#but well whatever this is what my interpretation is gonna be lol

[mekatrio]

ditto to what this persons saying.. im not as pressed as them but like yeahh its one thing to be a red herring, its another thing to be a red herring that turns out to Not be a red herring, and its a whole other thing to be a Not red herring that barely affects the plot but still exists like... huh

[vynnyal]

Turns out Sunlit Trail isn't quite done just yet, so after all that they just send you to a dead end 😂

[quinn-pop]

yet another oc that only exists because i wanted to write something very specific

(middle is a little older, hence her scar healing. i like to think she gets a glass eye at some point)

anyway this is mira! (they/she) since that wip is almost 20k words and counting i won’t give away too much but long story short she’s the result of meta going “one last time, i promise” and adopting yet another kid

also galaxia kinda indirectly picked the name :)

i’ve mentioned before that i headcanon that pretty much all astrals are autistic and this is just kinda an extension of that. whereas meta tends to suppress his emotions and conform to others, mira…doesn’t. she gets uncomfortable and upset and lashes out at people easily, and working through their emotions is no small task.

the main reason i chose to write them that way was for the sake of narrative but i’ve grown attached to it because there’s a lot of ideas there i’d like to explore. stuff about navigating emotions and relationships when existing is so suffocatingly uncomfortable. it’s not something i could center around Kirby himself, but i think it makes sense with a post character development meta knight.

they are very loved (omg oldee cameo???)

kirby was definitely very excited to have younger siblings after being used to being the youngest in the room for so long!! (with the like. one and only exception being gooey.) he’s super affectionate with both of them and wants to have a close relationship one day, but for now mira is pretty unappreciative of that fact lol. they don’t like being pestered for hugs

everyone else is okay tho

(i know that’s hard to read. oops. “obvious bite marks”. siblings being siblings.)

mira also has a very love/hate relationship with the egg kid, being so close in age they kinda Have to get along but in typical sibling nature they also fight a lot. sure it’s probably rough for a while but i think in the end they’d be good buddies. maybe not as close as Kirby and Bandee but still.

anyway i have a lot of thoughts and am very busy but. i’m really enjoying writing about all this lately it’s been fun ^^

[unproduciblesmackdown]

come get your levitous sidekick / vicious bastard / funny little guys

[bonebabbles]

TEQ: Prologue

The opening prologue is a bunch of StarClan cats talking about if they're going to send a prophecy or not.

Leafpool expresses frustration that they might lose contact with the Clans for the thousandth time in like 3 arcs

Skystar is immediately disgusted to hear a woman talking

he says, "yeah well the clans have always been unstable and react badly to prophecies" my brother in starclan. YOU were the one who was unstable and reacting badly to prophecies to begin with 💀

Mistystar tries to reason with him but she, too, commits the sin of being a woman so Skystar's like "yeah well theyre gonna have losses no matter what we do"

The adults continue to talk, including Runningnose and Tallstar, until Tallstar's like "what if we sent the prophecy to the leader this time instead of relying on the designated guys who are trained to interpret our messages"

Skystar, MAN WHOSE ENTIRE LIFE WAS A TESTAMENT OF WHY THIS IS A BAD IDEA: "Yes yes yes do that"

Tallstar continues: "It should be someone old as shit. Someone who made the Great Journey. Everyone who made the Great Journey had great judgement," He says, Mudclaw mercifully not in frame

Leafpool: "But what leader would possibly be able to convince their subjects and Clan to do stuff" girl fym ASC was an entire arc about the fact that clans can barely function without their leaders. RiverClan forgot how to do chores. Splashstar could apparently make cats do whatever he wanted by holding kittens hostage. be serious

You can't do both 💀💀💀 you can't play a leader's lack of power over their clan for suspense AND play a leader's complete control over their clan for drama. pick one

Firestar: "Wait. I think I know a guy."

The next chapter opens up on Tawnypelt. It's going to be REALLY funny imagining them sending her this prophecy and then she's distracted by Crowfeather's seductive pizzeria scent.

(unless this is a red herring and they send this to Leafstar who is actively undergoing rapid senescence lol)

[twoa-plus]

it’s 2:00am and this is more of a character thing than a genuine theory but *claps hands for the drama* same coin theory. what if both of the stans are bill

or like. a parallel to him. like i said this isn’t a super serious theory i’m mostly just back on my character analysis bs lol

so i haven’t gotten to talk abt this much but i am a firm believer in that there is not a superior stan. from a personality perspective this is obviously entirely subjective, but i mean that there isn’t a superior one when it comes to their objective traits and how useful they are

ford is. ford. i don’t really have to say anything here he’s super smart can play the piano or whatever etc etc. however one thing that i will say that i think is important here is that i am like. 99% sure this man has a higher tolerance to The Horrors than other humans do. dude spent 30 years in that portal and came out pretty much the same level of crazy, and we all saw what happened to fiddleford. i know fidds saw bill take off his exoskeleton or whatever but u can’t convince me that ford traveled the multiverse - with all sorts of monsters and non-3d dimensions and god knows what else - for 3 decades and didn’t see some shit that would make anybody else lose it. like at this point u could tell me this guy could have a casual conversation over tea with cthulu and be fine and i’d believe u

as for stan - and i mean this in the absolute best way possible i love this guy - he’s like the world’s most charismatic cockroach. he’s fantastic with people and just straight up refuses to die. for the first point i don’t just mean this in the conman way, when it comes to the people that actually matter stan always manages to win them over in some way or another (soos, wendy, the kids, ford, etc) and one does not simply survive for a decade on the street without needing the occasional favor from someone who actually likes you. “oh but rico-“ man when u’ve been living as a homeless criminal for a decade and the list of people that want to kill u consists of 1 person and the government u’ve done pretty damn well. anyways as for the cockroach point, he’s alive and has his memories. i don’t even have to say much here stan went through all of That, lived through the series itself including The Literal Apocalypse, metaphorically (something something people are just a collage of their life experiences) died at the end of it all and then came back to life. that’s hardcore as hell man. in a less literal interpretation of the “refusing to die” bit, he’s also just. insanely determined. the biggest example is ofc him never graduating highschool and yet teaching himself god knows how much math and science and whatnot over the course of 30 damn years because he just refuses to believe that he can’t save his brother. stan pines is a force of nature i swear

[additional note while im already ranting about this guy, im not a personal believer in the “stan is just as (academically) smart as ford” theory. first of all i feel like this entire theory is kind of rooted in the idea that he has to be/be on the same level as “the smart one” to have value, which is an idea that the stans’ entire backstory is based around criticizing, and i think stan has something just as if not more valuable than freakish intelligence - raw fucking grit. he wasn’t the one to open the portal back up because of some intellectual advantage, he was the one to open the portal back up because he wanted to, god damn it, and best of luck to you if you’re gonna try and stop him.]

anyways as for the same coin thing, everybody knows the stan part. his casual references to the impending apocalypse, “you’ve been buying gold, right?”, him being such a good conman, etc etc. while i’m already ranting about stan’s determination, bill’s got that too - he’s been trying for like thousands of years to take over the world and he just Won’t Stop. point is there’s a lot of character traits they share

(i know in the original same coin post a pretty major point is stan not making a deal with bill, but i think that could probably be pretty easily explained without the need for divine intervention. the only times bill makes a deal with someone without them summoning him first is after he’s kind of left on a loose end with gideon, and everyone knows stan wouldn’t fall for his lies in the first place)

bill also shares a lot of traits with ford, though. both have some kind of physical anomaly (bill’s eye & ford’s hands), both can see/understand things others of their species can’t, they’re both egomaniacs (listen i love ford but the guy has issues), etc. u could even argue that, at least at the time they meet, they have some kind of connection through their loneliness

so. with the theory of “bill was reincarnated to make up for what he did,” what if it wasn’t just stan? what if he was split in two, and his “reincarnation” is both of them? they’re flawed enough to make it a lot harder for either of them to take over the world (ford’s lack of social skills & stan’s lack of freakish academic knowledge), and they have something bill doesn’t - each other.

