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riddle-me-ri · 6 months ago

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Can I request Lupin iii characters finding themselves in one bed situation with the reader. I am a sucker for this trope :3

a/n: AAAHHHH omg anon, would you believe me if I told you I was literally already in the middle of writing these exact scenarios for each of the characters because the minute it hit my brain it wouldn’t leave, the absolute chaotic fluffy gold of the one bed trope mixed with this gang of characters…like yes, it’s perfect!! I know some would love and some would loathe the idea, and this is also sorta allowing me to get a handle on all five of them. I've taken in a decent amount of Lupin media (not nearly all of it…nowhere even close rip) that I think I got a decent handle on them, but some OOC-ness may still occur and thoughts may change as I watch more of the series and some of the films. Anyways, hope you guys enjoy, especially you too same brain anon

Content Warning: midly sexually suggestive content but nothing outright explicit, somewhat fluffy in some parts

For context: Lesson learned; don't let Lupin make hotel reservations (or Zenigata for his scenario). Now you're forced to share a bed with a member of the gang…and some seem more receptive to the idea than others. Reader is gender neutral and this is pre-relationship, but it's fairly obvious on both ends there's feelings. (also for Zenigata's part, you're an officer from another department so not quite an inferior to Zenigata plus you have known him for some time, hence why you say his first name)

Lupin the Third and Gang Sharing the Same Bed Trope with Reader

Lupin The Third:

In all honesty, you should’ve seen this coming a mile away. Lupin was the one who assured everyone he would take care of all the arrangements, and no one had to worry about a thing…you should’ve known that was way too good to be true. Yet as the keys were distributed, you were left without one.

“You’ve got to be kidding me…” You lifted your brow suspiciously, eying the lanky thief.

Lupin winced. “I’m afraid not…” He wraps an arm around your shoulders and brings you closer to his side, some feign attempt at comforting you.

He sighed dramatically. “Oh, whatever will we do? Wherever could you lay your pretty weary head…”

Soon, his expression of distraught turned into one of mischief. You could tell as the curve of his smug grin reached his cheekbones.

Lupin leaned his temple against yours as he sweetly offered. “Oh I know…you could share a bed with me!”

It wasn’t exactly a secret that you were attracted to the gentleman thief, but you didn’t want to come off as easy pickings for him either. Lupin never hid his affections from anyone he was attracted to, making you an easily flustered mess of a human being.

Which is how you ended up saying yes, despite trying to come off as if you had no other choice. The others didn’t come to your defense either, so you felt stuck anyhow.

As you walked out of the bathroom in your night clothes, you were greeted with the sight of Lupin sprawled out on the bed, propped up to face you, and his eyebrows wiggling suggestively.

You didn’t know whether to chuckle at the sight or throw something at his face. You decided on rolling your eyes dismissively as you slowly made your way to the bed.

“You’re way too excited about this arrangement.” You commented.

“Maybe…” He drawled out nonchalantly as if he wasn’t softly kicking his feet at the foot of the bed.

“Well you should maybe scoot over, and no funny business, I’m exhausted.” You sternly stated, pointing an authoritative finger in his face.

Lupin lifted his hands up in mock surrender as he scooted to the other side of the bed, which you noticed faced the front door to the room.

“Okey dokey, nothing funny…” He leaned his head to the side. “...tonight.”

“Lupin! I heard that!” Now you did vouch for hitting him with a pillow, mostly because you didn’t want him to see the blush on your face.

“Ow. Ow. Okay, okay!” Lupin dodges most of your hits, just barely saving himself from falling off the bed entirely. “

You two eventually settled into your spots, after bickering with Lupin to sleep the other way with your backs facing each other. A part of you wanted to let him touch you, hold you, or even cuddle but knowing Lupin…give that man an inch and he’ll take a mile. You didn’t want to screw up the dynamic you had now…

Yet as you woke up the next morning to Lupin’s soft snoring and a lazy arm wrapped around your waist with him facing you…you can’t help but smile.

Maybe just maybe you could get used to this.

Jigen Daisuke

When the problem arises, he can’t help but lower his hat somehow further down than it already was. He knew this was one of Lupin’s stupid schemes, and he wanted nothing more than to just throw you his hotel room key, and he opted for sleeping in the car. Not that he wasn’t entirely against the idea, deep down, of sharing a bed with you.

Jigen’s woken up to worse things, people, scenarios…to wake up seeing your face would be a nice change of pace for once, but the last thing he wants is to make you uncomfortable.

Then, when you asked if it was okay for you to share a space with him…he really couldn’t deny you, and if you were fine with it, then he figured he could be too.

“Jigen…I know this is an awkward predicament, but I can’t let you sleep on the couch.”

“Huh?” He lifted the brim of his hat slightly to glance an eye at you. “Whatcha mean? I’ve always slept on the couch anyway…”

“Exactly! You should sleep on a proper bed once in a while…I know that couch can’t be that comfortable…”

You felt way too guilty having the large king bed that could likely hold a family of four to yourself while Jigen settled for the couch.

“There's enough space that we could be in two different city limits…”

Jigen chuckled. You weren’t wrong, and you are way too cute for your own good.

“If I come over there, will you let me sleep?”

You nodded. “Yes.”

Jigen sighed before slowly rising from the couch. You tried not to smile too widely out of excitement, you didn't expect him to give in that quickly.

But much like before, if you ask something of him, he finds it incredibly difficult to say no.

Jigen discarded his suit jacket, tie, shoes, and socks but stayed in his dress shirt and hat.

“Scoot over, I should be facing the door.” He waved his hand, motioning you to move under the covers.

You leaned your head sideways as you watched him try to light one of his bent cigarettes.

“You're gonna sleep with your hat on?” You inquired with a perked eyebrow.

Jigen grinned. “The hat always stays on...if I can help it.”

Fair enough, you found yourself eventually dozing off before Jigen.

Jigen stayed awake for a while and thought about sneaking back over to the couch, but then he felt pressure on his chest. Your head laid gently over his now rapidly beating heart. Your soft rhythmic breathing fanning softly against his shirt.

Well, he can't move now, but he couldn't find himself minding the predicament too much.

Goemon Ishikawa XIII

This man's face is as hot as the rising sun over Japan. Speaking of, was it too late for him to return to Japan for some more training or search for enlightenment? He could use a lot of the latter right now.

Goemon can't say he could blame you for choosing to room with him.

Lupin was far too eager to volunteer (which made Goemon grit his teeth), Jigen wasn't all that inviting, and Fujiko had already left for her room as soon as she got her key.

Also, he did find the issue…beneficial. Goemon would know where you are and be able to keep you safe, especially at your most vulnerable.

Not that he didn't think you couldn't handle yourself, but he just felt more at ease knowing your condition.

However, you weren't at ease with him sleeping upright on the floor in the corner next to the door.

“Goemon…please…I feel bad.”

He cracked open one of his eyes. “This is the most appropriate solution.”

“But when was the last time you actually laid down on a bed to sleep? And for a heist doesn't count!”

“It is none of your concern. I will be fine. Please just rest.”

“I won't rest unless you sleep with me!”

Goemon grits his teeth and furrowed his brows as his face reddened.

“N-Not like that!” You corrected, your own face slightly heating up. “I just…you should get some rest too…properly…please?”

Goemon closed his eyes with a long sigh as he seemed to straighten his posture.

You furrowed your brows with a huff as you turned your head to the side to face away from him.

However, you stayed true to your condition, with crossed arms, you were upright in bed and wide awake.

Goemon sighed as he stood up slowly. “Why must you be so stubborn..”

“That's rich coming from you.” You chuckled.

“I am only doing this so that you may finally go to sleep. Nothing more.” Goemon grabbed some of the spare pillows you weren't currently laying on and promptly formed a small pillow wall between you and the empty spot on the bed.

You looked up at him incredulously.

“A pillow wall?”

He nodded before setting Zantetsuken down directly beside his side of the bed.

“To refrain from any…indecent accidental touching.” He explained.

You couldn't help but smile as you shook your head slowly in disbelief. “I can work with that.”

Goemon hummed in acknowledgment as he got under the covers and faced the ceiling.

Anything to ignore the fact you were mere inches away from him.

“Thank you…and good night, Goemon.” You said softly over the makeshift divider before nestling into your pillow.

Goemon's eyes widened as he realized you were much closer than he thought if he could still hear you. Maybe his senses have truly progressed over time with his training?

“Good night…” He replied softly as if worried he'd already wake you.

It took him hours before Goemon finally fell asleep to the sound of your soft breathing and the warm idea of you feeling the safest with him out of the gang.

Fujiko Mine

To say Fujiko literally lunged at your wrist to drag you to her room was an understatement when she saw you didn't get a room key.

Lupin didn't even get a chance to invite himself with the two of you before you made it up to her room.

Fujiko giggled as she flung you onto the bed. “It's been too long since we had some alone time together, wouldn't you agree?”

Needless to say, you were both stunned but excited too to finally be alone with her for once.

“W-What did you have in mind?” You asked.

Fujiko giggled some more before leaning closer to your face with every other word she spoke next. “Well…I was hoping you could help me choose one of my new night gowns and then-”

*KNOCK-KNOCK-KNOCK*

Lupin whined your and Fujiko's name through the door.

“Don't tell me you two are having fun without meee…”

Fujiko groaned. “We are Lupin, such a shame…if only you found that secret stash of a hundred million yen like I asked…you could join us.”

You chuckled. You couldn't help but admire just how much she had Lupin wrapped around her finger.

After some bickering through the door, Lupin finally let up, and Fujiko turned all her attention back to you.

Your face was almost as red as one of Fujiko's teddies she tried on. You eventually went for the one that had your favorite color, having a feeling that's why Fujiko bought it in the first place.

If you were okay with it, Fujiko would definitely sprinkle your face in kisses as you two cuddled in bed. Her soft and playful touch was too much to resist otherwise.

It depends on you, whether you guys go to the next level or not.

If it doesn't, as much as Fujiko would like to take it there, she respects your wishes and just enjoys the intimate proximity with you as she wraps her arms around you and does what she can to snuggle closer as you two drift off to sleep.

Inspector Koichi Zenigata

Zenigata is fumbling with the rim of his fedora as you two stare at the king bed in the middle of the hotel room.

After more than half an hour of arguing with the front desk, Zenigata wasn't able to get you two out of this mess.

“I-I'm sorry…I can uh…take the desk chair. I'll most likely be up late anyway…”

“Don't be ridiculous, Koichi, it's fine..look at it, it could fit a family of five. Neither of us would know the other is there.”

You put a comforting hand on the tense man's shoulder. “Besides, you need to rest. How can Interpol’s finest catch the most wanted criminals without a good night's rest, hm?”

If you were trying to give off the fact you were calm and collected about the situation, it was working. You could almost convince the butterflies in your stomach to calm down or keep the heat in your cheeks down to a minimum.

“I-err…” Zenigata grumbled, unsure what to say. Mentally combatting between being professional or actually taking the chance to be closer to you.

“It's fine, I promise. If I had to share a bed with anyone, it'd be you.” You walked over to the bathroom and began your night routine as you let the Inspector think it over.

Zenigata almost dropped his hat at that claim. His heart swelled at the fact you trusted him that much. He put you at ease despite the hectic life he lived.

When you were both ready to make the final decision for sleeping arrangements. You went first and pulled back the covers.

You smiled softly across the way as you saw Zenigata follow your lead.

A dust of red tinted his cheeks. “I figured you'd get upset if I didn't get some rest.”

“And you figured right…” You got settled into the bed with Zenigata close behind.

“Good night, Koichi.” You turned over to your side and closed your eyes with sleep not far from draping over your body.

“G-Good night…” he softly said your name at the end, before he too turned over.

When his face was out of your sight, he was finally able to fully express how surprised he was that this was actually occurring. His teeth chattered, his fingers fumbled with the edge of the blanket. He was only able to doze off by counting the rotations of the ceiling fan…

Zenigata woke up to you mumbling his name. He was immediately alert, whipping his head around the room at what you could be drawing his attention to.

“Koichi…” You grumbled sleepily. “You're stealing the covers..”

“Oh!” He looked down and saw he was tangled in the sheets, and you were exposed to the cold room despite the small square of the comforter.

Zenigata panicked. In his anxious state, he must have been tossing and turning and took most of the covers. He quickly tried to unwrap himself and give back your share of the covers.

“Wh-Whoa!” You sat up when you heard a solid thud hit the floor.

You looked over the edge of the bed to see Zenigata somehow more tangled than before.

You perked an eyebrow as you giggled. “Need help?”

“Y-yes please…” He mumbled to himself.

So much for an easy night's rest.

#ri writes #lupin the third #lupin the 3rd #lupin III #jigen daisuke x reader #goemon ishikawa xiii x reader #fujiko mine x reader #inspector zenigata x reader

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saphronethaleph · 7 months ago

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Who the Edda you

The door to Odin’s study opened with a dramatic thud, which wasn’t quite the crash that Thor could manage but was still quite passable.

“Father!” Loki began, without preamble.

“Loki,” Odin replied, turning around. “You seem upset.”

“Congratulations, you can tell,” Loki replied. “I don’t suppose your all-seeing eye has told you why I’m here?”

Odin frowned, then shook his head slightly.

“I don’t know that,” he said. “I know you went to Midgard recently.”

“Well, of course you’d know that,” Loki agreed. “But I have to ask. Am I adopted?”

Odin winked.

“...what?” he asked, mostly to buy time.

“Because some of this stuff is complete nonsense,” Loki went on, slamming a book down on the nearest table.

Odin saw that it said Prose and Poetic Edda, but Loki just kept going. “I mean, really, complete nonsense. It’s impossible for you to conceive of just how ridiculous this is, I read the whole thing and according to this book’s version of things, Sleipnir is my son.”

Odin stared for a moment, then looked at the book again.

“Sleipnir…” he repeated, slowly. “The horse.”

“Yesss,” Loki confirmed. “I understand your confusion, old man, because I very much share it. Admittedly they do have an explanation, but – that’s not even the only child I have in this book! I also have a sea serpent, a giant wolf called Fenris and a half-zombie woman called Hel!”

Odin coughed.

“They what?” he asked, coughing again. “...where did you even get that book, anyway?”

“Book store, while I was waiting for Thor to finish… being Thor,” Loki replied. “Amazingly enough, they quite like books down in Midgard. And some of the things they mention in it are quite familiar. A lot of names, for example, though it’s astonishing what they get wrong. Heimdall’s in there, he’s described as the whitest of the gods.”

Odin looked at the book, then out the window towards the Bifrost (which wasn’t actually visible from this angle), then back to the book.

“And you’re using this book for information?” he asked.

“I said it got all kinds of things ridiculously wrong,” Loki said. “That’s why I’m asking you. I have to say, though, if some of the details here are correct then I’m very much looking forward to them.”

He picked up the book, and flicked through to one of the pages with a turned-over corner. “For example, according to this story Thor and I go on a heist to get Mjolnir back after someone steals it.”

Odin now looked even more baffled.

“Couldn’t Thor just call it back to his hand?” he said, despite himself.

“I don’t know, but knowing Thor he may have forgotten,” Loki said. “And I was apparently having too much fun with the heist plan to actually mention it to my brother… what with how the plan was to disguise Thor as the most beautiful of the goddesses, and insist on the dowry being Mjolnir.”

He smirked. “I do suspect that I came up with that idea. It has my flair.”

“Aren’t you getting it out of a book, right now?” Odin asked.

Loki’s expression soured.

“Fair point,” he admitted. “Did you really pluck out an eye and impale yourself to gain omniscience, though?”

He gave Odin an askance look. “And if you did, is that an Asgardian thing, a parent thing, or just… you, being yourself?”

“...does that book say I was impaled?” Odin asked.

“To death, actually,” Loki confirmed. “Apparently you got better. I don’t pretend to understand.”

Odin frowned, thinking.

“If there’s some deep, dark secret, do tell,” Loki requested. “I know a huge part of this book is absolute nonsense, but some of it is extremely telling and I’ve even got some ideas from it. I should really try shapeshifting into an eagle and flying around some time.”

He made a face. “Not doing a mare, though.”

“Why not?” Odin said, again trying to buy time to think.

“According to the book – which, again, I know isn’t true,” Loki noted, “Sleipnir came about when you’d hired a giant to build the walls of Asgard but didn’t want to pay him. About two thirds of the work was done by his magic horse, and apparently I seduced the horse.”

Odin nodded, slowly.

“Loki,” he said. “My son. I can tell you that that part of the book is Millennial nonsense.”

Loki blinked.

