#dead boy detectives: the night of nights

[nuria-schnee]

Hi everyone! ❤️ In this week's sneak peek, the boys are having an emotional conversation in the cupboard.

Melancholy had been ever-present since he died. In all honesty, admitting it was even more complicated than bearing it. Only by thinking about it something actually seemed to crack and shatter inside his mind, in his chest. He couldn't allow himself to look into it, knowing he would find something ugly and contorted behind it. That night, the evening before their travel, Charles had found himself alone, which hadn't been usual in the last months. Edwin was at Crystal's, finishing up the preparations for the following day and assuring everything would go smoothly. Charles had stayed at the agency, in charge of checking they had the correct supplies stored in his bag. He had checked twice already, but Edwin hadn't returned yet. This had left Charles with too much time to think, which was precisely what he didn't need then. In the end, he couldn't help to get sucked into his own thoughts. The agency seemed too empty when he was by himself. Restless, he tried to distract himself and failed in every attempt. Admitting his defeat against his mind, Charles dared to look this melancholy in the eye. He walked around the agency, taking in every bit of it, every corner, every memory snatched into it— Of course, he knew everything by memory. However, he did it all over again, slowly, just in case. Just in case was becoming a motto for him lately, and he hated it. Every time he did or said something just in case he couldn't have the opportunity later, the reminder that such a thing was a tangible possibility haunted him for hours after the thought popped into his mind. It was a curious terror to have, being already dead and all.

In Port Townsend, Charles had actually feared to lose Edwin. They had been facing every kind of danger for decades, so being in risky situations wasn't a novelty. Besides, they had been running from Death all that time, and sometimes, it had been a close call before they had escaped. So, he had felt traces of that anxiety, that fear of losing Edwin forever, other times. Nothing like losing him to Hell, though. Not like the fear of being too late, chained in a kitchen for hours, hearing him scream while Esther Finch tortured him. Not to that extent. That night, when the Summoner had appeared and attacked them, Charles had sensed Edwin's energy flickering out. It lasted less than a millisecond, but Charles noticed anyway. After so many years protecting him, he had a sixth sense in that regard, and he knew the Summoner had tried to drag Edwin away, pull him into wherever he was stuffing ghosts into. The look of panicked confusion in Edwin's eyes had been enough confirmation. Even so, Edwin still had to talk to Charles about it, and, considering how things were, he wouldn't until e they were back from the mission. He couldn't shake the worry away, no matter how hard he tried. After a while, Charles dragged himself to the cupboard and lingered there. That was how Edwin found him, tracing one of their Cluedos as if he could sense every memory attached to it through the gesture. "Charles?" Edwin's voice sounded behind his back. Charles turned around right away, fining his soft eyes on him, a slight frown marring his forehead. "What are you doing?" Charles dropped his arm, shrugging and put his hands in his jeans' pockets. "Nothing. Just remembering." Edwin arched a brow. "Remembering?" Charles shrugged again, and Edwin softened, his face falling into a gentle understanding. He stepped into the cupboard and stood in front of Charles. "Everything is settled for tomorrow," Edwin informed him, catching him off guard. "Have you checked we have everything we need in your bag?" "Yep. Super checked." Charles gave him a little smile. "Perfect." Silence hovered between them after that. Charles watched Edwin as he dropped his eyes to the space between them for a few seconds. Just in case, Charles kept his mouth shut and stared at his friend for as long as Edwin allowed that moment to last, tracing his features with his eyes for the umpteenth time in almost forty years. However, his gaze caught on the way he blinked slowly, his lashes casting a soft shadow over his cheeks. When Edwin finally fixed his eyes on him, which he received openly, a gentle tingling burst in his chest. Charles smiled at him, but it was too late to rectify when he noticed his sadness filtering through it. "Is something on your mind?" Edwin asked, voice hushed. Charles had the impulse to close the cupboard and turn off the light. There, he could keep Edwin safe and keep them together. No one but Charles would get close to him that way. "I am aware I have not been as present as usual lately," Edwin said, regret dripping through his words. "With the disappearances and now this— I wish you to know I am sorry if I have neglected you in any way." For a few seconds, Charles was speechless, not knowing how to answer. He couldn't imagine why Edwin was apologising. And, alright—Of course, Charles had missed spending time with him and had tried to drag Edwin into relaxing for a bit sometimes (unsuccessfully). But they had both worked on it. Both of them had been too preoccupied to actually worry about finding some time to spend outside the case. "Mate, you haven't. We've been busy with what's been going on. I don't feel left out or something. Why do you even think that?"

