#drdt no killing game au

[ask-the-no-killing-game-au]

oughhh ok since arturo is ignoring her can arei check up on veronika??? please?? maybe even someone like eden or hu??? im getting worried 😭😭

Hu goes to see Veronika.. or not.

Both arms and one leg.. Why do I recognise that from somewhere?

[ask-the-no-killing-game-au]

TY!!!! THEY'RE SO SILLY OMG

Credits to @ask-the-no-killing-game-au for the au

[moxie-girl]

"Ahahahahaha! 'Afraid of blood'? You really fell for that!? How stupid are you??"

flat drawing, design ref, and extra doodles under the cut!

(btw guys he's so totally lying! his goggles are like that partially to censor blood to look pink because he is, in fact, still traumatized by it! gaslight gatekeep girlboss <3)

[hinalatte]

A Thematic Analysis of Chapter 2’s Killer

Drdt spoilers. Obviously

There’s a lot of people who have started liking Ace more since this episode. I am not one of those people. He’s always been my favorite character. I’ve suffered from paranoia as well, and it sucks when people don’t take that shit seriously. Just because it’s irrational doesn’t mean it’s not harmful, and just because it’s stupid doesn’t mean the person suffering from it is stupid. I related to him a lot because of that. His issues are constantly downplayed by the people around him. Either that, or they think he’s irreversibly crazy for fears he can’t really control.

But besides that, I like him because his brain is fun to pick apart. He has so many problems. It’s a genuine shame he’ll never be able to get over them. It’s not the direction I expected his character to go, but it makes a lot of sense.

All that glitters is not gold.

The title made me think that a “good person” would be the killer, but it was Ace, a “bad person.” And his victim was Arei, another “bad person.” The people who died this chapter were the cast’s “worst people,” people who were outcast by everyone else for being bullied. But this chapter also shows their human sides—maybe they were only bad people because they were never given a chance to be good, like Arei. Maybe they were pushed to extremes because nobody treated their problems seriously, like Ace. Meanwhile, the cast’s “good people” are all revealed to be worse than they seemed. That was the thematic reason behind the motive secrets. Some of the others have done things far worse than Arei or Ace.

Nico was someone most of the cast liked. They were never mean to anyone, and they were constantly the victim of Ace’s bullying. They were easy to like, or at least easy to not hate. They quickly formed a bond with Hu (because Hu seeks out people she thinks need her protection). But in this chapter, they tried to kill someone. They admit themselves that it was reprehensible. Nico is a “bad person”.

Hu was supportive of everyone in chapter 1, positioning herself as a motherly figure. She was kind, caring, and helpful. But in chapter 2, she infantilized Nico to the point that she thought they can’t speak for themselves during the trial. She let biases cloud her judgement. She derailed the trial without good reason, because she wanted to be helpful to Nico, even when they weren’t asking for her help. Hu is a “bad person”.

Levi was called a good person by Eden at the start. He’s polite, takes care of other people, and reached out to Ace of all people. But in this chapter, it’s revealed that he did all of that for his own convenience. He doesn’t care about other people. He’s a murderer. He’s a “bad person”.

Levi threatened Ace, making Ace’s paranoia worse. Nico tried to kill Ace, confirming Ace’s idea that he was going to die if he didn’t get himself out of the killing game. Hu defended Nico, confirming Ace’s idea that everyone was against him.

The so-called “bad people” are cursed to die, while the so-called “good people” are shown to have been bad all along.

And isn’t that far more interesting than showing that good people can do bad things, and ending it like that? Now all the so-called “good people” have to live with the fact that their actions led to Arei’s death, without having been Arei’s actual killer. Arei was killed by the cast’s mistreatment, negligence, and trivialization of Ace Markey.

Thematically. Not literally, of course. Ace did that.

But their culpability in Arei and Ace’s deaths, even tangentially, shows in full color the consequences of letting their flaws go unchecked.

And in the context of Nico and Hu specifically, I can’t wait to see how that impacts them in the long run. Chapter 2 was all about facing the darkest sides of some of these characters. So wouldn’t it stand to reason that Ace’s death would influence some of them (like Nico) to examine their actions more closely and try to grow from them?

I can see Nico cutting off their friendship with Hu after this. She refused to acknowledge their fault in the situation. Since Nico is an objective person, I think they’ll understand the part they played in the Ace/Arei situation, and want other people to understand it as well. They won’t want Hu’s misplaced protection anymore.

And for Hu, I have no idea where she’s going after this. After her performance in this trial, where her flaws were pointed out to her by all the other characters, is she going to reflect and change? Or is she going to regress first, especially now that Ace, who she believed to be a villain, actually snapped and killed someone?

A big theme of chapter 2 has been growth. Ace shows the consequences of not growing. He was pushed to murder because of the rest of the cast not confronting their flaws, and he himself committed the murder because he didn’t know how to change.

It’s a bit of a hopeful spin on his death, but I’ll be honest—I’m still majorly bummed out about it. His life has just been terrible and will be terrible until it ends. He’s a horrible person with blood on his hands. He’s a coward and a bully who is hated by everyone. It’s all he’ll ever be, because he’ll die before having the chance to be someone else. Nico, through the sheer coincidence of having their murder interrupted, will be able to grow and change. Ace never will. A terrible life and a terrible death for a terrible person. And he won’t be missed. Not like Arei. Not like Min. Not like Xander. People like Nico, Rose, and Eden may feel bad about it, but no one will miss Ace specifically, because no one likes him.

If you were able to change and become a better person, it only means you were a good person to begin with.

If you weren’t able to change, it means you were doomed from the start. There’s no use trying.

There’s another world where people took Ace’s fears seriously. Where they didn’t dismiss him as a joke at the start and a volatile dog at the end. He might’ve survived if that happened. No matter what David says, bad people can change, if they know how to do it.

When this chapter finishes, I might make a full thematic analysis of it. There are still a bunch of things to say. I’ll just leave this post off with: Nico survivor stocks going up! Invest now!

[talkativeanonymous]

UNKNOWINGLY TRAUMATIZED??? I feel like we need more lore drop 😭

HAHA yeah i'm leaving out soooome details :>

Since i'm tired and feeling kind of sickly, i'm just gonna run it down rq!! I can elaborate on anything if asked-- but keep in mind i'm basing this off of the itty bitty bit of lore we've gotten so far plus my own BS I cooked up, I actually don't think XF-Ture is behind the killing game despite it clearly having a role to play… THAT BEING SAID! Here's SOME of the lore, a lil rundown of pre-drdt whit <3

(loredump below the cut)

Whit, similarly to Ace actually (though the aus are inherently unrelated)- essentially had his life taken away from him by XF-Ture.

Whit did not sign up or consent for anything that happened to him, [REDACTED] decided that from all of the recently graduated students in HPA, they chose him for his ability to be entertaining and would be perfect for a "Killing Game TV Show". In which, they then handed him off to XF-Ture who [REDACTED] let do the dirty work to keep their name out of the picture.

I am personally assuming that DRDT takes place in a post-despair(ish)-redemption world, although I don't believe it's connected to the original DR games. With that in mind, XF-Ture definitely has done some dirty work behind the scenes and has the technology that was ultimately used to brainwash Whit.

