#unlike David however I have a playlist | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

1moreff-creator · 1 year ago

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Hey again! It's me! Haha... blame the David MV and FNAF RUIN for this taking so long. Like the song from the (now vanished) character playlist, "we're asymptotic, we're on it, 'till the end of linear time!"

I have to commend your dedication to your theory. This is a lot, geez. I respect it. Especially when I'm aware a lot of people would dismiss it out of hand due to its complexity and a few somewhat outlandish claims. As for me? I mentioned in another post, I come from the FNAF theorizing fandom. I'm a seasoned veteran in this. I've seen a lot more far-fetched than your theory, trust me. Unless you start calling everyone a robot, I'll always take your theory seriously.

Still, seeing as you put up with my thread for a while now, it's only fair I come back to the counter-counter-arguments you raised in this post. 26 issues? Damn, that's a lot. Guess I shouldn't stall longer.

Issue #1: Eden couldn't have stolen the turpentine

After that, Rose falls asleep on a table for who knows how long, and Nico has their chat with Hu, David and Teruko about being nonbinary. So it would be the perfect opportunity. [...] Rose probably thought Nico stole it after running away when they were being forced to reveal their secret.

Yeah, see, the problem is this line.

Rose: [Nico] even lied to and stole from me to commit murder. Out of everyone here, they're the least innocent.

The issue never was the physical aspect: Eden could have taken the turpentine from a lot of different places at a lot of different times, as you stated. The problem is that Rose believes Nico lied to her to steal the turpentine. I don't know about you, but to me, this line implies Rose believes Nico only asked for that painting lesson to steal her turpentine. Now, Rose is absentminded, but she's still pretty smart when she focuses. If she believes this, it must mean she has reason to. And the only reason she would have to believe this is if the turpentine went missing during the painting session, right?

It's also important to note, Nico doesn't deny this. Their response to this is "I--! I didn't kill Arei! I swear!" They never deny lying or stealing from Rose. You could argue they're just focused on the more pressing issue, but it's still odd they don't even begin to deny it, no?

Still, this is by no means conclusive. As much as I believe these lines pretty much confirm Nico took the turpentine, or at least that it disappeared during the painting session, it's sorta up for interpretation, so your theory still stands. It's just a bit shakier in my eyes, is all.

Issue #2: The color of the theorized wire doesn't match the crime scene

To make sure the wire is long enough, Eden used wire from a grandfather clock that she may have in her dorm : brass wire.

You brought up other possibilities, but I like this one the best, even though it sorta relies on... what'd you call it? Devil's Proof? Cool name. The others I find more unlikely, but this one at least makes quite a bit of sense. If Eden had any clocks in her room, they're definitely her best bet for getting wires, since a missing clock in any other room would be suspicious. Since this is not the only possibility, despite me finding it the most believable, I'll consider issue #2 solved. Though I'm not sure how you prove any of this in the trial, but I don't think that's too important.

Issue #3: Ace working out in the gym

Ace was knocked out when he was outside the fitness room, close by the doorway of the relax room instead.

Yeah, so, this one's my fault for assuming things. However, my assumptions weren't unfounded.

You see, in your post about the Ace murder method, you claimed Ace moved [the weight rack] during the evening, when he was working out. The reason why he did it is most likely to get it closer to the bench press, making it more convenient to swap around weight plates. He basically did it to match his preferences.

Now, here's the issue. That explains why the weight rack is near the bench, but not why it's toppled over. I originally assumed the rack was toppled over in a struggle, when the killer went to knock Ace unconcious with the turpentine.

However, on a second read, I realized I missed something. You claim "the person who moved and toppled the weight rack was Ace himself." When I first read that, I assumed you meant in a struggle because there's no reason for Ace to topple it over himself if he was training. You mentioned in another post this was just his preference, but that makes no sense, at least to me.

After all, after it toppled, the weight rack is facing away from the bench. If Ace was working out with it, he would have kept the rack upright, facing the bench, right? Toppling it over intentionally doesn't make any sense, in my opinion. It would just get the smaller weight plates further away from him without bringing the bigger ones any closer.

Essentially, because I didn't understand why Ace would topple the weight rack on his own, I assumed you meant it was knocked over in a struggle (which would also explain why the bench seems to be at a different angle to the door than usual).

I guess you think Ace was working out with the weight rack on the floor, though. But I don't fully understand how that would help him, and while you say it's just his workout preference... I don't see how it would help him. Essentially, you solved one issue, but you caused another one, though I recognize you don't seem to consider it a problem.

Issues #4-5: Ace is absolutely sure Nico tried to kill him - The murder method applied to Ace

So, here's the thing. Your method has changed pretty significantly since the time you reblogged this, and it has both solved some issues and caused new ones. However, this post is going to get obnoxiously long if I have to both explain and refute your method. So, instead, I'll link to this, my full refute to the reblog where you explain your new method. I hope you don't mind me sort of splitting the threads like this (and that it doesn't come off as egocentric to redirect to a thread I technically started), but I feel doing this is going to make it easier... maybe. If it causes more confusion, I'm sorry.

I'll still give a summary of your new method, and all the problems I have with it.

The summary: The method is similar all the way until Eden leaves the gym, with the only differences being a better expanation of how the weights were used to keep Ace up, and that Eden dragged Ace closer to the middle of the gym after setting up the wire. The big changes begin with Nico going down to the gym. First, they're not wearing their cloak because they're expecting a fight with Ace and it could get in the way... or it's a split personality situation or something, the exact reason isn't important. When they get to the gym, they turn off the fans wanting to kill Ace themselves by turning it back on. However, they hear Teruko and Eden talking, so they wait. While they wait, Ace wakes up, grabs the wire around his neck (explaining blood on Ace's fingers not addressed in the first post), and he pulls back in an attempt to get it off. However, the wire snaps, the fan breaks, and Ace falls back on the wall, where the wounds on the back of his neck cause the bloodstain we see. He's then either knocked out by the impact or pretends to be unconscious as Nico inspects the wire, beffudled. Teruko and Eden get in the gym, scene plays.

So, this method has quite a few advantages. It perfectly explains issue 4 of Ace believing it was Nico who attempted to kill him, gives decent explanations to previously unexplained evidence such as Nico's missing cloak and the blood on Ace's fingers, and at first glance seems quite solid-

The outcome's yet to be written! (Rebuttal Showdown)

(Hey, if you get to say "no that's wrong", I get to do Rebuttal Showdowns. I don't make the- okay, yeah, I make the rules, but still)

+Issue 5.1: The tape on the broken right fan is facing the ceiling, meaning it was likely always stuck to the upperside of the blade. According to your theory, Eden used the stool to tape the wire to the blade. But then, wouldn't it be easier to tape it to the underside of the blade?

+Issue 5.2: The tape which was always on the pull up bar is missing, and I’m my opinion, your theory doesn’t give a satisfactory answer to that. You say Eden just grabbed it to make the roll of tape because it was the only tape available. However, it most likely isn’t, since this roll of tape was later used for the spinny thing in Arei’s murder, and that definitely has more tape than the pull-up bar ever had.

+Issue 5.3: Ace’s wounds seem to be slightly thinner in some points than others, which wouldn’t make too much sense with your method. This isn’t too big an issue, since the wounds are just really hard to interpret.

+Issue 5.4: The final position of the benches, the broom and the isolated weights doesn’t make too much sense with this method. The benches are too far apart, and the other things should be closer to where the mechanism was set up, no?

+Issue 5.5: If Eden moved Ace to under the fan after setting up the mechanism, wouldn’t it be easier to set it up under the fan in the first place? Why go to the wall? This is a problem because the position of the benches require the mechanism to be set up next to the wall.

+Issue 5.6: It’s odd for Nico to turn off the fans and simply want to turn them back on to kill Ace. They told Veronika they hadn’t thought of the trial, so this wasn’t just to be the blackened; and if this was a crime of passion, just turning some fans off and on doesn’t feel brutal enough to satisfy Nico’s frustration. Additionally, Nico did at some point make an attempt on Ace’s life, but under your method, they never really started. This isn’t too big of an issue because Nico is hard to read in general regarding this situation.

+Issue 5.7: A pretty large issue is the blood on the wires, because of course that’s an issue. It’d be essentially impossible to completely wipe off the blood on the wires just by grabbing them, and even then, the pattern doesn’t make much sense. I explained in more detail in the other post.

+Issue 5.8: I can’t fully understand what you think Ace did to break the wire and fans, but I don’t see any way it one, gets the fan to fall with the fan-wire facing to the left of the gym; and two, it gets Ace sitting on the wall without staining the wall higher up or just sliding down on impact.

+Issue 5.9: Even if the other two things come from a misunderstanding, the final position of the lone wire would be a problem no matter what, I feel. If it was wrapped so many times around Ace’s neck, it should have moved with him, and shouldn’t have ended up on the other side of the gym.

There we go. Issue #4 solved, #5 still a problem.

Issue #6 : The supposed contradiction about Ace

The culprit knocked Ace unconscious when he was listening to [Arei and David], not when he was exercising.

Again, yeah, my fault for assuming things. This issue is solved indeed... though it still comes with the assumption that Eden decided to kidnap Ace right next to those two, and that she was actually able to get away with it. Considering you've talked at length about how non-soundproof the rooms are, I imagine you see how that's an issue.

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This is a break to remind anyone else reading that the Ace murder method is important for the Arei murder under thebajoe's theory, since Eden being the culprit is the explanation for Arei being in the relax room that night and dying in the morning of day three. I know you know this, just wanted to add a reminder since I think some people are still paying attention to these posts.

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Issue #7 : David's comments about Ace. Was it a lie?

...this is where we practically come at a stalemate.

That's definitely true. Unfortunately, with David, we just have no way of definitively confirming or denying each others interpretations. Especially not with the little time we've seen him on his "evil" persona. However, I can still explain my own position.

Let me start by explaining why I don't believe your interpretation. There are essentially four stages to David's actions in your theory:

-First, he tries to get a murder to happen so his secret isn't revealed.

-Once it actually happens, he manipulates evidence to guide the group into what he believes is the right answer.

-When his secret is revealed in the trial, he initially tries to argue normally, trying to defend himself because he knows he's not the killer. He doesn't call out Ace because he knows when it's his word against Ace's, the latter will have more credibility, and will just make David look like a bigger liar.

-Eventually, he realizes he can't argue to defend himself regularly, so he makes a fake admission. Since people distrust him, he's banking on this admission making the group realize something's off, and essentially argue on his behalf. He's pulling a Kyoko, but meaner, essentially. Letting the others figure it out themselves, because he knows they'll trust their own judgement more than anything David says.

Am I getting this right? Because while I find this interpretation fascinating and quite plausible, that last point I find quite shaky. Mainly, because of:

Teruko: You're lying, David. You're lying about everything. I don't think you killed Arei at all.

David: [Rebuttal] As if I believe that shit!

In this famous cliffhanger moment, Teruko is doing exactly what you think David is trying to get her to do. She's doubting he's the killer, she's looking for reasons to distrust that. At this point, a few people have already called for voting time. And yet, David cuts her off. Not in a cheeky, smug way or anything that indicates she's doing what he wants. He isn't encouraging Teruko to continue her reasoning, he's trying to get her to stop it.

Of course, maybe that's part of the act. But the last five minutes of the video are filled with times where David seems to actively push back against speculation he didn't kill Arei.

David: First you don't believe that I didn't kill her, now you don't believe that I did kill her. You're so inconsistent, it really pisses me off.

David: I already admittedd to killing her. Why are you trying to prove me wrong?

There's another one. I know you probably think he's acting here, but I don't see how being upset people are trying to prove he's not the killer would help his case. Wouldn't it run the risk of heavily discouraging them?

But of course, why would he insist he's the killer if he's not? Does he want to die alongside everyone? Or... does he actually think he is Arei's killer?

(Context: Right after Eden's story about her encounter with Arturo and Arei, talking about how the killer took advantage of Arei's lack of understanding of friendship)

David: For someone to take advantage of Arei like that... It's absolutely unforgivable. All she wanted was to change. What a reprehensible person this killer is. I look forward to seeing their painful execution.

This little breakdown (which, by the way, actually starts a few lines back, I just don't want to post three hundred screenshots) is very strange. It's obviously off character for his "cheery" persona, which he's still acting out in the line, but it also feels too... empathetic, for his "asshole" persona. Like, is this really the guy who claimed, with a smile, "Arei had about as much impact on our lives as a temporary weather spell, but no one cries when the sun comes out again"?

No. What many, including me, interpret from this little breakdown is that his "asshole" persona is just that, a persona. His real feelings are something else. And this is a small display of those real feelings: he cared about Arei, and/or he hates her killer.

But, even then, doesn't this feel too vitriolic? He didn't even act so hateful towards Teruko when he thought she had killed Xander, and now he's saying these things about a killer he doesn't know the identity of?

Well, what's important is the context. As I said, he was talking about how the killer took advantage of Arei's lack of understanding of friendship. How they used that to kill her. But, didn't Arei see David as a friend, too?

Let's say Arei actually killed herself after her chat with David. This would actually make David the blackened, as implied by MonoTV's wording here:

MonoTV: Yup! Whether Arei was complicit in her own death doesn't matter. All that matters is that there's a surviving participant that we can still blame her death on.

If David's words caused her to commit suicide, then her death can be "blamed on him", right? In that case, it was David who took advantage of Arei's lack of experience with friendship to become the blackened, which is exactly what he calls out the killer for doing. Basically, the reason David seems to despise the blackened so much, is because he thinks he's the blackened, and he just hates himself that much.

Take note of this line:

David: People who are born lazy, useless and stupid will stay that way until they die. If you were able to "improve" yourself into a better person, then it only means you were a better person to begin with.

Now, there is no real reason for David to be lying here, seeing as this doesn't help literally any of his possible objectives. It really wouldn't help him survive, hide his secret, and especially not keep his career. Which means he says it because he genuinely believes it. And yet, you see how he leads with "lazy", instead of any other adjective? I believe that's because he's essentially talking about himself, and he considers himself lazy.

David: Damn, why'd I even come to this ridiculous school? I hate talking to people anyway... I wish I were in bed...

This is practically the only time we can be 100% sure David is speaking honestly, since he's talking to himself and doesn't think anyone's listening. The "I wish I were in bed" is the important part. This isn't the only time David seems to be... uh, fatigue-prone, I guess. There are several times over the course of the series where he shows up late to meals because he took too long to get out of bed, for example. This would all make him believe he's lazy, which, if the order of words he chose in the above quote is to be believed, he considers worse than being useless or stupid.

I wrote that little analysis before the MV came out, but parts of it are supported by it. In particular, his self-hatred. I don't want to deep dive into that mess here, but some takeaways are that David doesn't see himself as fully human, and there are constant references to the famous "To be or not to be" speech from Hamlet, which is related to suicide. Not to mention the "democratic-ly" scene where a large X of blood appears over David right before there's a representation of someone being unanimously voted out of a class trial.

The blue text in the background of the first image is the explanation of class trial rules.

And footnote 12, the one on the unanimous vote? [“Majority rule” is known to be the fairest method of making decisions for a group. That’s why murderers never complained when we voted for them to die]. If this really is David being voted out, he considers himself the blackened killer.

Yes, that final scene says everyone will be executed, but that doesn't necessarily mean the wrong blackened was chosen; keep in mind "everyone" would include the blackened. What that really means is that David thinks there's no hope of survival even if they do pick the right blackened. Which actually would go against your interpretation, since he really doesn't seem to have that much of a will to live.

So, under my interpretation, we have the following truths about David's character:

+He hates himself, possibly more than any one person in the killing game.

+He hates the killer more than he hated Teruko when he believed she had killed Xander.

+He doesn't actually know who the killer is.

So, what do you get when you put this together? Well, he needs a proper reason to hate Arei's killer so much, and the only person he hates enough to consider that is himself...

So, he believes he killed Arei. That's why he's so nervous in that "I killed Arei line", it's one of the only times after his magical girl transformation where he's truthful.

And he's pretty hard-headed (see: how long it took to convince him Xander tried to kill Teruko), so he won't easily be convinced; that's why he still refuses to hear evidence he's innocent, and comes up with bullshit explanations for things like the fish. The "asshole" act he's putting on under this interpretation is a mix of catharsis (letting all the things he always believed to be true out into the sunlight) and a sort of defense mechanism. "Let's get this over with quickly so I don't have to deal with my guilt for much longer" and "I deserve to die, look at how horrible I'm being to everyone else", basically is what's running through his mind IMO.

This is the explanation I believe best fits all his lines, from the beginning of the series to now, so it's the one I believe. Needless to say, if he thinks he's the one who killed Arei, then your theory of him screwing around the crime scene to help the others find the killer doesn't quite work. He wants to survive, right?

But anyways. This post isn't to discuss David, as again, we have very little to go off of for him. Just wanted to explain my position since you explained yours. This was never too big of an issue with the theory, more an issue for me to believe it.

Issue #8: Ace's confusion

Up until episode 9, this murder case is meant to be solvable, as difficult as it may be. Episode 10 and 11 are there to mess with our deduction work while also giving us additional hints. Since DRDT is practically a mystery novel, it's not really out of the question to think that the creator probably used the element of the unreliable narrator, especially since we've been going through different characters' POV.

[...] The main issue however is that it's a bit difficult to claim that Ace was simply confused since he appeared to be lucid this whole chapter. Maybe it's done on purpose by the creator. There are a few other possibilities however. Ace could just simply be lying for whatever reason or he's just simply dumb. Whichever it is, there's something off about Ace's account.

I do understand your idea, but I still think this is a pretty huge stretch. You see, there's a difference between having an unreliable narrator and just straight up lying to the audience. One is an actual narrative tactic, the other is just cheap and frankly stupid.

Take the Flashback Lights from V3. In a way, these things serve the same function as an unreliable narrator; they give the audience incorrect or heavily biased information. Now, say what you want about their actual service to V3's narrative, their issue is not that they lie to the audience. That's because the audience is never given a reason to actually think they're reliable. Like, yes, most people will assume they are on a first playthrough, but when you think back on it, the only evidence to their reliability is Monokuma's word, which is obviously untrustworthy in hindsight. Thus, no matter how you feel about them, you can't say the story lies; the story only has an unreliable "narrator".

Contrast that to Ace. While it's impossible to point to a single point in the series and say "this proves Ace is reliable on this", you can vaguely gesture to the way he acts after the attempted murder to say "he's lucid enough that he shouldn't fuck up this badly". His behavior is lucid enough that, if he turns out to be wrong about this, the audience will look back and feel cheated, because the evidence that he's telling the truth (vague as it is) heavily outweighs the evidence that he's getting this wrong, at least, IMO. After all, he has no actual reason to lie conciously, and he's dumb, but not that dumb.

I almost want to ask: if you had gone into episode 11 without the preconceived idea that Arei died before the noon of the third day, would you have actually suspected Ace may have gotten the day wrong?

But still, this is sorta just a narrative argument, which isn't good enough for my books. This issue can be "solved", but it's still a large assumption to make.

Issue #9: The ball of clothes

Charles [made the ball of clothes] to be able to carry it more easily or David did it because he messed with the crime scene to help himself from being suspected, exposed and hopefully find the real culprit before then.

Like you mentioned, this was more something to do with the black string than your actual theory. This (kind of an) issue is solved.

Issue #10: Body decomposition

From 24 to 72 hours postmortem, it shows very little changes to the body.

... Damn. Fiction's taught me wrong. Even if Arei's decomposition was sped up by the humidity of the Relax Room, the cast is so bad at autopsies there's no way they'd actually notice any changes. I concede this point, even without taking into account the whole "they may be underground" thing you mentioned because frankly you kinda lost me there.

I also had thought of the incense for the smell, but I didn't bring it up because I feel it'd be a bit suspicious for the killer to constantly go to the Relax Room to make sure the incense is still going. But it's not the biggest risk Eden's taking, so I guess it's acceptable.

All in all, this issue is completely solved.

Issue #11: Arei would have woken up

...as long as there's a difference between two bodies that may have been knocked off by the same product [Ace's neck wounds], you can't guarantee that the wake up time should be the same.

I guess this is technically right, seeing as turpentine is pretty much a fictional sedative anyways. However, if anything, I feel like Ace would be knocked out for longer than Arei. The wounds on his neck could hinder the flow of blood to his brain (not a medical professional), which would mean it gets less oxygen and "works slower", or something. People pass out from blood loss, right? But you don't see people waking up from unconciousness just because they're really hurt. It's possible from what I found, but I could only find confirmation for head injuries, which isn't Ace's issue.