“...what’s a Millennial?” he asked.

“People born this millennium,” Odin clarified. “So, anyone under nine hundred and eighty years old.”

He paused.

“Oh, and – yes,” he added. “You were adopted, but I wanted to wait until you and your brother were mature enough to accept that.”

“You don’t think I’m mature enough now?” Loki asked, hurt.

“I do know about that time you had a bet with Thor to vanish out of a plane in mid-flight,” Odin said. “And, before you ask, that’s both of you that I mean.”

Loki frowned.

“I concede that,” he said, sounding pained. “All right, I’ll try to process that.”

He picked up the book again. “Though I may need to stay away from mistletoe from now on. Getting involved with that particular plant doesn’t seem to end well for me…”

#marvel mcu #loki #loki odinson #odin #winking is like blinking if you have one eye #prose edda #poetic edda

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knaccblog · 1 year ago

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Aziraphale and "I Forgive You"

So after I watched the first season a few times however many years ago, I noticed something, wrote up a bit of a meta about it and then never posted it. I thought that it was either very obvious or very silly and either way, no one needed to see it. But now it's several years and another season later and again, I'm noticing the exact same thing so here it goes- I think the reason Aziraphale keeps saying that he forgives Crowley has overall very little to do with what Crowley has just done right before Aziraphale says it and much more to do with a secret Aziraphale hides deep within himself and has for thousands of years, a truth that he hates to acknowledge and is terrified to speak aloud: he thinks God is wrong to have not Forgiven Crowley.

Get settled in because this is gonna take a bit.

The first time I started noticing this really clearly is the Bandstand Breakup scene. Crowley starts by cussing God literally out- "For the record, great, pustulant, mangled bollocks to the Great blasted Plan." To which Aziraphale says, "May you be forgiven." And yes, Crowley has just sinned and Aziraphale is a stuffy angel but the way Aziraphale says it is like a hope, atleast to my ears. Like he's really wishing that God will see how good Crowley truly is and bring him back to Heaven even though he keeps doing stupid stuff like this

Anyway, Crowley then responds with, "I won't be forgiven. Not ever. Part of a demon's job description. Unforgivable. That's what I am." And Aziraphale responds again with a hopeful sounding, "You were an angel once." At this point, I was almost sure that he's talking about his personal wishes here. It sounds like he's saying, "Come on, Crowley. There's a chance." To which Crowley responds, "That was a long time ago," basically saying it's impossible and shutting that whole bit of the conversation down. And you can just watch Aziraphale's face fall at that, like it kills him for that to be true.

The next time the topic of forgiveness and Crowley comes up is when Crowley shows up to beg Aziraphale to run away with him one last time. In this conversation, Aziraphale is very adamant that if he talks to the right people, they won't want the apocalypse and they'll stop it. He, of course, thinks this because his most core belief is that God is good and that even if we don't understand how what God is doing is good right now, it will lead to goodness eventually via the Rube Goldburg machine which is time and the universe etc aka God is ineffable. But even Aziraphale can't imagine how the ineffable Rube Goldburg machine could turn an event where everything on earth dies into a good one so therefore, he's certain that God doesn't want the Apocalypse.

Crowley responds to this hope with, "You're so clever. How can someone as clever as you be so stupid?" to which Aziraphale responds, "I forgive you" in a very gentle but sure tone. And now yes, while it is entirely possible that Aziraphale is forgiving Crowley for calling him stupid, I've always felt like that would be a rather weighty response considering how mild an insult it is. It's also possible (and I feel slightly more likely) that Aziraphale is forgiving Crowley for his lack of faith, his inability to believe in the goodness of God anymore.

And that could definitely be it, but if we think about the way Aziraphale had talked about forgiveness at the Bandstand, the hope and desire that he seemed to put into the idea of forgiveness and Crowley and the fact that Crowley had dismissed it as entirely impossible for him to ever be forgiven, than a third read of Aziraphale's "I forgive you" emerges: one in which Aziraphale is saying, "While God might never forgive you, I do". It's "I might never see you again since you intend to run away to the stars but if this is the last time I ever see you, I want you to know that I think you are deserving of forgiveness. That I see the good in you even if God can't." It's a combination "I love you" and small rebellion against God, because while Aziraphale can't bring himself to give up on Her completely and run away with Crowley (even though a part of him clearly wants to), he is willing to say that She's done this one thing wrong and it's never forgiving Crowley, who Aziraphale can see clearly is more kind and good than any of the angels he knows.

So yeah, that was about where the idea rested at the end of the first season but now we have a bunch of new historical scenes and a new "I forgive you" following a very loaded conversation in which Aziraphale got extremely excited by the idea of Crowley being reinstated as an Angel and I felt like this idea has even more legs than before.

To me, it's very clear that Aziraphale's pitch for Crowley to come back to Heaven isn't him hoping to "reset" Crowley to how he was before the Fall or him being incapable of loving Crowley as a Demon and instead was him being overjoyed to have this secret truth (Crowley is deserving of God's Forgiveness) that he's been observing for 6000ish years be acknowledged and have a chance to come to fruition. After all, as we saw this season (and honestly last season too but less pronounced), Crowley, current Demon Crowley, not the angel he knew over 6000 years ago, has proven over and over again just how truly good he is to Aziraphale.

For example, in the Job sequence, Crowley does a truly good thing that no Angel (beside Aziraphale) would do or even think that they should do and that is save Job's children. And through the entirety of this bit, Aziraphale basically always believes that he will. There are even two moments where Crowley tries his best to scare Aziraphale away, to play up being the bad guy (so as to better hide the con he's running and protect Aziraphale), but Aziraphale's faith in Crowley's goodness does not falter. At the end of the day, it seems clear that Aziraphale has more faith that Crowley will do the good thing, the correct thing than God. Conveniently for Aziraphale's faith in God though, not understanding how something horrible he hates will eventually lead to goodness in the long run is a foundational principle of said faith so his faith in God remains strong even after everything She and Heaven do to Job.

But his faith in Crowley doesn't require such a complicated work around. He believes Crowley won't kill children and he is correct. Though unfortunately, this very simplicity leads to a new problem, a problem that we can see eventually solidify in Aziraphale's mind, becoming a running theme of their association and leading to the eventual "I forgive you"s.

Aziraphale can clearly see how kind and good Crowley is, how he does the right thing as best he can, even when he could (and sometimes does) get into immense trouble for it. But for some reason, despite repeated evidence that Crowley is everything that Aziraphale believes Angels are and should be, Crowley continues to be a Demon. And once you realize that Aziraphale has noticed this contradiction and that it most likely haunts him and is a constant challenge to his worldview, it colors a lot of what he says in a new light. Many of what seem like simple, self-righteous statements reveal themselves to be Aziraphale trying to protecting himself from a massive logical inconsistency he keeps stumbling across.

"It must be bad, otherwise you wouldn't have tempted them into it," Aziraphale says, clearly not quite sure why it's bad actually.

"You, I'm afraid, are evil," Aziraphale asserts, basically stating that Crowley is evil because he's evil. It's tauntological and therefore doesn't have to make sense. (He says this one shortly before Crowley saves Elsbeth from suicide, poverty and damnation.)

"So this is all your demonic work? I should have known," Aziraphale says, thinking, "Aha, this time Crowley must have done the bad thing and therefore continues to deserve being Fallen." (Crowley has, in fact, not done the bad thing but shhhh, worry about that later.)

Once you notice this self defensive habit, you can't unnotice it really, it's just so present in Aziraphale's logic and speech. Aziraphale even at one point says, "Still a demon, then?" after the Ark and Job and Jesus because on some level he probably doesn't want to actually evaluate, it makes no sense to him that Crowley is still a Demon, especially when he has also sinned in a few ways (lied to Gabriel, thwarted the will of God, technically gluttony etc) and nothing has happened to him, to say nothing for all the things Gabriel has done (or has just let passively happen without a thought to interfere).

So yes, I think the entire final argument plays out the way it does because Aziraphale thinks Crowley is good and deserves to be reinstated, to be forgiven by God more than anything.

He comes into their final conversation nervous but excited, to the point where he stomps right over what Crowley is trying to say. "You see I... I have some incredible good news to give you." The good news is for Crowley, you see, because Crowley deserves this and clearly being forgiven like he so deserves should logically make Crowley happy. It will make Aziraphale happy after all.

Aziraphale then starts to describe the conversation that he had with Metatron, stating that he thinks he might have misjudged him. And why would he think that he misjudged the angel who had told him point blank to his face that "The point is not to avoid the war, it is to win it" about the Apocalypse? Well, it's not because he's offered the job of Supreme Archangel, that's for sure. As we can see in the flashback, Aziraphale seems nervous and uninterested in the job at first. He says clearly that he doesn't want to go back to Heaven and even brings up a very half assed excuse to try and weasel out of it, a soft no of, "Where will I get my coffee?"

No, instead, the clear, obvious point where Aziraphale changes his mind about the job and about the Metatron is when he offers to reinstate Crowley as an Angel. Metatron has, quite accidentally (I think? I don't think he actually knows Aziraphale's secret soul), just said one of the most faith affirming things he possibly could to Aziraphale, "We can correct that little error that's been bothering you. You are completely correct that Crowley deserves God's forgiveness."

Given that, it's understandable that Aziraphale is absolutely bubbly about Crowley's reinstatement when he mentions it to him, like the best thing ever has just happened to him even though he's talking about something that will happen to Crowley and not him at all. "You could come back to heaven and- and everything. Like the old times, only even nicer." (Nicer because this time, they are in love. Nicer because they'll both be powerful enough to make a difference.)

Some other bits of Aziraphale's dialogue from this scene that make so much sense through this lens are:

After Crowley tries to reiterate his constant stance that both sides are bad actually, and mentions how he rejected Hell's offer to work with them again, Aziraphale misses his point completely and says, "But well, obviously you said no to Hell, you're the bad guys. But Heaven, it's the side of truth, of light, of good." Aziraphale's faith in the potential goodness of Heaven and the actual goodness of God is unflappable but so is his belief that good is what Crowley wants to be doing. Like of course a good soul like Crowley would reject working for Hell again but why would he reject a chance to do good like he's sneakily been doing all along? (Aziraphale here ignores the fact that he's also had to sneakily do good on the side sometimes even though he was always working for "the side of good" but that is very par for the course for him sadly.)

The lines, "Come with me- to heaven. I'll run it, you can be my second in command. We can make a difference," are a particularly telling set. Everything about these from the high position he's offering Crowley to the "We" scream that Aziraphale trusts Crowley, a Demon, to guide Heaven the correct way more than any angel already in Heaven.

Aziraphale's final, desperate argument also lines up well with this (as well as featuring Aziraphale more completely referencing how he wants him and Crowley to be together romantically). "Come back, to heaven. Work with me! We can be together. Angels... Doing good. I- I need you! I don't think you understand what I'm offering you." Like is the "I need you" here romantic? Definitely. But it's also Aziraphale again affirming that he trusts Crowley to lead him the correct way ie goodness, because, as it's been shown to us many times (and focused on particularly in this season), Crowley will do and always has been doing the correct thing as best he could while Aziraphale would dither and be locked into passivity (like in The Resurrectionists).

So yes, after many attempts to explain to Crowley how he should be in Heaven, doing good and Aziraphale needs his help and one last desperate kiss from Crowley, we reach the final dreaded, "l forgive you." And yes, maybe Aziraphale is forgiving Crowley for not having faith that they can fix heaven, for abandoning him, for kissing him so suddenly. But I hope, after everything I've laid out here in this essay, you can also see why I think Aziraphale is saying, "Even as you reject God's forgiveness and leave me behind, I still see that you are good and know you deserve it so I will forgive you anyway." And maybe, even though it's still blasphemous to disagree with God, it's less scary for Aziraphale to say "I forgive you" one more time than tell Crowley that he loves him for the first time. He is very good at forgiveness after all.

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jadeite-art · 9 months ago

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I have been thinking a lot about the entire Coop-Barb-Janey subplot, not only from a viewer's perspective but also a writer's perspective and here's some thoughts of what we might expect in S2 and/or S3:

☢️ Similarly to S1, S2 could open with a scene set in 2077 showing Coop separating from Janey. It'd be safe to assume that at one point Barb swooped in and took Janey with her to one of the good vaults.

Henry/Hank, being Barb's assistant, might have been directly involved. It would explain why Coop later thinks he might know where both of them are

Coop probably doesn't know that for a simple reason: contrarily to the experiment vaults, the location of the high management vaults must be top secret and the entrance must be well disguised and well protected

Side note: Barb and Janey are definitely not in vault 31. They are not listed on the terminal that Norm checks in one of the scenes

☢️ I think that throughout the season/s we'll get some flashbacks of Coop and Barb from the moment he found out about the bombs all the way to their divorce

I theorize Barb was the one to file for divorce, and one of the reasons was she feared his association with "commies" would lose her (and by extension her daughter) the spot in a good vault

I saw an affair angle being mentioned. I'd say it's not out of the realm of possibility. Still, if there was a third man, it would not be Hank but some high ranking executive, someone who could grant Barb that spot in a good vault.

If there was an affair and it was mostly calculated, I think there could still have been an element of genuine attraction there. The way in which Barb accuses Coop of being an ingenue, makes me think she'd be inclined to develop an attachment to someone who is the opposite of that, someone who'd make her feel safe and supported

Side note 1: the affair angle would tie nicely with the fact that Coop appears to think of his family as having been taken from him

Side note 2: ghoulcy shippers might find it interesting that the side of Coop's character that Barb seemed to resent, is the one Lucy would probably appreciate the most

☢️ All that said, Coop will most certainly find Barb and Janey at the end of S2 or at least will find out where they are and will only literally find them at the end of S3. @earthgenre made an interesting post exploring what might have happened to them. I personally am convinced they were cryo-frozen and one of the following will turn out to be true:

They were awakened, lived and died a long time ago (or were just never frozen in the first place) and Coop will have to deal with the fact that they are just... gone.

They were awakened some time earlier but by now Barb is dead and Janey is all grown up, perhaps with a husband and child/ren, or alternatively she's already old. It could make for a heartfelt reunion but in the end, the two would have to go their separate ways.

They are both still in their cryopods. Coop gets to see his wife and daughter again and is faced with a choice to either awaken them or let them sleep. It would be a test of character for him. If this one came true, I think he'd either let them sleep or awaken them just for a moment of closure and then let them go back to sleep again in wait for a better tomorrow.

You may have noticed I didn't include any scenario in which they reconcile and walk together into the sunset. This is simply because I don't think it's really an option. I mean, could you imagine Barb, the clean-cut corporate exec, traveling across the wasteland with her ex who now is also a radioactive flesh-eating ghoul? And dragging their little daughter along with them?

On the other hand, Coop wouldn't subject them to that. Yes, he's been looking for them all this time but it would be very silly of him to expect them to reunite and just go live happily ever after. And he's a lot of things but silly is not one of them. I don't think he wants to get them back. He just wants to know what the hell happened to them. Closure is what he wants and what he'll probably eventually get.

As much as I'd love to see Coop get back what he'd lost, I recognize that it wouldn't make much sense, narratively speaking. Cooper's journey appears to be about two things: regaining his lost humanity and letting go of the past. He cannot turn back into a human but he can become a better man (ghoul?) with strong(er) morals. Similarly, he cannot get his family back, not really, not even if he finds them alive, but he can always get himself a companion - someone whom he could cherish and protect, someone whom he could literally live for - and the narrative so far seems to imply that companion is meant to be Lucy. I won't elaborate further on that because there's already a gazillion posts quoting various parallels and foreshadowing elements than seem to be pointing somewhere in that direction.

At the end of it, I just wanna say, there is no way back, but there is always a way forward and that, I think, is the lesson Cooper is supposed to learn.

#fallout prime #fallout tv show #fallout amazon #cooper howard #barb howard #janey howard #lucy maclean

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feroshgirlsims · 8 months ago

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Prologue: The Space Between Universes

CW: This story has adult language, adult situations, sex, gore, and violence. It regularly deals with traumatic situations, mental health issues, and drug use. It is intended for mature readers (18+).

TW: Blood and creepy characters in this chapter + references to death

Excerpt from "The After-life for Gods and Monsters," location of book unknown.

The space between universes isn’t anything so dreamy as the old myths portend.

There’s no feeling of weightlessness or enchanting choral music, and certainly, no gossamer hands gently guiding you toward a welcoming light.

Mostly, there’s a concrete floor and dingy walls. And an old transistor radio tuned to 87.3 so the staff can listen to the real oldies—Selvadoradian chants with the occasional saucy tone poem from an ancient Windenburgian Monk.