Whit was missing for months, as after all that he went through he had to be looked after and made sure he was stable enough to even BE on TV as he became notably aggressive and easily distressed. It was for this reason that they then worked on making him more apathetic to people dying and death in general. (which is my reasoning for Whit laughing and joking despite people LITERALLY dying, or just not caring at all on a surface level)

After about a year's worth of work, he was finally ready to be the proper mastermind for DRDT. He was meant to watch over the killing game to make sure all went as [REDACTED] had planned. During this time, Whit is aware that he's the mastermind- willingly or not. He knows very well that he can't tell anyone as his mind is quite literally against him on this and it's hard to say he has too much free will for that reason.

Hes more self-aware if anything, and his subtle jabs at the viewers in the show is him pointing to that; the fact that he knows. [REDACTED] doesn't appreciate it, knowing he's giving himself away, but it's not as if they can really punish him for doing his job; as it IS entertaining.

..For now i'm gonna leave it off here, but feel free to make assumptions about the rest or just straight up ask >:)

[non-killing-game-ftes]

Hey Veronika! What's it like in the afterlife? Is it a white void like us? Also, do you wanna chill out with me, David, and Min sometime?

-Xander

ooc - Just pretend I put effort into making her own sprites instead of using her canon ones... also, this au takes place in the equivalent of the start of the au before anyone died !! I guess I can.. temporarily kill her..? ^_^

"Anyway, why would I be dead?! I'm right here and alive!! I'm sure there's some way I could hang out with you though!"

[ask-the-drdt-cast-reblogs]

Theory for @non-killing-game-reblogs

Remember this from the straw page? Well Xander is usually shown in red text.

Nico is usually in blue text.

Remember this?

Also this?

(Credits to TheFandomEnchantress for the screenshots)

Well We know from a few posts(and a roleplay I did) that 2 other people are planning to commit suicide. Hence the (name) and (name)

Nico is always in Hu's company

Xander is usually in David's company

---

Xander is a very outgoing and happy individual, he'd seem fine.

Nico, though being reserved, seemed fine.

Also Nico and Xander are both bonding over situational trauma, they're both forced to keep quiet after knowing Arturo killed Veronika. They're both not OK, and someone that's enough to push a person to suicide...

So which brings me to my theory

Xander and Nico are going to commit suicide.

[tied-ash]

“Everybody Lied to You!” | DRDT Mastermind AU

Hello, viewers! This section includes lots of spoilers for Danganronpa: Despair Time! Be warned!~ Also, it’s a VERY long read.

“I have to kill Teruko Tawaki.”

Don’t we all? I mean that literally. It’s our job as a team to exterminate the ultimate lucky student named Teruko Tawaki. And now, it’s your job, too! But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s introduce you to the crew! (^owo^)

KEY:

Status… The knowledge that they are a part of XF-Ture and/or the killing game.

Role… The knowledge that they are a part of XF-Ture and/or the killing game, as well as what part they play in this operation.

Veronika Grebenshchikova… General Helper

Aware of… Everybody’s Statuses

It’s you, the newest member of our team! Welcome aboard! I’m sure you didn’t actually mean to join our crew. It’s Arturo’s own fault that you managed to figure all of this out. After that fiasco, it was only natural that you’d find out everybody else is intertwined with this scheme. But, well, if you can’t beat us, you might as well join us, right?

Your purpose is very simple: You will help us in whatever we need. Since you are well aware of everybody’s status and are figuring out all of their roles, you will have no problem discerning when they need help. Offers can be declined if you discuss the offer with those of the “overseer” title (see Hu Jing and Whit Young), MonoTV, or those who are more important than those who were previously mentioned.

Whit Young… Overseer, (Unofficial) Entertainer

Aware of… Everybody’s Role

Whit is much calmer than everybody else. It’s almost as if running this killing game is second nature. With an almost apathetic attitude, he never fails to find a joke for a situation. There is one thing he takes seriously: Charles Cuevas. No matter what happens, Whit will use his extensive knowledge about unforeseen circumstances to keep Charles safe.

Whit’s job is simple: keep everything running smoothly. However, Whit seems to not take this job seriously. He has tendencies to break the fourth wall, lead the others astray, and do other activities that make him suspicious. The audience is aware of his role, even though we have yet to confirm their claims. However, he claims that this will work out in the end.

Hu Jing… Overseer

Aware of… Everybody’s Role

On the outside, Hu is a protective mother. On the inside, it appears that Hu is crumbling. She used to be lower on the scale of power, but due to the lack of candidates after the first trial. Hu’s role was shifted. She found it ironic how the woman not many people paid attention to would be the one in charge. However, her comfort with Nico, David, and Levi were never faked. She feels genuine despair at their confessions.

Hu’s job is simple: keep everything running smoothly. This could be due to her motherly nature, but Hu is significantly better at this than Whit. She’s much more strict than what is expected of her, but this often works in her favor.

Nico Hakobyan… Animal Trainer

Aware of… Whit’s Status

They just want to be loved. Or, at least, that’s what Hu seems to think of the situation. Regardless of what their exact motives are, the hatred that they have experienced has been mutualized. While they are aware of the horrible fates that will occur in this game, they seem to believe that it can always be worse.

Nico is in charge of the many animals that will play a part in this game. You’ve seen the wolves that devoured Min, right? Those were trained by none other than Nico Hakobyan, the ultimate pet therapist. Danganronpa: Despair Time does not condone animal violence; these wolves (and every other animal that may appear in the series) are under extensive care.

Julia “J” Rosales… Production

Aware of… Hu’s Status

Years of famous people getting away with horrendous acts have torn her down. Desperate to make the world see how horrible people can be, she paired with XF-Ture’s killing game. However, unbeknownst to her, she was only helping this double-standard. She became the one thing she swore she would defeat.

J is in charge of the production and posting of the show. This means she’s also in charge of many of the factors that go into the show, including the lighting, set design, and will rarely give her input on the character design. However, her main job is still just airing it on TV. It was an easy feat considering her ultimate talent.

David Chiem… Promoter, Entertainer, TRAITOR

Aware of… Xander’s Status

By becoming the ultimate motivational speaker, he became affiliated with XF-Ture and their horrible ideals. However, with his manager being a part of this operation, David was roped into it. While he didn’t care for this game at all, he has grown quite attached to Xander. This, of course, led him to be inspired to stop this killing game by any means necessary. With him nearly getting everybody executed, he has been classified as a traitor. After all, he misunderstood the assignment. The only way this killing game will end is if Teruko Tawaki dies.

As a promoter, it was David’s job to spread the word about this killing game show. His manager made sure he did a good job at doing that. Much to his dismay, that wasn’t the only job he was assigned. He was also made to be an entertainer, meaning that he was supposed to be a fan favorite (you know how much an audience loves a “t****r sexy-man”). But ever since it has been revealed that skewing the trial wasn’t for the drama, and actually had a reason… He cannot be trusted.