But even if you're right, and Ace's injuries made him wake up earlier... that many hours?! Like I implied, I can't imagine Ace woke up anytime after 12 AM, but Eden's going to the Relax Room a whole eight hours later. 8-10 hours of difference between two people knocked out in the same way, with the same product? Not only that, but Eden needs to be certain it will work like that. I'm sorry, I just can't believe it, and my suspension of disbelief usually goes pretty far.

Unfortunately, I don't have any conclusive counterarguments, but I still feel it's quite a large assumption to make.

Issue #12: MonoTV's rule about the Relax Room

Why wouldn't it be "let them break the rule"? There's no guarantee that it means no one's allowed to stay inside, but even if it was, wouldn't it make more sense to think monoTV would allow it for the sake of murder?

So, for starters, there is reason to believe the exact rule is "no one's allowed to stay inside". That's because MonoTV has claimed the reason for this rule's existance in the first place is so that the turf doesn't stick to anyone's clothes and later gets everywhere. That would be a problem regardless of when the person entered, and if anything, locking someone in overnight would only make the problem worse. Of course, there's a chance MonoTV is lying about it, but it seems like an odd thing to lie about.

Additionally, there is also reason to believe the rule wouldn't be waived for murder. Especially when Eden could have just put Arei... somewhere else. As far as we know, the only rule which can be waived for murder is the property damage one, while all the other ones are set in stone. Otherwise, there wouldn't be a point to specifically call out the property damage rule as one which can be waived.

Still, I guess I can't be sure either way, but I still feel it's a pretty large assumption to make.

Issue #13: Why the Relax Room?

Let's think about what would've been the plan if Ace actually died and Eden was the culprit. According to my theory, Arei would've woken at some point next morning and come out of the elevator and at least 1 person would've noticed. Then people will realise that someone is missing, then they'll find the body, then Arei would become the prime suspect.

And Arei can't just tell people she was kidnapped? She would have the clothes covered in starch as evidence, as well as the fact she has no grudge against Ace specifically. Even if she doesn't find the corpse, she wouldn't just skip out of the elevator all cheerily, she would probably shout about her kidnapping to anyone she can find. Sure, maybe they wouldn't believe her at first, but like you pointed out, Teruko in particular would be careful because the same thing essentially happened to her before. Even David points it out: "If we voted based on who was at the crime scene and who's the biggest asshole here, we should have voted out Teruko last trial". Maybe you could claim Eden would make up something like spotting Arei during the night, but that's obviously insanely risky. Or are you going to claim Eden originally made the disguise in hopes of being spotted as Arei outside the Relax Room before 8 AM, thus supposedly debunking her claim? Crap, I may actually be making your theory stronger, wait-

Well, in any case, it's still pretty risky, since seeing someone so early would probably necessitate talking to them, so I'm calling it a small assumption for now.

However, what I cannot accept is your idea for what happens if the body is found before morning.

The investigation would happen at night, so eventually, the trial would also happen at night. If Arei was in the relax room instead, the group would begin suspecting her, they wouldn't be able to find where she is. So eventually, before the investigation ends, monoTV would probably unlock the relaxation room begrudgingly, disable the plant misting somehow and retrieve Arei. Then the group would come at the shocking realisation that she was probably hiding in here to pull out some kind of trick. That's really suspicious!

I may be misunderstanding something, because this is, like, demonstrably false. MonoTV didn't start the first trial until Teruko woke up and investigated, so he would also need to wait for Arei to wake up and investigate. And because that would confirm she was unconcious for hours, as there is no other reason MonoTV would delay the trial, she would most likely be immediately ruled out as a suspect, especially if she was in the Relax Room, as everyone would realize she must have been put there by the killer. I think you're imagining Eden knows Arei would be asleep until morning? As otherwise there'd be no point to making the disguise and trying to kill her if she was awake. Thus, whatever it was, Eden's plan completely relied on Arei waking up before the body was found. And therefore, it relied on the body being found in the morning.

Except, now we come at the same question. If Eden wanted the body to be found only after Arei woke up, wouldn't it make more sense to put her somewhere else? Somewhere which doesn't require leaving behind physical evidence of where she was in the form of those clothes? You could argue the clothes themselves don't prove much since they could have just been left alone, but they would validate Arei's claim somewhat anyways. It would be far safer (especially considering MonoTV's rule could conceivably get in the way) to put her in the playground for example, as it wouldn't leave the clothes as evidence. Eden knows she'll still be asleep by the time morning comes, so it's not like it changes when Arei will leave the second floor.

In short, the plan fails completely if Ace is found before morning time, so it had to assume Ace would go undiscovered through the night; however, if that was the case, it would be just as logical, if not more so, to put her in any other room. So, I still consider this a bit of a hole with your theory.

Issue #14: Eden's location to work on the disguise

There are 2 reasons for [Eden woring on it in the dress-up room].

Everyone's dorm is right next to each other and the walls are not soundproof as stated by Eden in episode 3. [...]

...it would be a lot more convenient to do it in the dress-up room.

You know what? Fair points. This issue is solved.

Issue #15: Disguise risk (The voice)

Eden probably presumed it would be fine because of how often there's arguments happening in the cafeteria and that not many people like Arei.

I mean, yeah. Eden never being asked a question is both a risk she assumed, as well as an assumption your theory makes. In other words, this issue is solved with a decently large assumption.

Issue #16: Disguise risk (Rose)

Rose is very absent-minded. Essentially, it's possible that she didn't pay that much attention to the disguised Arei. She could've been distracted by whatever else.

Okay, so this seems to be another issue of character reading, but this time I have more proper evidence. You see, I believe Rose is extremely sharp in seeing extremely minor differences without paying much attention.

Let me ask you a question. If you woke up in a completely unknown room, in a completely unknown location, how much attention would you pay to a mirror? Not much, I imagine, provided you don't notice anything extremely wrong with your body just by looking down. Especially if you're absentminded like Rose. And yet, in her introduction, only a few minutes after everyone woke up, Rose had noticed a sixteenth of an inch difference between her height before and after she "passed out while going to Hope's Peak". So, presumably without paying too much attention, she managed to confidently spot a difference so insanely small most people wouldn't realize even if you show them a "before" and "after" picture side by side.

And you're telling me this girl didn't see any difference in height, especially if she saw "Arei" before she had sat down? Any difference in skin tone if the makeup didn't match perfectly? Any difference in the hair? The body shape? Facial structure? Hand size? Eyes, if there aren't perfect contacts (which, by the way, contacts even existing in the first place is an assumption as they've never been established)? Clothes, if Eden didn't fix them perfectly? Because if she did notice something was off, she would start paying closer attention and notice everything which was wrong, before Eden could even react.

Not only is it a pretty big assumption Rose didn't see anything off, it's also pretty big to assume Eden either believed she would be able to fool Rose, or wouldn't run into her, or had a way to make sure she never saw her disguise. Essentially, I still think it's a notable assumption.

Issue #17: Disguise risk (Makeup)

Eden put on the disguise and make up AFTER killing Arei. By that, I mean that she went inside Arei's room (thanks to the handbook) without anyone else noticing, she has the ability to be stealthy.

So, looking back, this may have been me misreading things. You said it would take "a lot of time and effort" to put on the makeup right before talking about how Eden would have worked on the whole murder plan for hours, so I got a bit confused.

Still, this revised answer does fix the issue... almost in its entirety.

Because the makeup smudging would be a large risk even if Eden put on the disguise after killing Arei. The reason is because she would likely sweat nervously, at least enough to smudge part of her industrial quantities of makeup. Eden does have sprites which sorta imply she can get nervous and sweat easily, which is especially true for a situation where you're pretending to be a whole different person and anything going even slightly wrong means likely being called out for murder. And especially especially if your plan involves the makeup possibly fooling Rose if she ever goes into the dining room unnanounced.

But well, at the end of the day, it's just another risk to throw on a pile, so another assumption: the makeup never smudged noticeably.

Issue #18: The bowling ball pin

The bowling ball pin is part of the uniform, it is required to have a pin for each replica of the uniform. MonoTV probably messed up and forgot to make replicas of the glove. Eitheir that, or the glove in itself is something very precious to Arei, so there doesn't exist anything like it.

... Yeah, so this BDA really just causes issues for everyone, doesn't it? My downfall is the glove, yours is the pin. I guess we can call it even, then. Like you said, although you can't prove it, I can't really disprove it.

...

But I can point out how incredibly unlikely it is.

Charles: If you wear gloves, then you should be able to read safely without cutting yourself. I'll give you my spare gloves. Here--

So, Charles gets to have spares of his gloves, but Arei doesn't, despite having spares of her pin? That seems... inconsistent. And I don't really know how this is something MonoTV could get wrong, as the mastermind included things like that piece of tape on Whit's TV and the type of clothes Hu likes in the dress-up room.

Again, no definitive disproving here, but this is one of the largest assumptions yet.

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Quick "old method" break!

Once I started having a logic chess battle between both our theories, that's when I realised that there's a much better way for the murder mechanism to work.

I don't think I need to go on further on the topic of my old murder method since it clearly wouldn't work.

As someone who has radically changed murder method theories at least twice (once to make the Arei method work with Eden as the culprit, once to fix the Ace murder method), I understand how hard it is to come up with a sensible theory without someone else around to point out the issues with it or give alternate ideas about the evidence presented. So, yeah, old methods are always usually a bit silly.

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Non-Issue: The thrown object to break the light

...as long as the throw goes pretty fast and far and you're unlucky enough to reach the lights on the ceiling, [a roll of tape] could displace a light bulb. I guess it doesn't really matter in the end. What matters is that something lighter and smaller than a ball of clothes could be thrown for that step of the murder mechanism.

Alright. Like you said, this was never much of an issue. Just wanted to address it for completion's sake.

Issue #19: How the body was positioned in the playground - Issue #20: Maths and Physics - Issue #21: Scuffed Ground

(I'm lumping all these together to make it easier to talk about)

(Yes, I can make bad drawings)

*Gasp* Using my own techniques against me?! /j

[...] With that positioning, it would be able to explain how a certain part of the floor was scuffed according to my theory since there were no struggle involved.

Right, so here we have an issue. See, when I drew how I imagined the method, I put Arei in that position because of a reason. Putting Arei's body like you suggest would cause her to move. And that's something which is actually necessary for your method, since that's how you explain the scuffed ground.

Why is this an issue? Because the more Arei moves, the less the carousel will decelerate, and the less force will be applied to her neck.

Tension is a very tricky force, but to explain the issue in the simplest terms I can, in this case it's sort of like the result of the "struggle" between the objects, if that makes sense. It is directly proportional to the amount of speed the carousel loses in a given period of time, its deceleration. If you check the (again, extremely wrong) math I did, you'll notice most of the tension is "given" by the fact I assumed the spinny thing would completely stop in 0,1 seconds. However, if Arei moves a bit, the carousel would only slow down a bit, not come to a dead stop. And while I can't make any calculations about this, that's a massive loss of power, which could potentially mean breaking Arei's neck impossible.

However, the problem isn't actually whether or not it would work anymore.

Once the water jugs reach an adequate height (from the pulley system), Eden would then spin the carrousel the other way around as fast as possible. The shorter rope serving as a stopper would take care of the rest.

This explanation you gave? In my eyes, it can solve the issue of power. None of us are good enough at physics to figure out how much force would be lost from the spinny thing not stopping abruptly. I still think, when you factor in friction and account for the movement of Arei's body, the force may not be enough, but Eden spinning the carousel may just get it to work.

But because of the position of the body, there's actually another issue. At the heart of it, why is it that I'm still so unsure about how much speed would actually be required? It's because Arei's body is positioned ineffectively. And while that isn't an issue of power, it's now an issue of motive.

The question I'm trying to get at is this: Why did Eden position Arei there? She could have put her anywhere else around the seesaw, but she put her in arguably the worst position imaginable. When you have so little power to spare, you'd want to put Arei with her feet pointing to the spinny thing, so her body wouldn't move at all provided the tape on the seesaw holds. That would force the spinny thing to completely decelerate in an instant, providing the maximum tension possible. Maybe the angle wouldn't be perfect for the neck itself, but it's not like what you showed is much better. Alternatively, Arei could have been taped to the swingset bars, which would maybe give a better angle.

Regardless of what the optimal position is, it's not what you suggest was used. And Eden, someone who likely has at least some knowledge about forces and mechanics, should know that, and neglect to use that idea. So, even ignoring the potential force problem, why put Arei there? This is a pretty major issue IMO, since there's no reason I can think of other than "Eden didn't think much about it", but that contradicts everything else she's done in your theory.

Issue #22: The elaborate murder method

These complex mechanisms reminds the culprit of her talent, her passion!

I guess it's possible, but I imagine you're aware this isn't exactly solid proof. I mean, clocks do involve mechanisms, but I'm pretty sure they're quite different from the pulley systems we're talking about from the murder... I think. And it sounds like a pretty underwhelming reveal, right? "Why'd you do this?" "I like clocks :p".

I'm mostly joking, btw. The argument isn't great, but I have no real way to disprove it.

It needed to be something that most of the cast would jump to early conclusions with no proper clue on how the murder was carried out and it needed to be something complex enough where even Teruko would have troubles solving it.

Now this is a bit more solid, but it's still quite vague. There are many, way simpler ways to go about this. And doing something so lengthy comes with the danger of Arei waking up in the middle of the murder, which is an issue because your method breaks down if Arei just sits/stands up. Not to mention the inherent danger of moving around a body at any point past nighttime.

The problem isn't necessarily that the method is risky, we've jumped that ship with the disguise already. The problem is that it's unnecessarily risky. Killing her in this way doesn't grant much of a tangible advantage over simpler, faster methods.

But, that argument isn't exactly damning, so this issue is simply solved by making large assumptions.

Issue #23: Rope on the corpse

So once the murder plan was executed, to make sure she would save time, Eden did the bare minimum to make sure no one would figure out what was the actual murder method. So she untied any ropes that was connected to the spinny thing, placed the longer rope under it, then brought the body back with the shorter rope still attached to her neck back to the relaxation room. Every second counts.

Yeah, the problem with this is that taking a noose off a neck shouldn't take much time at all. You don't even have to untie a knot, you just slide it off. You would still need to remove the knot from the spinny thing, but actually moving the rope to the relax room still attached to Arei's corpse would be much more awkward than just taking off the rope and hiding it under the spinny thing with the other piece of rope.

In fact, that longer piece of rope is also a problem to your argument. That's because when Teruko finds it, it's neatly rolled up under the spinny thing, which would take a decent bit of time to do. If Eden is in so much of a hurry so as to not spend half a second sliding off the noose from Arei's neck, then why is she spending presumably at least a whole minute or two rolling up the rope instead of just quickly shoving it under the spinny thing?

This isn't really a problem with your whole theory, but it is an issue with your argument. Thus, in my opinion, this issue wasn't properly solved.

Issue #24: The BDA

Eden would be able to set up the incense sticks and burn them up at the right time so that the smell would eventually dissipate at some point during the evening, she knew someone would eventually spend time in that room during the evening and they'd find the body because of eitheir a bad smell [...] or the lack of good odor...

The problem here is that Eden wouldn't think someone found the body until she sees the empty relax room, after Teruko already asked her to join her for the BDA. After all, since she doesn't have a clue about David's... silliness, her first assumption when nighttime comes and no one's announced the dead body should be "no one's found Arei".

Why is this a problem? Because she never objects to Teruko asking her to join, and she doesn't even seem nervous while that happens (though admittedly, we don't see much of her reaction). Hell, going to the relax room while thinking the body is there is practically suicide in this regard. If she pretends to find the body, Whit and Teruko see it, BDA doesn't play, she's fucked. If she pretends not to find it, and waits until someone else checks, she'll be instantly suspected for missing a whole ass corpse while actively looking for it.

Unless you're saying Eden had already checked the playground during nighttime for some reason? She couldn't check the relax room itself because it was closed, so if she knew where Arei was, it was because of that. Except, Arei wasn't moved to the playground until 7:30- yeah, I'm sorry, I don't think this works. This issue is still a problem, though admittedly not as large as some of the other ones.

Issue #25: David's persona

This one is similar to #7, as in, our views of David are just different and there's no definitive evidence either way. I still think his reaction to the fish is really weird under your theory, but that's just me. This issue depends on interpretation.

Issue #26: The note

The reason why it doesn't specify PM is because that specific part of the note was torn up.

Oh... yeah, you're right. I thought the ripped part next to the numbers wasn't big enough to cover "PM", but if it was written in lowercase, it could absolutely fit. Point conceded, issue solved.

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And there you go! Another response. I'm so tired. Here's a summary of what I think about your responses to the issues (highly subjective opinions incoming):

Completely solved: #2, 4, 9, 10, 14, 26

Character interpretation issues (debatable, but impossible to determine either way): #7, 25

Require small assumptions: #3, 6

Require big assumptions: #1, 15, 16, 17, 22

Require massive assumptions: #8, 11, 12, 18

Still an issue (small): #13, 23, 24

Still an issue (big): #5 (with all subpoints), 19/20/21

So, Occam's Razor states that the likeliest explanation is the one which makes the least egregious assumptions. With that in mind, is this really the likeliest explanation for the murder? I think not, but the amount of effort you've put into this is still extremely impressive!

Anyways, back to you, I guess. Take care!

BAD JOE'S DRDT CH.2 CRIME SOLVING THEORY PART 4

Heyo! It's me again! I'm here to solve a mystery regarding this chapter. AS USUAL, MASSIVE SPOILERS FOR DANGANRONPA DESPAIR TIME CHAPTER 2, SO BEWARE! (Click here to see my previous parts if needed)

The heck are you talking about?! You've already solved the case!

Not quite. There is one mystery that I never managed to solve... until now. So yeah, I'm going to share my ideas in regards to what happened during the failed murder attempt on Ace in chapter 2. On top of that, there's a few other discoveries that may help or hinder my theory that I also wanna share with you guys. So sit tight people, this may be the last ride to my crime solving theory (I hope...).

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Step #1 : What happened to Ace back then?

Let's bring up a picture of the crime scene, shall we? Actually, better than that, I'll bring 2 pictures!

The fitness room before the murder attempt (Picture A)

The fitness room after the murder attempt (Picture B)

As you can see, there is quite the major difference between the two. Yes... quite indeed! There is no mistaking it, there was no body before the murder attempt then poof! Ace's body appeared after the murder attempt!

...............................................

Alright, alright! I'm sorry! That was a bad joke. Let's get to business!

Let me give you a list of the relevant and noteworthy discoveries.

A fan that fell down (Ripped out according to Teruko)

A bloody wire broken in half (one half attached to the blade of the fan)

A stepstool

A broom

A roll of grippy tape (originally came from the bar by the wall)

2 weight plates on the ground next to the treadmills

Moved benches (Right bench toppled over)

Moved and toppled over weight plate rack

Traces of blood on the wall, behind Ace's neck

The fan on the left in Picture B isn't moving

So last time I talked about this crime scene, not knowing exactly how it went, I simply presumed that because there's a part of the wire taped up on the blade, it must've been some complex murder mechanism involved to make it work, kind of like the mechanism the culprit pulled for the murder of Arei (Part 1 for reference).

It is the logical way to think about this, after all. However, if you were to think that the culprit created a mechanism that works in a loop motion like a chainsaw, but in slowmotion, there are two issues with it.

There is no blood traces shown on any of the props.

Aside from the wall, the body and the wire, there are no other visible traces of blood, which is very problematic. If we want to make that looping mechanism work, the wire would probably need to be going around some prop so that the wire pattern would be more on Ace's neck height. But since there's missing blood traces, it's just simply impossible.

As long as one end of the wire is attached to the fan, the possibility of a looping mechanism doesn't exist.

Think about it. For the looping effect to work, the beginning part of the wire would also need to be moved so that it would do a lap, but once you stick the beginning of that wire to something, then that part of the wire can't move away from here.

Therefore, once the whole wire follows its intended path, it doesn't come back, it doesn't create a loop. It's yet again another impossibility.

Why does creating a looping effect mechanism matter anyway?

Because according to my theory, the culprit (Eden) created a mechanism that would work on its own while she's away from the crime scene for the sole purpose of playing around the killing game rules which would make her seem even less suspicious.

