#185 spoilers

[cirrus-grey]

The transcript lists this episode's title as "Locked In", and I can only imagine they changed it last-minute because they realized that was already the title of TMA 185.

[autisticaradiamegido]

day 185

VENGEFUL friendly fire for @skitzlee on artfight!

[blood-orange-juice]

since the ending has been spoiled to me anyway, I WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT

I know everyone is busy discussing who has dunked on who and how

but can we talk about how our boy, this calamity of a person, kiiinda managed to singlehandedly break Fontaine's judicial mechanism by being a proverbial stick in the cogs?

Fontaine generates energy for everyday use by utilizing people's belief in the city's legal system. and people's belief in the legal system is based on the fact that Oratrice and Neuvilette's verdicts never contradict each other

which they now do.

mad respect. if Fatui wanted to destabilize the country, they just did it

I wonder if Childe was aware

(I haven't yet played through the actual trial scene so I can't say anything about his VA or animations, and whether he *sounds* aware)

basically, was it his own plan? that would explain why has he been showing levels of stupidity and entitlement previously uknown to humanity in this patch. in which case, no, it's not abyssal corruption, he was just actively trying to get arrested and sent to trial for something he didn't do. would also explain the vision handover and the sudden infodumping, he was building a safety net.

or was it one of his colleagues? Arle? I wonder who could have predicted this result, he doesn't tell his backstory just to anyone. or maybe the machine malfunctioning has no connection to his backstory and someone from HoH simply sabotaged it.

or someone from the abyss (finally it's not the fatui who are at fault? le gasp). they would at least know whom to nudge to get arrested, they'd recognize one of their own.

if it was pure luck then that's serendipity and bad writing, I don't believe in that, the writing has been excellent this patch.

as for why the machine broke: he is either related to the primordial sea because of that whale (so yes, he is directly related to the case, just not in the way everyone thinks), or the Oratrice just reacts to abyssal taint and would consider him guilty no matter the charges

[your-zipper-is-down]

I love how Nico is always the guinea pig lmao

[invinciblerodent]

averaging out these two shots (one in which he's slightly behind her with his back hunched and one in which she's like half a step behind him), i've concluded that the top of Ver's head should come up roughly to be level with the tip of Davrin's ear.

I'm beyond content with that, but considering that in other screenshots both Lucanis and Bellara seem slightly shorter than Ver, that then would mean that Davrin kinda towers over the both of them. Then, considering that Lace's head is like level with Ver's bicep, that would bring her to be at the level of Davrin's elbow.

and that just.... can't be right. can it??? standing next to each other in the field, Bellara doesn't seem that much shorter than him, but her hair might be distorting things, and......

i'll stop talking for now

[fallloverfic]

So... on the subject of relative age in Delicious in Dungeon and Mithrun and fandom "jokes" I've seen folks complaining about. General manga and anime spoilers for character ages and names in the manga and anime below the read more:

On the one hand, I do get that people are (or at least were, I see it less these days) mad at the "Mithrun grandpa/old man" jokes/comments because "it's just cause he's disabled" and "relatively speaking, he's the same age as Chilchuck, and no one treats Chilchuck like he's an old man/something about how Chilchuck dislikes being treated differently, mentally, for his presumed age/state of mind".

Okay, yes. Relatively speaking, sure. There's a conversation to be had about the intersection of ableism and ageism and how we often baby (in a patronizing way) disabled people and the elderly, and how we prioritize youth and treat middle-aged people like their lives are over. (And maybe something about how he has silver hair, I don't know). On a more positive note, I love that, relatively speaking, possibly by Elvish standards, Mithrun is at/near middle-age (elvish age of maturity is 80 years, their average lifespan is 400 years), because that's a fascinating bit of world-building.

