#esther rambling

[esthercore]

Aventurine is the most tainted, insecure, broken, pathetic, suicidal, and mentally fucked bitch in the entire cast, lol. This man was meant for angst, not happy endings, never, he's my token hurt no/minimal comfort man,

Similarly, Sunday is just meant to be a yandere, i can never imagine this man to be normal, he to is fucked in head but in a more obsessive way. His need for power and control seeps in every aspect of his life. He needs everything to be perfect to be able to sleep at night, especially his relationship. Hence even in the most normal/non yandere coded scenario, he still remains borderline controlling, obsessive and demanding.

But, despite their differences both are the type to latch on the person they love, growing heavily dependent. Perhaps it be due the lack of a normal/healthy parental figure in their childhood or the lack of a normal family and companionship that's dependent on feelings and connections rather than merely transactional.

In the end they are both boys that craved to be genuinely loved and not be taken advantage of, and to be appreciated for who they truly are and not their facades.

Just in need of some true unadulterated love.

[crabsnpersimmons]

exam 5 for me... tomorrow!

honestly have been feeling really nervous for this exam since my classmates have either failed it or just barely passed. and i had less time to study this time around because i rushed to book the exam.

so i drew this little encouragement early cuz i need the reminder that no matter what happens tomorrow, i did what i could and i didn't compromise on my boundaries—and that is its own victory.

and i hope that you'll be reminded to celebrate your own big and small victories too!

"You are nervous and that's okay! You did your best! You set boundaries! You took breaks! We're so proud of you, Starlight! Whatever happens, we'll always be here, cheering you on!"

[dead-enby-detective]

I wonder how much this scene plays a role in Monty choosing to target Edwin over Charles after Esther sends him to befriend the boys and then later how it impacts him falling for Edwin.

Edwin is the first one to enter so he’s the first one Monty sees.

Monty doesn’t crow when Edwin enters the house but waits until Charles enters. Does he already like Edwin better? Did he see Edwin and see something special?

Charles immediately responds to the crowing by telling him to hush. Did Charles’s words stick with him after Esther gave him a human body and mind and feelings? Were his feelings hurt or was he just annoyed by it?

Edwin pulls his gloves off as he passes Monty’s cage, does he think about that after becoming human? The way Edwin takes off a piece of his armor right before going into danger?

After Edwin tell his partner he believes in Charles’s ability to open the lock, Monty crows, and Charles sasses back. Edwin pays him no mind. Does that frustrate him, later when he’s human?

After Charles opens the lock, Edwin is the one who figures out that cabinet is a trick door.

I may not like Esther but she is clever. Was Monty learning from her the entire time he was her familiar? Does he take after her in that way? Always learning, always being wanting to be clever?

Monty, is shown soon after becoming human, to have a vast knowledge of zodiac signs. Did he learn all that in that short time span or was some of it things he’s taken in from Esther over the years? How much had he learned from her, from her spells, her books over the years?

Was he “raised” to appreciate cleverness even as a crow? Did he admire Edwin’s cleverness from the beginning?

Did he become human and immediately think back to when they first entered the house and wonder if Edwin would appreciate cleverness in return? Would appreciate the opportunity to learn something new from him? Hoped that they could be clever together?

There’s just so much to this scene from Monty’s perspective that I think we should consider.

Did he ever wonder if he was clever enough, would it be enough for Edwin to give him a chance?

Like he said, he never asked to be human… did he hope that, when the time came, with all his cleverness, that Edwin would understand that?

That he had never really had a chance in the first place?

[anxious-witch]

Okay, maybe I am way off with this, but doesn't Cat King seem to adhere by very specific set of rules? Which yeah, duh, he is a trickster, but what I mean is, he can't seem to be able to initiate any action?

We know he kept an eye on the boys and Crystal even before he met them, I'd wager even before Edwin leashed his cat. But he didn't approach until Edwin did so, as if Edwin activated it that way. And sure, we could say it was because he messed with one of his subjects and while I am sure there is truth in that, it's a THEME.

He has eyes everywhere. I don't buy it for a second that he didn't immediately know who Monty is. So why not tell Edwin and the rest immediately? Could be to see where this will go, but it doesn't feel that way. Why would he let Monty flirt with Edwin, if he could stop him? Even after Monty kisses Edwin, the Cat King doesn't appear. Why? Because Monty isn't hurting Edwin yet. The kiss, as awkward as it was, does seem to be genuine on Monty's part.

No. The Cat King only gets involved when Monty is actively working to betray Edwin. Only then he can swoop in, give away Monty's secret and steal his kiss as payback.

