#(what can I say? I missed playing an AC game but I only had enough room for one of the smaller ones)

[thatcrazycrowgirl]

Me getting back into playing AC1 after a year and a half

OMG, look at the beautiful scenery! I’ve missed this place! And the atmosphere! THE ATMOSPHERE. AHHHH 😍😍😍

*Several minutes later*

OH GOD, THE CONTROLS 😫

WHY CAN’T I AIR ASSASSINATE? 😖

I HAD FORGOTTEN HOW MUCH OF A PAIN IN THE ASS RUNNING FROM GUARDS IS 😡

OMFG ALTAIR, WHY CAN’T YOU SWIIIIIM?!? 🤬

*after getting the assassination and escaping to the Bureau*

Am I just rusty after not playing for a year, or do I just suck at this game THAT much? 🤔

Don’t answer that.

[accirax]

DRDT Chapter 2 Recap Analysis

Heyyyyy everybody :D

I'm sure that, by now, everyone has heard the exciting news: DRDT will be back on Friday, September 6, at 7 PM EST! That's so awesome!!! I can't wait to finally see the end of the Chapter, and hopefully for the DRDT community to come back in full force, even if only for a little while. I missed you all :)

So, to get back in the swing of Chapter 2 theorizing (and recap what's just happened for everyone including myself), I've decided to run a bit of analysis on the return announcement itself, specifically the recap that occurs at the end. I believe that anything an author says about their works can hold clues as to how they view their story. And, in this case, what does and doesn't make the recap and how certain events are phrased can give us some last-minute clues as to what we should be keeping our eyes on going into the second half of the Trial.

I'm going to try to keep this as facts-focused and non-partisan as possible, but in a "theory" like this, confirmation bias is basically impossible to fully ignore. It's inherent that I'll be more likely to pick up on "clues" that work with my beliefs than ones that work against it. So, please remember that I am not attacking anyone who believes any of the things that I "disprove" in this analysis, and I'm also not saying that you're already 100% wrong about them at this point in time. I'm literally going to "shoot down," so to speak, some of my own theories, but I'm not taking this analysis as reason enough to abandon them just yet. We can't know if anything is true or false until the Chapter is finished, so it would be silly to call something completely wrong when the Chapter hasn't even restarted yet.

With that out of the way, let's recap that recap, and drain every bit of information out of it that we possibly can!

I think that the most efficient way to see what is and isn't present is to list out the "scenes" that occur throughout Chapter 2, and see what DRDTdev had to say about each of them. With that in mind, our first "event" is...

Eden Makes Breakfast

Notably, all mention of Levi helping Eden make breakfast is omitted from this recap. This includes in the visuals of the clip played.

In some instances, I'm going to write how DRDTdev could have phrased things if he wanted to highlight certain elements in an indented paragraph, just to prove that it was possible to convey the information differently. Like this!

"Chapter 2 starts with Levi helping Eden make breakfast for everyone."

Distributing the Motive

This part seems pretty all-inclusive to what I remember happening in this scene. The only thing I particularly have to note is the finality of "Arturo received J's secret"-- which really makes it sound like that secret was assigned correctly-- but I don't think literally anyone was trying to claim that Arturo was lying about J having that secret.

Investigating the Second Floor

Obviously, DRDTdev didn't go into detail about any of these interactions-- no notes on Whit's theory that the killing game was catered to them, about Levi really wanting to make things up with Ace, or Nico's struggles with socialization. It means that those details are probably less important to the end of the Trial specifically, but I don't think that's much of a surprise.

Caulking the Bathroom

A lot of detail is omitted from what Teruko and MonoTV were actually talking about in the bathroom. Most notably, however, is that the Monocredits are not included in the recap. This may mean that Teruko's second Monocredit will not be redeemed this chapter, but at some later time.

A Chat With Charles

Once again, the use of Monocredits are ignored, as well as the fact that Charles gave Teruko the secret he received in case of emergencies. Therefore, it's possible that the letter (which should contain Eden's secret) won't come up again in the end of the Trial, and that this scene was more relevant to Charles' plot of opening up to Teruko than anything directly related to the secrets themselves.

"Afterwards, Teruko goes to talk with Charles, who hands her his motive secret in case of emergencies. Flustered by Charles' trust in her, Teruko uses her first Monocredit to have MonoTV make Charles go away."

Eden Retrieves Teruko

A couple of things here! Firstly, DRDTdev draws attention to the fact that Teruko was removed from the group for a day. I don't know if this could factor into murder plans at all, given that it's a whole three days before Arei turns up dead, but it could be relevant. Secondly, any mention of Eden's blackmail AND any mention of Eden's philosophy are omitted from the recap. Given that that's both one piece of information that makes Eden seem more guilty AND one piece that makes her seem more innocent, I imagine that was probably just to keep things neutral/brief. Unlike some of the other text boxes that I showed could have been written differently, that descriptor was already pretty long.