bill is alone. that’s his whole problem. he killed everyone he loved, treats everyone new he meets like shit, and now he’s Like That. throughout it all, the one thing the stans have always had - even if it was just in their memory - is each other. “oh but ford-“ shhhh. shhshhshshshhsh. shut up. ford has Problems but i genuinely don’t think he ever stopped loving stan. love is weird, first of all, and secondly he clearly never stopped trusting him. no matter what he might say about stan being a liar or a conman or whatever, who’s the one person he goes to when he’s forced to admit he needs help? ford is a weird guy and has an… odd way of showing it but he loves his family just like the rest of the pines and i will die on this hill

i’ve been writing this for over an hour straight and i think my brain is melting but i’m sure at this point u get the idea. both of the stans, together, serve as a parallel to bill, and the one thing they have that he doesn’t is love. that’s what killed him.

something something killing an interdimensional dream demon with the power of friendship and this gun i found

[supernova41st]

One small step at a time! 🛸

Tf2 x Juno!reader

A/n: This one’s for all my overwatch babes <33 ik this idea is rlly niche but this was so fun to write I’m so proud of this. Most of these can be interpreted as platonic but read however you’d like, enjoy ✨

Warnings: Scottish people, Drinking, Passing out drunk

Vocab: (p/f) - Parental Figure

Engineer

He has such a father daughter relationship with you

When you first landed on earth he was extremely fascinated by the technology your (p/f) discovered to get to mars, especially your anti-gravity boots

“So these things are just makin’ you float around?”

“Yeah! I’m not really used to earths gravity so my (p/f) sent me off with overboots!.. how do you guys get anything done while stuck on the ground?”

“We just make do with what we can, sugar”

His fav activity with you? Lounging. Doesn’t look like much but his rancho relaxer + you using your jetpack to ‘sit’? Soo cute

You guys would just be chilling in his workshop after doing whatever task it was you were doing <3

“You want a beer, Buttercup?”

“No thank you! I’m not really fond of drinks with alcohol since all we could drink at mars was juice and water”

“shoot, glad I’m not you”

He’s definitely one of the mercs who warmed up to you the fastest, he’s just chill like that.

Medic

Pls don’t tell him your from mars, weird shit is gonna happen

He’s going to treat you like one of his test subjects, at first it starts tame with general check ups but it escalated pretty fast.

When doing his uber surgery on you he decided to explore more things

“..how long was I out, Dr. Ludwig?”

“Oh not long!! Just two.. days”

“What? You said it would only take about 20 minutes!!”

“Vell yes I did say that my Martian friend, however I must say curiosity got the best of me! I simply had to know more about your anatomy”

“Uhm,, ok”

Yeah you’re so scared of him now lol

But of course you two do need to work together to try healing your teammates

He loves it when you heal him, it’s always a pleasant surprise since he never expects to get healed, like ever

“Here! I can help you!!”

“Oo, so vats how it feels..”

Spy

Yeah he doesn’t think your good for the team

Sure it was interesting to meet someone who was born and raised in a completely different planet, however your inexperience with earth was enough for him to neglect you

Once you visited his smoke room to find abundance of books, you being new to earth were excited to see all the knowledge they carried

“Wow! Can I borrow this one? I’d like to learn more about earth and its continents!!”

“Go ahead, I never made use of that thing anyways”

It always catches him off guard how little knowledge you have about earth, especially since your were chosen to go on the mission to earth

Once you randomly found a globe somewhere in the break room and got so fascinated by it

“Earths colors are beautiful, I’d really like to go the that purple one!”

“Y/n, Russia is not purple. And you don’t want to visit there, it is full of trash people.”

“Oh..I see”

He doesn’t guide you to earth like the rest of the mercs, he wants to really straighten your back and push you to your limit

“Would a croissant go well with your meal good sir?”

“Excuse me?”

“You seem like you are from the Western Europeans my (p/f) brought back to mars!! Au revoir madam, please enjoy your tea”

Tbh that moment made his heart melt by just a little bit. Hey, he’s not a monster he can have heartfelt moments.. sometimes

Sniper

You are so fascinated by him, literally just him

For the most part it’s because of his job title ‘assassin’, you’ve never heard of such a job back home.

“Is it true you earn currency to kill specific people?”

“Why of course Sheila, who else would do it?”

“Well, on mars we kinda just let them live even if we don’t like them.. that’s a thing here right??”

You love going on roadtrips with him so he can show you around, just to see get a feel of that New Mexican dirt

You two have a relation where he misses his parents despite always arguing with them, and you miss your (p/f) because you two now live on completely different planets.

On those trips you tend to enjoy chilling in the back of his trailer. You can’t stand spending another second on an uncomfortable leather seat!! So you roam around a lot in what he basically considered his home.

“How was it back there? ‘eard sum ruckus out in the front.”

“Oh right! I am trying to get use to earths gravity so I tried cleaning up here a bit, I hope you don’t mind!!”

He almost cried, you reminded him of his ‘mum’

Whenever you’re curious about any animal you always go to him, we all know Australia a place with weird animals so

“Mr. Mundee, is this spider deadly?”

“I’m not sure, you should probably check in with doc tho. Your face lookin pretty swelled there mate..”

“Oh thank the stars! I was sure this was a lion..”

You passed out from the poison.

It’s good tho, sniper carried you to Medics room like the big brother he is 🧡

Demo-man

YOURE SO SCARED OF HIM

MORE THAN MEDIC

Not only is he obsessed with the drink that you’ve literally never heard of until you arrived in earth, but the way he acts makes it seem like crack

You have so many questions, they almost never get answered because he’s either too drunk or he’ll pass out with medic dragging him out the room

“Is it true that your stomach now declines any normal drinks?”

“Ayouhhh it’s just beerdelicois burp”

“..is he going to be alright?”

“Oh no worries my Martian friend, this happens all the time.. although I can never tell if he’ll live or not”

When on the battlefield he’s always screaming and creaming, sometimes it scares you so much to the point where you ask your fellow teammates to help you

“MR. CONAGHER, I THINK DEMO IS TRYING TO ATTACK ME!!”

“Darlin’, I thinks he’s just tryna get some healing..”

“But why is it yelling.. ☹️”

Now you’re scared of Scottish people, and convinced they probably eat their youth

Soldier

He def plays a father role like engineer, but way less charm and warmth to him

He’s like a dad at a soccer game, he’ll cheer you on but aggressively, to the point where it seems like he’s booing you

In the lobby he’d always do his soldier talk, and it never fails to make you do you best

“NOW, WILL YOU HAND THAT TEAMS ASS AND FEED IT TO HIM, OR AM I GOING TO HAVE TO DRAG YOURS BACK TO MARS TO YOUR MOMMA?”

“No sir!! I’ll feed it to them!”

“THATS RIGHT MAGGOT”

Soldier is always hard on you, sometimes he calls you a ‘space commie’ just for jokes, although his tone definitely sets you off

When you unleashed your orbital ray he started screaming about ‘the commies getting to us’, you had to reassure him several times that it was something you had full control of

Scout

This guy was ecstatic when he found out his new teammate was going to be from space, scout is really into comics (even tho he can’t read) so his imagination went wild when Ms Pauling announced that he’d be fighting alongside what he considered an alien

Once you arrived he was in awe, he thinks you’re the coolest person on the team solely because you’re from another planet.

But he did quickly recognize that you weren’t use to like, anything on earth.

He handed you a cold can of Bonk just for you to look at him confused

“What do I do with this?”

“You drink it?”

