#definitely thinking about it a Normal Amount…

[patchouii]

Sometimes I think of how Hannibal is often exclusively portrayed or referred to as the cannibal of the show in fandom, and that gets me thinking about Will’s own intense potential for pathological cannibalism. Will is a man who deals with “huge amounts of fear”, as Hannibal said to Jack after he first met him, and that fear is a result of his huge amounts of anger and self-repression. He is wrathful first and a lamb second, by his own design. He was fired from the police force for refusing to pull the trigger on a presumably violent suspect— he later tells Hannibal, shaky, still relative strangers, that killing GJ Hobbs felt “good and powerful.”

He knew what pulling that trigger would awaken. Hannibal asks him if he considers Hobbs his victim, and the answer is a resounding no— Hobbs, in Will’s mind, is “just dead.” Will seemed to deal with his dark urges and disconnection from a normal sense of empathy and feelings for others by isolating himself and allowing others to direct his life for him, stripping himself of control to neuter his dark potential. Even after realizing what Hannibal cooks his meal with, he has no issue coming over for dinner. Even an agent who was pretending at neutrality would likely have huge issues with that if they weren’t disinclined to morality and the intrinsic worth of life already. He licks his Randall-laden fork while staring Hannibal down, seductive. The meat, too, is “just dead”— and by his hands, at his will. He goes above and beyond whenever presented with any excuse, tearing Randall apart for his tableaux, biting out a chunk of Cordell’s cheek to counterbalance his complete loss of autonomy, drugged and restrained.

Will kills for the rush and the power he wields over others while Hannibal kills to make his art, to assert his power over creation. Will taunts people coldly for fun, he fantasizes about gore and bondage. He takes enjoyment in chasing Freddie and sacrificing Chilton, having vendettas against them both for lessening him. Killing his victims isn’t enough of an assertion of his own power and freedom, they have to be completely immobilized, hanging in empty space like shanks of meat. Randall’s suit was his true body as he saw it, Will strung his suit up with chains just as he suspended Chiyoh’s prisoner in ropes. Power and the lack of it are gravitational forces in Will’s life, and pathological cannibalism is notorious for being an ultimate expression of power, the base matter of the unfortunate victim feeding one’s own, allowing one life. Total victory through biological, animal subservience. Will is a fisherman, a dog trainer, a studier of insects. He understands the hierarchy of the food chain.

Bedelia confirms for Will that Hannibal aches for him out of love. Hannibal surrenders on his knees at Will’s rejection, unable to live a life without him. Whatever can pain the Devil and make him kneel to sacrifice his worldly kingdom is something twice as fearful. Will’s a cannibal by the dictionary definition, but so is nearly everyone in the show, ignorantly. What matters more here is that his mindset is already highly conductive to that of cannibalism. He has the same intense drive for claimation and reclamation of power as Hannibal.

[loveaudy]

“Then he kissed me” - C.K.

18+!!

(be nice its my first time 😞)

Clark is your shy and mysterious coworker and things get a little twisted when you get a little drunk at a retirement party. 2.4k words (yeesh)

You walked into your job — The Daily Planet — and were greeted by a very special announcement: Judy Scrittri — the executive editor — was retiring. You suddenly remember all the times the sweet old lady helped you and brightened your day.

Everyone was out of their seats celebrating her approach to a new chapter in her life.

Except Clark Kent.

He never speaks.

You are very curious about him — you are unsure why he never speaks. You wonder if he is just too shy or if there is something else.

You approach Clark with the intention of getting him out of his shell and joining everyone else and you tap him on the shoulder.

“Clark,” He looks up at you, pushes his glasses up, and clears his throat, “u-um.. yeah?”

You smile at his shyness. “Judy is throwing a retirement party tomorrow… and she wanted me to ask you if you wanted to come. So…?” You hand him an invitation.

He blushes and smiles a bit, “I’ll see you there,” he replies with a shaken voice. You swear you can see him mentally punching himself, so you reply “Yeah! I’ll see you there,” and turn away smiling.

The subtle blush on his face made you see your “shy coworker” in another light. You couldn’t stop thinking about him.

—THE PARTY ARRIVES—

You walk into the party venue wearing a jean skirt with a blue tank top that happens to compliment you perfectly. It was a step up from what you wore to work but not an outrageous step up — you were trying to subtly catch Clark’s eye.

You see Clark sitting on a chair alone. Like usual.

“Easy..” you think to yourself, “I just have to approach him.. no distractions,” you affirm… but you are unusually nervous. You decide that *hopefully* a drink will calm your nerves and give you your normal amount of confidence.

You walk to the bar and have a small drink, which is definitely enough to soothe your nerves — except… it doesn’t. When you look at him you still feel the same feeling that you felt when you were sober. “Shit,” you think, “Why didn’t that work..?” You grabbed another drink.

This cycle of drinking and looking at him nervously repeated around 3 more times before you got the courage to approach him. Only you were super, SUPER drunk.

You stumbled your way over to the couch that Clark was sitting on and you sat next to him — all while giving him the googly eyes…

“Hi-um Clark..” you slur,

He notices the state you are in and his eyebrows furrow, “U-uhm hi.. you okay..?” He asks with genuine concern.

“I’m perfect nnnow that you’re with me…” your eyes are slowly closing — you feel exhausted.

You lay on Clark’s shoulder as an effect of the alcohol. You just know that this is going to be so embarrassing when you finally sober up.

Clark is very panicked — he knows you are way too drunk and you can’t drive home safely.

He taps on your shoulder lightly, “hey..” he whispers, “you’ve gotta wake up…”

You slowly wake up and you look into his blue eyes. Despite the fact that they are cold, icy blue, you can see the genuine kindness behind them.

“Clark…” you mumble.

He looks super panicked. “Come with me.” He suddenly stands up and props you up and puts your arm over his shoulder, which looks unnatural due to the height difference.

