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seijitheclown · 17 days ago

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SPOILERS Chapters 251 onwards

Bookman Junior, past!Allen, Bookman and ... debunked theories, also theories that somewhat were reanimated?

So here it is my new theory post regarding the newer chapters it took me a while but my mind has been working. I did several in the past, here we have them:

Bookman's Flashback & Bookman Jr = Lavi but different?

Lucia & the Bookman at the Campbell's

The weirdness of Allen's Age

Allen & Junior being one person at some point

So hey listen I did come up with a lot of things over the past 6 months and I will refer to a few that were confirmed (and also debunked) and go to a few things we learned from the recent chapter (253). And my two cents to that.

The Bookman from the Ark Flashback is indeed our Bookman.

I had the discussion earlier this year that it was implied that this person is a Bookman but it's not clear what Bookman. My first thought was our current Bookman. Then I had the idea it could be Cross as I stated in the post above but ... no. I came back to it being our Bookman as the ears and the earrings match. So we kinda got that confirmed here.

2. Bookman Jr = Lavi, but no & Allen's bond with Junior in the Flashback during the Circus ark

My idea was if Allen got regressed Apocryphos might have been messing with more people. But that theory was wrong. We do have a second Lavi though.

Also I was right about the one single memory of Red before the circus of feeling someone cared for him was him and Lavi, their bond survived the whole ordeal with Apocryphos (also I suspected Junior protected Allen from Apocryphos that was confirmed too).

I was wrong about the idea that Allen was a child when he met Nea as we learned Allen was dying as Nea approached him and that was the reason why Nea bowed down. I was right about Allen being regressed according to that flashback though.

3. Blood relation between Bookman & Junior, the Clan and their Blood + the black Sheep and the Mark

This is a kinda confirmed thing? At least Allen refers to Bookman as Lavi's "Dad".

Also current Allen indeed looks like a mash up between pastAllen and Lavi. At this point I suspect that a lot of Lavi's personality and functionality took over Allen as he was merely a head and the Innocence arm, everything else was basically Lavi's Helix filling up his.

The question is still are the Bookman otherwise related in any way? How did the elder from the village immediately knew that the Baby was related to the Bookman Clan? A Clan that is not known by many as they operate in the shadows of history.

We know that Bookman are allowed to have children (it was confirmed somewhere in Komui's Lounge I don't know which Volume it was but it was the same confirming that they don't drink Alcohol iirc). It could be that the whole Clan is indeed Blood related BUT maybe just a few people might have the abilities to become a Bookman and maybe even among those only a certain percentage are allowed to work in their profession (heck I still think Lucia looks like Lavi but with a haircut).

This would explain why the Bookman share their recordings by "blood" while they still do recordings on paper (looking at Lucia writing down the stories of that old man). Maybe Bookman, Lavi and current!Lavi are the blessed ones with the Blood connection while Lucia, Joe and the Zeugle guy (does he has a name even?) without socks are helping to a certain degree.

What brings me to ... the mark.

That one thing marking the Bookman as head of the Clan and the Junior as the future Bookman.

It is certainly not the scar that Junior has. At this point I do suspect something else but let me finish my first thought.

Bookman sr. hides his mark under Make up, we all know how he looks like right now. The current Junior wears an eyepatch. We don't see their right eyes uncovered/without make up. Not even with baby!Lavi. Hoshino even hid Bookman's right eye behind the wall to not give away any clues in earlier chapters.

We do not see Lavi's eye uncovered in any flashbacks, the glasses hide his eyes every time.

But we do see in Chapter 253 that Bookman Sr only covers the area above his right eye with make up and we all can agree that both his eyes are fine to use he doesn't need glasses, there aren't any hints that his right eye is defect in any way. Also current!Lavi has only his eye covered there is no mark on his forehead or anything.

So there is a mark somewhere around the right eye the key person of the Clan have by birth.

I do suspect that Lavi, who was conflicted all the time, from young years on, that this profession is what he should follow, reminded by Bookman who supressed his feelings all his live long, to stay true to his profession either forcefully lost his mark by someone else.

Or he decided to blind himself to erase his connection to the Clan. As he sees himself as the Black Sheep, the one who brought shame upon the Clan. They still do see him as 'beloved' member, and the reminder that he lost his former Junior pains Bookman to a certain degree.

I think the latter is the case, I do think Lavi injured himself to erase his connection to the Clan. But he still was a member and he was not completely disconnected from the Clan either.

One point is that current!Lavi was born after Lavi merged with Allen, that means he might gave up his 'Job' but he was still their heir. AND his hairstyle is the same as Bookman's it's a Bookman hairstyle. Also the jacket he wears is hinted to be worn under the cape in the teen flashback, the collar decoration (feathers) still hints to the Bookman Clan and so does the clasp which shows a bird. He is still attached to the Clan even with the fact he denies it.

Why would you continue to wear the cloth of a Clan if you didn't want to be associated with it anymore? Also why does he stick to the rule of not having a name? Like, he left the Clan and still is "I was formerly the one who was supposed to be the next Bookman I have no name but Lavi is the name of the Record so that's not a name either"... Lavi you literally could have named yourself Bob and that would have been your name?! (But yeah I think Allen told him his 'name' is Lavi now just to make things easier)

Also Bookman does his best to not let his current apprentice take after his former Junior (eyepatch, not the same hairstyle, more distance between them, constant reminder not to get attached).

BUT there is something we can't grasp yet...

their weapon. We first see Lavi's staff in Chapter 252. And current Lavi has a similar weapon with his Hammer, he uses a staff during the attack on the Headquarter as his Hammer broke during the fight with Tyki.

Why do the both Junior have the same weapon? Does Bookman teach them the same fighting style? Is there any reason behind this?

And ...

4. Bookman, Lucia, the Helix and Innocence

What is the deal with Bookman and the Helix of Life? Can they just manipulate it like that?

We do know the Lucia in the current chapters is the same as the one in Chapter 222, the chapters take place about 3 months apart, not more, it is not a Flashback. Lucia 'aged' somehow.

An idea I have is that maybe Bookman can indeed control their Helix to a certain degree. Maybe Lucia gifted a part of hers to 'the injured Bookman in the Campbell Residence' to help him heal, she lost years of her life and aged accordingly (wild theory but hey we got wilder things within the series, also Bookman is important to their Clan keeping him alive is their higest priority).

They must be able to manipulate it at some point. This would explain why Bookman and current!Lavi were able to become accomodator of Innocence 'just like that', this is not a coincidence. Especially considering Bookman warns Lavi about becoming a crystal type.

Innocence feeds off the Helix and only chooses people who are resilient enough to endure it, people who aren't giving up after their personal traumas and keep on fighting (which is a horrible thought, they are basically punished for surviving and then their live source is sacrificed for the Heart...).

5. Allen and Lavi are the same, aka we know nothing about Allen

Hands down we learned a lot about the former Bookman Junior and he gave up his own life for Allen, to fill his helix. The former Allen, the soldier, who made a deal with Nea, doesn't exist anymore. And the Allen he was before Apocryphos got him was basically someone else as he was before the deal, he was a teen raised by someone who was a Bookman.

The Allen we have is the result of two people being fused (something I had suspected earlier). Though we have zero idea who past!Allen was aside... being a soldier. We don't know why he agreed to Nea's deal nor what he got for it. We don't know who the opponent was that wiped his whole unit.

6. Cross is not Bookman Junior

I think we can finally get rid of that theory, thank you.

Though I hope we learn what relationship Cross has with them all, he is a big mystery still.

7. The Future of Allen

So yes this ... is bugging me. There is surely more like ... what will happen to Allen when the Clan learns he is basically the lost Junior? Will they claim him? Will they treat him more gently? Will anything happen at all?

Will they help him to regain the lifetime he lost due taking the poison? (Or will that be Link's part?)

Also I tried to keep Hoshino's wish in mind not to share caps from the recent chapter therefore I inserted older caps and own drawings, just in case you wondered why.

#dgm #d.gray-man #bookman jr #allen walker #dgm theories #dgm spoilers #bookman #lucia #lavi

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shiroganeryo · 4 months ago

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Thank you so much for your addition to this post! Now that I'm more awake, I've reread my post to be able to directly respond to your counterpoints (I don't mean to refute them but there are things to clear up):

1️⃣ By no means I meant to imply that the conversation between Lucia and Joe wasn't in the present day! It says right there at the page when we see Lucia running towards Joe that this is the Campbell Mansion in the present day:

So that wasn't really up for debate. When I word it like "back in Chapter 222", it's because it's a not-so-recent chapter, and not because it's an event in the past/flashback.

I saw people interpreting it like that after reading my post and that made me go *head in hands* because to me, I thought I had been clear enough (since I mentioned the thing about Lucia being the same Lucia too), but it seems I was mistaken and that's entirely on me.

"Why Lucia looks like a kid here is a mystery to yet be revealed - Hoshino herself said so."

I did mention that, too. ´v`

By "sudden aging" I'm referring to the fact that she looks like a child in her first appearance and like a grown-up who's even a little bit taller than Allen in her second/current appearance; not that time had passed and that she aged up because years passed. It's all in the present.

The Zoogles already knew Bookman had lost an apprentice before because one of the most popular theories in the fandom is that Cross was this specific lost pupil of his (I disagree with that one but I digress), so even before the reveal of Lavi Sr. we already knew of the lost Bookman Jr. Hence my assumption (after reading Chapter 252) that Lucia was talking about him and not the current Lavi for the aforementioned reasons in my post.

2️⃣ I was referring to not only one but two things Hoshino said:

One is that which you've mentioned and you're completely right, that's totally what she meant with us 'seeing Lavi soon' which I failed to consider at the time since they aren't the same person but bear the same alias;

And the other is that she also said that Lavi would become Bookman one day because that's the day we would find out about what's hidden underneath Lavi's eyepatch.

3️⃣ This is very possible as well and is the "third option I failed to consider" that I mentioned in the same post so thank you for bringing it up!

The Japanese wording sounds so specific to me that I couldn't think of anything other than being no more because of death (and Lavi wouldn't die just like that off-screen, this is not like Hoshino) and that leaves us with only Lavi Sr. But if we think of it like you said, the possibility that the Noah incapacitated him in some way is also very likely, especially considering he had Feedra's parasites implanted on him.

Additional points in a subsequent reblog:

That's a really nice catch about the eye seemingly not being injured before since there's no visible scar in the panels from the older chapters. There's definitely something about Bookman Jr's eyes that makes them special to their role as Jrs.

I don't think Cross and Lavi Sr. are the same person because too many things don't add up, but I can't say it's not possible that Cross was never a Bookman Jr prior to past!Lavi (Lavi Sr.), since we've never seen what's behind his mask and his past is still shrouded in mystery.