“..um I don’t think you’re supposed to drink ‘atomic punch’, that sounds like it hurts 0-0”

He had to teach you how to drink stuff that wasn’t in an aluminum bag, you didn’t take a liking to it but you got used to it

Scout offered you to sleep on the top bunk because he wanted to be nice and all, huge mistake.

The next morning you completely forgot you were on a different planet, so you rolled and fell 9 feet from the bed to the floor.

“Jesus y/n!! what the hell happened?”

“I think I.. fell? Falling feels weird..”

Gets so hype when you two are on the same team, he’s so ready to clock the enemy team with orbital ray

“Scout! My orbital ray is ready!! ^^”

“Whooo! Let’s go then E.T what are we waitin’ for??”

For the most part he’s the one who shows you everything you need to know about earth, baseball is his favorite thing to teach cuz obviously

When you joined him to watch a baseball match you were so excited yet so lost

“What happens if they win? Is this a war?”

“No? Toots it’s just a game”

“Hm, intresting.. then I must try this ‘game’ too!”

[venus-is-thinking]

DRDT Chapter 2 Episode 14: Initial Thoughts

What an episode! I can't believe that we're probably starting to near the end of the Trial. But, considering we're almost there, we DEFINITELY have a lot to talk about. It's a longer episode, and there's a LOT to go over, so buckle in!

SPOILER WARNING FOR DRDT CH 2 PART 2!

T/W: Murder, hanging (with depictions)

The Reactions

Hu is literally so pretty.

I wasn't expecting her to get a whole mechanic defending Nico, but it makes sense. Letting other students cut in during the Class Trial is a great way to draw specific attention to a character point, and it's very clear that Hu's over-defense of Nico is going to be important moving forwards.

RIP to my "using the weight rack as the carousel" theory. The fan probably makes more sense. I just still have no idea how the 300-ish pound or whatever weight rack managed to get knocked over in the struggle.

I'm glad they directly pointed this out. Trying to kill everyone in the Class Trial was the EXACT thing Hu was so pressed about David doing. It's a weird double standard to be so forgiving of Nico when they tried to do the same thing.

Insane thing to say if Eden is the culprit and killed Arei because she didn't believe her. Then again, if my explanation for a lot of Eden Trial dialogue is "she's speaking out of regret for killing Arei now that she knows Arei was being legit," maybe she's just calling herself cruel as well.

This is honestly very valid.

Do you think "here" implies Nico trusts someone in the outside world? Based on their secret, it seems like they probably didn't have many friends. Could also be referring to animals? Or Mai Akasaki?

Big psychic damage to Hu though, considering we know she thrives on other people relying on her. She wants Nico to be someone who relies on her sooo bad, but they just... don't.

Like, girl. They literally JUST said that they don't trust anyone. That includes you.

She's clearly projecting in some way, though, which is definitely an oof. I wonder if Hu wishes she had someone who was undeniably on her side in the past...?

(To be clear: I think Hu is a very well written and interesting character. She fits the fucked up vibes of Despair Time, but coming from a more surprising angle of "that really nice and caring person can also be fucked up." She's just clearly in the wrong here, so I get to clown on her as I clown on everyone else.)

Ace is honestly so valid for this. Like, yeah he's kind of a bully and he sucks sometimes, but. Like. He did almost get murdered and people are, like, mad at him for it? Huh???

If Ace does end up being the Chapter 2 killer because he snapped, I honestly think he's so valid for that.

It is my personal agenda to record every instance of J being notably anti-murder. I don't know where it's going but if it does go somewhere I want my credit because it is Apparent.

(The entire fanbase nods in agreement.)

I know some people definitely still think/thought that Hu and/or Nico was responsible for the crime, so we've all DEFINITELY been squinting at that alibi. I fully believe it's true, but that doesn't change the fact that I wouldn't put it past Hu to make a fake alibi to protect Nico. Idk if Nico would go along with it, though.

I got so jumpscared by the Closing Argument-style CG.

I'm so glad we did get a definitive answer on how this thing worked. I was so afraid that we were just gonna solve the Arei murder method and the exact solution of Ace's would be a "left to audience interpretation" kind of thing.

I'm not exactly sure where the blood on Ace's fingertips comes from? Maybe he cut his hand on the wire when he was trying to struggle after he woke up or something.

This makes so much more sense than anything I saw theorized though, lol. The fan falling from drop hanging totally checks out as a way that the murder mechanism could fail.

I have NO fucking clue why Nico opted for this as the murder mechanism, though. I get wanting to use Hu's wire to frame her, but why didn't you just cut Ace's throat with the wire in the first place???

where did their cape go :(

Potentially suspicious line from Ace? I don't know what he's referring to as "go through all this." Like, maybe just reliving the murder attempt, I guess...? Could also be going through the Class Trial, though, if Ace killed as a result of Nico trying to kill him.

*Levi's secret quote looms*

Things that make me think Nico is either a victim or a survivor. Like, are you really gonna say this and then go try to kill someone else? ...Or Ace again, I guess??

Fun fact: this was actually what guided me to my initial killer picks, before I discussed with anyone else or read any theories! I thought the killer was trying to frame Nico, so it had to be Eden or Ace. The tape and everything else was just what locked it in for me. It's fun to see Teruko follow more or less the same path that I did when I was trying to solve the mystery :)

TAPE TIME :D

The use of the Bound Wrists truth bullet actually really confused me at first bc I didn't realize we were just talking about the tape. I was like, were Arei's wrists bound because Ace's were and it was intended to be another similarity???

Maybe Eden's just being nice, but I find it really suspicious that her instinct after all this time is "didn't MonoTV take it" and not "oh I guess Ace is probably the murderer."

Teruko has now outlined two different ways that it makes sense if the killer was in the gym that night. If I were Eden, and I were innocent, I would be realizing that there's a very small suspect pool left, and I know that I'm not the killer, giving me additional information. Instead, she's questioning the validity of the tape argument, which isn't useful for narrowing down the killer-- it's useful for keeping the suspect pool wider and not leaving herself as one of three (but basically two) options.

I kinda get why people are upset with Rose here, but it's also kind of an oof because they're only mad because Rose is really smart. Like, no one's out here like "oh my god Ace you didn't recognize the tape??" Y'know, because they think he's stupid. Rose has a really good memory, which raises the standards really high, which sets Rose up for failure.

In Rose's defense, she also never saw the tape in Nico's gym murder OR on the carousel for Arei's murder. She only saw the pieces in the trash can, which seemed to be inside out. Against Rose's defense, it would probably have been for the best if she'd gone in to look at the crime scene.

Am I tripping, or is "fish misunderstanding" a weird way for David to phrase this? The misunderstanding with Teruko was assuming that the murder happened last night, which was in fact because of the fish-- but the thing Teruko should have noticed, which makes it Teruko's mistake specifically, was the body swinging.

I'm probably reading into things too hard, but it's so hard with David. What do you know!!!

Damn, Teruko is SPEEDRUNNING this character arc. Considering we basically know she's locked in for all 6 chapters, I'm really surprised to see her making this much progress this fast.

I'm guessing that this means that Teruko is probably due for a major setback sometime sooner or later. But, interestingly, this makes me feel like Teruko realizing that working alone doesn't work isn't her character arc's end destination; it's the willingness to open herself up to caring about others even in the face of the consequences of losing someone you love. Teruko is closing herself off from everyone because she knows she's going to lose them. Maybe her end destination is allowing herself to love people, even if she might lose them someday.

This was fruity as hell btw. I'm starting to think Rose may be our replacement support if Charles does die in Chapter 3.

It's so funny that this is basically Teruko claiming in-universe protag privilege. Go off, queen.

I also said something along the lines of "Hu are we really doing this again." Totally forgot that the BDA is still relevant, lol.