Not only that, but because of the wounds on Ace's neck, it seemed like the wire damaged his neck multiple times, so surely the mechanism must've gone back and forth to make that happen.

Yet, creating that kind of mechanism is just plain impossible.

Ha! Then your theory doesn't work! Someone else did it!

Nope, not quite. It just narrows down the list of possibilities as to how it could've been done by Eden. It's an impossible mechanism because there's no other traces of blood and it cannot be looped?! Sure, but I just gotta think outside the box.

How do I create a murder mechanism involving a wire attached to the blade that doesn't loop nor does it leave traces of blood on any of the props? There's only one possibility I can think of. Here goes!

The wire was wrapped around Ace's neck multiple times, somewhat tightly.

Huh? That can't be right! Wouldn't the wire simply leave the body after a short while, not damaging the neck enough?

That's what I thought initially at first, but then I decided to make some experiments. ....No! Not that kind of experiment! I did not wrap it there to test it out, I promise! Well... I tried out around my arm first, but took precautions.

There is a way to test it out without endangering ourselves. Find some kind of wire and use it to wrap around an object that doesn't take most of your wire to make a lap like a bottle or a deodorant and try pulling eitheir ends of the wire. You will notice that the wire just stays there, it remains tangled around the object, it even tries to kinda squeeze the object and that's precisely what happened to Ace's neck.

Because of how many times it was wrapped around Ace's neck and the type of wire it was used, with the pulling motion from the fan, it would make considerable damage to his neck which could've turned for the worst if the mechanism wasn't stopped early enough.

And that's how the culprit created a murder mechanism that can do the job without being around to see it, without creating a looping mechanism and leaving barely any blood traces on the props.

There are some issues with this idea however. But since this is the most logical sound conclusion for the murder mechanism, there's most likely an answer to each issue.

It would be very difficult to wrap the wire around Ace's neck without any kind of help.

Let me explain. First things first, they didn't wrap the wire while the body was sitting down against the wall, it would most likely be impossible. Reason why lies in the blood traces of the wire as shown in Picture B.

Only parts of it is bloody, but more importantly is the fact that a good portion of the wire starting from the part that's attached to the blade doesn't have any blood. The beginning part that's clean is obviously the length between the body and the blade of the fan. We can kinda guess from this that it shouldn't be able to reach his neck if it was sitting down.

Therefore, the body needed to be standing for the whole duration, even setting up the murder mechanism. And that's where the benches come in handy, by keeping him in place. The weight plates probably helped a bit too? In any case, there's still another problem.

The body would bend forward as there's simply nothing supporting the upper part of Ace's body.

You could say that the culprit tried to hold the body against the wall with one arm while she used the other arm to wrap the wire around the neck. However, that would be pretty difficult to pull it off as the body could problably move still (she's probably not that strong to begin with) and it would take a greater amount of physical efforts to pull it off.

So she must've used something to help with that. Some kind of prop. It took me quite some time to think about it, but I think I found a pretty good answer to this riddle.

The culprit used the broom to increase the stability of Ace's body while setting up the murder mechanism.

Honestly, the broom confused me a lot when I was trying to figure out how this whole scheme worked on the murder attempt on Ace. To me, it made no sense as to why there was a broom laying around the fitness room. I couldn't understand it.

But now, I'm pretty sure I know why. The culprit placed the broom through Ace's shirt, in the back. Then, she placed the body against the wall and with the remaining support on the lower part of Ace's body (the benches), the body would barely move from its initial position.

Hah! I don't believe you! I'm calling bluff on that one!

Oh yeah? Then how about this? Why don't you test it out yourself? This one is a pretty simple and safe test to do (as you as you don't pull any stupid stunts).

Pick up a broom or a long wooden/plastic pole, place it through your shirt, from top to bottom, in the back. Lean against the wall or a door and try bending your upper body forward. I can guarantee you that it will be very difficult to do so.

That way, it would explain the purpose of most of the props found at the crime scene.

Not true! You still haven't explained why the weight rack was moved and toppled over!

Yeah... you're right. This toppled weight rack was probably the most challenging and annoying piece of the puzzle. No matter how much pondering I've made, even to this day, I can't find anything that relates the weight rack to the murder mechanism. Yet, it has been moved.

Considering who I believe the culprit is, I don't think she would be strong enough to move it wothout someone else's help. But according to my theory, she doesn't have an accomplice.

Then you admit it. Your theory doesn't work because of this.

No, that's wrong!

It's true that I can't make a connection between the weight rack and the murder mechanism, but why should I? We already know that most props aren't part of the murder mechanism as there's no traces of blood on them. Even though the broom was used to keep the body steady while setting up the murder, the culprit removed the broom afterwards.

Alright, but what about the culprit? You just said that she can't move it without someone's help, but you denied the possibility of an accomplice. So it's impossible!

Heh! It's impossible because we're looking at this from the wrong perspective. If it's not the culprit who did it, then it's clearly someone else who did, but I highly doubt it was Nico. Considering what we know, I propose the following possibility :

The person who moved and toppled the weight rack was Ace himself.

Huuuuuh?!!! Ace?! Why would the victim do that?! That doesn't make sense!

You say that because you think that this happened around the time of the murder setup. But that's where we got the wrong idea. In fact, the weight rack in itself has nothing to do with the attempted murder at all!

Ace moved it during the evening, when he was working out. The reason why he did it is most likely to get it closer to the bench press, making it more convenient to swap around weight plates. He basically did it to match his preferences.

Didn't he work out at evening, the day before the BDA?

Nope. I've proved last time that this actually happened the previous evening, before the night of the failed murder attempt. Not only that, but my proposition would actually prove that Ace was indeed working out that specific evening. Therefore, he didn't lie about working out.

So with this, that should explain the purpose of every single clue. The rest are pretty self explanatory.

The fan was stopped to set up the murder mechanism, then turned back on only to be turned off later again by Nico, who saved Ace unintentionally or not. Otherwise, it turned off automaticly as soon as it broke. The stepladder was used to reach the fan as she was setting up the murder mechanism and the roll of tape has already been explained in part 1 of my theory.

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Step #2 : One more clue in the trash

This is a discovery made by thefandomenchantress! (Thank you btw!). This discovery actually helps support my theory and I'll explain why.

So there is this one very subtle clue that can be found in the trash can as seen in the post. There's actually a needle with black string in that small hole. It must've been part of the murder scheme somehow cause I don't quite see why else it would be found here. I have 2 possibilities that could explain the use of that needle while also supporting my theory.

First one is that the culprit used it to do adjustments to her Arei costume. Remember, Eden's pretty small compared to most of the cast, so it's possible that Arei's outfit would've been a tad too tall for her. It would require some considerable amount of time to do it, but she could've easily done it during the night, while waiting for the relaxation room doors to open next morning to pull off her murder.

Second one is related to the ball of clothes. It's possible that she sew the old clothes together to make a bigger piece of cloth, like some kind of tarp to hide and preserve the unconscious body. It would'be been easier that way instead of trying to place multiple pieces of clothing and hope that it covers the whole body.

Heck, it's possible that the culprit used it for both possibilities instead of only one of them. And that, ladies and gentlemen, would explain why there was a needle with black string in the trash can.

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Step #3 : Arei, you look so different right now!

This has probably been mentioned a couple times in the past, but it definitly caught my attention when I read this subreddit thread. Let's take another look at Arei's corpse, shall we?

So according to OP in that subreddit thread, some observations about her indicate would indicate that these parts were done recently, like probably in the morning, a bit before 8:00 am and I'm sadly inclined to agreed on that.

Basically, there are two important things to note about the BDA : the red marks on her wrists and the fact that her body was swinging at the time. There's also the fact that the crime scene left out a lot of clues, like many of them weren't removed from the scene. The left out clues are explained in the 3rd part of my theory, so I'm not gonna dwelve on that.

Instead, I wanna talk about the red marks and the body swing. Initially, I thought the body swing was just a way to had some kind of mood to the BDA while I didn't bother thinking that deep about the red marks.

But I can't deny these two visible clues can't remain that way for a long time, especially the body swing. The red marks, I don't know how long it lasts, but it probably doesn't last that long. That's why the OP in this subreddit thread figured that this whole crime must've been carried out by 7:30 AM instead, but if you read all my theories so far, you should know that it's impossible (I also explained it in that thread's comment if you need a reminder).

It is conflicting my theory slightly however because the body hanging among a few other clues (like the dead fishes in the playground and the ball of clothes thrown in the dress up room) must've be done in the evening by David, before the day of the BDA. Yet he couldn't hang the body then otherwise the body would've stopped swinging a long time ago. So that's a contradiction. Yet, it feels like David is the only person who could've done it considering what I've told in my theory. So instead, I just need to fix my idea a bit to make it work.

When David found Arei's corpse, he figured out some kind of plan that would benefit him. First, he hid the body inside the changing room in the dress-up room. Then, he proceeded to grab the fishes with the old clothes to place them in the playground and once that's done, he rolled up the clothes into a ball and discarded it somewhere in the dress-up room. Then, next morning at 7:30 AM, he retrieved Arei's body and hung it at the swing set in the playground. He then removed the tape on her wrists and threw these in the trash before meeting up with the group in the movie screening room.

Why wouldn't David move the body to the playground much earlier, during the evening instead? He placed the fishes there already, so what gives?

About the fishes... you know what? I just made a quick realisation. Let me add something.

It's possible that he didn't place the fishes in the playground during the evening, but rather kept them inside the clothes, hidden in the dress-up room, waiting for next morning to "set up the crime scene in the playground".

Going back to the question previously, considering that it's possible he didn't move anything in the playground until next morning, I'm more inclined to believe that maybe he panicked. It was the evening, everyone else was still awake at the time, there was no telling when someone else would show up, so he neede to quickly hide the body somewhere else.

Why somewhere else? Remember the conversation that happened earlier that evening in the kitchen?

He knows damn well there were a few witnesses who knew that he headed to the relaxation room at the time. So if he left that corpse there and everyone else would find it the next day, he would've been the prime suspect almost instantly, no doubt about it.

So once he hid it somewhere else for the time being, went back to the first floor and took that time to think of a plan to solve the case while hopefully not having suspicions thrown at him and possibly even get his secret safe. Sadly, he really couldn't tell whodunnit (I mean, who could?), so the best thing he could do is investigate a bit.

So he goes back into the elevator next morning, probably around 7:30 AM and lo and behold, he finds clues in the playground. Those were clues that the real culprit left them there because she was in a hurry. So upon seeing this, he knew what he had to do. He needed to drag the remaining clues into the playground, thinking that it would make it a lot easier to pinpoint the culprit and solve the case.

But why the fishes? According to your theory, he grabbed and hid them quickly before even having a plan to set up the fake crime scene.

Well, since he couldn't grab the fishes before 8:00 AM nor would it have made sense to do so if he was able to, there's only one reason I could think of : he did it for the insurance.

Insurance? What do you mean?

That's because at the time, he didn't actually know much about the murder. He didn't actually know if that was the real place where she died or if that was a temporary hiding spot. So he must've figured that if someone else were to find the body hidden in the changing room, the fishes would indicate that the relaxation room is related to the murder somehow.

Like sure, he wanted to avoid having his secret revealed at all cost, but there's something else he wanted more than anything else : David wants to survive.

And since he's not the culprit, the best thing he can do is help the group solve the murder in his own way. If he left those fishes there, if he ever became a suspect and tried to tell everyone that he found the body in the relaxation room, it's very likely that no one would've believed him. So the fishes serve as proof in that scenario.

So there you have it. This should explain the meaning behind these clues discovered recently. While we're at it, it's been stated from others, but did you notice Arei's hair during the BDA? It looks pretty messy and I'm fairly it's because her hair was wet before, just like what some people suggested before.

And before you ask, no she was not drowned. It wouldn't make sense at all and I'm fairly sure it would've shown clear signs of drowning if that was the actual cause of death, so I'm gonna leave it at that.

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Step #4 : A big flaw in my theory

So... there is a discovery that I made on my own and it's not a good look on a certain aspect of my theory. Let me explain.

While I was finishing up my theory, making sure I didn't miss anything, I replayed in my mind how the crime happened according to me and I somehow managed to spot a major flaw in my own theory. It's such a big flaw, I'm actually surprised I didn't notice it for quite some time after making that post.

The major flaw in question lies in my motive.

Your motive? Again?! You've been changing your motive practically every post! What's up with you?!

Sorry, sorry! I thought for sure that I was right on the money with my crazy motive theory, but it looks like I'm way off the mark. You know... motives can be pretty complicated sometimes, they're a real pain in the you know what!

So to give a little reminder as to what my proposed motive was, it has something to do with the secrets. I deduced that there must've been a possibility that Eden had the exact same secret as David (the manipulator one) and she thought that this was going to be the revealed secret if no one commits murder.

I figured it'd make sense considering her murder scheme. It practically requires a fair amount of lying and manipulation. And if she indeed had that dark secret, since David had the same secret, the host had to make a decision choosing which one of the two should inherit that secret as the public reveal. The host wouldn't want two people having the same exact secret revealed, it would seem really odd.

So the host chose David as the person who would get this secret revealed to the public (if the murder is not done on time) while Eden would have a different secret. Not a fake one, of course. Something that's still part of her, not as dark, but still embarassing enough.

I figured that since Eden's secret seemed so light compared to the others, there must've been more to it. So that's why I came up with this idea. But you know what? This actually can't work. It wouldn't make sense.

Why not?

To explain it properly, we're gonna have to go back a couple episodes and use our imagination to think of what-if scenarios. Trust me, it'll be worth it.

So Eden plans ahead for a murder because on the first episode of chapter 2, when the secrets were given, because of the unknown, she thought for sure she had a very dark secret that she didn't want anyone to know.

So what was the actual murder plan? Killing Arei? Nope! Her intended target was Ace, mostly because he happened to be at the right place at the right time while also dropping his guard. It was the perfect opportunity.

Then later on, she knocks Arei unconscious and locks her inside the relaxation room so that she'll become the prime suspect of the murder of Ace. So the culprit sets up the murder mechanism, she turns it on, then leaves the room. Then all of a sudden, Nico comes in and screws up her plan as the murder attempt failed.

And that, right there, is where we're jump into a what if scenario. Let's go back a bit and pretend that Nico never showed up to begin with. Let's do one better, let's pretend that the murder attempt on Ace actually succeeded and he actually dies. So what now? What would happen?

Well, for starters, monoTV wouldn't display the secrets on the monitor since the BDA would most likely be done much before the deadline. Then Arei would become the main suspect, as predicted by the culprit. Then after that, they would struggle a lot more to figure out who the culprit is and whatnot. So whether the groups solve it or not, at the end of that trial, they wouldn't be able to figure out Eden's dark secret (let's pretend that she actually had a very dark secret for now). So everything works out in the culprit's favor, right?

BZZZZZZZ! WRONG!

We would be forgetting a very important fact if we believe that it would go down that way in a what-if scenario. Because the secrets were mixed-up, everyone knew the secret of a different person. So in that case, Charles knows Eden's secret.

Let's keep moving with the what-if scenario. So say that they're investigating the murder of Ace, they would find a few clues, but probably not enough to solve the mystery.

So what would happen if they have to do everything they can to solve the case, but don't have a lot of information to go on? They would reveal the next best bit of information they have at their disposal : the secrets!

Considering Charles' personality, there's no way he wouldn't reveal Eden's secret. He would definitly let everyone know about her secret. Whether it was indeed a very dark secret or not and whether they find out Eden has something to do with the crime or not. He'd even ask Teruko to show it as proof since he gave the piece of paper to her.

Basically, if that was the actual motive, it would only lead to her doom. Her secret would've been exposed anyways. Therefore, Eden's motive of trying to protect her believed dark secret can't work.

While I'm at it. The same applies to any theories out there that uses something like "they want to protect their secret" as a murder motive. None of these work for any individuals... except for one. The only one that could get away with it is whoever Arei had as a secret.

I knew it! Levi did it! Levi has to be the person with the murderer secret. He killed her to retrieve the secret!

Yeah... no. While it would've been an interesting motive and plot, I very much doubt he's the culprit. The roll of tape disappearance from the first part of my theory narrows down the list of suspect by a lot.

This is another reason why my motive theory doesn't make sense. To make sure that she fulfills that "goal", she would need to find out who has her secret and kill that target. She did neitheir of those. Otherwise, Charles would've been the victim.

So now what? Are you gonna propose that there was no motive?

Not at all! There was definitly a motive for commiting murder. It took me some time to think about it, but I may have a more plausible theory for the motive.

Eden has someone she loves and cares about a lot outside this killing game. She misses her dearly.

She... killed someone because of love?! Are you kidding me?!

Nope. Well, it wasn't just love. It was more like a chain of events that led her to be done with this place and wanted a way out of here to meet her beloved ASAP. Once you start thinking about the narrative in Eden's pov, it'll start to make sense. Let's rewind back to the very beginning : the prologue.

After everyone's introductions, monoTV shows up to announce the killing game show, that they're here to kill each other and whatnot. Levi came close to dying because he broke a rule for rebelling against the mascot. Realising the gravity, most people were pretty concerned about this. Eden's reaction in that scene was the following :

Well, to be fair, I'm sure most people, even yourself if you were in their shoes, would react like this. This is pretty scary, after all. In any case, this shows that from the beginning that she wanted to get out of here.

Later on, the next day, they try to figure out any ways to escape this place which, interestingly enough, Eden is the first person to bring it up as a reminder.

And then fast forward during chapter 1, there's some wholesome friendship moments happening with the girls in the kitchen, then some other stuff happens, then there's the murder, the investigation, the trial.

Then once Teruko figures out that the culprit is Min. It becomes quite a big shock for Eden since Min was in the kitchen with Hu and Eden most of the time, but as you know, it wasn't an airtight alibi.

So, to say the least, this chapter was pretty dramatic for most of the ultimates. Even towards the end of that chapter, it was quite a shocker when Teruko pretty much pulled the middle finger on all of them, telling that she carried the trial to victory (which she honestly did). She then swore that she would never trust anyone else ever again, which set a pretty dark tone going forward. Then the screen fades to black, introducing the beginning of the chapter 2.

Right before the beginning of that chapter, we get the following quote : "I still miss you. I miss you so much that I wish I you had never been a part of my life. The worst part is, even though you left me like this, there's nothing I can blame you for."

Then once the chapter begins, we jump right into Eden's pov. So based on everything we know about both chapters and that her secret is : "Ever since you kissed her, you were afraid your sexuality would ruin your friendships," it feels like the quote we saw earlier was actually Eden's thoughts.

Anyways, despite how gloomy this atmosphere seemed to be, after monoTV revealed the motive, she says the following.

Once again, she's the first person to bring up the "escape the killing game plan". She's seems a tad keen on wanting to get out of here. She could've also been trying to lift the mood up because of everything awful that happened in chapter 1, who knows.

We all know that there's been a lot more arguing this chapter, especially that one time where there were 3 different groups bickering : Ace and Nico, Arturo and J, Arei and monoTV. Basically, not a single day goes by without a dramatic moment happening this chapter.

Despite all that, Eden tries to remain positive and try to make more friends despite how stressed out she must've felt deep down. And then this happens...

Yeah, Arei coming in the the very intense bullying on Eden, which broke her down real bad. By the way, do you remember in the first part of my theory, when I claimed that this whole scene was the spark that made Eden decide to commit murder? Then in the second part, I rejected that idea because of her flashback showing a very wholesome moment between Arei and Eden? Guess what? I'm changing my mind yet again : Arei's bullying is definitly what caused Eden to kill someone.

What the heck are you saying?! Arei apologized and they both made up afterwards. You're just contradicting yourself!

I could claim that the flashback was entirely made up, but I seriously believe that everything she told in that flashback was the truth. Yes, it's true that they made up and became friends, but that doesn't matter anymore. She had her sights on something a lot more important : get the heck out of here by any means necessary!

It's exactly because of that bullying that it made Eden realise that she really misses that certain someone outside the killing game. She misses her dearly. So to make sure that she could escape this hellish show, she needed to come up with a flawless murder plan. Hence why there's been so much efforts put into this. She's serious about this.