I recall Cross affirming that both his eyes are fine and that he can see perfectly and Allen confirming that he seems to be able to see normally despite wearing that mask.

We've seen the mask can be used for shapeshifting and isn't just an accessory, but who knows? Cross wasn't willing to reveal what's underneath it and in the same discussion room where his eyesight was discussed, it was brought up that he knows a lot about the Bookman Clan (which he effortlessly shrugged off).

DGM 252: New perspectives and confirmations it has given us

⚠️First of all, I'll be tagging this under DGM spoilers so if you have somehow stumbled upon this even if you're avoiding spoilers for Chapter 252 (or the most recent DGM talks as a whole), this is your warning to turn back now!

And secondly, I'm under the effect of allergy meds so please pardon me if I'm talking gibberish 😂 But the latest chapter has given us some food for thought and I've been mulling it over.

There are two points I want to cover in this post; the first one being much extensive while the other is rather short.

1. Bookman Jr.

The reveal that the guy we had thought to be Past!A all along was actually the former Bookman Jr. in one of the best twists Hoshino has given us in a while - she sounded very proud of how we were all misled by her narrative and honestly I tip my hat at her for such genius - has also fueled questions about his identity.

I'll start by saying I do not believe he and Cross are the same person. That's not what I'll be talking about so I'm playing this card right off the bat. This theory, although popular, has always had way too many gaps for my liking and after the latest chapter, the chances are practically null that it's true.

If you want a discussion as to why, this post has put it into words better than I could and I agree 100% with OP's point, hence why I don't see the need to say anything on the matter.

But there's one thing that I'm yet to see people discussing and it's about the talk Lucia had with Joe back in The 222nd Night: Searching for A.W. - Hypokrisis.

(I'm showing what I believe to be the official translated English version by Viz and there's a reason why)

For a long time, people have debated about this small exchange between Lucia and Joe. There's no doubt the one they're talking about is old man Bookman, so we can confidently affirm he's the one waiting at the Campbell Mansion.

And what about Lavi? This is where the next dialogue from Lucia comes into play:

Since this is probably the version a lot of people have read, I must make it clear that the like "Junior, his successor, isn't here" was a mistranslation. Here's the original:

Lucia: Koukeisha to naru Jr. wa mou imasen. (The one who'd become his successor, Jr, is no more.)

I've double-checked with the Brazilian Portuguese translation because it tends to be as close to the original as possible, and surely enough, it's translated correctly:

(image courtesy of the volume I own by my so-so phone camera 😋)

"Junior, who was his heir, is no more."

The literal translation for what Lucia is saying is "isn't among us anymore", but that's an expression in Portuguese that means that someone has died/doesn't walk on Earth anymore.

While the mistranslated English version and the original Japanese/Brazilian version have similar meanings, the way it's worded gives the sentence a completely different meaning: in one we're led to believe Jr. isn't physically there at the Mansion, while the other two make it clear that Jr. has died.

And that's exactly why that, after Chapter 252 dropped, this scene is given a new perspective - because Lucia was referring to the former Bookman Jr, and not the current one.

We don't know the whereabouts of current Lavi - cue in the chair jokes, I unfortunately love them all - and while I might be wrong, I have my reasons to believe he's alive.

It just doesn't feel like Hoshino to kill an important character off-screen, plus she has said we'll see him again eventually and that the mystery of what's behind his eyepatch is still to be revealed (and will only happen once Bookman passes away, something that will possibly happen before the story reaches its end).

I have the feeling Lavi still has much to contribute to the story and he's actually one of the characters that, to me, seem to have the highest odds of making it alive until the end. It also isn't mere coincidence that Bookman picked the same alias for both Juniors, since Lavi has mentioned in a discussion room that the aliases refer to their record logs and the Holy War is being recorded under 'Lavi'. There's unfinished business to be taken care of.

Using the mistranslated version to illustrate was important because I've seen people wondering where Lavi is if not in the Mansion, while others were afraid he has died. He's very likely in a predicament, but dead? I don't think so.

So that only leaves us with one viable subject for that dialogue, that being the former Bookman Jr. (now affectionately dubbed Lavi Sr. by the fandom).

"But how come they didn't know Bookman already had a new apprentice back in Chapter 222 if the Zoogles mentioned it in Chapter 251?"

Yes, it's a little odd. What I can infer from this is that they either 1. Didn't know Bookman already had a new Jr. because he had been unconscious and only after they stabilized his situation they could talk, or 2. Did know about the current Lavi but believe him not to be ready to take on the mantle yet while Lavi Sr. was (but unfortunately deserted the clan).

Since only the Bookman and his appointed apprentice, who was born with the seal, can exchange information and records via their blood, it might be not that off the chart that the Zoogles weren't up-to-date on his affairs since they're not Bookmen themselves but rather a bloodline of people scattered across the globe who are supporters of Bookman's mission like Lucia has explained. Yet, even if they aren't all-knowing, it seems odd for them not to know something as vital as that about the person they're supporting.

And of course, there's also the possibility of option 3, something else that I completely failed to consider right now. Time will tell which one.

Note: By the way, the Lucia in 222 and the Lucia in 251/252 are indeed the same person; Hoshino seemed to hint there's a reason behind her sudden aging that we don't know yet. It's important to make this clear since what I've said is related to dialogues delivered by her.

2. Past!A = current Allen

(image courtesy of Kougeki Scans' Chapter 251's translation)

There were theories around and people still considering the possibility of our current Allen being a clone and all sorts of theories because of the unexplainable age gap between him and Past!A, but it seems the deaging theory has been fully confirmed by Chapter 252, as we saw it taking place before our very eyes.

There are still some mysteries surrounding it, but seeing how Apocryphos mentioned the "Helix", we can't help but be taken back to the explanation we've previously seen about the Helix of Life (The 221st Night - The Clown's Joke).

Since that's a topic that feels like there's more to it as of now, I won't be discussing the how and why Allen deaged, especially with the unseen variable in the mix that is Innocence; who knows if that might make the Helix energy behave differently.

I was on the "deaging theory" train because Nea was able to recognize Past!A all right when he looks in the mirror (The 214th Night: Searching for A.W. - Awakening) and also questioned the presence of Innocence on his body as well as how he hadn't aged but instead had gotten younger (The 215th Night: Searching for A.W. - By Your Side).

There are many mistranslations in the official English version of these two chapters (214 and 215) that have fueled countless misconceptions within the fandom but I won't be pointing those out in this post since I'm not here this time specifically to talk about it.

Note: Mangadex seems to have nicely translated versions of these chapters if you want to check them out for a recalling - I can't confirm fully but what I read of them looked consistent and faithful to the original.

Anyways, back on track; now that we've seen what took place 35 years ago in Chapter 252, Nea's bewilderment at the current situation of Allen back in Chapter 214/215 makes a lot more sense.

And even more interesting is that as soon as he noticed the Innocence lodged into Allen's left hand, we see the image of Apocryphos, as if Nea could feel its presence. Turned out that meant more than just Apocryphos being able to resonate with all Innocence, but rather, that the very reason why that Innocence had found home in Allen's body was by its intervention.

Just what the hell, dude. That was, once again, extremely well-played on Hoshino's part. I'm really looking forward to the next chapter!

#DGM spoilers #analysis #that was a very interesting discussion ✨#hope I didn't sound obnoxious; I really just wanted to clear up what I originally meant and give a proper response

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sunrisetune · 2 years ago

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DGM Exorcist! Alma Karma headcanons that nobody asked for:

When he was a kid, everything happened the same up until the very last one: which is to say he still destroyed the hell out of lab 6. Broke every machine, gutted every record-keeping station, killed all of the 'sleeping' apostles, slaughtered every scientist and staff member, everyone in the unsealed part of the building that he could get to.

Everyone except Noise and Yuu.

His Innocence, relatedly: is a bit fucked up! Physically, when it’s unactivated, it looks a bit similar to Allen’s arm before Crown Clown manifested properly, When activated it manifests somewhere between a gauntlet and a scythe, spiking up from his arm in way that’s only slightly more controlled than we saw in the flashback. It’s parasitic.

The Science division had to take a very long, careful time to find out information about it, given Alma’s trauma and following violent tendencies around doctors, but their general conclusion is that it would’ve been better suited as an equipment Innocence.

--- Or, in Komui’s notes, that it had been an equipment Innocence with its last accommodator, but that form broke when the Second Exorcist project had distilled it, and due to the trauma of their first synchronization it couldn’t bond properly with Alma to become what it was meant to.

As it is, though, it’s grown with Alma, through his arm and shoulder into his nervous system and whole right side. There’s no possibility of removing it without killing him, even with his accelerated healing.

They call it Angel’s Scythe

(This is partly based on Liketolaugh’s fic ‘Synchronization’ where Alma’s Innocence is named Angel Sword, and it’s good and y’all should read it)

I really like the idea, narratively speaking, of Alma reacting to his trauma equally & opposite to how Kanda does. Not an exact mirror but as a general characterization rule

e.g. The way Kanda hates anyone close to him ever, Alma is permanently touch-starved and is most comfortable when he's in physical contact with someone at all times

Kanda doesn't trust or like people and refuses to attach to anyone without kicking and screaming; Alma attaches to everyone who shows him any kind of kindness or affection, extremely easily

Like, to his detriment

He'd be a terrible Bookman

On one hand (literally) it's good because Alma’s protectiveness and regard for others matches his Innocence’s will, which gives them a usable synchro rate

Despite the seething hatred Alma has towards it, the scientists, the Asian branch, the Order at large, and also God

On the other hand, this gets him into trouble and he reacts to rejection, uh. poorly. Not violently poorly, and not as immediate-bawling as when he was a kid, but it's actually one of the ways he and Kanda are alike: they both have a Short Trigger for strong emotions

Alma is very angry, the same way Lena is very angry. This is part of the reason they're best friends

He remembers flashes of what happened to him in his past life, just enough to remember what’d been done to them, that his love died and that all flowers sink into the mud. He has terrible nightmares. Because of that, he does his best to avoid sleeping, and flowers

He does like non-flowering plants, though; and other things full of life; animals, kids, dancing, music; reading (especially mystery novels which he steals from Lavi on regular occasions), parties, learning.

The ‘detective work’ that sometimes come with missions is his favourite part.