He walks you out of the door trying his hardest to make you look sober — in hopes of not embarrassing you.

Once he gets to his car he sits you down in the passenger set and he walks over to the driver’s seat.

He taps on you again, “hey..” he says softly, “where do you live,” he asks.

You look at him drunkenly, and embarrassingly stumble over your words “I live uhm.. inna.. house… with like.. maybe eleven windows-“ you suddenly start giggling, “I don’t know how many windows I’m sorry..” You slump over to the window.

Clark doesn’t know what to say. He sits there for 5 minutes, contemplating, and he suddenly starts driving.

You immediately fall asleep in his car

—THE NEXT MORNING—

You wake up in an unfamiliar bed, feeling slightly groggy and disoriented. You look around the room in confusion, trying to find out where you are. And you spot a framed award on the wall that has the name “Clark Kent” on it.

“Oh no,” you think, “There is no way I slept with him… oh no..”

You step onto the floor to try to escape before he wakes up but your foot greets something else — something hard.. and slightly fleshy.

You look down and you see Clark sleeping on the floor — you accidentally scream.

Clark’s eyes slowly flutter open as he is awoken by your scream. “Jeez.. m’sorry for scarin ya..”

That is the most you have ever heard him speak.

“It’s fine.. why am I here-“ your horror from earlier returns “please don’t tell me that we-“

Clark interrupts you, “No.. no ma’am.. you were just super drunk from the party so I’d thought I might bring you home…”

You soften, “Really..? That’s very kind of you-“ The reality of what he said suddenly dawned on you. You were drunk at Judy’s retirement party..

“Fuck..” you mutter. He chuckles, “It’s okay… I got ya outta there before anyone noticed…”

You blush… and it’s noticeable… “Shit,” you curse to yourself…

He smiles and blushes too and pushes himself off the ground. “You have to be just a little hungover. Let me make you breakfast”

You want it — you really, really do. But you cannot accept it.

“Clark… no,”

“Please. It would be my pleasure.” He looks down at you with a begging expression.

You hesitate. “I- um.. I- I guess… thank you…”

He smiles and pushes his glasses back. You can’t help but notice that he wore his glasses to sleep. Weird…

You shyly stand in his kitchen watching him grab ingredients. “Hope you’re down for pancakes,” he announces. You love pancakes. “I love pancakes,” you tell him. “Thank you- err I mean- me too!” He nervously chuckles and he is obviously red.

You smile at his awkwardness. “I really don’t know you at all… it’s very kind what you are doing.”

He turns away. “Y-yeah, of course,” he clears his throat.

You stand there in silence for a moment. You interrupt the silence, “You know… you are pretty shy.” You blurt out accidentally. Shit. You hope you didn’t offend him

He chuckles softly, “I’m really not. Seriously.”

You don’t believe him. How come he acts so nervous all the time. “You really are. You are so nervous to talk to me, you don’t talk to anyone at work-“

“I’m not from here.” He says sternly.

“Well… where are you from?”

“Kry- err.. Kansas.” He stutters.

“Kansas… huh? Cool,” It gets awkward again.

A couple minutes pass and the pancakes are ready. “Pancakes!” He uttered. It was cute

Hands you a plate and you sit. The aroma of pancakes was amazing— you couldn’t wait to take a bite.

He sits down across from you. “Go ahead. D-dig in! Hah…”

Gosh he’s cute. You finally bite into your pancakes and they are the best things you have *probably* ever put in your mouth. But not for long.

“Mm… Clark-“ His eyes shoot up, “These are super good…”

Clark smirks. “Yeah? They aren’t too special… really…” He mumbles.

“Yes! Really, these are great. Anyway… I really want to know more about the cook… tell me about yourself,” You would soon regret saying that.

Three hours. He talked about his interests for three hours. You were sitting on his bedroom floor as he showed you his action figures and explained the lore behind every. single. one.

You were not interested in the action figures, no. You were interested in how his biceps slightly flexed under his shirt when he was pushing things around looking for the one special figure that he thought you just had to see.

He had broken out of his shell, alright. After one question.

You stare into his eyes for the first time since this action figure fiasco began; his words immediately stopped.

You guys sat there, staring at each other for thirty seconds, subconsciously leaning in. His breath had evidence of the half-finished pancakes from earlier but you couldn’t care less about how it smelled.

And then finally, you kissed.

The kiss was calm at first, but it slowly got hungrier. He placed one hand on your back and pulled you in closer, and he softly whimpers in your mouth.

His hand slowly moves down towards your ass, but his hand hesitates.

You pull back, “You can touch my butt… it’s okay” you say with a wide smile.

He clears his throat, “Oh- um… yeah…” He moves his hand down to the bottom of your ass and lifts you effortlessly onto his lap as his tongue speeds up, tasting you.

You whimper in his mouth as you subconsciously rock your hips slightly, enjoying the effect that he has on you. His kisses get messier as he mutters a “sorry” against your lips for accidentally biting your bottom lip. He slowly starts kissing down to your neck.

“Mm- Clark… don’t stop-“ You notice something growing in his pants.

“Clark.”

“Mmyeah?” He mutters against your neck.

“I can feel it… in your pants…”

He smirks. “Feel what?”

“You’re uh- um…”

“My..?” He says, in an expecting tone.

“Your cock.” You immediately turn red.

He smirks but his smirk immediately falters. “I-I’m sorry… this is really embarrassing… I’m sorry if you’re uncomfortable or anythin’…”

“No! No I’m really not uncomfortable!” You assure him. It’s true. You actually want him really bad. “I’d actually be… glad to take care of it for you… if you wanted…”

He immediately turns red. That is exactly what he wanted. “Yes! Err… if you really want to…” His voice trails off

“I do want to. Please let me.”

He smirks again and undoes his jeans. His cock is very visible through his white boxers.

You look down at his member and then into his eyes and back at his member again.

You slowly pull the waistband of his boxers down until he is completely exposed as he stifles whimpers.