You don’t float; you fall.

And after you land, or rather, hit the cold floor of what looks like the world’s shittiest warehouse, you’re pretty much left to your own devices.

At least, that’s how it seems. Truthfully, the warehouse is pretty busy, and everyone has enough work to do without wasting valuable milliseconds trying to decipher your questions through your tears.

And the questions are always the same, anyway:

Why?

Because.

Am I supposed to be here?

Yes.

Can you give me something to relieve the pain?

Honestly, does this look like a pharmacy to you?

Also, no.

At some point, when you’ve pulled your shit together enough to stop wailing and accept your circumstances—come what may—someone does show up to talk to you.

Two “someones,” actually: Time and her wife, Substance. And yes, no matter what form they appear in, they’re a little bit rude.

They’ll explain to you (with some level of irritation) that, of course, this isn’t a fucking warehouse, and it’s not their fault that your puny mind can’t interpret the true nature of the space between the stars.

And no, not actual stars, obviously. The fact that you would even ask that shows you’re not listening.

Assuming they’re interested in your continued presence after all that, Time will sit at the desk, and Substance will mend your bones and stuff your organs back inside your body.

—If you have bones.

—If you have organs.

If you haven’t already done it yourself, and frankly, if you want to make a good impression, you should.

The questions they ask are also always the same. And be you god, queen, man, or monster, you are expected to answer.

Who would you be in a whole new world?

What would you do with a new set of circumstances?

And on occasion, depending on who you were—or what you were, they’ll ask a secret third question.

It’s hard to tell if your answer really matters because as soon as you open your mouth, everything goes black.

And then, strangely, you start to hear a loud ringing.

—Followed by some upbeat choral chimes and a little bit of buzzing.

And try as you might; you won’t be able to recall a single tangible thing about the space between the universes.

PREV | NEXT

#ts4 #simblr #The Save File Chronicles #Season 1 #sims 4 story #tw blood #tw horror #i am a sucker for a prologue #tw death mention #black simblr #i promise this is a romance lol

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cavalierious-whim · 21 days ago

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Pick a Little, Goad a Little (ZhongChi, NSFW)

Instead of Lumine at Childe's weekly spar, he finds Zhongli waiting for him instead.

'Etched in Stone'

5.4k Words

fight then fuck + weird biology

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The moment Childe steps inside the Golden House, he knows that something is off.

He is always early. He and Lumine have a standing date once a week, for a spar, and she always pushes through those doors right at the exact time. Not a moment early, not a moment late.

There’s already someone here. Childe feels it, tastes the power the lingers in the air. Not Lumine. This is—

“Darling,” greets Zhongli once Childe’s gaze falls on him after a quick scan of the room. He stands there, in front of the Exuvia, studying it with a hand on his chin. Childe wonders if this is the first time he’s seen it since—

No, no, Childe doesn’t want to think about that. The betrayal still stings from time to time, but it’s in the past.

“I—what are you doing here?”

Zhongli turns to him. He raises an eyebrow, amused. “What indeed,” he replies coolly, his words wrapped in melted mirth.

The answer is obvious. Zhongli is dressed down in looser-than-usual slacks, and a plain shirt. There’s a playful energy that hangs in the air. Childe has known him long enough to be immediately wary. He waits there, observing, eyes trailing over Zhongli’s form, picking it apart.

Zhongli wears one of his shirts. It’s loose around the collar, showing off a tinge of charcoal skin where his shoulder meets his nape. The air glitters gold with Geo, clinging to him, his fingers, freely leaking from Zhongli’s pores.

Childe’s mouth dries at the display.

“I’ve heard of your weekly spars with Miss Lumine,” says Zhongli, finally, breaking the silence.

Oh.

Well. It’s never been a secret. Zhongli has routinely expressed his distaste for it.

“She’s the only willing to keep me on my toes.” Childe shrugs off his cloak and drapes it over a railing. It’s winter, cold enough outside for an outer layer, but the Golden House is warm.

Zhongli gives him a strange, lizard-like stare in return. “The only one?” he questions, and that’s when Childe knows he may have fucked this up. Something is off. Zhongli is behaving strangely.

But it’s too late to back down. He swallows, digging his heels in and goads with, “Well, you won’t spar with me. She’s the next best option.”

“Next best,” repeats Zhongli.

“Obviously.”

Zhongli chuckles softly, still cradling his chin in his fingers. “I suppose that is a failing on my part. I am, usually, unwilling to risk harm to you.”

“You’d never harm me.” These words fly from Childe’s mouth before he can stop them. And it’s true—gods, it’s true. Even at Zhongli’s stupidest moments, he’s never intentioned harm. But that’s part of the problem, isn’t it? Despite his well-meaning ways, Zhongli forgets about many, many variables.

“Of course, not.” Zhongli shifts, turning towards him fully. “But that has never been my concern. You, though—Ajax, you are a different story. You seek out pain like a glutton. It is, truly, your worst quality.”

It isn’t pain that he seeks out, but the hunt, the fight, the thrill of it all. Childe feels alive when blood pumps in his veins. “You know that it’s always been my goal to find myself at the top. In order to be the best, I have to fight the best.”

Zhongli hums. “And I’m the best?”

A year ago, Childe would have countered that the Tsaritsa was the best, but things have changed. His loyalty has been sidelined, swayed by his husband.

Now, Childe smiles, his mouth curving into a grin. “You aren’t just an Archon, Zhongli, you’re a god. I couldn’t ask for more of a challenge if you’d just give me one.”

The skin around Zhongli’s eyes crinkles. He’s amused. Affectionate. He looks at Childe, impressed, caught by him, and the attention is… rapt. It warms Childe, and—

Fuck. Maybe this was a bad idea and Zhongli has always been right. Childe isn’t a fool. He’s here to finally answer that call, and Childe knows the moment they get their hands on each other, it’s a fight that will turn sideways, softened by their love for each other.

“What’s the occasion?” asks Childe, crossing the space to where Zhongli stands.

There is a moment of hesitation. “Curiosity. Miss Lumine has often recounted your… spars. You often come home bruised, but in good spirits.”

“That doesn’t really answer my question.”

Because it doesn’t. Zhongli is curious about any and everything, but that interest doesn’t usually drive him to seek it out first hand. No, there’s an ulterior motive here. Zhongli’s expression is too sharp, his demeanor too tight.

“Zhongli, are you okay?”

“Hm?”

His blasé response proves it. Zhongli seems… distracted, almost. It’s like watching the gears turn in his head.

Eventually, Zhongli says, “I am fine. More than fine.”

He is not. He is not.

“Zhongli—”

“Didn’t you want a spar? Haven’t you asked this of me since the moment we met? You’ve been impressively stubborn about it.”

It would be stupid to turn this invitation down. Zhongli has given in a handful of times, engaging in small bouts of hand-to-hand combat. This feels different. This feels… To meet him here, at the Golden House…

“What do you want, Zhongli?”

Zhongli’s expression changes ever-so-slightly. It sharpens and when he looks at Childe next, it’s almost predatory. “To indulge in my mate,” he says simply. “I did not think you would be so suspicious of this.”

Mate. It’s a word that makes heat churn in Childe’s gut. He shudders, interest sparking down his spine. “When it comes to you, Zhongli, everything is give and take. I half expect for you to make this into a contract.”

“Should we?” Zhongli’s interest is piqued, and suddenly there is less space between them. “Baobei, I am more than willing to craft an agreement, if that suits you. What would your terms be?”

This is a trick question. It must be. This close, Zhongli smells like fine shampoo, and that subtle, scented oil that he favors.

There’s something else, something that nags at him. Childe licks his lips, leaning so close that Zhongli stops him with a hand against his chest.

“Ajax.”

“I’m—” Childe clears his throat. “I just want a good spar. I won’t win, but if I last… let’s say, a good half-hour, I get a full night of you, to myself.”

“I do think that you’re the one with no time off. I am, effectively, retired.”

“Then I’ll talk to Katya. She’ll grant me a vacation.”

Zhongli considers this, and then asks, “And if you don’t? What do I get?”

“I’ve already asked you what you wanted, and you didn’t tell me. I might not be able to smell lies, Zhongli, but I can tell something’s bothering you.”

“Nothing is bothering me. I am not…” Zhongli sighs. He pulls at Childe’s shirt, sliding his fingers across his chest, teasing the line of it. “Perhaps I just miss you. The Tsaritsa seems to be running you ragged.”

It is true that Childe was in Fontaine for longer than he wanted to be. Then there was a lot of downtime spent in recovery, frozen-solid in Snezhnaya. But this, Childe thinks, is not about that. He doesn’t ask questions, though, or push Zhongli’s buttons. No, no, he’s going to indulge because Zhongli has finally, finally, agreed to a fight.

“Zhongli, just give me your terms, and then we can get this show on the road.”

Zhongli hesitates. Traces the length of Childe’s shoulders with his fingers. They’re still gloved, but they must be smoldering black underneath that soft leather. Childe thinks that Zhongli is barely holding onto himself, and he wants to know why.

“There is little you could give me that I do not already have, but—”

“That’s a lot of words for such a simple question.”

“—were I to request something, it would be rather simple. I too, would enjoy having you, only you, to myself for a night.”

When Zhongli says it, it seems like a threat, almost. In a good way. In a, I will not leave the room without limping way, which Childe is more than enthusiastic about.

“Sounds good to me. Do we shake on it?”

Instead of holding his hand out, Zhongli cups Childe’s cheek. “One more thing, baobei. My instincts have been rather demanding as of late. My home does not smell like you anymore. When I win, I will hoard you away.”

When, Zhongli just said. And though Childe makes no illusions of standing a chance, a half-hour in the ring is feasible, he thinks. Zhongli always holds back.

“Pretty confident for an old lizard.”

Zhongli’s pupils are narrowly slit. His eyes glow golden, and he drags the pad of his thumb across Childe’s bottom lip, catching it against chapped skin. “Rapscallion,” he calls him. “In the days of old, we sealed our contracts in blood. With you, however, a kiss would suffice.”

Childe snorts. “You don’t have to create a contract to kiss me.”

“No, but it is more fun that way, isn’t it?”

Perhaps. Childe smiles against Zhongli’s thumb and kisses it. “One thing,” he says, then. “I don’t want you to hold back.”

“Ajax—”

“No, I want you to give it your all. I want to go up against your full strength.”

Zhongli is quiet for a moment. He smiles, but it doesn’t reach his eyes. He’s thinking—thinking about the best way to get around such a request. It won’t work. Childe’s locked in, eyes on the prize.

“Darling, I thought you wanted to last a half-hour,” he purrs.

“Think so lowly of me?”

“Of course, not. There are few that I would offer such an opportunity to, Ajax. It is a testament to what I think of your abilities.”

Childe kisses his thumb again. “But?”

“But,” says Zhongli, “willful ignorance is still ignorance.”

What a thing to say.

“Fifteen minutes, then. I know I don’t stand a chance of winning, but give me a quarter-hour of you at your worst. I’ll learn more than any fight I’ve had with Lumine.”

Zhongli huffs and leans forward. “As you wish,” he murmurs, breath warm against Childe’s lips. He kisses him, softly, and with that, the contract seals into place, a thrum of magic pulsing through Childe’s veins.

And really, Childe should learn to shut up. He should learn when not to put his foot into his mouth, because Archons above, Zhongli warned him. Your full strength, he asked for. Fifteen minutes, he’d said.

Two minutes, and Zhongli has him on his back—and that’s only because he teased him first, dodging Childe’s movements. Then he moved, lightning fast, and Childe found himself upended, head cracking against the floor.

A soft huff flits from Zhongli’s mouth. “Worrisome. When you hit your head, I mean.” Only he sounds amused, and not at all worried—but that’s because he knows Childe’s limits, and is already feeding a steady flow of power into his bones, staving off whatever damage might be done.

“Don’t,” hisses Childe. “That’s cheating.”

Zhongli blinks. “Caring for you is cheating?”

“No, that’s—” He grunts, sitting up, swaying slightly from dizziness. “It’s an unfair advantage.”

“Fifteen minutes,” Zhongli reminds him.

“I’d rather it be on my own merit,” bites out Childe. He swoons when he stands, but to Zhongli’s credit, he leaves Childe be this time. “Let’s go again.”

Zhongli’s mouth twists slightly. “There is no shame in calling off—”

“Again.”

Zhongli’s jaw clenches. His expression is amused, haughty, even, and this time when he steps away, he pulls at the shirt he wears, undoing the top two buttons. It’s easy to see now, the way charcoal bleeds into his skin. He came here, already keyed up, already wanting a challenge, and Childe is determined to figure out why.

“What has you so bothered? Is it the fact that I have a weekly date with Lumine?”

A date between friends, sure, but the words have their desired effect—Zhongli stiffens, his head tilted back. Geo shocks the air, coalescing around him, shackling against his skin, through the space above his head. Childe’s eyes lock onto the ghostly visage of antlers bleeding from the crown of Zhongli’s temple.

Yeah, something is up. Zhongli so rarely has a problem reigning himself in, and he is never jealous of others, least of all Lumine. Childe’s heart is in his throat, terrified, awed, and incredibly turned on. Desperate to get close again, to feel the chase in his blood—these are the things he loves about sparring, and sometimes Lumine doesn’t cut it.

His mate, though. Zhongli. Laogong. Fuck, he knew this would be good. Just what he wanted, needed. And, apparently Zhongli, who was waiting for him.

“Lumine,” says Zhongli, his mouth curling into a feral grin. “She was the one who suggested that I meet you here this week. She is worried about you, about the Foul Legacy. You shouldn’t—”

“Oh, so that’s it?” interrupts Childe. “This is about me, then?”

“Your self-destructive tendencies are involved, yes.” Another half-truth, another clever dodge around the full answer.

“Zhongli.”

“I can sense it, you know. The way that the Abyss eats at you, the way that it chips away at your being. With every use of that thing, more of you wears away. Are you so intent on letting it fester?”

Childe cocks his head to the side. “This isn’t about that. You’ve always complained about it, but this and that are different things.”

Zhongli seems to have underestimated him. He chews on those words, forming a rebuttal. “You would leave me alone, then? You would have me retire, an old man in my lonesome?”

Oh, that’s a low blow.

But, two can play that game. Childe is a master at kicking back, much to the chagrin of his fellow Harbingers. “Fair trade off,” he says, “if it means unlimited, cosmic power.”

Zhongli’s jaw tenses, a small, barely noticeable tick. Perfect. Childe’s goaded him perfectly, but now it’s time to cinch it all.

He calls upon his abyssal power, letting it flood his veins. It burns, but in the way that a good workout burns. Fire flashes through him, setting every pore alight, and Childe laughs, the sound growing larger, louder. He shifts, everything within him shifts, tilting as he becomes one with that darkness, with that abyssal taint that overtakes him.

Childe lasts a little bit longer this time. He manages to get a few laps in around the Golden House before Zhongli hooks an arm around his waist. Zhongli is so small in comparison like this, but it doesn’t matter; he tosses Childe down like he’s nothing more than a rag doll.

The Foul Legacy squirms underneath Childe’s skin. It wants blood, and screams for more—but then Zhongli throws a leg over him, pinning Childe to the ground, and the Foul Legacy all but crumples back.

Power recognizes power. The Foul Legacy heels in the might of a once-archon, and still god. Zhongli barely does anything, he just leans over him, a hand pressed to the thick armor of his chest. “Darling,” he coos, dragging those fingers over the swell there, sweeping across dents and cuts that decorate the plates.

It’s sweetly saccharine. Childe can’t feel the heat of Zhongli’s fingertips, but arousal pools in his gut all the same. He’s always gotten off on this, the push and pull of the hunt, but to be at the end of his mate, of his laogong, as Zhongli so often calls him, is something else entirely.

Then those fingers brush lower, across Childe’s taut belly, across the bulge trapped in his trousers. Childe’s cock aches. It twitches underneath Zhongli’s deft hand, resulting in an amused chuckle.

“I suppose that I should not be surprised. Tell me, Ajax, was sparring with me everything that you wished for? Did it satisfy that hungry curiosity of yours?”

It only made him hungrier, and Zhongli’s fingers pulling over his erection helps none. Childe groans, his head falling back, thunking against the tile of the Golden House. “Zhongli.”

His voice is tight and tiny, ragged around the edges. Zhongli offers him a smirk, a slight tilting of his lips as the pressure against Childe’s cock grows heavier.

“Hungry,” he repeats, musing over the word. “You are always hungry for the strangest of things.”