He prefers mild-to-bland foods, like Kanda, but also really enjoys sweet things, and likes to try as much variety as he can (unlike his "soba for all meals counts as different food" soulmate)

Mostly he doesn't make his own meals, bc the Orders, but he can if needed. Klaude made cooking lessons part of his training (specifically, he’d have to cook her breakfast and if he was late or the food was burnt / undercooked he’d have another set of cardio exercises to do), and he found out he likes the whole process / finds it calming

Often when at the HQ he'll be in the kitchens making a midnight / 4am snack, Jeryy having made an exception to the “No One Allowed In The Kitchen After Hours, No Exception” rule for him when Alma and the others were very young

Though: once Link gets to the Order, he stops doing that as much. It makes Jeryy worry for him, but nothing’s wrong with Alma, it's just that he recognizes Link as a Crow from the moment he sees him, and Link uses the kitchens at night to stress-bake. So Alma cannot be anywhere near there or there will be a lot of problems.

Eventually Jeryy works out what the problem is and lets Alma use his personal kitchen to cook stuff, instead, which he would have done the whole time if someone had just told him what was going on, Alma

However that’s another thing Alma and Kanda actually have in common: if you’re having some kind of trouble, you don’t tell anybody anything at any point.

Lastly: Alma kept the plushie rabbit from the Lab, named Scratchy, and he fell asleep holding it every night he could until he was 17

#DGM #Goose's original poster tag which is for Goose #violence cw #murder cw #'Canon-typical DGM warnings cw' more or less #Fsr when posting the indents don't work which is The Most Annoying Thing

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llvr-92 · 4 years ago

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DGM Pairing - LaviLena - Part 2

it takes so much time but here is the second part of why Lavi deserves Lenalee the most & why I think Hoshino sensei setting them up as a couple, I hope you enjoy this post. also, you can find part1 under LaviLena tag in my blog:

Part2:Noah's Ark Arc:

· So we started this arc with Lenalee getting sucked by Lero into the “Noah’s Ark”, as everyone falls on top of her she was unconscious the first person to go to her & pick her-up is Lavi, just look how he is protectively\closely holding her. (CH90- EP76).

· As they were fighting Debito & Jedero, Lavi told Allen to protect Lenalee and the other “Chouji” until he found the real key (CH100 – EP82).

· After that the crew leaves Krory behind Lenalee wanted to go back to him, Allen stopped her & kind of share a cute Allena moment but Lavi has to ruin it for them, Lavi is probably jealous of how Allen is holding her & how close his face to Lena face isn’t he?. (CH105-EP83).

· Allen was helping Lenalee to climb the stair he is holding her hand and then Lavi commented that “he wants to switch place with Allen”, Allen reply was “your real motivate is so obvious Lavi, he just wants to hold Lenalee’s hand”, After Lenalee letting her thought out loud, Lavi teased her about never finding a lover if she “didn’t think more sexy thought”, which makes her angry & replied to him “its none of your business Lavi” & Lavi’s answer was “it’s none of my business but…”, Lavi seems so lost to put any other word as he was also blushing & frustrated so he had to change the subject, from the way Hoshino sensei drew this scene I think it will return in the future arc you can see Lenalee noticing Lavi blushing toward her in the below right panel with a “?”, maybe she will have a flashback related to this scene in the future. (CH110 – EP84).

· After receiving the bad news about Kanda & Krory, Lenalee was terrified\worried but Lavi reaches out to her squeezed her hand & told her to get a hold of herself, at this point “I love how Lavi knows her personality & how will she react then he just act accordingly to comfort her. (CH111-EP85).

· Lenalee & Chouji are Locked-up, Lavi is the one to fight to free these two & manly to free Lenalee you can see Lenalee apologizing for Lavi as this fight is on away for her sake. (CH112).

· Lavi is shifted into Road dream world, but what Road exactly used to prepare the worst opponent for Lavi, worst dream by reading his record & peering into his memory, his opponent was his former self “Deak” & an interesting conversation started between the two\bookman, this is the important dialogue stated between the two:

· Deak to Lavi “the place of your heart doesn’t exist in this world, no matter whose heart let you in you can only watch them that’s is your punishment”, after this dialogue Lavi reply “I already know that” which is incorrect he doesn’t know as Deak answered him I wonder? Then it just happens that Lenalee appears in the next panel with this text “your eyes of the past were never lit with that weak light” as if it indicated that “Lenalee is currently Lavi’s light” (CH114-EP86).

§ But let's not forget Road real purpose is to break him mentally & for that she used Lenalee by sending her inside a coffin knowing how Lavi will react, perhaps after reading Lavi memories/record she discovers Lavi feelings for Lenalee which at this point “Lavi himself still doesn’t know his feeling yet”.

§ After he saw Lenalee he jumped & rushed to her side & he holds her closely “just take a look at how Hoshino sensei drew Lavi facial expression, how much he is so terrified”, also didn’t Lavi said a while ago this is just a dream/an illusion created by Road Kamelot yet he reacted this way toward a fake Lenalee “Lavi just can’t think rationally when it’s involving Lena” (CH114-EP86).

· We had a flashback when Lavi first joined the order & his first meeting with Lenalee, again Hoshino-sensei choice for drawing Lavilena encounter is too beautiful, first, she gives us an overall view from the top just to showcase “there are a lot of people on the area”, but Lavi’s eyes set on Lenalee & on the same time Lenalee look at him while crying. “it’s like this is a girl & a boy encounter by fate, Lavi was so far away, yet they look at each other in the same time.

also regarding his encounter with Lenalee I believe it’s related to an answer which Lavi provided in the discussion room here is the question “Does Lavi have a thing for a cute girl with big breast” Allen answered “he’s a menace”, where Lavi had to stop him and answered “Hey, hold on! People think I only care about looks, but I'm pretty picky about personality too, “sometimes you see a girl and it just hit you” & just after this question Lavi stated that he is interested in Lenalee.

We also seen Lenalee sitting beside him in the cafeteria, she looks comfortable with him even though he is a newbie she even pats his back.

· After breaking Lavi mentally Deak takes over his body, a fight started with Allen, Lavi was ruthless & powerful as the last hope Allen used “Lenalee is crying” hoping to influence Lavi emotionally & bring him to his sense, but why “Allen used Lenalee name, perhaps he knows that Lavi has a feeling for her, he is weak against her tears? “I will write about this in part 3”, anyway instead of influencing Lavi positively, it seems that “Lenalee name triggered him to punch Allen even harder, “just look at Deak gaze when Allen mentioned Lena name”.

why he seems pissed? This is just an assumption but “as Deak is the one taking over, he was furious because the reason why Lavi is changing is Lenalee, he knows Lavi is falling for her isn’t he? otherwise why using Lenalee as the main person to break his heart on Road dream, why Lenalee is one to appear in the flashback, why he is trying so hard to convince Lavi “she is nothing more than a small piece of history?”, falling for her will interfere with Lavi recording as he stated while Lavi’s holding Lenalee “don’t let your heart distract you & interfere with your record”, meaning whatever Bookman clan trying to achieve is at risk as we saw “Lavi breaking his bookman role multiple time for Lenalee sake on the previous arc, this arc & the upcoming arc as well.

· Then Road stated something important I do think this will also be used on Lavi’s arc “if we ever reach there hopefully” once he becomes the bookman, which is “bookman are just onlookers for the sake of his record, he just walked alongside you guy” “those are that kid’s true feeling, you notice that Hoshino sensei put the text on Lenalee panel, even the anime version when Road said those words the frames were on Lenalee”

first, you see how these words affected Lenalee just look at how Hoshino-sensei draws Lenalee eyes she looks broken/desperate “Perhaps for the first time Lenalee was terrified from Lavi as a person”. after Lavi burned himself, Lenalee was also desperately hitting her leg wanting to save Lavi but unfortunately she didn’t have her innocence, once Allen & Lavi are out from the petrified fire she goes to “Lavi first”, instead of sharing a touchy moment, she gives him her Iron fist of love, but why Lenalee punch him in the first place I know Lavi was reckless, but it’s the same for Allen he was reckless against Tiki he didn’t get a punch, you may call me a biased but “Lenalee punching Lavi seems an act a girlfriend will do when the boyfriend had done risky thing & it’s a different vibe from when she hits Allen in the next chapter ”.

· Lavi lent his coat to Lenalee as she was revealing to much skin, just look how cute she is on Lavi’s coat, also isn’t Lavi acting like he is the perfect boyfriend, not to forget he showed a proactive side toward Lenalee being in a room with the womanizer Cross he had to rush to her with the other boys. “Lenalee are you sure he didn’t do anything to you?”

· Personally, this arc was my favorite because I got attached to Lavi’s background & his suffering, I also know on this Arc that Lavi is hopelessly in love with Lenalee & not to mention through the years Lavi changed his name 48 times and all the previous persona are the same but Lavi differ before he was disappointed on the human race, didn’t get attached to anyone, he was only concentrating on recording, but all that changes once he encounters Lenalee, Lenalee changed him, did Lenalee changes Allen persona in any way? I don’t think so, we all know what motivates Allen it’s his promise to mana, so I do hope she gives Lavi a chance, but also Hoshino sensei put some elements which make this ship Impossible to Happen, which make me ship them more T_T.

· I will be happy to receive any feedback positive or negative are all welcomed, BTW Part three is already finished I just need to do the final revision, but I haven’ really thought that it would be the longest one ^_^, what you all think shall I tried to delete some part or keep it long as it’s, I mean I have put extra thing such as why I support this ship, what I hate about it, my point of view about Hoshino sensei writing, an example from different Manga related to couple-endgame…..ETC.

#dgm #dgm pairing #D.Gray-Man #Lenalee Lee #lavi bookman #lavi x lenalee #lavilena #otp

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thecomicsnexus · 5 years ago

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DRAWING BLOOD #1-4 MAY - AUGUST 2019 BY DAVID AVALLONE, KEVIN EASTMAN, BEN BISHOP, TROY LITTLE AND BRITTANY PEER

SYNOPSIS

Once upon a time, Shane and Paul Bookman created an indie comic named “Radically Rearranged Ronin Ragdolls”. The comic was a success that ended up becoming a big franchise. Many years later, and inspired by his mentor Frank Forrest, he sells the rights of the Ragdolls to the Kiddiescope network and creates a new publishing studio to champion creator rights. This doesn’t go well and Frank Forrest (who was managing the failing studio) takes his life.

Shane, working on a troubled Broadway musical based in Metropolis (the silent movie), also gets in trouble with the Lithuanian mafia because of the debts of Frank Forrest. He has to make a few millions happen. Fortunately, Hollywood producer Morgan Harbor is doing a new movie about the Ragdolls and hired Shane to work as a consultant, mostly to calm the fans. But he was hired after production started, so he had no say in the whole thing. He gives the little money he gets to the mafia, and arranges with them to have control over the Broadway musical (including casting) as even if it ends up being a train wreck, people will want to see it.

Shane tries to contact his brother to get involved in this new movie for a few bucks, but Paul is very angry at Shane after the way things ended between the two. The next day, Shane is going to NYCC, but when he arrives he discovers all the fandom is outraged after Morgan Harbor announced the new Ragdolls weren’t mutant, but aliens.