Commotion in the Cafeteria

No comment on who was the one tasked to help each of those pairs (Eden, Veronika, Teruko) or Charles and Whit choosing to sit out, but none of those additions seemed incredibly relevant to the overall plot.

David Suggests Secret Sharing

In this case, "secret" is put in quotations, which strongly suggests that having a family history of depression, whether true or not, is not what David's secret actually was. But, the board basically confirmed that already. Far more wildly, no mention is made of Charles learning of Elliot's existence at all. This is particularly crazy to me given that the last video on the DRDT channel prior to this was the Yoidoreshirazu MV. It definitely implies to me that Charles' secret will not be relevant in wrapping up Chapter 2.

Arei's Breakdown

The use of "rebuffs" as opposed to "bullies" or "demeans" is interesting to me, as it's a relatively chill word to describe what Arei did. We also lost Eden slipping up and telling Teruko that the secret she has belonged to someone with he/him pronouns, but that was likely excluded because we've (most likely) already solved that mystery.

Rose's Secret

No detail about Rose's backstory, but we don't have all day. Far more interesting to me is that DRDTdev draws attention to Nico asking Rose to teach them to paint in a sentence that could have easily been cut. My guess is to highlight the importance of this in relation to Ace's "murder."

Nico Threatens Ace

Nothing of note here; this seems pretty standard.

Nico's Secret

The phrasing "David has Nico reveal their secret" is really cool for how non-partisan it is. It doesn't say "David FORCES Nico" or "David MAKES Nico," but it also doesn't just say "Nico reveals their secret," either. It points out how David pushed things in this direction, but did so in a way where it was still technically up to Nico. Anyways, we also lost Hu telling us about the origin of her name. This is a bit strange, given that it's the main scene we have (in Chapter 2 at least) of Hu and David working together and being on good terms before David's reveal. Perhaps this implies that any relevance this scene has on the Trial has already passed.

Teruko Threatens J

Honestly, the weirdest part of this to me is that it was important enough to make the recap at all. But, it did have a CG and everything. Actually, I wonder if this could have been included to help us remember that Teruko is actively carrying a knife on her at all times.

Ace Nearly Dies

DRDTdev directly phrases this as "Nico attempting to murder Ace," which really sounds like a soft confirmation that Nico was the one who tried to kill Ace, and therefore they were not framed for this crime.

"Late at night, Teruko and Eden spot Nico running away from Ace's nearly dead body in the Gym."

We also lose a lot of detail when it comes to Teruko and Eden investigating the initial scene of the crime, Ace chasing down Nico to kill them on the spot, and Levi offering his aid before being rejected and growing angry. It could indicate that the details of what happened after Ace "died" won't be relevant to the end of the Chapter.

Hu Defends Nico

This scene, in which Ace tries to expose what Nico did and Hu argues that Ace must have the wrong idea, is entirely missing from the recap. I bring this up because, very notably, this is the scene where Arei is last seen, not speaking. Arei's weirdly quiet breakfast is not highlighted in the recap at all, which may mean that it won't be relevant to the Trial.

Teruko and Rose Check Out the Gym

We once again call particular attention to the fact that Rose can't do a pullup because the grippy tape went missing from the Gym at some point around the time of the murder, although no focus is put on the fact that the Gym was closed in between when Teruko and Eden were there and when Teruko returned with Rose. This may suggest that the lockdown logic of how the tape went missing may be relevant to the remainder of the chapter.

A Chat With Charles and Whit

Once again, absolutely no mention is made of Ellie or Charles' childhood amnesia, despite that being the main point of this conversation. Weird.

"Teruko stops by the Computer Lab and talks with Charles and Whit about Charles' memories of a forgotten older brother."

Horror Movies in the Gym

Beyond the lack of detail regarding Veronika's philosophy, I'm quite surprised that Teruko's plan to end the killing game wasn't at all mentioned in the recap. I guess that'll be saved for a further chapter!

Motive Reveal Time

I don't think there's anything particularly important going on here, besides possibly drawing attention back to David being the one to point out that Arei was missing. It's possible that could still be relevant if the specifics of the BDA come up in the Trial.

Discovering Arei's Body

A couple of points on word choice in this one-- first of all, the text says "find her body," which, according to what was said on the slide before this one ("points out that Arei is missing"), should imply that they found Arei's body. However, the way that this slide is phrased allows for the very sneaky "Everyone goes to search for [Arei]. Teruko, Eden, and Whit find [J's] body hanging in the playground." Therefore, in my opinion, this part of the recap doesn't disprove swap theory, at least.