Edwin seemed sheepish, which baffled Charles even more. He didn't avert his eyes but clearly fought the need to. "It was only a hunch," Edwin answered. "Since I have found you in the cupboard, stroking our oldest Cluedo." The statement made Charles squirm a little. He bowed his head with a guilty, nervous smile and breathed in, gathering strength before looking up again. "I guess I'm a bit worried," Charles admitted, guessing it would be better to share his thoughts with his best friend, after all. "The Summoner— I know he tried to do something. And after Port Townsend—" After Hell and after Ester went unsaid, but Edwin, considering how his face turned stone serious, Charles knew he had heard the silent part in his speech anyway. Charles gulped, wanting to put his hands on Edwin's shoulders and pull him closer, as close as he could get him, but he had to fight once more the impulse. "I don't know what I'll do if— If something happened to you," Charles added, voice so tiny it almost drowned in the silence of the cupboard. "If I couldn't— If I'm not fast enough to—" Charles struggled, but Edwin understood him regardless. Edwin understood him as if he were a unique language written in a book born from both their souls. Every word and structure was familiar and expected, even when incomplete, and easier to comprehend and use than any other. Edwin stared at him, a reassuring smile curving his lips and his eyes shining with absolute tenderness. "I do not think, Charles, that any entity in the universe will beat the unmovable force that is your resolution capacity once you have put your wit into it," Edwin assured him, joy tainting his tone, making Charles feel a bit like crying. "Just as I am certain you will reach me if I ever find myself in trouble." Charles gulped, trying to answer, to tell Edwin he would, even if he was doubting himself, he would. Always. Instead, he reached for his hand, taking it softly into his, and nodded shakily.

LINKS

Index (AO3) | Read first chapter on AO3 | Playlist | Trailer

[lesbiannieism]

good afternoon i made a thing

[mellxncollie]

Dead Boy Detectives characters + live, laugh, love variants

+ bonus:

[lorastyrels]

Butcher, Night Nurse, Crow and a King of Cats

[purgatory606]

[justamultifandomartist]

[hannaloony]

Types of Magic

[yasartmeme]

I had a vision

Also bonus:

[unicorngunter]

They will come back - come back again, as long as the red Earth rolls 💔

Thanks everyone for this show, this story will always stay in my heart.

[technically-human]

St. Hilarion's ghost story

[nuria-schnee]

Hi everyone! ❤️ In this week's sneak peek, I bring you a bit of one of Crystal's scenes in the first chapter. She seems to be onto something...

Crystal almost fell asleep in the lift. She’d had to escape a swarm of monstrous iron-stinger wasps and neutralise a poltergeist that night, and Jenny scolding her had been the last thing she needed. Not that she exactly disliked it. She knew it was her way of showing she cared about her well-being. This was the part she hated the most. Facing the door of her flat, getting the keys out of her pocket. It shouldn’t fill her with dread, but it did. She always hesitated for a second before opening the door, fighting against the delusional hope that bloomed under her skin. What Crystal wanted was to open the door and find someone waiting for her inside. To be welcomed by the sight of a warm, cheerful smile, one she couldn't help but miss. Instead, only the silence and the obvious emptiness of her new home welcomed her when she returned. Everything was as she'd left it, and she hated it.

Read the rest of the scene under the cut!