Min Jeung… Informant, TRAITOR

Aware of… Nobody’s Statuses

There was more to that deal than she bargained for, and she was not happy about that fact. Unaware that their main objective was to kill Teruko Tawaki through any means necessary, panic took over and she ended up saving the enemy. Now that she’s dead, the company’s remaking her! The process of making her into an actual informant is… slow… But AIs are easy to shape.

Min’s job was supposed to be real easy. She was supposed to give information on the other participants. We would use this information to determine who could be a possible traitor. Obviously… that didn’t work as well as we thought it would.

Arturo Giles… Fashion Department, Health Department

Aware of… Levi’s Role, Hu’s Role

Imagine messing up so badly that the company you work for gets a new recruit. That HAS to be some kind of salt-in-the-wound thing. Anyway, he didn’t really want to be part of this. In fact, it’s rumored that he didn’t even know this was a killing game. The reasoning behind joining a big company is scarce, but it might have something to do with the fact that he has no certificate yet, meaning that he has to start somewhere.

When he told us that he does not have actual medical experience, we assigned him with Levi. However, he is still expected to get his own experience. He is the only doctor in this killing game, meaning that their lives are in his hands.

Levi Fontana… Fashion Department, Muscle

Aware of… Arturo’s Role, Hu’s Role

Apathy works wonders in a game like this. Without any care for somebody’s fate, it’s easy to do as you’re told. Levi remains low. He does his job with little to no problems. However, his current act of saving Teruko Tawaki is currently being under review. We cannot have another traitor in this game…

It’s thanks to him that Teruko, Whit, Hu, and Ace were able to get changes to their design. His job is to make sure everybody looks fabulous. Of course, there are other factors to the job, such as making sure their character designs make sense to both their talent and personality. As for being the muscle of the operation, it’s self-explanatory.

Eden Tobisa… Mechanic, TRAITOR

Aware of… Whit’s Role, Min’s Status, Rose’s Status

This girl is planning something- the fact that what exactly she’s planning escapes us does not pull away the fact that she has something up her sleeve. First her attack on Xander, then making a half-assed truce with the two other girls in the baking squad… This girl is no good. She’s just as bad as David at this point. Keep an eye on her.

Despite her problems, she has yet to stray from her role as the mechanic. According to her, clocks have many mechanics that work in other projects. Making digital clocks seemed to be useful when helping to design MonoTV. She is also knowledgeable on many of the other electronics on the set.

Rose Lacroix… Memory Department

Aware of… Nobody’s Status

It’s unclear what Rose’s opinion on this is. She unknowingly took Eden’s truce, but still does her job perfectly. While I believe she isn’t happy with her situation, I also doubt that she will try to revolt any time soon.

Rose remembers everything. She just acts like she doesn’t. She was in charge of erasing Teruko Tawaki’s memories. She is aware of many things about everybody in this killing game, even if she doesn’t know that they’re working together. She is also in charge of motives, such as the latest motive secret. Why else do you think that she had possibly one of the lamest ones?

Arei Nageishi… Promoter, Instigator

Aware of… Eden’s Status, Whit’s Role

Such a cruel girl… She was perfect for this killing game. With an antagonizing personality, it’s no wonder why she got chosen to be an instigator. She makes fun of anyone, making sure they are weaker than her. Though, she’s developed some sort of relationship with Eden… Maybe she’s trying to make Eden come back to her senses?

As a promoter, her job was just to promote the killing game show- exactly like David’s role. Of course, it wasn’t the same thing, as Arei just wore a bunch of merchandise for XF-Ture (similar to those patches on race-car drivers). However, she also plays the role as an instigator, meaning that it’s her job to make sure people are on-edge during the game. Her cute-yet-dangerous personality played a large part in that.

Ace Markey… Muscle, Instigator

Aware of… Whit’s Role

Despite being terrified of everything, Ace is a very useful person. He’s a wonderful instigator, and he’s too scared of failure to ignore our orders. Even if he has a big mouth, actions speak louder than words.

As the “muscle” of the operation, it’s pretty self-explanatory on what that means. He works with Levi to move things. As an instigator, that’s also self-explanatory; he is to keep everyone on edge. He has been doing amazing at that, especially with Nico Hakobyan. Even though he may not seem like it, he is the star example of what an XF-Ture employee should be like.

Charles Cuevas… Sedator/General Chemist

Aware of… Whit’s Role, Hu’s Role

He’s afraid of blood. Thankfully, his job doesn’t have anything to do with that. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be as good with it. He may act friendly with Teruko, but we have reason to believe that it’s just to get her guard down. After all, we don’t think he’d want Whit to be in danger just for Teruko to remain safe.

His role, like many others, is self explanatory- he works with chemicals that may be of use. He played a massive role in sedating everybody before the killing game started. Being a chemist, he’s extremely skilled in sedation. We also believe that he will be useful for any future motives that may be introduced, seeing as that it is possible that fear-inducing gas may be a helpful motive. However, nothing has been set-in-stone yet.

Xander Matthews… Killer

Aware of… Whit’s Role, Eden’s Status

Xander obviously didn’t want to attack Teruko, but it was his job. He’s a very determined soul, thinking the best in others while still refraining from a naive persona.

He was our final chance to do this peacefully. We just needed Teruko to die. Just Teruko. Nobody else needed to die. But now, with him gone, we’ll be going with full force. That woman had forced our hand.

So be it.

And here is the relationship chart!

It’s still in the works, but this is the gist so far!

[accirax]

Danganronpa: Despair Time Chapter 2 Episode 13 Dissection

Jesus CHRIST, the hits keep on coming (/pos). I don't think anyone could have predicted everything that came to light in this episode. But, hey, at least we're finally cooking on the murder method a bit more...?

SPOILERS for Danganronpa: Despair Time though Chapter 2 Episode 13! Also, CW: discussions of suicide.

Similarly to last time, I tried not to look at too many other people's major reactions/theories as to not influence my opinions as they were when I watched the episode. (Although I think I failed to do that more than last week...) Here's what this episode got me thinking about!

Genocide Jack, Junko, Mukuro, Peko, and Korekiyo:

On that note, though, this is... debatably relevant lore about Hope's Peak as it exists in DRDT? We know from Chapter 2 Episode 2 that Veronika (and likely all of the non-Terukos as well) don't remember Trigger Happy Havoc, and, based on this, it's likely that they don't remember much of the history of the old HPA either. Ace being so adamant that HPA wouldn't scout a murderer implies that the new HPA has fully regained its spotless reputation, potentially even more than the Tokyo school ever had.

I want you all to know that I tried to write out a little theory about whether or not Levi could have killed any plot-relevant characters here, but I came to a dead end at every venture. Levi killed Mai? No, he has no motive, and the murder happened before everyone attended Hope's Peak. Levi killed Elliot? No, Ellie was probably killed by dogs, and the timing is all wrong. Levi killed someone at the North C and Chariton incident? That didn't even happen. I was just getting that confused with my theories about what Xander might have done at that incident in FF's DRDT Milgram AU. Not even what actually happened in the AU. Just my theories on what might happen.

