#tw referenced earthquake

[serickswrites]

Quake III

Part 1 Part 2

Warnings: head injury, blood, unconsciousness, hospital, rescue, hurt/aftermath, hurt/recovery, referenced earthquake

“IN HERE! SOMEBODY HELP US! PLEASE!” Caretaker continued to bellow as they could hear the search and rescue team trying to find them. “WE NEED HELP!”

Caretaker could hear the muffled shouts of the rescue team. Could hear the scraping of tools against the rubble. And could hear Whumpee’s quiet, soft breaths. 

They continued to stroke Whumpee’s cheek as they hoped they weren’t buried to deep. Continued to yell so that the team knew where they were. And continued to pray that help would be in time. 

Caretaker’s hopes and prayers paid off. Soon they were freed from the rubble and the rescue team was pulling Whumpee’s limp body from their hands. Pulling Whumpee out and away. More hands appeared, pulling Caretaker out as well. Caretaker stumbled forward, trying to follow Whumpee. “Please, I have to--”

“Let us check you out first. Then you can worry about your friend. It was a big quake. We need to clear you first.”

“Please,” Caretaker whispered as Whumpee was taken out of their view. “I need to be with them. Please.”

“Just sit down here so my partner can assess you. Then I’ll take you to your friend. They need a hospital.”

“I need to go with them. Please!” Caretaker’s voice was raspy, their throat dry from the dust and yelling. 

“Oh you’ll be going to, to get checked out. But they’re going to the hospital now.”

Caretaker broke away from the search and rescue team and raced after Whumpee. Caretaker stopped short as they saw a team of EMTs working on Whumpee as they lay unmoving on the gurney. One EMT was wrapping Whumpee’s head wound while the other was writing on a clipboard and pulling a red tag off a string, attaching it to Whumpee’s gurney. “To the hospital, now,” they ordered before turning to Caretaker. “Can I help you?”

“Please, I need to be with them. Please,” Caretaker said weakly as they began to shake. 

“Are you actively bleeding? Unable to walk? Any broken bones? No. Then you need to wait or find a ride. Only red tags are being transported right now.” 

“Please,” Caretaker begged. “They can’t be alone.”

“Your friend isn’t alone. They are very ill. Wait here until it is your turn.” The EMT walked Caretaker to a tent and wrapped a blanket around their shoulders. “Drink some water, you are going to be ok. And your friend is, too. They just need more medical attention here than we can provide.”

Hours later, Caretaker found a ride to the hospital. And while the hospital was filled with chaotic runnings around, it was far more orderly than Caretaker imagined it was when Whumpee arrived. 

“I’m looking for someone who came in with a head trauma?” Caretaker said very quietly to the receptionist at the front desk. 

“Name and date of birth?”

Caretaker gave Whumpee’s information. The receptionist clacked away on the keys, before saying, “Room 2012, North Tower.”

Caretaker could have collapsed with relief. Whumpee was still alive. “Thank you,” they rasped as they headed to the elevator. 

Before long, Caretaker was parked at Whumpee’s bedside, relief flooding their system as they realized Whumpee was really ok. That they were safe. And on the road to healing. “I’m here, Whumpee,” they whispered in Whumpee’s ear, “I’m here.”

Tags: @scarletfern @sweetwhumpandhellacomf @justwhumpythings @painsthegame @i-eat-worlds 

[whumptywhumpdump]

HOLY SHIT! I missed this one! How did I miss it?!?! Omg!

Holy crap, OMG! I just! Aaaaargh! They saw their mother die! Holy fuck! I don't even... Jesus Christ!

This is fucking amazing! I can't even....

Whumptober Day 27, Earthquake

Timeline: before facility

CW: earthquake, implied character death, broken bones. This is quite dark again. Please don't read if earthquake triggers you.

"Kids, don't stay out for too long. Lunch's nearly ready!" Agustin's mom calls out from the doorframe before disappearing in the house again. He and the girls all shout back a "yes mom" before going back to what they were doing.

Agustin looks up at the sky.

It's a warm February day. A soft breeze is coming from the west, and the sun is shining over the grass of their backyard. Agustin takes in a deep breath, and cherishes the smell of nearby lilies.

A few feet away, Sofia is playing with her newest doll and Amanda is sitting by the plane tree in their yard and is studying one of her chemistry textbooks. Agustin has never liked chemistry. He's always been more of an artsy child. Although he pretty much isn't a child anymore. Nineteen is considered full-on adult. Even though Agustin doesn't quite feel adult yet.

"Agusti?" Sofi calls from where she's sitting on the grass, and Agustin turns to look at her. Her long black slightly-wavy hair is tied in pigtails, and she's wearing her favourite blue dress. Her big black eyes look at Agustin's face with such focus that Agustin wants to just squeeze her tight in his arms and never let go. His little sister is the cutest thing on earth, and he will fight anyone who says otherwise.

"Yes muñeca?"

"Can you help Jorge find some girlfriend? He says he hates Angela." She points at two of her dolls that are sitting in a corner facing each other.

Agustin smiles. "Sure!"

He starts to move to towards Sofi. But before he even takes the first step, something happens. Like the ground bumps beneath his feet for a second. And before he knows what's happening, it starts in full force.

The ground starts to shake, left and right and up and down. There is a huge clinking and clatter sound comming from the house, and an even louder rumbling coming from beneath the ground itself. He hears his dad's voice, shouting to his mom to get the kids.

He sees his mom, from the open backdoor, rushing to get out to them. He feels Sofi clutching his shirt, to ground herself.

One second

Two

His mom is just a few steps away from the door and-

It happens so fast, but Agustin feels like he's watching it on slowmo. The walls crumble and fall, and together the ceiling collapses. Right on her. Exactly, fucking right as she was about to step out.

There's an awful crunching sound - not significant compared to the rumbling, but audible still - as the big piece of brick and metal and stone falls on his mother's lower half, and she screams.

Miliseconds later, there's a shout from inside the house. Or rather, inside the pile of stone and dust and broken wood.

He can't move. He feels like he's in a jelly, and everything around him is shaking and shaking and shaking and his mother is screaming and trying to get herself out from under the debris and Sofi is screaming by his side and runs towards his mother and Amanda screams from behind him and asks for help because oh my god my leg! My leg!! And he sees as his mom weakly pushes Sofi back with her hand that's free and screams and cries and begs for Agustin to please go help Amanda and the ground is still shaking and some alarms go off and everywhere is full of noise and rumbling and screams and he can't move!

He tries and tries and tries again but he can't move and he hears Sofi cry somewhere and Amanda whimper and his mom's silent now why is she silent why isn't she screaming anymore please mom please open your eyes please, please, please...

The worlds spins around Agustin's head and he swears he sees stars before his eyes, before he falls down on the ground, and darkness engulfs him.

Tagging: @slaintetowhump @ashintheairlikesnow @liliability @ohmywhump @whumptywhumpdump @raigash @castielamigos-whump-side-blog @simplygrimly @whump-it @misspelledwitch @inky-whump @whumppsychology @inaridriscoll @rivertamandspike @spookyboywhump @faewhump @thingsthatgo-whump-inthenight @whumpzone @sola-whumping @whumpsy-daisies @crystalrainwing @a-whump-muffin @tears-and-lilies @cupcakes-and-pain @whumptober2020

[hale-13]

Scare Tactics

By Hale13

For the Summer of Whump Day 19 Prompt - Fear

“And just to show you we mean business…” Peter flinched when his index finger was grabbed and sharply snapped in half, leaving him breathless. He didn’t scream though. He wasn’t going to give them the satisfaction. “Tough kid,” the leader mused, petting Peter on the head. “I’m going to let my men work him over,” he said to the camera lightly. “You pay me within the next four hours and I won’t start cutting off things he’ll miss. Sure would be a shame… he’s got his whole life ahead of him you know.”

Words: 2407, Chapters: 1/1 (Complete), Language: English

Fandoms: Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)

Rating: Gen

Relationships: Peter Parker & May Parker, Peter Parker & Tony Stark

Character: Peter Parker, May Parker, Tony Stark, Happy Hogan

TW: Canon Typical Violence, Kidnapping, Implied/Referenced Torture

Read on AO3 or below the line break.

“One more hour! C’mon, just one more hour please,” Peter begged, hands twitching and sweating as he looked around frantically. He could do it. He just had to do it.

“Whatcha doing Pete?” Tony asked right in his ear causing Peter to let out a high pitched scream and rip the VR headset off his head, nearly tossing it into the wall and only barely catching himself at the last second.

“What the fuck!” He exclaimed, panting and placing a hand over his racing heart – it was galloping under his fingertips. Tony, standing next to him with his hand extend like he was reaching out to touch Peter, had his face pinched up like he was trying not to laugh and failing spectacularly.

“What was that?” The man questioned, pulling the headset from Peter’s twitching fingers to set it down on the bed and safely out of reach lest Peter almost throw it again. “You okay?”

“You scared the shit out of me!” Peter told his mentor dramatically as his heart rate slowed to a more manageable rhythm. Damn he was so close to winning!

Tony quirked an eyebrow. “Thought you had a tingle or something,” he said with a teasing tone and that was it, Peter was never letting Tony and May have lunch together again. Tingle… seriously? “What were you doing anyway?” Tony asked, picking the headset back up and turning it around curiously in dexterous fingers.

“Playing FNAF,” Peter said with a shrug. “I had nearly won too!”

“Beg pardon?” Tony asked with a head tilt. “Did you just have a stroke? I don’t speak teenager.”

“It’s a game Mr. Stark,” Peter grumbled, grabbing the headset back to turn it off. “A horror game. You’re a security guard and you have to live through the night without a bunch of animatronic animals killing you.”