“This isn’t strange. You—Zhongli, I—”

Zhongli is teasing him, of course. He leans close, slotting between Childe’s thighs, pressing his nose into the sweaty crook of Childe’s neck. It’s awkward like this, when he’s larger, broader, dwarfing Zhongli’s body, but Zhongli doesn’t seem to care.

His tongue darts out to taste him, to lick across Abyss-darkened skin. “Delectable.” Zhongli tilts closer to drag his teeth, his fingers across the spot, teasing a bite. “Ajax, you are a vision. You taste, you smell—”

Zhongli lifts his face to the juncture of his neck, inhaling, uncaring of Childe’s mask, of his armor, and the stiff, spiky bits that are in the way.

He’s hard too. Zhongli. He rolls his hips against Childe’s crotch, making his own need evident. All that talk about getting off on sparring, and he’s no better. Zhongli presents himself as calm and collected, but even he has his moments. Even he gets needy, his instincts taking over and—

Childe stills. There’s a thought, a memory, a conversation that they shared months ago whilst hidden away in the teapot.

“A rut,” Zhongli had whispered against his mouth, tongue darting out to taste tea on his lips. “Eventually, you will see it. I will be overcome with a need for you unlike what you’ve seen before. I will cease to make sense. I will make irrational decisions, but most of all, I will want to hoard you away.”

And then, his words earlier, not even a half-hour ago: “My home does not smell like you anymore. When I win, I will hoard you away.”

Now, Zhongli hovers over him, a ravenous expression shocking his face. He’d been waiting for him, desperate. Childe had walked into a trap, he now realizes. How clever Zhongli is, how wild and cunning. Zhongli could’ve invited him over and explained, but no, no, Childe remembers the rest of that conversation as well.

“There’s a thrill to it, those instincts. I will want to hunt you down, and then I will want to nest. I will want you leaving these sheets bow-legged and bred full of my clutch.”

“Is this your way of seducing me?” It’s a stupid question. Childe’s voice is warped, tinny in the otherwise quiet room.

Zhongli, though, takes no offense. He just purrs, satisfied, and tilts his hand until he’s palming at Childe’s cock properly. “It must be working for you to be like this. What a good boy for me.”

For all the things Childe has done is his life, he’s never been fucked in this form. He’s never even thought about it, beyond a few errant tugs over his cock when hot and bothered. Always alone. Never with another. And even with Zhongli, even with his mate, he’s never…

“I’m different, like this. You… Zhongli, you really shouldn’t—”

“I shouldn’t?” Zhongli lifts a hand to yank off his glove with his teeth. Then it drops again, teasing the fastenings of Childe’s trousers, pulling the top-most button open. “I find myself interested in what you seem to be hiding away.”

Childe catches Zhongli by the wrist, careful of his claws. Zhongli pauses. His expression is heated, pupils blown wide, irises glowing a brilliant golden, but he waits. Licks his lips and looks at Childe’s face, his mask, taking in the sight of him.

Then, Zhongli asks, “What worries you? Do you think I will not like whatever I find within your trousers?”

Childe laughs, a choking sound, at the absurd question. And no, no, that isn’t quite it. Logically, he knows that Zhongli has seen stranger, weirder things than the way his cock is when cloaked in the Foul Legacy.

But still.

Hesitation bleeds through him. Zhongli senses it.

“Ajax,” he says, “do you wish to stop?”

“No, no, I want—” Childe sighs, rolling his hips up against him. “This is your rut, isn’t it? You need this.”

Zhongli waits a scant few seconds before pulling at his trousers again. “What I need is you. That manner and method matters not. Miss Lumine merely…” He clears his throat. “I may have complained about my impending cycle, which led to a rather clever solution on her end. But this… Baobei, this doesn’t have to happen here. I can steal you away into the teapot if you’d rather wish.”

There is an appeal to this. Zhongli is interested, Zhongli wants, and that in turn makes Childe burn all the hotter. They can save the teapot for later. Besides, adrenaline still surges through Childe’s veins, and there’s little better than a post-fight fuck.

Zhongli’s eyes widen when Childe’s cock is freed. “Oh,” he mutters, loosing a breath as he rests that thick length against the palm of his hand. It’s massive against him, nearly as thick as his wrist. Tinged blue and purple, wider at the base, thin and spade-shaped at the tip. It’s flexible, prehensile, even, writhing against Zhongli’s fingers, eager for more touch.

Hunger tugs at Zhongli’s expression. “Darling,” he says, “you were scared to show me this?”

“It’s—oh.”

Zhongli huffs, giving Childe’s cock a stroke, a good squeeze around the tip, and whatever worries he had dissolved right into the aether.

“The only thing I dislike is that this form causes you harm. But this—Ajax, this is divine.”

Doubtful, but it’s easy to believe it with the way that Zhongli touches him. Childe’s cock twitches, wriggles in his grasp, responsive to the attention. It’s a little embarrassing, but that is outweighed by the pleasure that heats his gut, and the rapturous expression that mars Zhongli’s face.

“A pity,” he says, as he explores, dragging his thumb around the head of Childe’s dick, teasing the ridge there, “that we must be quick about this.” Zhongli moves, pulling open his own clothing, freeing his own cock, pressing them together.

It’s laughable. Childe’s cock is monstrous beside Zhongli’s, but it doesn’t matter. Zhongli’s stiff cock is hot against his, and the friction as it pulls over heated flesh is something to die for. Childe moans, his back arching, hips bucking as he fucks into the tight grip of Zhongli’s fist.

“Later, I will pull you apart. I told you, baobei, what I wanted when I won. You were right. I’m rutting, utterly consumed with thoughts of breeding you full.”

“I want that. I want—”

“As much as I would give you that, not here. Ajax, I want to pull you apart slowly. I want you all to myself, in my sheets, in my den.”

That’s… Childe swallows thickly. Okay, yeah, he can do that. Doesn’t change the fact that his dick aches, his ass clenches, and all he can think of is being fucked by Zhongli’s perfect cock. And oh, the Foul Legacy likes the idea of that too. His own dick writhes against Zhongli’s hand, almost like it has a mind of its own.

(Which, it kind of does. The Foul Legacy is a weird, wild thing that cannot quite be conceptualizes. It both is and is not Childe. He has his own thoughts, and thoughts that act separately like this, which is the nature of abyssal taint. It’s partly why he rarely indulges even masturbatory measures in this form—ultimately, it leaves him unsatisfied because he’s feeding the pleasure of another beast.)

With Zhongli here, Childe finds himself curious. Will he be satisfied in the presence of his husband? Or will that make it even worse? Childe almost begs to be whisked away, but Zhongli’s teapot is no place for the skin he wears. He doesn’t want to mar such a place with his brand of darkness.

Plus, there’s Zhongli and his need. His rut burns through him, clear as day. He fucks his palm, his cock dragging against Childe’s, a moan flitting from his lips. Pink-cheeked. Eyes glittering with arousal. Childe doesn’t think he’s ever seen Zhongli so lost in the heat of it, not even the first time they came together.

“Zhongli,” he says. “Zhongli, just—fuck, just—”

“Were it feasible,” cuts in Zhongli, “were it safer for you to stay like this, I would spend hours playing with you. I would explore every corner, every crevice, every—” He looks down, smiling at the sight of Childe’s dick, thumbing over the tip to smear the precome that drips from there around. “Every inch, laogong.”

“Please. Please.”

“But we can’t, can we? All the things that you’ve done to yourself in the pursuit of power, and for what? To still wind up on your back?”

Oh. Oh. Zhongli’s tease unsettles the Foul Legacy, but heat rolls through Childe. He likes this, the weight of Zhongli against him, over him. That look on his face. Unbridled lust. Want and need. The Foul Legacy, too—it may not want to submit, but it does because it recognizes Zhongli’s might, all that power that he has packed away in such a small place.

Divine. So, so, divine.

“You’re close,” says Zhongli, pulling his thumb around the crown of Childe’s cock, tracing the strange shape of it. “Come on, darling. Let me see what you look like. I want to know all parts of you, good and bad.”

Childe keens, the sound of it strange through his mask. His back bows, and he arches from the ground, driving his hips upwards to fuck against Zhongli’s hand, his cock. The friction is killer. Heat burns through him, pulling him thin, taut, ready to snap at any moment.

But really, it’s Zhongli, and that gaze of his, and the way that he watches their cocks in his hand with rapt attention. That’s what does him in, what makes the pleasure kick up a notch. Childe always wants; wants to be wanted, wants to have that attention. He didn’t think Zhongli would like this, that he’d get off on it, but, but—

The spar keyed him up, but it’s Zhongli who made him want this. A few more strokes of their cocks, a few more rolls of their hips together, and that delicious, grinding friction, has Childe tipping right over the edge. He comes with a cry of Zhongli’s name, thin and raspy, and a choked off moan that fizzles out into the air.

“Look at you,” says Zhongli, his voice deep, caught. He still ruts against him, still presses his own cock into the tight space of his fist, overstimulation be damned. Evidence of Childe’s orgasm is everywhere, staining is stomach, and Zhongli’s hand with strange, thick, glittering come. “I want to taste you. I cannot wait to—hah.”

Zhongli is thinking of more than that. He squeezes their cocks tighter, and even as Childe’s flags, it still feels good.

“One day, I’ll make love to you like this. One day, we will plan for it, and it will be quick, and swift, but I want to know all of you, darling.”

“You could—you can.”

Zhongli grunts softly and comes suddenly.

So, maybe not. Childe whines at the loss of opportunity. One day, indeed. He wants that, wants to know what it’s like to be filled in this form.

Zhongli’s cock stays hard. He pulls his hand away slowly, cautiously, and groans at the loss of pressure. Trails his fingers through the mess they’ve made—but mostly Childe’s come, scooping it up. He brings it to his mouth for a taste. Zhongli moans softly, his tongue darting out against his fingers, and—

That’s too much, all of this is too much. Zhongli was right, the Foul Legacy is starting to wear him too thin, and Childe’s next sound is a soft one of discomfort. Abyssal taint turns sharp, pin-pricky, and he does his best to slough it away.

But he’s tired, almost too tired to reset. It takes longer than usual for Childe to melt back into his expected form, and he’s left bone-weary and aching in places he didn’t know existed.

Zhongli looms over him. He wipes his soiled hand against his trousers, and then cups Childe’s face. “You should rest.”

“No, I want—fuck, I want more. That wasn’t—”

Childe aches to be filled, to have Zhongli’s cock inside of him.

He also just aches.

Zhongli chuckles softly. “My darling mate,” he murmurs, leaning down to kiss his brow. “There will be plenty of time for that. Trust me when I said you want to be rested for—”

“Your rut.”

Zhongli does not immediately answer. Childe watches his throat bob as he swallows. “It is, admittedly, an annoying cycle. I have been thankful that it’s remained dormant.”

“…until now?”

“Yes, well, in the presence of my husband, it would be natural, no?”

Childe tugs at Zhongli’s shirt. Well, his shirt. Zhongli stole it. “And all the breeding talk? It’s all talk, right?”

More hesitation, more half-answers, and an amused, crooked smile that curves Zhongli’s lips. “I think that we both would agree that we are… unsuited for children, perhaps.”

“That is not an answer.”

“The breeding talk is merely that—”

“A kink then? Thank god.”

Childe can work with a kink. Zhongli’s biology is strange too, so he was worried about weird, adeptal things. He’s already seen the glowing dick. Zhongli has referenced a knot, and fuck, yes, he’s curious, but—

“Worry not, Ajax.” Zhongli’s voice is considerably calmer than just moments ago. “It will be nothing that you cannot handle. I’ve already sent a letter to Miss Ekaterina—”

“You what?”

“—and Miss Lumine was kind enough to tidy-up my teapot. It was dusty because it’s been a while since we’ve had time to ourselves. We owe her one—what is that look?”

Oh, how embarrassing. It’s bad enough that Zhongli talked to Lumine about this to begin with, resulting in him being here instead, but for Katya to be aware. “Surely you just said you wanted a vacation, right?”

Zhongli says nothing, just blinks at him.

Right. Well. Childe groans, dragging a hand down his face.

To lighten the mood, Zhongli changes the subject. “You never answered me, by the way. Was a spar with me everything that you thought it would be?”

Yes. No. Maybe. Childe certainly wishes he’d had a fucking chance, at the least. He had no illusions of winning, but he did think he’d last at least ten minutes, maybe fifteen. He’d wound up on his back, twice, and Zhongli had treated it like a fucking game.

“I think I get why you’re an archon, now.”

“Was,” corrects Zhongli gently. He pulls back and rights his clothing, tucking his cock away and grimacing all the while.

“Shit, you’re…” Childe stares at the still very obvious, very hard bulge in Zhongli’s trousers.

“Pay it no mind. Come, darling, let us settle in for the night. You should eat and sleep, and tomorrow—”

“That’s when the real fun starts, right? Can we fight again?”

Zhongli’s gaze flashes gold, literally. Geo is thick in the air. It curls around them as Zhongli’s grip on his being wears thinner and thinner by the second. “I would say no, but—”

“But?”

“It is within my nature to… indulge in roughhousing. Dragons, we—” He sighs. “Even with my softer, qilin instincts, in times of rut, I find myself uniquely… bothered.”

“That isn’t a no.”

“Ajax—”

“You didn’t say no. That’s basically a yes.”

“Ajax.”

Childe pulls himself to his feet, grimacing slightly, but otherwise reenergized. “Next time, I’ll last longer.”

Zhongli shoots him a half-lidded gaze. “You may certainly try.”

A promise and a threat. A thrill zings down Childe’s spine, and if he wasn’t so tired, if he wasn’t so fucking sore, he’d demand that rematch right now.

But Zhongli knows him, and he presses closer, taking hold of Childe’s face between his warm palms. “Those are thoughts for later, baobei. Come, let us retire home.”

“Zhongli—”

Zhongli kisses him, and it isn’t a gentle, teasing thing, it’s a hard press of their mouths together; it’s his tongue tracing the seam of Childe’s mouth, coaxing it open; it’s swallowing Childe’s moan, and tasting every sound that Zhongli pulls from his throat.

Another promise, another threat. Zhongli kisses him possessively, as if to consume him, which must be the rut talking. Childe likes this side of him, this older part of Zhongli that has given into those baser instincts.

When they part, Zhongli still lingers close, laughing against Childe’s mouth.

“You still didn’t say no,” says Childe. “Means I’m wearing you down.”

“What a rapscallion. My rapscallion, my wily, mate.”

This time, when Zhongli tells him to come, Childe does, and the tuck away into his teapot, the Golden House melting right away.

#Cavalierious Fanfic #genshin impact #genshin impact fanfiction #genshin fanfic #genshin #genshin smut #patreon #fanfiction #genshin fanfiction #writing commissions #genshinimpact #open for commissions #patreon writer #zhongchi #zhongli/childe #zhongli x childe

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wondercourse · 4 months ago

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i'm making this its own post actually because it's really important to me. pardon an anecdote.

i am someone who leaning hard into solely being parts did not work for. i was pushed into it, and while in some aspects it helped and parts of it reflect how i see myself, pushing it SO HARD made things worse. in fact, quite ironically considering its push as the SOLE "pro-recovery" option, it led to me starting to see "unfavorable" parts of me as separate human beings from me and the "good" parts. as in, they were not part of my whole, they were not part of my body. i was experiencing the kind of dissociation that the isstd says to prevent.

this will not happen to everyone. this isn't meant to be a horror story to push you away from parts language (which i still use) or a parts of a whole view of yourself. the whole point is to tell you to do what works for you—and to explain what didn't work for me, and why it might not work for everyone.

that said, as you can imagine, this experience means i am sick to DEATH of people pushing One True Recovery Path™.

seeing my parts as the in-between of parts and people IS seeing them as parts of a whole. it has allowed for integration. it has allowed for healing. it has allowed for me to feel more like one person more than ever.

it seems contradictory, doesn't it? that being people makes me feel like one person. but it works for me. they are me and i am them, that is true—but in the sense that we, as people and parts, are what "i" am.

you do not get to define someone's path to recovery in their stead. you do not get to tell someone you don't know what works for them. what works for you may not work for everyone. again, if solely seeing yourself in terms of parts works for you, that's amazing. not being facetious. i'm glad you've found what works for you.

you do not get to push that onto everyone. period.

i've made a post like this before, but this one is more personal because i wanted to give an example of "alters are never people" not helping everyone.

as with everything in syscourse and systemhood and life, there is nuance.

sigh. i honestly hope the people who need to see this—the ones pushing the One True Recovery Path™ rhetoric—see this. i feel that the likelihood of that happening is low, but still. i need them to see that what they're pushing does not always work. and is also not with the ISSTD meant when talking about parts being "a singular human being".

let people view their subjective experience as they need to in order to move forward. parts, people, both, neither, nebulous in-between, secret third thing, whatever. it is not your place to define a subjective and often deeply personal thing. i keep saying it because i cannot emphasize it enough.

stop trying to tell people what their experiences "should" be. stop telling them they're faking or wrong or bad because they don't fall under that. this doesn't even just apply to the parts and people shit, actually, because this just happens a lot. it's frustrating. immensely so.

god i'm so tired.