Becoming friends with Arei was a golden opportunity for her. She could use this to her advantage and betray her. Make Arei become the scapegoat in this case, which was the original intent in her plan. As for the murder victim, it seriously didn't matter, she only needed to sneak on someone that would drop off their guard (which in that case, it would be Ace when he was spying on David and Arei).

Of course, things sadly didn't go according to plan for Eden and she had no choice but to murder Arei if she wanted her plan to succeed. Well, she could've still made the choice, but her desire to meet her beloved out there was much much stronger than anything else. She had to.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the whole truth behind this case. Well... would be if I end up being right. It's possible I may have a few things wrong once we learn the actual truth. Let's be honest there though : everything I've told you guys so far, it makes sense, doesn't it?

If you combine all my ideas, they all seem to be connected, don't you think?

Well, it's still up to you to decide whether you believe in my culprit theory or not. There's probably a couple other possibilities out there, but it'd take as much work, if not more, to connect all the dots, so be mindful of that.

And with that, I'd like to thank you all again for reading my theory post. It's another big read, I know. I'm sorry. Maybe I could've word things better, make it much easier to read, but hey. We never truly learn or improve if we never try in the first place, right?

Alright! Next post will be a closing argument post, which should make things kinda easier to understand my whole theory. See you then!

#drdt #danganronpa despair time #drdt theory

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belltrigger · 3 years ago

Note

nacrene + virbank for the ask game? :3

nacrene: what genres of media does each one enjoy? (music/games/movies/etc.) what are their opinions on the other brother’s interests?

Ingo, bless his heart, really likes documentaries. Emmet always falls asleep during the first watching, because that was when Ingo was learning. It would, however, allow for really nice cuddles, so Emmet enthusiastically agreed to it every time, even when Ingo was like "But you aren't learning anything." The trick, for Emmet, was when Ingo found ones he *really* liked, Ingo wanted to watch them more than once; during subsequent viewings, Ingo would provide a running commentary, keeping Emmet's attention.

Emmet, for his part, loves rhythm games. He plays all sorts, and they've gotten him so many different style controllers. They've already had to soundproof their apartment, so he can be as loud as he wants. I refuse to believe they don't have arcades with dance pads hooked up to large screen tvs on some of the buildings in the busier parts of the city. Emmet can sometimes be found at them, dancing with anyone who wants to challenge him, though Ingo gets cajoled into dancing with him on many occasions.

virbank: what songs do you associate with the ship?

Oh man, this is exceptionally tough! I have a few playlists for when I write for them, but unlike the super nice people who've sent me music recommendations, basically none of the music can be directly linked to the twins. It is literally just "Music that makes me write the Twins tm"

Unfortunately, putting in-line links is gonna keep this out the tags, I think, but OH WELL. General music:

宵々古今 / YoiYoi Kokon - REOL (featured in WingLayer's video 双子車掌詰め)

狼煙 - Syudou

退屈を再演しないで - E ve

ジャンキー - フレデリック/FREDERIC

PAKU - asmi

The Train that Ran Backwards - NightMargin

Gokuraku Joudo - GARNiDELiA (go watch WingLayer's video 極楽▲▽浄土 , which uses this song and inspired a fic by me already!)

一心不乱 - ギガP＆96猫 cover ver.

威風▲▽堂々 - ギガP

うっせぇわ - Ado

Hisui AU music:

残響散歌 - Aimer (the video is AMAZING)

M4, Pt. 2 - Faunts

Mr. Forgettable - David Kushner (recommended to me)

A Little Bit of Love - Weezer

From the Mouth Of An Injured Head - Radical Face (recommended to me)

The World Belongs To Me - My Darkest Days

Burning Bright - Shinedown

Amaryllis - Shinedown

#ferrouscrown #blankshipping #blankshipping ask game 2

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slasherboyos · 3 years ago

Text

Different World | Chapter Nine

Word count: 3300+ (adsgf there is a reason for why I split chapter eight)

Date posted: August 6, 2021

Warning: Cursing

“Different World” masterlist: Link

Fanfic Playlist: Link

Previous chapter | Next chapter

Note: A nice chapter, but an important one! Also, there is some dialogue that seems incorrect, but it’s like that for a reason; just giving a heads up just in case! As always, feedback is appreciated!

Marko’s boots stomped down the dirt steps that led into the hotel. The plastic utensils in the Coca-Cola box of Chinese takeout were heard clashing with each other when he jumped down that final ledge.

“Feeding time,” He loudly called, announcing his return with dinner. “Come and get it!” You grumbled as you sat up; you were this close to falling asleep during this small pocket of calm, but, of course, proper sleep continued to elude you. That Walkman you have been thinking about buying was starting to become all the more enticing. In your tired state, you stayed put at the far left side of the couch as Marko distributed the food with a pair of chopsticks in his mouth. Dwayne sat on the other side with Laddie sitting between you two. You put your elbow on the armrest, resting your chin on your palm.

“Tired of me already,” Paul jested, gesturing to the empty spot beside him where you usually sat during meal times. You rolled your eyes and lazily stuck your middle finger at him with the same hand that held your head. David placed himself in his shirt-covered wheelchair.

“I’m not getting up,” you flippantly grumbled, leaning in further into the armrest. Your strained eyes watered as you yawned.

“Your grace, the finest of meals,” Marko chirped. You gave Marko a sleepy amused look at his exaggerated bow and horrible attempt at a posh British accent as he handed you a carton with a pair of chopsticks. You propped yourself up and leaned comfortably against the backrest, bringing your legs up to lay on their sides. You opened the flaps, stomach tightened from hunger, mildly excited to see what he brought you. He, indeed, did know what you liked. You offered some to Star, which she declined as per usual, before you dug in, starved without the help of your usual early-evening snack.

David offered some food, a carton of rice, to Michael, which was refused at first. However, through the power of peer pressure, Michael accepted the carton and a clear, plastic fork. While you may not have approved David’s methods, you were glad to see Michael eating something. You chewed your food and swallowed it. You closed your eyes in complete bliss, finally being able to get your food intake for the night. There was a chance that Laddie may not finish all of his food, so you silently plotted to take it when he was full. It would be a pity for that delicious takeout to go to waste, after all. Plus, it would help decrease the amount of food waste amongst you.

“How are those maggots,” David asked quickly and nonchalantly, which had a very casual tone compared to the substance of his question. The boys laughed and you groaned. You leaned back against the backrest, watching, knowing the direction that this was taking. Of course, they were not going to let Michael enjoy his first meal with them without a little bit of hazing.

“What,” Michael inquired, not comprehending the bizarre statement he heard.

“Maggots, Michael. You’re eating maggots. How do they taste?” Paul had no shame in continuing to chuckle. You hid your growing smile behind your hand. Given the countless times that David had pulled this trick on you, it was strange seeing him do it to someone else.

Michael gave David an incredulous smile before looking down to come face to face with a carton of what you could assume were squirming maggots in his eyes. Almost immediately, Michael dropped the carton and spit out the rice in his mouth and the cave erupted in howling laughter. Even David was almost doubling over with how hard he was laughing. You, much to your shame, also quietly chuckled, trying to stay quiet as if you were not finding this a little entertaining. He was so unsuspecting unlike you. While you knew from the start that they were vampires—though, you did not realize their mind-based abilities at first—Michael was oblivious, so he did not catch on as quickly as you did. Well, he did not catch on at all.

Star did not find this heckling as enjoyable.

“Leave him alone,” she begged, unhappy with the boys’ treatment of Michael, not that anyone listened to what she had to say. Michael realized that the rice was not a pile of maggots, but just plain old white rice. He looked up before looking back down at the mess, really trying to process that it was just rice.

“Sorry ‘bout that,” David gave an empty apology and you rolled your eyes. “No hard feelings, huh?” Michael swallowed his pride and answered,

“No.” Wow, this guy really wants to get on David’s good side. Michael was, at least, tame enough to take it in stride, unlike you. While his initial reaction was worse than yours, at least he did not immediately yell out profanities. David stuck his chopsticks in his noodles.

“Why don’t you try some noodles?” The boys started laughing again. You waited patiently to see what trick David was pulling out of his sleeve.

“They’re worms,” Michael deadpanned and you exhaled. They had an obsession with squirmy bugs, it seemed.

“What do you mean they’re worms?” David dug through the carton, playing dumb to Michael’s concerns.

“You’re still doing this,” you uttered. You sighed, “the joke’s over, guys!” Michael tried to warn him to not eat the so-called worms, but David used the chopsticks to shove more noodles in his mouth. He chewed on them obnoxiously before grinning, content with how he got under Michael’s skin.

“They’re only noodles, Michael.” Michael snatched the carton and looked through it, only to find just noodles. He must have thought he was losing his mind! To your surprise, he did not ask any questions and took it all at face value. You were a little worried about how easily he was absorbing this.

“You’re an ass, David.” He ignored your insult, which was probably in your best interest.

“Nice worms,” Dwayne mocked amongst the snickering. You reached over Laddie and swatted Dwayne’s chest with the back of your right hand, which he hissed at, though he was not in any pain from your back-handed attack. “(Y/N) is being mean again,” he tattled on you to nobody in particular. You raised your hands, physically expressing your annoyance.

“Are you tattling on—what are you, a child?”

“That’s enough,” Star asserted, which Paul responded to with,

“Aw, chill out, girl,” While Star had not liked this from the start, you were drawing the line here. While the prank was harmless, they did not need to be ridiculing Michael this much.

And you were not a fan of Paul brushing Star off like that.

You picked a small pebble and aimed for him, landing on his neck. “Hey,” he whined, but you could not care less about it.

“You’re all a bunch of asswipes!” You complained, swallowing what you had been chewing. “I am so sorry, Michael.” Michael appreciated your apology, though he was still embarrassed and very confused by what just happened. “They did the same thing to me, you know. Made me think I was eating caterpillars instead of french fries. And then Paul ate the fries that I dropped.” You threw your head back to get more food in your mouth as Paul chuckled, still clearly proud of himself for getting that reaction out of you when he had picked up the soiled french fry and popped it in his mouth. “They still pull shit like this with me all the time.”

Your gaze had drifted to Paul, who had his hand in the carton. Your warm smile—which appeared from reminiscing—dropped and your expression morphed into a disgusted one. You knew for sure that he did not wash his hands before deciding to use one as an eating utensil. With a disappointed sigh, you pinched between your eyebrows, exasperated, and expressed,

“Are you kidding—are you eating Chinese takeout with your bare hands?” He put the carton to his mouth as if he was drinking out of a cup.

“Why am I in trouble?” He spoke with a mouth full of fried rice and gestured to Dwayne, who was sitting beside you. Dwayne, now the one being put on the spot, froze, caught red-handed with his hand in his carton, and picked up some noodles. You scrunched up your nose and furrowed your brow. How you did not notice that happening right beside you was a mystery.

“Really? I expected this from Paul—”

“This is bullying!”

“—but not you!” As if to spite you, Dwayne picked up some of his noodles and shoved it into his mouth with a cheeky smile. “Marko is using a pair of chopsticks! Marko! And he’s...” You vaguely gestured to him. “Marko!”

“What’s that supposed to mean,” Marko yapped. You pointed at him accusingly.

“You know exactly what that means.” You were alluding to how much of an instinctual person he was. You were surprised with how he did not immediately stick his hand in his food without taking off his gloves when he opened his carton. “Michael, you know what he did the first night I was here?” Michael shook his head, almost smiling at the sight of you putting them in their place. “He threw a pigeon at me. A pigeon!” Everyone, including you, laughed at the fond memory, Marko being the loudest as he caught himself by putting a hand on his knee. When David calmed down, recalling the shocked expression you had when the bird was tossed at the back of your skull, he gave you a seemingly genuine smile. Seemingly.

You intentionally tried to make him feel more comfortable with your story of the pigeon attack. There was a part of you that did not like how he was to become a vampire against his will. While you could not do anything to change that, you could at least be a friend and hold out an olive branch.

Besides Star, Michael noticed how you were showing legitimate consideration towards him while the boys were messing with him with no restraints. You, while taking part in all of this heckling, had the decency to apologize and had your limits. He was still intimidated by your presence but realized that you may not be as menacing as you may appear. In contrast to your piercing stare, your smile lit up the room and you were a fun person to be around.

Of course, he was unaware as to just how doomed to stay with this group of misfits he was. He may have to deal with this taunting for the rest of eternity.

You picked up another pebble. It hit Marko's left temple and somehow landed in his food.

“Get fucked, pigeon-thrower,” you slandered.

“Ow! Dwayne’s right, you are bein’ a bitch!”

“Oh, you’ll get over it.” You picked up a third small rock and leaned forward to get a clearer shot. You harshly threw it onto Dwayne's bare chest.

“What was that for,” he complained, mouth full of noodles.

“Talkin’ shit about me.”

“I never called you a bitch!” Okay, maybe it was fun just being a general nuisance towards them, but that was not going to be something you said out loud. To keep things even between them all, you picked up one more for David. As you aimed, he put up a finger to make you pause.

“Do you really want to do that,” he challenged. Unluckily for him, you found entertainment in doing things out of spite. However, Unluckily for you, he caught the rock with a gloved hand and threw it back at you with force. You laughed with a mild shriek as you tried to shield yourself, but it hit your left shoulder.

“Ow,” you exclaimed and rubbed the ambushed area of your arm.

“You’ll get over it,” he mocked, repeating what you had said to Marko.

“You see what I have to deal with, Michael,” you joked. Paul threw the remaining fried rice in his carton at you. “Don’t throw food, dipshit! You'll get it in the cushions!”

“It’s maggots, (Y/N),” Paul teased. You took hold of a small display pillow, one that you have been sleeping with, and threw it at Paul. Too bad you missed. Paul mockingly said,

“Try again!”

David was lost in thought before he called out to Marko and whispered something in his ear as the excitement died down, the tone of the night changing drastically as silence engulfed the cave. You could decipher what was said. Marko nodded enthusiastically, giving a quick once-over towards everyone, before leaving and coming back with an ornate wine bottle.

Star became visibly concerned, quickly making her way to Michael’s side. Her reaction was enough for you to mirror that worry. There was no way they were going to turn him tonight, right? Getting Michael drunk to make the process easier hardly seems like the best strategy, if that was what they were doing. Plus, he did not seem like a wine guy.

David, with as much flair as he could muster, popped the cork and drank from the bottle. He opened his eyes, his gaze on Michael intense. He’s dramatic; I’ll give him that. You thought.

“Drink some of this, Michael,” David pressured, offering him the bottle. He quieted and harshly whispered, “be one of us.” You could almost see the ellipses that appeared in Michael's head. You were glad you were not the only one who found the dramatic nature David was talking with anticlimactic. Michael stood from the fountain and gingerly took the bottle from David by the neck. As Dwayne and Paul began to chant Michael’s name, Laddie stood and ran away, granting you another reason to be concerned. Marko joined in. Star moved closer to Michael; you swear that she was just about ready to jump out of her skin with how skittish she was being.

“Michael,” David called, egging him on.

“Yeah, sure,” Michael responded before putting it up to his mouth and taking quite a few large gulps of it. The boys cheered with David yelling, “Bravo!” Star took a step back, shielding Laddie with her left hand. You could not understand why she was so nervous, so afraid. It was just a little bit of wine! Are they seriously trying to get him drunk? Maybe you have overestimated the boys’ planning skills.

Or, this was just a part of their initiation. They could be building up to the actual turning, but all you can do for now is speculate. Hopefully, you will remember to ask one of them about it later.

“Your turn, (Y/N).” You swiftly turned your head to face David, not expecting the spotlight to turn to you.

“Me?” Why did they want you to drink from the bottle? It was not as if you were the one who was going to start walking amongst the undead as one of them; Michael was the one who was joining the clique.

“It's like an initiation,” Paul explained. “Drink it and you're officially one of us, sugar!”

“And don’t think that you’re done, Michael,” David warned as he handed you the bottle. He made brief eye contact with you before returning to look at Michael. “(Y/N) has already gone through it all; you’ve still got to show us that you’ve got what it takes.” Michael took a glimpse at you.

“What it takes,” Michael pressed.

“To be one of us, Michael.”

“And I have what it takes,” you asked. No one denied the statement. You were not sure what specific qualities they saw in you and what they may have considered a test of your worth, but you apparently fit the bill.

“Why else would we be having such a special dinner, (Y/N),” David stated. You chortled. It was not as if they served you a five-star meal from some fancy restaurant that only takes patrons that are dressed to the nines. Well, it was in such a fancy hotel, though collapsed, so maybe you could let it slide.

“All this is for me,” you entertained his statement.

“It is if you drink from the bottle,” Marko answered, sitting on the armrest and leaning towards you, giving you a prying look with raised eyebrows. You let out a hefty chuckle before looking down at the bottle in your hand, swishing the liquid in a clockwise motion, feeling the weight of it as it moved. With it in your hand, you got a closer inspection.

Though tacky, it was a beautiful vessel. It was a clear, glass bottle that was covered in gold plating. Over that, red and white gems decorated it. The red drink inside of the bottle was a vibrant red, bright and alluring. It made sense that they would choose such a drink.

Beginning with Dwayne, the boys chanted, growing louder with each one,

“One of us! One of us! One of us!” An involuntary smile grew on your face. In a way, you guess that you were one of them and a part of their social circle. You had grown to care for them and it warmed your heart that they thought the same of you.

It was just some wine, right? In a fancy sunken hotel like this, it would make sense to find such a fancy bottle among the rubble. And it made sense that this group of vampires would have some weird initiation rituals.

You brought the bottle to your lips and took a sip; you did not drink as much as Michael did, but just enough to get a small taste. That sample was enough given how the boys cheered as you felt it go down your throat. You did a double-take, not expecting it to taste like that.

It did not taste like wine, but it was nothing like you had ever drank before. It was strong, but it was from something other than the alcohol content. It was sweet with a bit of a spicy kick to it as it went down. You made a face, still trying to decide if you liked it or not.

“What is that?” You brought the opening to your eye before taking another sip. “Wow, that does not taste like wine.” One more time, you brought the bottle to your lips before concluding that you enjoyed the flavor; they chose a good initiation drink.

You gave the bottle back to David as you licked your lips clean. You sat comfortably with a bashful smile that you tried to hide with the side of your hand. It was as if they were happier with you drinking the wine than they were with Michael drinking it with how they cheered. They clapped to a rhythm and excitedly chanted again,

“One of us! One of us!” You brought your tongue to the roof of your mouth.

"You guys are way too excited for a little bit of wine," you dismissed, a laugh escaping you as you tried to seem unmoved. Paul hopped onto the box he was sitting on and jumped off to the other side. He raised the volume on his stereo, which was playing some rock song you vaguely recognized.

"Now, we really celebrate," David instructed as Paul jogged back and pulled you up.

"You're one of us now, (Y/N)," Marko cheered as he patted you hard on the back, stepping in front of you and facing you with a wide smile, which you mirrored when you recovered. He took notice of how your eyes completely softened while you smiled at him. Your expression was so real, so sincere.

Those high walls of yours had crumbled down to mere dust, allowing them to step in with ease, which was what you were afraid of, but you could not bring yourself to care in the moment.

You felt a hand gently stroke your upper back and you turned to see Dwayne, who was grinning boyishly down at you. As they left you, you could not deny how good you felt when they chanted your name,

"(Y/N)! (Y/N)! (Y/N)!"

➳ ➳ ➳

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#the lost boys #the lost boys 1987 #the lost boys x reader #the lost boys dwayne #the lost boys david #the lost boys marko #the lost boys paul #david the lost boys #dwayne the lost boys #marko the lost boys #paul the lost boys #the lost boys fanfiction #the lost boys imagines #the lost boys x you #slasher x reader #slasherboyos writes

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kingstylesdaily · 4 years ago

Text

Playtime With Harry Styles

via vogue.com

THE MEN’S BATHING POND in London’s Hampstead Heath at daybreak on a gloomy September morning seemed such an unlikely locale for my first meeting with Harry Styles, music’s legendarily charm-heavy style czar, that I wondered perhaps if something had been lost in translation.

But then there is Styles, cheerily gung ho, hidden behind a festive yellow bandana mask and a sweatshirt of his own design, surprisingly printed with three portraits of his intellectual pinup, the author Alain de Botton. “I love his writing,” says Styles. “I just think he’s brilliant. I saw him give a talk about the keys to happiness, and how one of the keys is living among friends, and how real friendship stems from being vulnerable with someone.”

