Lost in Lualand

A rather more lighthearted Persona 4 connection that I already blathered to a friend about: so, you know the Aiya Diner in the game which serves that ENORMOUS BOWL OF BEEF that takes ALL YOUR COURAGE/DILIGENCE/ETC to successfully finish it? Well...

So there's exactly one ramen place in Boston. I mean, there are other ramen places, but people generally agree this is the most legit ramen in the city by a wide margin. The place is called Yume Wo Katare, and it's open Tuesday through Saturday, for dinner only, and also it's generally closed one week a month when the owner flies back to visit Japan. But on the evenings when it is open, there's always a huge line out the door, stretching over the block, waiting for a spot at one of the fifteen or so seats.

When you finally get a seat, one of the restaurant staffers gives you a little speech—talking about how their restaurant's name translates to "share your dream," and how eating a bowl of their ramen is like achieving your dream—it takes a lot of hard work and hunger and focus, but it's so worth it in the end. So finish the ramen and you'll know you can achieve your dream!

After you finish eating, but before you leave the restaurant, you must stand up and introduce yourself to the other patrons, tell them what your dream is, and then the chef rates you based on your ramen completion. If you finished the whole bowl, he shouts "perfect!" and everyone cheers. Or if you finished all but the broth, you get a "almost!" Or you get a "next time!" if you didn't get very far, and so on.

So yeah. This is a thing that exists. In hindsight I should've snooped for a place like this while I was in Japan, haha.

(Also, if you're ever in Boston, you should totally eat there. It's awesome. But also make sure you really like pork and garlic, because it's probably the most intensely pork-y broth I've ever had in my life :D;;;)

I was looking through some of my old stories that I have lying around on my computer, and I found this little snippet, written in February of 2007:

“Soren?”

The figure froze, bridle in hand, just as moonlight washed across his face.  It was Soren — pale Soren, visibly shivering, though the night was warm.

“Soren, what are you doing?”

“What do you think?” he hissed.

“It looks like you’re leaving.”

“Hmph.”  Scowling, Soren jerked at the saddle’s girth.  __(fill this in later)__.  "Ike, I can’t stay here.  There’s rumors spreading through the company — there’s discontent — hadn’t you noticed?"

*          *          *          *          *

...I literally have zero recollection of writing this.  I am, however, greatly amused that it exists.  I could've sworn that Remnants of Restoration was my first time writing Fire Emblem fanfiction ever, but evidently I've been wanting to write Soren for a very, very long time.