[...] Crystal stepped into the flat, closed the door, and collapsed back against it. Letting out a tired sigh, she closed her eyes and dropped her bag on the floor. She was cold and every part of her body ached after such a long night of running around solving cases. The feeling was gratifying, even if it wasn't physically pleasant. It reminded her for a little while that she wasn't alone, that she had a purpose now. That knowledge kept her sane when she was by herself. Made sleeping much easier, considering how plagued by nightmares and fears her nights were since Niko died. A continued feeling of loneliness had taken roots in her mind, every empty corner of the flat a reflection of it. She hadn't bothered about buying furniture and decorations yet and still hadn't the energy or the time to do it. In the end, she had more important things to take care of at the moment. She breathed in and out, and pushed herself away from the door. Dragging her feet, she crossed the empty living room. Jenny had blamed the boys for her lack of energy and sleep, but they weren’t truly at fault. They weren’t forcing her to come along at night, or asked more than she could take. It was another thing entirely, what had been exhausting her. Because— The most logical thing to do after such a night was collapse on the bed and sleep. And she didn’t do the most logical thing most nights. That flat only had one other room, aside from the bedroom. It was narrow and dark, without windows, probably meant to be a storage room. She liked to think of it as her own private study, her little agency, if only to make it less bleak. She was working on a case of her own, in the end. Her investigation, the process of trial and error, was probably taking longer without the boys’ help. Even so, Crystal couldn’t tell them what she was doing. In fact, what scared her the most was Edwin finding out. Charles might be excited, would want to help, no doubt, and would worry too much, for sure. Edwin, instead— She had got to know him pretty well, in all those months since they’d met, and they still argued and metaphorically head-butted most of the time, but Crystal cared about him. He was her friend, and she wanted to be a good friend to him. So, she was worried Edwin might stop trusting her, or resent her, if this didn’t go well. When they met, she wouldn’t have guessed she’d end up craving his acceptance. Not in a million years. In the security of her mind, she didn’t mind admitting it, since it was the truth. The thought of breaking Edwin’s heart perturbed her greatly. Even if she couldn’t read him, being a ghost and all, she didn’t to. Not to know he had suffered losing Niko more than he’d allowed them to see. He'd busied himself with work, was all day thinking, pondering, trying to find the reason for the influx of missing ghosts' cases that had been flooding the agency. So, it was in brief moments, easy to miss if she didn't pay attention, that she could see the sadness in him. So, for now, this was her secret.

[deconstructthesoup]

One thing I absolutely adore about Dead Boy Detectives is the immaculate costume design. Specifically, how it perfectly encapsulates who the characters are, both as a whole and who they are in the moment.

From the very first scene of the show, we know immediately that Edwin is a bookish, somewhat stuffy guy from the Edwardian era who attended a boarding school, and Charles is a punk from the 1980's who's most likely the wildcard between the two of them, just going off of the way that they're dressed. Both of them have distinct color schemes and different styles, but the general shape of their outfits is actually relatively similar---both of them have collared shirts (Edwin's dress shirt, Charles's polo), something over those shirts (Edwin's vest, Charles's suspenders), a jacket of some kind (Edwin's suit jacket, Charles's flannel thing), a longer overcoat (Edwin's traveling coat, Charles's peacoat), something around the neck (Edwin's bowtie, Charles's necklace), slacks, and nice shoes. They're distinct, yet matching, two clearly defined separate characters yet part of a set.

Edwin's prim, proper, buttoned-up personality lends itself to the way he dresses throughout the season---in the first episode, he only dresses down when he's in the office with Charles, aka his safe place and his safe person, and he doesn't really dress down like that again for a good long while after getting stuck in Port Townsend (though, if my memory serves me correctly, he does take off the suit jacket while watching TV with Niko). But in episode six, he's changed up his usual look for a cozier, casual-looking sweater and a little bit of collarbone, and in episode seven... well, he's in his nightclothes, and he's about as open, raw, and vulnerable as you can get. Edwin's color scheme is also predominately blue, which lines up nicely with his logical and practical, yet deeply sad and closed off personality, and the only time he really wears anything other than his normal blue-and-brown outfit (willingly, that is) is when he's in that green sweater in episode six. And, uh... all I can say is that it's quite telling how blue and green---or, well, teal---are the main colors of the gay/mlm flag.