...On the other hand (please rest your pitchforks momentarily), Mithrun is literally 185 years old, he is the fifth oldest cast member for characters whose age we know as of the English release of the Delicious in Dungeon World Guide: The Adventurer's Bible (after the Elf Queen, who's 372, the elder Flokes, who are in their 200s, and Milsiril, who's four years older than Mithrun), and he is the oldest member of his group of the Canaries (he's literally 103 years older than his subordinate, Pattadol, and still 39 years older than Cithis, the next oldest Canary after Mithrun). And speaking of Chilchuck, who is, yes, a married father of multiple adult children... and also 29. Mithrun has lived over six times as long as Chilchuck has. (All ages come from Delicious in Dungeon World Guide: The Adventurer's Bible; Sissel + the other Golden Country residents don't have listed ages there, though they're at least 1000 years old, and the other elves don't show up). Mithrun was in recovery after the central watchtower dungeon for longer than at least five characters have been alive.

Age chart:

Elf Queen: 372

Tansu Floke: 210

Yarn Floke: 204

Milsiril: 189

Mithrun: 185

Cithis: 149

Otta: 137

Fleki: 130

Lycion: 126

Senshi: 112

Noor: 98

Totan: 95

Pattadol: 82

Gillin: 79

Brigan: 78

Holm: 76

Fionil: 62

Namari: 61

Daya, Invar: 58

Marcille: 50

Maizuru: 41

Chilchuk: 29

Laios, Toshiro, Hien: 26

Rin: 24

Falin, Benichidori: 23

Kabru, Mikbell: 22

Zon: 21

Kaka, Kiki: 20

Kuro, Doni: 18

Izutsumi, Inutade: 17

Leed: 14

Mithrun is older than Senshi, older than Marcille, older than Kabru's entire party, including Holm and Daya, and older than the oldest human we have an established age for, Maizuru (again, the first Adventurer's Bible doesn't list the Golden Country resident ages, and Mithrun is definitely younger than them, but also they're generally minor characters except for Yaad and Delgal). He's older than Senshi's former dwarf comrades were when they died. He's also apparently older than Flamela, the vice commander of the Canaries (she's 170, at least according to the fanwiki, which is possibly going off the Complete Adventurer's Bible).

He is of course younger than Obrin, his older brother, whose age we don't know, but we do know that Mithrun is the younger brother. He is also obviously much younger than the demon.

I also find it interesting that people are jumping to the big assumption that he's middle-aged (relatively) due to... I guess just chopping the average lifespan of elves in half and assuming that's what they think middle-aged is? We know the average lifespan of elves and when they come to maturity. We do not know what elves think of Mithrun's age or what their concept of being middle-aged is, if they have one. He could be considered young by elf standards. He could be considered old. We have no idea.

Thinking about the conversation in Volume 8, Chapter 51: Dumplings 2, it's just about total/average lifespan and how near the characters are to dying by average race age, not middle age.

Chilchuck on p.37: "What's the difference between our actual ages and how old we look?"

Laios: "Well, dwarfs do live two and a half times as long as tall-men."

Chilchuck: "If our actual ages affect our looks, then... ...I'm curious about remaining life. Will we age at the same rate we did before? Or will it match our bodies now?"

They never get an answer for this. We do get rough estimates for what one race's age means to another by comparing Laios' actual age (26) to what Senshi thinks dwarf!Laios is, age-wise (his 60s), and both ages put him near but not at assumed middle-age for the respective race (for tall-men it would be 30, for dwarfs, 100), but otherwise they don't come to many conclusions about anything. They just guess and try to change back before something worse happens. Marcille doesn't even say anything in this conversation about elf culture. She just panics because half-foots live shorter lives.