In turn, de Botton’s 2016 novel The Course of Love taught Styles that “when it comes to relationships, you just expect yourself to be good at it…[but] being in a real relationship with someone is a skill,” one that Styles himself has often had to hone in the unforgiving klieg light of public attention, and in the company of such high-profile paramours as Taylor Swift and—well, Styles is too much of a gentleman to name names.

That sweatshirt and the Columbia Records tracksuit bottoms are removed in the quaint wooden open-air changing room, with its Swallows and Amazons vibe. A handful of intrepid fellow patrons in various states of undress are blissfully unaware of the 26-year-old supernova in their midst, although I must admit I’m finding it rather difficult to take my eyes off him, try as I might. Styles has been on a six-day juice cleanse in readiness for Vogue’s photographer Tyler Mitchell. He practices Pilates (“I’ve got very tight hamstrings—trying to get those open”) and meditates twice a day. “It has changed my life,” he avers, “but it’s so subtle. It’s helped me just be more present. I feel like I’m able to enjoy the things that are happening right in front of me, even if it’s food or it’s coffee or it’s being with a friend—or a swim in a really cold pond!” Styles also feels that his meditation practices have helped him through the tumult of 2020: “Meditation just brings a stillness that has been really beneficial, I think, for my mental health.”

Styles has been a pescatarian for three years, inspired by the vegan food that several members of his current band prepared on tour. “My body definitely feels better for it,” he says. His shapely torso is prettily inscribed with the tattoos of a Victorian sailor—a rose, a galleon, a mermaid, an anchor, and a palm tree among them, and, straddling his clavicle, the dates 1967 and 1957 (the respective birth years of his mother and father). Frankly, I rather wish I’d packed a beach muumuu.

We take the piratical gangplank that juts into the water and dive in. Let me tell you, this is not the Aegean. The glacial water is a cloudy phlegm green beneath the surface, and clammy reeds slap one’s ankles. Styles, who admits he will try any fad, has recently had a couple of cryotherapy sessions and is evidently less susceptible to the cold. By the time we have swum a full circuit, however, body temperatures have adjusted, and the ice, you might say, has been broken. Duly invigorated, we are ready to face the day. Styles has thoughtfully brought a canister of coffee and some bottles of water in his backpack, and we sit at either end of a park bench for a socially distanced chat.

It seems that he has had a productive year. At the onset of lockdown, Styles found himself in his second home, in the canyons of Los Angeles. After a few days on his own, however, he moved in with a pod of three friends (and subsequently with two band members, Mitch Rowland and Sarah Jones). They “would put names in a hat and plan the week out,” Styles explains. “If you were Monday, you would choose the movie, dinner, and the activity for that day. I like to make soups, and there was a big array of movies; we went all over the board,” from Goodfellas to Clueless. The experience, says Styles, “has been a really good lesson in what makes me happy now. It’s such a good example of living in the moment. I honestly just like being around my friends,” he adds. “That’s been my biggest takeaway. Just being on my own the whole time, I would have been miserable.”

Styles is big on friendship groups and considers his former and legendarily hysteria-inducing boy band, One Direction, to have been one of them. “I think the typical thing is to come out of a band like that and almost feel like you have to apologize for being in it,” says Styles. “But I loved my time in it. It was all new to me, and I was trying to learn as much as I could. I wanted to soak it in…. I think that’s probably why I like traveling now—soaking stuff up.” In a post-COVID future, he is contemplating a temporary move to Tokyo, explaining that “there’s a respect and a stillness, a quietness that I really loved every time I’ve been there.”

In 1D, Styles was making music whenever he could. “After a show you’d go in a hotel room and put down some vocals,” he recalls. As a result, his first solo album, 2017’s Harry Styles, “was when I really fell in love with being in the studio,” he says. “I loved it as much as touring.” Today he favors isolating with his core group of collaborators, “our little bubble”—Rowland, Kid Harpoon (né Tom Hull), and Tyler Johnson. “A safe space,” as he describes it.

In the music he has been working on in 2020, Styles wants to capture the experimental spirit that informed his second album, last year’s Fine Line. With his debut album, “I was very much finding out what my sound was as a solo artist,” he says. “I can see all the places where it almost felt like I was bowling with the bumpers up. I think with the second album I let go of the fear of getting it wrong and…it was really joyous and really free. I think with music it’s so important to evolve—and that extends to clothes and videos and all that stuff. That’s why you look back at David Bowie with Ziggy Stardust or the Beatles and their different eras—that fearlessness is super inspiring.”

The seismic changes of 2020—including the Black Lives Matter uprising around racial justice—has also provided Styles with an opportunity for personal growth. “I think it’s a time for opening up and learning and listening,” he says. “I’ve been trying to read and educate myself so that in 20 years I’m still doing the right things and taking the right steps. I believe in karma, and I think it’s just a time right now where we could use a little more kindness and empathy and patience with people, be a little more prepared to listen and grow.”

Meanwhile, Styles’s euphoric single “Watermelon Sugar” became something of an escapist anthem for this dystopian summer of 2020. The video, featuring Styles (dressed in ’70s-flavored Gucci and Bode) cavorting with a pack of beach-babe girls and boys, was shot in January, before lockdown rules came into play. By the time it was ready to be released in May, a poignant epigraph had been added: “This video is dedicated to touching.”

Styles is looking forward to touring again, when “it’s safe for everyone,” because, as he notes, “being up against people is part of the whole thing. You can’t really re-create it in any way.” But it hasn’t always been so. Early in his career, Styles was so stricken with stage fright that he regularly threw up preperformance. “I just always thought I was going to mess up or something,” he remembers. “But I’ve felt really lucky to have a group of incredibly generous fans. They’re generous emotionally—and when they come to the show, they give so much that it creates this atmosphere that I’ve always found so loving and accepting.”

THIS SUMMER, when it was safe enough to travel, Styles returned to his London home, which is where he suggests we head now, setting off in his modish Primrose Yellow ’73 Jaguar that smells of gasoline and leatherette. “Me and my dad have always bonded over cars,” Styles explains. “I never thought I’d be someone who just went out for a leisurely drive, purely for enjoyment.” On sleepless jet-lagged nights he’ll drive through London’s quiet streets, seeing neighborhoods in a new way. “I find it quite relaxing,” he says.

Over the summer Styles took a road trip with his artist friend Tomo Campbell through France and Italy, setting off at four in the morning and spending the night in Geneva, where they jumped in the lake “to wake ourselves up.” (I see a pattern emerging.) At the end of the trip Styles drove home alone, accompanied by an upbeat playlist that included “Aretha Franklin, Parliament, and a lot of Stevie Wonder. It was really fun for me,” he says. “I don’t travel like that a lot. I’m usually in such a rush, but there was a stillness to it. I love the feeling of nobody knowing where I am, that kind of escape...and freedom.”

GROWING UP in a village in the North of England, Styles thought of London as a world apart: “It truly felt like a different country.” At a wide-eyed 16, he came down to the teeming metropolis after his mother entered him on the U.K. talent-search show The X Factor. “I went to the audition to find out if I could sing,” Styles recalls, “or if my mum was just being nice to me.” Styles was eliminated but subsequently brought back with other contestants—Niall Horan, Liam Payne, Louis Tomlinson, and Zayn Malik—to form a boy band that was named (on Styles’s suggestion) One Direction. The wily X Factor creator and judge, Simon Cowell, soon signed them to his label Syco Records, and the rest is history: 1D’s first four albums, supported by four world tours from 2011 to 2015, debuted at number one on the U.S. Billboard charts, and the band has sold 70 million records to date. At 18, Styles bought the London house he now calls home. “I was going to do two weeks’ work to it,” he remembers, “but when I came back there was no second floor,” so he moved in with adult friends who lived nearby till the renovation was complete. “Eighteen months,” he deadpans. “I’ve always seen that period as pretty pivotal for me, as there’s that moment at the party where it’s getting late, and half of the people would go upstairs to do drugs, and the other people go home. I was like, ‘I don’t really know this friend’s wife, so I’m not going to get all messy and then go home.’ I had to behave a bit, at a time where everything else about my life felt I didn’t have to behave really. I’ve been lucky to always feel I have this family unit somewhere.”

When Styles’s London renovation was finally done, “I went in for the first time and I cried,” he recalls. “Because I just felt like I had somewhere. L.A. feels like holiday, but this feels like home.”

Behind its pink door, Styles’s house has all the trappings of rock stardom—there’s a man cave filled with guitars, a Sex Pistols Never Mind the Bollocks poster (a moving-in gift from his decorator), a Stevie Nicks album cover. Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams” was one of the first songs he knew the words to—“My parents were big fans”—and he and Nicks have formed something of a mutual-admiration society. At the beginning of lockdown, Nicks tweeted to her fans that she was taking inspiration from Fine Line: “Way to go, H,” she wrote. “It is your Rumours.” “She’s always there for you,” said Styles when he inducted Nicks into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2019. “She knows what you need—advice, a little wisdom, a blouse, a shawl; she’s got you covered.”

Styles makes us some tea in the light-filled kitchen and then wanders into the convivial living room, where he strikes an insouciant pose on the chesterfield sofa, upholstered in a turquoise velvet that perhaps not entirely coincidentally sets off his eyes. Styles admits that his lockdown lewk was “sweatpants, constantly,” and he is relishing the opportunity to dress up again. He doesn’t have to wait long: The following day, under the eaves of a Victorian mansion in Notting Hill, I arrive in the middle of fittings for Vogue’s shoot and discover Styles in his Y-fronts, patiently waiting to try on looks for fashion editor Camilla Nickerson and photographer Tyler Mitchell. Styles’s personal stylist, Harry Lambert, wearing a pearl necklace and his nails colored in various shades of green varnish, à la Sally Bowles, is providing helpful backup (Britain’s Rule of Six hasn’t yet been imposed).

Styles, who has thoughtfully brought me a copy of de Botton’s 2006 book The Architecture of Happiness, is instinctively and almost quaintly polite, in an old-fashioned, holding-open-doors and not-mentioning-lovers-by-name sort of way. He is astounded to discover that the Atlanta-born Mitchell has yet to experience a traditional British Sunday roast dinner. Assuring him that “it’s basically like Thanksgiving every Sunday,” Styles gives Mitchell the details of his favorite London restaurants in which to enjoy one. “It’s a good thing to be nice,” Mitchell tells me after a morning in Styles’s company.

MITCHELL has Lionel Wendt’s languorously homoerotic 1930s portraits of young Sri Lankan men on his mood board. Nickerson is thinking of Irving Penn’s legendary fall 1950 Paris haute couture collections sitting, where he photographed midcentury supermodels, including his wife, Lisa Fonssagrives, in high-style Dior and Balenciaga creations. Styles is up for all of it, and so, it would seem, is the menswear landscape of 2020: Jonathan Anderson has produced a trapeze coat anchored with a chunky gold martingale; John Galliano at Maison Margiela has fashioned a khaki trench with a portrait neckline in layers of colored tulle; and Harris Reed—a Saint Martins fashion student sleuthed by Lambert who ended up making some looks for Styles’s last tour—has spent a week making a broad-shouldered Smoking jacket with high-waisted, wide-leg pants that have become a Styles signature since he posed for Tim Walker for the cover of Fine Line wearing a Gucci pair—a silhouette that was repeated in the tour wardrobe. (“I liked the idea of having that uniform,” says Styles.) Reed’s version is worn with a hoopskirt draped in festoons of hot-pink satin that somehow suggests Deborah Kerr asking Yul Brynner’s King of Siam, “Shall we dance?”

Styles introduces me to the writer and eyewear designer Gemma Styles, “my sister from the same womb,” he says. She is also here for the fitting: The siblings plan to surprise their mother with the double portrait on these pages.

I ask her whether her brother had always been interested in clothes.

“My mum loved to dress us up,” she remembers. “I always hated it, and Harry was always quite into it. She did some really elaborate papier-mâché outfits: She made a giant mug and then painted an atlas on it, and that was Harry being ‘The World Cup.’ Harry also had a little dalmatian-dog outfit,” she adds, “a hand-me-down from our closest family friends. He would just spend an inordinate amount of time wearing that outfit. But then Mum dressed me up as Cruella de Vil. She was always looking for any opportunity!”

“As a kid I definitely liked fancy dress,” Styles says. There were school plays, the first of which cast him as Barney, a church mouse. “I was really young, and I wore tights for that,” he recalls. “I remember it was crazy to me that I was wearing a pair of tights. And that was maybe where it all kicked off!”

Acting has also remained a fundamental form of expression for Styles. His sister recalls that even on the eve of his life-changing X Factor audition, Styles could sing in public only in an assumed voice. “He used to do quite a good sort of Elvis warble,” she remembers. During the rehearsals in the family home, “he would sing in the bathroom because if it was him singing as himself, he just couldn’t have anyone looking at him! I love his voice now,” she adds. “I’m so glad that he makes music that I actually enjoy listening to.”

Styles’s role-playing continued soon after 1D went on permanent hiatus in 2016, and he was cast in Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk, beating out dozens of professional actors for the role. “The good part was my character was a young soldier who didn’t really know what he was doing,” says Styles modestly. “The scale of the movie was so big that I was a tiny piece of the puzzle. It was definitely humbling. I just loved being outside of my comfort zone.”

His performance caught the eye of Olivia Wilde, who remembers that it “blew me away—the openness and commitment.” In turn, Styles loved Wilde’s directorial debut, Booksmart, and is “very honored” that she cast him in a leading role for her second feature, a thriller titled Don’t Worry Darling, which went into production this fall. Styles will play the husband to Florence Pugh in what Styles describes as “a 1950s utopia in the California desert.”

Wilde’s movie is costumed by Academy Award nominee Arianne Phillips. “She and I did a little victory dance when we heard that we officially had Harry in the film,” notes Wilde, “because we knew that he has a real appreciation for fashion and style. And this movie is incredibly stylistic. It’s very heightened and opulent, and I’m really grateful that he is so enthusiastic about that element of the process—some actors just don’t care.”

“I like playing dress-up in general,” Styles concurs, in a masterpiece of understatement: This is the man, after all, who cohosted the Met’s 2019 “Notes on Camp” gala attired in a nipple-freeing black organza blouse with a lace jabot, and pants so high-waisted that they cupped his pectorals. The ensemble, accessorized with the pearl-drop earring of a dandified Elizabethan courtier, was created for Styles by Gucci’s Alessandro Michele, whom he befriended in 2014. Styles, who has subsequently personified the brand as the face of the Gucci fragrance, finds Michele “fearless with his work and his imagination. It’s really inspiring to be around someone who works like that.”

The two first met in London over a cappuccino. “It was just a kind of PR appointment,” says Michele, “but something magical happened, and Harry is now a friend. He has the aura of an English rock-and-roll star—like a young Greek god with the attitude of James Dean and a little bit of Mick Jagger—but no one is sweeter. He is the image of a new era, of the way that a man can look.”

Styles credits his style transformation—from Jack Wills tracksuit-clad boy-band heartthrob to nonpareil fashionisto—to his meeting the droll young stylist Harry Lambert seven years ago. They hit it off at once and have conspired ever since, enjoying a playfully campy rapport and calling each other Sue and Susan as they parse the niceties of the scarlet lace Gucci man-bra that Michele has made for Vogue’s shoot, for instance, or a pair of Bode pants hand-painted with biographical images (Styles sent Emily Adams Bode images of his family, and a photograph he had found of David Hockney and Joni Mitchell. “The idea of those two being friends, to me, was really beautiful,” Styles explains).

“He just has fun with clothing, and that’s kind of where I’ve got it from,” says Styles of Lambert. “He doesn’t take it too seriously, which means I don’t take it too seriously.” The process has been evolutionary. At his first meeting with Lambert, the stylist proposed “a pair of flares, and I was like, ‘Flares? That’s fucking crazy,’ ” Styles remembers. Now he declares that “you can never be overdressed. There’s no such thing. The people that I looked up to in music—Prince and David Bowie and Elvis and Freddie Mercury and Elton John—they’re such showmen. As a kid it was completely mind-blowing. Now I’ll put on something that feels really flamboyant, and I don’t feel crazy wearing it. I think if you get something that you feel amazing in, it’s like a superhero outfit. Clothes are there to have fun with and experiment with and play with. What’s really exciting is that all of these lines are just kind of crumbling away. When you take away ‘There’s clothes for men and there’s clothes for women,’ once you remove any barriers, obviously you open up the arena in which you can play. I’ll go in shops sometimes, and I just find myself looking at the women’s clothes thinking they’re amazing. It’s like anything—anytime you’re putting barriers up in your own life, you’re just limiting yourself. There’s so much joy to be had in playing with clothes. I’ve never really thought too much about what it means—it just becomes this extended part of creating something.”

“He’s up for it,” confirms Lambert, who earlier this year, for instance, found a JW Anderson cardigan with the look of a Rubik’s Cube (“on sale at matches.com!”). Styles wore it, accessorized with his own pearl necklace, for a Today rehearsal in February and it went viral: His fans were soon knitting their own versions and posting the results on TikTok. Jonathan Anderson declared himself “so impressed and incredibly humbled by this trend” that he nimbly made the pattern available (complete with a YouTube tutorial) so that Styles’s fans could copy it for free. Meanwhile, London’s storied Victoria & Albert Museum has requested Styles’s original: an emblematic document of how people got creative during the COVID era. “It’s going to be in their permanent collection,” says Lambert exultantly. “Is that not sick? Is that not the most epic thing?”

“To me, he’s very modern,” says Wilde of Styles, “and I hope that this brand of confidence as a male that Harry has—truly devoid of any traces of toxic masculinity—is indicative of his generation and therefore the future of the world. I think he is in many ways championing that, spearheading that. It’s pretty powerful and kind of extraordinary to see someone in his position redefining what it can mean to be a man with confidence.”

“He’s really in touch with his feminine side because it’s something natural,” notes Michele. “And he’s a big inspiration to a younger generation—about how you can be in a totally free playground when you feel comfortable. I think that he’s a revolutionary.”

STYLES’S confidence is on full display the day after the fitting, which finds us all on the beautiful Sussex dales. Over the summit of the hill, with its trees blown horizontal by the fierce winds, lies the English Channel. Even though it’s a two-hour drive from London, the fresh-faced Styles, who went to bed at 9 p.m., has arrived on set early: He is famously early for everything. The team is installed in a traditional flint-stone barn. The giant doors have been replaced by glass and frame a bucolic view of distant grazing sheep. “Look at that field!” says Styles. “How lucky are we? This is our office! Smell the roses!” Lambert starts to sing “Kumbaya, my Lord.”

Hairdresser Malcolm Edwards is setting Styles’s hair in a Victory roll with silver clips, and until it is combed out he resembles Kathryn Grayson with stubble. His fingers are freighted with rings, and “he has a new army of mini purses,” says Lambert, gesturing to an accessory table heaving with examples including a mini sky-blue Gucci Diana bag discreetly monogrammed HS. Michele has also made Styles a dress for the shoot that Tissot might have liked to paint—acres of ice-blue ruffles, black Valenciennes lace, and suivez-moi, jeune homme ribbons. Erelong, Styles is gamely racing up a hill in it, dodging sheep scat, thistles, and shards of chalk, and striking a pose for Mitchell that manages to make ruffles a compelling new masculine proposition, just as Mr. Fish’s frothy white cotton dress—equal parts Romantic poet and Greek presidential guard—did for Mick Jagger when he wore it for The Rolling Stones’ free performance in Hyde Park in 1969, or as the suburban-mom floral housedress did for Kurt Cobain as he defined the iconoclastic grunge aesthetic. Styles is mischievously singing ABBA’s “Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)” to himself when Mitchell calls him outside to jump up and down on a trampoline in a Comme des Garçons buttoned wool kilt. “How did it look?” asks his sister when he comes in from the cold. “Divine,” says her brother in playful Lambert-speak.

As the wide sky is washed in pink, orange, and gray, like a Turner sunset, and Mitchell calls it a successful day, Styles is playing “Cherry” from Fine Line on his Fender acoustic on the hilltop. “He does his own stunts,” says his sister, laughing. The impromptu set is greeted with applause. “Thank you, Antwerp!” says Styles playfully, bowing to the crowd. “Thank you, fashion!”

378 notes · View notes

hldailyupdate · 4 years ago

Text

Playtime With Harry Styles

“There’s so much joy to be had in playing with clothes. I’ve never thought too much about what it means—it just becomes this extended part of creating something”

I ask her whether her brother had always been interested in clothes.