Charles, by contrast, dresses down a lot, and that makes a lot of sense when you consider the fact that unlike Edwin, he feels comfortable pretty much anywhere. On any given episode, he goes from wearing his peacoat to just wearing his flannel to ditching the flannel to not even wearing the freaking polo---though, again, the latter is something that only happens when he's in the office with Edwin. Safe space, safe person. And, well, plenty of people have analyzed Charles's polo shirt going from red to burgundy to black over the course of the series, and there being a little bit of red under the collar of his coat that's only visible when Edwin fixes it, and then it goes back to burgundy, and then it's red again when Edwin's out of Hell... for good reason! It's color symbolism at its finest! Not to mention, the red and black not only perfectly contrasts Edwin's color scheme, but it also lines up with Charles's personality---he's a rebel, he's hotheaded, he's bold and brash and loud... and yes, he's angry, but he's also so, so loving.

When we first meet Crystal after she loses her memories, her outfit choices feel very deliberate. They're stylish and vaguely trendy, they're arty and a little bit witchy---pretty fitting for a psychic who's also a showbiz kid, even if she doesn't know that last part. But all of her clothes appear thrifted, or at the very least vintage, and the patterns and the general vibe all feel natural and comforting. Her makeup's always fairly simple, her hair's either down or up in a couple of cute space buns... overall, this Crystal looks like the kind of person who'd make you tea when you're in a bad mood, who'll listen when you just need to vent, and who may not always know the right thing to say but will understand what you're going through. But when we see her in the flashbacks, her clothing's flashy and prioritizes high-end trends over comfort, she's either got her hair up or has it straightened, and she not only has dramatic makeup, but acrylics. This is a girl who talks shit about you behind your back, who's bitter and cynical and wants everyone to feel the same way, who makes up for the lack of love and stability in her life via material things. It's also worth noting that Crystal's color scheme has a lot of purple, which is a color that connects to wealth and luxury, but also creativity and magic---which, yeah, fits her two conflicting sides pretty damn well.

You cannot talk about Niko Sasaki without talking about her outfits, and the meaning behind each of them has already been talked about at length. However, one thing that really stands out to me is that the reason they're so iconic isn't just because of the monochrome color schemes, but because they're out there. They're weird, they're eclectic, they're a little mismatched in style sometimes, and they're so unapologetically her. Niko wears heart-shaped sunglasses, unironically. Everything about the way she dresses speaks to how, even though she's a recovering shut-in who initially doesn't want to be perceived, she's still very sure of who she is.

Jenny's design, like Charles and Edwin's, is a design that gives you the key information you need the minute she first appears onscreen. The dark makeup, the silver jewelry, the leather apron, and the hairstyle all point to a person who's tough, doesn't take anyone's shit, and has long since given up on caring what other people think---in other words, she's a badass. But the butterfly tattoo hints at a softer side, a side that we see time and time again throughout the series as she shows that she cares about Crystal and Niko, and even the boys... eventually. Also, Jenny's design is perhaps one of the most clearly queer-coded in the series, to the point where her being a confirmed lesbian is pretty much a no-brainer.

Esther's design oozes camp, from top to bottom. The fluffy coat, the bustier, the boots and the cane and the everything, speak to a woman who's kept with the times and yet has seen it all. There's really not a lot I can fully say about her design, other than what Charles has already said: "She looks like a witch... like, kind of a sexy witch, who smokes a lot." (Or maybe I'm just tired and running out of steam at this point, idk, I love Esther's design and I can't really put it into words.) It's also pretty fitting that her color scheme has a lot of yellow in it---after all, she's always striving for more, so what better color for her than the color of gold?