Generally, it seems he has to somehow mirror the actions taken? A leash for a leash, a kiss for a kiss, a betrayal for a betrayal.

Also, the bit with Esther. He says "magic doesn't work on me", and yet he doesn't try to use magic on Esther in turn. Is it because she cannot use magic on him, he can't as well? Which renders him powerless against her.

She uses a loophole to kill him, aka she kills him by force since she cannot do so by magic. And what does he do? He can't use magic against her but he can give Crystal a secret loophole on how to kill Esther. He can tell her about he deal with Lilith.

Also as this post points out, as much as he gets into Edwin's space, when Edwin moves towards him, he pulls back. Furthermore, the only two times Edwin invades his space (ie in the forest when he tells him "this is all that you are" and in the last episode when he kisses him) Cat King seems almost frozen. As if he is bound to see how far Edwin is going to take the action before he can react.

I wonder if he can kiss him at all, without Edwin initating first. With Monty, he could, because it was payback for stealing Edwin's kiss. But he didn't harm him further. Why? Unless he is somehow bound to some unknown set of rules.

Idk. I just thought it was an interesting pattern

[vizual-static]

I got a comment on crow fic that made me think about Esther’s relationship to Monty as a familiar: In some media (*cough* WBN pod *cough*), a familiar can be a part of a witch’s personality or soul that she chooses to externalize in order to better serve her station or be better at witchcraft. So it’s not just a loyal pet or a little magic animal helper, but an actual manifestation of some part of her.

So now I kinda like the idea that after being betrayed by her husband, Esther chose to remove her desire for love and put it in a familiar so that she herself never has to suffer the hurt again, and she can be more cut-throat and cruel without worrying about feeling shitty over the social ostracization or lack of connection for hundreds of years. (This works well too since crows are social creatures.)

Not to say that Monty doesn’t get to be a like, an autonomous character. But I do think his relationship to Esther, whether maternal/ familial or having started as a piece of her, colors everything else about his character.

[psalm40speakstome]

Dongfang Qingcang: my emotions are dead, I can use hellfire, I feel nothing ever

Also Dongfang Qingcang: gave Orchid back her hair within minutes of meeting her because she was crying

[eatyourmaker]

The ocs I previously mentioned

Esther and Estella, the twin stars.

Both are dead, and have been sacrificed to the eyes

Now they cast a haunting presence over the town, mainly the old mansion on the hill, the forest and Skid's house.

They were traumatized in their death, and so often end up scaring people in accident by lashing out and causing some serious hauntings. But they're good girls at the end of the day and would get along well with Skid and Pump.

They have a crippling fear of adults though

I don't even have to state the source of inspiration for these two, y'all already know 😭

[meraki-yao]

I'm watching Dead Boy Detectives with my sister and

episode 1

Esther the Witch: "MONTY!!! JESUS!!! I'm trying to threaten some kids"

My sister: "Oh I genuinely forgot that Jesus was an exclamation and thought there was another bird named Jesus"

episode 2

*Esther doing witchcraft shit

My sister: "she gives me the vibes of a wine aunt who went to jail"

will update this list as we go

[raphs-rhapsody]

dbd promptober day 4 ~ light

[virgilphobic]

DEAD BOY DETECTIVES SPOILERS AHEAD GO AWAY NOW IF YOU HAVENT FINISHED IT !!!

why does edwin’s voice change on his confession to charles?

my thoughts;

the simultaneous pitch change and voice crack in edwin’s confession of “charles i love you. as more than a friend, i’m afraid.” is a clear tell of edwin’s emotional turmoil.

edwin doesn’t lose his footing while speaking. ever. even when in the presence of the cat king, his tone is clear and concise. one could say that it does slip from a more confident standpoint to a less confident one, but that is entirely different from the raw, heart wrenching vulnerability edwin is giving out to charles. charles is edwin’s rock. his grounding force. we don’t see edwin’s speech falter any other time in the series besides when he is in hell. he keeps his wits about him and doesn’t show much emotion at all in his speech. (besides the ‘we didn’t matter, he and i.’ scene.)

i think he faltered because he knew that he wasn’t ready to say it, but he needed to because he didn’t know if he would be guaranteed to make it back to say it to charles later.

there is a clear desperate and scared tone to his voice, and he cracks while getting the sentence out. he also retreats his voice a bit, showing that he genuinely was scared. he was horrified. but he would rather charles know than have him not.

looking at edwin’s character interacting and talking to literally anyone else, (niko, monty, crystal, esther, mick, etc.) he has a sharp tone to his voice. a resonance that is both clear and confident. this is a complete 180 from the edwin we see on those stairs in ep 7, and i don’t think people are paying just as much attention to it as they should be.

edwin’s voice is his shield, and he lowered it for charles.

imagine you are in battle. would you lower your shield/armor for the person you love to tell them your feelings you might never get to act upon?

for edwin, that answer was a yes. even if it was one of the hardest things that boy has ever done.