Styles cuts a cool figure in this black-white-and-red-all-over checked coat by JW Anderson.

“It’s pretty powerful and kind of extraordinary to see someone in his position redefining what it can mean to be a man with confidence,” says Olivia Wilde

There are references aplenty in this look by Harris Reed, which features a Victoriana crinoline, 1980s shoulders, and pants of zoot-suit proportions.

#harry styles #harry update #article #vogue #november 2020

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hlupdate · 4 years ago

Link

Over the summer Styles took a road trip with his artist friend Tomo Campbell through France and Italy,setting off at four in the morning and spending the night in Geneva, where they jumped in the lake “to wake ourselves up.” (I see a pattern emerging.) At the end of the trip Styles drove home alone, accompanied by an upbeat playlist that included “Aretha Franklin, Parliament, and a lot of Stevie Wonder. It was really fun for me,” he says. “I don’t travel like that a lot. I’m usually in such a rush, but there was a stillness to it. I love the feeling of nobody knowing where I am, that kind of escape...and freedom.”

GROWING UP in a village in the North of England, Styles thought of London as a world apart: “It truly felt like a different country.” At a wide-eyed 16, he came down to the teeming metropolis after his mother entered him on the U.K. talent-search show The X Factor. “I went to the audition to find out if I could sing,” Styles recalls, “or if my mum was just being nice to me.” Styles was eliminated but subsequently brought back with other contestants—Niall Horan, Liam Payne, Louis Tomlinson, and Zayn Malik—to form a boy band that was named (on Styles’s suggestion) One Direction. The wily X Factor creator and judge, Simon Cowell, soon signed them to his label Syco Records, and the rest is history: 1D’s first four albums, supported by four world tours from 2011 to 2015, debuted at number one on the U.S. Billboardcharts, and the band has sold 70 million records to date. At 18, Styles bought the London house he now calls home. “I was going to do two weeks’ work to it,” he remembers, “but when I came back there was no second floor,” so he moved in with adult friends who lived nearby till the renovation was complete. “Eighteen months,” he deadpans. “I’ve always seen that period as pretty pivotal for me, as there’s that moment at the party where it’s getting late, and half of the people would go upstairs to do drugs, and the other people go home. I was like, ��I don’t really know this friend’s wife, so I’m not going to get all messy and then go home.’ I had to behave a bit, at a time where everything else about my life felt I didn’t have to behave really. I’ve been lucky to always feel I have this family unit somewhere.”

“There’s so much joy to be had in playing with clothes. I’ve never thought too much about what it means—it just becomes this extended part of creating something”

Behind its pink door, Styles’s house has all the trappings of rock stardom—there’s a man cave filled with guitars, a Sex Pistols Never Mind the Bollocks poster (a moving-in gift from his decorator), a Stevie Nicksalbum cover. Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams” was one of the first songs he knew the words to—“My parents were big fans”—and he and Nicks have formed something of a mutual-admiration society. At the beginning of lockdown, Nicks tweeted to her fans that she was taking inspiration from Fine Line: “Way to go, H,” she wrote. “It is your Rumours.” “She’s always there for you,” said Styles when he inducted Nicks into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2019. “She knows what you need—advice, a little wisdom, a blouse, a shawl; she’s got you covered.”

Styles, who has thoughtfully brought me a copy of de Botton’s 2006 book The Architecture of Happiness,is instinctively and almost quaintly polite, in an old-fashioned, holding-open-doors and not-mentioning-lovers-by-name sort of way. He is astounded to discover that the Atlanta-born Mitchell has yet to experience a traditional British Sunday roast dinner. Assuring him that “it’s basically like Thanksgiving every Sunday,” Styles gives Mitchell the details of his favorite London restaurants in which to enjoy one. “It’s a good thing to be nice,” Mitchell tells me after a morning in Styles’s company.

I ask her whether her brother had always been interested in clothes.

“It’s pretty powerful and kind of extraordinary to see someone in his position redefining what it can mean to be a man with confidence,” says Olivia Wilde

#harry styles #vogue #131120

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damejudyhench · 4 years ago

Note

1, 4, 9, 16, 22, and 35 please :) you don't have to answer them all though!

You asked for it - you got it ;)

(This is a long post and I’m on mobile so I’m not sure how to do a cut, I’m sorry everybody)

1. From one to five stars, how would you rate your writing? (No downplaying yourself!)

I’m a solid three, rising to four when it comes to smut. (The Max/Ideal Max/Pearl fic may be a five).

4. Are there any writers that inspire you?

@funkypoacher has been a huge inspiration to me in this fandom. Hers was the first TOW fic I read. And talking to her has helped so much in terms of thinking about character and motivation. I’ve never written an oc the way I am now and that’s down to her.

@paliseizy and @vairasmythe ‘s writing really encouraged me to let my own freak flag fly. I love you guys.

In terms of published authors, Kazuo Ishiguro, Annie Proulx and David Mitchell just blow me away with what they can do with words and I dream of one day being able to do a fraction of what they can.

9. Which character(s) do you find most difficult to write?

Characters whom I consider bad or wrong but like, in a mundane way? To use examples from the Outer Worlds, I’ve written Rockwell cause he’s hugely entertaining, cutting about the place high on space cocaine laughing at the suckers who are gonna get iced. I haven’t, but I feel like I could write Akande, cause I feel she’s a paladin, a true believer and that’s fascinating even though her beliefs as I perceive them are diametrically opposed to my own. Ellie is just kinda selfish? And she makes a big deal out of rejecting Byzantium but her values are kind of exactly the same? I feel like if I ever wrote a character gettting into a debate with her it would just end up as a mouthpiece for me arguing with her as the embodiment of all too many real life people. And I don’t know if writing myself as winning or losing would be worse.

Pearl just told her that if she wants the big cabin that badly she can fight her for it, and that shut her up.

16. Any guilty pleasure trope(s)?

I really like when characters who pride themselves on being in control are forced to get overwhelmingly horny. So sex pollen, heat/rut fic, alien sex rays etc. I don’t like ABO though, it’s subtly different in a way I can’t quite put my finger on.

22. Do you listen to anything while you write?

I’m pretty much always listening to music, and if I hear something that really reminds me of a character or situation, I’ll save it and listen to it again while I’m writing. Characters I really vibe with get their own playlists, but I don’t have a specific writing playlist

35. Ramble about any fic-related thing you want!

I am gonna take the opportunity and point out that I dropped one of my oc’s into Terror on Typhon as an Easter egg and no one has asked about him!

The man Nyoka is arguing with and then kisses at the start is Aloysious Millstone, a professional gambler and con artist and her future husband. His mother was a Rizzo’s secretary, his father was an executive who was visiting Cascadia. He never acknowledged his son, hence Millstone.

Unlike Nyoka, Aloysious was evacuated from Monarch when it was abandoned by the Board, but he resented everything about Byzantium and fled back to Monarch as soon as he was able by talking his way onto the catering crew of a space yacht headed for Fallbrook. Once there, he abandoned ship and got a job in Fallbrook tending bar. He is able to ‘code switch’ between Monarch native and Byzantium elite, and he uses this ability to scam the patrons out of some extra bits.

One time however, he makes the mistake of trying to scam Lilya Hagen - he’s never met her, has no clue who she is, and she does seem kind of absent minded. He is locked up while the SubLight management debate whether or not to feed him to Mini Malin, but ultimately they decide that he adds a touch of authentic seedy glamour to the image Fallbrook projects, so he becomes a professional gambler and card sharp in residence, under Catherine Malin’s protection in return for a cut of his takings.

Nyoka initially despises him because she thinks he’s a phoney through and through. But she comes to see that he loves the thrill of the hunt just as much as she does, only his prey is different. They both want to see a strong independent Monarch. And he doesn’t lie about himself to her - he’s very honest about who he is and what he wants, and unlike her previous partners he would never exaggerate his skill on the trail to impress her. He couldn’t kill a rapt to save his life, but he does look very fetching in a pair of rapt skin boots, and she likes being the one who hunted them for him.

#the outer worlds #writing #ask meme thing #thanks for asking me :)

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elv--eyera · 5 years ago

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Ways to watch Jekyll & Hyde online!

I recently saw someone interested in watching Jekyll & Hyde, so I decided to spend some time today to put a post together! Here’s information about (and links to) six productions of the show that you can watch online!

The 2001 Broadway Cast DVD

Starring: David Hasselhoff (Jekyll / Hyde), Coleen Sexton (Lucy Harris), Andrea Rivette (Emma Carew)

(Starting with this one because this is the only non-bootleg, commercially available version of Jekyll & Hyde, and I’m sure this is the main version people are familiar with and I wanna go over this before getting to the rest.)

Good: It’s a beautifully filmed professional recording of the show on Broadway, something that most shows never get! The supporting cast (many of whom were from the original cast and played their roles from the beginning of the run to the end) is wonderful. When the focus is on the non-Jekyll aspects of the production, it’s really amazing. Coleen Sexton and Andrea Rivette are truly amazing.

Evil: David Hasselhoff. I give him props for taking on a very difficult role that is well outside of his comfort zone, and it’s clear to see that the man gave it his absolute all. He really wanted to take this on, and he really tried his best. (Here’s a four-minute interview about his experience with the show and the work he put into it - he had oxygen backstage, and he actually passed out onstage briefly after “The Way Back”.) However, watching him as Jekyll and Hyde, it’s just unavoidable that he’s just not very good. I’ll leave it at that.

How Can I Watch It?: It gets uploaded to Youtube and Dailymotion from time to time, but I couldn’t find it there today. However, you can watch it here, and a commercial for his time in J&H here. Just be warned: this is no day at the beach.

The 2001 Broadway Cast (rehearsal!)

Starring: Rob Evan (Jekyll / Hyde), Coleen Sexton (Lucy Harris), Andrea Rivette (Emma Carew)

Good: If you were thinking “well, I wish that there was a professionally recorded version without David Hasselhoff”, This is basically, shot for shot, the same as the Hasselhoff version, but with Rob Evan instead, and it’s a fundamentally different experience. Rob Evan (who replaced Robert Cuccioli on Broadway in 1998) is a great actor and singer, who went on to play the role again in the “concert” versions in 2005 - 2006.

Evil: It’s 480p quality, but that’s the only real downside.

How Can I Watch It?: Right here!

The Original Broadway Cast (1997)

Starring: Robert Cuccioli as Jekyll and Hyde, Linda Eder as Lucy Harris and Christiane Noll as Emma Carew.

Good: The original Broadway cast is amazing. This is a personal opinion on my part but Robert Cuccioli is the definitive Jekyll / Hyde. His Tony-nominated performance is awesome, and it really elevates the show. Linda Eder and Christiane Noll are also absolutely wonderful in their roles, and the talent in this cast is just amazing. Unlike the above two recordings, this one’s a bootleg, but it’s still a really great watching experience.

Evil: Really, the only possible downside is that this cast didn’t have a professional recording. Just press reels, a nice bootleg, and TV appearances. That’s really the only downside. This cast is awesome.

How Can I Watch It?: You can watch 20 minutes of professionally shot press reels here (featuring several songs), you can watch the whole show with this cast here, and you can watch some TV appearances here: “In His Eyes” , “This Is The Moment” and “Dangerous Game” (featuring Rob Evan as Jekyll, who was the alternate for Cuccioli before taking over the role himself in 1998) Or if you’re short on time, just watch Cuccioli do “Confrontation” live.

But wait! I want something different from the Broadway adaptation!

Well, Jekyll & Hyde went through a lot of changes on the road to Broadway, and after the show hit Broadway, many of productions changed things further or even changed things back to the earlier versions. The following productions all interpret the material differently, and all of them have script / music changes from the Broadway version. (Many of them stick closer to or take elements from the 1994 Concept Album with Anthony Warlow.)

The Pre-Broadway Tour (1995)

Starring: Robert Cuccioli as Jekyll and Hyde, Linda Eder as Lucy Harris and Christiane Noll as Lisa Carew.

Good: Where Broadway is more subdued, the 95′ tour went for darker Victorian gothic horror / melodrama and I adore it. Much of the staging, sets and costumes are very different from the Broadway version. The script has some really impactful, chilling moments that were cut from the Broadway version. It incorporates more of the popular ‘94 Gothic Musical Thriller album, with songs like Bring On The Men and Girls Of The Night included. (Lucy Meets Hyde is there and that’s something I want back in the show, dammit). And it’s got the same wonderful cast that went on to originate the role on Broadway. I really, really like this version and wish that the show had stayed a bit closer to this in parts.

Evil: The picture quality is not great and there’s not a lot of super close zooms, however it’s a bootleg of a really interesting time in the show’s history and I can get past it. Some people find some moments in the script overdramatic.

How Can I Watch It?: You can watch the whole thing right here! You can also listen to some clips from the soundboard of the show, of Robert Cuccioli singing “Alive” and “Confrontation” here!

The Original Bremen Production (1999-2002)

Starring (in this video): Darius Merstein-Macleod (Jekyll / Hyde), Maricel (Lucy Harris), Michaela Kovarikova (Lisa Carew)

Good: The Bremen production was the first international production of Jekyll & Hyde, and they definitely do not copy the Broadway version exactly. They make interesting changes that I feel make the show stronger, and the design and the orchestra are absolutely gorgeous. They make some changes to the running order of things that I think make the beginning of the show flow so much better. The design choices are gorg (I LOVE the color palette of this production, oh my gosh) and the orchestra is absolutely stunning (though that’s best showcased on the 1999 album, one of my favorites to listen to.) Really, really interesting and awesome production.

Bad: None, really! This cast isn’t the original cast, if you’re hard pressed on that.

How Can I Watch It?: You can watch the full show right here, and some professionally shot clips with the lead actor in this video. The same production design and direction all around was used for two more German productions in Vienna and Koln - you can watch the Vienna one here, starring Thomas Borchert, Maya Hakvoort and Eva Maria Marold. And about that 1999 album that’s one of my favorites to listen to... shhhh. SHHHh. Enjoy.

The 2013 Broadway Revival

Starring: Constantine Maroulis as Jekyll / Hyde, Deborah Cox as Lucy Harris, and Teal Wicks as Emma Carew.

Good: This is the most recent major U.S production of Jekyll & Hyde. The singers are all excellent, and the scenic design has more of a “steampunk” edge to it, and they use projections in an interesting way, especially in “Confrontation”. They do relatively little to fundamentally change the currently licensed script, but all the songs are completely musically reworked in more of a pop-rock style, and there are bits that are reinstated from the concept album (Lucy Meets Hyde, Jekyll’s “It’s over now, I know inside” intro from “Confrontation”). It’s really interesting, the singers are actually fantastic, and I like some of the musical arrangements!

Evil: Objectively, none. This revival totally changed up the sound and look of the show, and those changes can be polarizing, but it’s really up to you whether or not you personally like it.

Where can I watch it?: Act 1 is here, and Act 2 is here! Here’s a tiny montage of some songs from the show as well!

Other Productions:

I didn’t want to leave out a lot of other productions of the show that you can watch online, so here are two other interesting productions of the show I enjoy that you can watch online:

The 2014 Russian Production. The design is fabulous, the singers are great (the music is a nice mix of the classic orchestrations and the 2013 arrangements), and the set is absolutely amazing. Love this production. The set change from “Transformation” to “Alive” is AWESOME. Pick your poison: Ivan Ozhogin: Act 1 / Act 2, Kirill Gordeev: Act 1 / Act 2, or my underrated fave, Rostislav Koplakov: Act 1 / Act 2 .

This 2007 outdoor German production. Watch it right here! I haven’t watched this whole thing, but it starts during daytime and by the time the show ends it’s dark, which is really cool)

Whichever way you choose to watch Jekyll & Hyde, I really hope you enjoy the show! It’s one of my absolute favorites.

Also, if you want to listen to the show, you can listen to these albums on Youtube!

1990′ Concept Album

(Very different from the final show - wouldn’t suggest starting with this one.)

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_k8KX2WKpxXWD1WReuEEnZWTiQM0brA7OY

1994′ Concept Album:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLKELXRdNl-0qpSAZUBEuet90lgNT5vFra

1997 Broadway Cast:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLB135F98AE9670DF6

2006 ‘Resurrection’ Album:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLp1o87OC81fxi-7LFAWEqAPvf3xZAD7tx

2012 Concept Album:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLoIpj63IKuYxuv4nXJjAqoez3bZK2S51J

Enjoy!!

#jekyll and hyde #musicals #Jekyll & Hyde #broadway #jekyll & hyde the musical #jekyll & hyde musical #jekyll and hyde the musical #jekyll & hyde broadway

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gyllenhaalstories · 3 years ago

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detective loki anon here ~ how about daddy detective? or detective daddy? 🥴

holy shit, I love your brain so much! I love The National and the image of him coming home after not having slept for days, all exhausted and probably traumatized (you know he takes these cases home with him, especially if anything happened to children) and he has been on edge the whole time, not allowing himself to rest. And then 'I need my girl' plays while you kiss him, and scrub the dirt of the last few days off his skin (I think detective daddy likes to stay clean unlike mr.stinkyhaal, even if he sometimes neglects his own selfcare with a tough case), so it's like literal heaven for him to be finally home and close to you. You straight up bring the light back into his world, with just some soft neck kisses and shampooing his hair gently 😊 (also I started a detective loki playlist, and I really like woman by mumford & sons for him too. I think he likes soft and soulful songs, maybe a little hipster at times, but he's cool enough to pull it off 😏) and I bet some homecooked food would go a long way with him feeling back home again too, even though I can't cook for shit, but I would try for that man 🥰

DETECTIVE DADDY THATS IT IM SOLD!!!!!!!!!! oh my god anon I LOVE YOU!!!!!! for sure, work comes home with him whether he wants it or not. he'd try so hard not to think of his case, not to look into pieces of evidence and he'd just look at you, brows slightly arched because he think he's discovered a piece of the puzzle and you'd just nod and let him work. you know it's painful for him to detach himself as much as it is to drown himself in work, but it's david, you can't change him and you can't stop him either. you try though, you try really hard to distract him and make sure he's with you, physically and mentally. i think bath time with det loki is very special, like it's more intimate than sex or kissing or dates or anything of the sort. he's safe and vulnerable and finally letting go of the burdens he's been carrying all these years (i do think he can spend 24+ hours without showering if he's out driving around, looking for missing people or stuck at the station, however cleaning up is probably the first thing he does when he's back home after greeting you and kissing you so that he can feel alive again for just a moment.) "you straight up bring the light back into his world" i listened to your song suggestions and i am IN LOVE oh my god i need my girl is so perfect 🥺 i don't know much about the national, a song or two perhaps, but this one is SO good and it just fits det loki perfectly!!!!! you were a kindness gives me det loki vibes too! AND OH MY GOD WOMAN BY MUMFORD & SONS BYE YOUR TASTE IN MUSIC IS SUPERIOR!!!!!!!!!!! i'm sure your playlist is absolutely fantastic!!!!! if you ever post it publicly, let me know so i can share it and take a listen, or simply just listen to it if you don't want to show it around! grill some sliced bread and american cheese on a pan, heat up some minestrone soup on the side and you've got the heartwarming homemade food he needs to get his warmth back! COOKING WITH DET LOKI THOUGH and struggling a lot at doing box cake and what not, anything that should be easy is complicated because you both suck at cooking but you're pouring your heart and soul in these dry brownies and halloween themed pillsbury cookies and it's all that matters. i'm thinking that det loki's love language might be quality time because he gets so little time alone with you so the smallest of moments he gets with you, the opportunities he has to hug or kiss you and remind you just how thankful he is to have you in his life, it's worth more than gold to him 🥺

#character: detective loki

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transparenttriumphzombie · 4 years ago

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Harry Styles On Vogue

Source:

https://www.vogue.com/article/harry-styles-cover-december-2020/amp?__twitter_impression=true

From Vogue MAGAZINE

Playtime With Harry Styles

“There’s so much joy to be had in playing with clothes. I’ve never thought too much about what it means—it just becomes this extended part of creating something”

I ask her whether her brother had always been interested in clothes.