#unknown shade of color #with special guest #a ruthless moonlight #syscourse #sysconversation #i guess? if it's not really sysconvo i'll remove the tag #but i am willing to discuss this.#for now i'm just. i'm tired.#i'm so tired.#nothing prompted this but it's been in the back of my head for a while.

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lisbeth-kk · 10 months ago

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May Prompts

Today's prompt: hobby

The Luckiest Girl in the World (chapter 8)

Summary: A rebuke turns into something Rosie had only dared to hope for.

Eight Years Old

Dad and Papa, well, to be fair, mostly Dad, had a stern talk with me in the aftermath of my performance in the school play where I told the tale of The Tipsy Burglar that occurred a half year earlier. I had kept it a secret from them, which I knew was a bit not good, but I thought they’d be pleased that I put Papa in the spotlight of that particular case, even if he was nowhere near London at the time. It turned out they weren’t.

“Your choice of title is…” Papa began.

“Sherlock,” Dad said in a tone that told both Papa and me that this was not the time for humour.

Dad cleared his throat and began his lecture, asking me to keep quiet until he was finished.

“We both appreciate that you love speaking about us and dramatize a little about Papa’s work.”

He sent a warning glare in Papa’s direction when he wanted to protest that it wasn’t just Papa’s work, but Dad’s too, when he wasn’t at his actual job as a doctor.

“What we don’t fancy, is your changed personality of late. You’ve become cocky, using Papa’s fame to your benefit, to become a more interesting person, and that is just not on. You should be proud of who you are. In the long run, you’ll end up with no audience or true friends if you continue down this road. It is you who matter, not who your family is, alright?”

Dad looked pointedly at me to see if I understood what he was trying to convey. I nodded.

“Good. We have a proposition for you. It has come up earlier as well, but back then we thought you were too young for this hobby, or…”

I couldn’t keep my mouth shut any longer, because those last words could only mean one thing.

“You mean martial arts?” I asked hopefully.

A deep chuckle from Papa confirmed my deduction, and I threw myself into Dad’s arms.

“I promise I’ll be good, and I won’t be such a…”

“Alright, best not finish that sentence,” Dad said mock serious.

***

Both my fathers had experience in this area. Sort of, anyway. Papa from fencing, Dad from rugby and the combat training when he was in the army.

I was euphoric by the prospect, but still a bit irked after the rebuke, so when two options were suggested, I obviously chose a third one.

“Taekwondo or kickboxing?” Papa asked expectantly.

“Neither,” I said defiantly, but regretted my tone immediately when Dad spoke my name in thatvoice.

“Watson,” Papa prompted, his tone also a bit harsh.

“Sorry,” I said. “Jiu jitsu. Please, let me.”

“I think that can be arranged,” Dad said. “You’ll learn self-defence, respect and humbleness as well as self-esteem. Not sure you need more of the latter, though.”

That elicited another chuckle from Papa. Dad turned to him, cocking an eyebrow, but the mirth on his face ruined is effort to look disapproving.

***

A week later, my martial art career started. Papa had wanted to fully equip me with the correct clothes, mouthguard, gloves and shin guards, but Dad suggested that we postponed the shopping spree until we were certain what was required. The web site had said that I only needed to show up in whatever clothes I found comfortable, so I chose tights and a t-shirt in a breathing material.

When we arrived in the dojo, I learned to bow every time I entered and departed. A sign of respect for the room where the training was executed.

“No socks,” the trainer told us when several of the children skidded around on the mats.

The trainer wore a crisp white costume, called a Gi, and her black belt had three golden stripes, her name, and Japanese signs embroidered on it.

“I am Sensei Ida. Inside this dojo, you��ll address me as Sensei. Understood?”

“Yes, Sensei,” we said in more or less unison.

When the session was over, we promised our Sensei, that we would keep it up until we attained the black belt. Only two of us were successful at keeping that promise.

Also available on AO3

Tags in the replies.

#may prompts 2024 #may 8: hobby #sherlock fandom #rosie watson #sherlock #john watson #johnlock #bbc sherlock #sherlock fanfic #ao3 fanfic

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stupidsketchpad · 10 months ago

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hey guys. im here to rant about how 2econd 2ight 2eer (second sight seer) by will wood is secret life bigb's song because god its eerie how similar the song lyrics are to his character. AHEM (also spoilers for secret life)

My grip on my secrets slipping while I'm speaking in tongues

ok. this is a really good start lol. basically bigb's task don't mean much when he does weird shit anyway for fun and, quote from grian, "writes his own tasks"

Screaming at the top of my lungs in the confession booth

he's saying stuff that litterally makes no sense. even after his task is done he wont tell anyone (confession booth is kinda like people asking about your task after it's done. your confessing your task to someone)

Take it with a pillar of salt, H.A.L.T., it's not my fault

i got nothing man

The devil made me do it, but I also kinda wanted to

THIS LINE AHSHDHSHAH. THE SECRET KEEPER GIVES HIM THE TASKS CAUSE HE HAS TO BUT HE WANTS TO DO THEM ANYWAY ANDDDD MAKE THEM AS CONFUSING AS POSSIBLE. SECRET KEEPER COUNTS AS THE DEVIL HERE

I'm cut from a different kind of meat

More than you can chew, hard to swallow me

"what the hell are you doing??" is a common question he gets asked. hard to swallow. y'know

Forget bored stiff, I got rigor mortis, call it morbid curiosity

How I cannot commit to reality, when my third eye's open and I like what I see

he's doing shit for the sake of doing shit.

Baby, I may be crazy but I didn't lose it, no I set it free

AAAAA THIS LINE TOOO!!! ok so he didn't just randomly start lying in secret life. it was weird before that too! i cant speak for double but LIMITED LIFE he was also confusing people about being the boogeyman. basically that one meme with the "guy weird about everything but its drowned out by how weird about everything the other people are"

I can't ignore what's under dance floorboards, the rhythm of my heart a dead-as-disco beat

But I still move my feet

To slip out of this groove, I'm free

dont got much here but i think this is just him having fun, yknow

Now to row, row, row my boat over the falls

And maybe wake up from but a dream, yeah

"but a dream" is the games. there are three rows in the line. lose your lives to get the game over with.

I'm just a psycho, babe

Come and go out my mind

I didn't lose it babe

There wasn't much to find

once again, this wasnt the first time he was being weird!!!

I'm just a psycho, babe

Come and go out my mind

I'm only passing through

say weird shit, refuse to elaborate, leave.

Oh, oh, o-o-oh

If you knew what I knew, if you saw what I see

You'd look through illusions, hallucinations, and lucid dream

And I know that meaning can be such a pretty thing to keep

But I got facts and I'm not afraid to use 'em, take the good with the bad, take off the back you make a new front

evo, anyone? anyway this man knows about watchers and doesnt care. he knows! he just doesn't give that any meaning.

Some days I'm glad that I am a madman and I'd rather be that than

An amicable animal, mild-mannered cannibal

red lives and how bigb doesn't have the same bloodlust as they do. this guy doesn't kill much, he's like the most passive on the server. /srs

But I'm more level-headed and clever than ever and I'm getting better one forever at a time

how many people guessed any of bigb's tasks? that's right, zero! (if i remember correctly.) he's getting better at the games (btw the games being referred to as "forevers" is just ahshahdghs)

And if sick is defined by what's different, well then pull the plug out and let me die

not much here

Vice-versa, vice versus virtue

Well who I am I choose through all the things I do

AAAAAAAA HE CHOOSES HOW HE IS PERCEIVED BY THE OTHERS BY SAYING HIS STUFF YA GET WHAT IM SAYING

And if it rhymes, it's true, but I hate poetry

contradicting himself. easy peasy analysis here folks.

Now with my moral compass pointing south, I'm going down

With no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no respect for reality

could say this is going red! but also. "going down?" LIKE A HOLE? HE MADE A HOLE?????

I'm just a psycho, babe

Come and go out my mind

I didn't lose it babe

There wasn't much to find

I'm just a psycho, babe

Come and go out my mind

I'm only passing through

I'm just a psycho, babe

Come and go out my mind

I didn't lose it babe

There wasn't much to find

I'm just a psycho, babe

Come and go out my mind

same stuff

A tourist passing through

Well that was fun, goodbye

he died. but hey, he had fun!

anyways thats all thank you for listening to me ramble about songs and minecraft i WILL do this again. sorry if this is incoherent i wrote it at 10:00 pm.

psst... moot... @bigb-enthusiast... would you like this?

#life series #trafficblr #secret life #bigbstatz #bigbst4tz2 #secret life bigb #bigb #god why do you have so many tags #stupidsketchrambles

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1moreff-creator · 1 year ago

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A Summary of the Levi!Accomplice Theory + How We Got Here (DRDT CH2)

Hey there! So a while ago I made a post about the CH 2 murder method, but I missed some pretty crucial information. You might know me and @thebadjoe had a pretty long thread back and forth talking about the murder, which lead to me reworking a lot of the original theory. However, that thread is extremely long and frankly quite confusing to read, so I thought it would be good to summarize what the final theory actually looks like in a separate post. This was sorta inspired by thebadjoe making a similar post about his own theory (which is Eden working alone, but disguising herself as Arei at one point), which I absolutely recommend you read as it’s probably one of the best DRDT-related posts I’ve seen on Tumblr.

If you’re here simply for a summary of the Levi!Accomplice Eden!Culprit theory, then simply skip to the Closing Argument of this post. You should be able to understand it on its own. However, I think it would also be nice to explain how I reached the conclusions I did, which is what the start of the post will be. Othersie I'm gonna look completely unhinged, and that's not good, I'm only kinda unhinged! If you’re interested, then I hope you enjoy!

CW: Murder, betrayal (Eden!Culprit), hanging (including geometric depictions), suicidal thoughts, one mention of self harm.

(Also, the Ace almost-murder won’t really be touched on much here, but there is a thread where me, venus-is-thinking, accirax and thebadjoe all went crazy trying to explain the blood on the wires. It’s about as difficult to follow as the other one, but eh)

The First Step Into Madness

(This part goes over a bit of the same from my OG post, which is why it sorta ignores other theories. There may be some assumptions made which are not necessarily true under other theories. Feel free to skip this if you read the first post and don’t need a refresher)

It all started when I made the original post where I discussed the murder method. I was left very intrigued after watching DRDT for the first time, so I wanted to see if there was some way to figure out how the murder was carried out, and to see if that pointed to any culprit.

-The first thing to note is that EP 11 cuts off when Charles is about to confront David on something related to the time of death, based on when he cuts in. This would imply the murder did not happen the night of the third day as the characters had assumed. Seeing as Arei was last seen at noon of that third day and I wasn’t aware of disguise theory, I figured the murder actually happened at 7:30 AM the morning of the day of the investigation, which I still believe. The fish could have been simply taken before nighttime and kept in the water jugs.

-What this means is that the culprit had time to set up an elaborate murder mechanism overnight, which is what the rest of the evidence around the crime scene would appear to imply.

-One of the reasons to believe a mechanism was involved is the flickering light of the playground. For a while, I genuinely had no idea how the hell that would happen. Even if there was a secret passage from the Movie Screening Room, proving that in trial would be nigh impossible.

-However, sometimes to solve a mystery, all you gotta do is mash random things together until something sorta looks like it fits. And what was a thing I didn’t know how to place? The ball of clothes.

-The idea here is to attach the rope to the ball of clothes and throw it over the railing, that way you can get the rope to go over there without having to get up there yourself. On the way up, the clothes would hit the light and displace the lightbulb, causing it to flicker.

-But why would you need rope over the railing? Well, if you were interested in creating a pulley system to make something go high into the air, you would need the rope there. And a pulley system is the first thing I thought of when I saw the spinny thing had tape on it, and thus was likely involved. This is what I envisioned.

Note how the rope is first looped between the handlebars to make sure it actually does the thing it’s supposed to. There may be other ways to set up the pulley, but the important thing is, a pulley was likely involved.

-So we got a pulley, but what are we pulleying? Presumably Arei, getting her higher up so her neck could snap instantly when she dropped down. As Veronika stated, her neck wouldn’t have snapped unless she weighed more or she dropped from higher up.

-Unless she weighed more, huh? That’s an interesting thing to specify. How would she weigh more? Unless, there was something which weighed her down.

-One thing which always struck me as odd about the water jugs is how oddly the handles are snapped.

-After thinking about how that could have happened, I realized maybe they had been snapped due to the action of rope. If you tie rope around the handles and pull hard, they would snap just like that.

-And what’s the deal with that? As I said, perhaps Arei was weighed down by something. And here is the answer. Since we know there were two pieces of rope (one found around Arei’s neck and a longer piece under the spinny thing), I believed the jugs were attached to her via rope to weigh her down.

-That way, the culprit could further ensure Arei’s neck would snap once she fell and the pulley system was stopped.

-Because yes, the culprit would need to stop the pulley system from spinning back all the way, otherwise Arei would just fall to the floor. And since her broken neck is the only injury apart from red marks on her wrist, that clearly didn’t happen.

-And my answer for that… was frankly just brute forcing it and stopping it by hand. See, I was sorta coming in after watching a cool video by Ocean Unknown, and I was already kinda thinking Levi was probably the culprit, which is why this feat of strength didn’t seem too insane for me. In retrospect, I may have been underestimating the strength required to do that.

-Anyways, the rest isn’t too hard to figure out. Make the note, ambush Arei when she arrived at the playground, with the ensuing struggle resulting in the scuffed floor, put tape on her wrists, put the noose around her neck, pulley, let her fall a bit and stop her so her neck snaps, prop her up so the murder looks vaguely like a suicide, throw some stuff in the trash, profit. You may have noticed I didn’t talk about the fact Arei doesn’t have her glove in the BDA, because… well, frankly I just hadn’t noticed that at the time. The fish are to confuse the time of death, and the tape was likely taken from the gym and used to have a better grip on the spinny thing as the culprit spun it.

…

The tape was taken from the gym?

The Curious Case of the Tape Thief

(Or: BY GOD IT’S THEBADJOE WITH A STEEL CHAIR! /lh)

So, what you may have noticed is that the method I came up with doesn’t really point to anyone in particular, but there’s a detail I hadn’t noticed when I first made that post. The time the tape was taken.

Thebadjoe had already pointed it out on his blog, and was kind enough to reblog my own post with this information. Turns out, he realized that in Ep 6, at around the time Ace wakes up, the roll of the tape previously on the floor disappears from the background. Which means it was taken by someone who was at the gym at that point.

Now, you might be wondering if maybe that’s just an animation error. After all, it’s not like this is evidence that can be brought up in the trial.

Except, it can be deduced. With lockdown logic. Let’s look at the facts:

-The tape was on the floor after Nico leaves the gym.

-The last people in the gym before the lockdown begun were Teruko, Ace and Eden.

-No one but MonoTV could enter the gym during the lockdown.

-Rose and Teruko are the first people to enter the gym after the lockdown, stated explicitly by MonoTV.

-But by the time Rose and Teruko are there, the tape has disappeared. And there is special attention brought to the fact the tape’s disappeared.

So the tape couldn’t have disappeared during the lockdown (unless MonoTV took it out, but why would it do that), and it can’t have been taken after since Rose and Teruko were the first people there after it ended. Since that roll of tape was still on the floor when Nico left, that means the tape disappeared when only Teruko, Ace and Eden were in the gym.

Teruko couldn’t have taken it, protag privilege.

I’ve seen Ace thrown out as a possibility, but it just doesn’t really work. Teruko was inspecting his body right before he wakes up, and she never has a reason to look away after he wakes up. She never saw him pick up the tape, though, so it seems unlikely he did. Not to mention the lack of blood on the tape when Ace had blood on his hands the whole time, or the general weirdness of him taking the tape and, like, pocketing it in the first place. Why would he do that? If he wanted a weapon, he’d have taken the wire which was nearby, right?

So, the most logical answer is that Eden took the tape. In fact, she gets knocked down to the floor right around the time the tape disappears from the background.