[not-equippedforthis]

adore rudyard being just....endearing to animals, for some reason (excluding esther here...unless). his best friend is a mouse called madeleine. he manages to win over chapman's dog without the slightest meaning to. type of person to meet a cat and it trails behind him for 5 blocks and hes like why are you FOLLOWING ME

[prickly-paprikash]

Neither the original Castlevania show, nor Castlevania Nocturne are in any way shape or form misogynistic. At the very least, they are light years above their source material.

Both shows however are extremely momphobic. If you are a mom that isn't a part of the main, ensemble cast, then you're dropping dead, sweetheart.

• Lisa Ţepeş (later revived).

• Lydie Belmont (Juste's deceased wife)

• Julia Belmont

• Esther (Annette's mother)

• Tera (Edit added: I should specify that Tera ain't dead. But she is a vampire now, so...)

Honorable Mentions go to:

Trevor's mom.

Hector's mom, whom he murdered.

Sypha's mom.

That one woman in Gresit from the first season who had to wake up to her baby's empty, bloody crib. (Not motherless, but close).

As someone with severe mommy issues, I don't actually know how to feel...

Thanks, Castlevania. I guess.

[emi-the-gremlin]

Saw your ml au dead boys art and I'm IMMEDIATELY so invested, they'd be so cute fr 👀 if you want an excuse to talk about them please take this as one, otherwise just know your art is adorable and my head is full, many thoughts xhsndjsnfk

Thank you<3 I’m so glad you like the doodles!

Honestly you’re giving me such an opportunity here, I don’t even know where to start lol.

First of all, this au is actually a collaboration between me, @knifesimmons, @innocentmapleleaf & @necromancer-snail over on the dead ppl detective agency server. So if you’d ever like to get the complete experience, and not just my silly yapping, you can just dm me, I’d love to send you a link to the server, so you can check it out for yourself:)

Now I think the best place to start, is a character introduction:

Heroes:

Edwin/Coccinelle: Edwin is the holder of the ladybug miraculous. His strict yet absent parents, have homeschooled him up until recently, since he’s decided to go to school.

Charles/Jinx: Charles is the holder of the black cat miraculous. He’s transformed as often as possible, and absolutely loves the freedom it has given him. Plagg is incredibly protective of him, because of his poor home life.

Crystal/Panthera: Crystal is the holder of the tiger miraculous. She frequently crossed paths with the hero boys, before becoming a holder, because of her ex Davids tendency of getting akumatized constantly, like an infinitely worse version of Mr. Pigeon.

Niko/Inoshishi: Niko is the holder of the pig miraculous. She runs this aus version of the Ladyblog; “The Coccinelle Chronicles”, she has so many videos, that she can’t post to it, because it would reveal her identity.

Jenny/Tau: Jenny is the holder of the ox miraculous. She is incredibly tired of a certain cat, always sleeping on her awning/roof, but at least it gets her more customers. She has to be the responsible adult in the group, and she definitely did not sign up for it.

Villains:

Esther/Hawkmoth: Esther is the holder of the butterfly miraculous. I mean she’s Esther Finch, need I say more.

Monty/Pavonis: Monty is the holder of the peacock miraculous. He’s a senti monster, but isn’t aware of it yet. He secretly works for Esther, but eventually gets redeemed.

Additional cast:

The Night Nurse/Gaurdian: NN is the guardian of the miraculous, and is the one tasked with picking the holders. She’s also dating a certain Ms. Jenny Green.

Death/Grand Master: we haven’t talk much about her role in the story yet.

Also they wear school uniforms (styled after Edwin’s uniform in the comics), for no other reason then I wanted to, and no one can stop me.

(I don’t get asks often, so this is a little overwhelming, but um I hope you like my answer:])

[reesiereads]

Of course the character I latched onto the most is the fkin astrology bitch who also happens to be a crow

[anxious-witch]

Something something, a cat and a crow both not only falling for Edwin but becoming loyal to him, both (black) cat and a crow as the animals most often associated with witches as their familiars, both betraying an actual witch because their love for Edwin surpassed whatever hold Esther had on them(fear or loyalty both) something something

[suzyblue0292]

Rewatch - Dead Boy Detectives S1E1 - The Case of Crystal Palace

We are introduced to Edwin guarding Charles or the boys guardian each other

The bickering

They are time cards not library cards.