“Sounds exhausting,” Tony commented, passing Peter his untouched book bag – he was supposed to be doing homework while Mr. Stark was in a meeting but oh well. He could always do it later, it was the weekend after all. “Happy’s pulling the car around. You sure you don’t want to stay? It’s getting a bit late.”

“I’m good,” Peter insisted, throwing the bag over his back and tightening the straps a little to sit more comfortably. “Besides, May and I are supposed to marathon the new season of Lucifer tonight.”

“Ah yes,” Tony said with a smile. “Do tell aunt hottie I said hello would you? I’m looking forward to our monthly co-parenting coffee date next week – can’t wait to tell her about this!”

Peter groaned and blushed. “Please don’t,” he muttered, skirting around his mentor to get to the door. “See you next week?” He asked as he paused in the doorway, turning back to look at the man and smiling.

“Yeah I’ll see you next week kiddo. Don’t have too much fun this weekend!”

“Bye Mr. Stark!” Peter called as he raced to the elevator, bouncing impatiently on his toes as it descended to the garage where Happy was waiting in one of the many black town cars Stark Industries owned.

“Took you long enough,” he groused good naturedly as Peter hopped into the back, dropping his book bag into the foot well and buckling his seatbelt with a bright ‘hey Happy!’ before pulling out his battered copy of The Collected Works of Shakespeare. He was supposed to finish MacBeth before class on Monday morning and he had been putting it off for a while (re: the last two weeks). Thank god for SparkNotes!

He read in the peaceful silence of the car as Happy navigated the busy Manhattan roads into the more quiet streets of Queens, finally pulling to a stop in front of Peter’s building and unlocking the doors. “See you Monday kid,” he called as Peter jumped out of the car.

“Thanks for the ride Happy!” Peter answered as he shut the door and waved the car off before letting out a sigh. It had been a long week and he was looking forward to just hanging out with May and decompressing. He felt like he barely saw her these days since she moved to working nights – it had been way too long since their last Netflix binge sesh. Peter took the stairs two at a time, forgoing the ancient and slow elevator, and was soon standing outside his door, fumbling for his keys.

As he went to slip the correct key into the lock, Peter felt every hair on his body stand on end as a shiver tore through him. He paused and looked up and down his hallway. Everything was quiet and peaceful, nothing out of place, so why was his Spidey sense tingling? With a gulp, Peter looked at his door and felt his heart freeze in his chest. May!

Peter swiftly unlocked the door and threw it open only to pause just over the threshold.

May was seated in one of their kitchen chairs, pulled into eye line of the door to the apartment, and looking pale but utterly pissed as the masked man behind her jammed the muzzle of his gun further into her temple. Peter, his heart nearly beating out of his chest and his adrenaline spiking to leave a metallic taste in his mouth, held his hands up immediately in surrender. As if it would ever be a question with May involved.

“Close the door,” the man said firmly, jutting his chin and Peter felt it snap closed behind him, paying no mind to the other invaders that were scattered around the room, his eyes stuck only on May.

“What do you want?” He asked, surprised that his voice was steady – he could tell that his body was still and sure but inside he felt like he was about to shake apart; like he was standing in the epicenter of an earthquake.

“Your cooperation mostly,” the man with the gun answered, passing the weapon off to one of his underlings and approaching where Peter stood motionless, hands still raised, just inside the door. His eyes were a pale blue and they scraped over Peter’s form quickly before he held out his hand. “Phone, watch, bag. Give me anything that Stark might have chipped and don’t try anything funny. I’d hate for anything… untoward to happen to your Aunt.”

“Okay,” Peter agreed, slowly pulling his bag off his shoulders and letting it drop to the floor with a thump. One of the men behind him picked it up and started riffling through it as Peter unlatched his watch and passed it over along with his phone. He was grateful that he hadn’t brought his suit with him to school today or he’d have a much bigger problem – assuming they didn’t already know he was Spider-Man of course.

“Search him,” the man called out as he dropped Peter’s phone and watch to the floor before pointedly stomping on them until they broke. Peter fought to hold still as he was patted down, making eye contact with May. She gave a minute shake of her head and Peter bit his tongue hard enough to draw blood. He knew she didn’t want him to compromise his identity for her but he would do whatever he could to keep her safe – Spider-Man be damned.

“He’s clean,” one of the goons called out, nudging Peter forward and forcing him to sit down opposite May.

“Peter Parker,” the leader mused, walking over until he took up all of Peter’s sight leaving May out of view and ratcheting Peter’s already frantic heart rate up more. “Tony Stark’s personal intern. How does one get that job eh?” He looked at Peter expectantly and Peter grit his teeth together.

“Right place right time,” Peter grunted, his eye contact never wavering. The leader frowned behind his mask and smacked Peter sharply, causing his head to whip to the side. It was more surprising than painful and Peter glared back in obvious loathing.

“That will be your only warning,” the leader grunted, leaning down so he was eye level with Peter. “Next time it’ll be your aunt. Do I make myself clear?”

“Crystal,” Peter confirmed, gripping the arms of his chair tightly and trying to control his strength. By his count there were five men in their apartment. If he were alone or in the suit it wouldn’t be a problem but with May involved…

“Now let’s try again,” the man continued, pacing a circle around Peter’s chair like a shark circling prey and thus giving him the briefest chance to make eye contact with May again. The skin of her forehead was red and dented where the gun mashed into her face. But he eyes were full of fear and anger for Peter – her sight was locked on the cheek he could feel burning and already swelling. “How did you get your internship?”

“September Foundation,” Peter answered. “I submitted some of my work on clean energy and Mr. Stark was impressed enough to offer me the internship.”

The man hummed, stopping his circling and placed both hands on Peter’s shoulders, squeezing them. “But it’s not just an internship anymore now is it?” He questioned, tone light. “I doubt any normal intern gets access to Stark’s personal lab or stays overnight. For a while I thought you might be his bastard but, no, it doesn’t seem you are.” Peter tensed at the words and bit down hard on the inside of his cheek, tasting blood. “However you are important enough for him to pay handsomely for I’d wager.”

“He won’t,” Peter insisted, not breaking eye contact with May – she looked terrified now and he wasn’t sure who she was scared for most. “He doesn’t negotiate with kidnappers.”

“We’ll see,” the man said lightly, unconcerned. “Here’s the deal Parker. You’re going to come with us, quietly, and I won’t put a bullet through your aunt’s skull. I hear that you watched your uncle bleed out from something similar – wouldn’t want another death on your conscience now would you?” Peter flinched violently, unable to hold it back and felt tears prick at his eyes. He couldn’t cry now. Not in front of these assholes. “You’re going to come with us and, once we get you back to base, I’ll call in the order to let your aunt go. If they don’t hear from me within the next six hours… well I’m sure you can figure it out.”

Peter nodded slowly and tried to silently apologize to May – she was watching him with tears now cascading down her cheeks and shaking her head, begging him not to give in. “I’ll do whatever you want,” Peter agreed, sealing his fate.

His Spidey-sense screamed at him and he forced himself to hold still as the gun clocked him across the temple, knocking him out instantly.

—————————————

When Peter finally woke up some indeterminate amount of time later it was to a throbbing head and aching neck from sitting slumped over and tied to the most uncomfortable chair he had ever had the displeasure of sitting in. He opened his eyes with a groan to look around the room. It was darkened, of course because why wouldn’t it be, and empty, also not a surprise. The door in front of him was made of a dark metal the same as the chair he was sitting in which was bolted to the floor.

He tested the cuffs that were binding his wrists to each arm of the chair and found that they weren’t reinforced and should break easily with his strength. So they didn’t know he was Spider-Man then – that was a plus. Peter could work with that.

Before he could look around much more or even try to formulate a plan, the door in front of him flew open to admit multiple people, all in masks, and a camera set up that had Peter’s blood running cold.

“I have to thank you for your cooperation,” the man from earlier said gaily as he entered the room last. “You made this much easier than anticipated.”

“My aunt?” Peter asked, voice wobbling a little but his eye contact unwavering.

“Fine. As we agreed,” the man confirmed, kneeling down a little to look directly into Peter’s eyes. “Now we’re going to make Stark a little video, a one-sided video chat if you will, to ask him for a little… monetary gift. All you have to do is sit here and look pretty while we do all the work okay?” He said condescendingly, running a hand through Peter’s hair before patting his cheek mockingly.

It took all of Peter’s willpower not to head butt him directly in the nose.

The set up was done fairly quickly, the camera pointed directly at Peter and the red light blinking. His captor came to stand right behind him, hands resting on Peter’s shoulders again.

“Oh looks like he’s tuned it! Hello Stark, I think I found something that belongs to you,” the leader said, squeezing Peter’s shoulders. “You shouldn’t just leave your things lying around you know. Don’t want them to get displaced.” Peter grit his teeth in irritation and humiliation – he couldn’t believe he had let himself get kidnapped – that he had put Mr. Stark in this position! “Anyway,” he continued lightly, “I have a little request. A trade if you will. I’ll give you back your intern and you give me twenty million dollars and a clean way out of the country. Shouldn’t be too hard for you right?”

Don’t do it Peter tapped out on the arm of the chair in hasty Morse code. Don’t give them anything. I’ve got this Peter tried to say with his eyes. Trust me.

“And just to show you we mean business…” Peter flinched when his index finger was grabbed and sharply snapped in half, leaving him breathless. He didn’t scream though. He wasn’t going to give them the satisfaction. “Tough kid,” the leader mused, petting Peter on the head. “I’m going to let my men work him over,” he said to the camera lightly. “You pay me within the next four hours and I won’t start cutting off things he’ll miss. Sure would be a shame… he’s got his whole life ahead of him you know.”