I personally find the way Veronika phrased this to be very telling from an author's POV. Veronika doesn't say "she must not have committed the murder," she says "she must not have witnessed the murder." It would be totally reasonable for any of the students to forget that the rule is written in a way where a killer could fail to see the moment of murder, but DRDTdev wanted to draw attention to the rule's exact phrasing again, which is a deviation from the phrasing in the canon games.

To be clear here, I stand by this even if Eden isn't the killer and the BDA group really is Eden/Whit/Teruko. I still think it could be a reminder for a future chapter when it comes up. But, I don't think it makes sense to change the phrasing of a base rule unless there's a specific reason you want it to be different. Whether now or later, this feels like a reminder that it IS possible for the blackened to trigger the BDA.

I don't necessarily "believe David," per se, but I do think it's interesting that we're drawing attention to this. I don't really think it matters, especially because I doubt the characters remember, but I'd place my bets on Eden being the last one because of that, "Teruko, wait!" thing.

It doesn't matter because, if David or anyone else saw the body, no one can confirm which two of Teruko, Whit and Eden set off the BDA, but it's an interesting note.

It's so funny how no one, fanbase or in-universe, can tell if David is lying though. Like, he COULD have seen it, but he also easily could just be making shit up to try to throw the Trial again.

will I EVER understand what the fuck this man is cooking

Why. I thought you wanted to end the killing game to finish what Xander started. I don't know what's happening :( /pos

My guess for now is just that he's still trying to kill Teruko, in keeping with Xander's plans?? Idk how making her more distrustful makes her more likely to die, though.

I do find it very interesting that Eden's approach/reaction has been to be very quiet and freaked out whereas Ace's approach/reaction is to freak out VERY loudly. Ace's is fitting because what does he do other than freak out loudly, but I might have expected Eden to do... idk, something else? It makes enough sense though, considering either the group is right to suspect her, or she's still coping with losing Arei a little bit ago.

...*squints REALLY fucking hard*

The music and voice acting in this section is REALLY fucking good. It's sad/charming/soft enough that it feels like it could be genuine, but there's still a little something that makes you have to question whether or not it's real. You WANT to believe Eden, but it's so hard to do so fully.

Y'all think Eden's crying is reminding Teruko of whatever Arei's crying reminded her of?

i'm out of images :(

I really like Teruko assuming that Eden is innocent first. She's too distrusting and also reasonable (it is life or death after all) to just hard clear Eden based on nothing, but she's offering a bit of a reprieve to Eden. Eden's friendship means that she isn't going to get immediately targeted in her most down moment, and that's it. It's a small way to show Eden she does care.

On another note, the fact that Eden got to hug Teruko and that Teruko said the "let go of me" NOW is honestly one of the main reasons I trust Eden more. I felt like that was obviously going to happen, but I was expecting the post-Trial. Putting it here is wild.

Theory Update/Analysis

Oh boy, it's accusing time! It makes sense that we're going to start with Ace. At this point, I can honestly see it going either way. Major props to DRDTdev either way, but ESPECIALLY if Eden really is the culprit. I was so confident in it, but they're really making me question my assumptions.

I think that both Ace and Eden have good reasons to be the blackened or not to be, and good reasons to die here or to not. I'm going to do my best to make a list of reasons for both characters and give a bit of my thoughts on them. They're roughly ranked in most to least important order imo, but I didn't think too hard about it.

EDEN

Reasons Eden Would Be The Blackened:

THE TAPE: It would be easier for her to take the tape than Ace, as attention was on Ace in the gym. The tape's disappearance from the background also happens to coincide with Ace knocking her over and her standing back up.

THE NOTE: Eden already knows all the info she would need to know to write that note. She could have put the note back together to give herself a defense, to try to disprove herself as the culprit with her handwriting, because Rose was going to do it anyways, and/or to frame Arturo if she didn't know he had an alibi. I think any of these reasons, or a combination of these reasons, are enough to make it possible, and while Ace could've overheard, it's definitely less easy for him.

NOT BELIEVING AREI: Both Arei and Charles have, in this trial, been shown to question whether or not Eden believed Arei wanted to be Eden's friend. If Eden simply did, this plot point goes nowhere.

A GOOD PERSON: Eden has been called a good person, but other than that freaky CG, nothing has really come of it. Is the plot relevance of Eden being a good person really going to resolve by saying "Eden is a good person, she'd never kill her friend!"? If a good person isn't gold, Eden still feels like a missing piece of that puzzle.

INCENTIVE TO FRAME NICO: This one's a bit more of a reach, but I don't really understand the point of framing Nico if you're Ace. Of course Ace is going to insist Nico is the murderer no matter what. If you're Eden, you have a direct audience to setting it up similarly: Ace. If you can get Ace to go all in on Nico, that's one less person who was in the Gym who suspects you. Eden and Teruko feel less likely to say "oh well it looks like Nico's murder so it MUST be Nico."

HEAVY FOCUS IN CH 2: DRDTdev seems to give the chapter death's important content shortly before their deaths. Eden has been one of the most prominent characters this chapter, which could be a bad sign.

Reasons Eden Wouldn't Be the Blackened

HER EMOTIONAL REACTIONS: I think I stand with everyone else when I say that the thing giving me pause with Eden!Culprit is how devastated she truly seems to be. I do still think it could be a combo of guilt and panic over the prospect of dying, but it's hard to justify everything.

HER FRIENDSHIP WITH AREI: Sort of a spinoff of the last one, but Arei was at least offering to Eden to be friends and to protect her. If Eden did believe that, to any extent at all, it's hard to imagine her killing Arei in cold blood.

THE FISH: The biggest question when it comes to evidence as to how Eden could be the killer. If Nico fed the fish and they were all still there last night, and Eden had an alibi until after the Relax Room closed, how would she have gotten the fish to add to the crime scene?

THE BDA: Easy to ignore imo considering we've already called it into question within the series proper, but still worth talking about. For Eden to be the culprit, either someone else saw the body first and isn't claiming to have (or it's David), or we're burning the "Eden didn't witness the crime and thus could still trigger the BDA" card here.

GENDER BALANCE: Possibly an irrelevant point, but it is true that we've had 2 women and 1 man die so far. If a man was the killer, it'd keep it even. Unlikely to be relevant as any disparity could be easily balanced out in Chapter 3 with (presumably) 3 death slots.

Points About Eden That Could Go Either Way

THE FORK CG: I firmly believe that this could be setting up for Eden being a more important character throughout the series or to die after a moment of intrigue, possibly letting us explore/imply more in her post-death bonus episode.

RELATIONSHIP WITH HU: Hu has lost David as a sane ally. Nico is telling her that they don't want her speaking for them and that they don't trust her. Would DRDTdev prefer to fully isolate Hu moving into Chapter 3 by getting rid of Eden, or to leave Hu with one friend who still believes in her.

CHARLES HAVING EDEN'S SECRET: By telling us Eden's secret ahead of time by Charles revealing it to Teruko, extra focus was given to Eden's secret. Was this just the easiest way to get everyone's secrets revealed based on character dynamics, or was it meant to imply that Eden's secret is extra important? Is that because she's the killer? Is it a #ArEden sweep???

ACE

(why are they both orange)

Reasons Ace Would Be The Blackened:

NO EVIDENCE-BASED ISSUES: This is the biggest and strongest point across the whole board imo. There is no tangible, evidence-based reason why Ace COULDN'T have done the crime. Out of all 13 currently surviving students, he's the only one who that's true for. That obviously makes him a viable suspect.

WOULD ABSOLUTELY FUCKING DO IT: Ace has been Freaking The Fuck Out this chapter. I could VERY easily see him deciding to kill here. I don't think anyone is trying to argue that Ace is too emotionally attached to the cast to try to kill all of them, because he clearly isn't.

WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?: I'm not really sure where Ace's character is going to go from here. I'd be interested in seeing more from him, but, like, where is his character arching to if not a killer? Ace is so disliked and intense that it's hard to imagine him really, fully pivoting and caring about others, but if he can't do that, is he destined to be a killer eventually?

HEAVY FOCUS IN CH 2: DRDTdev seems to give the chapter's death important content shortly before their deaths. Ace has been one of the most prominent characters this chapter, which could be a bad sign.

Reasons Ace Wouldn't Be the Blackened

OBVIOUSNESS & POINT OF CHARACTER: Of course Ace would be willing to kill Arei or whoever and the rest of the students. This is kind of the inverse of my "would absolutely fucking do it" point-- I don't know exactly how much surprise it would carry if Ace were to be the culprit. And, more than that, I feel like the point of Ace is that he is a victim here, but he's so unlikable that no one wants to acknowledge that or believe in him. I think it'd be an interesting comparison, if everyone really wants Ace to be the killer, but he just isn't. To everyone's dismay, Ace is still here. Now what?

SECRET LARGELY UNRESOLVED: Ace's secret hasn't really had any plot relevance yet. It seems like most people's do. I'm like lowkey expecting them to bring back the starvation motive from SDR2 in Chapter 4 and have SOMETHING happen with Ace there. Either way, while it could be reserved for his bonus episode (a la Min and Xander), I'd expect that his secret would have more main-story impact before he dies.

EXISTENCE OF SCRUM DEBATE: We're suspecting Ace first, but we still haven't done the scrum debate for this trial. Unless the scrum debate is "do we just vote for Ace without ever really pursuing Eden" and the answer is "yes," I don't see how we get out of this suspecting Ace period with a scrum debate without at least entertaining the idea of Ace's innocence.

STRONG CONNECTIONS TO OTHER CAST MEMBERS: Ace is very relevant to the Levi, Nico and Hu plotlines right now. Are they really going to just... get rid of him, when that's what both Nico and Hu would want?

ABILITY TO FIGURE OUT THE CONTRAPTION: Ace would not only have to recognize the way in which Nico was trying to kill him (which, to be fair is easier if he did wake up partway through), he would also have to conceptualize and figure out how to make the playground contraption successfully. I think Eden's clockmaking skills and... generally higher intelligence imo would be better suited to that.

COWARDICE: Ace is so fucking scared of everything. Would he want to put himself into harm's way by becoming the killer and having a do or die moment in the Trial? But, is he more scared of dying as a victim in the killing game, after seeing how close Nico came to killing him?

Points About Ace That Could Go Either Way

TAYLOR LORE DROP: Ace's friend, named Taylor per a Q&A with the dev, got vagued about in this Trial. Is that something to be pursued in a later Ace free time (following the one with Levi), or is that something that's going to be explained further in Ace's bonus episode (which could VERY easily be about friendship, considering it's Mai fucking Akasaki as the other person in the convo).

ACE'S BREAKDOWN @ LEVI: When Ace said he didn't fall for Levi caring about him at all, was that him affirming himself that it was the correct decision to try to kill, even if it'd put Levi's life at stake, who he previously kinda liked? Or was he lying to himself, and, at least previously, he wouldn't have wanted to kill Levi, no matter how harsh he seemed on the surface?

Well, that's all I got! Please let me know if you can come up with any more points for any of the 6 categories, because I'm very very curious to hear them! I'm thinking I might try to do an expansion on this in a separate post before next episode if I have time, exploring the ins and outs of each point with more textual evidence to back it up. I'd love to discuss any reader-suggested points too, if y'all have some in mind!

For now, I'm still personally leaning towards Eden as the culprit over Ace, but I wouldn't be surprised to see it be either of them. Well, other than the fact that my reaction to the killer being revealed is going to be :O no matter what.

[burningcheese-merchant]

Alright Merchant! You got me curious- how did the BurningCheese parents and everyone else react to how they were born with souljams?

Does it need to have two souljam owned parents for this to work? Or is it more specific? What do the other Ancients and Ex-Beasts feel? Do the parents (specifically Burning Spice) feel the burdening responsibility to raise them right and help them grow so they won't end up like he did?

(This is my personal interpretation of Burning Spice here: I find it ironic how he was born to hold the light of change, yet hadn't proved anything on how he was able to change for the better. Like he was born specifically to hold the soul jam, but there was literally no one there to guide him on how he should properly handle it. He just poofed to existence, and the Witches gave him Godhood.)

Haha gotcha. Got you to ask. You fell for it, you fool 😈

In all seriousness...

They did NOT know, as a matter of fact. Not for a little while. When they were born, they both gave off a certain... aura. That same one all the Soul Jam wielders have, albeit "softer" (weaker, more faint. Like it's... asleep). Spice and Golden were quite surprised when they first noticed it. Everyone else came by to see, and... Yep, they feel it, too. Now there are TWELVE Soul Jams, not just ten. And these new ones came from an entirely new source...

The way I thought of it is - and yeah, it's cliché af lol - it's a sort of additional aspect to Spice and Golden's union. Not only are they both Soul Jam owners, they own the two halves of the same one. When they made Jack and Paneer (either the cookie way or... the human way lol), their Soul Jams resonated and sort of "helped" in the process by basically handing over a portion of their power to the children. In Spice and Golden coming together, first as lovers and now as parents, the two halves came back together like they were originally supposed to - but within the children, not the parents. Their love enabled them to give their kids a special part of them, both making them more alike and making the kids more unique at the same time. They blessed them, in a way. Please tell me I explained that well, my mind and ideas start falling apart when I don't sleep

Everyone was already excited that their friends were expecting (yay we're gonna be aunts/uncles!!!), but for the kids to turn out like all of them? Now THAT'S interesting. I'd say... Half are excited, half are worried. Excited because they want to see what the children will be capable of when they're older, and what good deeds and legendary feats they'll accomplish. Worried because... that's such a great burden to bestow on literal children. The rest of them were at least adults when they got their Soul Jams, these two got them as literal newborns lol. It's too much power and responsibility. What if it hurts them? What if they end up hurting others? (Dark Cacao feels this way in particular. It comes out a bit wrong/blunt sometimes, but he truly does care and want what's best for the kiddies) Regardless, they all intend to help in whatever way they can. Who can guide/mentor a new Soul Jam wielder than the other Soul Jam wielders?

There's already that standard pressure to raise kids right that exists for all parents. But for THESE parents, with THESE kids... Veteran difficulty lol. Golden Cheese is infinitely more confident, at least for a while; of course she has her fears and insecurities, but far be it from her to let those get to her. That's simply not who she is. She knows she can do it; her subjects are already family to her, in a way, so she can claim some form of family-raising experience (that's her defense, anyway). She and her husband have been through so much... They've suffered and grown, they've made bad choices and learned from them. They are strong and wise. They have friends willing to help them. They'll be great parents, and those kids will grow up to be great people. She's sure of that

Burning Spice, on the other hand... He never really fully overcomes the guilt/remorse he feels about his past, even long after having his change of heart and working long and hard to atone for his sins. Not only does he worry that he personally will fail as a father, but he worries that the kids will turn out the way he used to be. That they'll become Beasts like he did. He worries he's not good enough to prevent that, or be the father they need and deserve in general. He overcomes this little by little over time, both on his own and with Golden's support and encouragement, but it's really something he struggles with

(and yeah, I vibe with your interpretation there! It really just goes to show that the Ancients are the true rightful owners of the Soul Jams. They EARNED them through their own hard work and demonstrations of personal integrity. The Beasts just had godhood handed to them on a silver platter; with this, it's easier to see why they corrupted and the Ancients never did. The wisdom to wield great power comes through experience, which in itself comes from living life; from facing greatness and hardship, feeling joy and anger and sorrow. The Beasts speedran all that, basically. It's sort of a miracle they were as "good" as they were, for as long as they were, because what incentive did they really have to be such? For a better idea of this, try looking through real world mythology and compare the gods that were born gods to gods/godlike beings that earned their power and position through great feats. You'll find that the latter are often much better people than the former haha)

