#liveblog; married in red

[angeltism]

"well that was phrased wrong" YOU THINK??????

[chai-en-kaadhale]

OK DAMN

[fountainpenguin]

Liveblogging Grian's Session 3 Secret Life POV:

slkdjfsldkfjslkdjfslksdjf-

Grian, who is now soulbound to Joel, rushes over and pines for him in a needy way. Joel brushes him off because "One second, I'm bonding." Grian: "I might need you to un-bond. Joel..."

Joel really did take one look at Grian's task and immediately throw himself off a cliff so Grian took damage.

Grian adopts the role of Joel's bodyguard.

Joel runs to his wife who calls Grian creepy. Joel and Lizzie start fighting and Grian just stands there like "... Aren't you married?"

Scar asks Joel to undress in front of him and Grian screeches.

This all happens within 5 minutes.

Grian: "I'll be a good friend and just shut up."

Joel left Grian to his own devices and he immediately went home and burned down his staircase base.

Me, still playing the video while typing this liveblog: "Lol, I know this isn't the vibe, but you could spin this around and interpret it like he's lonely and wants to move in with Joel." Grian, immediately: "My house is on fire, Joel! Now I can move in with you! <3"

sldkfj the irony of Grian saying "I don't want to be friends with Tim; I did that last time" (Bad Boys in Limited Life) while hanging out with Joel, the other Bad Boy.

Joel: "I might just re-roll for a hard task. For one thing, if I fail and lose 10 hearts, then you lose them too-" Grian: "WHAAAAT???"

Joel chilling and watching Grian fight a zombie: "Protect me Grian."

Jimmy: "He seems to be following Joel around a lot." Grian, dying inside: "We're not that close."

sdkjflh Grian mocking Mumbo like "How can you be so into cars and not know how to drive a camel? It's only a few letters' difference!"

I love Grian and Mumbo crawling and Grian turns around and kicks Mumbo in the face like "Can you feel the Feather Falling IV on those babies?"

I've only seen Tango's and half of Grian's POVs so far, but I'm guessing Mumbo's task isn't necessarily to kill the camel, but to prevent Scar from riding the camel? That's hilarious. Can't argue with the logic that Scar cannot ride a dead camel.

Obsessed with Joel and Grian standing under the cherry tree as the blossoms fall around them and Grian's like "My best friend!" and Joel just leans in and says "I demand your heart."

Grian: "... Maybe we should go somewhere more private for that? Your wife is right there." sldkfj

I appreciate Joel towering up while Grian starts screaming that the Yellows are coming and he needs to keep going higher, all while Martyn is trying to scramble up to him. I presume the rule is that if you're calling someone out on their task, you have to do it face to face, so you can avoid this by running away? That's hilarious.

Joel looks so comfy in his hoodie skin. Good for him.

Grian, chasing endermen and trying to hit them with boats: "Not even this enderman wants to be my friend!!"

Grian: "I have an idea. If I want friends, I have to make my base friend-shaped."

Cracking up at everyone in the courthouse getting jumpscared by the dramatic music sting. Grian cackling and clapping down one hand like "I lay down the rules in this server!"

I feel like we can definitely run with Scar watching Mumbo face the Secretkeeper, which puffs out its little red dust clouds, and muttering to Grian: "I just had a vision of Mumbo's eyes turning red for a second." </3

sldkjf Scott's task being to get people to say "Love you" back to him. He starts listing off people who said it back, then says "Pearl didn't say it back." The divorce quartet drama continues.

Grian: "I've got Feather Falling IV! Watch this!" /takes fall damage.

Wheezing at Grian watching BigB run off like "I don't know game BigB's playing, but it's not Secret Life."

Session 3 Grian POV <3

[aspiringwarriorlibrarian]

Cutting the Prince of Thieves liveblog in half cause the other post got too long.

Boy it sure was nice of them to cut away before showing how Marian failed to kill any of them when she was wielding a red hot poker with her back to the wall. Of course, Marian's combat prowess only applies when she's not actually in danger.

I'm sorry did the Sheriff of Nottingham time travel back a thousand years to get his hired thugs? These guys should be raiding Hadrian's Wall, not in Sherwood Forest. And why is their battle cry "O'Reilly"? Are they just really into auto parts stores?

I mean Robin this kind of is on you for creating the world's most flammable fort. Although you couldn't have predicted the magical catalpults which retroactively delete all the tree branches in their flight path to hit the enemy instead of your own guys.

No don't both go on the burning bridge....and it's gone.

I will admit, the swashbuckling swinging in to save John's wife and son from almost certain death was a classic Robin Hood move. Maybe if you'd done that earlier you might have actually earned being the leader of the Merry Men.

I'll admit "And just who am I supposed to marry?" was rather brave.

[szilverer]

so, after a timely realization post-hallowmas,

reisz has officially joined the great hellbound railway's board! 🥳

...although. they did not think they'd be put in a position of power when they decided to invest contributing money from the sidelines. what do you mean reisz is on equal grounds with all these important people.? was it really that much money???

liveblog rambling about latest developments under the cut lol

wait, but the last i've updated of them they were still slowly dipping their toes into seeking and peckish enough to eat an entire clown car's worth of people! well, to sum it up, every addict has a wake-up call moment and reisz' came after the unexpectedly disturbing nightmare that left a little gift on their skin. reisz was not pleased by this in the slightest, but it's not like they immediately recognized it for what it was. they wanted to believe it was just a particular dream phenomenon, yeah, surely they'd be able to sneak away from it in parabola as always.

(this was when i realized the surprise benefit that was marrying them to edward-- i can use him as a plot device LMFAO. aight eddie i bet ya dont wanna become a widow while that moonmilk is still lingering so your job now is infodumping your clueless spouse every now and then. hence: )

after a little kidnapping, a frenzied feast of rubbery lumps and a bit of denial, reisz gets so goddamn pissed at the prospect of forever staining all their shirts (and their ivory gowl!!!) with blood that they quit seeking outright.

SIGHS.

so. that was that.

alas, after stitching themself up, reisz took up on an old invitation to concord square where some ppl (for some reason??) wanted to handle them the Jack case. considering reisz had already freed london of a menace of a man, sure, let's do it again.

it was there that they came across an invitation to the railway venture. once again, barely reading the details, they went headfirst into it. scrip? ya want scrip? i can get scrip stat. no idk what scrip is but i got it by accident when i sold some lab reports. hahaha yes im joking of course! of course.

reisz sacrifices 3 of their headless skeleton friends to the bone market the very next day (these being their first skelly dealings in that market ever...) and heads to the board. there were faces both old and new.

HAL - acquaintances, hadnt seen him in a while but had good times drinking before. fun company. alright.

The Efficient Commissioner - never seen before. (me, player: HIIIII HELLO FINALLYYYYYYY)

the board has reisz recommend choose a third member (why.) they only heard of Jenny way back in the waswood, and the last time they saw Feducci they had hacked him to pieces after a shared gaze of profound understanding that reisz didnt wanna think about, so... Jovial Contrarian my lad. come on over! we always chat at parties anyway!

reisz was immediately forced to go excavating to pay a bribe. off to a great start there. then the deviless reisz duped months ago invited herself over to the board and they sincerely hoped she had forgotten all that stuff about the stones.

finally, the church meddles in, and they have to choose between... a bishop they never heard about and the dean of xenotheology. they chose the dean solely bc she reminded them of Dr. Vaughan. (no, the bishop that edward kidnapped was never an option. he's one of the handful of people that know about the whole marriage thing so no way.)

this entire thing had barely started and it had already begun to give them a headache. reisz goes to sleep tired as all hell and is woken up at an equally unholy hour:

(cue me screaming bc i FINALLY get to meet this absolute celebrity. furnace the woman that you are. shes SUCH an interesting character right off the bat.)

reisz is not even close to being a political person -- they've been a red player through and through -- so they didnt particularly like the idea of being the bridge between the board and the union. it was to their relief that this furnace person seemed quite level-headed and someone they could personally get along. some good news, at least? (i am also very 👀 at the possibility of reisz actually giving a damn about a political faction in the future. lets see!)

now all the bureaucracy was out of the way, and the GHR can finally start laying the actual track! surely the other members are gonna make the arrangements soon, right?

...right...?

[silviakundera]

Lust Love in the Desert, ep 5 liveblogging

Princess #2 and Ruo Wen, bandit leader extraordinaire, still heavily in debate over who is whose sidekick

Some fellow ruffians amble over and intend to acquire Princess 2. Bandit dude not about to lift a finger to help her (still a complete bastard, if you were wondering) but her shouting his name scares them off

Girl is gonna need to physically toughen up REAL quick. Smarts will only get you so far in Desert Deadwood. She needs to be able to gut a man like a pig.

Now we return to FL hanging out in red silk next to a red ribboned tree (very picturesque!) and poignantly smoldering with ML. Who is looking unrealistically damper (how come he looks perfectly fine after being on the verge of death like yesterday?) (where did he get those clothes?) (no one cares that no one knows 🤷)

She presses herself against his chest and his face does this great expression where we can see that he's quietly shocked, quietly pleased, and it's not overdone

Can't blame the man for shooting his shot after that. Kiss, slap, and then MORE KISSING. She really goes in for it and why not, about to enter the harem of a random lord that she has no interest in except as a lever for revenge.

But alas, she's not gonna abandon everything and run away with you bro. And it's probably not even mostly about the fact that you have been continually lying to her, over and over, since the moment you met

(lbr the only sincerity you've shared w her is your boner)

Nice kiss, though. I did a rewind ngl

lmaoooooooo the way he suddenly spits up blood and collapses the moment she walks away from him. Classic wuxia.

"If we meet in the next life... let's actually be nothing to each other" wow girl maybe just ghosting the man would be kinder 💀

FL joins the 2 remaining caravan peeps and puts dirt in the bag for some scheming reason

ML rushes up on his horse very dramatically to return that scroll mcguffin that they keep trying to toss back & forth

He's clutching his reins and spitting blood, clearly v distressed about his crush walking up to marry another man

though probably much less distressing than seeing your mom skewered in front of you

but idk WHO CAN SAY????

a bunch of tribe princesses flattering Yunpei Lord. yawn. This bs seems to be working for him, so we know he's a loser.

FL was so busy making out & making eyes with her sus boyfriend that she's late to the marriage pass ceremony, but then she holds a sword to her throat & threatens to end her life on the steps if she can't see his lordship, as you do. 💁

Why don't u just tell him u have the Special Scroll ?????????? Is this thing actually important or not?

Her canonical extreme hotness is paying off

Less said about her dance performance, the better. But ok I guess it was the dress special effects they're marveling at. Very Katniss Evergreen.