I would not personally call Mithrun a grandpa and I don't particularly connect with jokes about it. By Elvish standards, and relatively speaking, he is perhaps not, arguably, old. ...But he's no spring chicken, either, despite how strong and fast he is. By the standards of most characters he is interacting with in the story, he is the oldest person in the room, by a substantial margin (heck, the age gap between Mithrun and Cithis is more years than Chilchuck has lived). That doesn't make him a grandpa, either. But I do find people getting mad about folks pointing out this literally 185-year-old being is you know... 185 years old... odd...? Especially when he's around all these by and large substantially younger people (younger people who are adults by and large!!!) for most of the story. Again, there's definitely a conversation to be had about the intersection of ageism and ableism, and how we treat people who are middle-aged as if they're elderly even when they're able-bodied, and about the way other characters in-universe treat him (though the one time I think his age is pointed out, it's about the stuff he knows, not to mock him for it; mostly people treat him badly due to his disabilities (e.g., Fleki with his aiming in chapter 55, Cithis in the Adventurer's Bible), not because of his age)... but it does feel very much like people are ignoring that he is honestly one of the oldest characters in the story, and not by dint of being the oldest youth, but because he's a character who has lived to be nearly 200 years old.

[blue-lock-rocky]

IT'S a nuclear family A TEAM OF FOUR

[pttucker]

"You must be afraid. The moment I disappear, this world will disappear. Isn't that right?" I was so surprised that I was lost for words. How the hell did he know this? I started to wonder if he was the one with Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint instead of me. Then I forgot even this thought. "There's nothing to worry about. I already asked my sponsor." …What? "This world won't disappear if I regress. This world won't end or be upset if I die." Yoo Joonghyuk easily suppressed Yoo Sangah and reached for the precious jade. As if it wanted him, demonic energy stretched out from the jade and tangled around Yoo Joonghyuk's fingers. "Continue to live, Kim Dokja." Yoo Joonghyuk looked at me with the face of a stranger. "Now you have to save this world."

Ughhhh, this is so not the mystery I wanted solved. If his sponsor is to be believed anyway. Not that I can figure out why they would possibly lie.

Now I'm going to live in perpetual fear of Joonghyuk dying and things carrying on without him. Ahhhhhhhhh.

"Hopefully whatever Joonghyuk is about to talk to his sponsor about is going to give you some dang protection." Oh the irony of that post right now.

I DIDN'T MEAN FOR YOU TO PROTECT HIM BY FORCING HIM TO KILL YOU YOU STUPID SUNFISH.

[lycanlovingvampyre]

MAG 185 Relisten

Activity on my first listen: cutting the jasmine in my garden.

"So when she turned and saw them standing there, so official in their vests and helmets, what else was she to think? Ah, thank goodness, it flitted through her mind as Tina felt herself relax, whatever it is, someone is taking care of it. Because that’s what they were for, to take care of these problems, to shuffle people away for their own protection, and keep the world working as it should be." There is an episode of The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, when Will and Carlton drive the car of a friend of the Banks' family somewhere to meet up, and being two black young men in a nice car, they of course get pulled over. Will already knows what this means, but Carlton (while being black has still lived a rather privileged life because of his dad's wealth, private school, country club, a butler etc.) was super oblivious about the officer's suspicions and intentions. I always have to think of this episode when I think about MAG 185.

"This did not happen to people like her." I mean, I do think MAG 185 isn't about the typical racial profiling per se, more about it happening to people who think of themselves to be so privileged and safe from police brutality, that they never would have guessed it could also happen to them?

"It had all been there, all of it. Her life, her loves, her choices, her mistakes. No details spared, no nasty inference ignored." That's one of the domains, that can't be sorted that easily. This is clearly Eye, and even before Tina was arrested she felt like being watched. Then the identical looking police men who arrested her sound like the Stranger. That thing with the world just carrying on without her and even if there are people noticing, they antagonize her like the girl hurling a stone at her and the father quickly shooing her away in terror could be Lonely?

"'None of these things are illegal,' she had said." And Spiral?

Hmm, I mean yeah, that statement had rather few fantastical things happening which makes it seem more realistic and not like a supernatural, impossible twisting of reality.