I hope I answered your questions adequately enough 😅 I admit that I want to tinker with and refine the "2 new Soul Jams" idea a bit more, so some details might change in the future and these ones may or may not make full sense lol

[tayjerma]

i don't have much of a good request but maybe some josh x fem!reader angst and fluffy ending? it could be set around Thanksgiving or christmas, whichever you prefer (I would do Christmas but its entirely up to you🤍).

i can’t dare to dream about you anymore

a/n: i chose christmas cause i’m native and don’t give a shit abt thanksgiving, although there isn’t much of a holiday-ish theme lol. undercase is on purpose and i’m gonna leave the ending up for interpretation because i’m not that good at writing fluff! based on gold rush by taylor swift, and did a gender neutral reader for my sanity. my first x reader fic so bear with me if it's not what u hoped. also sorry for how late this is lol i love writing but i am too much of a perfectionist warnings?: from a 3rd person pov. not proofread. christmas. reader is in college. timeline is vague and messy because i am too x. not gut wrenchingly angsty but not particularly happy either. open ending. implied f!reader, but remains gn i believe.

you had met josh last school year in college. this school year, he was nowhere to be found. so instead of staying in l.a. and sulking about him – for some unbeknownst reason, you and josh weren’t particularly close – you decided to take a train ride to your parents’ house for the holidays, because you had missed them badly. besides, what’s there to do in l.a. for christmas anyways? okay, lots of stuff, but none of it really grabbed your attention. josh did, but he isn’t here, so even if you wanted to ask him if he wanted to spend the holidays with you, you couldn’t.

did you want to? i mean seriously, you don’t even know josh like that. sure, he’s pretty in an obvious kind of way, but you have no idea how he acts with his friends. there was that one time he brought that chris guy to a lecture and the two of them got kicked out, but that didn’t really say anything about him other than he’s an idiot. so obviously, you don’t know him well enough to think of him this way, whatever ‘this way’ is.

… however, you can’t help but. josh was always nice to you in class. he seemed quite interested in whatever thing you had to say that week. maybe down the line somewhere, you could be a good friend of his. someone to lean on. but he hasn’t been in class the past couple of days, and shows no sign of coming back. it’s weird, josh always seemed to enjoy himself in class. but, who knows, honestly? maybe he left town early for the holidays. hadn’t he lost his sisters a year or two back? that must be hard. really hard. 

you can’t help but wonder what kind of holiday he’s having. is he having a fun day? maybe not, the holidays without someone as close as a sister can’t be that good. maybe he has a partner keeping him happy? maybe he was too busy with school for a partner.

what are you doing? c’mon, you don’t know him like that. maybe part of you wishes you did though. maybe that’s why you’re on the train, thinking about his stupid face, instead of your family. but… he was always nice to you in class. so surely, he didn’t hate you. and you had done a project together a week ago. and he was always so intrigued in your thoughts and opinions on the matter. but, who knows? maybe that’s just how he is with everyone. he is a nice person, after all.

right. we’ve established that. josh is a nice person, and you can’t stop repeating that to yourself. and it makes no sense. would you even be happy with a guy like josh? he’s a contrarian, almost always for the hell of it. maybe after a while you’d get annoyed with it. or maybe you’d like the challenge. it’s fun to prove someone wrong. most of the time, at least. 

but he’s also sweet, always knows how far is too far. he knows not to push things when they’re grating on the floor. but maybe you wouldn’t even call him out on whatever point that’s cryptic he’s making. maybe you’d stare into space and forget about it 5 seconds later. or roll your eyes in faux amusement.

okay, what are you doing? josh is an actual guy that you know. would he even be okay with this intense thinking about him that you’re doing? probably not, right? you can’t know that unless you ask him, of course. but maybe that’s for the better. just let the allusionment of him stick in the back of your mind. it’s not doing anything bad, anyways. plus, you’ve got your family to get home to.

the train is pulling to a stop, anyways. you need to get off and have some much needed warm tea. it’s been a long day of doing practically nothing. so, you shuffled off the train, and a nice man who had been sitting across from you helped you get your bag out of the top compartment. it’s sort of precious to be back in your hometown, and for a second you just stand on the sidewalk, before you start dragging your bags along.

“do you need any help with those?” that familiar raspy voice calls out to you. and you know he’s talking to you, because this is an empty street in the middle of a friday. 

“josh?” you smile when you turn around to see his stupid face standing behind you.

hope u enjoy <3 reblogs appreciated

[king-candybug-backup]

#I’M SO NERVOUS BECAUSE THERE’S A THING THAT HAPPENS IN IT WHERE I FEEL LIKE PEOPLE MIGHT NOT LIKE THE CHARACTERIZATION #BUT I’M DOING IT ANYWAYS BECAUSE IT’S BASICALLY THE CATALYST OF INSPIRATION FOR THE WHOLEASS FIC #I’M GONNA DO THINGS MY WAY AND NOBODY CAN STOP ME SFGHDFGVJB

Color me both extremely curious and slightly terrified of what these tags might mean. What are you planning. Mom come pick me up I'm scared.

But let me tell you, judging from the AMAZINGLY fitting characterization in this fic so far, I feel like you could do the wildest shit with these guys and STILL have it feel satisfying and in-character, so try not to worry so much and trust your instincts! I know for a fact that I'll be happily eating up whatever you dish out. :) Your writing is so awesome that I already know it's going to be a fun time lol

DFGHSCHG DON'T GIVE ME TOO MUCH LEEWAY, WHAT IF NEXT CHAPTER TURBO APOLOGIZES TO EVERYBODY FOR ALL HIS WRONGDOINGS AND THEY BECOME THE BEST OF FRIENDS AND MAKE EACH OTHER FLOWER CROWNS ALL DAY LMAO (I jest, of course, but y'know 😂😂😂😂 Thank you though, I appreciate that so very much, I'm just constantly overthinking crap augh)

For a bit of extra context on The Upcoming Thing, I am writing him through the lens of having NPD, and there’s one particular aspect of it that I see get kinda glossed over A LOT (not just regarding King Candy, I mean about NPD in general), so I’m gonna be getting into some nitty-gritties that I feel like people might view as a little “OOC” as compared to what we’ve gotten in canon (which is totally fine ofc, I’m basically working off a headcanon after all (though there is one very specific scene that also kinda got glossed over in the movie which is what extra-convinced me he’d probably have it, but I will get more into that when the chapter is published) and my interpretation of him is in no way gospel, but one of the main comments I’ve gotten doing this fic so far is how people seem to appreciate how “in-character” King Candy feels, so I’m just feeling like I might disappoint a few people in that regard if they don’t vibe with my interpretation for this particular scene coming up, lmao) but it’s something very important to me that I really, really want to touch on, so I’m doing it regardless of what others may think, hopefully people will still enjoy it, but if not, ah well. 😂 It’s my fic at the end of the day, and I’m not gonna change one of the core aspects of what inspired it gfdgcfhvb

(There will be a bit more explanation in the chapter notes, so it’ll be a bit of a “hear me out” lol, but try to bear with me! 😂)

Also I just want to make it VERY clear that this will not be a "King Candy is a terrible person because he has NPD" kind of story, that is the exact opposite of what I am going for, the reason I'm approaching this topic from the angle that I am is because there is a very, very misunderstood mindset towards NPD that I want to get into, and hopefully things will be made more clear when the chapter comes out. It may sound a bit counter-productive, doing the whole "give the villain NPD" headcanon thing, but I hope y'all can trust that my intention is ABSOLUTELY not to demonize, and that you're willing to hear me out about what I mean when the time comes! 🙏

[talxe]

Reading the Iliad, Book 9 thoughts

This is my first time ever reading it and I know next to nothing abt greek mythology so if I interpret anything wrong by all means pls correct me

Im reading the Robert Fagles translation

Here's the thing with Achilles. It is not enough for him to know he's the best, everyone else has to know it too, BUT even that's not enough. They cannot ever forget it AND they have to worship him for it. AND that's his fucking problem Achilles is SICK okay????😭

Like wtf

LITERALLY, no one is still upset abt what happened between Achilles and Agamemnon except Achilles.