[pochapal]

Umineko Liveblog: Thoughts/Theories [Episode 1 Chapter 13 Edition]

In Umineko chapter 13, it happened again. Barely three chapters after the previous slaughter, the second twilight unfolds. The two who are close were torn apart, in a gruesome and inevitable moment that shocked everybody and nobody. It is a compact chapter that almost entirely hinges around Eva and Hideyoshi’s demise.

However, that’s not all that’s going on here. Beyond the shock and the horrors, some of the more salient elements of the story are slowly simmering to the surface. Eva and Hideyoshi’s involvement in the first twilight, the nature of the witch narrative, Genji’s role in these grim events, and Kinzo’s potential bizarre and horrifying motive.

And also try to figure out just what went down in that locked room.

Our first stop on the chapter 13 writeup brings us to the titular two who are close. I’m not yet talking about their corpses or the seemingly impossible closed room they were killed in just yet. First, I want to think about the very loaded conversation between Eva and Hideyoshi in the opening half of the chapter.

At first glance, it feels like nothing more than an endless parade of death flags. They comment on how proud they are of George, they affirm their love for one another, and then they talk about their plans to travel somewhere beautiful once this is all over. There was never any subtlety about what was going to happen to these two in this chapter. The surface level reading is incredibly apparent.

What’s less apparent is what else can be gleaned from this conversation. Yes, Eva and Hideyoshi are having their “when we leave this place” doomed by the narrative conversation, but there is one specific death flag that doesn’t get tripped. Not once do either of them talk about the murders, or Beatrice, or any fear they may have for their own safety.

Eva and Hideyoshi not necessarily caring about their murdered siblings doesn’t come as a surprise. What does come as a surprise is that Eva, who spent the last two chapters mercilessly interrogating the mystery of Kinzo’s disappearance, has very little to say on the matter of these bizarre murders. They briefly comment on how Natsuhi is letting the power go to her head now that Krauss is dead and that it’s a relief that Shannon was killed so George now cannot marry her. That is the extent of it.

It is almost out of character how far removed from the situation Eva and Hideyoshi appear to be in this conversation. After all, the killer is still at large and there are still twelve hours until the boat gets there. So why are they so completely unbothered? It’s almost as if to them, this murder business does not concern them.

And why would that be? Why would Eva and Hideyoshi be acting without fear despite having no outward reason to do so?

If they are unafraid, that indicates that they believe, for whatever reason, that Beatrice and the killings pose no threat to them. This is something that was evident even in the previous chapter when the two of them broke off from the group despite the clear risks associated with that. It’s also reinforced by the fact that they make plans to escape to the Maldives in a few weeks’ time – there is not a shred of doubt that they will be leaving the island alive. Everybody else on Rokkenjima is panicked and terrified, but not Eva and Hideyoshi. In short, in private, they are acting as if there is no threat to their lives at all.

This is of course a wildly bizarre stance to take given the situation they find themselves in. What’s important here is trying to find a reason as to why these two would act like this and say the things they do. What they talk about is reaffirming their future and going away on a luxury trip. No mention of the murders, the epitaph, the gold, or the inheritance.

Almost as if these problems are no longer a concern for Eva and Hideyoshi, despite half their family being killed and them still in the red financially. Those things might as well not exist behind closed doors. Why is that?

I think figuring out a compelling reason for this relies on a prior assumption almost certainly being true: Eva and Hideyoshi were involved in the first twilight. More specifically, they were helped along in whatever they did by the originator of the Beatrice narrative enough that their culpability has been taken care of for them. If “Beatrice” is making their problems disappear with “magic”, then of course it would be no issue for the two of them to play along with the witch narrative as long as it continues to benefit them. Hideyoshi leaning in on the “demonic” nature of the magic circles despite his prior skepticism towards Beatrice makes complete sense under this light.

This would also be why Hideyoshi chastises Eva for her receipt ploy with Natsuhi. The witch narrative works on ambiguity and uncertainty, of not looking too deeply or closely at the mysteries. If the Kinzo death embezzlement theory is true, then the coverup is operating on the same logic as the narrative that is protecting Eva and Hideyoshi. If Kinzo’s death is unmasked by the family, then so too can Beatrice be unmasked. And if Beatrice is unmasked, then Eva and Hideyoshi’s role is exposed.

Further, this can also be used to explain away their Maldives plans. We are presented with a very Romantic vision of Eva and Hideyoshi making peace with their lot in life and renewing their love for each other in the wake of tragedy, the facts of which can only be contradicted via attacks on their character and not via logic. However, if we use the Detective’s approach and separate the actions from the emotions, what are we left with?

Eva and Hideyoshi, who are no longer concerned about the inheritance and Kinzo’s fortune, are making plans to be out of the country in a remote location about twelve weeks from the present moment. This would leave them totally unreachable and untouchable at what would likely be the height of the police investigation into the Rokkenjima murders. They would be in a foreign nation under foreign jurisdiction right around when they would be scrutinised either as witnesses or suspects. They will be out of the country, and thus uninvolved with the immediate management of the Rokkenjima estate in the absence of pretty much every other viable next-of-kin.

Why would they be out of the country at such a crucial time, and why would they not be concerned with taking control of the family’s affairs? I think two points can be extrapolated here.

The first is that they need to be out of the picture so as not to be a suspect. On its own this would not make sense because them being unreachable would only serve to make them more suspicious, so it stands that there is some kind of contingency they feel is protecting them. The second is that they don’t challenge the succession/inheritance because they either already have everything they need, or they know that it is a matter of time before they get it anyway. Eva is ambitious and desperate for the top slice of the Ushiromiya pie. She would not back off without a guarantee.

What this tells us, I think, is that there is an individual who exists to take the heat off Eva and Hideyoshi in some way. Some person who would be infinitely more suspicious than even the only surviving beneficiaries who have fled the country. Some person who, in some way, will guarantee that Eva and Hideyoshi will still have access to the Ushiromiya fortune when all is said and done.

A perfect candidate for this sort of person would be a hypothetical individual who has already seized ownership of the headship and the fortune who otherwise should not have it, and who will very quickly get caught out by the police for having wealth and power above their status. Someone who is, say, a servant who solved the epitaph and gained control of Rokkenjima and its gold. A servant who will most likely be swiftly arrested, not believed, and their stolen wealth immediately returned to the highest-ranked Ushiromiya still alive. This is everything Eva wanted and more, and all she has to do is sit quietly and let events fall as they will. Like Kinzo before her, she will be bestowed untold riches through Beatrice’s magic, so long as she keeps her mouth shut.

Ultimately, when Eva tells Battler to think more deeply on what she said before leaving the parlor, she is obviously imploring him to consider Natsuhi as a duplicitous hypocrite. However, if your thinking extends beyond the “who” and into the “how” and “why”, then Eva’s trick with the receipt provides a solid blueprint for breaking down the witch narrative. This is, of course, almost certainly not something the person behind Beatrice expected to happen when they stepped in to clean up Eva and Hideyoshi’s mess. If the witch narrative is destroyed too early, then not only does whatever Beatrice’s plan is get thoroughly ruined, but also Eva and Hideyoshi get suspected as culprits and lose everything.

Each one has the power to destroy the other. However, while Eva and Hideyoshi cannot survive without the witch narrative, the witch narrative can certainly survive without Eva and Hideyoshi. So Beatrice cuts her losses and disposes of the two of them before they can become a liability in order to keep the narrative going.

And of course, the witch narrative itself plays a central role in this chapter as an unseen yet glaringly visible force. We’ve already gone over how and why Eva and Hideyoshi would play into the witch narrative, so now let’s examine the broader narrative that exists beyond the two of them.

Until now, it was fairly easy to read the witch narrative as a mere metaphor coverup for the killing of the Ushiromiya siblings. It cloaks the murders in obscurity and makes it hard to understand anything other than the hard fact of death. The first twilight is a masterclass in a mystery that gives nothing away easily. Not so much with the second twilight.

A lot of this comes from the fact that the interim chapters between the two twilights have been peppered with glimpses into how this narrative is being constructed, and who is telling this story. The scenes between the servants talking about Beatrice reveal that whatever is going on is much more than a little bit of occult obfuscation. Beatrice is made into a consistent character with concrete personality traits that are completely superfluous to the “a witch is murdering everybody” scenario. Why does it matter that Beatrice is respectful to those who respect her in kind? Why would Beatrice have a propensity for pranking? Why does the story of Beatrice, in Battler’s words, have to bring everyone on Rokkenjima into another world?

This still mostly touches on elements of the witch narrative that are hard to figure out at this point, related to things like the paradox of an unsolvable mystery begging to be solved. I don’t think this chapter does much to advance my understanding of these issues. Instead, I want to examine the way the witch narrative is working around the second twilight, and what these features can tell us.

The first thing I noticed on this front is a soft culmination of the recurring image of the TV. Since the first twilight, there has been a narrative emphasis on Maria being totally absorbed in watching TV, except for the moments where the narrative flares up and she gets the chance to be witch-Maria. The TV here is used as a symbol for the unreality of the situation – the programs Maria watches are fictional, a fantasy to keep her absorbed in. The witch narrative is similarly an all-absorbing fantasy, and during the scenes in the parlor when everybody is discussing Beatrice and the occult, Maria is able to turn her attention away from the TV. When they are not talking about the witch narrative, Maria returns to the TV.

If you view Maria as totally fantasy-absorbed within the story, then the only times she stops watching TV are when the fantasy has spilled out into the material world. The TV, then, is a stand-in for the witch narrative – only those invested in perpetuating the witch narrative watch TV. The TV itself is also a signifier of the fiction contained within the screen leaking out into wider reality.

This is all important because in chapter 13, the TV features heavily in the guest bedroom. Alone in the room, Eva and Hideyoshi turn the TV on, and it becomes the only audible sound aside from the rain. While discovering the murder, Kanon remarks on how the light and noise from the TV grow stronger and stronger until they are the only thing he can focus on. The TV strengthens throughout the chapter, right up until the moment where Eva and Hideyoshi’s bodies are found.

If TV = witch narrative, then chapter 13 is a steady progression of the witch narrative increasing in strength. Despite the seemingly disconnected shock of the murders, there is still that Beatrice-shaped throughline linking it to the first twilight. Whatever happened to Eva and Hideyoshi is part of the same continuity of killings that was responsible for the deaths of the other siblings. This is perhaps the most important takeaway from this observation: we must consider the two sets of murders as a continuous series of events. Whatever caused the first twilight is still happening.