MARTIN: "No it’s just… Is that how these creatures see us now? As one of them?" JON: [Amused] "I forgot that’s a new experience for you." MARTIN: "Excuse me?" JON: "You have to remember I’ve had this for years. Right from the start, it’s always been ‘Archivist’ this and ‘Archivist’ that. All these weird, awful creatures assuming I’m ‘in’ on all the secrets. Even when they were trying to kill me, they treated me like I was a… a peer." Hm yeah, we know it because we're seen primarily Jon's story, but there are big chunks of information missing for Martin (especially S3 and 4). Even though he was there when he was been addressed as "Archivist" for the first time. Or for the first two times? Elias singing "dear Archivist" at Jon's birthday, and then when Prentiss texted him (lol, that sounds funny...)

JON: "Not all of them. And now? Sure the power’s shifted, it’s all politeness and respect, but it still feels just like more of the same. I guess I just stopped caring at some point. Besides they are technically right, I am one of them. To a degree." Yeah, in the beginning they were like "Ohhhh, did I hurt the poor young Archivist? What'cha gonna do? You're gonna cry? Gonna run to Elias?". Then after the coma it's suddenly "What are you doing... Stop it!" and now they're full on Schrödinger's douchbag with "Pls don't kill me, I didn't mean it! It was just a joke!"

MARTIN: "It’s not the same. I’m still just your ‘plus one’." JON: [Amusedly] "Don’t put yourself down. It’s not your fault you’re a bit overshadowed. I am such a very big deal after all." MARTIN: "Oh, very big arse, more like it." Lol

JON: "Either way, even if I wasn’t here, I don’t think you’d be in any danger. Not anymore. I wasn’t sure when we first started out, I hadn’t properly, er… looked into it, as it were. But now I’m certain." Still, I think Jon actually did mean the "I won't let it [harm you]" in MAG 161. He would have fought tooth and nail if he had to in order to protect Martin.

MARTIN: "I’m one of them." JON: "One of… us." MARTIN: "That’s not as comforting as you think it is." JON: "Doesn’t mean it’s not true though." Still a bit in denial^^

MARTIN: "Even though I didn’t ask for it? Did nothing to deserve it?" JON: "‘Deserve’. Huh. Now there’s a word that always causes trouble." MARTIN: "Don’t be patronising." JON: "I just mean that nobody here deserves the position they’ve found themselves in, not really. I suppose a few may have asked for it, sought it out even, but far more didn’t. They just made the wrong choices for the right reasons. Or even the right choices. But ones that still led them here in the end." NOT REALLY! Also, yes, more philosophizing about morals, I love that shit!

INSPECTOR: "Argh! Look, you can’t know if they’re all guilty, alright? It’s just about evidence…" Right, so if that one's here in this domain, then was Tina in the statement really that innocent? "None of these things are illegal" can mean a lot of things.

INSPECTOR: "Hey, fuck you, you scrawny little tit! What the hell do you know?" Luckily, there are a lot of awful people out there who, sooner or later, will show their true face in public (And then this becomes a whole new problem when the majority of society can’t understand why that was wrong...). Also, we got a bit of physical description of Jon there! I never really gave anything to Nikola's "little Archivist" in MAG 97, I thought she meant it in a belittling way. But Jon get's called "little" again, so I guess there's something to it xD Also, we knew he's not the fittest since he gets tired from carrying a metal pipe around, but another confirmation here, boy's scrawny!

MARTIN: "No, you were right to. That’s… that’s a lot of power to have to deal with. Lot of responsibility." JON: "Yes, thank you, Uncle Ben." MARTIN: [Chuckle] "Pop culture? Really?" JON: "I’m allowed to know what Spiderman is." Even if Jon embodies this old fashioned dark academia look, I don't think that's him at all and people just misjudge him. He's been a bookworm in his childhood after all!