You look up at him “What’s that about?” You innocently questionz

He turns red “I- um… well- I can’t really keep… quiet…” he looks down, ashamed.

“Don’t be ashamed. Most girls find it really hot. Including me.” You teasingly touch his member as lightly as you can and it drives him crazy.

“Agh- no no… I can’t do this… the teasing-“

You take this as a sign to continue teasing him.

You slowly trail your pinky nail down and up his cock, fueled by his noises and pleas.

“Agh- please please… just- mgh!”

You place the pad of your finger on his tip. “Clark.”

“Y-yeah?” His voice is unbelievably trembly.

“I want you. Really bad.” The confession lingers in the air for a couple seconds as you twirl your finger on his tip.

“Mgh- you know… it’s really hard to say no if you’re doing that…” He manages to get out. “But I’d say yes no matter what.” He lifts you up effortlessly and lightly tosses you on his bed.

You giggle as you fall on his bed.

“What’s funny?” He says through a smirk.

“Nothing.” You quickly say.

“Okay….” He starts rummaging through his drawer, frustrated.

“What’s up, Clark?”

“I can’t find no condoms…” He says, frustrated.

“Oh…” you bite your lip.

“I’ve gotta go to the corner store… “ He sighs.

“Okay… That’s okay… I can wait.” You try to hold back your desperate need for him.

He quickly pulls his jeans on and tries to conceal the evidence of his need in his pants and he walks out of the door.

You are extremely wet. “It couldn’t hurt to- no…” you contemplate fingering yourself for a second before actually doing it. You needed it so badly— but more importantly, you needed him. You finally climax at the thought of him entering you and you make a slight mess of his sheets. You hear him walk through the door accompanied by the rustling of a bag.

“I’m back! Hope you didn’t… go crazy without me or nothin…” he trails off again. He’s so cute.

He walks in the door to the sight of you exasperated on his sheets with slick fingers. He smirks. “You couldn’t wait?”

“No. I couldn’t. Try this,” you hold his jaw as he slowly opens his mouth, inviting your sticky fingers on his tongue. He moans.

“I can’t wait, baby… I need you now…” He quickly rolls on a condom and lines his tip to your entrance.

“I’m going to start slow… okay?” He whispers. You nod.

He slowly pushes himself into you, inch by inch, groaning as your warmth hugs him.

“I can’t hold back… are you okay baby? Tell me you’re okay.”

“I’m more than okay… please do what you need because I need it too…” you plead in desperation.

He slowly begins to rock into you, his whimpers and groans getting louder as he speeds up, hitting your spot that gets you closer and closer to climax— and then finally— you come, screaming his name.

“Ah shit— I can’t hold on with you screaming my name and stuff— agh…” He is starting to lose control.

When he finally lets go, you swear that the entirety of Metropolis heard him. He was unbelievably vocal.

You two laid in the memory of what you had done— and you both smiled. It felt right.

After silently tracing your finger on his chest for half an hour, you checked the time. “Shittt,” you thought as you remembered that you had a doctor’s appointment in an hour.

“Clark… this was great but I’ve gotta go…”

Clark nods. “Oh but I’ve gotta drive you to your car… at the party…”

You two get fully dressed and he drives you to the scene of the party and you say your goodbyes as you drive away.

— NEXT MONDAY—

You walk into work, excited to see Clark after the night you two had together.

When you get to your desk you see a container with half eaten pancakes inside with a sticky note reading “Sorry you couldn’t finish your pancakes (poorly drawn frowny face) let’s hang out again and you can tell me about yourself this time (poorly drawn smiley face),” you look over at Clark who is pretending to be focused on his work.

“See ya,” he says with a wink.

You would definitely be seeing him.

[wild-fleurs]

I feel like Comfrey could have written a note discrediting any of the wind riders just as easily as she did Monty

For her crew she seems to have picked people she can claim are less than her or created a situation where they feel indebted to her

She was clearly very famous in Garth & originally had a great reputation, writing books about her & her team would have been what got Monty noticed at first he needed her to gain fame

She taught Marya & gave her her dream & experience & captaincy/helped her & when it fell apart she saved Marya her letter would have read “I picked her up from the junk heap, nobody else saw any worth in her, I never should have made her captain, she didn’t have it in her” they would cut to her core definitely)

Notibly Ludmilla is considered Marya’s not connected to Comfrey from what I recall & she’s the one who’s picture is ripped out or cut out or destroyed in Comfrey’s office, maybe that’s meaningful somehow or an important thing to note

Comfrey absolutely has Van in her debt with not just her arm gadget/protective covering & in taking her to the sky from the sea saving her from the Chapman Curse (“she’d have died young at see like the rest of her family if it wasn’t for me, I’m the one who helped her with her armour protection she should be grateful” & really play on her stranger version of survivors guilt type of situation Van has going)

She thought she had Daisuke on lock because he was in love with her, he was, she wasn’t wrong to think he was in love with her & would do pretty much anything for her so I think she didn’t put in the effort she would normally to convincing him to go along with her plan which is why he didn’t, if she had put more effort in I think she could have convinced him to settle down or do whatever she wanted him to

Olethra has clearly survived on lore & occasionally visits bolstering her opinion of her amazing grandmother, I’ve always said anybody can be on their best behaviour for a small amount of time but they’ll eventually show you who they are if you spend enough time with them & keep an eye out for signs but short stint visits every few years would be easy to maintain her heroic persona to Olethra

She didn’t plan for Maxwell but I think even if she had knowing everybody thinks he’s so similar to his grandfather who she clearly cultivated a positive relationship with & used him for funding, I think she’d be confident she would know how to appeal to him because at first glance or accepting what Maxwell portrays to the world he would be easy to navigate (except he’s more complex than he comes across at first comes across as for sure)

I feel like she collects people she believes could be useful to her and who she thinks she has or could gain power over to force loyalty/further goals

Haunch followed her into Zood & clearly knew something or was involved in something dangerous given his death & she took crewmate Onion & set him up in a cushy office power plant job lol but for real these are the two the wind riders know she brought with her into Zood but for what purpose? Did they have skills or information she needed in Zood? Did they come willingly or did she have secrets on them to ensure their compliance?