More than that, it also means that so much of this scene is shrouded in that misleading obfuscation inherent to the witch narrative. It’s hard to know for sure what’s going on since the important parts of this chapter were entirely relayed through a third person outside perspective and not through Battler’s eyes, so if there are discrepancies in presentation they are not yet known. All we have to work with is the singular, third person series of events. If there are incongruities to be found, it is too soon to speculate on them. The only thing that is certain is that if the witch narrative is in play as strongly as the story would suggest, then it must not be taken for granted that everything here is as it seems.

The other witch narrative element in this chapter comes in the form of more occult symbols, of which we get two: bizarrely-decorated icepick-esque murder weapons, and a freakishly elaborate magic circle.

The icepicks, or whatever they are, are a little easier to puzzle out. The characters remark on how bizarre and out of place they seem to be, not knowing how or why they got here and were used in the murders. Regardless of how truthful you may assume these observations to be, I think it’s fairly easy to say that the weird ornate weapons came from Kinzo’s collection, same as the gun. If so, then these picks may have either been obtained the previous night when Kinzo’s study was entered to prepare for the first twilight, or at some undisclosed point beforehand depending on how much in advance these murders were set up.

What the picks actually are is a little less straightforward. If you’re going by the rules of occult symbols and weapons, the first thing that naturally comes to mind when thinking of “conical object with a fancy handle” is some kind of stake – I’m thinking more along the lines of blood sacrifice than demon slaying here. It was described as being like an icepick but not an icepick, and similar to a spear but too short to be called a spear, so I think some kind of modified sacrificial stake is the best fit. I said a second ago that I think the intended evocation is of ritual sacrifice rather than the killing of something demonic, but in the prior scene Eva describes her own toxic ambitions as a “devil” in her head. Killing the “devil” inside Eva by running a stake through her has a nice ironic thematic resonance to it that I think further justifies considering this object as some kind of stake.

The other issue, however, is that stakes are almost only useful for piercing soft flesh – the traditional image is of a stake through the heart, and not through the forehead. It is far easier to pierce the chest than it is the skull, so if this is some kind of stake (not that the exact nature of the weapon matters that much), how did it do that?

I think that, both like and unlike the first twilight, it’s worth considering a more mundane tool here. In order to get something thin and piercing through a hard to penetrate surface, you need to apply a lot of force. The gun could not be used since that is still in Natsuhi’s possession, so some kind of shenanigans there is automatically out of the question. Given that, what’s left to us?

What’s worth noting is that we never get a good look at the weapons, beyond seeing their handles and that they are roughly conical in shape. How they are embedded in Eva and Hideyoshi remains unknown. My thinking is, given the size and shape and purpose of these wounds, that a drill was likely used to create the effect seen. A drill could, with enough pressure, pierce into someone’s skull. It would then either be a case of having the weapon attached to some kind of screw as it is drilled into them, or sticking the weapon into the hole after the fact. The drill could be easily sourced from the same tool storage room Kanon acquired the bolt cutters from, and easily returned without suspicion.

One question that arises from this is that it is once again very unlikely that Eva and Hideyoshi died by having their foreheads drilled through. Given the list of suspects and the logistics of the killing, it is most likely that the mutilation happened posthumously like with the first twilight. Which means, again, that Eva and Hideyoshi were actually killed in some other way that left no other visible signs. And once again, I have reason to believe that may be poison.

Before I consider who could have administered some kind of poison to the two of them, let’s also think about the magic circle for a second. According to the narration, Kanon first notices the magic circle when returning to the bedroom with the bolt cutters – a more elaborate magic circle than the first has appeared on the door. Kanon and Kumasawa both react in shock upon seeing it – Kumasawa because it is so ghastly, Kanon because it was not there less than five minutes ago.

On the face of it, this is another impossible-seeming occurrence, even more so than any other occult symbol seen so far. That said, if you keep in mind the overwhelming swell of the witch narrative and the reliability of our narrators, then it becomes less impossible to consider. Going back to the Detective/Romantic narrative viewpoint, we need to remember that these third person scenes are more about being faithful to the emotional truth than the literal truth – the why is accurate, but the how and what may not be.

For the magic circle, what we get is the emergence of this symbol accompanied by Kanon’s shock, fear, and helplessness. Kanon is not in a good place when he looks upon the magic circle – his distress culminates in the appearance of this symbol. This does not necessarily mean the magic circle literally materialised in a handful of minutes, but it does mean that the magic circle’s emotional relevance only became clear upon Kanon’s second known trip to the bedroom.

Now that Kanon has the means of entering the locked bedroom, the witch narrative bleeds out into something concrete and grim. When the bedroom was still a sealed space, there was no occult iconography. The appearance of the circle, narrative-wise, marks a point of no return. As readers, we know what this means: the epitaph murders have continued, and Eva and Hideyoshi are absolutely super dead. There is no avoiding or delaying that inevitability. Likewise, Kanon having the bolt cutters means that he, too, can no longer ignore the writing on the wall.

The bolt cutters break through the material lock on the room. The magic circle breaks through the immaterial lock of obfuscation. We know exactly what is in there, and how to get there. There is no use in pretending. Truth, or some form of it at least, rules the moment. Beatrice shows her hand when she knows we can no longer deny her presence.

So we see the magic circle and understand. So Kanon has the bolt cutters and can step into the room. If the witch narrative is about one thing, it’s the conferring of understanding onto observational parties. Despite the obscurity and mystery surrounding everything, the signs and symbols are remarkably devoid of ambiguity. Magic circles indicate that a completed murder lies behind the door. The imagery of the first twilight goes from a spectacle to a pattern.

Of course, this still means that this is the witch narrative, and this still means that the information we are receiving Is obfuscated. Under the witch narrative, the magic circle inexplicably manifested within a few short minutes as a signpost by the Golden Witch. If you take away the witch narrative and apply more of a Detective’s logic, you then also have to come up with an alternative explanation that conforms to human rules and human logic.

If there is no witch and no magic operating on the physical level, that means that the magic circle was materially constructed by a material entity. With the previous circle on the storehouse door, I reasoned that the six hour timeframe is more than enough for the culprit to draw it. With the second twilight. However, that timeframe has rapidly shrunken. The one that the story offers us, of less than five minutes, is plainly not feasible. Therefore, like other mysteries in this story, we’ll have to extend that window as much as possible.

We know from the chapter breaks that chapter 13 starts at 19:00. We also know that Eva and Hideyoshi are alive at this time. During the discovery of the bodies, Nanjo remarks that they have been dead for roughly an hour. This chapter doesn’t end with a clock transition, but from this we can roughly surmise that the family finds the corpses at 20:00, thereabouts. An hour is still a tight timeframe to produce a magic circle that complex, but infinitely more feasible than five minutes.

Another detail we’re given about the circle is that the paint still appears to “drip”, so assuming that to be true, an hour would still be enough time for the pain to be fresh enough to still run. Really, depending on the type of paint used, this “wet” period could last as long as two to three hours. This was obviously less of a problem for the first twilight, given that the paint was exposed to the rain the whole time and would therefore have difficulty drying. With the second twilight, this is on a door in a sheltered, likely heated, hallway. Even with upper estimates, the amount of time the paint can be visibly wet for is limited.

So what is the earliest that this could have been done? The first major hurdle that needs to be eliminated is Eva and Hideyoshi. If the circle was on the door before they entered the room, the initial assumption is that they would have reacted to this in some way. This, of course, is also predicated on Eva and Hideyoshi having minimal involvement in the witch narrative.

However, the past couple of chapters have proven that Eva and Hideyoshi are, if not producing, at the very least perpetuating the narrative. Like I thought about before, it’s likely that they’re choosing to play along as insurance to protect themselves against being caught out with their involvement in the murders of the first twilight. There’s also the sealed letter found under their door that we never get to see – perhaps these are/were some kind of written instructions on how they were to act for the rest of the weekend? An updated primer on the witch narrative to keep their story straight as the story evolves? Either way, given that, it wouldn’t be too much of a stretch to imagine that they’d ignore the existence of the magic circle under instruction. After all, whatever keeps the suspicion off them works.

Where we do run into an issue is that prior to this, Natsuhi and the servants performed a full sweep of the mansion in search of Kinzo. Unlike Eva and Hideyoshi, Natsuhi is not embroiled in the witch narrative in the same way, and absolutely would have said and done something had she encountered a magic circle while searching the mansion. This means that either Natsuhi never went near the guest rooms (unlikely) or that the magic circle was painted after her search was complete and she returned to the parlor with the gun (much more likely).

If that’s the case, then that pushes the window of opportunity back by an additional hour or so. This also, ultimately, leaves us with a very small pool of suspects. In an anticlimactic fashion, these are basically the same people who were the only ones in a position to draw the magic circle on the storehouse door: Genji and Kanon.

The servants excuse themselves from the parlor early on even in spite of Natsuhi’s attempt to keep everyone in one place. Ostensibly they are in the kitchen to prepare dinner for the family. Kumasawa is shown to be the one most involved in the cooking process, only calling upon Kanon to help her plate up and serve. This gives Kanon and Genji a lot of leeway to move about the mansion and prepare things for the second twilight.

This also, by extension, puts Nanjo in a less favourable light. He spends time in the kitchen playing chess with Genji during the timeframe when he and Kanon would be coming and going. So either Nanjo was completely oblivious to this happening, or he is complicit on some level in what is going on. As always, the dilemma of Nanjo remains ever present and ever unsolvable. His positioning here only adds to the question, and helps very little in pinning anything down. Nanjo is there. This kind of makes him suspicious. It also kind of might not.

More relevantly. I want to instead examine my new prime suspect of the day. Up until now, my prevailing theory has been that Kanon has been the one behind the witch narrative, with Genji as an accomplice. This was mostly based off considering who could have been responsible for giving the first letter to Maria, and who would have the strongest motive to tear down the Ushiromiya family. However, after this chapter (and percolating on things from the last few) I am reporting that my stance has totally shifted. Genji is the orchestrator, and Kanon is the accomplice. I got it backwards.

Too much falls into place too perfectly if you consider Genji to be the “mastermind” of the operation. The bizarre coincidences with everything on Rokkenjima either being out of service or out for repairs specifically over the weekend of the conference makes a hell of a lot more sense if you consider it to be Genji’s doing. The only people who could have done this are those with any degree of authority with household management, which shrinks the circle to Kinzo, Krauss, Natsuhi, and Genji.

Natsuhi has already been eliminated from the suspect pool a million times over, so I won’t spend time repeating myself. Kinzo is too far removed from reality to care much about the specifics of sealing Rokkenjima off from the outside world (although I do have more to say on Kinzo shortly) and also he may or may not actually be alive as of this October weekend anyway. Krauss is a possibility, but him being killed during the first twilight the way he was seems to indicate that he is not involved in any higher-level machinations. Genji, however? Genji is very much perfectly placed to do this. As the defacto senior member of the household staff and as the one person on Rokkenjima who actually has Kinzo’s favour, Genji has a lot more options open to him than the self-professed humble “furniture” would have us believe.

