, Raiders, Gunners, Super Mutants, Feral Ghouls and even synths making it even more difficult than it was.” Wanton violence, mutated animals from radiation, Human replacements, it was all there in her world altogether.

His expression was quite frantic and concerned that one’s world ended up in nothingness but let ruins be ruins remained. Broken buildings, devoid of life and radiation. Spirale was quite a relaxation to pre-war types but those that came from the post-apocalyptic world, it needs adjustment and getting used to it.

“Well kinda like paradise it is, knowing that everything looked so different to the one i used to be. Peaceful, yes but something is strange to the other people around.” Most people of Spirale came from other worlds, they have something indeed strange to them, like having magic, health regeneration, different to humans and many more. Servants are a sample of ‘having magic’ that is weird to her eyes.

“If you have any questions about kinds of my world, go ahead and i’ll answer them for you.” If ever Ryuji wonders the kinds of types Piper mentioned, she’s willing to share her wisdom to him.

ryuji nodded fiercely, “yeah, i def noticed the weird ones! it’s like a cosplay convention ‘round here. but, like, with magic n’ shit.” based on what she’d been saying about her future though, he was a little glad she got sent to a more, er, livable world. he couldn’t even imagine having to deal with enemies constantly! even he’d get to catch a break after palace-crawling in the metaverse.

he instantly perked up at her offer -- getting to ask anything he wanted about the future? how cool was that!? buuut he deflated just as quickly. there were way too many questions running through his head, it left him coming up with a blank... hey, he’s a simple-minded guy, aight?

AH, so even though she stopped crying and all that, he was still concerned. He approaches and he speaks. Her eyes are locked on the guy in front of her. He has a weird way of saying stuff. Sounded like he adds in ‘hh’ sound to it. Hm. Shhhtuff?

“It hurts, but—but it’ll heal all by itself.” She reassures. Though the thought of bandaids sounds nice even if her wounds won’t show any scars. “But May I have bandaids, please?” She makes sure to wipe those tears thoroughly. Make sure her cheeks aren’t wet from drying tears, “Thank you for stopping.”

she didn’t have to thank him for that! he’s just doing what any decent person would in this situation, right? he crouches down to her level and gives her wounds a once-over -- oh yeah, this isn’t too bad at all! he could handle it.

“let’s clean these up ‘fore they get infected, yeah?” before she can protest (dirty booboos are no joke, dude), he pours out some water onto his towel and starts to carefully dab away at the dirt. “you’re takin’ these scrapes like a champ, by the way. when i was your age i woulda been cryin’ like a freakin’ baby! my mom always had a harder time calmin’ me down than patchin’ me up.”

It turns out Oglierd has some knowledge about noodles. Alas there was nothing that could teach him about the sheer horror of learning about chopsticks. Sure he offered, and that its on him, practically a habit now to take in any downed child and give them some food, maybe some skills on how to kill and get on with life…

 “I ain’t no master on these chopsticks. Thats for certain.”

ryuji takes a break from shoveling noodles into his face to let out a bark of a laugh.

“pfft! hey, i’m not judgin’!” he says that, but he’s barely keeping in his snickers, “you’re lucky ya got your boy ryuji here to show ya the ropes, though.” 

Well, he gets it a little. As long as they don’t smell like radiation and everything especially looking younger in any ways, cryostasis included. She had no idea what his world looked like but pretty sure, it wasn’t bombed yet which is a relief for everyone.

“Year 2287, might considered as one perhaps.” Answer number one, responded. “I’m not sure what ‘Japan’ looked like in my world but partially the same fate as America of my world. If you’re talking about pre-war stuff in Japan maybe same as before the bombs fell. Power Armors, Vertibirds and advanced technology.” The power armor-vertibird stuff is a wild guess as she had never left Commonwealth before even the Institute took over. Even synths, who knows there could be the Japanese branch of Brotherhood of Steel, Minutemen, Railroad or whatever faction there. 

“Only Blue knows what pre-war really looked like.” As much as she dislikes her friend-compatriot turned into director, only she knows it well.

“t-twenty-two hundred... that’s gotta be at least --” he paused for a sec to attempt the math before giving up, “-- a lotta years!”

while the words ‘power armor’ and ‘vertibirds’ didn’t mean much to him on their own, his mind immediately snagged onto the part where she mentioned bombs. “dude... a-as cool as that sounds n’ all, are ya like, okay? i mean, it seems like you’re implyin’ the whole world goes to hell or somethin’.” he’d seen apocalypses himself, but that was all done by funky supernatural stuff, not weapons of mass destruction! was that really earth’s future..?