Maybe I’m just thinking too much into it or connecting things that aren’t connected or assigning an underlying meaning Comfrey didn’t have at the time or now but also maybe I’m right & she’s going to be cashing in those favours/expecting that loyalty/using them going forward for whatever plan she has or for whatever she thinks she can get from them

I’m excited for whatever comes next

[inchidentally]

I may have been stalking a little sorry, but as someone who used to think landoscar were a flop (sorry again) I agree that landoscar lore just does not make the fandom rounds. At all. Edits/photos and fics, yes. But things like Oscar and Lando's grandma and Oscar playing with Lando and Ed aren't seen outside the landoscar tag. I didn't even know Max and Oscar were still such friends. It's kind of nice in a way that landoscar fandom doesn't blow this stuff up.

slafgaljf u do not need to apologize to me abt stalking - idk if this is to do w the weird rpf stuff cropping up on gossip pages or not so if I'm off base lmk

no fr the number of ppl I've had to give like a super quick primer to bc they assumed Lando and Oscar have nothing going on together outside the minute amount of PR McLaren has them do (compared to basically every teammate pairing era before them and before the great media dept gutting of 2024) and they're like well I never heard about all this and ??? I can understand why but also it's random to see a teammate friendship not packaged for fandom consumption and just jump to thinking it isn't real or is fake - like on camera chemistry and media popularity =/= a friendship's validity yk? landoscar don't post content of their downtime together and they don't do the bromance for fans and sponsors but that doesn't make anything fake or work-only. if anything it means the time they do spend together outside work really isn't work-related bc they switch off even from all fandom and media duties entirely. and for example Max F has never asked Oscar to take pics when he's with him either and you have to pay attention to his streams to know he and P are tight w him and considering most Lando fans hate Oscar it reaaaally doesn't gain Max any clout to bring up Oscar fondly so often!

but literally it is absolutely fine by me if ppl aren't interested in landoscar bc they don't have the same PR presence and fandom-friendly amount of content as other ships !! like honestly it was carland0 and dand0 sheer media dominance and cross-fandom popularity and McLaren filming an entire documentary worth of material w them every season that got me into f1 fandom at all. then I happened to be looking at all of Lando's ships at the time and thought landoscar seemed very sweet and mellow and by Silverstone 23 I was all in anyway. and like my beloved n0rstappen anon did for me I realized that a lot of the best lore was actually in ships that aren't "bromances" and that fandom tends to overlook. esp w guys like Oscar and Max V like if you judged everything of their non-F1 life by Carlos or Lando levels of fandom engagement and social media presence u wld think they weren't alive except to be on the sim aslfgsajlfg. some ppl take a little digging to learn about and that's only if someone wants to dig at all.

so it's totally normal if someone doesn't want to like dig or get too deep into certain ships ! and yea esp to that last part anon bc the amount of horrifying lines crossed with those big super popular cross-fandom f1 ships over the years definitely ruined them a bit for me - and I was determined we'd never allow in the ones who think rpf is real or who hate Lily or try to conspiracy theory her away and we never have <3 I'm glad for ppl to think landoscar is fake if it means we never have to face the top comments on fully public team and sponsor posts saying "they are happier together than with their SUPPOSED girlfriends" or harassment that extends to friends and family or running aggressive campaigns with hugely out of context pictures and gifs to "prove" that a ship is superior to other ships - like fine I will take that in exchange !!

it's why I don't mind if someone I'm speaking to wants to find out more about landoscar or it's relevant to bring up things they don't know but even there I start feeling weird bc I'm not interested in landoscar Recruitment and also Lando has SO many friendships on the grid and hangs out socially with them in ways that are sometimes made super public and sometimes not ! and it esp gets weird when I have to talk ppl down who think Carlos and Lando are insanely close compared to their other driver friendships (they're not and that is okay) or even in the top 30 of people closest to them in real life and gently mention that they themselves have said they don't count drivers as among their real life friends. it starts feeling like cult deprogramming and rpf and strangers' friendships should never be that serious we're all being weird about people we will never know

[trash-raccoon-boy]

Literally was trying to think of a name for the au but I have no idea qwq

Found family Au? Basket of fruits au? Troop au?

Trying to think of something that combineds the aspect of this au being about the giant family.

Also yes! We should write/draw this meeting! I don't normally post writing on here lol, but I can definitely try and write something!

Silly idea of making little stories about the au on a03, since we both have a03 and can co-write on it... I think? I don't know I haven't Co-written before on there

(If we did do this It might take a bit for me to write cause I'm use to writing aus going along with the shows plot lol)

But if you did want to write on a03/nf, I could see there being maybe a main story with chapters and then our silly little stories to balance the angst.

I have a slight idea, also would you be okay with dming?

Also you best believe I'm gonna be drawing the siblings uwu

I just realized Wukong has a online therapist in my au, so he could totally be able to find a child therapist for Shihou.

Also here's Co-Parents response to the names.

Shihou: Wukong-*realizes what he was called and is beaming* "Oh my gods! That's amazing bud!" *ruffles hair before going to hang it on the fridge*

Liu'er: Wukong- *smiles and grabs cereal box* "sure! Here you go buddy!" *happy tail*

Liu'er: Macaque- *picks up on the name* "wow that's good Mihou! You're getting good at this, keep practicing and soon I'm sure you can do it as naturally as blinking!"

Shihou: Macaque- *already holding Mk and using a muffling spell to help him* "sure sunflower" *offers him some headphones* "here. I don't like thunder either."

Shihou: Tang- "okay-" *frozen once words registered* "wait.... Papa?"