The only option I couldn't fully rule out was the idea that Levi killed some of the ~5 missing members of the altDRDT cast, but, holy shit, can you imagine how funny that would be? Teacher and the gang get to the sixth Class Trial and ask all dramatically, "so, what happened to the rest of our class that didn't make it to the killing game...?" and Monowhatever is just like "actually, Levi Fontana just straight up merced those dudes years ago." Hilarious.

Anyways. That goes to show that I do think these were just random guys, and the only specific relevance they would have is in the realm of Levi's backstory specifically.

RIP to the "Levi used to be an assassin" theory. I actually kinda liked that one myself.

(Also, hijacking this image to point out the background music here. You hear the ticking clock motif? Very suspicious indeed...)

Yup, even more confirmation that HPA highly valued having an incredibly pure and righteous image. Of course this HPA was also corrupt. Is it even possible to make an HPA without some level of corruption?

(Levi. My guy. I need you to use a different sprite; the quadruple image combo is starting to look ridiculous.)

What I find really interesting here is that, even in the realm of forgetting about murders, Levi remembers the three random guys before his father. Like, I know that Levi says that he kinda equally doesn't care about everyone (and I believe him to be telling the truth on that), but you would think that, just by virtue of having spent more time with his dad or the people around him's reactions, Levi would have remembered killing his father before offing three random thugs.

I don't know if this is meant to A) really drive the point home that Levi sees no difference between those he "knows" and those he doesn't; B) imply that Levi might have sustained some greater amount of trauma from killing his father that caused him to block that memory out more; C) suggest that killing the guys was more recent than killing his dad, which might lead him to remember it with more clarity; or D) some combination of the former three. However, I think it's an interesting detail to note.

The foils are foiling........

This was hilarious. And lowkey evidence that Nico was the one who tried to kill Ace.

You know, I actually almost made a theory once that the clauses "you're a murderer" and "you have no remorse" could be read as two separate secret statements! Not to say that Levi didn't have no remorse for the killing part, but that having no remorse was a state of being not solely tied to the murdering.

Alsoooo... just gonna say, Levi on Drawing Pins is looking better and better all the time...

Eden: But you're a good person. Why are you saying these things when it's clearly not true? You're so kind to everyone. You're always helping others out, even when it'd be easier not to. Like that time Ace almost died. You kept trying to help him, even if he always pushed you away. Isn't that what "a good person" does?

WE ARE BACK AT IT AGAIN!!! "GOOD PERSON" SPECIFICALLY IN THE LEVI/EDEN CONTEXT AAAAAAAAA

Beyond the further "good person" jumpscare, I found this line interesting due to how Eden describes Ace. Someone who "always pushed [Levi] away." Sounds a lot like Arei, huh? In fact, a lot of it sounds like Eden is applying it to herself.

"But I'm a good person. Why am I thinking these things when it's clearly not true? I'm so kind to everyone. I'm always helping others out, even when it'd be easier not to. Like that time Arei yelled at me. I kept trying to help her, even if she always pushed me away. Isn't that what "a good person" does?"

Obviously, I'm reading into this in the "Eden is the blackened" context, but I think that it's still an interesting read of Eden's mental state even if she isn't the blackened. We know that, to some extent, Eden blames herself for both Min and Arei's deaths. Therefore, despite likely feeling like she's fucked up, she wants to cling onto the idea that she's a good person so she doesn't lose faith in herself.

That leads into some super interesting parallels when it comes to this speech versus what Arei said, but I'll talk about that more once we get to the Arei monologue.

This week, acevi shippers take the L. Really, Levi x anyone shippers, but I think acevi shippers got the worst of it.

Except, they also took the W. "Ace lowkey confirms he once had feelings for Levi" was NOT on my bingo card. Or Star's.

(Also I LOVE this new sprite)

I saw some people talking about Ace's friend (Taylor?) but I do not remember and cannot find any information about this character (so I can't even tell if they're just fanmade :( ). If anyone knows what I'm talking about and has a link, please send it to me. Anyways, "insult to his memory" definitely makes it sound like Ace's friend is dead. I wonder if the way in which he died has anything to do with Ace's fear of horses/cowardice in general.

I want to see more Levi and Veronika interactions so bad. It's no surprise that Veronika was the first to pick up what Levi was putting down. Both of them don't have the "normal" way of processing their feelings and interacting with others, but while Levi has decided to try to be what society deems as "good" anyways, Veronika has decided to fully live by her own creed. I wonder if Levi could be at all convinced by Veronika to go back to his old ways.

Veronika: You're always guessing as to what a normal human would do in your situation. You're so awkward in social settings because you can't tell what other people want.

I'm excited to see Levi and Nico interact too, obviously. I suppose Nico is kinda like the midpoint of Veronika and Levi-- doesn't understand people and wants the world to work the way they perceive it, but also has been bullied enough to feel forced to play along with how others want them to be. Characters like these have become some of my favorite archetypes to discuss. I'm so glad that DRDT has so many of them!!!

The foils are foiling AGAIN...

Why the fuck are you so pressed about the secrets now??? I thought you were all about privacy?????

Well, thank you for "confirming" that swap, ladies! This talk of a pact is very interesting, though. I guess Hu must have gone to Veronika pretty early to ensure that her secret wouldn't get out-- makes sense, as without that there's a good chance Hu could believe that Veronika would reveal her secret at the most unflattering time to create drama.

It does slightly recontextualize Veronika's "A little mystery makes this Trial more exciting, don't you think?", though. I wonder if that was just straight up a lie, or if that was the rationale Hu used to appeal to Veronika. I doubt we'll get a flashback of this scene now that this moment's passed, but I'd love to see it. FTEs...? 👀

David you have to stop this right now or you're going to become my new favorite character. Dude's been dying to don the mantle of the comic relief character, apparently.

Is The Motive Scoreboard Accurate?

I'm including this because I've seen some other people say that it is, specifically on Teruko's front. I strongly believe that this motive board is incorrect, and Teruko and Xander's secrets are swapped.

The blaming yourself secret mentions parentS and siblingS. Back in Chapter 1 Episode 4, Teruko says that she never knew her parents (and therefore may even just be assuming that she has two), and she only had one biological brother. Furthermore, she has no idea if they're dead or not. On the parents front, she could assume that being sent to an orphanage is confirmation enough that her parents are dead instead of just not wanting her. Being sent there with her older biological brother is a further implication of that.

However, Teruko specifically says that her brother "left with some other family." She makes no mention of believing he's dead at all. Therefore, for Teruko to have the secret she claims to have, Teruko would have to be constantly mourning parents and an additional sibling that she never knew, and to believe that all of them are dead despite having no reason to believe that her known brother died.

Obviously, all of these things were said aloud to Charles and Whit, so there is a possibility that Teruko lied about or concealed parts of her past to keep her walls up around those two. However, what does this face from David mean if not "I've caught you in my trap?"

(DRDT sprites are SO GOOD--)

To me, this sprite clearly indicates that David knows that Teruko is lying about something, but has chosen not to bring it up to save it for later purposes. I don't know if he has something specific in mind or just wants to hold the potential blackmail over her head, but I strongly suspect that we'll come back to this someday-- either in later daily life or a post-Trial scene in this chapter.