Shane uses his power as fan-favorite creator to manipulate Morgan Harbor into admitting he was confused and the Ragdolls are going to be mutant after all.

When things seem to go back to normal and he has to hire the boyfriend of the mafia boss, he discovers that his main actress is in some shady business, just before being kidnapped.

REVIEW

Kevin Eastman appearing in the actual comic helps make the distinction that this is not exactly Kevin Eastman’s story. But it’s pretty similar.

From their mentor (Jack Kirby and even his famous quotes), to Siberia Publishing (Tundra), to Morgan Harbor (Michael Bay), and the kiddiescope network (Viacom) there are many similarities. But it is mixed with other events that happened to different creators. The Broadway musical will remind you of the Spider-man musical, but it also reminds me of that time Stan Lee wanted to be in Broadway (and was, briefly).

But the real fun here is in seeing “Morgan Harbor” not understand the property one bit, and not caring about anything.

There is also a lot more going on that will be resolved in future issues (apparently this was a mini-series, but I understand an issue 5 is coming up). I really hope so, as there are a lot of plots and backstory to delve into.

I am not sure if this project is so interesting for non-turtle fans, but it is well written (by someone that worked in Hollywood) and nicely illustrated. Eastman provides black and white (or sepia) flashbacks, while Troy Little illustrates hallucination sequences.

I am also a fun of stories within the comic-book industry, as there is much more drama happening behind the panels than what we actually get, so this is kind of my type of story.

I give these issues a score of 9.

#drawing blood #kevin eastman #ben bishop #kevin eastman studios #comics #review #indie #2019 #post modern age #tmnt #rrrr #teenage mutant ninja turtles #radically rearranged ronin ragdolls

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harmony283 · 6 years ago

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[DGM] Rain and Cigarette Smoke

Yet another prompt (kind of) suggested by @a1y-puff though this one I can already tell may become a much longer thing. Definitely a modern day!AU, but we'll see where it goes from there.

EDIT: Now on Ao3 because tumblr's formatting kept messing up. There is now also an extra scene at the end :>

[DGM]Rain and Cigarette Smoke

“Y'know brat this isn't exactly a habit I wanted you to pick up.” Cross muttered as he eyed a soaking wet Allen trying to slink back into the house at who-the-fuck-knows o'clock. All he knew was it was late, he had a box of empty cigarettes in his top drawer (shoved underneath the wad of old receipts that he never looked at), and now here was Allen standing there looking sheepish but also defiant.

Cross Marian knew he failed at a lot of things in life--parenting being one of them. He had a list of faults he kept track of in a small leather bound notebook hidden in his bathroom drawer along with the spare toothbrushes. Maybe Mana could forgive him for some of his transgressions, but this? “I'll give you points for trying to be sneaky about it. But go get changed. Then come back here. We need to talk.”

Allen opened his mouth, probably to complain loudly, but thought better of it. Maybe he was cold, he was certainly wet enough for it. How long had he been out? It had been raining for the last three hours, why hadn't he at least hid under a damn tree? Or an overhang? His shoes squeaked against the tiled flooring of their entryway in the way they only could if they were completely drenched. Damn. “Shoes off.” He snapped before Allen reached the carpeting, “Fuck, kid. You know better.”

On second thought he probably shouldn't have scolded him. At the very least even he knew he probably deserved to get those shoes thrown at his head for it. He would have done the same damn thing if he was Allen's age.

***

An odd fifteen or twenty minutes later Cross was sitting across from a much warmer looking Allen at the kitchen table. He'd thrown on a loose fluffy sweater and some navy blue sweat pants with bright pink polkadots on them that Chomesuke got him as a gift last year. Even his feet were covered with fluffy comfy looking socks that looked like they had pandas on them. Point was, he was much warmer than when he came in and he definitely looked more like the brat he knew.

Which was why they were fucking talking about this to begin with, because Allen didn't smoke, at least not until today. Cross would have noticed if he had. Though that wasn't all. “I know I only had two left.” Cross decided to start with after Allen started fidgeting across from him, “You took both. I assume you gave the other one to whoever you were with?”

Allen stared resolutely down at the table, but at least managed to nod his head. Well shit.

Cross sighed heavily, “Alright. I know you're nineteen now,” So at least he could legally buy cigarettes if necessary, “But who did you give it to?” Allen tended to hang out with an older crowd but he did have a few friends who hovered around a year or two younger than him. If he'd been coerced into bringing the extra cigarette for them to try--

“--No.” Cross cued back into the conversation. Allen was fidgeting even more but he was looking at him now, “It wasn't. A-Anyone younger than me.” Ah. Well, at least the kid knew him well enough to know that was his first concern, “And I know. I shouldn't have. Wasn't planning on it, but they didn't have their wallet and we were running late so I just--grabbed it.”

“And put the damn box back.”

“I was hoping you'd be too drunk to notice.” Even Allen cringed at how bad that probably sounded, “Maybe sleep in late, run to work a-and I'd have enough time to replace them. I know where you get them and--”

“You could just say you're picking them up for me.” Cross pinched the bridge of his nose and groaned. For once he was glad he hadn't drunk so much. The business meeting hadn't called for it, but regardless, “Do I need to be asking how often you've done this?” It couldn't have been long, after all the place he used still checked for IDs, and he’d been in there often enough with Allen that they all knew he was underage up until his birthday, which had only been, what, 2 months ago?

Immediately Allen was shaking his head, “I haven't--no. Just this once.” Well at least the kid was honest, even though he still hadn't answered him.

“Okay. I'll give you a benefit of a doubt.” He leaned forward, propping his chin on one hand and eyeing Allen here, “But who did you give it to?” Who in his group of friends smoked? Or rather who in his group of friends smoked and would have forgotten their own? Immediately he knew Lavi sometimes smoked because he'd had one too many awkward conversations with him while waiting for his old man. But he already knew from Bookman that Lavi was out of town, or had been for the last three days. That and for all that Lavi played the idiot, he didn't forget things.

It couldn't be Lenalee either. Not only did she not smoke, but Komui would probably cry if she started. Yes, she was Allen's ride the majority of the time but she never even seemed curious about it. Plus Komui would probably scream and cry and ban Allen from ever seeing Lenalee again if he'd asked for a ride this late.

So then--

Oh.

Allen was staring at the table again as Cross hummed long and low, “Tiedoll's brat?” He asked, “Which one?” Though the answer was obvious. It baffled him how Allen and Kanda had ever even become friends to begin with. In the beginning he knew they hadn't been. Their fights had resulted in several heated conversations, not to mention bloody noses on both their parts to the point Cross had been legitimately worried Allen was going to snap and he'd have to deal with the repercussions of hiding a dead body. Or. Okay, so the kid couldn't technically die like a normal person so he'd have to make up a convincing enough cover story along with having to explain a series of really shitty background events that Allen really shouldn't know a damn thing about--

Oh. Fuck it, he was getting off track. Point was somehow over the years that? Had turned into a grudging form of friendship and now apparently that included midnight car rides and sharing smokes. Cross snorted and Allen cringed, “I'd ask but lemme guess. Repayment?” Or something like it. Allen sagged and nodded his head, “You probably found out he probably had some stashed in his glove compartment, yeah?”

Oddly, Allen didn't answer him that time. Not even with a nod or a scowl. Cross squinted and looked at him closer.

Wait.

He'd been soaking wet when he got home. If they'd just smoked why hadn't they stayed in the car? Or if Kanda was really just dropping him off why didn't he drop him off somewhere dry? Unless he refused to pick him back up and made Allen walk home--

Something didn't add up.

“Oi, kid,” Immediately Allen straightened up, “Where did you two go?”

**FLASHBACK TIME**

It went the way typical 11 o'clock phone calls went, in retrospect. Kanda wasn't quite sure why he expected it to go any differently, just that the brat was as elusive as ever saying Please, I just need a drop off. Like it was the most natural thing to ask someone this late at night. He'd never say it, but just like every other time a late night call was made --he got worried.

He would have been just as worried if it was Lenalee calling, granted Komui wouldn't dare let her step foot outside past eleven unless he knew exactly where she was going and when she'd be back, and honestly Kanda highly doubted Allen wanted his guardian to know either of these things. So the fact that he was his first choice to ask? Kanda wouldn't say no. Even if, yes, okay he was a little bit mean to ask for compensation. The front might not Matter in a few hours depending on what kind of shit Allen was getting into, but still. He would never just give him a ride out of the goodness of his heart.

That and it proved Cross had been gone for the night if Allen could easily sneak in like that and steal the last--two?--cigarettes. “I didn't know you smoked.” Kanda muttered when Allen stealthily (and unnecessarily) opened the passenger side door. He was wearing his typical black hoodie with some obscure death metal band logo on it that Kanda probably heard at some point when he let Allen choose what songs to listen to, with a jean jacket over that and black ripped jeans. He half expected boots to finish off the look--but no. He wore the same old red converse shoes he always wore, which didn't do much good in this downpour. In fact Allen was already shaking, which reminded Kanda it was still fucking February--he was shocked it wasn't snowing.

But. Right. Allen was talking now, or rather blabbering on something about--"I don't but he had two and he'll notice if there's one left. Do you have a lighter?”

Kanda rolled his eyes and revved the engine, “I do but not here. Let's get there first. I'll smoke while I wait. Where are we going anyway?” He pulled away from the curb and slowly made his way out of Allen's neighborhood. Not that he got very far after all--he needed to know which way to turn.

“Left.” Allen answered almost immediately, pointing a little sluggishly with his left hand while the right cradled the two cigarettes like they were made of gold.

Kanda raised an eyebrow at that, “And then?”

“I'll give them as we get there.” Allen huffed and turned to look out the window. Well damn that wasn't sketchy at all in the slightest.

“Oi, you're not Google Maps. You're going to get one turn wrong then we'll be stuck.” Kanda refused to turn left, he highly doubted anyone would honk at him this late anyway. “Just tell me what this place is called. I probably know how to get there.”

“How is that any better than just trusting me?” Allen snapped, but didn't even bother to do much more than glare at his reflection in the window. Yeah. Not sketchy in the slightest.

“Then I can turn us around and drop you back off. If you can't tell me where we're going then maybe you shouldn't be going there.” Oh. Fucking. Goddammit. He sounded like Tiedoll.

Even Allen was staring at him. Like, actually staring at him, not just his reflection. Then, with very little fanfare, he swallowed and asked, “So you know the McKenzie Fairfield building?”