So, now we ask, why did Eden take the tape? The issue is that there really is no reason for her to do that, unless she went down to the second floor specifically with the intention of picking up the tape (and maybe some other stuff). However, she never tells Teruko she wanted to pick up the tape, which combined with the fact she takes it sneakily and without anyone noticing, would suggest she wanted it for nefarious purposes. This is where the Eden!Culprit theory comes from.

There simply is no good answer as to why she took the tape otherwise. Even other theories I’ve seen, which suggest perhaps the killer intentionally used the tape to frame Eden, can’t really explain why Eden would take it without warning in the first place.

Thus, the only issue left is… would Eden really do this? How can the nicest person in the killing game betray a friend like that? Well, it’s not as impossible as you may think.

Of Motivations And Narrative Consequence

(Or: venus and accirax come in clutch)

You may have seen this post by DRDT Tumblr’s dynamic duo of @venus-is-thinking and @accirax circulating around, and I recommend you read it if you want a full exploration of why Eden!Culprit works from a character and narrative standpoint. They explained everything way better than I ever could, so I’m not gonna dwell on it too much and just ask you do your assigned reading if you’re interested.

However, as a short summary of the main points:

-Motive: Eden is a very caring person, who has several people she’d want to return to outside of the killing game. Her family, which she speaks about with Levi in the first scene of the chapter, and possibly even the girl mentioned in her secret. The incident with Arturo could have scared her into taking more drastic action so she could go back to the real world. Note the secret quote on her page is “You can’t go back, no matter how hard you try.” She’s likely not secretly evil or anything. And the fact she kept trying to go against the killing game, but ultimately never achieved anything, could have led to her feeling completely hopeless.

-Why Arei?: Because it was the easiest option, most likely. It was implied in the ep 10 flashback that Eden may not have believed Arei when she claimed she wanted to be friends, and that she may have only realized she genuinely did during the trial. Also worth noting, they’re paired together in the CH 1 recap, which implies they’re at least important to each other’s stories.

-Wouldn’t this just prove Teruko right? And wouldn’t that be narratively redundant?: Oh, yes. It would very explicitly prove Teruko right.

Teruko: Sooner or later that kindness of yours will have you breaking down, until you’re too overwhelmed with grief to be able to act. That’s not how I plan to live.

But the thing is, Teruko has already been proven right this chapter. Even beyond all the scuffles around the secrets, you have Nico, seemingly one of the most harmless people in the killing game, admitting to trying to kill Ace; and you also have David, who almost everyone trusted and viewed as a sort of leader, being revealed as a liar and a manipulative asshole.

(Yes I know both of them are a bit more complex than that but that’s not the point.)

In fact, Teruko was explicitly right about David too. Not to mention, someone killed Arei or J if you’re inclined to believe that, which won’t exactly do wonders for trust in the group.

The point, as venus and accirax pointed out, is to show the audience how Teruko’s life usually is. Full of betrayal and misfortune. This is to set up the theme of fate and change that runs deeply through Teruko’s character, and that I’m not gonna explain here.

And while you could say Teruko doubling down on not trusting anyone would be redundant, you have to consider the rest of the group as well. While they mostly held it together after the first trial with a few exceptions, Eden being the killer, combined with everything else that happened in the chapter, would cause way more damage to the whole group’s sense of trust, leading to a very different atmosphere for chapter 3. So I don’t really think it would be redundant at all.

-What about the handwriting sample?: What about the handwriting sample? The note is in cursive, Eden writes her sample in print.

Obviously it's gonna look different. If anything, the fact she specifically writes in print could be seen as her hiding her cursive handwriting, which looks suspicious to me.

-Why help piece together the note in the first place? And why would she fight back against the idea of Arei committing suicide?: Because she would presumably want to build a narrative that she and Arei were friends, to make people trust her more. I mean, it worked, since people immediately jumped on Arturo when they first heard the full story.

-And more! Again, read the full post for more details.

So… now we circle back. Eden’s probably the killer, but what does that mean for the method?

A Method In Shambles

One of the main issues this brings to the method is Eden’s strength. She’s very weak, as has been established in both the most recent QnA and in the series itself (see: arm-wrestling scene, where Arei specifically excludes Eden for being weak). She wouldn’t be able to pull Arei + water jugs up with the pulley system herself.

…Or maybe she could? But it would be very tight, and I think we’re not supposed to pull out the physics and calculators to figure out it would only be the equivalent of lifting like thirty pounds as accirax implied in one line of this really good post. Point is, it doesn’t look like she could, which is more important imo.

Even then, it would also be really difficult for Eden to prop up the body like we see in the BDA.

Speaking of BDA, that’s another issue. The BDA rule states it takes “three people who did not witness the murder” to see the body before the announcement plays. So how did it play after only Whit, Teruko and Eden had found it? Surely Eden as the killer would count as a witness with the method I established earlier.

But the biggest issue for Eden!Culprit are actually the fish. Because while Eden doesn’t have an alibi for the time of death, she does have an alibi for the time of the fish’s disappearance. Think about it: Nico fed them presumably at around 7:00 PM, since they later see David going down at around 7:30, and 7:00 is likely the time when communal dinner ended as it’s also the time Eden and Hu begun washing the dishes together. We know from Nico the fish were still all there by the time Eden’s alibi with Hu begins.

And that alibi lasts all the way until nighttime, when the relax room locks down for the night. And it doesn’t open again until after the murder was supposedly committed at 7:30 AM. So Eden couldn’t have taken it the morning after.

The fish in particular are an issue for Eden!Culprit, because while everything else is odd, this particular thing makes it impossible for Eden herself to have set up the crime scene as we see it. And unless Ace is lying for no good reason, Arei was still alive the night of the third day, so it likely wasn’t set up by anyone uninvolved in the murder.

In the end, although Eden feels like she should be the culprit, she couldn’t have done everything alone.

…

She couldn’t have done everything… alone.

…

The Rise of the Accomplice

Eden is a very trusting, very sociable person. So if there are things in the crime scene she couldn’t have done alone, is it unbelievable to assume she may have had an accomplice?

Let’s ignore the “who” for now and see if this idea holds up. The accomplice would be in charge of taking the fish out of the relax room during nighttime, a tactic to confuse the time of death and give Eden a fake alibi. They would also be in charge of overpowering Arei when she first arrived at the playground.

After pinning her down, wrapping her wrists with tape and possibly her legs too if needed (there were two pieces of tape in the trash, when strictly speaking you would only need one for the wrists. Arei has long socks, so marks wouldn’t be visible on her legs), the accomplice would also be in charge of lifting up Arei into the sky. The exact logistics of how the accomplice would go about this are a bit awkward (they would probably have to run quite fast to the spinny thing so Arei doesn’t get a chance to stand up and try something), but I don’t think it’s outright impossible.

Now, here’s where the trick comes in. Since Eden was the one who likely planned the murder (she had been preparing since Night 2, after all), the goal would be to make her the blackened. Here’s how I think that would be done.

The accomplice would hand off the spinny thing to Eden once Arei was high up enough, and Eden would be the one to let go off the carousel so Arei’s neck breaks. But how does it stop?

Well, you remember the second, shorter piece of rope, which I had originally said would be for the water jugs? Instead of that, they would use it as a stopper rope. The idea is to attach one end to the swing set near the spinny thing, but leave the other end by itself. Then, once Arei was high in the air, one of the two culprits (let’s say Eden) would tie the unused end to the spinny thing. That way, when they let Arei fall, the shorter rope would tense before she went all the way to the floor (you can make sure this happens by using a lot of the rope on the knot on the swing set), and stop the carousel abruptly mid fall. This is what would cause Arei’s neck to snap.

(Ignore the text)

This means the water jugs would need to be attached to Arei in some other way. Possibly by making the noose in such a way that you have rope to spare and you can put the jugs there?

Looks a bit wonky, but I think it can work! Or, at least, Eden could conceivably think it would help, which is all that’s technically necessary.

If you’re not convinced, there could also be a third, extremely short piece of rope being kept in Eden’s fanny pack which was used to put the jugs at Arei’s feet. I don’t quite like this answer too much, since it relies on evidence we don’t have (Russel’s Teapot and all that), but it’s there.

——————————————————————————————————

Surprise! Alternative Method Bonanza!

So you remember how thebadjoe has a really good theory on the murder which is Eden!Solo? That means he has a different method for the murder mechanism itself, as Eden sort of can’t do my method herself.

And I am gonna steal it! Like a thief!

Essentially, if you’re not convinced by the hanging method, you can instead copy and paste joe’s method to my accomplice theory, with a few modifications.

Joe’s method takes my idea of a stopper rope, but instead of attaching one end to the swing set, it’s attached to Arei’s neck. The pulley system is instead used to pull up only the water jugs, the rope attached to their handles, which Eden should be able to do herself. The idea is that, after pulling the water jugs up and attaching the shorter rope to Arei’s neck, when you let them fall, if Arei’s neck is secured in place, when the stopper tenses, it will snap her neck.

Now, in his method that involves knocking out Arei with turpentine (long story) and securing her with tape, but with the accomplice idea, and since I don’t think Eden has turpentine, it may be better for the accomplice to just hold down Arei’s body themself. Though that runs into the issue of “why put tape on her wrists then”, which isn’t a method with joe’s original method and rather an issue of translation to the accomplice idea.

Because of that, and because there’s a particular thing I’ll talk about in a moment, I think my method is still slightly more plausible for the accomplice idea, which is why I won’t bring this up again, but I did want to point out that it’s technically a possibility.

——————————————————————————————————

Any other changes? Yes, actually.

-You remember the starch on the ball of clothes? Well, joe suggested it may come from the enriched formula used in the relax room, as starch is often used to stimulate plant growth or something along those lines. Meaning the clothes spent a night inside the relax room. I agree with this, as I have no idea why starch would be there otherwise.

The question now is when the clothes spent the night. It can’t be Night 3, as Arei died before the relax room opened again at 8:00 AmM. So it would have to be in the second night. And where was Eden that night?

Eden: I noticed you didn’t take any of your new clothes, so I was going to deliver them to you!

Ah, right. On the second floor. In the dress-up room. Totally not suspicious behavior.

Basically, I think Eden went to the second floor to put the clothes in the relax room and pick up the tape, but once nighttime begun, she realized Ace was still in the gym, and decided to wait it out so as to not be spotted in a suspicious place. Unfortunately for her, Ace was busy getting murdered by Nico, so she ended up getting caught by Teruko, and had to course correct.

But why would she need the ball of clothes? Couldn’t she have just grabbed, like, anything else to throw over the railing?

Well… yeah, but. It may have been hard for her to find anything more convenient than the ball of clothes. I’ve seen the roll of tape suggested, but the rope may not have been able to fit through the hole in the middle. Maybe yes, maybe no, depending on what’s most convenient for your theory. That’s not sarcasm, it’s just that there’s no good way of checking how big the hole is.

Throwing a ball of clothes would be a lot easier than throwing a lot of other things. Maybe it’s a bit weird, but I don’t find it completely unbelievable that Eden considered it the best option.

-To make the whole ordeal easier, it would be best to make sure the “noose” end of the longer rope dangles from the railing over the seesaw, closer to the entrance, so they don’t have to move Arei around too much. They could easily do this by just throwing the ball of clothes around a couple of times.

-The BDA is an issue, since the accomplice would also be a “witness” and thus not count. But this can be solved quite simply. For one, there could be a loophole where if Eden just looks away when Arei’s neck breaks, then she’s not a “witness” and she counts. If that sounds too stupid, there’s another answer. To make absolutely sure Eden would be counted as the blackened, the accomplice would leave the room entirely while Eden holds Arei up in the air. That way, the moment they enter again, they would see the corpse without being a “witness” to the murder, and so they count. Add to the accomplice/Eden the view of Whit and Teruko, and you have the three you need for the BDA.

-That’s also my answer to why Eden shouts “Teruko, wait!” right before Teruko opens the door to the playground. Logically, she knew the BDA would play, which is why she didn’t act nervous when Teruko first offered to search in a group of three, but she second-guessed herself right before they got there. I’m sure we’ve all had an experience like that before, where logically we know one thing will happen, but we still get nervous right before the thing happens because we’re worried it might go wrong.

-The Achilles Heel of this theory is the missing bowling glove from Arei’s left hand. I have exactly one explanation for it, and it’s kinda stupid. Essentially, I believe the accomplice took the glove for themselves, to reveal it during the trial if people start accusing Eden. The idea would be that showing people that glove should hopefully get them to vote for the accomplice without thinking about it too much, but since Eden is the real blackened, they would lose and Eden would escape.

Imagine a big reveal, with a little animation like David’s “guilty as charged”, where the accomplice takes out the glove from their pocket and they say “I killed Arei” or something. That’s kinda what I’m envisioning.

So… that’s basically the method. And now, we have to answer the age old question:

but, like, why though

And this, this is the question that makes me believe the accomplice idea more than any other. Because it gives a proper reason for why the method had to be so complicated.

See, there is one fundamental contradiction in the evidence we see, one which has to be solved in some way. Arei’s wrists were bound, but given the rest of the evidence, there was a mechanism involved in her murder.

Why is that an issue? Because if you bind her wrists, then there is no reason not to just kill her in a much easier, simpler way. And there’s no reason to bind her wrists after killing her, either. So why would the killer go through all this trouble?

demodraws0606 (not sure they’d want to be tagged) suggested in this post, under Levi!Culprit, that maybe Levi was trying to frame Eden, and to do that, he had to make sure the BDA wouldn’t rule her out. And while that’s a really good post and a pretty interesting idea, the main issue with the plan of framing Eden in general are the fish. Levi maybe wouldn’t know for sure whether or not Eden would have an alibi, but just in case, it would be much safer to just fill the water jugs with water from a sink or something. The fish could only ever exclude Eden, never incriminate her.

Joe’s method assumes Eden simply used a complex method to distance herself from the murder in a way. Working on mechanisms would calm her as a clockmaker, so she feels more comfortable with murder if she can do it with a mechanism. This is cool, and while I personally think it’s a bit underwhelming, it could work. But it only works if Eden!Solo works, and then you have to explain the fish again. Joe says David brought them there, but, I don’t agree. Doesn’t mean it’s wrong, obviously, just that I personally don’t see it given what we have. I think David genuinely thinks Arei committed suicide because of him.

David: Of course. Of course this would happen.

So, yeah.

And because the why is so hard to explain, I think it’s important to explain it. And wouldn’t you guess it, my method does explain it.

It goes back to the origin of the accomplice idea. Eden couldn’t have done this on her own.

Let’s be clear; an accomplice is a huge leap in logic. One that I feel comfortable making given everything, but one which would take the characters a while to figure out. One which they may reject in principle. There’s no benefit for an accomplice after all, right?

I’ll address that in a moment, but let’s get back to the main point. Eden couldn’t have done this on her own, and because of that, the method in itself is an alibi for her.

Think about it. Because she is clearly not strong enough to lift Arei up into the air (or at least, that’s what it looks like), what happens if someone starts pointing fingers at Eden? Well, all she has to do to absolve herself is insist they speak about the method, and guide them in the general direction of the right answer. Once they start thinking the murderer would need to be strong enough to pull Arei + water jugs up into the air, they would instantly dismiss Eden as a possibility, until the idea of an accomplice is revisited.

This is, by the way, why I think the Hanging Method works better than the Neck Stopper Method under Accomplice Theory-

(ok the nomenclature is starting to get out of hand)

-, because it requires more strength to use the pulley.

But the point is the same. This method actually provides an explanation to why a mechanism was necessary when Arei’s wrists were bound. It was to give Eden a defense.

And that’s also where the fish come in. Because the most straightforward explanation for why the fish would be there would be that the killer would want to confuse the time of death. But why? The time the fish were taken is the same time frame the characters currently believe the murder happened at, so the alibis don’t change. If the killer wanted to give themselves an alibi for the supposed time of death, they would need to have an alibi for the time the fish were taken. But if they have an alibi for the time the fish were taken, they couldn’t have taken the fish!

Provided Nico is telling the truth about the fish, but I really don’t see why they’d be lying. I really doubt they’re the killer.

Thus, unless the fish somehow got there through a third party entirely (which I find unlikely, as Veronika had an alibi and no one else would really want to hide that they found a dead body for a night), it’s very possible the accomplice brought the fish to give the real killer an alibi.

So, that’s the big reason I have for believing there was an accomplice. It’s the best explanation for the fish and the motivation behind the creation of a mechanism I can find, but of course, that’s my opinion. There’s a bit more to it actually, but before we get there, we have to ask:

OMG, Who Did This?!