Of all the servants, Genji is the one who can most easily move about unchallenged. Natsuhi and Krauss distrust him too much, and fear Kinzo too much, to make any serious attempts at obstructing him. Kinzo does not care enough to take that much of an interest in anything Genji does. The other servants are either beneath him or unaffiliated with him (as is the case with Gohda). Genji just is, able to go about his business while assumed to be untouchable.

Even if you were to suspect Genji of ill intent, he very effectively wields his position as a servant to deflect. Genji is one of three servants on Rokkenjima to bear the label of “furniture” – a term that is associated with being in Kinzo’s inner circle, and with being a victim of Kinzo’s abuse. For Shannon and Kanon, to be furniture is to be less than human, it is to be the servant before the person. It is to be so folded into your position of servitude that nothing else can be permitted to exist, save for your function of being at the mercy of your superiors. They are powerless teenagers trapped in a cruel situation. For Genji, though, this narrative does not quite click.

Yes, he is bound to serve Kinzo regardless of his personal will. Yes, he has almost totally given himself over to his role as a servant. Yes, he is seemingly “stuck” on Rokkenjima. But it’s not the same as Kanon and Shannon. Genji was not plucked from birth and forced into this position. He was, by all accounts, a good friend of Kinzo’s in their youth who chose to become his personal servant at some undefined point decades in the past. Genji entered into this arrangement willingly, even if the present circumstances do not necessarily match the starting conditions.

But Genji still calls himself “furniture”. He is deliberately positioning himself as part of the same class of individual as Shannon and Kanon, despite ostensibly having more in common with someone like Kumasawa. She is another elderly servant with enough leeway to get up to antics, but she does not refer to herself, or anyone, as furniture. She lacks Kinzo’s favour, but in all other measures she is equivalent to Genji. Furniture as a term used to browbeat junior servants into complacency checks out, but furniture being used to describe a man who willingly entered into the service of his once good friend does not track in quite the same way.

In an earlier chapter, Genji pulls Kanon to one side and discusses with him how they are in service of both of Rokkenjima’s masters – Kinzo and Beatrice. There is a sense that this private conversation carries with it a degree of sincerity. Genji is autonomous compared to the other servants, and yet he is still bound. This is a glaring contradiction in Genji’s psychology that continues to undermine the notion that the Beatrice narrative is all a farce put on by a cynical and crafty servant. There is a sincere notion of a belief in something underpinning the goings-on here, something that drives Genji to step further into whatever unpleasant role he is assuming.

Genji is furniture in service of his master. This statement alone reveals much of the truth we need to understand what is happening here, or at the very least cobble together a compelling theory.

What we know of Genji is that whatever he and Kinzo have goes far back into the past. There is, or was at one point, a genuine affection between the two men. The scene between the two in the study is proof of this, no matter if you subscribe to the notion of Kinzo being alive or the notion of Kinzo being dead. If Kinzo is alive, then the affection is straightforward and reciprocal if erratic. If Kinzo is dead, then Genji is evoking a mirror to feelings that are deeply true in his own heart if nowhere else. And ultimately, what Genji feels matters more than what Kinzo feels, especially for this theory.

The theory is as follows: Genji is the orchestrator of the witch narrative, and Kanon is his coerced subordinate. Where this differs from my earlier Kanon theory is that rather than try to shoehorn a reason into why Genji would so intimately know all this occult stuff in order to deploy it for the murders, I instead think that while Genji is executing this scheme, he is not the mastermind.

The mastermind of the witch narrative, and the originator of “Beatrice”, is actually Kinzo. Or, to be more technical, the ghost of Kinzo.

In order to explain this, we need to go back to the very start of the story, to the prologue scene between Kinzo, Nanjo, and Genji where all three men discuss the issue of Kinzo’s last will and his declining health. This scene has always been a little structurally weird, owing to the fact that it never really connects neatly to anything else in the story. We have no way of knowing when or why this scene happens. All we know is what, and the “what” of the scene is that Nanjo declares that Kinzo has not got long left, and that he should really get to making a will before it is too late. And Kinzo, in response, says that all he cares about is Beatrice, and he would happily throw all his family and all his possessions in the fire for one last glimpse of the Golden Witch.

One implication of this scene is that Nanjo was subtly pushing Kinzo to seek absolution for some undisclosed sin that hangs in the air. I do not think this is what happened – In Kinzo’s own words, he has no regrets. Instead, I think the shift in conversation conveys a literal truth in reasoning. Kinzo’s final choice is to offer it all up to the Demon’s Roulette for the witch. It is not that Kinzo refuses to make a will, but that he does choose to produce one, albeit on his own spiteful, warped terms.

For this to work, I firmly believe that, regardless of everything else going on, Kinzo was definitely alive in this prologue scene. This may have taken place days, weeks, even months before the 1986 family conference, and while that could be pinned down by examining certain actions taken on Rokkenjima and Krauss’s embezzlement efforts, the exact timing does not matter at this exact moment. What matters is that Kinzo formulates some kind of rotten plan before he dies.

What we know here is that Kinzo longs to see Beatrice again, and that according to Maria and the epitaph, Beatrice is in/from the Golden Land. From the few bits of information we have, we know that Beatrice is an unreal ghost-like entity, and that the Golden Land seems to be some kind of afterlife/world Beyond. Or at least the supernatural definition of Golden Land – I also believe that the gold vault is another kind of Golden Land. Glory in life, glory in death and all that.

From this, we can extrapolate that “reunion with Beatrice” is fuelled by some kind of death drive. To meet the Golden Witch in the Golden Land is to cross the threshold of death. The material world must be departed from in all its forms, otherwise there is no point. And more than this, any deaths offered during the twilights are consigned to be little more than sacrifices for Beatrice’s power.

This poses a conundrum for Kinzo. If he dies as a sacrifice, then he is very unlikely to be graced with Beatrice’s smile. If he survives the whole ordeal, there is every chance he just does not see Beatrice at all. For him to get what he wants based on what we know of how this system operates, he either needs to die before the epitaph murders, or after. We know that Beatrice is a ghost. It stands to reason that “Beatrice” would also be a ghost. In other words, I think Kinzo died at some point between the prologue scene and the family setting foot on Rokkenjima. Or at the very least, gave the total impression of death to everyone that matters. Whatever it took to put him in a position where his last will could be carried out.

A spiteful last will, designed to ruin the family that Kinzo so loathes, and to bring him closer than ever to his deranged fantasies. A scheme twofold in its purposes, one final echo of the Ushiromiya patriarch’s abuse, inflicted from a place that totally shields him against any kind of retaliation. The abusive father “exists” in the shadows, forcing everyone on the island into the role of frightened and helpless children, where adulthood and money offer no defence against the horror. The wry and scheming Eva is, in the end, as powerless as Maria in the rose garden. The witch narrative becomes a grand and cruel equaliser only interested in pain.

And, of course, for Kinzo to be the phantom behind the stage, this means that there must be somebody carrying out this violence in the material world. We are given exactly two people who would be privy to this plan of Kinzo’s, if it exists: Nanjo and Genji. Nanjo may know, but Nanjo lacks the power and influence to do much more than potentially splutter out some regurgitated nonsense about the witch narrative and maybe a lie a little about the state of crime scenes. Genji, however, has intimate knowledge of Rokkenjima and of Kinzo, and command of the household staff, including whatever control and leverage is used to keep the other “furniture” in line. One final request to an old friend, one last blood-washed sin to see it off.

The big question, of course, is why on earth Genji would do something like this. We know that there is some kind of unfathomably deep devotion towards Kinzo in spite of everything the man is. We know that, in Genji’s heart at least, there is a fondness that is one of the major components keeping him going. I don’t think it’s as literal as I’m positing, but I do think there is a sentiment towards Kinzo that Genji harbours which goes beyond servitude and friendship and into something resembling love. Be it romantic love, or some other kind of bond formed by history, companionship and proximity, I am not sure. But Genji feels strongly enough about Kinzo that he is willing to bloody his hands in this dirty business simply to fulfil his dear friend’s final wish. The nature of this bond is less important than the fact of its existence.

Genji is acting as Kinzo’s “furniture”, as a manipulated piece on a board that further manipulates pieces beneath him to adhere to the plan. Kanon, then, is trapped under a new layer of torment and abuse as Genji’s fanaticism takes centre stage. He loses his sister and dirties his hands for the sake of a dead man. He has no other option except to acquiesce, because unlike Genji Kanon does not have the luxury of saying “no”. He has nothing of his own, nowhere to go, nobody in his corner. Kanon is little more than a tool, the ultimate embodiment of the “furniture” concept. Kinzo is gone, but the power and abuse dynamics remain as alive as ever.

This is the stage of the epitaph murders. Genji, acting out a rehearsed script bestowed onto him by the evil master he will follow into the depths of hell. Kanon, forced to play deuteragonist no matter what he would rather want for himself. The other servants, the supporting cast of varying relevance. Everyone forced into carrying out Kinzo’s final wish to see his family destroyed in the name of his fleeting, warped dreams.

Keeping that in mind, let’s now try to sketch out what I think happened during the second twilight.

We already know that Eva and Hideyoshi are involved in the first twilight, be it as culprits or accomplices. As the only surviving siblings of that eventful night, they are absolutely painted in suspicion that has taken the witch narrative firing on all cylinders just to keep at bay. And even then, it was only a matter of time before Eva’s ego and the family’s reasoning would lead them to the conclusion that the two of them had some degree of involvement in the deaths of the six. And from there, that would of course lead to the witch narrative potentially being uncovered and the entire scheme falling apart. The two of them are liabilities if “Beatrice” is to have any longevity.

I do not think Eva and Hideyoshi at any point thought they were in danger. They were so secure in their innocence and survival that, after separating from the rest of the family, were willing to make plans about what would happen after the conference. Disappearing into the Maldives for a few weeks at the height of the criminal investigation into the murders indicates that at the very least, the two expect to have the means to do this. After this weekend, they will no longer be in need of a lot of money right now. All they need to do is keep up the pantomime for a few hours longer.

Even if Eva and Hideyoshi weren’t always intended to die, their performance that morning solidified that keeping them around would jeapordise the witch narrative immensely. So either Genji/Kinzo intended to betray them from the start, or this decision came about after witnessing them flail to keep their cover in the parlour. Whatever the case, their decision to break off from the group and retire to the guestroom was actually them stepping into a trap.