“The old condemned recreational center they shut down almost ten years ago because of that shooting--?” Oh. Kanda didn't like where this was going. “Why there? Fuck no. That place is--” He didn't want to say haunted but just three years ago they'd found a dead body in one of the offices on the third floor! Ruled an accident, but why would anyone break into a place like that only to poke around in a damn office? Not to mention the cause of death was never outright confirmed--

“If you say haunted then I'll say you're a pansy.” Allen snorted, “Besides. I'm just picking up something--by the outside pool. You can literally park your car in the back lot and see me walk there and back. I just need to jump over a few fences.” Most of the main building had long since been boarded up, or at least City officials had tried. It was deemed structurally unsafe so demolition was repeatedly shoved back, making the place an excellent area for either god awful pranks or for some rather unsavory people to meet up.

Fuck. Did Kanda really have a reason to be worried? “Shit. I should've brought Mugen.”

Allen rolled his eyes here, “The fact you still keep calling it that has me worried. We're not in some anime where calling your attacks and naming your weapons is a thing.” But they'd argued about it before so Allen knew Kanda didn't give a shit about his opinion. His sword would still be named Mugen and he would still wish he'd have it even if it probably wouldn't do any good. “Like I said. I'm just grabbing something. In and out.” Allen repeated, “You can sit in your car and smoke and watch me.”

“Then you'll light one up after to calm yourself down?” Kanda asked as he grudgingly turned left, “Tch, fine. This better be quick.”

***

Unfortunately it was. Left, two rights, a long trek down a tiny back road because the main exit had long been blocked off, a U-turn, 3 more lefts, then they were there in the back of the building, where the parking lot was only just now acquiring cracks in it. There weren't any other cars here that Kanda could see, but then again usually no one drove and parked here. Either they walked or got dropped off, which in hindsight was probably why Allen said what he did.

So really the fact Kanda was staying and parking in such an obvious spot could be seen as his own damned fault, but Allen was right. From here he could see the chained fence surrounding the pool from there, then the outer, taller, link fence surrounding the nearby track. Literally he really did just have to jump over them.

“See?” Allen motioned to the fences, “I told you. Now. You said you had a lighter?”

Oh. Right. Kanda nodded to the glove compartment, “Yeah. Open it and pass it to me?” He could tell any minute now that Allen would notice, so he watched as he opened said compartment and shuffled around to look for--

The hot pink lighter. And the mostly full pack of cigarettes.

Allen stared at the pack like he couldn't believe what he was seeing. Like it really was so unusual for him to ask for a cigarette when he had a whole pack full. Okay, yes, actually that was kind of bad. Or overly devious. Or maybe just an excuse. “What?” Kanda finally asked when Allen dumbly turned his gaze to him, “I always have extra.”

“So I didn't need to grab Cross's.” Allen kept staring at him, “You didn't need compensation.” He could see the gears turning and waited, just to see what Allen would come up with. And after the longest five minutes of Kanda's life--he did. “So. Wait. You would have driven me anyway?”

Kanda shrugged one shoulder and held his hand out for the lighter, “Is it that weird?”

Allen tossed the lighter at him and muttered, “Well yeah. For you. It's not like you to be--” He faltered here for half a second, voice lowering as he almost whispered, “worried.” Like he couldn't believe that either.

Really. “I've been your late night ride for how long now?” Kanda asked, flicking the lighter just so he'd give his hands something to do, “Is it that surprising? Now go get whatever it is you came for. I'll light up when I see you come back.” Just in case. After all if Allen got stuck or cornered or needed help he wanted his hands free.

But Allen was still staring at him dumbly like he couldn't quite process the words, and it was only the sound of the rain suddenly down pouring that he realized right, he didn't come here to just sit in an abandoned parking lot.

This was either the start to a slasher film or some shitty romcom. Either way Allen was shoving his way out of the car as graceful as a two day old llama learning how to walk and getting fucking drenched.

It would have been hilarious watching him bolt across the parking lot and scramble over the first fence. Except he had no trouble with that, Kanda knew Allen was at least a little athletic given how often they'd been thrown together before, or how often Allen would rough house with either Lavi or Daisya or, hell, get his butt kicked by Lenalee--Or even himself, when Kanda decided to join in and stop being careful.

He was still nervous, though. The rain seemed to be getting harder, coming down in torrential sheets not just heavy droplets and while it wasn't warm enough for thunder he could feel static in the air. Something wasn't right here, as Allen leapt over the second fence. Hell, had he even said what he came here to grab? Was it something he forgot? Did he come here by himself before? Fuck, Kanda started tapping a finger against his thigh out of tempo with the rain just to keep himself focused.

Allen disappeared for half a second under a rusted unused awning meant to probably cover pool equipment and Kanda nearly shoved his way out of the car. But then Allen was back, scrambling over the first fence, then second, with nothing super noticeable or different on him. No ominous bulky bags or backpacks, no plastic baggies filled with mysterious substances--

Oh. Fuck it. Allen wasn't some drug addict! Yes maybe Cross knew some sketchy as fuck people at some point, but Tiedoll had always said he'd apparently shed that persona when he got Allen. Maybe Kanda was just paranoid, a fact driven home when he nearly jumped out of his skin when Allen scrambled to open the passenger side door with saturated fingertips. “Fuck.” He breathed just as Allen cheered--

“Got it!”

“Got what?” kanda belatedly realized he hadn't even lit up yet. Not that he would have been able to with how nervous he'd been. That and--"Fuck, you're getting the seat wet!”

Immediately Allen was scowling at him, “Like I knew it was supposed to rain this hard!” The rain thundered against the roof of the car almost in retaliation, “But anyway. I got it. We can go now.” His grey eyes flickered uneasily to the front before he grabbed at the lighter--and finally noticed Kanda hadn't lit up. “Oh. Uh. Here.” He flicked the lighter and they both watched the flame dance before Kanda held the cigarette out to be lit.

“I'm not rolling the window down in this.” He muttered as he sat back and took a puff, though that reminded him, “You said you'd light one up too. Still going to?” Or at least his hands seemed to be shaking enough for it, “One won't kill you. You'll smell like smoke anyway.”

Allen still seemed oddly speechless by that, or maybe he was letting himself relax after--after whatever the hell just happened. Maybe he was just cold and warming up? Kanda revved the engine and Allen nearly dropped the lighter. “Sorry!” He yelped, but at least he'd closed it.

“Try not to set yourself on fire.” Kanda snorted as Allen fumbled, “And if you really don't want to smoke? Don't I can hide it in my box.” Because for all he knew Allen probably threw out Cross's old box, especially if he'd been so worried about him discovering one gone.

It was only when he backed out of the nonexistent parking space and drove towards the actual road that he saw Allen pick up the cigarette still sitting where he'd left it. He was thinking that much was obvious and really, Kanda wanted to reiterate he hadn't been serious but before he could? Allen was turning towards him almost resolutely, “One won't hurt. I'll put it out before I get home.”

Well then. Before Allen could scrounge around and find the lighter that was most likely now hiding underneath one of the many crap piles in Kanda’s car, Kanda held out the lit end of his cigarette, “This is easier.” He pressed it against the end of Allen's cigarette the muttered, “Put it in your mouth and inhale.”

Allen didn't cough anywhere near as loudly or as hard as Kanda had when he first picked up his smoking habit, but then again he did grow up around the perpetually smoking Cross Marian, maybe he’d already gotten used to it?

**FLASHBACK END**

“So you're telling me you went to that old building in the middle of the night just to--grab something then drove all the way back?” Cross asked, staring at Allen incredulously. Granted it wasn't as bad as he'd been assuming--he knew Kanda had a vindictive streak, or at least he did when they were younger. It wouldn't have surprised him much if they'd gotten into an argument and Kanda made Allen walk back. Still didn't make it a great scenario by far, after all, “I don't need to tell you how stupid that was, now do I?”

Allen had the decency to look at least a little chastised though not by much, “We stopped by a 24-hour McDonalds.” Oh. Okay, “I was hungry.”

“Brat.” Cross leaned forward again, “Kid.” Wait, no that didn't sound right either, “Allen.” There we go. Immediately Allen stiffened up, “That building is condemned for a damn reason. If the police had seen you you'd be calling me to come pick your sorry ass up!” Not to mention Tiedoll would probably be calling him too, maybe not livid but definitely annoyed. That was never a pretty sight. “Now what was it that you needed to pick up so bad? It really couldn't wait until, I dunno, the middle of the day? Not during a torrential downpour?”

Allen still looked nervous, hesitant, constipated. Really, really constipated, actually, but honestly? That was the key to this entire damn story. Not that he'd let the kid off the hook if whatever it was was important enough, but maybe he could at least see his reasoning. Tiedoll had always said to listen first even if your opinion didn't change after the fact.

There would always be that one time that it did.

Finally, Allen spoke, softly, eyes downcast, “Remember that meeting you dragged me to? A--A few months ago?” Cross nodded his head. He didn't bring the kid to very many, mostly because he wasn't old enough yet to be useful but he had brought him to a few of the tamer events, “Well someone there. I think--” He took a shaky breath here like the words were fighting to come out,”--thought--had something of Mana's. Turns out I was right. I think.” He clasped his hands, one scarred beyond repair and one the normal pale skin of a regular teenage boy, in front of him, “I managed to find their contact information. With help.” He smiled here and Cross mentally wanted to smack a certain redhead that wasn't himself, “We agreed to...not necessarily meet up, but he said he'd leave the item in a safe place and gave me a date. It was today. Tonight. They sent me an email saying it would be there by midnight, or maybe a little after.” He shut his eyes here but he was smiling so, so brightly, “it was there. Exactly where the email said it'd be.”

Well then. “What exactly is it that he had?”

“Mana's notebook.”

Wait. What?

#d. gray man #modern day!au #cross marian #allen walker #kanda yuu #my fic #this will definitely be chaptered i'm pretty sure #yullen #if you squint #other pairings probably too #we'll see

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poupeesdecirque · 4 months ago

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Ok can these two stop occupying my brain now?

I have so many questions. Why did Nea choose Allen, there were most likely dozens of soldiers dying around that time, why was it Allen? Did he see something in him? (And oof Allen, Soldiers enrolled either for a Lifetime or for 21 years which is... like.. a Lifetime too... did he become a soldier because he wanted to or did he even had a reason other than serving his homeland?)

Why is Nea so attached to Allen even though they seemingly spoke only once? What is the contract they have?

What powers do Nea possess that he was able to rescue Allen. And why did he choose someone who was injured anyways? Is that truly the point Allen became the host? Did Allen agree to become the host because he was close to dying anyways?

Why did Nea choose Allen as host and not Lavi? Did he search for someone else to spare him? Even though he never said they are friends, Lavi decides to end his life as Bookman because he sees something in Nea, he supports him. Why did he 'spare' Lavi even though he claims to hate humans. What is Cross role in all this aside making Timcampy? And when did the fuckup happen, if Lavi was supposed to be the host then it's only natural everyone is confused and wondering who Allen is (also no Lavi is not Cross, thanks, I always said that's nonsense).