Anyway Agamemnon summons all the important ppl on the Greek side, (Nestor, Odysseus, ppl like that)

Once they all get there Agamemnon starts bawling his little Greek eyes out bc shit is looking bleak

So Agamemnon says "fuck it, let's go home NOW."

Diomedes is like "Look man you've been kinda pissy at me buuuut ur a good leader or whatever so I think there's still a chance for the odds to be in our favor, but go home ig bc me and my men are staying until Troy falls."

Diomedes how does it feel to be Homer's fav??

Nestor decides they just need to make it through the night bc the Trojans are so close to their camp that they're neighbors atp

Nestor sits Agamemnon down and goes "What you did to Achilles was actually not cool and we really need him rn so you need to make things right."

AND AGAMEMNON actually agrees????? I still don't like him but this was super mature of him. It seems like despite his temper even he knows when he's in the wrong, unlike some other people.

Agamemnon lists off A BUNCH of shit that he's going to give Achilles. I started smiling bc the list just kept going.

He offers his own daughter for marriage, 7 women from lesbos, 20 Trojan women, and all the treasure his ships could carry. (there's more but this is the more important.)

Plus Berseis

Agamemnon says he'll swear an oath that he never slept with Berseis too.

Achilles gets all of this if he stops being angry and fights

So Ody, Ajax(Greater), Phoenix, and two heralds go to speak with Achilles

Achilles and Patroclus are just chilling as Achilles plays his stupid ass lyre

Patroclus mentioned♥️♥️♥️

When they see the group approaching, Achilles stands up and says "Omg I really missed up guys lol."

Like bro....

PEOPLE ARE DYING???

Achilles and Patroclus play host for the group and they all eat.

Achille is really happy to see his friends

So Odysseus starts trying to convince Achilles to re-join the fight

Achilles starts ranting abt how he's done everything but Agamemnon keeps the lions share of what they bring back

Then he goes on to talk abt how he loves Berseis only for her to be snatched away

Basically, he says no and then Achilles says "I will leave at first light."

KNOWING DAMN WELL HE'S NOT GONNA LEAVE. STOP LYING

Achilles is so weird to me. You're not going to accept the gifts, you're not going to leave, but you're going to fight either??? WHAT DO YOU WANT THEN???? He's sulking like a child

Then Achilles says "I don't want his shitty gifts and even if his daughters rivaled Aphrodite in looks I still wouldn't want them, and he can keep Berseis."

...........hello???

Phoenix starts trauma dumping but he tells Achilles that he's being disrespectful.

I think Phoenix tells the story (you know the one) of Meleager and Cleopatra. and Achilles is like "okay be quiet."

The group goes to leave, and Ody says that it's silly Achilles is doing this all over one woman.

But at this point it's not abt Berseis anymore and I don't think it ever was.

Achilles tells them that he won't fight until Hector gets so close that he's up their asses

I love finding out why Achilles is an asshole

[ticklish-n-stuff]

Hi sakuraaaa I saw requests are open so I wanted to ask- May I requesteth a platonic Ler itto or Ryuji with lee reader rararararararar- If so then thank youu :D

Ler!Itto x lee!reader

This is a bit shorter than normal (as if all my fics arent short-) but still hope you like it nontheless :3

___________________________________________

Itto x gn!reader (interpret as you wish)

Lee: reader

Ler: Itto

Warnings: Tickles! Itto calls reader "hombre" at the beginning but take it neutral lol

___________________________________________

“Sup’ hombre!— Woah, you look terrible! What happened?” the one and oni had approached you with his usual boisterous demeanor, planning on dragging you into his next adventure that may land him in jail again. All those thoughts went out the window when he saw the undereye bags that adorned your face. 

“Busy, can’t sleep” a sharp response emerged from you, like an automatic machine.

“Busy with what? I’m sure that whatever it is isn’t more important than rest”

Nothing. Complete silence filled the room. Whether you purposely ignored him or got zoned out didn’t matter, Itto’s expression looked as if you just had insulted his whole culture for refusing to take care of yourself. 

“You gonna play like that, huh? Fine then! You asked for this” a mischievous smile spread across his lips as he sat behind you, scooping you onto his lap with ease.

“Woah!— Itto, what gives‐” any complaints fell deaf as you felt some malicious nails claw at your tummy. 

“What’s wrong? Someone’s got a ticklish belly?~” he cooed into your ear, watching as your tired body squirmed. 

“S-stohohop it! I’m seheherious!” you couldn’t hold back. Sleepy giggles spilling out of your lips against your will as the oni’s fingers squeezed and scribbled all over the soft skin. 

“Well so am I! See? Serioussss” he made an attempt at seeming firm with you, which only made you giggle louder, much to his amusement. 

“Pff, silly. But jokes aside, you better get some sleep, or else~” uh oh, those words never lead to anything good.

“Or else whaHAHAHAHA?!” you squealed at the top of your lungs when you felt his lips vibrate against the side of your neck. Before nibbling and making playful growling noises.

“GYAHHH! OKAY! OKAHAHAY! I’LL REHEHEST! JUST STYAHAHA—”

Just like that, the tickling ceased. You instantly took deep breaths, feeling like you just ran away from the police trying not to get caught with the Arataki gang. 

All that squirming and laughing really tuckered you out, eyelids slowly fluttering closed. There was a nice warmth in your chest, perhaps you needed this more than you initially thought. Remember to thank him later when you wake up.

Itto didn’t mind having you sleep in his lap, if anything he adored it. He patted your head delicately like a small kitten. “Sleep well, cutie~” he whispered into your ear before placing a ‘lil kiss on your forehead. You can rest safe knowing this oni’s got you.

___________________________________________

[sufferu]

Okay. So, I know at this point you’re probably tired of people trying to argue over the camps’ decisions in No Refunds, but I have Thoughts and want to speak them so here’s my two cents anyway, regarding problems with the decision to force Subaru to renounce his knighthood:

Problem 1: He’s got no real choice in Return By Death. He’s stuck in a horrid situation, and he’s trying to salvage whatever good he can from it. Given the crazy stuff that continuously happens to him and the people around him, he’s gonna die, that’s just a fact. He’s managed to get past the Greed IF mindset of abusing this deliberately (mostly), but it’s still pretty much inevitable that he’s going to end up with information that he couldn’t get any other way.

Problem 2: He wants to help, more than anything. Yes, to some extent this is a problem, but at the same time these people are his friends and he genuinely loves them. Forcing him into a padded cell to prevent him from helping them is… pretty horrid. Congratulations, you’ve ensured that a whole lot of people are gonna die horribly, and all it cost was torturing Subaru in a way more profound to him than the actual deaths he’s suffered and probably also still killing him.

This is a problem with no good solutions, I’ll admit. That’s kinda how Re:Zero rolls. But to me, the least horrible solution would be to arm him as effectively as possible. Training, magic, and so on in an attempt to minimize the number of deaths he suffers. He’ll still be in harm’s way, but the point of the whole above rant is that he’ll always be in harm’s way.

Absolutely none of this should be taken as a statement that I actively dislike either fic in the series. I think that the characters in No Refunds would respond as they do, and that it’s very well-done all around. And, of course, Dogshow has easily shot well past WHDAAA as best react fic due to the characters’ more realistic reactions being more removed from just watching a show, the explicit removal of the harem elements (ugh), and the lack of the “that makes me feel angry” narration that plagues WHDAAA. Good stuff all around, I eagerly await more.