“He’s up for it,” confirms Lambert, who earlier this year, for instance, found a JW Anderson cardigan with the look of a Rubik’s Cube (“on sale at matchesfashion.com!”). Styles wore it, accessorized with his own pearl necklace, for a Today rehearsal in February and it went viral: His fans were soon knitting their own versions and posting the results on TikTok. Jonathan Anderson declared himself “so impressed and incredibly humbled by this trend” that he nimbly made the pattern available (complete with a YouTube tutorial) so that Styles’s fans could copy it for free. Meanwhile, London’s storied Victoria & Albert Museum has requested Styles’s original: an emblematic document of how people got creative during the COVID era. “It’s going to be in their permanent collection,” says Lambert exultantly. “Is that not sick? Is that not the most epic thing?”

“It’s pretty powerful and kind of extraordinary to see someone in his position redefining what it can mean to be a man with confidence,” says Olivia Wilde

Hairdresser Malcolm Edwards is setting Styles’s hair in a Victory roll with silver clips, and until it is combed out he resembles Kathryn Grayson with stubble. His fingers are freighted with rings, and “he has a new army of mini purses,” says Lambert, gesturing to an accessory table heaving with examples including a mini sky-blue Gucci Jackie bag discreetly monogrammed HS. Michele has also made Styles a dress for the shoot that Tissot might have liked to paint—acres of ice-blue ruffles, black Valenciennes lace, and suivez-moi, jeune homme ribbons. Erelong, Styles is gamely racing up a hill in it, dodging sheep scat, thistles, and shards of chalk, and striking a pose for Mitchell that manages to make ruffles a compelling new masculine proposition, just as Mr. Fish’s frothy white cotton dress—equal parts Romantic poet and Greek presidential guard—did for Mick Jagger when he wore it for The Rolling Stones’ free performance in Hyde Park in 1969, or as the suburban-mom floral housedress did for Kurt Cobain as he defined the iconoclastic grunge aesthetic. Styles is mischievously singing ABBA’s “Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)” to himself when Mitchell calls him outside to jump up and down on a trampoline in a Comme des Garçons buttoned wool kilt. “How did it look?” asks his sister when he comes in from the cold. “Divine,” says her brother in playful Lambert-speak.

#harry styles #non binary #men wearing dress #harry styles in dress #transgender #trans pride #transgender woman #dresses #men in dresses #dress

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theantitote · 4 years ago

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A Call to Action + A Few Resources for These Times of Unrest in the US

On the Recent Unrest and Our Worst Fears (Is a civil war brewing?)

These times are uncertain, dire even. A mismanaged pandemic has and will continue to claim many lives and ravage our economy, yet several Republican governors still stand poised to reopen schools in the fall, and economic woes potentially put millions at risk of falling victim to mass evictions. Police and government brutality has long plagued our nation with near impunity and in the wake of George Floyd’s death and the violent crackdowns on protests, we seem to be reaching a breaking point. Police have been seen on numerous occasions assaulting the media, and federal agents sent to Portland, Oregon have been responsible for among other things, shooting Donavan La Bella in the head with “less lethal” impact munitions, cracking his skull and nearly killing him, arresting protesters into unmarked rental vans, and striking a Navy vet with a baton after he attempted to confront them on their oath to the constitution, breaking his hand. Now as anger swells in the streets and fears rise of an apparently fledgling secret police force due to the actions of federal agents, recently threatened to be deployed to more cities as part of Trump’s Operation Legend, a question thought unthinkable just a few months ago seems to be becoming uncomfortably plausible - are we heading for a civil war?

Anyone with even the slightest bit of morality and an inkling as to what such an event would entail should be struck with terror at the mere thought of the possibility. So it is imperative in these times that we do our due diligence as citizens of this nation to learn from history and do everything in our power to deescalate such a situation before our worst fears are realized, all without loosing sight of the problems and what must be done to solve them. To this end I have compiled a fairly brief list of videos, podcasts, articles, and webpages that I recommend all Americans observe and heed the messages and warnings found therein.

Top Recommendations

Note: All podcasts link to Spotify pages however you should be able to find them elsewhere if needed, including most popular podcasting apps from my experience.

1) The Youtube channel Beau of the Fifth Column, and his recent covering of the events in Portland.

I link his playlist of videos covering Portland and how the federal response runs counter to the guidelines of their manuals because it’s most relevant however I can’t recommend his entire channel enough. For further reading, here are a few links related to what he discusses in those videos:

FM 3-24 - Insurgencies and Countering Insurgencies - FAS PDF link

Federation of American Scientists - their website hosts a sizable amount of information some of which is relevant, including the aforementioned pdf

The Rand Corporation’s website, which has more public documentation and who also plays a large role in the making of classified documents for policy makers on the subject.

The nonprofit archive.org free online library

2) It Could Happen Here - A podcast from 2019 by Robert Evans, who has a background in investigative journalism on the conflicts in Iraq and Syria and Ukraine among others, exploring the possibility of a Second American Civil War, what might cause it and how it could be prevented. Though he is rather open about his own leftist bias he does not shy away from addressing the valid grievances rural America might have with the government as well as areas where the true left of America and rural conservatives might share some surprising common ground.

3) Behind the Police - Another podcast and a recent spinoff of “Behind the Bastards” that covers the history of American policing and how it has led to the often corrupt institutions we have today. Also hosted by Robert Evans and joined by the hip-hop artist Jason Petty aka Propaganda.

A few reminders of recent state violence

Tweeted video of the moment Donavan La Bella was shot in the head by a US Marshal

Tweeted video of the immediate aftermath (CW: profuse bleeding)

An update on Donavan La Bella’s condition (CW: distressing images) - “His mother, Desiree La Bella, previously said her son’s face and skull were fractured and that he underwent facial reconstructive surgery in the hours after the encounter. She said he had a tube in his skull to drain blood and had vision problems in one eye.” - the good news is the article says he’s recovering better than doctors expected.

Tweeted video of Navy veteran Chris David being struck with a baton by federal officers, breaking his hand, dubbed by some as “Captain Portland” after the viral video showed him taking the blows unflinching

A Newsweek article with an interview with Chris David - "I want to use my 15 minutes to put out a message to my fellow vets. I also want to use my 15 minutes to try to refocus this whole discussion back to Black Lives Matter as opposed to an old white guy who got beat up because I don't think I'm worth the attention, to be perfectly frank" - He states in the interview that he sought to confront the federal agents on their oath to the constitution when the beating happened, after hearing of the seemingly random arrests using unmarked rental vans.

NowThis News compilation of police violence against journalists from June 1st

Another NowThis News compilation of more police violence against journalists from June 3rd

Vice coverage of the protests in the wake of George Floyds death, posted on June 2nd. This includes a rather emotionally intense moment when the crew is assaulted by police with pepper spray and tear gas along with a small family who were attempting to protect their local business.

What Now? A Few Words of Advice

The times ahead are uncertain and fraught of dangers to say the least, but if we wish to avoid the worst we have to act. So, what do we do? Don’t just hope but organize, strategize, plan, and fight for the best, while preparing for the worst. At the very least and most simple take the advice from Beau’s videos and make your voice heard. Demand the government start following their own manuals and stop escalating tensions even further.

Yet distressingly enough, it seems unlikely that the onslaught of violent federal crackdowns will slow down anytime soon regardless of what we do. Preparedness seems more important now than ever, so here are a few basics. Try to get at least a month's worth of food if you haven’t already and still can. There are several sites for such things, such as Mountain House as one example, however much of this might be sold out or unaffordable so you might have to consider buying canned goods little by little as you can. Prepare a bug out bag, especially if you live in the city. There are countless tutorials and advice on this topic but try to stay focused on what you might need - things like a first aid kit, water, a filtered straw and other purification methods, a way to light a fire and cook, and so on. If you’re sane and responsible and wish to acquire a firearm for self defense if you haven’t already, and want to train but don’t want to have to involve yourself with the toxic conservative dominated gun culture, look into the SRA (Socialist Rifle Association) as they might be offering range days and training in your area.

But most importantly, start networking and organizing. No matter what comes to pass it will be imperative that we develop close ties with those within our communities which we can call upon not only to help try to prevent the worst, but also for protection should our worst fears become a reality. You might consider joining your local IWW if you’re an advocate for democratic unionization and workplace democracy like myself, or you might look into and maybe get into touch with folks like Mutual Aid Disaster Relief, and see if there’s any local to your area or what you might be able to learn from them. Regardless, try to find some group you at least somewhat fit in with and organize with them together.

A quick final note on my blog

I started this blog spontaneously on July 3rd hoping to ease my way into amateur blogging first and hopefully a career in journalism later, however current events have left me anxious of the future and uncertain of what new tragedies might lurk around the corner of tomorrow. I am however, highly privileged. I live at home in a rural town in the South Eastern US far away from the unrest with a supportive family who have at least for the time being a fairly secure income, and am currently unemployed, meaning that while I have no income of my own at the moment I do have a lot of free time, which I plan to spend much of on my amateur blogging pursuits. So if you want to see more blog posts like this in the future, give me a follow and consider turning on notifications and you’ll certainly be seeing more posts like this from me in the days ahead.

#portland #pdx #operation legend #trump #fascism #antifascism #antifa #police brutality #police state #blm #black lives matter #blacklivesmatter #civil unrest #protests

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searchingwardrobes · 5 years ago

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Start of Time: 1/?

Happy birthday, @teamhook ! You have been a faithful reader of my fics from long before I came over to tumblr, and I appreciate your support so much! As a matter of fact, you were the first one to encourage me to get a tumblr blog. Anyway, I hope you have a marvelous day, my friend.

You told me this Gabrielle Aplin song was one of your favorites that reminded you of CS, so I wanted to incorporate it into a fic. Then, just a few days ago I watched a Hallmark Christmas movie (yes, I’m already watching them, don’t judge) called a Christmas to Remember. It had Elle McKinnon in it, who played young Alice Jones on Once, and the whole thing gave me CS vibes. Then I realized the song really fit the movie’s plot, and this fic was born. Unlike the movie, however, this doesn’t happen at Christmas. I also couldn’t finish it in a one-shot, so here we go, another MC/WIP. It’s worth it for you though, @teamhook. I hope you enjoy it!

Many thanks to the CSRT discord chat for helping me brainstorm parts of this, especially @shireness-says for giving me the idea to make Emma part of a rock band. I was having a very difficult time coming up with a band name that hasn’t been used yet in the fandom, when the name of a band from my college came to mind - Wendy Sews it On. It suddenly hit me what that band name is a reference too, and I was giddy with excitement!

Summary: Killian and his son are driving through a bad snow storm when they find a disoriented woman walking down the road. The question is, how can they help her get home when she has no idea who she is?

Side note: Has anyone else written from the point of view of someone who can’t remember her name? Well it’s hard, ya’ll - lol!

Rating: T

Trigger warning: Alice Jones appears in this fic and both Alice and Henry are both Killian’s adopted children with Milah. Henry isn’t Emma’s. Positive past Millian. No Neal.

Words: about 2,500 in this chapter

Also on Ao3 and part of my Fandom Birthday Playlist

Tagging the usuals::@snowbellewells @kmomof4@jennjenn615 @kday426 @let-it-raines @teamhook@kmomof4 @bethacaciakay @profdanglaisstuff @resident-of-storybrooke @thislassishooked @tiganasummertree@whimsicallyenchantedrose @snidgetsafan @delirious-latenight-laughs @winterbaby89 @distant-rose@shireness-says @xhookswenchx @optomisticgirl @spartanguard @branlovestowrite @welllpthisishappening @stahlop @hollyethecurious

Oh today I’m just a drop of water and I’m running down the mountain side. Come tomorrow I’ll be in the ocean. I’ll be rising with the morning tide.

The road stretched before Emma’s tiny yellow bug, she was sure, for miles upon miles of the thick forests of northern Maine. Yet all she could see out her windshield was about a car’s length in front of her through the thick swirling snow. Her tires kept sliding on the slick roads, and more than once she had trouble keeping the car pointed in the right direction. It didn’t help that she was completely and utterly lost, her GPS losing signal at some point miles back.

Emma cursed rural Maine, cursed the snow, and even cursed Regina for suggesting this week of r&r to begin with. A cabin with all the amenities next to a spa sounded like heaven. Or maybe anything secluded sounded like heaven - a place to get her head on right again, maybe even write a new song.

She just wasn’t sure it would be a love song like Regina and the record label was hoping for. She added Walsh to her list of stuff to curse.

Her headlights, for a brief moment, illuminated a sign up ahead: “Welcome to Storybrooke.” She cursed again as she squinted down at her phone which still mocked her with the little swirling icon and the word “buffering.”

“Come on,” she muttered. She started to type in “Misthaven Resort and Spa” again, glancing from her phone screen to the road and back again. She knew it was dangerous to use her phone while driving, especially in weather like this, but if she didn’t figure out where the hell she was, she might run out of gas and die out here in the snow anyway.

It was a cost benefit analysis, really.

God, she needed to start spending time with people besides Regina and Walsh. She hadn’t even seen her former bandmates since this solo career train had catapulted out of the station.

Anna would have loved that mixed metaphor. It was the kind of line Emma’s red-headed, bubbly, almost little sister would have put into a song. Like the Beatles, every member of Wendy Sewed it On wrote songs for the band. Anna’s were quirky and upbeat, Elsa’s were soaring, epic ballads, Ruby’s were tongue in cheek and driving.

And Emma . . . well, fans said her songs were sad and haunting, but deep. Wendy Sewed it On had their biggest hits with Emma’s songs, even though it was Elsa who belted them out. Being all alone on that stage, laying her soul bare with those lyrics . . .

Emma’s thoughts were cut off and a scream flew out of her mouth as a wolf bounded onto the road in front of her. It was all a blur after that: breaking glass, her continuing screams, pine trees surrounding her on all sides as she plowed off the road and down an embankment of snow.

There’s a ghost upon the moor tonight. Now it’s in our house. When you walked into the room just then it’s like the sun came out.

A severe winter storm warning has been issued for central Aroostook County. Visibility will be extremely low, roads impass-

Killian switched off the radio in his pickup, not wanting to alarm Henry. His windshield wipers were on the highest setting, his lights on bright, and for now, he could still make out the road far enough ahead of them that he was fairly confident they would get home long before the storm reached its peak. Part of him was second guessing bringing a ten year old along on this call, but Henry had been so excited at the prospect of helping deliver the foal at the Nolan farm.

“Dad,” Henry said, picking at the aluminum foil Mary Margaret had used to wrap up a plate of her famous chocolate chip cookies, “why doesn’t Uncle David work with you anymore?”

“Well, he and Mary Margaret had been saving up for years to buy that farm. I always knew horses were his dream, not the animal shelter.” He glanced from the road to grin at his son. “And you’re dying to have one of those cookies, aren’t you?”

Henry’s eyes widened. “How’d you know?”

Killian laughed. “I’ve been a dad for a decade now. I have a sixth sense.”

“So can I have one?”

“No, you have to share with Alice.”

“Aw man,” Henry pouted, but it was short lived. Both of his children were extremely curious and regularly peppered him with questions. “Why couldn’t Uncle David just deliver the foal himself? He knows animals.”

“Because it was breech - that means it was upside down inside the mother horse. David’s not a vet, so he called me.”

Henry arched his brows. “And they pay you in cookies?”

Killian chuckled again. “David and Mary Margaret, yes.”

“They are good cookies,” Henry agreed, taking a big whiff of the plate in his lap. “Maybe Alice wouldn’t mind if we - DAD!”

Killian saw the figure in the road at the same moment his son did, so before the word even left Henry’s lips, Killian was swerving to avoid the person. The roads were wet and slick enough to send his tires sliding, and if Killian didn’t have so much experience driving in such dangerous conditions, they may have ended up in the ditch. When the truck finally came to a stop, he turned first to Henry.

“Are you okay?” Killian asked him, running a hand nervously over the boy.

“Yeah,” Henry gasped, “I’m good.” The boy twisted around in his seat. “What was that?”

That was a good question. It had looked like a person, but who would be out in this weather? Unless they were in trouble. Killian quickly unbuckled his seatbelt.

“Stay here,” he instructed Henry, giving him a steely look lest his overly curious oldest child be tempted to disobey. Thankfully, Henry nodded, his face a mask of intensity.

After Killian exited the vehicle, he could clearly see a woman stumbling around in the middle of the road. He approached her cautiously, fully aware that a man appearing before the woman in the middle of the forest could be frightening to say the least.

“Are you okay?”

She turned then, and he could tell from the blank expression on her face that she was in shock. She had obviously experienced some sort of trauma, and his heart plummeted at the thought. He walked slowly closer. The woman was now turning in a circle, unsteady on her feet as if she might be inebriated. Her gaze was lifted to the tops of the trees, as if she were trying to make sense of her surroundings. When he was close enough, Killian reached out tentatively to rest his hand on her upper arm. She was wearing a red leather jacket; not the smartest choice of outerwear for snow like this.

“I’d like to help you,” he said in the same gentle voice he used on injured animals. “What are you doing out here?”

She blinked, as if trying to focus on his face. Her skin was almost alabaster, her hair completely coated in a layer of snow, and he wondered how long she’d been out here in the elements. He shrugged out of his coat and draped it over her shoulders. She looked down at it, almost in confusion. When she did, he noticed the blood matting the top of her head.

“You’re hurt,” he whispered.

“I - am?” she whispered back.

He smiled, relieved to hear her voice finally. “Aye, you have a rather nasty gash on your head there. Were you in an accident?”

“Was I?” her voice sounded thready and far away as she reached a trembling hand up to touch her head. “Ow, that hurts,” she gasped. Yet she kept patting at the wound frantically.

“I’m not surprised, so let’s stop touching it shall we?” he took her slender, ice cold hand in his to still her nervous movements. “What’s your name? Can I call someone for you?”

“I . . . I . . . “ she began to sway as her words turned to incoherent mutterings, then she crumpled against Killian’s chest. He scooped her up in his arms, turning his gaze nervously to the sky as the snow fell in fat, thick flakes. He followed the tail lights back to the truck. He had no choice but to take the mysterious woman home with him before the storm got worse.

**********************************************************

She awoke in a strange bed in a strange room with a strange little girl staring at her. She hurt everywhere, but her head especially throbbed with a sharp, jabbing pain. The sunlight pouring through the window made her wince, and the image of the little girl sitting at the end of the bed went fuzzy.

“This is my room,” the child told her, “but you can use it until you get better.”

She looked around her, evidence of a child everywhere from the dollhouse in the corner to the childish artwork tacked all over the walls. What was she doing here?

“My name is Alice,” the girl continued, bouncing on the bed a bit, making its injured occupant wince. “I’m seven. How old are you?”

“Alice,” another voice gently rebuked from the doorway, “let our patient rest, please.”

“Okay, daddy,” the little girl sighed, but obeyed, skipping out of the room.

A man drew closer to the bed, and her heart thudded wildly in her chest, the urge to flee overwhelming. He lifted both hands, slowing his approach, a gentle look in his eyes. It didn’t help - she didn’t know this man or where she was.

“I’m not going to hurt you,” he said gently.

“Where am I?”

“You’re in my family’s home,” he explained, “my name is Killian Jones and my son and I found you wandering in the road. We’re in the midst of a bad storm, so I had no choice but to bring you here.”

She had never been so confused in her life, and she let her head fall back on the pillow. A sharp pain caused her to cry out, and she reached up to find a bandage on the top of her head.

“What happened to me?”

“Well,” Killian told her patiently, “you had a gash on your head and some other cuts and bruises. I bandaged you up.”

“You’re a doctor?”

He smiled, and despite the situation, she found it charming. “A vet, but the principles are largely the same. Nevertheless, I’ve called the town doctor and he’ll be coming out once the roads are cleared.”

“The roads?”

“We’re snowed in.”

She moaned. Tears pricked at the corners of her eyes, and shame washed over her. She couldn’t let this stranger see her cry.

“Listen,” he said softly, “you were hurt and wandering around. Do you remember what happened?”

She lifted both hands to cover her face. “No, I have no idea where I am or how I got here.”

“Well, how about your name? Let’s start there.”

“My name is -” Suddenly, her chest tightened and she couldn’t breathe. The room was spinning. “Oh my God. I don’t know! I don’t know my name!”

“Shhh, shhh, it’s okay,” Killian soothed, laying a hand tentatively on her shoulder, “you hit your head, so it’s understandable. I’m sure it will all come back to you soon.”

How could he be so damn calm? She didn’t know who she was!

“I . . . I . . . “ she looked down at herself and saw a pajama top covered in pink roses, “I’m in pajamas.”