MARTIN: "Not helping people is still a decision, isn’t it?" JON: "Well, you saw Jordan, I’m not sure ‘helping’ is –" MARTIN: "I know, I know, not the right word. Ignoring them then." JON: "Yes. It’s a choice I’ve been making a lot recently." MARTIN: "I guess we should get used to it. Knowing that all these awful things are happening for our benefit." JON: "Maybe it’s better if it never gets comfortable." MARTIN: "Maybe." Huh, that's a thought you can convert to rl. The luxury we live in first world countries is sustained at poorer country's cost. And it's so hard to fight this, to try and get resources, which were traded fairly or get them locally. And if you can find something like that, then you need to be able to afford it because these things are of course a lot more expensive than the exploited thing.

Heh, how that familiar Lonely squealing already starts and Martin immediately noticing^^

That is a really cool cliffhanger. Not only teasing Martin's domain, but Martin and Jon being separated in a Lonely domain, again!  

@a-mag-a-day

[torracchoi]

Day 185

[lilithvibeplace]

TMA 185 spoilers

i havent actually started it yet but i just got hit with the warning abt it being over police and authority so i’m sure my lower-class communist ass who has been incessantly harassed by the police and government authority my whole life will react perfectly fine to this episode.

after all as i just said a day ago nothing will ever hit as hard as ep 170

- clueless individual

[movieking-1212]

Day 185 [Wake Time - Dinner]

[the-ssum-harry]

Day 185

[your-zipper-is-down]

The way the "american" background characters are visually so different lmao

[kemistre]

εïз┊𝐏𝐄𝐀𝐂𝐄𝐅𝐔𝐋 𝐒𝐋𝐄𝐄𝐏 — feat. sano 'manjiro' mikey, ryuguji 'draken' ken, mitsuya takashi, baji keisuke, matsuno chifuyu, hanagaki takemichi, kisaki tetta

synopsis. how the the toman boys react when you fall asleep on them

— content warnings. draken picks up the reader, slight spoilers?, kisaki — word count. 1, 185

εïз┊author's note. hehe i haven't read/watched tokrev in so long!!! i kinda miss all these boys i'm not going to lie! chifuyu and draken are still my favs <//3

εïз┊s. manjiro

he was sitting on the couch, relaxing with takemichi, draken, and you, along with a few other of takemichi’s buddies who were playing some sort of card game on the floor. you sat next to mikey, the exhaustion of your day finally settling in. the dark bags under your eyes grew more prominent as you leaned to the side, your head hitting a certain someone’s shoulder. his eyes were immediately on you, scanning over your tired figure, searching for anything that could be wrong. but once he’d concluded there was nothing wrong with you except how tired you were, he shoved you off his shoulder, making you open your eyes that had just closed moments before. everyone in the room was shocked, especially draken who looked like he was oh so close to punching his best friend. though he’d calmed down when mikey decided to lay on your lap instead, instantly falling into his own slumber as you rolled your eyes, laying your head against the arm rest of the couch falling asleep with your boyfriend in your arms.

εïз┊r. ken

he sat in front of the meeting place of toman, glancing around, remembering everything that had happened with the small, confined area. you were right next to him, sitting in silence and just reminiscing about the past. thinking about everything made your head spin, so much had happened at this tiny area, but it impacted every single person in toman greatly. you hadn’t noticed how much you had been swaying, moving around trying to keep yourself awake, but draken sure did. “hey,” hearing his voice after so much silence made you flinch, though you slowly locked eyes with him. “you alright?” you hummed, you voice hoarse with the exhaustion of your day. “m’ just fine, ken.” but no matter how many times you could’ve said it, he just did not believe you, and so, he stood upon his feet and leaned down, picking you up in his arms as he sighed. “you need sleep y/n.” he spoke, walking away from where you’d just been sitting for so long. he figured he’d take you to whoever’s house was closed, just to get you into a bed and resting as soon as possible.