Depending on the timeframe of the magic circle, there can be a case made that at some point during the afternoon Genji and/or Kanon painted the door, and Eva and Hideyoshi were told to head to this room at a certain time. Perhaps they were told that staying in a room with a magic circle would make them look like survivors of an attempt on their life in a scenario akin to the stains on Natsuhi’s door, and take the heat off them in the same way as it did Natsuhi. Perhaps they didn’t think to ask questions, so long as they were confident in both their survival and their financial gain. Either that, or the magic circle was painted after they had already entered the room. Both cases are viable, and neither one detracts too much from the overall shape of events.

While Eva and Hideyoshi are in the room talking and doing all the other stuff they were doing, Genji and Kanon are almost certainly preparing the murder. This would involve taking the picks from Kinzo’s collection and painting the magic circle, depending again on the timeframe we’re working with. Either way, that first hour is spent closing the trap in.

At some point in a nebulous timejump, either Genji or Kanon enters the guestroom. Most likely this is done using the pretence of the second letter, which they may have believed contained further instructions for the rest of the conference. I also think that, going by the pattern of culpability, that the person who greets them at the door is Kanon.

The most likely scenario is that Kanon knocks on the door a short while after Eva and Hideyoshi have finished making love. Eva is found dead fully dressed on the bed, and Hideyoshi is found dead naked in the shower. I think you can extrapolate from this their final actions: Eva cleaned herself up first, and Hideyoshi was about to enter the shower when Kanon arrived.

So it is most likely Eva that let Kanon in. She does this because she believes she is not at risk of further harm, and because Kanon and Genji have the blackmail of her involvement in the first twilight over her head. With no choice but to receive further instruction, Eva opens up the guestroom.

In order to kill them, Kanon likely serves Eva and Hideyoshi something poisoned. This was most likely prepared by Genji using whatever poison Krauss and Gohda used in the first twilight. Ironically, the paranoid Eva would not have thought to detect any poison at this stage, and will die of the exact thing she taunted Shannon and Natsuhi about earlier in the story.

After serving them the poison and having some kind of interaction with them, Kanon most likely leaves the scene. What follows next is that Eva chooses to lie on the bed, while Hideyoshi enters the shower. The poison takes hold and kills them a short time after that, leaving them in the positions the others would later find them in.

At this point, Kanon and Genji would likely return to the scene with a drill and the picks to dress up the murder scene with occult accessories. Their heads are drilled through, the picks inserted, and the letter placed under the door. Then, via whatever method achieved such a thing, they lock the room from the inside with the chain and left the scene.

An amount of time passes here where Kanon and Genji help to prepare dinner and dispose of the leftover evidence. At around eight, as we see in the chapter, they return to the guestroom to complete the charade. Genji knocks on the door, receives no reply, and then he and Kanon “discover” the letter. To keep up the illusion, Genji and Kanon return to the kitchen in a panic. Kanon and Kumasawa seek out bolt cutters, while Genji and Nanjo return to the guestroom.

Once Kanon and Kumasawa return to the guestroom with the bolt cutters, they “discover” the magic circle. Kumasawa acts shocked, but it cannot be discounted that this is also part of the act. Whatever the case, the magic circle has been here for some time, and only now is Kanon permitted to acknowledge it. Kanon then unlocks the door chain with the bolt cutters, making quick work of whatever method allowed the room to be sealed in the first place, and Eva and Hideyoshi’s corpses are “discovered” in their final occult resting positions. This is, I believe, the overall gist of the second twilight.

The major question that lingers is “how was the locked room constructed”, something for which there is no answer at this stage. The major outlier with the second twilight concerns the drilled heads. Unlike the poison, this is not something that could have been passively set in motion before the locked room’s construction. We also know that there was nobody in the room except for Eva and Hideyoshi, so it’s not like somebody could have stayed in there and done the drilling after the room was locked up.

There is also not really enough time for Eva and Hideyoshi’s heads to be drilled after the room was unlocked, either. Even if that was somehow managed, the issue of hiding and disposing of the drill becomes much harder than my earlier theory. Ultimately, while I could tie myself in knots trying to pin down the locked room, I don’t think the “how” is too important. We already know the who and the why, and changing the how doesn’t change either of these factors.

So, to sum up: Eva and Hideyoshi were killed by Kanon and Genji as part of the witch narrative. This was done first via poison, and then via posthumous mutilation. The servants took advantage of the nebulous timeframe to set the scene, and then pretended to discover the crime an hour after the fact. This was done under Genji’s instruction following a plan most likely sketched out by Kinzo in advance, carried through out of some kind of sick and doomed devotion. Case kind of mostly closed.

What now? Eva and Hideyoshi were the loose end of the first twilight. There are no such ends this time. Just the culprit and his accomplices. Kanon and Kumasawa are not liabilities in the way the other two were, so the next twilight will most likely not occur under similar circumstances. There aren’t any hostile actors left in the Ushiromiya family, either. Just Natsuhi and Nanjo and the cousins.

It is very hard to see what circumstances would breed the next murder under the current conditions. With the death of Eva and Hideyoshi, a kind of equilibrium is reached.

However, one thing worth noting is that the third twilight makes no reference to murder. All it asks is for Beatrice’s noble name to be praised. In more plain terms, this may equate to a kind of acknowledgement of the witch’s existence among the survivors. Perhaps the aftermath of this murder starts to genuinely convince people of Beatrice’s existence, and this “praising” leads to a schism between those left standing that breeds new conflict.

Perhaps the praising marks a threshold point where Beatrice can now for real start interacting with the world, growing more and more capable with each sacrifice. Perhaps we will see the witch narrative scheme fall off the rails in favour of the real murderwitch in action. I don’t know. There are a lot of directions the story could go from this point.

But let’s see how the pieces fall first before we start doom forecasting again. There is another lull between twilights to digest, and more non-murder based mysteries to consider. Let’s see what’s next.

[lavendertownsghost]

I've finished my RvB rewatch (up through season 13) since the final season/movie comes out in a few days, and this is now a disjointed liveblog

I totally forgot that Caboose was..... different than how we know him at the beginning.

Tucker called out Griff and Simmons acting like a married couple in season 2, grimmons started early.

in the Out of Mind miniseries Wyoming says Tex and his boss are 'of the same mind' great foreshadowing there.

god that first CGI fight scene in season 8 is amazing, same with the Tex fights

even though Wash tells the Reds about the simulations in season 6 it takes until season 8 for them (mostly the Reds) to realize it

god I remember crying at the end of season 8

I love how Maine isn't even on the board at the start of season 9

Lopez' intro in season 9 is missing his subtitles

Also it never occurred to me how friendly Carolina and Maine's relationship is, not even including her giving up her AI for him. Like when Maine gets shot in the throat she sounds genuinely distraught. and in the classroom scene South sounds like she's implying something when she talks about Carolina giving Sigma to Maine, but there's never anything romantic hinted between them (like it is between Carolina and York). Want to do a full post about this.

OH FUCK I FORGOT HOW MUCH I LOVE FALLING TOWARDS THE SKY SUCH A BANGER SONG

Sigma covers Maine's face in the classroom scene even though you can still pretty much see his face

I love how despite Wash being basically the joke of the freelancer arc he's still higher on the ranking board than Maine most of the time

Tex and Carolina fight as a pair really well together, even though Carolina hates Tex (though Tex does seem to care about her, at least as much as she cares about any of the other freelancers)

dam I forgot how sad the ending of season 10 is. I think not having a gunshot makes it worse.

love how it was never explained but implied that project freelancer destroyed the state of Florida just to hide agent Florida xD

I love how they show the camo ripples for dramatic tension, specifically the shots with Locust

also the episode cliffhanger of 'Tucker is injured/unconscious/in a coma happens like 3 times, stop hurting this poor man

jesus Doc gets treated so poorly the entire series, honestly makes sense that his most positive (at least in his mind) relationships are with the people who kidnapped him (O'mally and Wash) because they at least paid attention to him.

Very excited for the final!!

[stuck-in-the-ghost-zone]

MACCCC HELLO!!! HOW R U TONIGHT!!!! idk if u know but the qsmp finale was today. hence. me being in tumblr post limit jail. press f to pay respects 😔✊ i thought i would never see my catboy again BUT!!! HE WAS ONLINE AND I GOT 2 SEE HIM AGAIN!!! even if he didn’t stream his pov i still got 2 see his cubito <3 would like 2 give u this picture of him as a momento of this occasion <3 ignore the quality i watched the streams on my phone data. literally two pixels tall smallest guy u have ever seen

ANYWAY i am on ep 8 of the suckening. love the juxtaposition of arthur in london and the twins chillin in la. arthur and the Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Day (ft. trauma, heartwrenching memories, and getting hunted down by vampire hunters and barely surviving) meanwhile shilo is sipping blood out of a swirly straw in a walmart. arthur is living in a tragic drama and the twins are living in a comedy. OBSESSED with the tomfoolery and shenanigans these guys get into. once i’m done the suckening i think perhaps i may get into prime defenders next?? ros rly seems 2 like that one and i trust the judgement of my good friend roswell intertexts <3 i hope ur night is goin well!!!!!

I feel like u are pulling our ur wallet and showing me the most crumpled up faded old Polaroid of your wife who died at sea decades ago. omg. he is 2 pixels big. absolutely molecular.