It's also interesting to note that, while David knows that this is Teruko's for sure, Charles and Whit also have the opportunity to recognize the discrepancy. I definitely wouldn't be surprised if Charles kept notes about what he knows about everyone somewhere. We'll have to see if either of them ask her about it down the road as well.

Eden: I know that she's dead!! I know that she's dead and that she's never coming back. I know that I'll never be able to talk to her ever again. But even then... I have to know that when she was alive, she was still trying to become a good person. That if she lived, then maybe there'd be a world in which we would both be friends. If you really say that you lied about making Arei kill herself, then tell me the truth. Tell me that you didn't make her lose hope. Please! Tell me what happened last night between you and Arei!

Oh boy.

Can Eden Still Be the Culprit?

Look. I understand if you look at this and believe that Eden couldn't possibly be the culprit-- or at least, not without being a completely different character than we know her to be. Because I almost did. Zel's performance did a really good job of selling Eden's heartbreak in a way that makes it feel like she couldn't have possibly been the one to end Arei's life. However, upon further review, I do think that Eden's words could be that of the killer, with minimal levels of intentional manipulation thrown in.

If it would cause you emotional distress to listen to me continue to accuse Eden, I'll write the rest of this section in purple so that you can skip it if you'd like. I don't want to make anyone sad, so I fully understand if you want to avoid these bad vibes. However, for those of you who are still on the fence, and those who have stuck with Eden!culprit all along, here's my justification. I think it'll be easiest to break it down block by block.

Eden: I know that she's dead!!

Okay, well, maybe skipping this section a bit. More points for Arei truly being the one who's dead, I guess?

Eden: I know that she's dead and that she's never coming back. I know that I'll never be able to talk to her ever again.

Alright, so, this can fairly easily be read as the same thing as what Eden was doing back when she was talking to Levi: reassuring herself.

Well, maybe "reassuring" is the wrong word. Basically, she's repeating the same mantra that she told herself when she was trying to justify her decision to kill Arei. When making the decision to kill anyone, the killer (if they care) has to process that they will have to kill every other person in the game if they want to escape for themselves. Therefore, if Eden is the killer, she already had to grapple with the fact that she can't turn back time. ("You can't go back, no matter how hard you try.")

I think that Eden might have it in her head that, even if it wouldn't fully erase her wrongdoings, as long as she doesn't just forgive and forget the whole affair, it makes things slightly better. That's why she was yelling things like "You forgot about all the things you did just because you didn't face any consequences for them? That's incredibly selfish!" at Levi.

Feeling bad about things is her punishment to make sure that Arei is never fully forgotten. She knows that, if she goes through with killing, she'll never be able to talk with any of these people again. However, if there's something more important to her than these 13 lives that she has to escape the killing game to reach, it's a consequence she'll have to accept. She knows it's selfish-- but she at least won't be so selfish as to also forget everyone else's sacrifice.

Eden: But even then... I have to know that when she was alive, she was still trying to become a good person. That if she lived, then maybe there'd be a world in which we would both be friends.

This is probably the part that feels the most damning. Why would Eden care about whether or not Arei was trying to become a good person if Eden is the one who killed her? Wouldn't it be better for Eden if she wasn't?

Well, that's what Eden is trying to figure out, too. In Venus' Narrative Defense of Eden Culprit Theory, Venus says that Eden didn't believe that Arei actually changed and wanted to be her friend. And, it really makes complete sense if she didn't-- Eden had no idea that David and Teruko continued to talk so seriously with Arei after her departure, and Arei saving Eden from Arturo literally happened the same day that Arei had her breakdown. It had probably been, like, 4 hours since Arei chewed her out for her worldview being stupid, and then Arei's suddenly turning around and declaring that she wants to protect Eden at all costs. Of course Eden might just believe that Arei was setting her up for a fall! (Murder pun not intended.)

Venus also adds that, at this point in the Trial, David knew something that Eden didn't: namely, that Arei actually wanted to change, and saw Eden as her inspiration for doing so. Under the assumption that that revelation has been bothering Eden the whole time, it makes perfect sense that Eden would want to know more about what David knew about Arei. She needs to know exactly how terrible she needs to feel for doing this terrible thing.

I think the quote becomes a lot less defendable if you just swap out the "that" for an "if."

"But even then... I have to know if when she was alive, she was still trying to become a good person. That if she lived, then maybe there'd be a world in which we would both be friends."

Now, obviously, you could say that this is an unfair point-- Eden didn't say "if," she said, "that"! How can you excuse Eden based off of evidence that isn't actually real?

My point is that, even if DRDTdev didn't have Eden phrase it that way, it would be an incredibly easy swap to make. Thus, the only way in which Eden would have to be lying is to swap out one word. With that one word, "if," we see how she's still doubting whether Arei really was trying to be a good person, and can read into why she's bringing that up at this time. To disguise it, all Eden has to do is trade "if" for "that"-- she doesn't have to be some masterful lying manipulator to pull off a quick exchange that makes her look more innocent.

Eden: If you really say that you lied about making Arei kill herself, then tell me the truth. Tell me that you didn't make her lose hope.

Eden needs the truth so that she can know how despicable she actually is (in her opinion). She needs to know how bad she needs to feel for taking Arei's life, so that she won't wind up as "inhuman" as Levi.

I also think that "tell me that you didn't make Arei lose hope" could be interpreted in a killer-ish way. There is a rhetorical device in English that sorta turns words like that on their head. Like, if I said, "don't tell me you spoiled DRDT for all of your followers!," it's often interpreted as "I know that you did spoil DRDT for all of your followers, but I don't want to hear it." In this case, Eden might not want David to tell her that he made Arei lose hope because she doesn't want to believe that Arei had any hope in the first place. It's better than if Eden was the one to directly crush those hopes, sure, but if Arei approached David talking about wanting to be a better person mere hours before her death, that still means that Eden was killing a hopeful Arei. She doesn't want David to confirm her worst fears.

I don't know if I phrased that section exactly how I imagined it in my mind, but hopefully you understand what I'm getting at.

Eden: Please! Tell me what happened last night between you and Arei!

In the end, though, Eden knows that she has to face the music to figure out how she wants to proceed with this trial, whether that's sinking the cost of her fallacy or owning up to her crime. And that's how I think you can justify this outburst of Eden's within the context of her being the blackened, without having to fully corrupt her character.

What Arei Meant

This part isn't a theory, exactly; it's more of an analysis of the point I think Arei was trying to convey in this section. I've seen some people be sad about the new note that Arei's character is "going out" on, but I actually think that this is a pretty realistic, thematic ending for where Arei's story and the themes of the chapter are headed. Time to praise DRDTdev's writing for a bit!

Arei: I'm a manipulative, two-faced bitch. I pretend to be cute so that I can treat others like trash. I only care about myself, and I always hurt others for selfish and stupid reasons. Of course I wanted to change myself. [...] Still, for the longest time, I thought it was stupid to even try. I'm rotten to the core, and I might as well be a different species from saints like you and Eden. [...] No matter what, I'll never be a good person. And yet, despite all that... David, you... It turns out that you might be a total piece of shit after all. If even a perfect inspirational speaker like you turns out to be an asshole, then there's no such thing as "a good person." [...] And that makes me relieved, because it means I'm not too far gone. It's okay that I'll never be a good person, because no one else can be either.