The man smiled again in that way that made her heart flip like a damn teenager. “And you look good in them, so that’s a win.”

“I hate pink,” she said with a wrinkle of her nose. “And flowery shirts.”

Killian’s eyebrows quirked up. They were quite expressive, she noticed. “Well there you go, you remember that!”

“Wait,” she said, narrowing her eyes at him, “how did I get into pajamas?” Surely she wasn’t wandering the road in her pjs.

His eyes grew large and he lifted both hands in a defensive gesture. “It wasn’t me! My friend Mary Margaret did that. She’s a volunteer down at the hospital.”

“I helped!” Alice called out, popping up from the foot of the bed. “Cause I want to be a nurse. Or an artist. Or a pilot.”

“Alice Milah Jones,” her father scolded, “I thought I told you to give our patient some peace and quiet?”

“Sorry, Daddy.”

Killian looked back at her, his brow furrowed with concern. “Is there anything I can do for you in the meantime? Anything I can get you?”

She bit down on her lip, those damn tears threatening to spill over again. “No. I think I just want to go back to sleep.”

He frowned, the pity on his face clear. She hated pity. How did she know that? And that she hated pink? And flowered shirts? But not her own damn name?

“Okay,” he told her softly, patting her foot gently through the down comforter on the bed. He was handsome too, she noted. Dark hair, a strong jaw covered in nicely trimmed scruff, bright blue eyes tinged with a bit of sadness that somehow made them more piercing. Suddenly, taking him in from head to toe and thinking of quirky but sweet little Alice, she was sure that she was in a safe place. How she knew she wasn’t sure, but it settled deep within her and took root.

Killian left, closing the door silently behind him. She slid beneath the warm blankets as her eyes fluttered closed. She dreamed of snow and blue eyes and strong arms but not of who she was or where she came from.

#cs ff #cs modern au #amnesia #snowed in #fandom birthday playlist #start of time #for teamhook #on her birthday

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slaygentford · 5 years ago

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5 shows meme

thanks @thegeminisage for starting this so that I can uhhhh procrastinate and thanks @tomasortega for reminding me

rules: pick 5 shows, then answer the following questions, don’t cheat. tag 10 (or however many) people.

succession

g*t

rome hbo

nbc kings

literally can't think of anything except outlander.

who is your favorite character in 2 (g*t)? none of them. this show sucks. actually wait oberyn because he was played by mister pedro and he died too soon for anyone to fuck him over

who is your least favorite character in 1 (succession)? stewie... he’s so annoying and his name is stewie

what is your favorite episode of 4 (nbc kings)? PILOT PILOT PILOT PILOT that's the most ambitious network pilot ive ever seen

what is your favorite season of 5 (outlander)? none of them. I wish I could wipe this show off the face of the earth. I wish I could step thru the stones and kill Diana gabaldon. if I had to pick it would be the s1 ONLY. for the s1 theme music. which is on my Sansa Stark playlist.

who is your favorite couple in 3 (Rome hbo)? nobody @ me but ABSOLUTELY Livia and Octavian? their instant compatibility and recognition scene when they first meet stuck with me so much

who is your favorite couple in 2 (g*t)? starting to wonder why I put g*t on here actually is it too late to change my responses. theon/sansa had me going there for a min tho

what is your favorite episode of 1 (succession)? both season finales are phenom but honestly the one with the dinner party where Logan makes the 3 men he suspects of treason crawl on the floor and oink like pigs and the writer said he took inspiration from Stalin’s dinner parties where he’d get his generals drunk and extract blackmail material........ fuck. close second is the Kendall suicide wall ep

what is your favorite episode of 5 (outlander)? honestly the only part of this show I could stand was KING Tobias Menzies switching effortlessly between blackjack Randall and what’s his name her first husband. Tobias Menzies hive STAY WINNING

what is your favorite season of 2 (g*t) ? season one was genuinely such good television and the construction of the pilot in particular is bomb.... this being said there does exist the original, pre-doctored pilot which was so bad they recast almost everyone and completely rewrote it. and I will say that is something I would like to see.

how long have you watched 1 (succession)? I TRIED to watch it when it began and couldn’t stand it but once I was able to get into it I watched it all in like 2 weeks.... as you all witnessed

how did you become interested in 3 (Rome hbo)? its the only tv show about the ancient world that isn’t Spartacus

who is your favorite actor in 4 (nbc kings)? motherrfuckin Ian mcshane babey

which do you prefer, 1 (succession), 2 (g*t), or 5 (outlander)? this is literally a joke question obviously succession

which show have you seen more episodes of, 1 (succession) or 3 (Rome hbo )? they both have I think 20-23 episodes but I've rewatched Rome at LEAST four times and succession only once

if you could be anyone from 4 (nbc kings), who would you be? OBVIOUSLY farm boy David coming to the big city and being drawn into a sexy evil family

would a crossover between 3 (Rome hbo) and 4 (nbc kings) work? actually almost yes bc nbc kings is in a speculative biblical future and Rome hbo is in a speculative, narrowly pre-biblical past..... I Would Like To See It gif

pair two characters in 1 (succession) who would make an unlikely but strangely okay couple? LMAO ROMULUS/GERRI ALREADY EXISTS.....

overall, which show has the better storyline, 3 (Rome hbo) or 5 (outlander)? I can’t believe I'm about to say this either but s2 of Rome was such a shitshow pacing wise and outlander is much more consistently written...............like they know their demographic and take their time and I can’t fault them that........

which has the better theme music, 2 (g*t) or 4 (nbc kings)? KING ramin vs Chopin? fuck off I can’t make that choice...... actually I can. king ramin

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jdiep95 · 5 years ago

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Mariah Carey: Top 10 Remixes

In continuation of celebrating Mariah season, and “All I Want For Christmas Is You” finally becoming a #1 single, I am sharing with you my “Top” lists of MC songs every Monday and Tuesday up until the 25th. After talking about the Top 10 Most Iconic Mariah Carey songs, it’s time to move on to the Top 10 MC Remixes. Come back next Monday for the Top 10 Underrated MC Bops. All songs mentioned these lists can be found on streaming services (e.g. Spotify, Apple Music). That means deeper cuts, but fan favourites, like the “Someday (New 7” Straight)” remix, the “Never Too Far/Hero” medley, and “H.A.T.E.U.” remix ft. OJ da Juiceman, which aren’t available, aren’t included; the aforementioned remixes are, however, available on YouTube, and they definitely deserve a listen.

You’ve listened to remixes where they’ve brought in a guest rapper, something that Mariah popularized in 1995 as you’ll see below. You’ve also listened to remixes where they’ve brought in a featured singer, something that Mariah had also done in 2000, when she re-released the “Against All Odds (Take A Look at Me Now)” single with Westlife. But you’ve never heard a remix until you’ve heard a MC remix. Somehow we’ve gotten the perception that Mariah is lazy because she doesn’t perform the choreo or doesn’t sing the song — point them in this direction. Up until the 2010s, Mariah insisted doing remixes her way. She’s not just pulling in DJs, or rappers, or featured singers to do all the heavy lifting in remixes, Mariah incorporates new elements, sometimes practically changing up the genre of the song. And she re-records, sometimes new vocals, sometimes the entire track.

Is the list TL;DR? No worries. I compiled each list into a respective playlist, starting from No. 10 and ending at No. 1, so you get to listen to the Top 10 MC Remixes while on the go.

https://open.spotify.com/user/jdiep95/playlist/6UfiZPeq4yA1fq4i87CUwq?si=iHpF9-BAThW8m26GKSKyiA

10. A No No ft. Shawni

Year: 2019

“A No No” is an underrated bop off of Mariah’s most recent studio album, Caution. Caution, like many of Mariah’s comeback, is a testament that she’s still got it; however, unlike the couple of albums before it, Mariah ditches most of the post-production, and delivers one of her strongest albums. “A No No” uses a sped-up sample of Lil’ Kim’s "Crush on You”, with the original mix using excerpts of Biggie’s rap. The remix featuring Shawni drops Biggie’s rap. This isn’t the first time Mariah opted for a female rapper for the remix: In 1999 for the “Heartbreaker” remix, MC dropped Jay-Z for Da Brat and Missy Elliot. “A No No” is a feminist song about cutting off liars and cheaters, and enjoying the single life; Shawni’s contributions add to the latter, admitting: “To all my exes need to tell you that I’m sorry/That I didn’t leave you sooner/I settle for less, and that is exactly what I been getting.” This remix isn’t perfect — the melody and the structure remains the same, and Mariah only records a couple of additional inflections. The best part about this remix, that’s absent from the original mix, is the addition of a series of ascending melismatic whistles near the end. You can’t help but feel like something’s missing from the original mix, and MC lets you know it in the remix.

9. Fantasy (Bad Boy Fantasy Remix) ft. O.D.B., Sean “Puffy” Combs

Year: 1995

Why the “Bad Boy Fantasy Remix” is so iconic was already discussed in the Top 10 Most Iconic list: It introduced the featured rapper formula to pop music, and paved the road for its successors like Beyoncé’s “Crazy in Love” or Rihanna’s “Umbrella”, both of which features Jay-Z. The remix features rapper O.D.B., who, by the time the remix was released, had started a solo career separate from the Wu-Tang Clan. The release of the "Fantasy" remix is entrenched in racial politics. Columbia Records and Sony Music feared the inclusion of O.D.B. would jeopardize the squeaky clean, family-friendly, racially-ambiguous image they had built for Mariah. In the remix, a lot of the pop production is stripped away, leaving the bass beat as the foundation of the song; Mariah sings on top of this. "Fantasy" sampled “Genius of Love” by the Tom Tom Club, and in the remix, the sample is echoed in the bass beat. The bridge of the original mix, which also samples “Genius of Love”, became the remix’s chorus. The structure changed, and “Fantasy” itself became slinkier, less saccharine. The producer, Sean Combs, better known as P. Diddy, recalled working with O.D.B. all through the night to record the rap; O.D.B recorded sentences at a time, whenever the inspiration hit, or whenever he was awake. Regardless, Mariah’s insistence to collaborate with O.D.B, and to release the remix was an industry-changing move.

8. Honey (So So Def Remix) ft. Da Brat, Jermaine Dupri

Year: 1997

The “Fantasy” remix, despite it being iconic and timeless, was mostly work in post, especially trying to piece together O.D.B.’s individual recordings to form an actual rap. The So So Def remix of “Honey” was a completely different affair with the song reworked and re-recorded. The bass line of the original mix of “Honey” samples “The Body Rock” by the Treacherous Three, while the tinkling piano line uses a sample of “Hey DJ” by the World’s Famous Supreme Team. The So So Def Remix foregoes “The Body Rock” sample, and also samples a different excerpt from “Hey DJ”. The accompaniment itself sounds like a midi file off of a video game, but it’s actually the hook from the Jackson’s 5 “It’s Great to Be Here”, Mariah’s first time sampling a another pop song. This “Honey” remix is a novelty. As a critic, you would expect another dance remix or something that really leans into the hip-hop, and instead you receive a feat that reduces the original dance track to 8-bit music with MC’s vocals as the main attraction.

7. My All (Classic Club Remix)

Year: 1998

Have you seen Dreamgirls? In the stage performance, Effie sings “One Night Only” and it shifts immediately into the disco version sung by Deena. I imagine the remix of “My All” draws inspiration from that, especially when they chorus starts chanting, “Just one more night.” In the Classic Club Remix, MC sings on top of a dance beat but it’s a slow burn before it becomes that full on club anthem. The remix isn’t completely re-recorded; it’s her original recording that’s fixed on top of the dance track produced by David Morales, but it’s the last five minutes that she adds on new elements, and finishes out with new vocals, a solo for the latin guitars, and a chorus. Sam Smith might be able to sing any dance song as a ballad, but Mariah is the master of rewriting any torch song into an upbeat track. Try not dancing when Mariah starts going off with the “Feel your body”’s.

6. Through the Rain ft. Kelly Price, Joe

Year: 2002

“Through the Rain” is Mariah’s first comeback single. It hails from Charmbracelet, Mariah’s comeback album after the entire Glitter fiasco. It’s Mariah’s first leading single that failed to crack the Top 5, even “Loverboy” off of Glitter peaked at #2. The inspirational track, which encourages the audience that they will “Make it through the rain”, stalled at #81. The original mix is a slow R&B ballad, one that even I rarely listen to since I almost always opt for the live version she performed at MTV Presents. The remix is more upbeat as a result of changes lyrically and melodically, and by infusing gospel elements, there’s more of a sense of hope than in the original mix. “Through the Rain” didn’t chart well, so why does this remix rank so high among the other remixes? A decade and a half before Kanye decided to bring everyone to church, Mariah brought her listeners to church instead of the club with this remix. For a remix, the sound was new and gutsy, especially for a song that didn’t fair too well, granted she did also release a dance remix. With the remix, MC proved that a song didn’t have to be wildly popular for her to breath new life into it.

5. Unforgettable (Acoustic) ft. Mariah Carey, Swae Lee

Year: 2017

You might be quick to catch that "Unforgettable” is actually a French Montana song, but you might be less familiar with this Mariah Carey remix. The inclusion of MC on this track, and the decision to replace the track with a guitar makes it sound more like a R&B-inspired country song with a rap section than it does dancehall; nonetheless, the remix is incredibly cross-genre. Chances are French Montana didn’t re-record his lines, which is standard, but then some very stylistic choices were made that makes the remix sound like a Mariah duet rather than a MC-guest appearance. These decisions, however, may not exactly be MC-mandated, so let’s talk about two things that were within her control: (1) MC sings throughout the entire track. She doesn’t appear for just one verse then disappears; she injects herself throughout the song by harmonizing with French Montana. (2) MC brings her whistle notes. MC fans stan Mariah’s whistle notes for one very good reason: Mariah uses them with much musicality. It’s less of a garnish where MC goes, “Hey, look, I did that!” because we know she can do those whistle notes. In the “Unforgettable” remix, MC uses her whistles as a base, a broth if you may; in this way, her high notes are instrumental, and she strings them together in a series of legato to create the backing track for which French and her sings on. Mariah’s contribution to this song really makes it ever more unforgettable.

4. We Belong Together ft. Jadakiss, Styles P

Year: 2005

Kelefa Sanneh, a former music music critic for The New York Times, called the “We Belong Together” remix “springier”; I had to quote him because there’s no better way of putting it. The original mix is tear-jerking, but the remix has a bounce to it that captures the hip-hop vibe that MC was looking for. The remix gets pretty close to demonstrating what a perfect balance looks like, and inevitably Mariah sometimes misses the mark — remixes sometimes reduce Mariah to the featured artist, despite it being a Mariah song. She sings along while Jadakiss and Styles P trade lines, emphasizing certain phrases. The remix continues to sample Bobby Womack’s “If You Think You’re Lonely Now”, and uses a longer lyric sample from “Two Occasions” by The Deele. On this list, we’ve seen MC skillfully use instrumental samples, but she is masterful in picking lyrical samples as well. The “Two Occasions" sample, “I only think of you on two occasions/That’s day and night”, contributes to the message of yearning in “We Belong Together”, making it fit perfectly with the mood and the scheme of the song. MC finishes the remix in a way only she could, by showcasing a series of vocal acrobats for the last minute-and-a-half of the song.

3. Always Be My Baby (Mr. Dupri Mix) ft. Da Brat, Xscape

Year: 1996

I know diehard fans prefer Mariah’s Butterfly era, where you had songs like “Honey” and “My All”, but my favourite would still have to be the Daydream era, when MC decided to gift the world with “Fantasy” and “Always Be My Baby”. The Daydream era featured prime Mariah vocals, amazing album cuts, and two of Mariah’s coolest remixes to date. Both the “Fantasy” and “Always Be My Baby” remixes are timeless; the former is so stripped down, but it is the latter that we really need to talk about. It’s timeless in such a sophisticated way that’s so rarely seen in pop music. Don’t agree? But Mariah seems to agree. In the Caution World Tour, Mariah’s most recent tour, she performed this remix instead, when “Always Be My Baby” had almost always been performed unaltered in the original mix. The foundation of the Mr. Dupri Mix samples “Tell Me If You Still Care” by the SOS Band, a slow jam itself which gives the remix its sleek, quiet storm sound that was so popular in the 1980s. MC is an understated music genius: She takes a page from TLC, who had just released their critically-acclaimed hip-hop album CrazySexyCool the year before, by recruiting a female rapper, Da Brat for the remix; this marks the first time MC collaborated with a female rapper. And the rap practically merges with the track; it’s neither out of place nor distracting as Mariah riffs while Da Brat raps. She also melds two supposedly conflicting genres, since younger Black audiences had shifted their attention from quiet storm to hip hop since the beginning of the ‘90s. Whereas the “Fantasy” remix had almost no re-recorded vocals, the “Always Be My Baby” remix received an almost complete makeover, save the melody. Mariah really thins out her voice for the remix and introduces her airy whisper, something she’ll really master in her subsequent albums, which gives a new feeling to the happy-go-lucky vibe on the original mix. The remix is more mature, reflecting Mariah’s real-life desire to bridge pop, R&B and hip-hop.

2. All I Want For Christmas Is You (So So Def Remix)

Year: 2000

As we’ve seen in the Top 10 Most Iconic list, Mariah has released several versions of “All I Want For Christmas Is You”. Certainly, the original mix reigns supreme, but the So So Def Remix comes awfully close, and I will argue that none of MC’s other versions or any other cover of this song, ballad, acoustic or otherwise, comes close to this remix. You might have heard the disconnected intro and skipped the rest of the song, which meant you missed Mariah and producer Jermaine Dupri reworking the song in ways no one else can. The So So Def Remix is an extremely smooth R&B and hip-hop remix, and although this is nothing out of the ordinary for MC, it’s such a smart remix because it’s a Christmas song for anyone who’s tired of listening to Christmas songs; essentially it’s an escape from the original mix. This remix has as much spring as the “We Belong Together” remix, but this bounce is a result of sampling “Planet Rock” by Afrika Bambaataa & the Soulsonic Force. The whistle notes that are seen in the main melody of later versions derives from this remix, and arguably, the whistle notes in the remix’s successors are nowhere as melismatic. You can’t beat a Mariah original, but you also can’t beat a Mariah remix.

1. Anytime You Need A Friend (C&C Club Version)

Year: 1994

“Anytime You Need A Friend” is a deeper cut itself off of Mariah's best selling album Music Box. It’s Mariah’s first US single not to enter the Top 10, peaking at #12. It’s equal parts a love song and a song of encouragement, especially the remix. The original mix of “Anytime You Need A Friend” is a slow ballad, at least “My All” had something sexy about it, so you wouldn’t except Mariah, and producers David Cole and Robert Clivillés to be able to work it into a dance track so well. But without a doubt, it is definitively Mariah’s best remix. The 10 minute song is essentially an abridged version of Mariah’s résumé; you get a glimpse at everything from Mariah’s vocal talents to her songwriting abilities to her musicality. “Anytime You Need A Friend” is a torch song that’s been repackaged with a pounding dance beat. Even if it's from 1994, there’s a certain timelessness to it. Another great thing about most of MC’s remixes is that it doesn’t cut the song short; in the C&C Club Version, the entire song is there. Mariah reworks the part of the original melody, but it’s the last six minutes of the remix, when Mariah goes off, where you can really observe how well she knows music. Can you write this down on sheet music? Or was it improv? To me, the last six minutes was literally a playground for MC to do her thing, whatever she wants. There’s no guest singer or featured rapper, just Mariah. But then this allows her to do something she’s almost never done before or since. At the eight minute mark, the remix enters a jazz breakdown, and Mariah scats, dipping into her lows, belting, and hitting those whistle notes. Simply, this remix is remarkable and breathtaking.

Timelessness is the key word here with MC’s remixes. You may think that the incorporation of samples would date these remixes significantly, but personally it does it complete opposite. Mariah’s remixes transcends eras because of the use of samples. Not only are her remixes cross-genre, they’re also cross-generational. Mariah doesn’t just push out remixes and waits to capitalize on them. If you’re looking for a place to find Mariah’s artistry, look no further than her remixes. She adds new elements and new life to the songs, rewrites them, reworks them, re-records them. Who’s done this recently? In the last twenty years, which artist has consistently given their remixes this kind of treatment?

#mariah carey #all i want for christmas is you #merry christmas #spotify #song list #playlist #remixes

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