Secondly, the word DRDTdev chose was "find," not "discover." And, in this game, the BDA rule is phrased as "The Body Discovery Announcement will play when three or more people who did not witness the murder discover the body." Thus, by not directly saying that Teruko, Eden, or Whit was discovering the body here, this part of the recap also doesn't disprove the idea that Eden or Whit (or Teruko) could have done something to falsify the BDA. In fact, the BDA itself isn't mentioned at all.

"Everyone goes to search for her. Teruko, Eden, and Whit discover her body hanging in the playground, and trigger the Body Discovery Announcement."

Investigation

Absolutely nothing from the investigation makes it into the recap, likely because the investigation is an entire episode long on its own, and DRDTdev was trying to keep it quick. Not to mention, pointing out particular pieces of evidence here would really highlight what's going to be important in the Trial to come, and DRDTdev may be lowkey trying to further nudge people towards rewatching the entire investigation for themselves anyways. I think that the reconstruction of the note is probably the thing that I'm most surprised to see missing from the recap? I'll also point out that the video clips chosen for the "Investigating the Second Floor" section include Teruko and MonoTV looking up at the Gym's ceiling fans, which could be a sneaky way of drawing further attention to that setup.

Assigning Secrets

We have to go a bit later into the recap to hear about the motive secrets, and what we get is, predictably, very vague. Saying, "currently, the state of the motive secrets is like this" puts the full burden of proof onto the students to assign them correctly, with DRDTdev giving no indication here as to which are correct. Even the most highly contested assignment-- that Xander has the "the killing game is all your fault" secret as opposed to Teruko-- is still treated like fact here. Again, not a surprise, but not much to be gained.

Possibility of Suicide

The specifics of the blackened being the "most mastermind-y" person involved in the case are not included in the recap. This could imply that this rule may not be important to the outcome of this Trial.

Eden and Arturo

"Eden had Arturo's secret" also feels like a soft confirmation that that is Arturo's secret, and we won't reveal later down the line that Arturo actually had a different secret. I feel like this segment is also phrased like fact, therefore implying that Eden wasn't lying about this confrontation happening. We also get no indication as to Eden's feelings on Arei's vow, or whether them becoming friends actually happened.

"In the Trial, Eden claimed to have Arturo's secret, and that he attacked her when she revealed it. When Arei came to save her, the two of them forged a friendship."

What Ace Overheard

While not as plainly put as "it is revealed that," the phrasing "Ace reveals that" seems to support that Ace was telling the truth about overhearing this conversation, although the date on which it happened isn't reaffirmed here. Similarly, "David's secret is revealed" strongly implies that David does have the manipulator secret.

"Ace then claimed to overhear Arei and David talking about [David's] secret, and declared that David's secret was being a manipulator."

The David Reveal

(I'm going to write these ones out instead of having a screenshot because I ran out of images :,( And I'm too lazy to compress them... )

"In response, David acts aggressively and admits to being Arei's killer. Everyone nearly votes for David, but Teruko and a few others believe that David is lying. Then, Charles interrupts and reveals that he has some yet-unknown information that changes the Trial..."

To be honest, I didn't realize that "a few others" were siding with Teruko. Like, Charles for sure, and possibly Ace, given he still thinks Nico did it...? That phrase could be a hint that we'll hear more about other students who don't think that David is the blackened quickly after the plot resumes. Maybe my prediction that we're about to head into a scrum debate for 7:30 AM vs 7:30 PM will turn out to be correct...!

And, that's pretty much all I had to say... 30 images later. Look, a lot of it is images, so there wasn't actually that much analysis involved! Besides, now is the third-best time to be hyped and rambling about DRDT Chapter 2-- the top two being while the chapter is airing and just after it's finished, obviously-- so I can say as much as I want! And so can you!

If there are any particular phrasings within the recap that struck you as interesting, feel free to talk about them in the comments or a reblog! I'd love to see what other people think about this, and add my two cents (if desired).

From what it seems, the DRDT community seems to be just as excited for the return of DRDT as I am, which makes me very happy. I hope you enjoyed reading this analysis, and once again, please remember that I'm not trying to shame anyone for believing in anything that may be "disproved" by what DRDTdev said, or to fully convince them out of it before the Chapter begins. If I were DRDTdev, I would be trying to phrase things in the most vague and misleading ways possible to throw off nosy people like myself. It's also definitely possible that I read into things too far in my excitement. That's what this practice round is for, before we dive back in to the real meat of the mystery on September 6th!

Oh my god... we're actually going to dive back in to the real meat of the mystery on September 6th...

See you then!!!