I don't think that Arei is saying that the world is a lost cause.

Instead, she's saying that no one is a lost cause. She's applying that Syndrome logic: "if everyone is a bad person, no one will be." Arei thought that, because of her upbringing, there was no possibility that she could ever Be Good, because she'd already done too much wrong. Good People are perfect, unerring gods who do nothing but help others and reach out to wayward souls. However, David's manipulations proved that that wasn't true.

Good People fuck up. Good People do good things for bad reasons, and bad things for good reasons, and, hell, if David is a Good Person, then Good People do bad things for bad reasons sometimes, too! Arei confessed to us that she felt like her life was over because she was given an unfair start. However, now she knows that the bar has been lowered, and that being a good person can be done by anyone, anywhere, at any time. Perfection doesn't exist. Now that she knows that there was never any need to be perfect, the chance she sought for so long has finally been granted.

(Dipping back into purple for a sec to talk about Eden culprit stuff)

After this, I feel like the theme of this chapter has to be about deconstructing the myth of "The Good Person." You think that Nico is just a soft and shy bullying victim? No, they're just as willing to kill as anyone else. You think that Hu is a gracious motherly figure? No, she has an angry streak and talks over other people. You think that Levi is a softhearted giant who just struggles with what to say sometimes? His kill count is higher than everyone who's died to the killing game so far, and he doesn't really care that that's the case. You think that Whit is just a silly guy who cares about others? Fuck, even he's willing to stall out the trial in an attempt to fulfill his own agenda.

The main person who hasn't yet been proven so be not as good as they seem so far is Eden, who in this episode has been clinging to the idea of being a good person harder than ever. I know that some people believe that Eden needs to survive to fulfill the role of the optimist, but I feel like this episode proves that that isn't true. We don't need A Hopeful Person because anyone can step up to the plate and believe in hope if they want to do so. Eden isn't A Good Person, but a real person, who's just as capable of laughing and crying and living and dying as anyone else.

A good person is not gold. That's why everyone who tried to cling to the idea that they were being A Good Person-- Xander, David, Levi-- has always wound up hurting others in the end. Xander believed his actions were morally justified, and thus decided to kill Teruko, causing Min's death and lots of anguish for Teruko. David wanted to follow in his footsteps, and beyond his inspirational speaker persona causing damage to himself, he was also about to kill everyone else to do "what's right." Levi (Arei pending) hasn't killed anyone since trying to become A Good Person, but pretending to follow those guidelines without actually wanting to change anything about himself emotionally hurt Ace, who was set up with false expectations.

If Eden is so convinced that she's a good person, she's only blinding herself to the ways that she's inevitably not.

Back to Arei, while it is sad that her development was cut off just as she made this revelation, I believe that clarifying this additional bit of content is a way to allow her to rest in peace. Even if she didn't get to transform as much as she wanted to, she at least got to die knowing that she wasn't as wretched as she convinced herself that she was all these years, and having done at least one good thing-- saving Eden from Arturo-- before she passed. It's an amazing character arc to squeeze in for your second victim.

Phew, finally, a chance to talk about objective lore instead of heavy and divisive character themes! Except, uh...

WHAT THE FUCK???

Remember when, at the beginning, I said that no one could have predicted everything that came to light in this episode? This was the main point I was talking about. I don't think anyone saw this reveal coming, especially in this moment.

For starters, even though this CG does appear in David's memories, I don't think that he or Arei actually remembers whatever this was taking place. Beyond me attempting to debunk the idea that David had additional memories of Hope's Peak last week, Arei or David specifically referring to this moment means that they had to... be there? When whatever this was happened?

I say "whatever this was" to briefly create suspense before connecting the dots everyone's already talked about: that Eden was probably the one to scratch out Xander's eye. This would make Eden the "she" that Xander (er, I mean, "the guy with the bloody hands") talks about in the intro scene.

It also gives some more context to the clock with the fork stabbed into it depicted in LGI.

I don't know if "non-functional" and "I didn't expect her to" mean that Eden could have been brainwashed or otherwise broken down into not acting like herself when this happened, but it certainly seems out of character for what we know of Eden. Even her facial expression seems to suggest that she might not have wanted or intended to attack anyone with that fork.

Anyways, for Arei or David to know about the contents of that CG, they would've had to both be there when Eden attacked Xander and then also have regained/had their memories of it, which seems unlikely given how both of them treat Eden. Like, even if Arei is sure that Eden "did something to hurt someone in the past," this seems a bit extreme, and David probably wouldn't be so neutral on her if he knew that she attacked his man.

Another really clever point that I saw someone make (AND THEN COULDN'T TRACK DOWN WHO OR IN WHICH POST IT WAS--) was that Eden is wearing her current outfit in this CG. Interestingly, I looked back at A History of Hope's Peak and Visiting Graves to see what Min and Xander were wearing, and while Min was wearing her typical killing game uniform, Xander was wearing something different. Given that Min's scene takes place in HPA and Xander's doesn't, this could imply that Min was wearing the HPA uniform? That's fitting, for her.

We also know that the DRDT cast were all wearing these outfits believing that they were headed for the HPA entrance ceremony. Therefore, we know that Eden would wear this getup to school, but we don't know if she'd wear it elsewhere. Once again, assuming it was Xander who got forked, we can place this CG some time between Visiting Graves and the start of the killing game. I have a hunch that Visiting Graves might have taken place during HPA's spring break-- in A History, Min and Mai (er, I mean, "Unnamed Student") are at school studying for a test with "Spring Break next week" on the chalkboard, while in Visiting Graves, Mai and Xander have traveled elsewhere-- but that's not confirmed, so we can't lock it down.

Maybe we can get more information about this in Eden's bonus episode! Because, well, I at least do think that most of the mysteries of this CG could be solved within a bonus episode and/or other characters talking about her posthumously in later chapters. Again, I understand if you want to use this CG as evidence that Eden is important enough to need to stick around, though.

AREI I MISS YOUUUUUUUUUU

Also, I didn't catch this at all, but credit to everyone who noticed how similar this scene is to the "Diana Chiem" scene in LGI! Fascinating implications that I have no additional thoughts on at the moment. Mostly because we don't know shit about Diana, if that even is her who's portrayed in that CG. I'm sure I'll come back to this someday, just not right now.

Oh, and I don't think you can really argue that Ace made up this conversation anymore. Idk how much of it he stuck around to listen to, though.

See like why is she so pressed about it???

I'd like to say that this is a win for Whit not being the mastermind (because he doesn't seem to know what MonoTV is talking about), but he could probably just be going "why are you saying that at this time?" or something like that. Sigh (/j)

Why Does Whit Know So Much About Hanging?

Alright, so, obviously, this could be a super-suspect hint that Whit knows all of this stuff about hanging and therefore decided to use that knowledge to kill Arei. But, I don't care about that! What I don't understand is how Whit came to know all of this in the first place!