Liu'er: Tang- *blinks awake just because of the startle again* "oh! Um... It just was a long day at the Library, you wouldn't believe the amount of people who disorganized those books!"

Liu'er: Pigsy- *hears name and is sure he missed heard* "sure kid" *starts scooping up more noodles*

Shihou: Pigsy- *doesn't even question name cause he's not happy about the bullies* "Here, come seat with Liu'er and I'll patch you up." *grabs first aid kit* "you know kids are gonna be mean, people too. You just gotta not let them get to you, and if they do just tell us and we'll deal with them. Besides I'm sure he's just jealous, not everyone can be a ray of sunshine like you and Mk." *ruffles hair*

@trash-raccoon-boy ! Here is a fan art gift🤭🥰

Bebe precious mk! Look at him, I love him🥹😭

hope u love it like I do🤭☺️

[stansaaa]

Morfydd posting a Galadriel/Adar tiktok edit on her story and tagging Sam, and then Sam reposting it onto his story…hmmm much to think about

[wistfulwatcher]

2.05 The Aftermath | 5.01 Nameless, Faceless

[rice-wave]

basilio doodle

[wintergrofyuri]

cold and smitten kissing is nice but personally i think cold should goad him into stabbing him and while smitten stands there frozen in shock (bc it was a heat of the moment thing) cold puts his hand over smitten's (the one holding the blade) and pushes it deeper in. and despite it being an act of violence, its very intimate and tender.

im insane.

[wolves-in-the-world]

the thing about eliot spencer as a character, right. the thing about him.

(and as always your mileage may vary on my analyses so if we disagree that's cool actually)

is that he is in fact a somewhat emotionally constipated idiot who is occasionally sensitive about his perceived masculinity and gets defensive about emotional intimacy around other men (largely hardison, who's much more comfortable expressing affection and embracing a softer kind of masculinity), but eliot displays enough emotional awareness and sensitivity and respect for women etc etc that anyone who's been subjected to that era of television will put on rose-tinted glasses without even looking twice.

(and he is, don't get me wrong, incredibly emotionally aware for a professionally punchy guy with enough trauma to sink the titanic. it still startles me to see.)

on top of which we have the layers and the accessories and the excellent hair with the secret braids and the way he barely has an ego and he's good with kids and protective of his team without taking it too far, and some of us never stood a fucking chance.

[bearimba]

Silver doesn't need another father. He's already got one of those, technically, but the man turned out to be a weak, cowardly bastard who couldn't face his own problems let alone raise a child. The way he sees it, there's no need to set himself for more disappointment. He's got a roof over his head and food to eat, and that's far more than he could ever depend on in the last... however many years he'd been living on the streets. Lance and Clair are annoying as hell, but while he's training in the Dragon Den, he doesn't exactly have much room to complain. Not out loud, anyways.

Lance doesn't particularly want to be a dad either. He's already got too much responsibility on his plate as Champion, and this kid clearly needs so much more emotional support than he feels like he can provide. Simply convincing him to move into his guest room was enough of a struggle, and it only really worked because Lance had promised Silver he could "earn" his keep. What the hell is up with that, anyways? He's not sure what Silver's past looks like, and he's not about to go prying, but the bare minimum he can do is make sure he doesn't have to rough it out in the woods anymore. At least Clair seems to be having fun training him...

Clair is more than ready to be an aunt. The other two refuse to admit to caring for each other, but unlike them, she's not afraid of something as stupid as her emotions. The brat's slowly but surely been mellowing out during his training, and her idiot cousin has actually been taking care of himself for once in order to be a "good example." Silver has even caught on to calling Lance "old man" like she does, on account of those ugly-ass reading glasses the all-mighty Champion has to wear, and she couldn't be prouder. Best part is, she doesn't have to spend a dime except to treat the kid every so often! That's a win in her book if ever there was one.

[gatoplaga]

"But beyond all my pain, there was you"

Narilamb designs: @runningwithscizzorz

here's an alt version of Narinder without the veil!! :D

[froggy-nebula]

honestly i just dont get why sometimes people get all weird about quadrants and insist they’re unhealthy always no matter what

like yeah im not stupid i know they CAN be fucked up and can be weird and toxic but so can any romance. human romance has been toxic and fucked up for me many times. tbh if we take a step back and just look at the basic ideas of all of them i don’t think any of those have to be evil and terrible necessarily

like oh no me and my boyfriend have a fun rivalry that we both like being in and both agreed to where we have fun competing with each other and talking shit and then make out! FUCK!!! that’s horrible i would NEVER want that! i would never be guilty of forcing my boyfriend to play tetris with me over and over and insulting him the entire time

oh no my boyfriend has anxiety and i calm him down! oh god we like cuddling and talking about feelings! we both agreed we like this relationship dynamic and feel fulfilled by it! AAA SCARY!!! GET SCARED!!!

oh no sometimes my boyfriends are both annoying and i voluntarily get between that and make people be less annoying! FUCK!!!!!!!! we are going to DIVORCE!!!

[foosybit]

runaway prince shinobu turned revolutionary and the pirate who kept "coincidentally" showing up to aid ryuseitais battles finally meet and officially become allies to overthrow the tyrant king !!

[venus-is-thinking]

DRDT Chapter 2 Episode 14: Initial Thoughts

What an episode! I can't believe that we're probably starting to near the end of the Trial. But, considering we're almost there, we DEFINITELY have a lot to talk about. It's a longer episode, and there's a LOT to go over, so buckle in!

SPOILER WARNING FOR DRDT CH 2 PART 2!

T/W: Murder, hanging (with depictions)

The Reactions

Hu is literally so pretty.

I wasn't expecting her to get a whole mechanic defending Nico, but it makes sense. Letting other students cut in during the Class Trial is a great way to draw specific attention to a character point, and it's very clear that Hu's over-defense of Nico is going to be important moving forwards.

RIP to my "using the weight rack as the carousel" theory. The fan probably makes more sense. I just still have no idea how the 300-ish pound or whatever weight rack managed to get knocked over in the struggle.