OH MAN !!!!!! I think I was getting the jist of everything from the liveblogs I was seeing but I didn't realize this was ljke the FINALE finale !!!!! I hope it was good!!! i hope it was better than dsmp at least !!! I'm glad u got to see ur cat again <3 i think I saw a wedding cake with him and the red guy on it did they get married....... congratulations if so <3

UGHHHH SUCKENING. GOOD SHIT GOOD SHIT arthurs no good terrible horrible very bad trip to London. god I love shilo so very much. they r having fun in Walmart together <3 nothing bad is ever going to happen to any of them

ALSO. GRABBING YOUR SHOULDERS MAKIMG EXTREMELY INTENSE EYE CONTACT WITH YOU. PRIME DEFENDERS WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE. I FUCKING LOVE PRIME DEFENXERS I AM THINKING ABOUT IT 24/7 I AM BURDENED WITH SO MUCJ HORRIBLE KNOWLEDGE ABOUT WILLIAM WISP

[lesbicosmos]

good omens s2 liveblog - episode 3

‼️ SPOILERS UNDER THE CUT‼️

muriel is actually so cute i love them sm

they're so confused about human things 😭😭

"why don't you just go by train? you love trains" autistic azi confirmed /hj

the way crowley sits so close to aziraphale, they're absolutely married

michael sheen did NOT have to have azi look crowley up and down and breathe heavily like that but he did. i love him.

i love that david tennant's english characters get to be scottish on occasion

love the barrel literally saying pickled herring given its a red herring

THE YELLOW BENTLEY 😭

crowley threatening to sell books being the thing that makes azi change it back is so funny

crowley just uncaringly throwing a whole pile of books to the side broke my heart a little bit

crowley being initially against focusing on nina and maggies love life then literally attempting to play cupid and becoming way too invested in them one episode later is great

me whenever a david tennant character is called doctor: 🫢 🫵😃

azi's little detective hat i love him

the skeleton in the back of mr dalrymples lab thing is so ominous, just constantly🧍🏻‍♂️

that whole scene was just david tennant goes feral and scottish for a full minute, pure chaos

"im small an't i?" 😃

this feels like that one scene in alice in wonderland but like 10x more unhinged

off topic but u can see the stars behind the fog <33

azi's hand on crowleys waist omfg

neil gaiman making sure the audience knows that EVERYONE in this show is queer, even random side characters who are only in one scene

CROWLEY STOP THROWING BOOKS 😭😭

"gtg, lesbians to make rain for" - crowley probably

love that almost everyone on the street has an umbrella on them despite the fact it was sunny beforehand. ah england

protective crowley >>>

[land-of-holly]

Rings of Power Season 2 Episode 8 Liveblog

hmm I thought the title would be more...striking? it's a nothing title

whar weird tortures is durin gonna do to his dad?

now thats the kinda kissing i like to see

bla bla balrog

more yelling? more threats?

wait i thought he was almost dead. what they came down here just to let him dig more?

im sure if i knew anything about caves this would be very annoying

durin jr isnt fooled

surprise me i beg u

i don't buy that this is what breaks King Durin free of the ring. Doesn't feel earned

balrog looks cool ig

and now it goes away for another few k years?

have we seen eye iconography before? not surprised that evil throne guy would yoink it

blue wizard reveal??

wow this guy is quick to trash talk his allies

'pity will not defeat sauron' okay it sounds heavy handed TO ME but I didn't say I hated it

this whole plotline feels like it's building to a climax it didn't earn

like we're just getting to know evil wizard guy and he feels very generic villain

the stranger finally has good power control tho

so they're gonna execute all those faithful guys yah? or this is an engagement announcement?

So he's maneuvering them to move against sauron now? YOU SHOULD HAVE JUST MADE TWO MORE EPISODES

do like the white tree imagery

where...are they? restaurant or sm I guess

girl u are gonna have to pick a side too

ANARION MENTION Did anyone not already in the know remember he exisited?

such a pretty dress

narsil!

so do the orcs have an ordered objective besides sack the city?

DON'T GIVE HIM MORE RINGS GIRL WTF

annatar no

HE'S STILL DOING IT STILL WITH THE LIES

the torture!

celebrimbor you're such an elf

NOT THE SHORES OF THE MORNING CELEBRIMBOR THE SHORES YOU WANT ARE IN THE OTHER FUCKING DIRECTION

torture extending life preservation tech confirmed

put that spear down or so help me

banner we've done it fam

the lord of the rings... okay, I CANNOT not let them have this

sauron's "...oopsie i killed him" face is fuckin hilarious

hi glug!

love that sauron never answers to 'sauron' it's always 'i hAVe MaNy NaMeS"

if this is all we get of the bannerage i'll be content but i'm getting the impression this is only the beginning

idk if we've gotten a wide shot of pelargir before i like the huts among ruins look

my boy theo

he is asking for help with his grief! progress!

did u hug arondir like that b4 he left??

nah man that's estrid

her whole deal can't be a romantic red herring

girl you have known him for like a few days stop this like i'm happy for you two but

y'all they tell stories about kings who marry low men they end badly

kemen what the fuck are you doing here

wow kemen's face went on an entire world tour there when he saw isildur

omg he is so bad at this slimy courtier stuff

everyone say yay berek!

isildur tell him

NOT THE HORSE KEMEN ARE YOU TRYING TO INCREASE YOUR DISAPPROVAL RATING TO 100%

the deforestation!

galadriel i stg how do you keep getting kidnapped.

..adar what happened to you

i cannot believe y'all who were predicting elf adar were correct. i hate this but not in a 'this was a bad writing decision' way ya feel?

adar is no one in particular confirmed?

why is he giving he the ring? does he really intent to treat in good faith?

galadriel is that true about your kill count

forgiveness again

i want normal adar back. i don't care if it makes sense

how often  do orcs tend their injured normally?

betrayal!

oh heck

its him

i think adar always wanted to die this way one day

damn girl maybe if the foley guys didnt make ur sword so noisy you coulda snuck up on him

crown of morgoth makes a hell of an offhand weapon

they can't even give gilgalad non boring lines

ARONDIR

nonzero chance sauron would want to keep all the lore of eregion but probably considers the destruction of eregion worth it

did not expect sauron to be the one going over that edge

OH NO HIS ULTIMATE WEAPON his pretty pretty face

spooky i like it

shapeshifer fight!

'the door is still open' obvious setup but i'll give it to them it was thematically appropriate

...i guess the difference is the fight for the 9 he was destined to win

DURIN!

narvi at least!

there'a no ocean there girl if you don't survive that fall he's just gonna go get it

she didn't even make it to khazad dum

damn glug pays the price of treachery

celeborn come get ya girl

oh hey arondir

totally believeable the crown of morgoth would do that to a wound. still don't like it. seems contrived.

get it elrond

damn nori looks so sad that her friends got their homes smashed

Mr. Burrows was wise. Sometimes acceptance is the only way to move forward

so is nori going with the stoors or home?

uah uah ya got yer stick

props overall to tom being a recurring caracter this season

thank you for explaining it all for us stick guy

shut up about his name

now you're just flexing with the singing

i can't fault durin having an unknown brother after the anarion business

the lighting in rivendell is very pretty

they didn't even say where they were, I admire their restraint.

Definitely bit of a hammock season, but a very good one overall. I felt like this should have been episode 9 and they DESPERATELY needed an episode before to bring everything up to finale time.  The final confrontation with sauron should have been maybe 50% less swordfightey and more mindfuckey. Overall a decent ending though!

[angeltism]

alfred 🤝 mye.ong-hoon

[penroseparticle]

all the primes, gaymer

Platform of choice when gaming? I'm a switch gamer these days, but my end all be all was the PS2.

Top 5 games of all time. FINAL FANTASY TACTICS, LEGEND OF ZELDA: A LINK TO THE PAST, PERSONA 5, MARVEL VS. CAPCOM 2, and POKEMON RED VERSION. No I am not taking criticisms.

Favorite boss? I would have to say... Well, I said Whispy Woods already but if I have to pick another, I'm gonna say Shadow Sae from Persona 5. The whole setup around the Casino actually fucking slaps.

Most memorable gaming moment? I went into the Weigraf vs. Ramza fight completely blind in Final Fantasy Tactics and won my first time in, then won against the zodiac beast in the second phase, also first time. I felt like a total badass.

Most recent game you played? I'm working my way back through Etrian Odyssey 1 right now- I'm in the 4th Stratum and building up my B and C teams. and my team of Survivalists to farm materials.

Favorite game genre? Turn Based Strategy Games are MY JAM. It's either this or roguelikes. If you can combine both I am INTO IT.

Coolest enemy/boss design? I think that unironically designs like Shadow Link or Shadow Sora or whomever are just... great. Duel bosses that are a shadow version of the player. Mirror match. Lots of drama.

Do you play mobile games? I do. I play Fire Emblem Heroes, The NYT Crossword App (It's in my game launcher app natively, it counts ok), 2048, and technically I have Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions in app form which counts as a mobile game.

A game that you wish you could play for the first time again. You can't bottle a feeling, but I wish I could replay Persona 5 for the first time. I liveblogged it.

Do you typically choose to play a male or female character (when asked to pick)? Depends on the vibes. In Pokemon Crystal Version I played as a girl because you couldn't before in Red Version. I played Male Alear in Fire Emblem: Engage because I thought his outfit was slightly less dumb. I played Female Byleth in 3 Houses for the easy Sylvain recruitment and Peg Knight access. Sometimes the mechanical advantages will sway me one way or the other too lol. In World of Warcraft I usually made dude characters.

Favorite childhood game? When I was like 11 I played the Original Smash Brothers for literal hours at a time at my friend's house. Easily one of the greats.

If you could only play one game for the rest of your life, what would it be? Final Fantasy Tactics and it's not even close. I replay that game like. Every year.

Kill, Fuck, Marry (choose three characters) You didn't pick 3 characters. BOOOOOOO

[fountainpenguin]

#Riddle Watches Traffic - Secret Life Session 4 POVs - This post contains Joel, Grian, Etho, Martyn, and Scar commentary

Joel POV (My first POV for this session):

Joel, the ex-Shrek, running around dropping lines from "All Star" in conversation is everything I could have wanted.

Joel: If you were a color, what color would you be? Pearl: Red.

Can't argue with that.

Lizzie: You like my path? Joel: I do. Is it going to link up with mine? Lizzie: We've got connecting paths now. Joel: I didn't realize we were that close. Lizzie: To touch paths. Joel: I know we're married, but come on... It's getting a bit crazy now.

slkdjf Joel really does not want to be touchy-feely with anyone this season huh?

Okay I switched to Grian's POV because Joel came up to the rest of the Mounders and they were all giggling and telling him to go talk to Grian, so swapping my liveblog over:

Grian POV

?? Grian's task was to bait a yellow into believing his task was singing everything he says, that feels kinda unfair to the yellows because it doesn't give them a way to call him on it, does it? slkdjf

That is really funny he needs to get someone to call him out in order to succeed, though.

Grian's really good at like, recapping and/or giving context (like pulling up his screen to walk the audience through exactly who the Yellows on the server are). Thanks G.

sldkfjs Scar singing back to Grian... They are soulmates, your honor.

Cleo, trying not to bust up laughing: How long do you have to sing for? Grian, singing: I don't have to sing! It's a choice~!

Grian chasing people and singing while they run sdlkfjsd... Mumbo like "Please stop following me! I don't want to deal with your singing anymore!"

sldkfjsd can we make a reaction clip out of Grian sadly singing, "I am mortally wounded~"

Grian is SO GOOD at this baiting game, though. Despite needing to get a yellow to guess his task, he takes off running as soon as Joel shows up, then when Joel starts talking to him he clams up. Master of manipulation; what a deLIGHT!

sldkfjs the hilarity of Joel smugly calling Grian out and then Grian takes out his book, sighs loudly, and trots off to the Secret Keeper... and hits success instead of fail. omg.

Joel immediately adding "My world's on fire; how 'bout yours?"