εïз┊m. takashi

he leaned against his elbows that stretched behind him as he lay in the grass, you snuggling close to him for the warmth he radiated. the nighttime had been cold, the breeze making it that much worse as you lay under the moon, gazing up at the twinkling spots in the sky. this was truly the first time the two of you could relax together in so long, and it was nice, refreshing almost. he smiled, just knowing he was finally enjoying his alone time with you, and as he went to say something to you, he’d realized that your eyes were not only shut, but you were shivering. so, without another thought, he did his best to take his jacket off without you waking up, or being distrubed whatsoever. a gentle kiss was placed on your head as he finally got the jacket comfortably on you, and wrapped his arms around you, pulling you closer than before. “sweet dreams my love.”

εïз┊b. keisuke

he let his head hang from where he sat on the recently rained out concrete, his hands behind him the only thing holding him up. he sighed, watching the grey clouds roll by, completely covering any blue that had once taken over the sky. it might’ve been that he had simply spaced out, not realizing you had approached him in any way. so, when you laid your head on his shoulder, he flinched, ready to fight. though, upon seeing it was you, he just froze, not knowing how to react. he had finally relaxed into you after you had taken his hand into your own, letting him know you were there, guiding him along as you’d always done. his tense shoulders had relaxed, giving you a much comfortable surface to rest your head upon. 

εïз┊m. chifuyu

he sighed, the long day he had hovering over his head as a rain cloud would on a rainy day. he was tired, exhausted if you will. he hadn’t felt like this in a long time, so tired and broken. his eyes seemed to lose their shine he had just recently gotten back, but now, as he sat near the gravestone as his former comrade, that emotionless looking boy he used to be grew on him once again. but he didn’t have the motivation to fix it, or change. at least, that was the case until you took a seat right by his side, leaning your head against his shoulder. his heart seemingly skipped a beat, his eyes widened in a state of shock from you and your presence alone. he felt at ease, though the bags under his eyes didn’t go away just that easily. he had decided, that maybe just one more time, he could get comfortable. comfortable enough to trust someone again, and that someone was you. he leaned into you as you wrapped your arms around him, his eyes glossing over and him hugging you tightly in return. “thank you..” was all he could mumble out without the tears flowing down his cheeks. 

εïз┊h. takemichi

he could only stutter when you laid your head on his chest, closing your eyes in the process. no words actually came out of his mouth either, just mouth movements of absolute shock and embarrassment. he was blushing, and blushing hard. his entire face was engulfed in a deep red, from his chin to the tips of his ears. “y-y/n..?” but by the time he even spoke a word, you were already fast asleep on his chest. the more he took the time to breathe, calm down a bit, he realized just how warm you were against him. maybe just in general, you were warm, sweet, kind in your own way. he smiled, his blush turning into one simply dusting his cheeks in pink as he positioned himself to get more comfortable on the couch where now the two of you laid.

εïз┊k. tetta

he stared intently at your approaching figure as you sat on the couch beside him, you weight immediately shifting onto his shoulder. he tsked, trying to shake you off. it got to a point where he was so close to just pushing you off of him, wanting to be left alone as soon as possible, but as his hand neared your face, he couldn’t help it when every movement in his body stopped, his eyebrows furrowing. his tenseness became relaxed as his hand lowered. he slowly brushed a strand of hair hanging down across your face to the side, letting him fully see your peaceful expression. for some reason, it made him wish he could, for once, have a night of peaceful sleep as you are now. he wanted to not have any worries, though he knew that was simply impossible. but for the time, it wouldn’t hurt anyone to let you stay as you were for just a few more minutes.

taglist :: there's none at the moment but just send me a message to my inbox if you wanna be tagged :3

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

YASASHII NO DE

HE CAME IN 20 PULLS……………….. ……… ….. …. . … …. .. .. . . … . .. . .. . . . TRULY YASaSHii OF YOu, GOOD SiR 😭

***Crowley Groovy, chibi sprite, lesson lines, and vignette spoilers below the cut!***

Unfortunately, we do not get any more details on his profile. It’s the same as the profile he had before the update. Age and birthplace unknown, 185 cm tall, favorite food is wild game, and his hobby is vacationing.

