#itd be better to get arrested ngl!

[preygirlhotline]

YOU GET ITTT

hc that Whitney's dad is chief of police which is why they're able to get away with shit so often. they also act out to get their dad's attention but he just ends up getting pissed

[schwarzeneggr]

sorry op to hijack ur post this aint for you i tried writing in the tags but i got cut off . jusg wanted to ramble. first off just wanna say that contesting lupin isnt hard for fujiko. she is miles ahead of him. were it not for The Sexism fujiko would be the titular character. I wont get into the thousands of ways shes better than him for this psot is about luzeni BUT she does manipulate lupin bc it is easier to have ur little doggie bring back the journal from the front yard than going urself. if shes in a position to contest lupin he better squeeze his asscheeks tight because she Will get him.

To the main course.

I disagree about some of your hypothesies. Your post is based on the fact that the "blimps" of feral genius zenigata has would become permanent if he joined Lupin. I disagree entirely. It is because Zenigata is in opposition with Lupin that his full potential blooms. Its because Lupin is Zenigatas ultimate rival and vice versa. They push each other to their limits every time the game is in play. Thats how Lupins bouts of genius shine. Because Zenigata knows his every trick, he has to be creative with every heist plans he comes up with, on the basis that Zenigata knows his every move. And Zenigata does. He has studied all of them and some. He went as far as study french, how to ride helicopters, how to pull a bullet out of his own body, how to build gadgets and a thousand more practices that hes had to master in order to keep up with Lupin. You see Zenigata has to predict the unpredictable. He has to look out for possible moves Lupin doesn't even know he wants to do. They love each other, sure. They do very much. Fucking freaks if you ask me. But most importantly and what has been insisted upon throughout the whole franchise : they love The Game. Its The Game that is fun, exhilarating, frustrating and challenging. It is because their capabilities are matched that Zenigata Can follow Lupin and Lupin Can escape him. Zenigata would be bored to death were he assigned to other cases. He would solve them too fast, columbo style in his genius detective skills and stubborness. A hint of it happens in one episod of pt4 where Zenigata retraces a crime scene where Jigen shoots like 15 guys to perfection. and then goes well thats jigen and not Lupin so idc. And Lupin ? Hed be bored to death if Zenigata wasnt chasing him. Itd be like stealing candy from a free shop. They looooove giving each other a hard time SO MUCH that crossing the line between justice and crime has never even crossed their minds ever. Apologies to all the luzeni fics that see Zenigata joining the gang as a "good end". Its not. Its a bad end. Theyd be bored to death. Zenigata would feel bad, for he is egotistical but not to the point of swimming in the stolen retirement money of some poor familys bank account. He would never look at a rare painting and go wow i want it. And Lupin would be miserable as well. Zenigata is absolutely unique. Nobody would fall so many times and have the strength and endurance to accept failure and try again. Hed have a string of different detectives trying to arrest him but none with the distinct flavor of absolutely animalistic sadomasochism zenigata displays in his arrests. Imo they love to spend time together. Cozy in Zenigatas bed eating some take out and kicking each others feets. Those breaks are nice. A little date here and there. Car breaks on a way to the police station and suddenly they are in the middle of nowhere with no cell service and no car in sight. Its nice. They enjoy each others presence. They do love each other for real after all. Ngl id go as far as say they are unique soulmates but whatever If i start going on about this Ill never shut up. These moments are fleeting, rare, and unpredictable. And they LOVE that. Sure, it is a heartbreak to seperate, and they both wish they had just a little bit more time to enjoy each other, another day or two, but they enjoy the fleetingness of these moments. They like those short respites for what they are. Short breaks. But a break implies going back, and theyv accepted that, because more than anything they love The Game. The hardships, the analysis, the betrayals, the preparations, the subterfuges, the wins and the losses.. the UNPREDICTABILITY of it all. They love uncertainty. Its the spice that make their lives exhilarating. Lupin isnt looking for stability, or safety. He wouldnt chase Fujiko if he was. Sure there is some comfort in the fact that Zenigata will always chase him. And Zenigata comforts himself thinking there will ALWAYS be another heist. They know theyll always see each other a bit and kiss a little eventually. But they never know when, or how. FUCK I RAN OUT OF

i have unprompted lupin-esque questions pop into my stream of conscious, interrupting my day-to-day wholesale, and one of them is "damn. does lupin only have three companions because zenigata never caved and joined him". like what kind of question is that??

i think its one of the more recurring ones because the sorta lines in lupin tv/films that're like "kinda surprising you're a cop" or "you'd fit in real well with us" or, the wombo combo of the two, "your skills are wasted on your job" really dig into my brain and won't feckin' leave.

in a lot of iterations, jigen and goemon meet lupin when they're tasked with killing him. fujiko's essentially his other rival. and yet, despite whatever the rest of the gang may be doing or whoever they pledge themselves to or whatever other jobs they might take on they always wind up right next to lupin again. on the same team, even.

and then there's zenigata. the sole obstinate holdout. they truce, they save each other's lives, have an avengers bonus credit scene shawarma lunch, etc etc. yet he isn't *with* them. he dips after they stop some evil billionaire from blowing up a city for some asinine power/profit grab or whatever the fuck, shouting that he'll "get them next week" while comically shaking his fist at the sky, and jigen rolls his eyes for the dozenth time and goes "that guy'll never change, will he". no jigen, he won't. when things calm down he'll sit alone in his office and do paperwork for all the property damage he caused with lupin & co. like he always does.

lupin and zenigata prefer it that way, obviously. they know their roles and how to play them. zenigata's too good to be a cop but he's also too good to be with lupin. lupin will kill in self-defense whereas zenigata will *not* kill, period. a la "life is a much more incredibly significant thing".

and then there's the *other* obviously-- the adversarial aspect. they can only *truly* challenge each other if they're on opposing sides. jigen stuck around after lupin beat him. goemon pledged his allegiance to lupin after he bested him. fujiko cozies up to lupin because it's easier than outright contesting him. but lupin is the best criminal and zenigata is the best cop. of course they'll never swap sides. they have the most fun from where they are.

"but tackyyy, what if he *did* join them?" you may ask. well whether it'd be cathartic for zenigata or not aside, there's some other q's that come up that deserve some consideration.

would the gang finally be "complete" if zenigata finally shed his inspector title? what would that look like, how would it work out? what does that even *mean*? is lupin just collecting people he thinks are neat? if so, if a hypothetical (realllllllly emphasizing that hypothetical btw) fourth-- someone with skills on the right level and surprisingly good chemistry with the gang-- came along, would lupin welcome them? or would lupin look at zenigata and go "nah, i'd rather have *that* guy"? lots of stuff to explore.

but at the end of the day there's one thing that really gets my brain gears turning. i think zenigata's higher-ups imagine him on lupin's side and shudder. i think *zenigata* imagines himself on lupin's side and shudders. i think the only way his full potential can be realized is if he's with lupin *permanently*. those blips of unbridled feral skill wouldn't be blips anymore. they'd be normal. and devastating. and the five of them would be unstoppable. and maybe that'd scare him, finally knowing exactly what he's capable of. maybe it *already* scares him, knowing he's the only one who can decide what happens.