Grian: "You are all terrible friends and that's what I needed <3"

lskdjfsdk Scar being like "Wait, that was your task? I thought we were just being musical." Your honor, they are soulmates.

Does... does Etho have my "reference previous seasons / fake moment from previous series" task suggestion?

Switching back to Joel:

slkdfjsldkjfksdl in Joel's POV, there's a bit of lag so when Joel confronts Grian, Grian suddenly bolts across the bridge at light speed and it's hilarious.

Switching to Etho because dying of curiosity:

Etho making cute benches outside his shack.

Cleo: Oh, there there... I was going to pat you, but then I realized... Etho: Pat me with a sword? Clean slice through the head?

sdklfjsdfj househusband Etho strikes again?? Cleo accidentally whacks him with a sword and he immediately spins around like "I'm sorry- I'll do the dishes, I'll do whatever you want! No more, no more!" Love that for him.

Love how Etho said "Aha" after looking at his task even though he hadn't even received that suggestion yet.

You nerds really gonna be like "Etho and I aren't romantic" and "We're besties" and then put a single bed inside your house, huh? What am I supposed to do with that.

?????? Martyn giving Etho the assignment of gaslighting someone into believing a fake moment from the previous series? Does Martyn have my suggested task or did we just same brain on that one? lol.

[More liveblogging under the cut <3 #Long post]

Switching over to Martyn POV because curious:

skdlfj wow Martyn's video is super loud after coming from Etho's. Just gonna turn my sound down there.

??? Martyn does not have my suggestion so I guess he and I just had the same brain wave. Alas. Here were some suggestions I put in Tango's Session 3 comments, for anyone curious:

Reference events from past Life series at least 4 times in conversation with other players (Ex: "This reminds me of that one boogeyman kill in Last Life; remember when X happened?") - [Some ideas that come to mind are that it would be funny to pester players who missed seasons by lightheartedly teasing them about events they weren't around for]

Alternatively: Convince at least 2 players that a falsified event happened in Secret Life or a past Life series [Ex: "Haven't you seen the fanart of this? I'll send it to you later." / "Remember, we were all there? Oh, you didn't play in that series; I guess you wouldn't know."]

?? They took the world border out of the Nether. Untapped escape routes in Hell.

I appreciate "mayor" Scar chasing the Big Dogs away and telling them he was going to send them to the pound.

(Loud sigh). Scar upset with Martyn for peeing on (dumping water on) his base. Martyn is running amok. Unrestrained.

slkdjf Martyn admitting he had read a lot of tasks in the past week and was thinking he'd probably end up taking someone else's idea. Y'know what, good enough for me. Whether we same brained or he read that, I'm satisfied. Also Etho saying "Martyn, you should write tasks because that's a great idea." I'll take it, slkdfj.

Watched a few minutes more of Martyn, he's talking with Joel and I have nothing to say atm, switching back to Joel:

Joel so sad when his cows get loose.

I appreciate how Martyn allowed Etho to buy his silence but then he runs to Joel and starts dropping hints.

slkdjfs Joel nailed his lyrics, good for him.

Joel working on his farms before pressing the success button is mildly stressing me out. (Oh, he was waiting for safe day).

sldkfj Etho giving Joel a chance to take a guess at him and Joel phrasing his words specifically as "Was your goal to bait a yellow into guessing you're saying 'Aha?'"

I always admire Joel's commitment to getting the right colored resources, especially wood. He takes so much pride in his builds even in the deathgame.

One of my other task suggestions was to break game rules for part of the session and I used the example of wearing a helmet. If Scar has that task, that will be quite funny. He's being super sus about that helmet and even talking like "I can take it off! I'll take it off right now" which would line up with my 50% of the session suggestion. I'll have to check on him next.

Gem's Yellow life heterochromia.

lskdjfslkjdf Boat Boys, my beloved...

Etho, parking a boat and making eye contact: Joel. Get in. Joel: The fandom's gonna go crazy, Etho. We can't do this. Etho: We're reliving the past, Joel, right now. Remember the good old days, just me and you? Joel: I do. The Relation ship. Etho: Riding the boats? Etho: ... Back when you cared about me.

skdjf I had to pause to start writing that and it really does just keep going, huh?

Joel: I still care, Etho. It's just... Etho: You still care? We hardly see each other anymore. Joel: I know, I know, but that's because I'm with the Mounders now. Etho: Well, this is where the relationship ends.

What is in Etho's Secret Life water; he is SO clingy and mushy with Joel every episode.

Joel calling Scar out for breaking the rules... is this my task, I am so curious.

Kind of surreal watching this play out. Definitely picking up the vibe that the players screened tasks together before putting them in and so they've got "rule breaker" as a possible option in their minds and that's why they're so quick to jump in and call Scar out on that TODAY despite the fact that he was also breaking rules in previous episodes. Very curious.

Martyn's calling a meeting, seems like a good time to pop over and check on Scar's task. Episode title is him calling himself a server villain so it might not be my task, but that's very funny anyway. Let's see.

Alas... It is not my "Break the rules for 50% of the episode" task suggestion, but the task he does have is really clever (Do the opposite of what people tell you to do).

Gonna bounce back to Joel and finish his episode and return to Scar later, but that will be a fun watch <3 Still getting the vibe that they screened my task ideas and maybe we will see it another day. We shall see.

I like the mental image of Scott looking up, covered in mud and dirt, as the Task Force comes barreling over the hill like "We caught you mud-handed!!"

Also enjoy the mental image of Joel catching Gem at the bottom of his water slide.

Joel @ Gem about The End: How come they went? I wouldn't go. Gem: idk, bunch of improv nerds. They just kept saying 'Yes.'

Yeah that tracks.

Gem: I just saved you a heart. I don't think I have to give you one.

I love how Joel is always like "Everybody likes me because I'm really popular." Like that's his actual dialogue. He's so fun to write and it's always funny to remember that he really is just Like That.

Congrats to Joel for finishing a nice fence around his base, lighting it up, and chopping down the trees to prevent skeleton spawning! He's doing pretty well this season.

MARTYN FIRST RED... He fell out of the world. what an idiot /affectionate.

Jimmy too... Jimmy. Jimmy, my man who has been out first four seasons in a row... is also on red life now... Jimmy, you are playing a DANGEROUS game.

Done with Joel's POV, switching to Grian's (after leaving a nice comment and a like on his video ofc <3)

Grian: The reds work slightly differently, but I'll explain that when we get our first red. Me: ... ah.

It's fun to see how careful and skilled Grian is. He's been a very high-heart green name for several episodes and it gives me 3rd Life vibes again.

That said, he lost a bunch in the caves... but I get why, gotta do the mining. Oh geez, zombie kid with a sword hits hard. Ouch.

Loving his dramatic music, though. It was interesting a few months ago when I went back and started binging some early Hermitcraft episodes, because you never appreciate the skill these guys have with subtle music until you compare them to their older videos which feel more awkward and empty. gg.

Holy GEEZ, Grian's dropping hearts like mad. Also watching him panic as his hunger meter drops because he's out of food is super funny. Yeah, that'll kill you.

Grian Session 4 would be a good early watch with that kind of tension... Also I love him limping into his base and devouring berry after berry.

Scar unable to take off his helmet because everyone keeps going "?? Take off your helmet!" and he can't.

The hilarity of:

Grian: Can I use your enchantment table? Scar: YES! ... Wait........ Grian: /turns around Scar: Noooo... Grian: /cracks up

Scar indicating he's okay with Grian using the table by using a sarcastic sing-songy voice to tell him it would be a bad idea to use it skldfj

Scar following Grian's instructions but doing so with a delay while Grian stands there confused sdlkfj

Grian: Scar said I could use it! How else would I know you had it? Cleo: ?? Why would Scar be in charge of our enchanter? Grian: ??? He said it was his??

Etho telling Grian to give his heart to Cleo slkdjf. Etho just really wants to be affectionate to someone.

Grian: What do I have to do to be friends? I hate living in that egg.

lskdjf obsessed with the besties roommates getting a third wheel roommate who brings them golden carrots.

Etho: You've been burning down your bases every episode. One rule: If you move into ours, you're not allowed to burn it down.

<3 Builder roommate!!

slkdfjsk they outsourced the bed shrine to Grian.

Etho: Cleo, you're really going to get along with Grian. He likes burning things too.

Obsessed with Grian asking why Etho waterlogged his chests and when Etho explains it's to prevent TNT damage, Grian just pauses and goes "I have made the right choice." sldkfj. Grian and Etho and Cleo team up! Very exciting; what will they do?

Grian asking Scar if he's okay and Scar saying "I'm neutral." skldjf. Scar is so good at this.

Loving Grian going to visit BigB for his obligatory "let's find out what weird stuff he's doing" commitment (and dragging Scar after him).

slkdjfskldj wheezing:

Grian: Why is Tango hanging around? Mumbo: ??? That's a bit rude? Someone partaking in a conversation and you're like "Why are you here?"

Watching Martyn eyeballing The End advancements in the chat while I know he's this close to dying from jumping in The End is stressing me out.

Mumbo: Grian, let's play a game. You stop. Grian: /stops Mumbo: /takes off running

And there go Martyn and Jimmy...

?? How interesting that red lives can't immediately PVP other players, but that's hilarious that they're supposed to have a never-ending chain of harmful tasks to complete. POV, you get possessed by a bunch of spirits who don't want to release your body. Time to add that to my Secret Life 'fic collection...

Grian's POV is done, going to leave him his like and comment, quickly wrap up these recaps, and sign off for the night.

Etho time:

Coming back in to Martyn's gaslighting suggestion... picking up what Etho does from here. sldkfj that really is my task he suggested, but Etho interpreted it differently. Fun to watch though. Also hilarious that Etho started claiming he came up with the Aha bit. sldkfj. Everyone in this series is nuts.

Shout out to Bdubs: "I want to be Yellow just for the barks."

slkdfj love Jimmy pointing out that in Last Life everyone was cracking up over Aha jokes but now everyone is just sighing at Etho.

Etho possessed by dead Southlander ghost :(

I like Etho asking if Grian wants a bread bridge because it really does sound like he's just bringing up "dead memes."

wheezing at Bdubs like "Wow, someone made the whole world in this short of a time?" and Scott jumps in like "Only a Bad Boy could do that." slkdfjlsdjf

Martyn: I meant something else but :'D (GG)

slkdfjsdljfskl screaming at BigB like "I forgot I was supposed to report to the Heart Foundation."

Etho: I'm a horse girl too. Cleo: I mean, that's what I call Bdubs.

lskdjfsldkjf Impulse jumpscare. Haven't seen him show up in any of my POVs yet. Will probably circle back to him later this weekend.