I'm glad they directly pointed this out. Trying to kill everyone in the Class Trial was the EXACT thing Hu was so pressed about David doing. It's a weird double standard to be so forgiving of Nico when they tried to do the same thing.

Insane thing to say if Eden is the culprit and killed Arei because she didn't believe her. Then again, if my explanation for a lot of Eden Trial dialogue is "she's speaking out of regret for killing Arei now that she knows Arei was being legit," maybe she's just calling herself cruel as well.

This is honestly very valid.

Do you think "here" implies Nico trusts someone in the outside world? Based on their secret, it seems like they probably didn't have many friends. Could also be referring to animals? Or Mai Akasaki?

Big psychic damage to Hu though, considering we know she thrives on other people relying on her. She wants Nico to be someone who relies on her sooo bad, but they just... don't.

Like, girl. They literally JUST said that they don't trust anyone. That includes you.

She's clearly projecting in some way, though, which is definitely an oof. I wonder if Hu wishes she had someone who was undeniably on her side in the past...?

(To be clear: I think Hu is a very well written and interesting character. She fits the fucked up vibes of Despair Time, but coming from a more surprising angle of "that really nice and caring person can also be fucked up." She's just clearly in the wrong here, so I get to clown on her as I clown on everyone else.)

Ace is honestly so valid for this. Like, yeah he's kind of a bully and he sucks sometimes, but. Like. He did almost get murdered and people are, like, mad at him for it? Huh???

If Ace does end up being the Chapter 2 killer because he snapped, I honestly think he's so valid for that.

It is my personal agenda to record every instance of J being notably anti-murder. I don't know where it's going but if it does go somewhere I want my credit because it is Apparent.

(The entire fanbase nods in agreement.)

I know some people definitely still think/thought that Hu and/or Nico was responsible for the crime, so we've all DEFINITELY been squinting at that alibi. I fully believe it's true, but that doesn't change the fact that I wouldn't put it past Hu to make a fake alibi to protect Nico. Idk if Nico would go along with it, though.

I got so jumpscared by the Closing Argument-style CG.

I'm so glad we did get a definitive answer on how this thing worked. I was so afraid that we were just gonna solve the Arei murder method and the exact solution of Ace's would be a "left to audience interpretation" kind of thing.

I'm not exactly sure where the blood on Ace's fingertips comes from? Maybe he cut his hand on the wire when he was trying to struggle after he woke up or something.

This makes so much more sense than anything I saw theorized though, lol. The fan falling from drop hanging totally checks out as a way that the murder mechanism could fail.

I have NO fucking clue why Nico opted for this as the murder mechanism, though. I get wanting to use Hu's wire to frame her, but why didn't you just cut Ace's throat with the wire in the first place???

where did their cape go :(

Potentially suspicious line from Ace? I don't know what he's referring to as "go through all this." Like, maybe just reliving the murder attempt, I guess...? Could also be going through the Class Trial, though, if Ace killed as a result of Nico trying to kill him.

*Levi's secret quote looms*

Things that make me think Nico is either a victim or a survivor. Like, are you really gonna say this and then go try to kill someone else? ...Or Ace again, I guess??

Fun fact: this was actually what guided me to my initial killer picks, before I discussed with anyone else or read any theories! I thought the killer was trying to frame Nico, so it had to be Eden or Ace. The tape and everything else was just what locked it in for me. It's fun to see Teruko follow more or less the same path that I did when I was trying to solve the mystery :)

TAPE TIME :D

The use of the Bound Wrists truth bullet actually really confused me at first bc I didn't realize we were just talking about the tape. I was like, were Arei's wrists bound because Ace's were and it was intended to be another similarity???

Maybe Eden's just being nice, but I find it really suspicious that her instinct after all this time is "didn't MonoTV take it" and not "oh I guess Ace is probably the murderer."

Teruko has now outlined two different ways that it makes sense if the killer was in the gym that night. If I were Eden, and I were innocent, I would be realizing that there's a very small suspect pool left, and I know that I'm not the killer, giving me additional information. Instead, she's questioning the validity of the tape argument, which isn't useful for narrowing down the killer-- it's useful for keeping the suspect pool wider and not leaving herself as one of three (but basically two) options.

I kinda get why people are upset with Rose here, but it's also kind of an oof because they're only mad because Rose is really smart. Like, no one's out here like "oh my god Ace you didn't recognize the tape??" Y'know, because they think he's stupid. Rose has a really good memory, which raises the standards really high, which sets Rose up for failure.

In Rose's defense, she also never saw the tape in Nico's gym murder OR on the carousel for Arei's murder. She only saw the pieces in the trash can, which seemed to be inside out. Against Rose's defense, it would probably have been for the best if she'd gone in to look at the crime scene.

Am I tripping, or is "fish misunderstanding" a weird way for David to phrase this? The misunderstanding with Teruko was assuming that the murder happened last night, which was in fact because of the fish-- but the thing Teruko should have noticed, which makes it Teruko's mistake specifically, was the body swinging.

I'm probably reading into things too hard, but it's so hard with David. What do you know!!!

Damn, Teruko is SPEEDRUNNING this character arc. Considering we basically know she's locked in for all 6 chapters, I'm really surprised to see her making this much progress this fast.

I'm guessing that this means that Teruko is probably due for a major setback sometime sooner or later. But, interestingly, this makes me feel like Teruko realizing that working alone doesn't work isn't her character arc's end destination; it's the willingness to open herself up to caring about others even in the face of the consequences of losing someone you love. Teruko is closing herself off from everyone because she knows she's going to lose them. Maybe her end destination is allowing herself to love people, even if she might lose them someday.

This was fruity as hell btw. I'm starting to think Rose may be our replacement support if Charles does die in Chapter 3.

It's so funny that this is basically Teruko claiming in-universe protag privilege. Go off, queen.