What we know about the accomplice for now is that they must not have an alibi for the time the fish were taken. This leaves us with Ace, Nico, Rose, Arei, Levi, and David. We can also add Hu to the list, as her only alibi is Eden, and, well.

Out of hand, I'm gonna eliminate Nico, Ace and David, as I really don't think their characters fit the accomplice idea at all, I hope you can forgive me.

I gave Arei a fair bit of thought, since narratively I could see it working, but I just don’t think it’s physically possible. One of the things which got me to believe there was an accomplice was that it would be really difficult for Eden to string up Arei’s corpse herself, and Arei wouldn’t be able to help with that on account of being dead.

So, then there three.

Was it Rose?

An interesting possibility. She was the first one to suggest looking in the trash, which helps Eden build the narrative she and Arei were friends, and she was one of the people who suggested voting for David on Ep 11, claiming she didn’t want the trial to go on any longer. However, that’s pretty circumstantial, and I don’t think there’s much else connecting her to the crime. I also don’t know how much stronger she is than Eden, but that’s neither here nor there. Overall, a possible candidate, but not extremely plausible.

Was it Hu?

Hey, have you ever thought about how weird it was that Hu and Eden never spoke during the conversation Teruko, Charles, Whit and David had right before David went to the relax room on night three? They were supposed to be cleaning up after dinner at that point, according to their alibi, so what gives?

Well, frankly, I just think they weren’t in the kitchen, but probably just cleaning in the cafeteria itself. But maybe Hu and Eden are lying!

Hu could work as an accomplice, given her caring nature and the fact she probably has the “hopeless child” secret, meaning she’s attempted suicide. Thus, she may be willing to throw away her life for Eden’s, which is the biggest obstacle for the accomplice idea.

Her secret quote could allude to it. “I want to pay for what I’ve done. But even then, I still want to live.” The issue there is… well, that could be referring to quite literally anything else, so.

I consider Hu the second likeliest candidate for accomplice because of all that, but… frankly, I still don’t see it. The way she acts during the trial doesn’t suggest she’s doing anything of the sort, and there are reasons she wouldn’t want anyone to get away with murder. Mainly everyone else’s lives. Also, she has even less arm strength than Rose, seeing as she lost at arm wrestling with her.

There’s probably more discussion to be had regarding Hu as an accomplice, but frankly, I don’t think it’s necessary for now. Because there is one person who fits the bill much better than Hu, and has much deeper connections to both Eden and the murder.

You read the title of the post. You know who I think the accomplice is. Let’s go.

Yeah, it’s Levi

(How’s that for a callback?)

Levi is probably the most widely believed culprit theory, and for good reason. He acts very suspiciously all throughout the investigation and the trial. He is the first to call up MonoTV to start voting after David’s reveal, he throws accusations quite liberally, his profile states he dislikes unpredictable people like Arei, the ball of clothes and even the missing glove being involved connects him to the method through his talent…

The main thing is the secret motive. Not only did Levi receive Arei’s, without the context Arei gave David and Teruko in the playground, it is widely speculated that Arei received Levi’s secret through sheer process of elimination. Won’t get into it here, many people have already talked about it, so just trust me bro.

Not to mention the whole “good person” fiasco. Essentially, Ch 2 has the title “All That Glitters”, with the secret title “A Good Person”. Clearly, put together you get “Not All That Glitters Is Gold” -> “Not All That Glitters Is A Good Person.”

And as far as I can tell, there are only a few people who have been referred to using the specific words “good person” in this chapter:

-Teruko: She dissuades Whit from calling her a good person because she’ll feel bad when she’s not.

-David: Hu calls him a good person right before his Ep 11 heel turn.

EDIT: I misremebered, the line is actually "good friend." Ah, oops.

-Eden: Levi calls her a good person in the beginning of the chapter.

-Arei: Says she will prove to Eden she can be a good person.

-Levi: Eden calls him a good person at the beginning of the chapter.

Hopefully I didn’t miss any.

You’ll notice the common thread is plot relevance in CH 2. Teruko’s the protag, David pushed the plot forward by getting people to reveal their secrets and also had his heel turn (EDIT: But he wasn't called a good person so), Eden has been a huge part of the chapter and she might be the killer, and Arei is the victim.

The outlier is Levi, which would suggest he’ll come to be plot relevant soon enough. I don’t think just getting his secret revealed would be enough to put him up there in importance with the most influential people in the entire chapter, so he’s probably heavily involved in the murder. And since I don’t think he’s the killer, accomplice it is, baby.

There is even a particular moment we can point to as the moment Levi may have given up on the group as a whole.

Levi: Why do I even bother?

Right after Ace refuses his help after almost getting murdered. And Eden’s right there.

Finally, his secret quote is “I always believed that a person is defined by their actions alone. But maybe that’s just a poor excuse for my heartlessness.” That’s interesting, because in this context, it could be he never believed Arei wanted to change, as her previous actions contradicted the words she said to Eden. But maybe that’s a poor excuse for his heartlessness, as Arei did want to change.

There’s more I could bring up, like the fun fact Levi’s profile states he likes suckers (candy) and Eden’s states she likes sweet things (that’s insanely circumstantial and confirmation bias-y, but sure I’ll bring it up), but I think venus and accirax may be wanting to make a narrative defense of the Levi!Accomplice theory, so I’ll leave it to them, since they’ll probably do better than I could. Lord knows they did better on Eden than me.

Not gonna lie I’m kinda making this so they can just link back here instead of the insanity train the original thread was-

Final Issues

No theory is perfect, and this one isn’t an exception. While I think the theory mostly covers all the evidence in the scene quite satisfactorily, the explanations for the BDA, the glove and the shape of the scuffed floor (but how do you explain that shape) are a bit shaky. There’s also a few awkward moments of timing and character’s actions, like the whole Ace almost-murder situation being sorta awkward with Eden’s presence in the second floor, and in particular that Arei apparently spent almost an entire day inside her room. That’s sorta gonna be an issue for everyone unless you believe Ace is lying about the day her conversation with David happened, which… okay, isn’t as insane as it sounds, read joe’s theory, but I still consider a bigger leap than simply assuming Arei took a real long nap.

And of course, as much as I’ve ignored it, it’s still insanely risky for Eden to work with an accomplice, and we have to assume Levi was willing to die and get everyone else killed just to get Eden out of there. I’ll try my best to explain how I think that could happen in the Closing Argument.

However, it’s all in all, in my opinion, not too bad. Everything is pretty physically plausible, there are narrative justifications for practically everything, and the few inconsistencies aren’t too large or obnoxious for me to consider damning. I’m still open to other theories, of course, but for now, this is the thing I believe.

So, now that we’ve established how I arrived at my conclusions, it’s time for what everyone’s been waiting for!

Closing Argument

Keep in mind character motivations and especially unseen dialogue could vary quite a lot. The main thing to take away is the actual method, everything else is sorta flavor text. This… really is a lot longer than it has any right to be. I kinda got carried away trying to show how I think the characters would act. Sorry.

I’ll mark with “>” the parts which are mostly just for spice, “~” the actually important parts, and just for fun I’ll add predictions to how the end of the trial will go with “+”.

I am extremely sorry if I mischaracterize anyone. I’m not good at writing dialogue, but I think it’s worth trying to give a better impression of what’s going on in my head.

(Days start counting after the start of CH 2)

Second Day, Afternoon

~Eden wanted to return home.

>Of course she did! Everyone did, in the killing game. She kept trying to look for ways to end it completely, and while she hadn’t found a good solution yet, she’d surely find it soon enough!

>But for now, they had to keep strong! And fight against the motive! David had suggested talking to the people whose secrets they’d all received so they could share it and ease tensions, and Eden thought it was a great idea! She went up to Arturo, and told him what she’d received about him.

>…

>She almost died.

>That was the only thing running through her mind as Arei got Arturo away. Eden had almost died, and if it weren’t for Arei, she most likely would have. A small desperation began to grow in her heart, longing to get out, get out, get out-

>Arei tried to talk to her, apologize for the things she’d said in the playground… but Eden couldn’t believe her.

>Arei had shouted in her face that Min’s death was her fault. Even if it was, to say it like that… Eden wanted to cry just thinking about the things Arei had said. Eden may have been nice, but she wasn’t naive. Someone like that could never be a good person.

>Still, a part of Eden wanted to give Arei the benefit of the doubt. So, she hugged her, told her how much it meant, and went on her merry way.

>But those doubts had firmly planted themselves in Eden’s mind. What if Arei was just manipulating her? What if Arturo attacked her again? Would someone as weak as her even be able to stand up to the killing game, when she couldn’t stand up against some bullies?

>Slowly, the gears in her mind started to turn. An idea was brewing, an idea which scared Eden to even think about, but one she was desperate enough to entertain.

>There was a way for her to end the killing game. By winning it.

>I mean what? No! Eden would never kill anyone! …

>But if she were to, hypothetically speaking, how would she go about it?

>By the second night, she didn’t know all the details, but she was going on autopilot, her body moving practically without her thinking. Just like she used to get lost in her work while making clocks, she was now beginning to get lost in the preparations for a murder.

>An accomplice, she would need an accomplice, if she wanted to do it. Probably something with the rope in the storage room, she was good with mechanisms. Maybe the railings on the playground, a pulley system… she needed a way to get the rope up there, and a way to secure the grip of her accomplice on the carousel.

>Hypothetically, of course.

Second Day, Almost Nighttime - Nighttime

~She went to the second floor, grabbed some of Hu’s and Teruko’s old clothes, and put them in the relaxation room to cover them in starch. She wanted to make a ball of clothes, it was the best way to get the rope over the railings.

~She also needed tape from the gym, the roll people used to replace the grippy tape on the pull-up bar when it got too sweaty.

~Slight issue: nighttime had begun, and there were still a few noises in the gym. Eden didn’t want to be caught doing anything too suspicious, so she decided to wait out until the noises stopped.

~Slightly bigger issue: Teruko arrived at the second floor, spotted her, and now Eden needed a cover story. She just told her she was looking for Hu’s and Teruko’s new clothes, sure, that works.

>Eden told Teruko her and Arei had made up, and asked if she wanted to pry. In retrospect, she wasn’t sure why she’d done that. If Teruko had heard the story of what Arei had said, she would just tell Eden what the uglier parts of her psyche were already telling her. That Arei was lying, trying to manipulate her. But maybe she wanted the confirmation, to justify to herself why she was thinking the thoughts which were running through her head.

(It’s almost tragic, really. If only Teruko had pried, maybe Eden would have learnt of Arei’s breakdown, and everything would have ended there)

~The two decided to head back to the first floor, and Eden figured she would just take the tape tomorrow-

~Oh shit, Ace got murdered.

>Seeing that convinced Eden. The killing game was too dangerous, when even the seemingly harmless Nico was able to do something so brutal to one of the strongest participants physically speaking. She had to get out, and now. She couldn’t disappoint her family, her friends, and her.

>So, she resolved to do something about it right after-

>Oh, hey, Ace wasn’t dead! That was… good. Even if he knocked Eden down to the floor when he woke.

~… And while she’s on the floor, she may as well pick up the tape she had come to retrieve.

~[Cue Ace running to kill Nico scene]

>Wow. Tensions were… really high. Ace had collapsed, and even then Teruko had just walked away as if nothing had happened.

>But Eden was more curious about something Levi had said. “Why do I even bother?” What had he meant by that? She decided to speak with him.

>…

>Levi had lost all hope.

>There was just no way to reason with the people of the killing game. All of them were erratic, nonsensical, unpredictable people. And he loathed unpredictability in people.

>None of them wanted to accept help when it was offered. None of them knew what the hell to do about anything, but refused to just be nice and patient with each other. Practically speaking, pretty much the only normal person around was-

>Oh, Eden wanted to talk to him. Sure, he could do that.

>Eden was checking in after the whole Ace fiasco. How nice of her.

>But after chatting for a while, Eden directed the conversation towards an encounter she’d had with Arei. She explained what the bowler had told her, looking for advice. She asked if Levi would believe Arei, seeking confirmation on whether or not she really could be trying to get better. And Levi...

>Levi was pissed.

>Because it was such an obvious lie. Such a horrendous attempt of manipulation. To try and take advantage of someone as nice as Eden, truly despicable.

>Eden seemed taken aback at his intensity, asking why he was so certain. Levi debated internally for a moment, before deciding Eden deserved the whole truth.

>"Blackmail, rumors, lying, stealing, slander. You did everything you could to ruin your sisters' lives." That was Arei's secret, the one Levi received.

>Eden looked horrified when Levi told her, and it seemed she agreed with what Levi was already thinking. After all, they both loved their family a lot, even if Levi had been disowned. Someone like Arei, who would do something so horrible to their own family, couldn't possibly be a good person. If Arei did all that to her own sisters, who's to say she wouldn't do the same to Eden?

(In retrospect, Levi would always regret jumping to conclusions. After it was all over, he would try to explain. “I always believed that a person is defined by their actions alone. But maybe that’s just a poor excuse for my heartlessness.”)

>And in all that anger, and hopelesness, and desperation... Eden revealed an idea. A very strange, almost outlandish idea. To help her out of the killing game.

>Levi wasn't a fool. He had seen how the group had handled the first trial. Eventually, someone was going to get away with murder, and that would be how the killing game would end. It was predestined.

>And if someone was going to win, it may as well be the kindest person in the group.

~He agreed.

Third Day, Noon

>Everyone was yelling, and Arei's stomach was twisting.

>Nico had tried to murder Ace. They hadn't outright admitted it, but Levi's and Ace's accounts were enough to get her to believe it.

>But she wasn't thinking so much about the incident itself, as much as she was thinking about what had caused it. The secrets. David's plan was backfiring massively...

>Except, maybe it wasn't. As she saw everyone arguing, the secret she had seen Whit receive flashed in her mind. David's secret. "You exist to manipulate others. Everyone else exists to be taken advantage of."

>Was he really that evil? Was he really trying to instigate a murder? Was anything he had ever said even true?

>Had he lied to her, too?

>...

>She didn't feel like speaking much that day. She'd rather go to her room, and contemplate. Maybe sleep for a while. Maybe lie in her bed, and maybe cry a bit.

>She didn't leave her room until it was time for dinner.

Third Day, Afternoon

>Ace was fucking pissed.

>Of course he was, he'd almost been murdered! By Nico of all fucking people! And now he couldn't even look the fucking gym without getting nervous, like the motherfucker would show up any time and finish the job!

>But it's not like that was gonna stop him from exercising. He wasn't a fucking coward, he wasn't afraid of Nico. (Or at least, he told himself that). So he'd train anyways! He'd raced on horses he was terrified of his whole life, a little exercise was nothing!

>Still, to his chagrin, he couldn't help but feel nervous whenever he heard any noises in the rest of the floor. Even the very light noise of the elevator felt like thunder in his ears. So when someone came down and started speaking, Ace couldn't help but overhear.

>Yet, the conversation was interesting. Arei was saying David had lied about his secret? This was worth hearing.

>Ace snuck in closer and listened in. Apparently David's secret was that he was a manipulative bastard, the dick. He had gone quiet when he heard that, too, so it must have been true.

>"David! Say something!"

>David went quiet for a bit, and then... Ace got bored.

>So what? David was an asshole, big deal. Breaking news, everyone! Every single participant in the killing game sucks dick and balls! Who could have seen that coming?! It wasn't anything Ace didn't already know. So he left. He didn't really feel like listening to David try to lie his way out of that. He just went back to the gym and stopped paying attention.

>Meanwhile, the conversation went on.

[THE FOLLOWING WAS WRITTEN MOSTLY FOR FUN. I HAVE NO WAY OF KNOWING HOW THIS CONVERSATION ACTUALLY WENT]

CW FOR AGGRESSIVE CONFRONTATION

>David was fucked.

>"I... I don't know what to say to that" David managed, covering his eyes with his hand. "It's... well... How do I put this?"

>"Just tell me, please. Did you lie to me?"

>"..." David sighed. A small, sad chuckle rose from his chest. "Yes. I'm sorry"

>"..."

>"I apologize for the false hope, Arei, but... people can't change" David continued. His head was firing off alarm bells, years of deception warning him not to continue, but he ignored them. "I have seen so many try. I have seen so many fail. In the end, there's no avoiding it. If you could improve yourself to be a better person, all that means is that you were a better person to begin with..."