Did Lavi become attached to Allen or did he only protect him because he carried the memories? I think Lavi changed in all those years, we see him as a Bookman in one panel and he ties up his hair, I know that cutting off the hair is always a sign for a character changing but this is a big style change as well? Did he maybe form a relationship with Allen, the maybe first human he allowed himself to become close to after being a Bookman for all his life?

Why did Apocryphos hunt Allen? Did he know about the memory... seemingly yes ... ? If yes, ... why didn't he kill him in the circus? As Lavi was gone? What did he see in Allen? Did he know he would be able to use the Innocence later on or can he just randomly choose people to be able to carry Innocence?

If yes... did the current Bookmen have a deal with him to be able to accomodate Innocence? Is he like a dealer for Innocence?

And I have seen the theory of several people believing Lavi became the 'ghost' behind Crown Clown and damn I would love that. I really really would love that especially if they maybe became true friends along the way. I would just wish for Allen that ONCE a human was attached to him because he was Allen and not because he was useful or filled a gap. Oh please. JUST ONCE.

Also can we appreciate the fact I was right about that Allen looked way too small in that flashback and that it is correct that he was a child as Lavi held him. And I was right about Nea approaching Allen was weird, it was not bc he was a child but he was dying ... so half right, kinda. But I noticed.

I HAVE QUESTIONS. And I have three months to digest. That's nice.

#spoilers #dgm spoilers #dgm #d.gray-man #dgrayman #allen walker #past!allen #bookman #bookman jr #lavi #hello im confused #i want to do other things but my brain goes brrrr

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arimiaromage · 7 months ago

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thoughts about dgm chapter 251

gonna throw my thoughts about these new revelations here.

bookman jr or past!allen?

she got us good! I was in shock when I first read it (all my headcanons about pasta, out the window! thrown! chunked!) but now I'm more fine with it.

I believe what happened was that hoshino drew the bookman jr in those flashbacks with nea on purpose - she wanted us to think that was allen and bookman jr. the flashbacks aren't past!allen with longer hair, this is definitely the bookman jr, as we can tell now.

it also makes more sense now why "allen" was talking about high concepts like the spiral being the force for life - it really was a bookman!

I fully think she did this switcharoo on purpose. if we look at her most recent livestream (translated by ponkotsubluuues), someone comments that they were shocked past!allen and bookman jr weren't the same person. her response is basically "yes, I know". she's not surprised people would think that, this was probably deliberately on purpose.

bookman jr & past!allen

okay, now on to some thoughts on who they actually are. I won't stick long here as we'll probably find out in just a few months and we don't have much to go on right now.

personally, I don't really care to ever meet allen's blood relatives. it's never interested me who he's "actually" related to and I always felt it would add even more complicated feelings for him and even more complexity to an already messy as hell family & relationship tree.

that being said, I wouldn't be surprised if bookman jr and allen are some kind of family unit, be it blood related or not. when they begin talking about the two of them as separate people, lucia refers to them as "two young men". so they're probably not father and son, but I could see them as brothers or some sort of brotherhood if they're not blood related.

maybe past!allen is a traveling clown who toured the world with bookman jr LOL.....?

either way, bookman jr was so compelled to protect allen & nea that he gave his life for them. I'm so, so eager to see their bond.

cross marian

who the hell is cross marian in all of this?

we know the cross has been around since almost adam's time, having been with mana and nea since they were children-

so we know that regardless of who is he, he's known about and visited the campbell manor for decades.

in this chapter, they even bring him up by name.

not only does allen ask about him, but lucia talks a bit about him as well.

and note that they're not saying something like "my master left a message for me" and lucia just goes along with it- allen says "my master cross" and lucia continues by saying his full name. she knows exactly who he's talking about.

(allen specifically says "cross shishou" = "master cross" but lucia called him "cross marian")

to me, this is one of the main reasons I don't believe cross is bookman jr. I believe he's somehow tied to the bookman, but I don't think he's the missing jr. if he was, why does lucia refer to him as cross here but not later? she clearly knows who allen is referring to, so wouldn't the bookman have searched for cross and found him with relative ease, given he was at the order for quite a while with bookman & lavi up until apocryphos attacked him?

lucia and the master only refer to bookman jr as "junior", not cross marian. if you're desperately looking for cross marian and are fully aware allen knows who that is, then why not call him that? what do you have to lose at this point?

and furthermore, if cross was this bookman jr, how did he forget who HE made the host? how did he lose allen? redarm!allen looks a lot more like this new past!allen and they both have redish brown hair - if you were traveling with this guy, you should be able to recognize him even if he's de-aged like 8 years, ESPECIALLY once mana takes him in and his hair becomes styled the exact same way.

I know we always have the deus ex machina of apocryphos' memory changing but I really don't want that to be the case for every character, the more you do it the more it becomes a contrivance.

cross definitely has SOME connection to the bookman, I don't feel like his mask and knowledge of bookman things is entirely a red herring. lucia makes it sound like cross reached out to them regarding the campbell manor, but I'll get to that in a bit.

the other leading theory is that cross is cyrus campbell, katerina's brother and head of the family. I feel like this holds a bit more water than him being a bookman, as it'd explain why he was the campbell manor when mana and nea were so young (and presumably before nea became a noah) and why he has worked so tirelessly for both of them.

remember, his innocence maria greatly resembles katerina. it's possible this is katerina's corpse, being infested by innocence. maybe this is from innocence cross was carrying finding its way to her corpse or maybe it was a failed attempt to save her, we don't really know yet.

(I'm not fully convinced about the cyrus theory either though, as why does nea refer to cross as cross instead of cyrus or uncle? how would the order not know about his family and how obviously tied to the noah he is? how could he not recognize allen, his nephew's most trusted friend?)

there have been some theories that maybe the campbells are a bookman family, which may be the case and would help explain why cross has a connection to both, but the way lucia words this part makes me think otherwise.

she makes it sound like the campbell manor wasn't always under their jurisdiction, that it came to be that way but wasn't always. but that might be pulling at straws. I just don't think she'd word it this way if cross = bookman jr.

I'm not fully convinced about either theory about cross as I see holes in both of them. just have to wait and see~

personally I'd still like it if cross was just a childhood friend who got way too attached but we'll see 😂 or maybe he was just pining for katerina from afar....

crown clown

I feel pretty confident now that this is past!allen being hugged by bookman jr, possibly for the last time / as bookman jr's way to protect him.

but I also can't help but feel.... it reminds me of crowned clown, you know? the way it wraps around allen, covering him in an attempt to protect him. even the cut off tips. it really reminds me of that.

the bookman are no stranger to innocence. we also don't know when allen acquired his innocence- did past!allen have it? or...... did bookman jr give it to him as he was dying? did he think it would protect him and nea (and why would he give a noah innocence)?

I would not be surprised if there was some connection between bookman jr and allen's innocence.

allen

I absolutely loved this part.

the pure conviction in his face. no regrets. he finally has a chance to clear up his mind, to cast away the fear he's dealt with for so long about who he actually is. so, so good.

but........ WHO IS ALLEN WALKER????? the burning question. who knows at this point.

I'm very excited to see the next parts, even if it apparently isn't the 35 year flashback (her own words, from the aforementioned livestream) - I assume it'll be a flashback to past!allen meeting nea possibly, or them finding out nea isn't a typical noah, or some major event that happened before shit went down.

yeah that's about it, see yall next time ✌️

#dgm #dgrayman #d gray man #dgm spoilers #dgm theories

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whetstonefires · 6 years ago

Text

d gray man liveblog part 4! (part 1)(part 2)(part 3)

No but seriously, Cyril Camelot is the English Foreign Minister and just staged an assassination attempt on himself for an excuse to declare war on the people he just spent a while negotiating an agreement with.

Why? In what way does this benefit the Noahs?

(...why is the name of the country censored, I feel like hoshino-san just didn’t want to try to come up with a plausible European country for England to go to war with in 18-mumblety.)

I mean Bookman says tragedy breeds akuma in his analysis, but they took Japan while it was so emphatically not at war that it had zero foreign relations at all; war is clearly not necessary for the Earl’s bargains to go through apace.

Cyril kind of looks like he just does this shit for fun.

...”the evil man who made the world his enemy” is a fascinating choice of words, Tykki Mik, I really wonder very hard about you.

And you’re right, when he’s not wearing his balloon costume, and talking normally, and buying flowers from little girls, he looks normal! Weird how that works.

Question: is that umbrella he declined so he could walk in the rain Lero? Does Lero have to share the Earl with other umbrellas outside of official monster business, or disguise himself as a normal bumpershoot when out in public? Is that servant another disguised akuma, or a normal person who has no idea?

...it’s probably an akuma.

YAY KRORY WAKE UP!

why so many chain. it’s not like he lost track of who his enemies were in that last fight, even when he was made of blood. rude to chain.

aw he cry. he cry! ;_; he cry for his friends!

this is the kind of sad boy i like. he can be annoying but not in, you know, a murdery way.

holy shit creepy ghost girl?! i...logically must have read this part before but i don’t remember it, damn i was bingeing like a mad thing.

where...where did the poison come from. why is Krory’s arm sticking out like that. what is going on.

Why Are The Order So Bad.

aaaaand cut to the kind of random hijinks that seem intended to lift the mood but tbh they’re kind of too grim in their own right.

lmao alternately this is an excuse to draw kanda and lavi as chibis and Allen with long hair.

If it’s not because of structural damage, why are they moving to a new base? No one’s said anything about the new headquarters being any more secure against frickin’ teleportation. Maybe the Pope just wants the Order distracted with moving chores?

(I like referring to the higher-ups at the Vatican as the Pope; I realize we have no actual evidence the actual Pope even knows any of this is happening, but if hoshino is gonna be having people shout that other people are ‘property of the Pope’ i’m gonna use the word Pope as often as I can get away with because

1) it makes the whole thing more ridiculous b) it emphasizes the European Gothic Via Japan vibe going on here which is at least 20% of the entertainment value and thirdly, ‘Pope’ is fun to say.)

Oh, right, Allen’s ongoing identity crisis! (it only gets worse from here, kid)

The bosses were logically correct to make Cross Marian do his ‘report to Vatican and be responsible’ part before giving him the pay-off of ‘allowed to talk to Allen’ because otherwise he’d just fuck off but damn it’s hard on the kid, being left hanging.

I absolutely do not believe for one second this business with Mana’s past and secret motives was planned before the series started, but that’s honestly for the best; it’s more wrenching when we didn’t have any more reason than Allen to suspect something was off.