I feel like I can’t really argue for or against this sort of thing properly because like. That’s the fic’s job? Explaining the entirety of what I’m about to do or why I’m about to do it would be a legitimate betrayal of my writing. I know I’m a bit of a blabbermouth on this blog but like, there are SOME limits, lol. Especially when it’s the main conflict of the story.

But I will say: it does kind of confuse me that so many people seem to have interpreted them deciding to revoke his knighthood with them locking him in a padded cell. Because — honestly, all they’re really saying is “You can’t have THAT career. You can go and do LITERALLY ANYTHING ELSE: you just can’t do THAT.” Hell, a big reason why Wilhelm did That in that one ficlet was to preserve Subaru’s freedom to choose whatever other career he might want to the best of his ability, and Crusch’s whole thought process about what “suicide watch” would actually entail in No Refunds ended with her going “Alright. Wilhelm, how would you like a new grandson? :D” I don’t really want to spoil how all this shakes out or anything but — just from what I’ve written so far, I find it kind of odd that so many people seem to have genuinely taken away the idea that they want to actually stick him in a jail cell or something, lol

And I’m very glad you’re enjoying both of those fics! My main concern above basically anything else is making sure that the characters remain in-character and the conflict naturally stems from their actual thoughts about the whole situation, and I’m glad that I seem to be doing it well so far, lol. Hope you continue to enjoy them both!

[qinluna]

TAROT + L&DS...

i'm gonna expand more on my l&ds tarot post about caleb, because there was just so much more of my thoughts that i left out and i didn't wanna squish it all in a reblog. i keep coming back to the card spread and with it being in regards to very particular details, here's a few pointers i wanted to emphasize:

the only card that specifically speaks out to caleb and identifies him is the ten of swords. while both suits (the number 10 + swords) are significant in their power of what they symbolize, the cards that follow this situation are major arcana.

with the major arcana in mind, these are cards that are linked to more power that can flourish to something world-changing. it has to do with fundamental choices that feel like life or death with no in between. so even though caleb's darkness is going to disturb a foundational ground, the hanged man and the wheel of fortune (both reversed) simply mean the divine/the universe is going to be working against whatever he puts out because it's not beneficial or... good. lol.

in the numeric order of the major arcana, between the hanged man and the wheel of fortune are justice and death. the specific order goes: wheel of fortune (X) 🡢 justice (XI) 🡢 the hanged man (XII) 🡢 death (XIII). ((walk with me here, plz.))

it's common nowadays for tarot to be associated with astrology, however i am not too knowledgeable on it and only know the basic things! i bring this up solely to highlight justice, which directly stands between the card that symbolizes caleb's downfall & the card that symbolizes the the person who would be most affected by caleb's betrayal (the mc). the zodiac sign associated with justice is libra... xavier is a libra.

ADDITIONALLY & MORE IMPORTANTLY – the card that comes before the wheel of fortune in numeric order is the hermit (IX). the zodiac sign associated to this major arcana is virgo... zayne is a virgo.

justice is a card that embodies pretty much what its called: justice, signifying a balance or at most bringing it back or instilling it where it belongs. similar with the hermit, almost, that card calls for the need of self-reflection or a pointer to do so. with the hermit, it can also mean seeking the wisdom of a guiding light (similar to the one that the desolate man carries in the illustration of the card).

THE TLDR: xavier and zayne are going to play very big roles in resolving the central conflict (caleb). i think while it's pretty clear xavier just has this prominent role as the mc's protector/partner, zayne's role as a protector is going to shift into something more dynamic. maybe even risky. (perhaps, alluding to the theory that this may be dawnbreaker?)

that's pretty much all i have to say! i'm so exhausted from interpreting this and am going to replenish my energy (it's necessary). again putting the disclaimer that i am still learning about tarot, and doing this was just for the sake of fun! i think this is the most sense i've made of a theory just because i'm so passionate about the platform i used and i've understood everything so much better since i'm familiar with it. i'm really, really interested to hear any additional thoughts (or even further pointers/corrections on my knowledge) and i would love to hear from those who are more well-versed in tarot/astrology.

[rinasunny]

The Lavatory scene in Red Eye's final shooting script and the movie

One of my previous posts was about how much the first script draft of Red Eye differed from the final product. The draft discussed in this post is more or less final. This draft has all the changes made after Rachel and Cillian were cast as leads and after the test screenings. But there are still some features which didn't make the cut into the final product. I'm not gonna analyse the whole script here, but shippers' favorite scene - the lavatory scene. Yeah, you can always rely on this scene to bring some juicy stuff.

SPOILERS AHEAD

Okay let's start from the moment Lisa enters the bathroom alone.

Frankly speaking, for now, I prefer the movie version. Especially the line "Okay, get up" instead of "Oh my God..." Wes Craven said in the DVD commentary about this moment:

This was tricky, between making her totally collapse, but not have her totally pathetic. And she very quickly gets herself under control.

Next, there is an interesting description of Rippner:

Also, the message on the mirror was meant to be revealed slightly earlier, but whatever.

I'm not sure about Rippner's lines here, because half of it is barely audible in the film. Also quite ironic that the underlined part is not in the movie at all.

Okay, now really important stuff starts kicking in. Rippner practically spills out the fact that he is ATTRACTED to Lisa right at her face. The script makes it clear, that she now knows this and tries to use his attraction (and his regret) to persuade him to give up on Keefe assassination plan. Funny enough, she almost succeeds until he notices her scar. Personally, I think "You're beautiful..." line (and hair brushing) should have stayed in the final cut. Not only for the sake of the ship, but for the fact that without it Lisa's "You don't have to do this" sounds really naive.

Some of you may argue that this is all relevant for the movie, they just made it more subtle. Well, Movie-Lisa's best guess that Movie-Rippner might be attracted to her is the way Cillian looks at Rachel. On one hand many people point out that they do have chemistry and sexual tension, on the other the movie on its own leaves watchers to wonder whether the characters had any romantic feelings towards each other or not. And I probably stumbled upon a comment on YouTube, which interpreted the "You don't have to do this" line more as "You're so pretty, why do you have to be evil?" (or something along these lines)

Also I think that clarification would make Lisa a more nuanced character (by the fact that she tries to manipulate a villain into giving up on his villainy).

Also, as you may have noticed, the scar was meant to be on her neck, makes sence, given her backstory (He held a knife to my throat). I guess they moved it down just so Rippner wouldn't notice it earlier (though the script also mentions, that Lisa was meant to wear a sweater). I, personally, on the back of my horny mind, think he wasn't looking for scar when he gazed on her breast ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°).

A little note: Script-Lisa looks away saying "No" while Rachel looks straight into his eyes, but starts trembling instead.

By the way, Rippner wasn't meant to slam and choke her just yet.

I guess he just let her out to wipe out the messege. Here Lisa gives up on conving him.

Only after he finished wiping he starts to choke her. Also, pay CLOSE ATTENTION on what Rippner's lips do here ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°). Yep, he almost kisses her.

I guess the changes movie made here were for the sake of pacing.

Another important difference: Rippner fixes both their outlooks to be more presentable. Lisa protests a bit.

I guess the movie crew decided they don't need to fix their look that much.

Also, I prefer the movie's "Peachy" instead of just "Good", though both lines are in the movie lol.

On the final note, I guess "Thanks for the quickie" line makes a bit more sence given we have Rippner's crawling lips there ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°).

So, these were the differences of the lavatory scene between the script and the movie. Hope you had as much shipping excitement as I did.

P.S: The link to the script. If you're a fan I strongly suggest to download it, it may easily become a lost media, like an earlier draft.