>Arei fought back tears. "You're wrong"

>David had to stop himself from laughing in her face, but he couldn't help a sharp exhale. He would probably stop there, but... he had lied for so long, he almost wanted to speak what he actually believed for once. "No, I'm not. I'm the Ultimate Inspirational Speaker, Arei. If people could change, I would be the first to see it"

>"That's not- You can't be serious. Just because you haven't seen it, doesn't mean it can't happen!" Arei snapped.

>"Is that so?" David raised his voice, and glared at Arei. He smiled nervously. "Then tell me, Arei. Do you think I can change? That I can become better? Look at what I've done. I've lied for years, and now Ace has a permanent scar on his neck from the murder I almost caused!" He put a hand to his chest. He shouldn't be doing this, he shouldn't, but, but- "Do you really think people like me, like us, can ever be good?! If you do, then you're a bigger idiot than I thought"

>He didn't mean that. He didn't mean that. He didn't mean that. Why was he saying it?

>Arei snarled at him, her face growing red in anger. "You...." She took a breath, and her gaze grew defiant. "I'll prove you wrong. You're the idiot here. I will become good. I promised Eden I-"

>"Well, Xander promised he'd be my friend, and look where he is now!" he almost shouted. Why was he even thinking of him now? "Don't you see it? You're lying to yourself. That's the only thing to come from my speeches. Lies. And now you're repeating a degraded version, like it's gonna be any more true just because it's coming from your mouth!" He needed to stop. He- "Are you that arrogant, or did your sisters cause you permanent brain damage?!" What the fuck was he doing?!

>"..." Arei looked horrified, and angry.

>"You don't even believe it yourself, you hypochrite!" Stop! He smirked even wider. "Otherwise, why don't you go talk to your sisters, and get them to change?" She looked so sad, why was David doing this? He had to- He couldn't- It felt good to let it out- He felt horrible- Stop- He laughed. "Oh, right! You can't! Because you're a monster and destroyed their lives! And you, won't, change"

>"You-!" Arei shouted, and rushed forward to push him. Her heart clearly wasn't in it, but David retaliated and pushed her back.

>"Out of my way!" he snarled, and began walking out of the room. He couldn't- he wasn't thinking straight, he needed- he needed air, he needed out. Arei almost slipped into the pond, or maybe she did? David couln't tell anymore. His mind was a fucking mess and his only coherent thoughts were screaming at him to leave.

>Meanwhile, Arei was left alone, and hurt. She shouldn’t listen to an asshole like David, she knew that, but, but still…

>She didn’t have much of an appetite anymore. Maybe she’d just go back to bed.

CW OVER

~Later, Levi would arrive at the relaxation room to fill up two water jugs, making sure to get the fish. At the same time, Eden was discussing ways to end the killing game with Hu, securing an alibi for the time of the fish’s disappearance.

Third Day, Nighttime

~Levi and Eden met back up at the playground, and the preparations began. The materials they were working with included two pieces of rope (one longer, one shorter), the ball of sticky clothes Eden had prepared the night before, the tape Eden had taken from the gym, and the water jugs with the water and fish Levi had gathered.

~First step, with the tape from the gym, they covered the bars of the carousel, to have a better grip when they used the mechanism.

~Then, they grabbed the longer rope and put part of it through a few of the handlebars of the carousel, before tying one end to one of the handlebars.

~After that, they tied the other end to the ball of clothes, and Levi used his strength to throw it up above the railings. In doing so, he accidentally hit one of the lights with the clothes, displacing the lightbulb and causing it to flicker. Once it fell, he also threw it up to the railing in the middle, so the unused end of the longer rope would end up around where the seesaw was.

~Meanwhile, Eden tied one end of the shorter rope to the swing set near the carousel, leaving the other end unused for now.

~After removing the ball of clothes, they fashioned the untied end of the longer rope into an odd-looking “double noose”, with one of the nooses, the one closer to the end of the rope, tied around the handles of the water jugs.

~With all the preparations in place, they took the ball of clothes to the dress-up room, and Levi went to sleep. Eden wrote the note Arei would receive, telling her to meet in the playground at 7:30. Then she went to sleep as well.

Fourth Day, Morning

>Arturo was a fucking asshole, Arei decided from the moment she saw the note.

~Obviously Arei followed it, because she was trying to be friends with Eden.

>And as suspicious as the note was, there was no way Eden would betray her, right? If she did…

>…

>Well, Arei didn’t really want to think about it.

>She arrived at the playground, and… why was there so much rope around? Eden was standing near it, contemplating… a noose?

>Oh god.

>Arei didn’t even think. She rushed in and tried to stop Eden from doing-

~Levi, who had been hidden besides the door, attacked. He ambushed Arei from behind, and used his weight to pin her to the floor. Arei screamed and struggled, scuffing the floor around her, but she obviously wasn’t able to do anything to fight off Levi.

[Oh great more dialogue]

CW for emotional confrontation, feelings of betrayal and suicidal ideation.

>”What the fuck are you doing?! Eden, get him off me!”

>Eden looked downcast, her expression somber. She was evidently lost in thought. “I’m sorry it has to be this way”

>Arei didn’t get it.

~Levi grabbed Arei’s hands, and roughly pulled out her glove to better get the tape around her wrists. This was to make sure she didn’t struggle too much after the process began.

>”Hey! Eden! What’s going on?! I thought we were friends!”

>”As if. We’re not that naive” Levi spat from behind her, and she could practically feel that murderous edge he always used when threatening Ace.

>”Huh?! What are you talking about, you-?!”

>”I’m sorry, Arei. I just can’t believe you” Eden spoke softly, fidgeting with her hands. She grabbed the noose, which weirdly had- wait. “I know you’re lying to me. You don’t have to keep pretending you like me”

>…

>Arei’s entire world crumbled in that moment.

>”H-Huh?! Wait, I- I never lied to you! I want- I wanted to be friends-!”

>”Don’t lie” Levi snarled. “We know what your secret is. What you’ve done to your sisters. I can’t believe you. You know, actions define people, and you have been nothing but terrible your whole life”

>Eden bent down to put the noose around Arei’s neck. Because of course, of course it was a fucking noose. Eden hesitated, however.

>”Don’t fall for her crocodile tears, Eden” Levi warned. Oh, Arei was crying? News to her.

>”R-Right” Eden said, putting the noose around Arei’s neck. Eden then positioned herself to pin Arei down herself as Levi stepped off and went towards the carousel.

>”Eden, please… please don’t listen to him! Don’t be scared of him! I’ll beat him up for you, just-!”

>”I’m not- I’m not scared of Levi” Eden frowned.

>”But- But, he’s a murderer without remorse!” Levi stopped in his tracks. “That’s his secret, Eden! I received it! Do you really want to help someone like that?!”

>Eden seemed to hesitate for a moment, but shook her head, and looked at Arei with glassy eyes, smiling nervously. “I mean… I- I can’t really judge him for that. I… I was the one who came up with this idea, you know”

>…

>Huh.

>So there really was no point, then.

>David didn’t believe in her. Eden didn’t believe in her. Fucking Eden. And now, even the nicest person in the entire killing game had decided Arei deserved to die.

>…

>Arei stopped struggling after that.

CW OVER, mostly. There’s still references to suicide after this point.

(God I really hope I’m not horrendously mischaracterizing these people)

~Levi begun to spin the carousel, which worked as a pulley that started dragging Arei up. As he spun it, he likely had to adjust it slightly so it wouldn’t slide off the wrong way, hence why he needed to be able to better grip all the handlebars instead of putting tape on just one. [I don’t know if that made sense]

~As the rope started pulling up, Eden stepped aside and ran over to the carousel.

~Levi stopped spinning it once Arei was high enough, and Eden attached the unused end of the shorter rope to the carousel.

~Eden grabbed hold of the carousel, and Levi ran out of the room.

~Now, neither of them had thought of asking MonoTV how to determine the blackened in the case of an accomplice being in play, so they took all the steps necessary to make sure Eden would be the blackened.

~She was the one to put the rope around Arei’s neck, she had been the one to come up with the murder plan, and she was the last person holding her up. Levi running out of the room was extra insurance: how could he be the blackened if he wasn’t even a witness to the crime? However, the final trick would ensure Eden would get the title of blackened.

~Eden let go of the carousel, and gravity made it spin as Arei fell. It spun for only a little bit, however, as the shorter rope soon fully tensed, and stopped the carousel in its tracks. Because of the height Arei fell, as well as the extra weight from the water jugs, her neck snapped in the moment the shorter rope tensed. At the same time, the handles from the water jugs snapped, and they fell to the floor.

~With this, it could be argued the act which caused Arei’s death was the letting go of the carousel, for which Levi wasn’t even present, meaning Eden was indubitably the blackened.

~And when it was all said and done, there was one fact which stood. Because of the strength the mechanism had required, Eden could not have possibly done it all alone. Unless the class somehow figured out she had an accomplice, just the strength necessary for the act would rule her out, give her an alibi. That is the reason behind the complexity of the murder.

~After that, Levi came into the room, fulfilling another nice benefit. Because he hadn’t technically witnessed the murder, he counted as a “body discoverer” for BDA purposes.

~The last step was setting up the scene as we saw it. The fish they spread around would confuse the time of death and give Eden an alibi, and hanging Arei from the swing set would make people initially believe she had committed suicide. Levi had to be the one to do that, as Eden was too weak and short, adding an extra layer of misdirection.

~”What if I just take her glove?” Levi asked.

>”Eh?”

>”I could take her glove, and then if someone spots me with it, they’ll vote me out and you’ll win” Levi explained.

>”That’s… kinda silly, isn’t it?”

>”…”

>”… Okay, sure”

>”Very well” Levi nodded sagely. Eden remained very confused.

~They took the longer tape and hid it under the carousel, then threw the tape which had been on Arei’s wrists and the jugs in the trash, as well as the note after ripping it up a bit.

~With that, they left to go see the supposed announcement of the motives.

Investigation

>Pretending to be surprised at Arei’s absence wasn’t as hard as Eden thought it would be. Just make a horrified face and say nothing, easy!

>Eden knew the BDA would still play if just Whit and Teruko discovered the body, which is why she wasn’t nervous when Teruko first asked her and Whit to go search for Arei together. Still, she second guessed herself just as Teruko swung the door open, because she would be in big trouble if the BDA didn’t play. Thankfully for her, it did, as Levi had already “discovered” it before. Honestly, it was pretty good luck (and bad luck on Teruko’s part) that Eden got to be part of the “discovery group.”

>On the side, David looks at how the body was positioned, and instantly knew what had happened. “Of course. Of course this would happen” he muttered. Arei killed herself because of him. What a monster he was.

~After pretending to be sad about Arei’s death for a moment, Eden offered to investigate with “braincell haver” Teruko, but got shut down. So instead, she joined Rose and Whit as they put together the note in the trash, to make sure they got it right. It was an important part of the plan, after all.

>Levi just went to look at the secrets because he didn’t really have to do anything specific.

Trial

>When people begun discussing the possibility of Arei helping her killer, Levi thought it would be a good way to misdirect the cast, so he started pushing the idea. Though with the slight freudian slip of saying Arei may have been her own “accomplice.”

>On the side, David held his tongue. Once MonoTV revealed the condition to be the blackened was that you were “someone alive who we can blame for her death”, any doubt dissipated in his mind. He had caused her to commit suicide, he could be blamed for her death. And he was the blackened, then.

>However, Eden needed to go against the idea of suicide, because she was supposed to sell the idea they had been friends once the note was revealed.

>When that happened, they had agreed Levi would push on the idea that Eden was the killer a bit, to “force” her to explain the note she wanted to explain anyways.

>Levi also added he’d protect Eden no matter what, but Eden responds “Don’t say stuff like that.” To the others, that was because Eden was worried Levi would end up like Arei. To Eden and Levi, it was a subtle way of saying ‘shut up and don’t link us together!’

~Eden explained the note, making sure to act like she was very distraught by the situation and genuinely believed Arei had wanted to change.

~She also provided a “handwriting sample” to look more innocent, but she intentionally wrote it in print instead of cursive to separate it from the note. Somehow, no one noticed.

>Meanwhile, David was starting to break down. She really had been trying to change, but the naive idiot had believed in David. And nothing good happens to those who believe in him.

>What a reprehensible killer indeed.

>But David’s breakdown was having an impact on Eden, who begun to think that maybe, just maybe, she had been wrong about Arei.

>She was in too deep, though. She needed to continue. She couldn’t turn back the clock now.

>When David is accused of everything, he decides he might as well enjoy the last of his life, of his killing game. He breaks down the same way he did when Arei confronted him, becoming insulting and dismissive to prevent any vulnerability from showing through. The words he said, he believed for the most part, but the smile on his face as he said them was perhaps his biggest lie yet.

>In other news, that’s pretty convenient for the murder duo! If they can just get David voted out, then…

~But that wouldn’t happen. Not if Teruko and Charles had something to say about it.

Chapter 2, Part 2

[This is just for fun]

+Charles realized the trick of the time of death, and the cast decided to start speaking of the murder method.

+After a bit of discussion (where Eden was surprisingly helpful!), they realized the murder would require inordinate strength, and they start pointing the finger at Levi.

+The secrets are revealed then, as some have realized what most of the remaining ones were. David deduced Hu must have the “hopeless child” secret, Teruko deduced Veronika must have the “self-harm” secret, Veronika in turn figured Teruko must have the “dead family” secret (that wasn’t hers, but it still applied to her life, so they didn’t question it too much. David bit his tongue), and… well, they somehow realize the “poison” secret must be Min’s.

+As Levi’s secret is narrowed down, he finally admits.

+He takes the glove from his pocket, and dramatically confesses: “I… I killed Arei”

+All going according to plan!

+The voting time is almost about to happen, but Veronika pipes in. She wants to talk about the Ace case for some reason, and while Teruko tries to deny her, the horror fanatic throws the luckster’s own words against her. “The more cases we solve, the better we’ll be at solving them in the future!”

+Reluctantly, Nico starts speaking about what they did. It was… an odd sequence, but it wasn’t too wild.

+Except, Rose pointed out something odd. What happened to the tape?

+Nico says it was still on the floor when they left. Rose says it’s impossible. Eden’s getting nervous.

+And Teruko goes dead quiet, as she runs the math again in her head.

+The lockdown… the lockdown meant no one should have been able to take the tape during nighttime… MonoTV claimed it wasn’t the one to take it… and she knew neither Ace or herself had taken it… so… It must have been taken by…

+”Teruko?” someone asked, but she wasn’t listening. It was clear now…

+She couldn’t resist the maniacal laughter that escaped her, as the adrenaline of realizing how close they’d gotten to dying (scratch that, she wouldn’t have died, but the others might have), and she realized she was right. She couldn’t trust anyone.

+The others looked at her in concern, but she just explained the simple truth.

+It was chaos. No one wanted to believe it. But the more they thought about it, more questions arose. Why would Levi make such a complex mechanism, when he could have just killed Arei in a much simpler way?

+Whit had an idea. He asked Levi which direction Arturo had ran after leaving the infirmary. And Levi answered wrong. He hadn’t listened on the conversation, then. It would be impossible for him to write the note. Charles further verified by asking Levi and Eden to spell “responsible”. Levi spelt it right, Eden spelt it wrong. “Responsibel”, the same misspelling as the note.

+There was a scrum debate, people went crazy, but in the end. They arrived at the answer, and voted for Eden.

+It was right.

+They asked for further clarification and Eden admitted everything which had led to her decision.

+”I feel terrible. Arei really was… I should have believed her. But- But, at that point, when I finally realized the truth, it was too late” Eden explained. “I wish I hadn’t done it, I want to go back… but time only moves forward. You can’t go back, no matter how hard you try”

+She hugged Teruko one last time, pleading she wouldn’t close herself off even further. But Teruko wasn’t having it. She asked MonoTV she was using a MonoCredit to get Eden away from her.

+And MonoTV obliged, starting the execution right that moment. [Credit for the idea to venus and accirax]

~This was the truth. A tragic misunderstanding, a horrible mistake. Call it whatever you want, one thing remains the same. The blackened of the case, who committed the crime with the help of Levi Fontana, the Ultimate Personal Stylist, was none other than Eden Tobisa, the Ultimate Clockmaker!

…

And right before dying, Eden reveals the name of the girl she had kissed was Mai Akasaki-

Conclusion

Yeah, this was longer than it really had to be, but I had fun writing it. This will probably be the last post I make about this case, at least until CH 2 Part 2 comes out. Hope you enjoyed it! Thanks for reading, hope time only brings you good things! Take care!

#drdt #danganronpa despair time #fanganronpa #drdt theory #eden tobisa #levi fontana #arei nageishi #drdt spoilers

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