Later, his jaw hanging loose and his body aching with breaks and bruises, Peter will let a single tear fall.

The door knob turns and his adrenaline spikes.

[nimata-beroya]

I don't know where October went. Seriously, it went so fast! And even when I didn't post every day (especially the last 2 weeks), I'm satisfied with what I did. I had a long time without writing so much in so little time. It felt very nice going back to my old habits and get my creativity flowing.

This was my first time doing @whumptober2021 and I had a blast fulfilling the prompts. Can you tell I love hurting my fave characters?😏😈 I'll do it again for sure (I'm looking at you, February 😆) I might fulfill the prompts I missed in the meantime.

Whether I keep that promise or not, you can enjoy these few I already wrote

An Explosive Situation [Prompt N° 1: Bound]

SW Rebels/Kalluzeb ~ m/m ~ Teen+ ~ TW minor injuries, referenced torture ~ 1897 words

After a solo mission to the planet Dela goes south, Kallus finds himself in a tight spot. The Spectres go to his rescue but the actual saving turns out more complicated than expected.

Tomorrow Is A Good Day For Someone Else to Die [Prompt N° 2: Insults, "Who did this to you?"]

The Bad Batch ~ General ~ Teen+ ~ TW bullying, blood, minor injuries ~ 1152 words

The life of Crosshair and Tech in Kamino as cadets has never been easy.

Seeing Red [Alt prompt: Head injury]

The Bad Batch ~ General ~ Teen+ ~ TW Blood, major character injury, canon-typical violence ~ 1097 words

The Bad Batch goes on their first mission to the battlefront. Things take a sudden turn south.

We Don't Leave Our Own Behind [Prompt N° 11: Dehydration]

The Bad Batch ~ General ~ Teen + ~ TW abandonment, dehydration ~ 1469 words

Hunter respects Crosshair's choice not to join the batch again even if it's a karking ass-stupid decision. And yet, love, loyalty, and a tad of guilt —okay, okay… a lot of guilt— don't let him make the same mistake he did before, abandoning his brother.

•

Or the one where the batch goes back for Crosshair after leaving him stranded on the landing platform in Kamino.

Help, I'm Alive [Prompts N° 14 & 31: Crush injuries, disaster zone]

SW Rebels ~ General ~ Teen+ ~ TW serious injuries, major character injuries, buried under debris, earthquake ~ words

Ezra had imagined many times that he’d die in the heat of a battle against the Empire; he’s had several close calls already. But never in his wildest dreams, he foresaw that his death would come when a temple fell on top of him

3 Long Days [Prompts N° 10 & 15: Ice Chips, Delirium]

The Clone Wars ~ General ~ Teen+ ~ TW delirium, anaphylaxis ~ 1573 words

When Ahsoka falls ill, Anakin doesn't leave her side.

More from Star Wars X-tober Extravaganza

Kink • Fluff • Angst

[sunnygang]

analysing the sep 24 wigfrid animated short (don’t starve)

I am rewatching some Don’t Starve animations and catching up on some i hadn’t seen yet. I am watching the Wigfrid animation tonight for the first time (the sep 24 one). I am a few months late, whoops!

I will be putting this analysis under a cut, since I will be pairing a lot of screen caps from the short itself! Also this turned out WAY longer than I originally intended it to. There’s a tw for incest mention in one paragraph (about a stage play that is relevant, NOT about Wigfrid) and I put the warning surrounded in asterisks and bolded before the paragraph referenced!

The short opens with a shot from what is safe to assume is her front hallway. Wigfrid is an actress and she appears to live alone in a nice home.

The walls are of course covered in her various photographs and stage play memoriam. Over the mantle on the left the framed poster reads  Die Walküre (The Valkyrie). Keep this in mind as this is Wigfrid’s best role. Also peep that nice chaise lounge she’s sitting on!

Some national culture, we get to see the newspaper she is reading. This paper is The Kronicle. The real life Chronicle newspaper, upon searching it, returned a good number of results. I am going to say that this particular article is the Ohio Chronicle (founded by the Lorain Printing and Publishing Co which was founded in 1829, the paper itself may or may not have been founded that same year), and I will get into why later.

The front page features the Tragedy in San Francisco. The tragedy of Maxwell and Charlie! The article header specifically reading “Tragedy in San Francisco! Many Still Missing After Devastating Earthquake!” This is around the same date, it has to be within a matter of days for this short to take place from the date of the Charlie and Maxwell disappearance in San Francisco. We don’t get to see Wigfrid reading this article, however. This is merely set there for the viewer’s sake. This is helping form our timeline of when these events all occurred. Many still missing. That means the search continues. This article could have been published a few days after the mentioned earthquake or a week even. Still, it gives us somewhat of a timeline to reference. The earthquake and the events of this Wigfrid short happened in relatively short time from one another.

This newspaper article header reads “Is It Curtains for This Prima Donna? Former Rising Star Seems Unable to Recapture The Magic of Her Precious Role”

Wigfrid isn’t shown reading the front article because she is focused on the news centered around herself. She’s called a prima donna here in this headline. Being called a Prima Donna can mean a number of things. It can mean a principle female singer in an opera or concert organization OR someone who is vain/undisciplined and finds it difficult to work as a team. She doesn’t have any quotes in DST that would indicate Wigfrid doesn’t work well with others. She mostly greets the other players warmly and hopes for good blessings from Yggdrasil, etc.

I think the journalists who wrote the article were looking to have this kind of double idea happening. The term Prima Donna comes directly from Italian for the types of female leads to the definitive aspect of the term. However around the same time (19th cent) it came to mean the second definition as well. Those writing the article likely wrote it with both aspects in mind. This gives Wigfrid her personal reason for wanting to ask Maxwell for help in some way. This is her drive. She is obviously a talented lead opera lady given the decorations and extravagant nature of her home. But this article says she is unable to recapture the magic of her previous role. The role in question looks to be very different from the Wigfrid Valkyrie we know. Her best role may be her Valkyrie role and maybe when she’s trying to branch into something else it isn’t working. And the critics and journalists think it isn’t good for her. She was a powerful Valkyrie, but not whatever this role happened to be.

We get to see her finishing reading the article (or maybe this short interrupts her just barely skimming it) and angrily crumple and toss the paper to the floor. She turns her nose up at it and dramatically walks to a bookshelf in the room and pulls out this record:

Die Walküre. This is the recorded orchestral arrangement for the stage play Die Walküre. In the bottom right of the record sleeve is the names of who I believe to be the composers for the recorded version of the orchestral arrangement. Vincenzo De Vera and Emmental Halle. Wigfrid’’s. Best. Role. The role with such “magic” that she has been since “unable to recapture.”

**incest mention in this next paragraph in the contexts of norse mythology and the real life stage play of The Valkyrie, not Wigfrid herself**

Interestingly enough, Die Walküre is a very real stage play. It is based on Norse Mythology about two twins who are separated in childhood and then eventually meet and fall in love (yikes!). This union angers the gods and they demand Siegmund die. Sieglinde and their unborn child are saved by the defiant actions of Wotan’s daughter, The Valkyrie. Valkyrie Brunnehilde faces the god’s retribution as a result of her actions.

More Valkyrie content hidden away in her shelves. She adored her role as The Valkyrie. Her house is, as we have seen, filled with memoriam from that stage play.

She plays the record and walks over to her wall and looks at her poster of herself as the Valkyrie. The newspaper clipping on the left reads “Audiences Left Spellbound by Soprano’s Powerful Performance.” Wigfrid is a GREAT performer and she is a soprano! She even has a little statue/sculpture of herself as The Valkyrie.

Here’s where I am going to go a little more into the Prima Donna bit. Wigfrid was the lead female for Die Walküre so she is a Prima Donna in that sense. however, she is also vain. She has surrounded herself with HERSELF. All over the walls in her home. Posters and pictures and photographs and SCULPTURES? You Prima Donna girl you, Wigfrid!

Her ceiling is even intricately decorated with scenes from Die Walküre.

And then we get here. We enter Wigfrid’s fantasy about performing as The Valkyrie who has to face a challenge. This challenge being a dragon that forms from this stack of newspaper pages. More entertainment pages that discuss Wigfrid’s stardom reaching an end.

Wigfrid’s real name is scratched out. So we know for certain that Wigfrid is NOT her real name. We can still call her real name whatever we please until we get more solid evidence surrounding her name. Wigfrid is probably Die Valküre’s name in the stage play that Wigfrid acted in. In The Constant it’s safe to assume that the character she takes on in the world happens to be this character, Wigfrid. At this point it raises some question as to whether or not Wigfrid is treating The Constant like a stage. Where she gets to really perform the role of The Valkyrie.

Back to the newspaper taking the form of a dragon, though. The papers are her enemy. The journalists writing about her in such awful ways literally conjure up as her enemy, a dragon, to vanquish. This reveals how she feels about the way others speak about her. Especially when they are critiquing her so harshly with claiming she is a fading star unable to capture her magic.

Wigfrid is thrust into the air by the dragon and she seems lost for a moment before she regains her composure and strikes down the dragon. These are the feelings she is expressing through her singing accompaniment with the arrangement playing on her record player. And Maxwell notices this.

Maxwell appears before Wigfrid through the newspaper. This intrigues me because we know that Them (the Shadow Creatures of the Constant) are capable of reaching into the real world from pages. Thinking back to Maxwell’s Codex Umbra where he first discovered Them and became Maxwell instead of William. Maxwell (or probably rather, They) reaches through these pages to communicate with Wigfrid and have her make a deal. The deal to regain her former glory.

Whisked away with this Shadow Maxwell form by the Shadows from the pages. And with that Wigfrid joins the missing group, taken to The Constant.