I also said something along the lines of "Hu are we really doing this again." Totally forgot that the BDA is still relevant, lol.

I personally find the way Veronika phrased this to be very telling from an author's POV. Veronika doesn't say "she must not have committed the murder," she says "she must not have witnessed the murder." It would be totally reasonable for any of the students to forget that the rule is written in a way where a killer could fail to see the moment of murder, but DRDTdev wanted to draw attention to the rule's exact phrasing again, which is a deviation from the phrasing in the canon games.

To be clear here, I stand by this even if Eden isn't the killer and the BDA group really is Eden/Whit/Teruko. I still think it could be a reminder for a future chapter when it comes up. But, I don't think it makes sense to change the phrasing of a base rule unless there's a specific reason you want it to be different. Whether now or later, this feels like a reminder that it IS possible for the blackened to trigger the BDA.

I don't necessarily "believe David," per se, but I do think it's interesting that we're drawing attention to this. I don't really think it matters, especially because I doubt the characters remember, but I'd place my bets on Eden being the last one because of that, "Teruko, wait!" thing.

It doesn't matter because, if David or anyone else saw the body, no one can confirm which two of Teruko, Whit and Eden set off the BDA, but it's an interesting note.

It's so funny how no one, fanbase or in-universe, can tell if David is lying though. Like, he COULD have seen it, but he also easily could just be making shit up to try to throw the Trial again.

will I EVER understand what the fuck this man is cooking

Why. I thought you wanted to end the killing game to finish what Xander started. I don't know what's happening :( /pos

My guess for now is just that he's still trying to kill Teruko, in keeping with Xander's plans?? Idk how making her more distrustful makes her more likely to die, though.

I do find it very interesting that Eden's approach/reaction has been to be very quiet and freaked out whereas Ace's approach/reaction is to freak out VERY loudly. Ace's is fitting because what does he do other than freak out loudly, but I might have expected Eden to do... idk, something else? It makes enough sense though, considering either the group is right to suspect her, or she's still coping with losing Arei a little bit ago.

...*squints REALLY fucking hard*

The music and voice acting in this section is REALLY fucking good. It's sad/charming/soft enough that it feels like it could be genuine, but there's still a little something that makes you have to question whether or not it's real. You WANT to believe Eden, but it's so hard to do so fully.

Y'all think Eden's crying is reminding Teruko of whatever Arei's crying reminded her of?

i'm out of images :(

I really like Teruko assuming that Eden is innocent first. She's too distrusting and also reasonable (it is life or death after all) to just hard clear Eden based on nothing, but she's offering a bit of a reprieve to Eden. Eden's friendship means that she isn't going to get immediately targeted in her most down moment, and that's it. It's a small way to show Eden she does care.

On another note, the fact that Eden got to hug Teruko and that Teruko said the "let go of me" NOW is honestly one of the main reasons I trust Eden more. I felt like that was obviously going to happen, but I was expecting the post-Trial. Putting it here is wild.

Theory Update/Analysis

Oh boy, it's accusing time! It makes sense that we're going to start with Ace. At this point, I can honestly see it going either way. Major props to DRDTdev either way, but ESPECIALLY if Eden really is the culprit. I was so confident in it, but they're really making me question my assumptions.

I think that both Ace and Eden have good reasons to be the blackened or not to be, and good reasons to die here or to not. I'm going to do my best to make a list of reasons for both characters and give a bit of my thoughts on them. They're roughly ranked in most to least important order imo, but I didn't think too hard about it.

EDEN

Reasons Eden Would Be The Blackened:

THE TAPE: It would be easier for her to take the tape than Ace, as attention was on Ace in the gym. The tape's disappearance from the background also happens to coincide with Ace knocking her over and her standing back up.

THE NOTE: Eden already knows all the info she would need to know to write that note. She could have put the note back together to give herself a defense, to try to disprove herself as the culprit with her handwriting, because Rose was going to do it anyways, and/or to frame Arturo if she didn't know he had an alibi. I think any of these reasons, or a combination of these reasons, are enough to make it possible, and while Ace could've overheard, it's definitely less easy for him.

NOT BELIEVING AREI: Both Arei and Charles have, in this trial, been shown to question whether or not Eden believed Arei wanted to be Eden's friend. If Eden simply did, this plot point goes nowhere.

A GOOD PERSON: Eden has been called a good person, but other than that freaky CG, nothing has really come of it. Is the plot relevance of Eden being a good person really going to resolve by saying "Eden is a good person, she'd never kill her friend!"? If a good person isn't gold, Eden still feels like a missing piece of that puzzle.

INCENTIVE TO FRAME NICO: This one's a bit more of a reach, but I don't really understand the point of framing Nico if you're Ace. Of course Ace is going to insist Nico is the murderer no matter what. If you're Eden, you have a direct audience to setting it up similarly: Ace. If you can get Ace to go all in on Nico, that's one less person who was in the Gym who suspects you. Eden and Teruko feel less likely to say "oh well it looks like Nico's murder so it MUST be Nico."

HEAVY FOCUS IN CH 2: DRDTdev seems to give the chapter death's important content shortly before their deaths. Eden has been one of the most prominent characters this chapter, which could be a bad sign.

Reasons Eden Wouldn't Be the Blackened

HER EMOTIONAL REACTIONS: I think I stand with everyone else when I say that the thing giving me pause with Eden!Culprit is how devastated she truly seems to be. I do still think it could be a combo of guilt and panic over the prospect of dying, but it's hard to justify everything.

HER FRIENDSHIP WITH AREI: Sort of a spinoff of the last one, but Arei was at least offering to Eden to be friends and to protect her. If Eden did believe that, to any extent at all, it's hard to imagine her killing Arei in cold blood.

THE FISH: The biggest question when it comes to evidence as to how Eden could be the killer. If Nico fed the fish and they were all still there last night, and Eden had an alibi until after the Relax Room closed, how would she have gotten the fish to add to the crime scene?