Well, after a quick review, there's one option that stands out more than all the others: Whit's mom was killed by hanging, likely self-inflicted. The only thing we "know" about Whit's mom dying (assuming that secret really is his) is that she is dead, and Whit omits it. It's phrased pretty vaguely. We also know that Whit thinks his mom is awesome, but that doesn't tell us anything about how she saw herself. Sadly, I think this lines up all too well.

Whit's main character flaw, as we've seen throughout the story so far, is ignoring things that stress him out or make him sad. He represses, and chooses not to get involved in others' fights because it's "not his business." It would make sense if the same extended to what he was like before the killing game. If Whit always chooses to ignore things that worry him, there's a possibility he blames himself for his mom's death via not paying enough attention to any warning signs that her mental state might have gotten so dire. Of course, if repression runs in the family, she might have been doing her best to not make it obvious as well.

So, even though he hates himself for not giving his mom enough support in her darkest hour, he still can't (yet) make any changes in his life because ignorance is the only way he knows how to cope. Yet, he still won't let himself pass up on helping another soul in clear need of support, like Charles panicking over the blood, or Eden suffering over seeing Arei's body. He can push himself to help others that are sad, as long as he never focuses on himself.

Or, he's the time loop mastermind who's heard Class Trials discuss hanging a billion times before. You never know with this guy.

CONGRATS TO FF AND BADJOE FOR BEING THE SMARTEST PEOPLE IN THE WORLD!!! 🎉🎉🎉🎉 Man, even seeing Teruko explain this mechanism as the truth, I still don't know if I would've been able to come up with it myself. This fandom is so smart :D

(Also, why was Whit a dog? Goddammit, is this more MonoTV coding?! /lh)

FUCK YES, WE'RE ACTUALLY GOING TO GET ANSWERS ABOUT THE GYM MURDER IN THIS TRIAL? HALLELUJAH! IT'S ABOUT TO BE T A P E T I M E, MOTHERFUCKERS! (/j)

Phew, barely squeaked it within 30 images! I'm impressed and amazed that DRDTdev keeps managing to make such gripping episodes week after week.

Get it? Gripping? Like grippy tape?

I'd apologize, but you're almost certainly going to hear more of that from me next week. Until then!

[acevid]

DRDT MASTERMIND AU!

Every DRDT was a past participant of a killing game. Now, they are all being forced to play in one more killing game.

The only unknown thing..? They’re all masterminds. (An AU made because of the mass amounts of mastermind aus on Tumblr right now and honestly I’m a huge fan of all of them.)

Teruko Tawaki - ..Actually the only one who hasn’t participated in a killing game. The mastermind who was supposed to participate (her brother from the orphanage) mysteriously disappeared. So they went to..other measures.

Xander Matthews - Survived by defeating the mastermind (canon Danganronpa endings).

Eden Tobisa - Escaped due to a motive where if someone got away with killing, they could bring someone with them. (Was horrified and ran away into society to distract herself from the killing game. This ended up being her downfall as it gave the producers ideas as to where she was.)

Min Jeung - Survived because the mascot had decided to revive a random participant as the blackened ending up stabbing themself as everyone got executed

Hu Jing - Survived because the mascot was broken (chapter 4). This is why MonoTV is so strong now, since the killing game had ended before because of the mascot being destroyed.

J Rosales - Survived by defeating the mastermind

Charles Cuevas - Survived by winning the trial (the matter was so traumatizing for him that his brain completely blocked out the fact and makes blood repulsive)

Arturo Giles - Survived because he wasn’t an actual participant in the killing game, but rather a helper to the mascot

Arei Nageishi - Survived because she ended up killing her sister who was a fellow participant in the killing game and won the trial by guilt-tripping everyone

Ace Markey - Survived by defeating the mastermind

Nico Hakobyan - Survived because they were a traitor in their killing game

Whit Young - Survived because outsiders ended up saving the killing game participants during chapter three

Rose Lacroix - Survived because she was brought into a killing game late because she was caught sneaking around the facility (her sibling was in the killing game) before helping defeat the mastermind (though her sibling died in the process)

Veronika Grebenschikova - Survived because the mastermind got defeated

Levi Fontana - Survived by being a blackened

David Chiem - Survived because he was a ‘traitor’ for the mastermind (ended up pulling strings so that the mastermind also died whilst the execution for everyone happened)

[ccrisntok]

A DRDT POST????1?1? NO WAY!!!!

Yeah I drew some Whace because I love them with my entire being. My beautiful boys.

Plus lil comic below the cut (how I feel like non-killing game au crushes could be formed... Or at least one of the crushes!)

^^^ Ace after anyone genuinely compliments him (especially a classmate who happens to be a cute guy)

Anyway time to go back into my cave love you guys !

[ask-the-no-killing-game-au]

Veronika, please. Do you want a hug? Anything to help you out? I don't want you hurting yourself.

"I don't need anything. Also, do you know why Arturo is ignoring me?* I thought he liked me, have I done something wrong?"

*ooc - After multiple people asking him to check on Veronika, Arturo believes everyone's playing a prank on him, and he's decided he's going to ignore Veronika as "nothing bad could happen a second time" (after the same thing happened to a certain family member). This was established in the comments of the previous post

[kitsu-kino]

“Nico has been acting off as of late.”

(Credits to @ask-the-no-killing-game-au for the au)

[pinovapie]

DRDT Headcanons!! (1/idk)

Decided to post some headcanons for various characters!! (there might be some mild projection on my favourites lol) idk if i'll do more for other characters?? Also, sorry for less Teruko HCs,,, i meant to do 5 for each but uh,,, you can tell who my favourites are i guess??

Also, disclaimer, these are headcanons!! I wrote these before Chap 2 Part 2, they may be disproven and become out of date in the future!!

Under a read more to not clog up space,, also TW: (unintentional) Self harm

Ace:

He grew up on a farm.

His parents had a ton of kids in the hopes that at least one would be successful. Whoever got the best test results/ won an award/ has the highest salary (based on age, idk how old Ace's siblings are) was the favourite and showered with attention.

This meant Ace and his siblings grew up willing to literally and metaphorically shove eachother face first in the mud to be the favourite child. There was a lot of sabotage, insults and threats constantly.

He struggles to form meaningful friendships due to trust issues.

He'll hold a grudge for years. He probably still despises and talks shit about some kid who stole his chair when they were 6 or something.

He used to love animals until one day he woke up and the world was more terrifying than he remembered. The comforting bark of a dog is now a horrifying sound that sends him spiraling with panic.

He's overly sensitive to light and sound.

He chews his lip, bites his nails and scratches his arms/wrists when bored or uncomfortable. Maybe that's why he always wears gloves, to do less damage?

Nico:

Sometimes when it's too much they'll go non verbal. They're fluent in sign language as a result.

They sometimes judge the things people name their pets. They'd never say it out loud but they think certain pets have really stupid names.

They struggle with tone, often coming across as sarcastic and fed up when they're being genuine.

If they get postively overwhelmed (like flustered due to compliments etc.) they make cat noises instead of speaking (like meows, chirps, etc.). They find in really embarrassing.

If they are in a downward spiral, they'll grip something (their cloak, hair, a soft toy, etc.) and just hold on to try and ground themselves.

Nico took a couple skirts from the dress-up room to wear in private.