And then theres these shots in succession:

All that mail piled up. How long has it been since Wigfrid has disappeared. I think we can assume that some of the mail in her box might be fan mail. SHe has packages on her front step (in front of double doors for her entrance wowie!). I spy at least three packages there piled up with all the assorted mail she otherwise has accumulated while missing. I also spy at least four newspapers. It’s hard to say whether these newspapers are Morning Dailies, Afternoon Dailies, or Weeklies. And then we get the final, fifth newspaper copy tossed on top of the stack that labels Wigfrid as someone who is also now missing. This is an important newspaper because this paper is a DAILY newspaper.

The Kourier paper is likely a mirror to the IRL newspaper in Findlay, Ohio. This paper puts out a copy DAILY. I am going to assume that the first newspaper we see Wigfrid read is a weekly newspaper. It covers more national events such as the San Francisco tragedy. This final newspaper is a daily newspaper. This helps the timeline. Wigfrid has likely been missing for only five days at this point. At most it could have been a week, pushing it to of course seven days. Maybe one of the other papers in the could be another Kronicle copy, which I am deeming the weekly style paper. In my hunt for information about the IRL version of this paper in our real Ohio, I struggled to find specifics online whether this paper published weekly or daily. I do know for certain that tthe IRL Courier is put into circulation daily.

OKAY! Next I want to discuss the colors used in this short. Ignoring the fully colored bit in the center while Wigfrid fantasizes about performing for a moment.

In the beginning of the short we have warm colors. These colors can both reflect Wigfrid’s mood and also the time of day. Wigfrid is angry about the way she is being talked about in the newspaper articles. She is silhouetted by orange-red. It could also be the evening. Adding a little to what I stated just a bove about the newspapers, I think The Kronicle is a paper that is delivered in the afternoon. I personally deem this accurate because in this scene Wigfrid of course is just now reading this article (or rather just barely skimming it over for the first time). Judging by her reaction which I’ve detailed above. She isn’t reading it over again and having an already bummed reaction, One of her eyebrows is raised while she looks over the article before throwing it down. Thus, it was her first moment seeing the article along with us.

We see her anger melting into a kind of sadness, or forlorn feelings even when she first puts on her record. She is still angry of course, but she’s feeling a lot of emotions, as we do, at this point in time.

At the end of the short we have cold colors. At this point, Wigfrid has gone through her fantasy of performing The Valkyrie. She is feeling solemn about it all now though. What if the papers are true? What if I am losing my magic for my roles? I think it’s also into the night or even possibly into the morning. It’s either the shine of the moon coming in from the windows, or early morning blue hours peeking in. I don’t want to say that she spent the whole night fantasizing and performing for herself (The Valkyrie is not an 8 hour performance). BUT. When we get to see the scene where the last newspaper is delivered to her doorstep, it is again in the blue lighting. The Kourier newspaper delivered onto her stack of mail. The Kourier is a morning delivery vs The Kronicle being an afternoon delivery.

ALSO. Remember my post about Winona? WELL she was ALSO located in Ohio pre being dragged into The Constant. So far we have two characters safely concretely placed IN Ohio at the time of their disappearance. Obviously, The Shadow Creatures do not discriminate since Wes was likely trapped way back during the train derailment with William, and of course Charlie and Maxwell/William himself were taken from San Francisco.

Okay. That’s all I have time for this time around of over analyzing don’t starve content. I am glad I got into the imagery and symbolism this time around. I also went WAY in depth in this one. I plan on going in way depth on the other animated character shorts, so stay tuned!

[comfy-whumpee]

Return 3

[Read in order. TW for nausea/referenced vomiting. @whumptober2019 day 12: "Don’t move.”]

When the van stopped, Ty breathed a sigh of relief. He could get inside now, get to his new bathroom, clean himself off and get to work.

The man opened the doors and Ty stood, waiting for permission to step out. His chest was tight at the thought of walking barefoot again, but he could bear it. Relief would be soon.

In the street lights, the man’s face was in shadow, but his voice was clear. “Get in the case.”

Ty’s heart stopped. The what?

He followed the man’s pointing finger to see, back against the opposite side of the van, an extra-large travel bag, the kind with wheels and a handle for dragging along – luggage.

Ty’s breathing came in sharp enough to hurt his chest and he had to, he had to say, “Please, sir, I’m not going to run.”

“Shut up and get in.”

He didn’t, he couldn’t, it would be – so small, so – so close with all the stuff on his feet – he’d bleed on it, he’d get it dirty, “Please, sir, please, you don’t have to—”

The man stepped into the van, and Ty backed up, hit the back of the seats, and dropped to his knees. “Sorry,” he gasped, “sorry.”

“Head up.”

He raised his head, raised his eyes to the man standing over him. He saw the blow coming and he didn’t resist.

The open-handed slap send a rush of pain over his face from left to right, and he clenched his fists against the floor to stop himself toppling. His cheek throbbed to the time of the blood pounding loud in his ear, but he was used to that. It wasn’t a cane, it was a hand. He wasn’t too dirty to be touched, not yet.

“I’m sorry, sir,” he whispered.

“In the case.”

He pulled open the flap and crawled inside. Or he tried to; he came up against the back, against the wall on its other side, before he could get halfway in. He turned, trying to fit his uncooperative limbs into the small space. He brought his knees up to his chest, crammed his arms between them, wincing at how his ribs were crushed, and pressed his head down last of all.

The man didn’t speak, didn’t praise or even acknowledge, before crouching down and doing up the zip. The meagre light vanished. Ty was glad for the rigid frame of the case, pressing back on him to help him stay in the shape that was needed of him.

Once the zip was done, he heard the faint but unmistakable click of a small padlock.

It was small. It was – it was really small. Ty yelped as the case tilted, he fell back against the bars on his right, and heard the wheels. Of course. He was – he was being transported. Luggage. Property.

“Quiet,” the man hissed. In the dark, Ty pressed his hands over his mouth and nodded, even though nobody could see him.

“Don’t move,” came the next order, and Ty stopped himself nodding again.

The bump from van to ground was hard, and it knocked the breath from him, but he had to let it out slowly from between his fingers and he had to be still and he had to be silent, completely silent, and he had to be good. Even though his foot was still bleeding and his ribs felt like they were digging into his organs and it was hot and he was starting to sweat and he wanted to cry, he couldn’t do any of that.

The case dragged over ground with a rattle that felt like it was drilling into Ty’s head, and it was all he could do to try and breathe through the panic. He wanted to thrash, he wanted to push and press against the confines of the case, he wanted desperately to breathe normal air again, but he couldn’t. This man was one of the slavers, he had the drug. Ty didn’t want to be drugged again.

Go empty, he begged his own overwrought brain. Hollow, like you were before, when everything was easy.

Voices and movement and Ty kept quiet and small and still until he felt himself being lifted. He tensed, but he couldn’t – he was set down again, and oh, it was even tighter now, things pressing up against the sides of his case.

He couldn’t breathe. There wasn’t air anymore. The darkness made him feel like his skin was shrinking and he was – he was going to get crushed, he knew it, his ribs were flattening out. He was being disposed of.

A massive rumble startled him into a hitched, wheezing breath, and he locked his hands over his mouth again, fingers digging his skin against his teeth, going utterly still. No more breathing until he could be trusted to be silent.

The rumbling was an engine, he realised, but it felt like an earthquake. When the motion started, and the things around him shifted, it was like the world turned upside down. Oh god, he was in another vehicle. And this time, in a ball in the boot or the luggage compartment or something, he couldn’t breathe, and he felt sick, so sick so soon with the turns and the walls pressing in against his case and the way everything slid slightly with each turn, he was a tiny boat tossed over the waves on a wild, pitch black sea.

He couldn’t breathe deeply enough to fight down the nausea. It roiled and rose with every shift, and he begged the engine to stop and silence but it didn’t, it wouldn’t, not until he was where he had to be. He wondered suddenly if there were people around him, other people in other cases, but that only made it more important that he was quiet and good and didn’t throw up. Nobody else had thrown up, he would have heard, it wouldn’t be quiet.

His head was spinning faster than the motion of the – the bus, coach, or something? He was lost. His breath came in little shallow gasps, unable to relieve him of the panic that was buzzing in his head. He couldn’t move, he couldn’t speak, he couldn’t breathe, he couldn’t, and he absolutely had to not be sick, in the space, with his own vomit, trapped with it, revolting. Nothing, he couldn’t do anything, he had to stop existing to be safe.

When he felt himself passing out, it was almost a relief.

[sparklyjojos]

Joker recaps [3/3]

[tw: mentioned csa, suicide, obvious-murder-case-related-deaths, questionable treatment of the trans character]

----

Before Ryuuguu reveals his solution to the case, he asks Kirika to explain the locked rooms first.

First, the Stage of Light surrounded by snow. While everyone assumed it’d been the murder scene, the Artist actually killed Ryousho and Fuumonji somewhere else, and later flung an axe and some frozen blood to the Scene from one of the towers. The ice was melted once the reflected sunlight hit the Stage of Light, and the blood with anticoagulants would flow around like it was fresh.

Second, how the Locked Room was filled with water. The murderer must have created a thin wall made of ice that separated the majority of the room from the part near the door, filled the bigger part with water, closed the door, and simply waited until the ice melted.

Ryuuguu interrupts Kirika as he wants to talk about who the Artist is before revealing the last few locked rooms (although he still has no clue about the head in a helmet).

The key to the case is a certain theme that showed up each time a body of a writer was discovered.

Flowing blood. A mandarin orange. The yellow Room of Judgment. A weeping fig. Water. An indigo carpet. Amethysts.

Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet. The colors of the rainbow.

Like the rainbow, niji, contained in Nijikawa’s name.