SDFHEGYOGYFQEN;jkhaCWIDODB A LOT OF CROWLEY'S LINES ARE VERY CHILDISH OR GOOFY... Like he has one where he complains about Grim eating his snacks, tells on students who are sleeping in class, and gets distracted by shiny objects (which, I guess, is par for the course for a crow).

Crowley cannot attend Alchemy class and does not have Chats. His Buddies are Deuce, Vil, and Grim (with Grim being his Duo Magic partner). Deuce and Vil are interesting choices, I wonder why those two in particular... (Some friends and I were memeing earlier about how "all those characters have single parents so Crowley must be a single parent" and, "Vil is the Evil Queen and Meleanor is a princess of evil", etc.) Crowley can, however, attend the other lessons and it’s every bit as awkward as you think it is. (He has a pre-lesson line where he expresses surprise taht he has to do homework 🤡)

THE CROWLEY DOPPLEGANGER ALLEGATIONS ARE TRUE 💀 He can just straight up run into a clone of himself during lessons… THE DEVS KNEW WHAT THEY WERE DOING, they even goofily have Crowley say, “Oh! Hello, me!” while the other Crowley is in class for the special lesson… THEY KNEW HOW DUMB THIS WOULD BE 😭 (The dialogue states the Crowley that barges into class is a magical projection…?)

Here are some of his chibi sprites, as well as his Groovy candy. Crowley is not only very yasashii, but also very cute!!

He does, in fact, have vignettes but they are unvoiced. The first part is him running an assembly with the dorm leaders present. Crowley discusses the health of an adolescent apple tree in the school's courtyard, and no one seems to be interested in his speech. Malleus barges in late and, in a fit of anger at having not been invited, starts unleashing lightning. Wow, just like how Meleanor shoots lightning at Lilia... Like husband, like wife/j Everyone retires to their dorms, leaving Crowley to deal with an upset Malleus. The second part features Crowley having lunch with the other staff members (Sam included!). Each staff member is eating something different (Vargas is of course having eggs), and Crowley is revealed to have a great appetite in spite of his age. Crewel and Trein wonder how many decades old Crowley is, since he was apparently still headmaster when Crewel was a student and when Trein started teaching at NRC. Finally, Crowley is walking down main street and spots Yuu, Grim, and some mob students skipping class… so he uses his Lash of Love to discipline them! He binds everyone together and proceeds to drag them back to class. (It was surprising, we haven’t seen the Lash of Love since like… what, the prologue? I almost forgot about it.) Crowley alludes to the fact that even though the students joke about him, he is actually a very powerful mage that shouldn't be taken lightly, you know?? The vignettes end with Crowley referring to his students as "apple trees" that he is nourishing and watching over as they grow, which rounds us nicely back to the apple tree he mentioned in his first vignette.

BUT ANYWay HEREmS thE GROOviY in JUICy DETAIL INkjoW YOU WERE ALL WAiTING FOR

It’s so pretty AaAAaaaaaaaAAAAAAAaaAaaAHHHHH 🥺 His grotesquely detailed hand reaching out to the viewer, who appears to be awaking from within a coffin… and do I have to mention the parallel between Crowley here and the mysterious hand that is offered to us in the mirror at the very beginning of the game????? Which could imply that Crowley is beckoning/summoning us into another world... The dim room, light spilling onto the Mirror of Darkness… So atmospheric!! If Crowley knows how to do one thing well and consistently, it’s drama~ The Groovy totally reminds me a lot of the prologue when Crowley tells Yuu to go before the mirror to get sorted. Omg guys... He's posted like Masquerade Malleus/j

One detail I super appreciate in this illustration is that you can see the dorm leaders in the background! If you squint, you’ll realize that there are 5 of them posing exactly like how they are in the following promotional artwork:

The one without a matching pose is Idia, who is present via his tablet. Though… I feel like we’re forgetting something 🤔 … Eh, I’m sure it’s nothing, nothing at allllllllll~