...i like when nice clowns adopt people tho... :o(

not telling the brass or their stooge about your creepy extra reflection was a Good Call.

yes link really truly allen is a good kid who is not plotting evil shit. sheesh.

more Potion Accident gags, i’m sorry, i can’t keep up with your taste in mood whiplash and i never liked most slapstick anyway. the bunny ears are. strange.

...never mind who made the ‘talk like a cat’ potion, who packed that box Miranda spilled; that is such an absurd chaotic collection of items organize your shit people. eesh.

Lmao everyone’s #1 creepy ghost theory is, Komui Playing A Dumb Prank.

...okay, Allen’s reaction as the Matron gnaws on his arm, and the fact that everyone’s first assumption is that Allen has annoyed this very sensible woman to the point that she is communicating via teeth, manages to be funny but noooooo, why would you, not Awesome Shoes Lady after she made it through the Level 4 Akuma attack unscathed, come onnnnnn.

okay, uhhh...contagious vampirism zombie thing...lmao everyone gets worried about matron when she bites Miranda, everyone is super embarrassed when Miranda bites Noise, this is just some impressive Not Realizing Shit’s Fucked guys.

okay, zombie horde of various survivors of all the recent massacres.

uh, if this weren’t being dropped at a time of total emotional exhaustion, it would work better. it’s already working better the second time around for the fact that i took a break after the last arc.

considering it comes out monthly and we had a Noah interlude, it probably worked in the original context just fine, but daaaaaamn did this storyline piss me off the first time, all i even remember about it is the rage.

:D Lenalee rescued Tiny Kanda. Who for some reason can interpret her ‘nyah’ sounds.

...how is a stimulant drug contagious via biting.

i remember the first time i read this i naturally assumed the biting disease was derived from Krory. that still would have made more sense.

robot eats notebook, lol...bickering...”my pride won’t allow me to become a zombie” yes allen excellent logic you weirdo.

okay i’m done checking back in when slightly less stupid shit starts happening....

okay never mind the robot’s fireworks blew Allen through a wall, where Krory was suffering in chains, and then the blanket spontaneously combusted, and then there was somebody with an axe...

...and then Allen wakes up and is informed he was knocked out and concludes Krory’s situation was a dream oh come on.

krory is at the door! but being creepy! the robot refuses to open the door out of self-preservation! allen seduces the robot into risking its life!

...

‘this is nostalgic’ with the hero face on i can’t.

okay, so it was Krory, who apparently swallowed the entire bottle of poison, lid included? for some reason?

oh great there’s a parasitic zombie ghost thing riding Reever and sticking its face out his stomach. horror! nope, now played for laughs.

aaaand suddenly veering back into pathos. bonus info about evil human experiments!

...aaaaaand touching bonding moment for the Lees. Aww.

Not only is Komui protective and self-sacrificing, when he isn’t being psychopathic, he has absolved Lenalee of his having sacrificed his entire life to watch over her after she was kidnapped into this.

then a stupid gag! and the ghost does a creepy jealous possession thing! and meanwhile everything is on fire.

et cetera, mood whiplash back and forth at least once every other page...komui starts reciting from memory the names of every single person killed in the Order’s human experiments...

...i don’t think the names are intended as an additional gag, but most of them are fairly odd and many downright improbable, though none truly syllable-mashing outrageous. I’m rather fond of Asia Smet and Oona Boelyn.

a page and a half of heart-rending pathos, and then the robot falls off the ceiling with a huge syringe of ‘vaccine’ it synthesized from Krory’s blood because he was the first infected by the...stimulant...egad, that’s not how any of that works.

and then, and then...anyway then everyone was zombies and the boss from China came in off-panel and fixed everything, as you do.

i truly hate you hoshino katsura, all the more for the fact that i genuinely loved about 15% of that parade of neck-wrenching bullshit.

anyway! that’s all over and done with, we are now on a boat being cute, because allen is using the stolen teleportation Ark that only he can drive to open a door between the old Castle headquarters and this...uh...cave? that they’re moving into.

...oh hey Shadow Of Allen (XIV) is now sporting wings remarkably like the ones Krory had during his drugged vampire zombie freak-out. i bet that means nothing whatsoever.

man whenever Leverrierererererer turns up i hallucinate ominous music. smug assholish ominous music. slimier sounding than the Imperial March, you know?

that’s not just my biases, hoshino-san lights the panels very effectively to create that effect. egad, he’s going to be in command??? is that why the move, because it was easier to undermine komui’s authority if he was removed from his entrenched power base?

...we just covered last chapter that that castle was a leverrier family fortress originally tho. huh.

excessively creepy secret Pope police involved in isolating and depowering Allen.

also lol that is very Japanese-style religious magic going on, that is not what a Catholic ritual binding would look like at all. not that they have as much settled precedent, their demon-fighting standards run much more toward ‘make it go away.’

aw shit komui’s right there and he can’t do shit, best he can get is a promise that ‘if Allen is a good child’ he won’t die.

flashback! aw man allen the first lesson mana ever taught you was to make peace with the dead and let them lie. should’ve listened.

...man allen was a grouchy brat. i wonder what color his hair was, before it went white. haha apparently he acquired his adoptive dad by running away from the circus with him.

pfffffft little allen hated clowns, that achieves the level of actual irony...welp, suicide joke.

aw shit mana was too burned out on grief to cry for his dog but allen could, for the doggie that licked his hand once. imma cry now.

whoa actual conversation with Cross Marian! under the supervision of papal ninjas (known as Crow) within a magic cage of paper. and wow! an actual answer to a question! unprecedented!

...it isn’t labeled which of these kids was Mana and which was (the most recent incarnation of??) the Fourteenth but imma hazard a guess that the one with hair that matches little Allen’s is not Mana.

oh also Adam Puddinghead killed the 14th, i don’t think we officially knew that until now? or maybe it came up when he blew up Edo i don’t recall.

oh my god i was definitely bingeing too hard last time; by the time Cross Marian started referring to the 14th in the second person to Allen my capacity to be astonished or distressed was burned right the fuck out. i was just like ‘yeah yeah figured get on with it.’

it’s actually a pretty dramatic scene, but it’s weird to be getting this shit in straightforward exposition after all this absence of any information at all.

wait “the human implanted with” ... “the host for his revival” ... i can’t tell if Cross Marian is referring to whatever the normal noah transfer process is or some way 14 found of circumventing that.

ohhhhhh man this title page has tiny clown Allen and it is the cutest shit ever.

did i ever tell you guys one time when my mom was two and a half, she had her stage debut as the cutest little pigtailed clown? and she ran onstage toward her daddy just like they’d practiced and the whole audience burst into delighted laughter.

and Tiny!Mom turned to look at them in appalled horror, and u-turned right back around and ran offstage again.

no one had successfully communicated to her she was going to be laughed at by a bunch of strangers. possibly they didn’t expect a toddler to mind.

oh sure Cross Marian, tell the kid the horrifying truth about himself and his dad in the most overdramatic way possible, in front of witnesses, and then when he dissociates in horror just beat the shit out of him until he resets.

the amount of playing abuse for laughs in this series is one of the many emotional strains that led me to drop it the first time.

it’s honestly a contest sometimes who i currently hate most, Marian, you or Labradorito or the Earl. Ech.

‘no idea’ tch. but if you’re saying he implanted his memories into Allen before he died, then...the Earl caught up with the 14th really recently, then?! How long were he and Mana on the run? I totally forgot these details, wow. i suspect some of them will turn out to be false.

...why the fuck are you saying it like this? bastard.

wow CM you almost look spooked by the fact that allen cares more about the possibility that his dad never actually loved him than the prospect of having his mind eaten.

maybe he’d care more about the mind-eating if the 14th was the Earl’s ally instead of planning to use allen as a weapon to kill him? allen is already using himself as a weapon to kill the Earl.

oop, way to get him back on target! “what if i told you you’ll kill the people you care about?”

aaaand cut.

that was like ten chapters’ worth of blather, i need to get more efficient.

#catching up with d. grey man #d gray man #allen walker #d gray man spoilers #oooold ones but hey #abuse of power #idiocy #this writing style is PUNISHMENT #and ceasing to read was SELF-CARE #yet i persist #i am stronger than the me of a decade ago #stg #hoc est meum

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icharchivist · 6 years ago

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It is kind of weird Lavi spent 2 years on the Order and Doug was the closest thing to a genuine friend from his perspective. Even then he still hated/looked down on humans even if he maybe thought Lenalee and the scientist weren't that bad. Makes you really wonder why Allen in such a short amount of time made such a huge impact on Lavi's mindset. It's not like Allen is the only kind person who fights despite his suffering. It might be Lavi is aware people block out the pain of others in order -

2 to function (pretty much what he did) for their own selfish reasons. Allen might have been the first person he met who literally can't do that. He has to stare at the hell around him every day. Even then all Allen wants is to help people and turn his own torment into compassionate strength. That kind of thing is very different from even all the other Order members outlook/reason for fighting. I think all kid Lavi really wanted was to see beautiful things but he got the ugliness instead.

Okay before replying if you want i once wrote a.... 6k long meta about Lavi specifically? and we extended on the thing you mention on this ask too (nothing against you btw lord knows I post a hundred of those metas all the time there’s no way people would dig this far. It’s just that whatever i reply there i’m almost certain i have articulated it better in those meta if you want to read it. Although it was before i reread the manga so there might be things that aren’t completely fresh there.)

I do think it’s a lot of that though: of Allen not being to stare away, to distract himself from the horror he’s seeing.

The thing is that Lavi still had seen 49 wars in 12 years of service as a Bookman. That’s a lot and probably enough to lose any sense of sensibility toward people. I think he probably saw everything around as a hopeless cause, of those people dying for nothing. But i also think that he did warm up to some people at time, he just never actually considered he was doing so.

Doug is especially not worthy because in the novel, Doug repeats that at first he didn’t want to be close to Lavi, that Lavi freaked him out, so that Lavi ended up insisting a lot to try to understand why the good natured guy was so uncomfortable around him. And Doug made it clear that “we can see people’s soul in their eyes and yours is completely empty”, so that he knew Laavi was lying. Which left an impact on Lavi and had therefore often him check over his own mask at least around Doug - because Doug saw right through his mask.

So when Doug points out that Lavi is getting his mask loose around Doug, Lavi is forced to face what it implies in regards to his Bookman’s duty.

In a way i think it was the difference between everyone else, Doug, and later Allen: before no one was challenging Lavi’s mask. So Lavi didn’t have to mind and wonder where that put him on his caring scale.Doug always challenged Lavi’s perception of his mask, which might have ended up with him taking extra care trying to befriend Doug, like a challenge almost. And Lavi did soften a lot about the fact Doug had a sweet compassionate good heart that he extended to everyone around him, even on the field, even people who wouldn’t remember him. And I think this sort of kindness would have struck to Lavi more than the sort of camaradery back at the Order, especially when he’s paying extra attention.