Nijikawa killed seven other writers and himself, resulting in eight sacrifices. Even if his room was guarded, he could’ve just employ a simple psychological trick (a G.K. Chesterton trick, as Ryuuguu calls it), casually walked out, and the exhausted police officers would just think they hallucinated it, or fell asleep for a second and only dreamed about it.

What pushed Nijikawa Ryou to murder? It’s too late to discover the truth. The answer will forever remain in the shadows.

The curtain has fallen.

Everything ended.

--

--

The curtain was brought up once more.

--

“It was a magnificent case, Mr. Ryuuguu,” says someone from the dining hall’s entrance, and it’s only now that everyone notices the two men standing there. One is Tsukumo Juku, his long hair and sunglasses instantly recognizable, and the other is his assistant Hikimiya Yuuya.

Kirika asks just how long the two have been standing there listening.

“Since about five pages ago,” Juku answers.

“You’re going to investigate too?” a police officer asks him.

“Forgive me, but I cannot do that… since I’ve already solved this case.”

Juku then takes Nemu along and leaves for a few minutes to check a few places in Geneijo, and Hikimiya takes a moment in the library to count something in Dakushoin’s manuscript, but soon everyone gathers in the dining hall again.

Juku finally announces the Artist’s name: Satou Ichirou. One of the police officers thought to be dead in the case. Juku doesn’t explains anything just yet, instead saying that he’ll continue his reasoning after the meal.

Once the meal is done, Juku says Satou Ichirou was NOT the Artist, and while Juku’s very sorry to tarnish the name of the dead like that, he had to say it so he could observe everyone’s reactions to the news during the meal. This allowed him to make sure of the murderer’s identity.

The Artist isn’t any police officer, or any Geneijo employee, or detective, or Tae. It is someone already dead.

But before the reveal, Juku tells them that there was something that everyone missed. If you transcribe the first kanji of every murdered writer’s real name and put them in order of their deaths, you’ll get:

Ka-rei-naru-(h)o-tsura-kuno-tame-ni. “For the Great Downfall”. There should be a ‘bo’ instead of ‘ho’, but that was exactly what the symbolic dakuten was for.

As for who is the Artist... Nijikawa was unlikely to do a rainbow-themed crime, as he was likely colorblind, just like his daughter Megumi. The latter fact was easy to guess: just like it was noted in Dakushoin’s manuscript, Megumi looked at Wasserman’s innocent painting of a castle and saw a monster. Wasserman seems to have put a few secrets in his paintings that could be noticed only by a colorblind person like him… and anyone who would just happen to be always wearing sunglasses.

Juku shows everyone a suicide note signed by Nijikawa that was found in Tae’s room. The writer of the note shortly describes the crimes, claims that he wanted to poison either Miyama or Dakushoin but it went wrong, and that he didn’t kill Megumi. He wasn’t trying to fulfill the 30 elements at all. He recalls the event from when he was a child and his father, a mystery writer, murdered his wife in a drunken rage before his son’s eyes, and later fell from the stairs and died while attempting to chase the terrified child. Since then Nijikawa believed the mystery novelists were monsters desensitized to human death. He decided to infiltrate the ranks of mystery novelists and enact revenge. But soon he realized that he turned into his own father, and so chose eternal slumber.

But if we assume this note was really written by Nijikawa, then it shouldn’t be found in Tae’s room.

Everyone gathered is losing their patience a little, so Juku announces the name of the Artist:

Miyama Kaoru.

--

The note found in Miyama’s pocket said “boku mou TAErarenai”, but as far as Juku knows from reading the manuscript, Miyama only ever used the pronoun watashi. So even if it was written by Miyama, it wasn’t Miyama’s suicide note, but a fake one that she intended to put next to Nijikawa’s body.

Miyama’s death wasn’t suicide, but neither was it a murder. At the time of her death at 3 am, Miyama happened to be in the middle of arranging a scene of Nijikawa’s “suicide” for later, standing on a chair and tying a noose. She couldn’t have predicted that a sudden earthquake would make her lose balance in the most unfortunate way possible.

But before she died, Miyama still managed to arrange Dakushoin’s death: she put a thick sheet of ice on top of two taller statues, towels on top of that, and Dakushoin drugged with sleeping pills on top of that. The ice eventually melted, making Dakushoin fall and get impaled on another statue.

Nijikawa’s death, on the other hand, was simply suicide.

Megumi’s death was accidental. She slip and fell after being startled by… something (Juku carefully doesn’t elaborate, but Ryuuguu suspects that the ‘something’ may have been Shouri knocking on the door, and Juku doesn’t want the boy to blame himself.) She hit her head on the floor, and the impact made the flower pot fall off the shelf and hit her again. Since she broke her left wrist falling, she had to use her right hand to write the message.

As for that upside-down painting of Mother Mary, Miyama as a Christian just couldn’t help but make it look proper.

Since Miyama was good enough in baseball pitching to teach it to Shouri, it would also make her able to accurately fling the axe and frozen blood to the Light Stage.

Dakushoin brought attention to facts like that in his manuscript, almost like he knew and desperately wanted someone else to realize the truth. In fact, there was a random poem inserted after the scene of finding Megumi’s body, and the first syllables of each line made the sentence “ko-no-ka-ba-tsu-ha-shin-ji-tsuwo-tsu-ta-e-te-i-ru...”, “this Kabatsu [a shortened name of the manuscript] is conveying the truth”. Similarly, reading the names of each big chapter of the sadly unfinished manuscript revealed a message: “Han-nin-no-na-ma-e-ha” (“the name of the culprit is...”), proving that Dakushoin knew the truth.

The message was so well hidden that only someone specializing in reading the intention of a writer would be able to find it.

But wait! There’s more. Juku shows everyone the 99 cipher and points out a tiny line near one of the numbers. If you read the numbers left-right, top-down (so in the normal Western manner) and stop at the line, you’ll have read 82 numbers, exactly how many numbered subchapters there is in Dakushoin’s unfinished manuscript. The prologue had 4 subchapters, the 6 normal chapters after that had 13 subchapters each. Dakushoin probably wanted to write another ‘prologue’ and another chapter afterwards, which would bring the total of subchapters to 99. One for each number in the cipher.

If you write down the title of each subchapter in hiragana and pick the consecutive character the number in the 99 cipher points to, and also read it backwards, you’d get a message…

[missing part] Kare wo sodateta tokushuna kankyou ga kare wo shite renzokusatsujin he to hashirashimeta no de aru. Nijikawa no shi ha jisatsu. Ta no hankou ha kare naraba jyuubun ni ji(tsu)kou ga kanou de aru.

Translation:

[missing part] Unusual circumstances in which he grew up pushed him to serial killing. Nijikawa's death is suicide. If the other crimes were [commited by] him then this could be an accident.

Of course Dakushoin couldn’t know about Nijikawa Ryou’s future death – who he meant by ‘Nijikawa’ here was Nijikawa Megumi. He correctly assumed that Miyama would be able to kill everyone else but not the girl. He wasn’t that off on the ‘suicide’ part, since Megumi’s death was technically caused by her own actions. Dakushoin probably didn’t know about Miyama’s gender and so used the incorrect pronouns. If he had a chance to write the last 17 subchapters, their deciphered titles would probably directly accuse Miyama Kaoru.

--

But the case reaches much, much deeper than that. Dakushoin was smart, but wasn’t able to notice a certain astounding series of coincidences. The events of the case – the way Dakushoin wrote it, even – were all foreshadowed a thousand years ago in the famous work The Tale of Genji.

Out of 53 chapters of The Tale of Genji, each one’s title was somehow referenced inside Dakushoin’s manuscript. Some are more obvious (aoi, kirigirisu, sakaki…) and some are deeply convoluted worplays on details like what exactly the characters ate or what was the name of a random police officer’s girlfriend that was only ever mentioned once. [Juku spends entire pages going through FIFTY THREE CHAPTER NAMES and explaining whatever horrible pun is related to it. It’s kinda amazing.]

When everyone is still stunned, Juku says that from this moment on even he’s not sure of his reasoning, but he believes he knows the truth. He turns to Teru and asks:

“Mrs. Mamiya, wouldn’t Miyama Kaoru happen to be your and Kirigirisu Tarou’s child? Or should I say, your and Hirai Genji’s.”

Teru can’t deny that. She guessed that Kirigirisu was her Genji, but decided to keep quiet. Hirai Tarou admits he knew about Miyama’s true identity too, but couldn’t recognize his brother after all these years.

Since the man was named Genji, then he obviously could name his child Kaoru, just like the legendary Genji’s child was called. The pen name ‘Miyama’ is fairly close to ‘Mamiya’ as well, as if intentionally chosen. Miyama apparently knew the identity of her mother. After Genji and Teru split, they left the baby in Geneijo, and Hirai Tarou had to give it up for adoption. Maybe Miyama’s motive was a revenge on Geneijo itself, the place in which she had been so profoundly rejected.

--

After everyone but the detectives leave the dining hall, Juku adds that, intentionally or not, the Geneijo case managed to fulfill all the 30 elements from Dakushoin’s list.

The others think that maybe if they were as capable as Juku, they could prevent the last few tragedies… but even as they thought about the past, they had to keep moving forward and finally leave Geneijo behind.

Hoshino Tae leaves Geneijo too, having both lost and learned so much.

--

--

On 31st December that year, a day before Tsukumo Juku is supposed to leave for England, he returns to Geneijo carrying flowers for the dead.

He’s not the only one there. The First Group’s leader Yaiba Somahito is already waiting there in silence. After some pleasantries Yaiba says that he checked the Geneijo case files once more and noticed that Dakushoin had been found to have terminal stage cancer. The man truly put the rest of his life into his writing – for the sake of a grand downfall.