That wraps up Etho's POV, switching over... I have been watching Minecraft for like 3 hours straight.

Bdubs in Etho's comments launching a "formal complaint" against Etho sldkjfs. That's friendship.

Speedwatching Martyn and then Scar and then we rest.

Picking up 15 minutes into Martyn's episode:

Joel, about his wife: Oh, Lizzie. I forgot her. Not like she's an important part of my life or anything. Martyn: Old news, old news. Separation of work and life.

I do find it funny that Etho was bouncing around like "Joel, want to take a shot at me?"

The "Scar never stood trial" screen is cracking me up.

Again, RIP Scar unable to take off his helmet because everyone kept telling him too slkdjf.

I love Martyn and Pearl going back and forth like "You just told me to give my base a big butt and then walked off."

Martyn: I'm waiting to hand in my task in case I lose hearts so I can recover. Curse of knowledge: ...

<3 Pretty Heart Foundation cherry blossom heart and cool globe in the background.

sldkjf Impulse urging everyone to gift Skizz hearts. The guilt. They are BFFs, your honor.

Martyn's dramatic music while Scar takes off running slkdjf.

Big brain move by Martyn for swiping Mumbo's horse while sussing out his task.

Welp, this is as far as I got before someone came in and pulled me from my computer, which of course restarted in my absence and closed all my many incognito tabs with my videos :') Ugh. Thank goodness for auto-saved drafts though or I would have lost this after 3 hours of watching.

Posting now and if I have anything more to say about Martyn or Scar, I'll do so in another post!

[can-of-pringles]

My liveblogging notes from Good Omens S2 EP1 under the cut

They're insane for having the episode open like this ANGEL CROWLEY MY BELOVED AHH EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS- Crowley's confused face as Aziraphale trying to explain all the Earth stuff lol 'suggestion box' lol Aziraphale's quiet panicking over Crowley suggesting things and what he'd do 😅 There's too many feels Oh no….. ARE YOU KIDDING ME CROWLEY PUTTING HIS WING OVER AZIRAPHALE LIKE IN S1 I already love Maggie so much Ok fine Aziraphale is the only landlord I like /j The bench scene lol Ducktales reference /j Me watching this expecting to see my oc Kaia /j Interesting how it seems Crowley is still in contact with Hell but Aziraphale isn't in contact with Heaven anymore Crowley #1 duck fan /j Aziraphale is so me when I listen to music Also Gabriel jump scare 💀 Nina and Maggie otp Heaven has cell phones canon "I have no idea what that feels like" OK SURE 🙄 Aziraphale just stressing 😭 WHAT'S IN THE BOX?? Oh nvm :( Jim has Kenergy The plants in the back of the Bentley! Muriel! Old married couple Aziraphale and Crowley lol Maggie is so relatable Both Crowley and Aziraphale freaking out over Jim/Gabriel lol No don't fight 😭 Crowley is me when I'm angry /j Oh no locked in the cafe Not the flies in the Bentley.. Oh Crowley secretly being worried about Aziraphale being involved with this whole situation ARE YOU KIDDING ME THE APOLOGY DANCE?? HELP- Not the flashing red lights in Heaven lol

[tfw-no-tennis]

one piece liveblog chapters 813-814

ayyy

813

liiiiisten this is some of my favorite shit. like, the trope where a big reveal happens in front of other characters and they react to it and stuff? delicious.

'you think I know or care about your family issues?' hvbajhdfbajskdfhb bege

sanji being so blindsided is hhhhh delicious

BROOO the flashback to jaya (!) with sanji mentioning he's from north blue and brook pointing out he'd had to have traveled over to red line to end up in east blue....hello!!!! insane forshadowing my god

tbh I don't think oda had this planned from the beginning, or even from when he put that in jaya - it was such a small moment that it could've easily remained as is and it wouldn't have been a plot hole or anything

buuut I think oda did a great job leaving a lot of avenues open to do exactly this - expand on an existing character in a major way without it feeling cheap or sudden

like, I absolutely believe that sanji had a second secret tragic backstory that he never mentioned before. that makes complete sense in the context of the story!

yeeeeah pretty obvious (at least to the reader?) that sanji has been chosen for an arranged political marriage to unite the vinsmokes and big mom - though it also has the effect of linking the strawhats to big mom thru sanji as well. uh oh!

I'm soooo glad that the whole arranged marriage thing was played straight and there was no question of sanji potentially leaving the crew for a marriage bc he loves women sm or whatever. I was afraid it was gonna get treated as a joke/gag but thank godddd that wasn't the case and the arc was too serious for that 🙏🏼

like even here, there's no moment of sanji being like 'ohhh a woman oooh' he str8 up says 'I'm not marrying someone I've never met'

and like. ugh I wish sanji's character was less 'creepy and weird abt women' and more 'romantic about love.' that would be sooo interesting here, bc I DO think sanji is a romantic at heart and that's part of why he would never accept an arranged marriage, but also still wants to try to make it work/holds out hope that they could be compatible, etc

sanji saying luffy's gonna be pirate king 🙏🏼😭😭

lmfao sanji saying whatever take caesar we're leaving. yea ditch that chucklefuck

honestly love bege he's great here as a villain and I love his gangster theme and I really like his character arc during wci

vito is one of at least 2 Tongue Guys in this arc lmao

mannnn what did he say to sanji??????

honestly the emperors are hype as FUCK especially at this point in the story where we haven't directly dealt with them much...

sanji leaving the note and saying he never meant to hide anything from them....hhhhhh and its TRUE he seems like he genuinely never thought he'd have to deal with the vinsmokes ever again, let alone be used as a pawn in a political marriage by them

and pulling the classic move where he's like 'I have to resolve this by myself' oh babey buckle up time for a rescue arc fuck yes

the way he just yeets them out of bege lmao

no rights for caesar lmao good

MANNNNN SANJI BEING SO COOL...I love when sanji is written well wwwww

him threatening caesar, who they need alive, and deducing that the reason his bounty poster says 'alive only' is bc of this wedding thing, so they can't really harm him...yummmm

sanji quickly doing the math and realizing that giving himself up here is the only way to strike a bargain and make sure his crew is safe 😭 dude aughghhhh

and surely he feels extra responsible bc he's in charge of their little group while the rest of the crew is in dressrosa

they call bege godfather, love it

nekomamushi is sooo fucking cool I love his fangs

dangggg bege just lying and saying one of jack's men killed/injured pekoms

AUGHHH i looove the panel of sanji smiling and telling the crew he'll be back ;_; mannnn

fr looks like he's about to die horribly and knows it tho damn.

and of course he says 'this is my problem' bc he doesn't want to burden the crew, or put them in danger, so he sees it as something he has to resolve on his own

yeah okay like that worked out so well for nami and robin lol c'mon sanji of course luffy isn't gonna let that happen

and his note oughghhghh. so badass and casual and also just 👀👀

SO HYPE. MY GOD

814

KUREHA AND DALTON WWWWW DRUM ISLAND AWWWH

brook should 100% sing random exposition and filler stuff more often plsss

ok so pekoms didn't die. I figured lol

nekomamushi running after the catnip hvbhajksdfbjksfdn

LMFAOOOO brook making stuff up for his song abt nekomamushi....valid

bro I love luffy so much he's like oh cool sanjis gonna get married but he said he's coming back, I wonder if he'll bring his wife, that's chill

hhhhhhhhhh everyone can see that sanji is throwing himself on the sword to keep the straw hats out of it, and him claiming he'll return is hopeful at best - but of course luffy wouldn't see that bc to him there's no question that sanji wouldn't be part of the crew

awwwh chopper crying :(

zoro acting all blunt and uncaring...ohhhh I have so many thoughts about this

I do think zoro really DOES think sanji can handle himself and doesn’t necessarily need their help - tho that doesn’t turn out to be the case

I love too that zoro immediately backs up his attitude with facts - they just put themselves right in kaido's line of fire, and they can't just ignore one of the emperors...they're at the point in their journey where shit is heating up

zoro: we don't have time for a crewmate rescue arc we're too far along in the story for that

and like it's kinda true, I feel like rescue arcs tend to take place closer to the beginning of a story as an easy way to flesh out characters and interactions, so one taking place past chapter 800 (!!!) and with one of the well-established main characters is kinda wild

like, wci ran the risk of feeling/being kinda redundant character-development-wise (obviously it was always gonna have important plot stuff w/big mom) but instead. it slaps

oh yea zoro mentioned kin'emon. where the fuck did he and the other guy go lol

to be fair. luffy did already pick a fight w/big mom lmao sanji didn't start that beef

also again I love how opposite zoro and sanji are as characters - zoro doesn't have a complicated past w/his family, and if he were in sanji's place he'd probably just be like 'nah.' and deal w/the consequences directly

but of course sanji loves self-sacrifice so here we are

luffy being like. well. lets ask sanji! I LOVE HIM SM....

luffy really said okay kaido can wait lets go tangle w/another emperor first. he's so iconic

luffy suggesting they'll be quiet....................have to laugh vhbjakusdfslfd

mannnn the scenery and environments in one piece slap

PEDRO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

lmao remember when everyone thought chopper was gonna get a mink gf during zou...listen this is one piece we're talking abt. no romance allowed (mostly)

IS NEKOMAMUSHI EATING LASAGNA. HBVHJKSDBFJKSJBF

EPIC GARFIELD REFERENCE

chopper being the stern doctor...love it. it truly is tough when patients ignore your instructions. but also chopper lives in the one piece world so everything is kinda crazy anyways

nekomamushi is soooo funny vhbahkdsjfxhbksfdbh him being serious then instantly chasing a ball and injuring himself. helpp lmfao

'I'm only in bed because I decided to be' that is Exactly something a cat would say lmao

ooooh pekoms isn't dead

VINSMOKE LORE DROP TIIIIME

oh jk cliffhanger tiiiime!

pekoms saying that the vinsmokes are famous assassins and active in the underworld really DOES make it seem like they're a mafia family like people theorized

love the contrast of pekoms saying the vinsmokes are assassins over a panel of sanji smiling. excellent

zoro and perona in the SBS doodle wwwwww love them. mihawks weird goth kids

OH MAN these chapters are great. I love the buildup to whole cake - the tension is excellent, and it's really hard to tell at this point where the story will go.

we still haven't learned a lot about the vinsmokes yet and thinking abt it now, sanji's reaction doesn't even tell us that much about them - he's prone to self-sacrifice so he probably would've gone no matter what

I mean its obvious there's a reason sanji has never mentioned his biological family before so clearly it isn't a huge leap that they're evil, especially as we slowly learn more abt them

anyways this is dope but I gotta go to bed...more to come!