THE BDA: Easy to ignore imo considering we've already called it into question within the series proper, but still worth talking about. For Eden to be the culprit, either someone else saw the body first and isn't claiming to have (or it's David), or we're burning the "Eden didn't witness the crime and thus could still trigger the BDA" card here.

GENDER BALANCE: Possibly an irrelevant point, but it is true that we've had 2 women and 1 man die so far. If a man was the killer, it'd keep it even. Unlikely to be relevant as any disparity could be easily balanced out in Chapter 3 with (presumably) 3 death slots.

Points About Eden That Could Go Either Way

THE FORK CG: I firmly believe that this could be setting up for Eden being a more important character throughout the series or to die after a moment of intrigue, possibly letting us explore/imply more in her post-death bonus episode.

RELATIONSHIP WITH HU: Hu has lost David as a sane ally. Nico is telling her that they don't want her speaking for them and that they don't trust her. Would DRDTdev prefer to fully isolate Hu moving into Chapter 3 by getting rid of Eden, or to leave Hu with one friend who still believes in her.

CHARLES HAVING EDEN'S SECRET: By telling us Eden's secret ahead of time by Charles revealing it to Teruko, extra focus was given to Eden's secret. Was this just the easiest way to get everyone's secrets revealed based on character dynamics, or was it meant to imply that Eden's secret is extra important? Is that because she's the killer? Is it a #ArEden sweep???

ACE

(why are they both orange)

Reasons Ace Would Be The Blackened:

NO EVIDENCE-BASED ISSUES: This is the biggest and strongest point across the whole board imo. There is no tangible, evidence-based reason why Ace COULDN'T have done the crime. Out of all 13 currently surviving students, he's the only one who that's true for. That obviously makes him a viable suspect.

WOULD ABSOLUTELY FUCKING DO IT: Ace has been Freaking The Fuck Out this chapter. I could VERY easily see him deciding to kill here. I don't think anyone is trying to argue that Ace is too emotionally attached to the cast to try to kill all of them, because he clearly isn't.

WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?: I'm not really sure where Ace's character is going to go from here. I'd be interested in seeing more from him, but, like, where is his character arching to if not a killer? Ace is so disliked and intense that it's hard to imagine him really, fully pivoting and caring about others, but if he can't do that, is he destined to be a killer eventually?

HEAVY FOCUS IN CH 2: DRDTdev seems to give the chapter's death important content shortly before their deaths. Ace has been one of the most prominent characters this chapter, which could be a bad sign.

Reasons Ace Wouldn't Be the Blackened

OBVIOUSNESS & POINT OF CHARACTER: Of course Ace would be willing to kill Arei or whoever and the rest of the students. This is kind of the inverse of my "would absolutely fucking do it" point-- I don't know exactly how much surprise it would carry if Ace were to be the culprit. And, more than that, I feel like the point of Ace is that he is a victim here, but he's so unlikable that no one wants to acknowledge that or believe in him. I think it'd be an interesting comparison, if everyone really wants Ace to be the killer, but he just isn't. To everyone's dismay, Ace is still here. Now what?

SECRET LARGELY UNRESOLVED: Ace's secret hasn't really had any plot relevance yet. It seems like most people's do. I'm like lowkey expecting them to bring back the starvation motive from SDR2 in Chapter 4 and have SOMETHING happen with Ace there. Either way, while it could be reserved for his bonus episode (a la Min and Xander), I'd expect that his secret would have more main-story impact before he dies.

EXISTENCE OF SCRUM DEBATE: We're suspecting Ace first, but we still haven't done the scrum debate for this trial. Unless the scrum debate is "do we just vote for Ace without ever really pursuing Eden" and the answer is "yes," I don't see how we get out of this suspecting Ace period with a scrum debate without at least entertaining the idea of Ace's innocence.

STRONG CONNECTIONS TO OTHER CAST MEMBERS: Ace is very relevant to the Levi, Nico and Hu plotlines right now. Are they really going to just... get rid of him, when that's what both Nico and Hu would want?

ABILITY TO FIGURE OUT THE CONTRAPTION: Ace would not only have to recognize the way in which Nico was trying to kill him (which, to be fair is easier if he did wake up partway through), he would also have to conceptualize and figure out how to make the playground contraption successfully. I think Eden's clockmaking skills and... generally higher intelligence imo would be better suited to that.

COWARDICE: Ace is so fucking scared of everything. Would he want to put himself into harm's way by becoming the killer and having a do or die moment in the Trial? But, is he more scared of dying as a victim in the killing game, after seeing how close Nico came to killing him?

Points About Ace That Could Go Either Way

TAYLOR LORE DROP: Ace's friend, named Taylor per a Q&A with the dev, got vagued about in this Trial. Is that something to be pursued in a later Ace free time (following the one with Levi), or is that something that's going to be explained further in Ace's bonus episode (which could VERY easily be about friendship, considering it's Mai fucking Akasaki as the other person in the convo).

ACE'S BREAKDOWN @ LEVI: When Ace said he didn't fall for Levi caring about him at all, was that him affirming himself that it was the correct decision to try to kill, even if it'd put Levi's life at stake, who he previously kinda liked? Or was he lying to himself, and, at least previously, he wouldn't have wanted to kill Levi, no matter how harsh he seemed on the surface?

Well, that's all I got! Please let me know if you can come up with any more points for any of the 6 categories, because I'm very very curious to hear them! I'm thinking I might try to do an expansion on this in a separate post before next episode if I have time, exploring the ins and outs of each point with more textual evidence to back it up. I'd love to discuss any reader-suggested points too, if y'all have some in mind!

For now, I'm still personally leaning towards Eden as the culprit over Ace, but I wouldn't be surprised to see it be either of them. Well, other than the fact that my reaction to the killer being revealed is going to be :O no matter what.

[itsdefinitely]

hey. do you think tinky's birthday is groundhog day