As an aside, Yaiba also contacted Dakushoin’s editor and learned that there was some other book planned that Dakushoin’s sister Nagisa was supposed to be writing under a weird pen name, “Seiryoin Ryusui” or something like that.

Yaiba and Juku stand in silence for a few moments before Yaiba asks:

“Tsukumo, why did you lie that Miyama Kaoru was the Artist?”

“What do you mean, Mr. Yaiba?” Juku’s voice is still beautiful, but without its usual warmth.

Yaiba shows him an envelope with a message saying just “Please help me. TEL”. TEL was Teru’s signature. She knew Yaiba and tried to summon his help, but Yaiba returned to Japan from a case too late to read it in time.

Yaiba explains in a voice full of sadness: “Miyama Kaoru was mine and Mamiya Teru’s child. 22 years ago, my family was employed by Geneijo. My father was the butler before Kosugi Kan. When I was 12, Mamiya abused me. Since I know from her that Hirai Genji wasn’t able to have children, only I can be Miyama’s father.”

In The Tale of Genji, Kaoru wasn’t actually Genji’s biological child, but was fathered by another character, Kashiwagi. Kashiwagi was also the last name Yaiba once had.

Yaiba is convinced that Juku’s meta-reasoning told him the truth about the case and he just disregarded it in favor of a fake explanation. Yaiba’s only question is why. Was Juku protecting the actual culprit? There was obviously someone else who could commit the murders – the only other person who trained their baseball pitching well enough: the butler’s son Shouri. That’s why some tricks seemed childish. That’s why Shouri was hanging around in the greenhouse before a murder was committed there.

Juku finally admits that the true culprit of the case was Kosugi Shouri. But at the same time, this wasn’t the truth. Shouri may have been the “perpertrator”, but it’s unthinkable a boy like him would come up with the entire plan on his own. There was a mastermind; a frightfully powerful someone.

This case is truly unsolvable. Finding a solution would probably require them to unravel the strings that hold the world, the story and all the mysteries together, would take some sort of divine reasoning.

Dakushoin knew about it too, and put one last clue in his manuscript; maybe even by sheer writer instinct more than actual knowledge. A well hidden “AB ; 10101011” that seems like a random error of the word processor. AB meant 171 in hexadecimal, and 10101011 meant 171 in binary. 171 = i(chi)-na(na)-i(chi). Inai, meaning that something doesn’t exist. There was also a seemingly random part named Kimi~1/2 Hanashi. Kimi ½ = a half of “kimi” [“you”] = half-person = literally a han-nin = hannin [culprit].

Hannin ha nashi = “There is no culprit”.

Lost in thought, Juku looks up at the sky for a long time.

Yaiba still wants to know the ultimate truth, and Juku says that this shall stay a secret between them just like Yaiba’s past. Juku can only give one clue -- the personality of the mastermind can be derived from answering a few questions: who would want there to be so many misdirections and tricks? Who would want there to be a lot of unexpected twists in the case?

Juku adds that after the case was done, Hikimiya led by his detective instinct counted how many times each writer’s full name showed up in the manuscript. 37 for each of them. 37 = mi-na [“everyone”], so if everyone had ‘the same 37 times’ worth of mentions, then maybe the message was that “everyone is the same”. Anyone can be anyone. Maybe it means that all the categorizing of people based on their race, gender and so forth is meaningless; people are in the end just people.

The two detectives finally leave Geneijo and the story.

--

(There is one more chapter after that, called the Phantom Chapter. It’s long and poetically complicated, but the gist of it is that the story rests in the hands of the reader. For example, if a Reader stops reading the book in the middle out of boredom, then as far as that Reader is concerned, the true criminal is someone else. If after long years a Reader will forget the disliked parts, the story will show another face, and the Reader will think the true criminal is someone else.

The last answer bestowed by the godly detective isn't certain. Nothing is certain. Knowing this, the Readers may decide for themselves how they want to explain things. (For example, what if all the misdirections were in fact the signatures of the culprit(s)?)

The truth can be understood only by the reader who – as the narration prompts in the end – uses the 99 cipher to discovered the missing part of Dakushoin’s long message, using the titles of the last 17 sub-chapters of this 99-subchapter-long book called Joker:

Shin-han-nin-ha-da-re-de-mo-i-i-no-de-aru

The true culprit can be anyone.)

THE END

[randomfangirl330]

Fav Narumitsu pwkm

I’m going to keep some of my favorite pwkm fics here that I can’t find on AO3 or Fanfiction.net These will probably mostly be Hurt/Comfort fics. 

Also, if you are any of the author anons of the incomplete works... PLEASE!

Caged (Incomplete, but stops fine) - Phoenix is an actual phoenix and is captured by a hunter

Frozen (Complete) - Phoenix is found trapped in a freezer, seriously beaten, and Miles is investigating who done it

Wright’s Love Guilty (Complete) -  "Edgeworth... we can't have sex in front of Charley!"

Hospital Fic (Complete) - Another missing hospital scene fic from 3-5

Hiding in Plain Sight (Incomplete) - Phoenix is shot after witnessing a crime, so he is put under Witness Protection while Miles tends to his injuries

Sleepless (Complete) - After Phoenix misses his flight from an overbooked plane, Miles agrees to let him spend the night in his hotel room

Heartbeats (Complete) - Miles is calmed after an earthquake by Phoenix’s heartbeat

Five Times...  (Multiply fics; Incomplete) Vampire Kristoph Gavin sets his eyes on a new victim; and that victim happens to be Werewolf Miles Edgeworth’s mate

Kinematics (Incomplete) - Phoenix and Miles are taken hostage by a crazed gunman

Turnabout M.D. (Incomplete) - Ace Attorney and House M.D. crossover

Sanctuary (Complete) - Miles reflects on how lucky he is to have Phoenix by his side while sharing a bed

Tremors (Complete) - Miles and Phoenix are in the same room when an earthquake happens and Phoenix gets knocked out

intertwined. (Complete) - Phoenix and Miles cuddle up together after a long week

Once Upon a Time... (Complete) - Princes Miles is sent to try to woo Princess Mia, but finds himself falling in love with her bodyguard, Sir Phoenix, instead

That Damn Feeling (Complete) - Miles can’t shake the bad feeling he’s getting from Phoenix’s latest client

Capsicum. (Complete) - Phoenix is sprayed with a powerful mace and Miles watches over him while he recovers

No Day But Today (Complete) - Phoenix is evicted from his apartment and tries to hide it from Miles

A Perfect Revenge (Complete) (TW: Graphic depiction of torture) - von Karma escapes death and patiently waits for the day to execute his revenge against Miles Edgeworth and the attorney who defeated him

Untitled Story... (Complete?) - A hostage situation happens in court and Phoenix is shot protecting Miles

2 fics with the same premise (Both incomplete) - Phoenix realizes his client is really guilty while in trial and tries to subtly let Miles know because said client is threatening him with a gun

Gazing Within (Incomplete) (TW: Referenced Rape) - Phoenix wakes up in the hospital to bad injuries and Miles by his bedside with concerning news of his condition

I’m so evil (Complete) - Miles and Phoenix are trapped in a glass elevator 40 stories up

A Gut Feeling (Incomplete) - Phoenix and Edgeworth are in the middle of a heated cross-examination when Phoenix collapses. It's his appendix, it has to come out now, he had appendicitis and hid it

Under the Gun (Incomplete) (TW: Implied NonCon) -  Phoenix plays poker and wins a familiar looking person

In Sickness and In Health (Incomplete) -  Edgeworth gets in a nasty accident and wakes up in the hospital with amnesia. His last memory is Phoenix Wright beating his perfect record. However, he is told he's married to this very person.

Sick Is As Sick Does Not (Complete) - Miles gets sick while forced to go to a log cabin and everyone is snowed in. The only one who seems to notice his state is Phoenix

List (Complete) - Miles keeps a list of all the things he loves about Phoenix

Nightmares (Multiply Fics; Complete) - Phoenix and Miles comfort each other after having nightmares (There’s also a Klapollo one too)

You Can Cry Now (Complete) - Miles wasn’t the only one who lost someone in that earthquake (This one MAY of been intended as friendship, but I’m consistently wearing shipping goggles)

Forbidden Fruit (Complete) - Just why does Miles always wear a cravat?

Dinner and a Movie (Complete) - Phoenix gets a horrible stomach ache and Miles takes care of him

Frozen (Incomplete; Different fic) - Miles finds Phoenix unconscious during a freak blizzard in LA

Of Life, Pride and Pess (Complete) - Pess seems to of taken a very strong liking to Phoenix, much to Miles’ shock

Post-sex fun! (Complete) - Some pillow talk after sex

Nick's Sick (Complete) - Phoenix calls in sick and everyone seems to have an idea of how to cure him

Dreams of Perfection (Complete) - Phoenix just wants his and Miles wedding to be perfect. Life seems to have other plans though.

Miles' Migraine (Complete) - Miles gets a migraine while working and Phoenix comes over to take care of him

Bad Day (Complete) - Miles has a long day and want nothing more than to go home to his boyfriend who is apparently also working late

Bitter Re-Union (Complete) - What if the poison in the bottle Phoenix ate took effect on him when he ate it?

Reverse Aromatherapy (Complete) - Phoenix accidentally uses Armstrong’s aromatherapy bottles and now smells. Everyone is avoiding him expect Miles, who seems to be trying to get closer to him.

"Hopefully you'll feel the same" (Complete) - Miles is completely wasted and confesses his feelings to Phoenix

Your Secret Admirer (Complete) - Phoenix gets a series of love letters from a secret admirer

Returning the favor (Complete) - Young Phoenix sees young Miles being harassed by bullies, so he stands up for him in thanks for helping him

I'm Yours (Complete) - The sweetest love-making fic you'll probably ever read

Unnecessary Feelings (Complete) - Miles wakes up and silently admires a sleeping Phoenix next to him.

