#and edwin does not help

[moonafalke]

*gently pushes my "Charles is colorblind and messes up left and right (maybe as a leftie forced to write with his right hand as a kid) (he will never admit it tho hence the 'which left' while he tries to figure what left even is)" agenda*

[idliketobeatree]

dissecting charles like a frog in biology 101 for the startlingly quick and defensive, almost fearful way he says "nah they're just best mates" when ritchie suggested brad and hunter were secret gay lovers. now i wonder what thoughts has charles rowland been trying to safely tuck away in the back of his head for the past 30 years, with a label to examine: never

[alltimefail]

As someone who lived in a home where it was not safe to be queer but their first love was their same-sex best friend, I really cannot emphasize the importance of characters like Charles Rowland enough. As someone who deals with shame from years of self-hate, repression, happy-masking, and being called a "Token ally" by even my queer friends while feeling wrong wrong wrong about it, and being the kind of person who just didn't "Look queer enough" or whatever the fuck arbitrary, exclusionist rhetoric people would casually hurl about, I just really can't believe we have a character like him.

He's complex and deeply scarred and I've never cared about a character like this before. I've never felt so "Seen." I can't wait to save this show because seeing him heal will be like a balm on my heart. His character arc is completely unique and handled with such care that it brings tears to my eyes.

That's all. I am just so deeply thankful for & emotional about Charles Rowland tonight.

[sthilarions]

On the one hand yes making Charles relive his trauma was a dick move and also she was an antagonist for nearly the whole season, but I don’t think we give the Night Nurse enough credit for going “no hard feelings about beating the heck out of me and feeding me to a giant fish”

I mean, she was fine, yes. But a) Charles didn’t mean for her to be, that was fully a murder attempt and more importantly b) her being fine wasn’t a foregone conclusion even from her point of view. As far as I can tell if Kashi hadn’t happened to be there she would have spent the next few hundred years stuck in the belly of a fish, which is fucked up, tbh.

But she gets out and finds them and is basically just like “no worries about the fish thing, let’s get you on to Heaven, spit spot” and then when she realizes things are hinky and not going as planned she does Charles a FAVOR. And not a small one! One that could probably get her in a lot of trouble! One that puts her and her life’s work in danger! Because Charles asked her to and Charles looks very polite! When her only previous interaction with him was him attempting her premeditated murder!

Like. It’s no wonder Charles immediately assigns her a semi-affectionate nickname even though by all rights he should want to murder her again for trying to take Edwin to Hell. She’s possibly the first authority figure that not only wants the best for him, he actively and deliberately harmed her and she STILL wants the best for him.

[minnaeatsbread]

thinking about the fact that the WW1 ghost in ep 1 represents a possible future for Edwin if he hadn't died and the fact that Hope Devlin represents a possible future for Charles if he hadn't died.

[niko-sasaki-dbd]

something something I love so much to think about charles knowing every detail of edwin's body language and not just that, but also about the things edwin does to stim or ground himself, and never questioning those little habits or rituals and just getting along with it, until it becomes normality for them both.

[lesbicosmos]

a concept: edwin and niko are the only ones in the office. whilst edwin finishes up some case notes, niko's just dancing around to pink pony club (bc she would LOVE chappell, come on). edwin gets distracted just watching her fondly, and after several minutes of beckoning edwin eventually gives in and joins her

charles and crystal walk in a few minutes later and crystal is shocked because she's never seen edwin quite so carefree. even charles has only seen him like that a handful of times.

[panaceatthedisco]

I think my favorite thing about the dead boy detectives is that while these boys are absolutely running from Death, she sure as hell ain't chasing them

[cointalks]

Can crows feel love the same way humans do, does Monty know what happened to him? Or can he not fully understand the weight of what he has been through because of how much more complex human emotions and reactions are than those of a little bird? Does Monty know that he loved someone.. does he know I love him? :(

[pinkandorangesky]

So we've seen edwin knit (while disguised as a woman), but in that scene he's actually wearing a crocheted scarf

AND in her room niko actually has some crochet plants as decoration. So. Headcanon that they both crochet together while watching scooby doo and exchange patterns (in reality i think niko would be more of an amigurumi/decoration type of crocheter whereas edwin is a pro at granny square and granny hexagon patterns, and also their crochet techniques are probably completely different BUT they're both too nice to the other to reject the other's patterns, even if they realistically are never gonna make them)

Edwin also tries to teach niko how to knit but she can't wrap her head around it. Crystal gives it a try and she's inexplicably great at it despite never having tried it before in her life, gaining a spot in the Fiber Arts While Watching Scooby Doo Club.