Does the show often say one thing and show another? REVISIT

“Death will take us” v Death asking Wilfred if he is ready

The boxing scene is interesting given everything we learn about Edwin later - getting out of hell couldn’t have been easy he has to have more skill than Charles gives him credit for - or they want the audience to give him less credit

You are the brawn? - I feel like they want us to doubt the narrative. 

We are presented with Crystal as a good person. (Aside from being American apparently). Again we are being told one thing so we are blindsided by the other. 

The looks on the boys' faces when they observe Crystal. 

We never see them as relaxed looking as they are in the office again. 

Edwin knows how to knit.

Was there a debate over the disguises?

She has her purse and phone. Does the memory loss prevent her from reading her contacts/ID?? 

Charles does not hesitate to call Edwin on his BS - he also knows that Edwin is jealous (just not the exact nature of said jealousy) - but he said it himself during the boxing scene - he knows Edwin hates change - and the very first thing we see him doing in the next scene is defending Edwin to Crystal

This is also how we learn about the “Clerical error” - is this the extent of Charles’ knowledge or the best way he has to explain it?

We start to see the meaner side of Crystal but Charles' good nature still acts a deterrent from following that to a conclusion.

Charles’ admits that part of the reason its so good to talk to Crystal is because she’s living and his age - they probably don’t meet a huge amount of teenage ghosts - although I would guess they might have more unfinished business than most - I have a feeling its the living part that’s the biggest appeal

What is Edwin doing with the coffee??

Why are you warning Edwin about the cleaver, Charles? 

Crystal is carrying a considerable amount of cash - but no cards?

Edwin gets them a clue quickly through mirror travel. - The Cat King and his little bracelet are quite the plot devices. 

Why so rude to the cat Charles?

Also did the Crow not tip off the whole witch thing?

Crystal seems so young and vulnerable when she realizes the girls are staring.

Crystal’s mind is so desolate - all the broken picture frames - empty memories - the three eyeballs should have given it away though - “the third eye”

We know they can travel by mirror, and the normal way, but can ghosts travel through ether? How do they get in front of Crystal?

Poor Charles, no it’s not a competition but Crystal and Edwin are both terrified in their own right.

Every demonic case must be a nightmare for Edwin and now he realizes they didn’t get rid of the demon. He only knows how to express his fear in terms of case work though. 

The flashback: Simon is so clearly reaching out, but Edwin is so clearly expecting to be bullied. And the shot of him marching against the flow of other students, bless.

Its also so heartbreaking that Edwin is terrified BEFORE there is any sign the demon sacrifice will work. God only knows what he thought those boys would do. 

Five other boys died with Edwin and it seems like Sa ’al obliterates their bodies. Was there anything for the school to give the parents to bury? Just ashes? No wonder it was deemed an act of God. Six boys either vanished or reduced to ashes. 

And no wonder the memory drives Edwin to recklessness. 

Jenny laying down the hard truth. 

“I get angry. It's like knowing you have a home but being unable to get there.” Poster child speaks to poster child.

Yeah, I totally thought Niko was going to be the love interest.

Why never tell Edwin? Because he really can’t go home?

I try to be extra happy for all of us. - Oh Charles.

And now the boy who was dragged to hell learns that Crystal chose her demon. Ouch.

Edwin isn’t just yelling at Crystal. He’s reminding Charles too. “You are sharp and fun, but this isn’t a game.”

They are such vulnerable children, and then so cute as they plot.

Poor Jenny. She doesn’t doesn’t even get paid teacher’s wages for this shit.

Edwin does a good job of actually telling Crystal the stakes with the plastic girl bit. She  might be cottoning on. 

Charles is comforting Crystal, but holding Edwin.

Note that Charles doesn’t roll his eyes or dispute “and we’re punishing you.” After Edwin’s outburst and Crystal’s confession his loyalties seem to have tipped back a bit.

Why doesn’t it trip Edwin that Esther left her kettle on? It worried me from word go.

Again, Charles is the brawn but Edwin is the one checking out the weird witch’s lair.

So many fucking shoes.

I love Esther. I know I shouldn’t but….

Can Charles actually understand the Crow?

Edwin has such poor form, but he does as well as Charles when it comes down to it.

Round 1 of Esther underestimating Crystal

Edwin goes straight to help Crystal, despite his concern for Charles possessing Esther. 

Okay was anyone else expecting that kid to get mowed down crossing the street?

Oh Charles, counting your chickens to soon is a bad idea.

It’s interesting that Charles possessing someone sets off an alarm for them both - this must not be the first time they’ve tangled with the afterlife for them to have a joint file.