More Loving! (Complete) - Phoenix gets mysterious treats sent by an unknown sender while Miles is out of town

Distant Traces (Complete) - Dahlia has trapped Phoenix in his own mind and is devouring his soul until Edgeworth comes to save him

P/E Kidfluff (Multiple Fills; Both Complete) - Phoenix continues to be picked on for the class trials, and Miles continues to stand up for him

exchanges (Complete) - Miles is planning on proposing to Phoenix, but he feels he needs Trucy’s blessing to do so

The Wright One (Incomplete) - Phoenix runs a matchmaking business and tries to find a match for the incredibly picky Miles Edgeworth

FILL (Complete)  Phoenix has a nightmare while in the hospital after his fall, and Miles finds himself on the comforter end 

The Not So Ordinary (Complete) - After being attacked in court, Phoenix dies in Miles’ arms... or so it seems

True Bluff (Complete) - The Princess Bride battle of wits scene reimagined as Ace Attorney

Consolation Prize (Complete) - Phoenix is tired of Miles always beating him in chess, so he offers a new game to play. Candy Land.

Let Go, Give In (Complete) - Miles accepts his own feelings and confesses them to Phoenix, only to find Phoneix trying to resist his own

Sofa Hair (Complete) - Miles is sick and refuses to go home, no matter how much Phoenix insists it

Commentboxing (Complete) After their officiate is arrested, Phoenix and Miles need someone to perform their wedding ceremony. It seems only Wendy Oldbag is able to do so

Edgeworth's Good Day (Complete) - Miles misses Trucy’s big show and feels absolutely guilty about it

Extinguished (Incomplete; frustrating incomplete) - Phoenix is buried alive somewhere and Miles has to find him

The Bad Guy (Complete) - Phoenix get a parental crisis when Trucy calls Miles the “Fun Dad”

Untitled (Complete) - Phoenix gets some advice from Maya and what to get Miles’ birthday not knowing what he was really asking

Blood Fever (Complete) - Miles has Vulcan ancestry and is going through the Pon Farr... with his eyes set on Phoenix

(If I find any more I like, they will be added to the list)

(This one’s not Narumitsu, but I still like it)

(Was probably supposed to be narumitsu, but the author didn’t get there)

(This is just funny!)

(Trucy doing the Flour Baby assignment)

[melancholic-seas]

High School of the Dead

TW: Associating humans with food, gore, decapitation, just down-right unsettlin’

Seconds turned to minutes, and those minutes felt like an eternity. How long, oh how long would you be forced to share breath with this...this literal monster? How long would he continue to taunt you all, attempting to destroy the remnants of hope you had left, if you even allowed him to break through to you. Apparently, Monobear had enough of his ramblings and finally let the floor swallow him.

It took much longer than anyone would have thought for the monitor to buzz on, so much time had passed that many wondered if Hachiro had died from the fall. It would seem that there was no puddle of blue hair accompanied by an anime jacket, though, but the Hachiro that was on the monitor was much different than the one who had left. Hachiro’s hair was sideswept, somehow making him look more like an anime protagonist than normal. His normal clothes were also replaced, for now he was adorned in a white suit atop a red shirt, a beautiful golden wing emblazoned on his lapel while a silver cross dangled by the zipper. Hachiro examined himself with a mix of terror and awe, somehow understanding the costume he had awoken in, probably more than the majority of the room. But as he dared bring his eyes from his outfit, he was terrified to find an even more familiar scene laid before him.

Or perhaps it wasn’t as familiar as he thought. When Hachiro saw the lockers lined underneath the windows and the signs hanging from the doorways, he knew he was in a school, but this was not his school. Though, with how rarely he managed to escape from his classroom, the school could have been an entirely different entity, but the way it was so dilapidated and molded didn’t feel right.

Unless this execution had a theme, a theme Hachiro had already been clued into by his outfit.

♫♫♫

Just as Hachiro came to this realization, he happened to note that the ground was shaking. Fearing another collapse, he readied himself for the fall only to note that this wasn’t an earthquake, it had a pattern of a few seconds between tremors. Taking to trembling knees, he happened to peer around the corner, only to catch the menacing figure of a white creature, tall with floppy ears protruding from its small head. Immediately deciding against that kind of fate, Hachiro launched himself to his feet and sprinted in the opposite direction.

It was only by luck that Hachiro maneuvered away from the creature, luck and the beast’s lack of knowledge that Hachiro was even there. Feeling as though he was a safe distance away, Hachiro ducked into a classroom to catch his breath, realizing how pitifully out of shape he was. As he swallowed down gulps of oxygen, his breath was stolen in his throat as an out of place monitor flickered to life in the room. Behind it sat Monobear, dressed in a white suit highlighting his bulbous shapes, big circular glasses resting on his nose, catching the glare of the light. In the background Monomi sat in her chair, her only change being a spiral shell strapped to her back and a pair of googly eyes glued to the tips of her ears.

“Without a curse, there will be no God. With a curse, there will be horror. With horror, there shall be worship. Right now is the time where God advents,” Monobear cackled.

From somewhere in the school, a loud and penetrating howl marked the creature, as did the galloping footsteps as it approached, wooden planks snapping underneath its massive weight. Monobear’s broadcast, it was giving away Hachiro’s position! Immediately, Hachiro rushed to the monitor, tugging and snapping just about every wiry vein protruding from it, but it made little difference, Monobear was still on the other side of the glass, laughing in mockery of Hachiro’s feeble attempts to stop the broadcast as he continued his monologue. If anything, Monobear was getting louder, as were the barreling footsteps approaching him.

It was feeble to run, Hachiro knew he was marked for death. But to put off the bloody and painful end he had only come to fear, that was reason enough to keep him on the run, rounding corridors, doing all he could to open doors, knock over lockers, anything that may stop the beast. But as Hachiro continued his run, more and more monitors lit the hallway as Monobear continued his speech, marking the path the monster would need to take to reach Hachiro.

“You were so handsome in your madness. Gorgeous in your murderous rage. I loved you. But if you're reverting to a stinking hypocrite who can't save anyone, then I'll save you myself,” he sneered. “At first, everyone is disgusted. Afraid to bear the sin of killing people. Afraid to receive punishment for replenishing themselves with the life of another. But, once you realize that you won’t be punished for killing people, you get used to the guilt pretty soon. The guilt of using humans for food. Aren’t humans the same?”

“I don’t even know what this is referencing anymore!” Hachiro yelled to the screens.

In the next moment, Hachiro was on the ground, his feet tangled in themselves. Such a classic horror trope, to trip over nothing, and of course it happened at such an inopportune time. The footsteps ceased. Though his heart was pounding out of his chest, Hachiro dared to look behind him, the beast lumbering over its prey before taking Hachiro in its mighty clutch.

“No…” Hachiro pleaded, tears breaking down his cheeks. “Not like this. Please not like this!”

With its free hand, the creature gripped Hachiro’s head, the boy screaming under its grasp as the fiend yanked upwards. The sight, the sounds, it was too much for anyone to bear. Even those with the strongest stomachs were unable to face the visual as Hachiro’s head separated from his body. But the sounds that follow, the crunching, the slurping, the eyrie silence, it was enough to break the horrid reality to everyone. It was easy enough to tell yourself that Hachiro deserved such a fate for what he did, that wasn’t what bothered you as much.

Perhaps more terrifying was the realization that this was reality now, and anyone could meet the same bloody end as Hachiro, no matter who they may be.

[safitheartist]

@kariachi I’m mean. (Tw: mentioned child death, Blood, emotional breakdown, referenced human trafficing, claustrophobia (not sure about this one but they are in a dark cramped place) if you guys can think of any more please tell me.)

The rubbel was pressing on her force field, havey and threatening with it’s immense mass, reminding her that breaking her concentration even only slightly could lead to death’s cold embrace. She felt the stone shift over her head, incaseing them in darkness as the only light source was the dim pink glow of her aura.

She couldn’t open a portal now, they would get squashed immediately and a communication spell was out of question too. All she could do was keeping the barrier around them up or die, if it was just her alone, then maybe, maybe she would be able to get out of there, but as it was..

“Argit!” She said for what felt like the houndreds time since they got into this situation. “Argit wake up! Please!” She heared a groan in response and her aura flared up as relive floded over her.

“Red?” He asked, his voice sounded pained, Gwen felt the sweat burn in her eyes. “Yes, it’s me. How are you feeling?” She asked, she saw him hit his head pretty badly before she put the barrier around them and he’s been unconscious ever since. “Like my head has been put through a wringer…which is a good thing I guess, at least we aren’t dead. What happened?” He groaned out trying to sit up only to wince and lie back down immediately.

“You can’t remember?” That wasn’t good, that wasn’t good at all. “I um…there was a earthquake I think?” Something about a giant badger?“ It were questions, not answers, that was bad. “Yes, Animo, it was a mole not a badger. We were evacuating a building, it fell down on us. You fell out of the 7th floor.”

“7th? Gee, I must be getting soft.” Gwen could tell he was joking but it came out sounding more pathetic then anything. “Take this serious would you? You might be really hurt.” Gwen scolded him. “What about the kids? There where kids on the floor with me, right?” Gwen felt a cold feeling settle in her stomach. “I don’t know.” She lied.

“Oh..”

It was silent for a few heartbeats but Gwen knew it couldn’t stay that way. She had to check bad the damage is and she had to keep him awake somehow. “I need to ask you a few questions. Okay?” Argit grunted and Gwen took that as a ‘go ahead.’ from him. “Okay, do you remember my name?”

Argit snorted.