Charles can only finger knit but he's great at making friendships bracelets (the yarn ones, he can make some pretty complex patterns, actually) so ofc he's part of the club too.

[thecatwinking]

catwin meet-cute except its a 'ghost boys but not detectives!' AU where charles and edwin ended up inexplicably working in (read: using the materials of) a craft store to try and bring some more artistic joy to their lives-after-death (sparked by a recently met Crystal telling them they need to be more rounded and no, edwin, spending your entire afterlife in a library wont solve the problem of you being completely ignorant towards every art and creative subject there is beyond literature).

edwin and his thick knitting needles and soft, cozy balls of yarn, bundled up near the window in a scarf and a thick wollen jumper, attracts the attention of a sleepy cat king, drowsy after a day of negotiating territories with a neighbouring cat ruler. surely the pretty boy with a soft bed of yarn on his lap wouldnt object to a feline friend taking a nap with him in the calm atmosphere hes created?

[lunarsolar1]

Is my dbda brain rot too severe or why are they giving me Edwin, Crystal and Charles trio vibes?

Someone make an alive au where they dance to just dance

Niko is in the background dancing as well with the sprites and Monty

[edwinisms]

ohhhh how the urge to write fanfic compels me……..but the dread of writing two very distinct english voices with very distinct slang and patterns of speech repels me

[littlehollyleaf]

So. Those Dead Boy Detectives, huh?

[anxious-witch]

Sometimes I think about how Crystal is a voice for other girls/women throught entirety of S1. How she convinces Charles and Edwin they need to go save Becky Aspen, how she immediately notices something is wrong with Niko and insists they investigate and then puts herself in danger to get the sprites out of her without killing her, the way she says "you are telling me these women have been reliving the most painful moments of their life over and over again for 30 years?!" In the Devil's family episode, how she immediately believes and speaks out for Shelby, even before having concrete proof Brad and Hunter are assholes and has no issues arguing with Charles over it, how she sympathizes with Maren.

She speaks out and does her best to help all these women, because she herself felt helpless and alone. And one time she cannot do anything but watch as Niko dies, her anger at the injustice is so strong, she reaches out to Lilith through Esther and screams at a goddess. She, who has been scorned so many times, asks for nothing but for justice for all the little girls she couldn't save. For Niko.

Just. God, I love her so much and the fact that she is allowed to be both angry and kind at the same time and that her anger is often driven by the fact she is so kind at her core makes me kinda insane.

[gloomiedyke]

I find Crystal and Charles' relationship super interesting (relationship in general, I'm not really talking about shipping here).

Because on one hand-- she IS noticing things Edwin let go unspoken, and Charles DOES have some deep seated anger and grief.

But on the other hand, she is ABSOLUTELY projecting her own issues and traumas with violent men onto Charles. Like, he has some anger he hasn't dealt with, for sure, but he doesn't have Anger Issues in the way she claims. We never once see him him angrier than a situation calls for, in my opinion.

In the Devlin house, he's seeing a man brutally murder a woman and children. I ALSO would have tried to intervene.

With the Night Nurse, she had just mentally tortured both Charles and Crystal, and was threatening to essentially send Edwin back to Hell. Again, I for sure would have murdered her.

Charles is a generally fairly emotional guy, and extremely protective. But I truly don't think he has severe rage issues the way Crystal consistently insinuates, I think he has some unresolved issues and they trigger HER issues and she ends up projecting a lot.

Their friendship is fascinating to me because she's in this weird place of being both right and wrong when it comes to him, and giving a weird mixture of helpful and unhelpful advice.

And HE'S in this weird place of pinning a lot of his unresolved issues with being dead so young onto HER. As much as his death is better than his life was in many ways, as much as he's happy with Edwin and wouldn't change it-- he still died way too young and struggles with that in a way Edwin doesn't (Hell has a way of granting perspective, I think). And here's this living girl who can see him and can remind him what it's like to be alive and have a taste of what he might've done-- flirt and date and have a girlfriend.

So here are these two people who are genuinely friends, genuinely care about each other, and are partially right about each other-- while also being kind of hilariously wrong and projecting their own issues without realising.

Idk I don't think this makes a lot of sense I've just been thinking while bored at work and now I'm word-vomiting