In a non killing game au, they'd join Rose in painting more frequently. They end up preferring watercolours though.

They may have a journal where they might talk shit about certain individuals in the class.

Teruko:

Despite her trust issues and bad luck with relationships, she's a romantic at heart. It may take a while for her to admit her feelings but she'd like someone to give her flowers and take her to dinner just as much as anyone else.

She likes horror films because she can experience the thrill without being in danger. I think she'd also like those rollar coaster simulators since an actual rollar coaster would probably be too dangerous with her luck.

She loves sliced cheese because she can avoid having to cut cheese with a knife. Similarly, she'll spread spreads with a spoon because it's less risking than with a knife.

Due to constantly moving, she owned a couple of those plastic picnic sets (the plate, bowl, cup sets) and had to wash them frequently. As a result she's secretly super grateful to Hu and Eden for cleaning after meals because it's one less thing to worry about.

She had to remind Charles to seperate his dark and light washing a couple times, even after the initial explanation of washing machines.

Levi:

He's on the Asexual spectrum. Like he'd never consider it himself but if his partner wanted to, he'd be comfortable with it because he likes making his partner happy.

He's usually trying to keep the peace but he will argue with friends or customers if they try to pick/buy a god awful outfit.

He worked at a boutique before becoming a personal stylist. He kept giving customers unwanted fashion advice that made their outfits the talk of the town. Word spread and after a little while people started showing up for the advice.

Does not understand humour or sarcasm at all.

He's fond of baby animals but would never hold one out of fear of hurting it.

In a non killing game au, he'd probably find out peoples fashion preferences so he can get them suitable clothes as presents.

He's probably the only cast member to politely listen to Veronika's rambles without wanting to throw up. He'd probably get roped into movie nights after Arturo and Ace triple locked their doors to avoid such movie nights.

Various people have caught him raiding sweet foods (sometimes even just eating sugar straight out the bag) at like 3am on multiple occasions.

[smudgesticksgonnasmudgingflip]

Okay, finally doing this, even though technically nobody asked for it-

DRDT REVIVAL AU LORE

Drdt spoilers for up to the end of chapter 2 below! And I'll put it in big lettering when the lore starts!

Please give me feeback if you have any!!!

First, the sprites again!

I'll probably at least resize Xander, Min, and Arei and I might add dirt to Arei and possibly redo Xander-

Lore!! Lore time!!!!

Okay so, after Xander dies, he wakes up in basically an apocalyptic wasteland (aka like the world in UDG) with healed injuries on his hand and neck that he doesn't remember how he got them, but he does remember his time before the killing game and his eye injury. Eventually, he finds one of his classmates, Min, and they work to survive. Soon after, they find Arei, and soon find Ace too.

Character lore

I was thinking about them possibly acting like almost the complete opposite of how they were in the killing game, like how in DRV3 Kaito, Shuichi, and Kaede in the tapes act completely different from how they were in the game- idk about it any more-

Anyways- since I don't know if I'm going to do that, I'll just talk about the effects of their deaths and stuff?

None of the effects are really set in stone ig

Xander

Possibly sometimes coughs up blood? He's more prone to electrical shocks when touching things than the others? Although... maybe Ace gets more shocks than him?

That's all I have for Xander right now-

Min

Sometimes her arm (the one that was cut off) just becomes dead weight or randomly goes numb and her other arm cramps sometimes? Her leg also sometimes gives out?

Maybe if there were animals, they'd be likely to try to come up to her? And/or she's the luckiest when it comes to finding food?

Arei

Her head droops or tilts randomly? Maybe sometimes her hand cramps up? Also, she randomly gets neck pains? Maybe she'd end up waking up with neck pains a lot? And perhaps she loses her voice a lot or maybe in the middle of sentences she'll randomly choke/almost choke on her saliva or have to stop because of it or something?

Idk-

Ace

So, he has scars around his mouth from his teeth when he fell to the ground or something-

He almost always has his mouth foaming? They joke he has rabies? He sometimes coughs up confetti? He possibly gets a lot of shocks? Sometimes his vision goes blurry? And maybe his chest/heart starts hurting and/or his heart starts beating really fast?

Also, the reason why he has part of his chapter 1 (aka unicorn Ace) hair is because of the lightning, which would cause hair to stick up. It's not gel-

[sorastar6]

David Protag AU- Character Personalities (1/4)

You read the title! This is basically the personality of each of the drdt characters in my AU. And if you can't tell by the title, this AU makes David Chiem the protagonist instead of Teruko Tawaki (This is not because I think David is better and he should've been the protagonist, it's purely for fun and an idea that I had randomly, I love Teruko <3). But, that's not all that's really changed (a LOT is changed) so I'll basically explain the main points of the AU and then show the character personalities.

So, the Au takes place 5 years after everyone entered Hope's Peak Academy. They graduated, and became former Ultimate Students, which would make them around 24, 25 and 26 years old. In this AU, there's several HPA (Hope's Peak Academy) scattered all around the USA and Japan. Each character are all from different HPAs, and all of them are divided in duos that went to the same Hope's Peak. Meaning that they knew each other for 5 whole years until graduation.

The duos are as follows:

David and Nico Teruko and Xander Ace and Levi J and Hu Rose and Min Arei and Whit Charles and Arturo

Eden is paired with... Someone special (I'll explain someday)

All of these knew each other for 5 years before the killing game. And they had the same mentality that they have in canon drdt when they first entered. But now they changed but not in really drastic ways, but the 5 years they spent at HPA changed them.

I think that's it. Now I can move on to their personalities! There's only 4 on this post because I'm tired

David Chiem- Former Ultimate Inspirational Speaker

David Chiem once held the title of the Ultimate Inspirational Speaker for his uplifting and optimistic personality, but ever since his graduation, he took a break from his career to "rest". Most people already forgot him, except for his most die-hard fans that patiently await for his return, even though he hasn't shown his face in months. He isn't able to return at the moment, as he can't come back in this... Messy state that he's in.

Nico Hakobyan- Former Ultimate Pet Therapist

Nico Hakobyan always had a great connection to animals of all kinds, and they have been getting better and better at their job ever since they started becoming more sociable. They always say that a certain classmate has helped them come out of their shell. But, a lot of people say that they're a little weird, like their emotions are "exaggerated" or "unnatural".

Teruko Tawaki- Former Ultimate Lucky Student

Even if Teruko Tawaki's talent implies that she has good luck, she has the exact opposite, horrible luck. She always has been unlucky throughout her whole life, but ever since she graduated in Hope's Peak Academy, she became quite the troublemaker. She refuses to stay idly and just let things happen to her anymore, so she now fights back against her luck and refuses to let it take control of her life. Quite the revolutionary change, don't you think?

Xander Matthews- Former Ultimate Rebel

A reckless and loud man that truly deserved to have been the Ultimate Rebel. Alexander "Xander" Matthews is what people would call a "hero". Someone who fights every day for justice and fairness, because he believes that the world can be made into a better place. He absolutely despises anything that he deems "evil" and won't hesitate to do anything he can to destroy it. Even if that "anything" could be something that should make him "evil" too...