Everything about the Night Nurse's design speaks to a woman who follows rules and discipline above all else, from the pantsuit to the pinned-up hairstyles to the tie to the heels. She's also the most muted out of the main cast in terms of color, dressing mostly in browns, dull greens, and duller browns---and while I don't have a lot to go into detail about there, I feel like that's kind of a symbol of her narrow-minded and bureaucratic worldview.

And the animal characters... Jesus Christ, I fully forget that they're all being played by human actors. Tragic Mick dresses like a man who's always spent his life by the sea, layered denim and all, and it's never a stretch to see this sad, bushy-bearded, baggy-clothed fisherman and imagine him as a walrus lounging on a beach. Monty, at first glance, seems to only wear black, which would be perfectly fitting for a crow, but when he's in better lighting, you see that he dresses in layers of red and blue, calling to how he envies Charles and Edwin and clearly longs for something more---and this might just be me, but I think that even though his outfits seem fairly normal at first glance, they feel kind of like a costume for Monty more than anything else, like he's trying to emulate a teenager that he's seen on TV more than someone in real life.

The Cat King fits this just as well, with all of his outfits aligning perfectly with whatever his cat form is at the time---when he's a fluffy ginger, it's always sequins and fur coats and clothing pieces that are specifically designed to take up space and call attention, and when he's a black shorthair, it's sleek styles and shiny leather and pieces that are designed to cut an intimidating yet more subtle figure. And while I could go into detail about all of those, what really stands out to me is how clearly queer everything is---more than Jenny's alt lesbian attire, more than Esther's campy coat and corset. From the very first scene he's in, he's wearing a skirt, and it looks natural. Nothing about the way the Cat King presents himself is exaggerated, nothing about the way he dresses is played for laughs---he's flamboyant and feminine and flirty, and he looks so fucking hot while he does it. It's gorgeous.

So... yeah, uh, all the awards for the Dead Boy Detectives costume designers!

[moresandmanstuff]

[hopeidontgetaddictedtothis]

Dead Boy Detectives | 1.01: The Case of Crystal Palace

[badasspantiestalker]

Another Night Butcher drawing. 😌😊🖤

[shhhhimwatchingthis]

Dead Boy Detectives has everything:

Co Dependent queer platonic tough to define Best Freinds who would and have gone to hell for each other. they have an office with a cupboard full of board games, and a long history of Noodle Incident cases of '04, and also a bunch of maneuvers with code names. They are also ghosts who solve mysteries for other ghosts.

One is a sassy well read diva in a stupid little bowtie. he keeps meticulous notes, and went to hell on a technicality. he has no rizz and has a sexual awakening at the hands (paws?) of a supernatural Cat King

the other is a cheerful happy bruiser, the brawn with a pocket demension only he can navigate in his backpack, a magic cricket bat, and wells of anger deep down

they team up with a cool psychic (whos also a pretty tree) dealing with her asshole abusive boyfriend who was literally a demon while also trying to restore her memories (she also has a hilarious hate off off with the nerdy one)

then they add a sweet shut in who isn't very brave but is very inquisitive and has excellent reading comprehension and is actually the most brave

and their landlady is a hot goth Sapphic butcher who is done with their shit (but not really)

and the main antagonist is a cunt serving witch with an iron cane chewing up the scenery, just camp queen obsessed with Beauty and Revenge as she should be

she turns her crow familiar into an astrology loving twink to honeypot the nerdy one but the crow catches feelings whoops

the cat king who deserves his own mention again. he's here to seduce a stuffy British detective/tease, cause problems on purpose, reluctantly help solve those problems and mostly slut it up.

a bureaucrat learns to VERY reluctantly embrace the beautiful power of friendship after being swallowed by a fish

its set in a gorgeous seaside town with a light house! and a malt shop!

because this is all A Scooby Doo homage!

It's an episodic Case Of The Episode format! with strong serialized elements!

and as if that wasn't enough there's even Death of The Endless.

what more could any person possibly want in a show.

oh and there's a lot of really interesting themes around internalized homophpbia, abusive relationships and trauma and toxic anger and learning to love and trust and help other people again in spite of and because of the bad parts.