“I’m serious Argit, my real name, not the nickname.” She insisted.

“Gwendolyn Tennyson.” He replied, Gwen nodded, “Good, who is my boyfriend?”

“The pain of my existence.” “Argit.”

“Kevin Ethan Levin.” He winced again, Gwen felt sympathetic for him, but it was the only way to make sure he stays with her and it was helping her to stay calm too, so she knew she couldn’t let him quit.

“Okay, okay, you’re doing good. I’m the cousin of?” She asked, her aura flared up while thinking of Ben, her cousin, at least according to what their family has been telling them. She’s been having doubts about that for a while now.

“Benjamin Kirby Tennyson. This is boring Red, can’t we take turns asking questions?” He asked and Gwen thought about it. That wasn’t a bad idea, it would keep him from falling asleep at least, hopefully that is. “Okay, I asked a question, it’s your turn.”

“Why aren’t you teleporting yourself out of here?” He asked, he could remember that she can do that, good. “It’s too dangerous. Even if I managed to do it fast enough, I doubt I could get both of us out.” She didn’t mention how teleporting could make his condition worse or how the only thing keeping them alive was a barrier held up by somebody who had two redbull and a slice of toast for breakfast that morning. Gwen doubt she was in the condition to take risks right now.

“My turn, what’s your favorite animal?” Gwen was determined to keep this going, but she had to admit, she wasn’t the most creative person under pressure. “Seriously? Creativity much?” Argit asked with clear amusement in his voice, Gwen grunted, “You try keeping several tons over our heads, then we can talk about how creative my questions are.”

“I like Platypi.” He answered, Gwen had the urge to stare at him. “Platypi?” She asked and Argit grunted, “What’s so strange about that?” he asked and Gwen felt a bit embarrased, “I just wasn’t expecting it. I thought you would say something like opossum or hedghog.” She admited. “You humans are basically appes and yet *your* favorite animal are cats.” He countred.

“Fair enough. Your turn.”

“When was your first kiss?” Gwen snorted, “And you call my questions uncreative?” She couldn’t help saying. “12, Billy Mayson behind the school’s gym. His braces cut my lip open.” She remembered it like it only happened yesterday, it was a deep cut too, she had to walk around with a bandaid for weeks.“ “Romantic.” Argit said dryly. “Okay, since we are at *that* topic, first crush?” She asked. It turned silent for a few moments and Gwen was starting to worry that he might have fallen asleep on her again, but then she heared him mumbling something very quietly, so that she almost couldn’t hear it.

“Kevin?!” She exclaimed and her Aura again flared up. Argit winced at her sudden loud voice and Gwen looked at him apologetic, “Sorry, I just didn’t…I probably should have figured that’s the case.”

“Let’s just, not go there right now. Ack, okay let me think for a second. Um, siblings?” Gwen wanted to nod, but moving her head made her feel dizzy, so she made a mental note to no longer do that, “A older brother. His name is Ken.” Gwen answered, she hasn’t talked to Ken for quite some time, they had a fight the last time she saw him, the idea that they might never make up was painful.

Ben came to mind again, but Gwen ignored it.

“What about you? Do you have siblings?” She hardly knew anything about Argit’s family now that she thought about it. She still wasn’t even sure if he really did sell his mother or if Kevin was just messing with her. Arigt was a complicated person, he wasn’t to be trusted that’s for sure, but it wasn’t like he’s heartless too. He confused Gwen because for some reason, she couldn’t hate him anymore.

Argit was silent again, the only thing indicating that he was still awake were the small squealing noises he made now and then combined with his inregular breathing. “Yes,” he said, his tone caught her of guard, he sounded sad. “I do, 12 all of them were younger then me.” Gwen felt the cold feeling settle back in her stomach, the wight of the shifting rubble feeling more and more pressing.

“And well then there is also Kevin.” He added.

“What where their names?” Argit chuckled, “I believe it was my turn Red.” There was a pause and Gwen was half expecting him to just continue their little game, but then he started making a number of squeaking noises, which confused Gwen until she realized he was answering her question. “…..Argit isn’t your real name?” It was more an realization then a question, “Still breaking the rules I see, no it’s not. Kevin gave it to me when we were children, couldn’t pronounce my real name, bless his soul he tried. I’ve been using it ever since. Okay, my turn, why the cats?”

Gwen swallowed thickly as she tried her best to make her voice casual.“When I was really little I thought they were witches in disguise. It kinda became a obsession after a while.” She remembered how Ben once caught a stray cat for her when they were really little, they tried feeding her so she would trust them enough to transform for them, it ended with Ben having a really nasty scratch on his arm and Ken having to drive the cat to a animal shelter on his bike.

“You’ve always been into this magic stuff?” Asked Argit again, Gwen supposed it was just fair, she did ask three questions in a row after all. “I guess,” she answered after she thought about it a while, “It was more of an weird interest back then, I didn’t start really getting invested in it until….” Until she realized this wasn’t some silly game. There was a pause again, she was wondering what Argit must be thinking right now.

“Your turn.” He said after a while, Gwen was surprised. “Are you sure? You still have one left.”

“Can’t think of anything right now.” His breathing was getting faster, Gwen noted, she wasn’t doing much better really, they have been trapped under this thing for way too long already, she’s been trying her best to filter oxygen into her barrier but it was starting to overwhelm her.

Gwen wasn’t sure what to ask either, at least she wasn’t sure if what she wanted to ask really would be okay to ask. She knew for a fact that Kevin and the others didn’t like to talk about their time in the null void, but she really didn’t know how Argit felt about it. She supposed there was really just one way to find this out.

“How did you meet Kevin?” She felt the wight over her shift again.

“You already know that. Servanties used my DNA for his sick experiments.”

“You know what I mean. How would you two become friends?” There was a long moment of nothing, Gwen was starting to regret asking, she was about to take it back, tell him he didn’t have to answer if he didn’t want to, but Argit apparently had other plans.

“He just showed up one day.” He paused, Gwen didn’t push him. “I was sitting in that cage, scared out of my mind and starving convinced I would die in that damn thing and suddenly there he was. A little boy, looking just as scared as me. He gave me extra food and that became our thing.” His voice was soft, almost nostalgic. “The time in this hell hole was terrible, but Kevin made it bearable for me, he’s the closest thing to family I had ever since….” He trailed off, turning silent as he thought back to a time long ago, Gwen let him, she didn’t know how she should feel about this situation, she never saw him that vulnerable. She wondered how much there was to her boyfriends oldest friend she never even bothered learning about.

"Hey Red." He started the conversation again, "Could you tell Kev something from me? If I...you know? You have to teleport out of here after all." Gwen felt a cold shudder run through her as the implications of his request became clear to her, her aura flared up again, stronger then the other times even, "No!" She yelled at him, "No! Shut up!" 

"If it happens-" he tried again but Gwen blocked off. "I don't want you to die. Please, don't say stuff like this." Gwen tried her best to steady her breathing, why was it suddenly so warm in there? Argit was silent for a moment but then tried again, Gwen was to exhausted to stop him by now. "If something happens. I want you to tell him that I am sorry, for everything I messed up and I want him to know that there is not one day where I don’t regret losing the relationship we used to have. Can you do that for me Gwen?" Her vision was blurry and she felt gross out over the mixture of sweat, tears and snot on her face.

The sound of bones crushing under stone and little voices crying out, crying for a hero to help them, echo through her head. 

There was blood, everywhere was blood. 

She nodded, making her dizzy again "Yes, okay! Just stop saying this stuff, you aren't going to die! I won't let you die here." Nobody else. She wouldn't let anybody else die today. "You know," Argit started, "You are a very bad liar Gwendolyn." Gwen felt cold. "I can see some of them from where I'm lying." "Just shut up!" She screamed, her aura flared up. "Please just stop talking about this." She felt broken, like a failure. It was her job to help people, to keep them save and yet. Ben came to mind again, how would he look at her after today? How would he deal with his own cousin being a failure? "It's not your fault, you know?" Argit said but Gwen shock her head, she was at fault, she failed this children. "Please, I can't not right now." She was a mess, she didn't even notice when her nose stated bleeding.

She failed them. The thought echoed through her head and she felt how she was starting to lose herself. She needed something, anything to keep her mind off of this terrible memories.

"Y-your mother." Gwen stutered out between, Argit made a confused noice, "Your mother, Kevin mentioned her once, tell me about her." There was a small part in the back of her mind, screaming this was over steping he boundaries, that this wasn't a topic she should be the one to bring up, but she couldn't help it.

"She was a species trafficer." He said and Gwen felt like somebody punched her. She swallowed thickly as the implications of this new information caught up to her. "She sold me to Servanties, I guess I got better of then my siblings though. Oldest privileges." He chuckled but it sounded bitter. 

"When we got out of the null void Kev and me stumbled over her, she told me she had changed, that she regrets doing this to me, what a load of bullcrap. She tried selling us off to some psycho. She didn't expect getting beat at her own game though." Gwen stayed silent. 

 "I guess that's partly why I ended up being such a screw up....Red?" He sounded concerned, Gwen tried her best to response, "I'm fine, just...keep talking." She gritted through her teeth. She was shaking, it wasn't good to exhaust her powers like that. 

Argit paused, "If you can't bear it anymore-" 

 "Talk!" 

 "Okay...did Kevin ever tell you about-" They sat there a while longer. Argit telling her stories she didn't even really register, his voice was getting weaker, his pauses longer, Gwen could tell he was in pain too, that he wanted to rest too, but she couldn't let him. She doesn't know how long they stayed there, brushing shoulders with death, but at some point the wight over them stoped pressing down on her. 

 "It's alright, you can let it down now. We made it. You saved us Red."

Gwen passed out.