When it comes to Allen multiple things happened at once to push Lavi to question a lot of things. First Lavi compared Lavi to Doug before he learned Doug’s “kindness” ended up pushing him into calling an Akuma. Upon meeting Allen, directly after Lavi had to kill Doug, Allen mentions that his curse specifically comes from making an Akuma out of his father.

Lavi was grieving Doug in his own way. And i think for him it started to just antagonize Allen in his own mind because “how damn foolish”. That this is specifically the type of kindness that goes out first in the war. That Lavi dared to let his guard down around Doug and Doug was so kind that he ended up just as stupid.

He projected Doug onto Allen, and therefore he was harsher on him. The guy created an Akuma. The only principle of an Akuma should probably escape Lavi completely, to grief and love someone so badly you can actually bring them back? Him who has no attachement, the whole thing must be a hard sell. And to see people give themselves up to it? How foolish.

There is also the whole thing about Allen being able to see the Akuma’s souls that Lavi is jealous about. he’s explicit about it: for him, for every exorcist, they have to trust no one. Allen has the luxery to trust anyone as he pleases. Something Lavi could hold against him. Not to mention in the novel there is a huge description of Lavi coming to term with Doug becoming an Akuma by specifically pointing out to “those empty eyes”. Note that it is still very fresh for Lavi! The Doug incident happened right before he was sent to Rewinding Town.

In fact in the whole intro arc of Lavi once you have those lense on, he seems to disregard Allen a lot. When Allen gets kidnapped by the townfolks to face Krory and everyone asks Lavi to go check him since he has the hammer, Lavi is actually very recluent and doesn’t want to do it because he doesn’t care.

The whole first arc, Lavi was more likely building up that Allen’s kindness was stupid, that he was lucky, that he took his situation for granted, that he was foolish enough to make an Akuma, that his feelings had guided him to such weakness and that said feelings now are holding him back to fight others humans (Lavi calls Allen a baby when he refuses the idea of killing Road), he’s being naive. So naive it is dangerous, and this is the very kind of danger Lavi had trained against his whole life. The very sort of things he can see Allen do and just scolf because how stupid.

Until he sees Elliade’s soul.

Lavi is horrified by what he sees. He mentions later to Komui that he thought Allen was lucky, but what he was seeing was just hell on Earth. Suddenly it wasn’t that Allen was kind because he was too naive to know how cruel the world was, but it was that Allen was kind because he knew exactly how cruel the world was and he refused to be part of it. That Allen saw hell all the time and he would smile and carry on.

Another thing that has a lot of weird focus on Lavi is actually how he reacts when Allen talks Krory out of suicide. There is this whole feeling as the audience in this scene where you know that Allen is projecting because he himself killed the Akuma of a person he loved. So when Allen analyses perfectly how Krory wants to die and tells him how to keep living, with the way Lavi looks at them? Lavi knows exactly what Allen is talking about.

And suddenly there is a whole new thing he had never considered about Allen opening up.

And the reason it became this important later is that it took Lavi by surprise by going to full on distaint over Allen’s behavior to full blown admiration in the course of a few chapters. The moment he realized that Allen wasn’t misguided but had much more understanding of the situation than himself.

But it’s not like Lavi got it until Allen died. And there was multiple things there too: that first, Lavi feels guilty of not having saved Allen from the orde of Akuma that dragged him to Suman and then to his doom (as emphacized with Lavi having a flashback to it when he yells at Lenalee “we have done everything we could to save him”.) Then Lavi gets to see all of Allen’s final moments from Timcanpy and it is made clear that even near death, even as he was being tortured, Allen priviligized giving hope to others people. He sacrificed himself to save Suman’s innocence.

It’s after Allen’s death that Lavi starts to feel it weight on him that what they lost with Allen was more important than that.

But also, the point i wanted to make (i know, i talk too much) is that it also is another time he had to confront his mask, because Bookman reminded him that he got carried away.

The thing is that more than the emotions Allen made Lavi feels, it is a question that those emotions were so visible and he didn’t even realize he was there (the anger against Lenalee reads as anger against his own emotions too - why would she mourns while he cannot? He swallows back his tears, he feels the same guilt, but he was never taught to mourn) : but the moment Bookman beats him up and specifically tells him “do you take yourself for an exorcist? You are not one of them. You are not supposed to get attached.” is the sudden recaller that specifically, Lavi’s mask was breaking, that he was feeling stuff.

And that’s why next scene is him looking at the Ace of Spade he picked from Allen, an emotional attachement, and think about “we are not their allies... that’s right, a Bookman has no need for a heart.” He thinks about it like that specifically because Bookman called him out.

The POINt i’m trying to make is that the reason Doug and Allen left such an impact on Lavi is not much that they did, but that Lavi was forced to acknowledge how they both go tunder his skin. He was forced to think specifically about what that brought him in comparaison to others.

I would be inclined to think Lenalee left an emotional impact on Lavi, whenever he wants it or not, which is why we see him remembering his reaction to seeing Lenalee crying in front of coffins. But he never had to acknowledge it. At no time was he challenged by teh fact the bound started, until Allen’s death where his feelings were all over the place and he started to question how good he was at keeping the mask up. And too much loss at once was too much for him to handle.

And all of that to come back: yes to what you conclude your ask with. Because in the end Allen was not the “naive type who will get swallowed by the darkness of the world” but he was litterally the “kind and strong type that helps everyone up even if he gets to fade away into the light to do so”. Lavi’s opinion shifted moreso because he knows of the horrors in life, and he underestimated Allen, and Allen knows those horros as well and Lavi is in awe by how despite knowing all of that, Allen never cease to be kind. That perhaps both of them have very fake smiles, but Lavi’s is so he wouldn’t care too much about people, while Allen’s is for people not to be too concerned about him because he cares too much for others.

I think those are things Lavi ended up understanding.

But it took 1) Allen to shift around his entiere way to piercive him in one arc, 2) the acknowledgement of how his mask was failing him 3) perhaps even more specifically having came out as hardened by the experience with Doug trying not to repeat his caring mistake with Allen who was similar to him and failing, for Lavi to really understand the impact it had on him

So anyway i ended up rambling a lot but yeah. *takes a deep breath* Lavi is a mess.

.. god i don’t even know if i make any sense i got carried away. But yeah. Lavi man. Lavi.

#ichafantalks dgm #weeeee #Anonymous #ichareply

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seijitheclown · 7 months ago

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As I just hate it to sit on my hands regardings this... I vented on twitter already but here are a few thoughts on the current chapter (251).

Spoilers ahead, I only use old panels if referencing to something. Also i can't read japanese I only got bits here and there and I'm waiting on my copy from animate to get crushed by the chapter irl.

First of all I just came back to this panel not even 2 weeks ago as I was redrawing panels and I only then noticed this is Bookman. I was certain it is our Bookman but right now I am not sure if its truly him or someone else (but I am sure it's someone from Zeugle/Zoogle however you spell it, I would favor "Zeugle" btw as "Zeuge" is "Witness" in german, that would kinda make sense with the role of the clan in the history).

As we learn past!Allen and Bookman Jr. aren't the same person, nope. And the coat here is super similar to the one Bookman Jr. wears it even could be him just with beard, though I doubt that somehow.

What I am sure about is that we all fell for the fact we all tought the person in the flashback panels is ... past!Allen and we all thought the guy with the glasses is him. But it was Bookman Jr. all along. All the HCs we (and I mean ME) had are null and void as surprise surpise our PastA boy is someone completely different. I don't think the person asking Nea to use him is Allen. It's Junior.

Why? Because there are two key scenes Allen can remember and it's these two (both Volume 27) :

Being hold by someone who clearly 'loved' or 'cared' for him. With the current knowledge this is Allen who is embraced by Junior.

Then the second memory he still has is this one:

Which is Nea asking him what's his name is.

These are the true key elements from Allen's past with Nea/Junior we got until now, if I didn't miss a moment; as the other are clearly Junior/Nea and not Past!Allen/Nea.

To be honest I think by now that Past!Allen was indeed a random street rat with no manners, no future and nobody whom cared for him, exactly the person Mother described as she asked Cross if he would have prefered someone like that over the child he had found as host. Nea most likely found him and kind of befriended him ..? Something between them happened that Allen decided "Yes I want to host your memories" and I stay with my HC that pastA shared the same mindset as Red: he's nothing worth and better off dead/aka if his life can be of use he would go for it and if that means offering himself to keep Nea alive somehow then it's that.

And the scene between Junior/Allen .. I think it's Junior trying to protect Allen from Aprocryphos. I suspect it was him who killed Junior ... at one point he got Allen and infused him with Innocence. I think with the emotions Red still felt back then/the fact Allen remembers this as one of his ealiest memories means that he had a bond with Junior, something quite deep. There still could be the possibility that Allen forgot everything by himself because he was in denial, Amnesia after traumatic events is a thing... though we know Apocryphos likes to mess with memories.

Another thing: I don't think Bookman Jr. is Cross. Yes, Cross' mask has the same marking as Junior's scar, but why should the Bookman say the body was never to be found because ... the current Bookman knows Cross and he would have recognized his old apprentice, why should the Noah reference that and why should Bookman react to that at all? Sweating like they got his weak point as they target Lavi? And Cross would have known Allen as they have traveled together, at least partially. Also the others from Zeugle clearly implied that they were rescued last minute by Lavi being born, Cross is pretty much alive (or is he...? ) and their blood bond would have told them.

A very wild theory that came to my mind is that past!Junior = Lavi. Apocryphos fucked up Allen, why not Junior as well? Could be that - whatever happened - BOTH were regressed. I mean we don't know what's under Lavi's eyepatch and we know Bookman have a thing going on with blood/being related to each other. (Heck Lucia looks like Junior with a Haircut but she also looks similar to Allen ???)

I could be wrong with everything and I usually don't share any theories but damn I have so much about this in my head and I have to digest the fact we didn't get a crumb right about pastA not even what he looked like and my whole ass epos fic and the character I built up is just 100% wrong and urgh. I had started on two more fics last year I will completely scrap. Not to mention the Cosplay and the Fandoll I made of him... sigh, I don't think I will continue doing the Fanon Variant as Cosplay, about the doll... he's still a Character in my AU and he is my absolute fav among the dolls, it hurts my soul. I feel like my non existent fave got killed off.

This is more vent than anything else, just ignore me.

If you read this far, here is the two sketches I did yesterday after trying to digest the first impression:

Partially done without reference and during a super messed up day.

So eh. Do with this whatever you want I don't actually expect someone to even read this. I'm not truly in for discussing stuff I just want to scream into the void.

#dgm #d.gray-man #idk???#allen walker #bookman junior #spoilers

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