[icarusredwings]

Partically inspired by @giddyaunt425

Went to the pool today and had some thoughts (because I can't escape the brain rot sooo)

What I think everyone would be doing at the

☆Incarnation and Co Pool Party☆

For regulation reasons, only those who are available are attending, including all of the past incarnations due to some sort of freak accident at UNIT that im too lazy to think of right now.

(Feel free to add what else you think these lunatics would be doing! Use the tag #Incarnation pool party)

1 is laying under an umbrella half asleep and complaining that he's going to get a sunburn if he falls asleep.

('But if Susan was here, she wouldn't let me get burnt')

2 has been given a beach ball and is honestly just happy to be playing in the water. He told 1 that he would keep an eye on him, but let's be honest - he already forgot.

(And he missed Jamie. He probably would have mentioned Atlantis.)

3 and Delgado! Master are over in the sand pit, bickering on how their sand castle should look.

(3 says it shouldn't have that many windows, Delgado disagrees, making more windows and claiming that they need the natural lighting.)

4 is in nothing but his scarf and his trunks taking a nap on one of the sun bathing chairs.

(This is probably the best sleep he's had in a long time, but... He pprroobbaallyy has a sunburn now. This is what 1 was worried about.)

So is Yana!Master, who was lucky enough to be prudish enough to only show his forearms and shins, which are now also burnt.

(Despite Donna's constant shouting about sunscreen and how 'You blokes are too pale to be out here with nothin' but your longjohns!' But he is still infact the Master. Which means, of course, denying authority)

5 is in the field portion trying to teach Dhawan! Master, Dan, and Martha how to play cricket. (but is getting visibly frustrated. Seriously- who signed him up to babysit?)

Tegan is watching 5 trying to understand Dhawan's nonsense from the sidelines, smirking.

(She signed him up to babysit)

6 has the most ridiculous looking one piece known to man, sitting on the edge of the pool at the deep end.

(He's kicking his legs in the water and cheekily splashing 7 and Mel)

Mel is on 7s arm in a frilly two-piece, giggling at the fact 7 refuses to take off his hat despite the water being up to his chest.

(He's asking Ace not to drown him, Ace responds, 'No promises, professor' and proceeds to dunk him, which gets them the whistle for roughhousing. His hat is now soaked.)

Graham is talking about processing grief with 9. (The name Grace has come up at least 30 times already.)

9 seems weary of the water. (Sometime later, he's found hugging 10 and telling him about the beach they took Rose to.)

8 is on the other side of the pool, slathered in SPF 80° with a book and regretting his seating choices. He's trying his darndest to ignore his neighbors.

(While also evesdroping each time he hears the name 'Grace')

His neighbor in question is Donna, who is already four margaritas in and keeps shouting at various things at people over the very loud party music that's playing from under her chair's radio.

(Sometimes threatening to drown a specific someone if they didn't stop terrorizing Ainley!Master, who kept hissing for getting purposly splashed)

From 'Do a flip!' Towards Simm!Master, who keeps hogging the diving board, demanding that 10 watch every single jump and challenging him to make bigger splashes than him.

(Donna told Simm that 10 needs babysat and 15 told 10 that Simm needs babysat so now they are both simultaneously babysitting each other)

To 'WOOO! Get'em!' At the game of Chicken going on between a team of 11 and 13 VS 12 and Missy.

12 is complaining that Missy is heavy and Missy accuses him of insinuating something, which in turn leads to 13 insulting 12.

(That he was 'just weak and couldn't afford the upgrade because she can carry 11 just fine'.)

14 is next to her and can't stop laughing at her shenanigans. Sometimes, he tries apologizing to 8 and Roberts! Master (who keeps covering his ears from such loud music and shouting) but, unfortunately, is SEVEN margaritas in.

(So was otherwise just as- if not more- noisy and is now attempting to dance)

S10 Saxon!Master has rolled his eyes at least a billion times by now at the others' antics (smirking at the sight of their hiddeous dancing) and keeps finishing off 14s half drank margaritas.

(You would need a drink too if you had to deal with all this bullshit)

All the way across the pool, Ruby and Yaz are gossiping about their time with the Doctor and their past incarnations. (They're heavily trying to figure out what the Masters deal is too, Seriously- why are some of them chill, some creepy, some insane and some flat out an ass? They had a list as follows;

The sensitive master: Chill + Creepy

The girl master: Chill + Insane

The grandpa master: Chill + Chill

The bitchy master: Ass + Ass

13s master: Creepy + Insane

The master with rabies: Insane + insane

The one master who apprently knows a lot about sand castles: Chill + Ass

The master that kept hissing when you splash water on him: Creepy + Ass)

15 is sat on a life gaurd tower, whistle around his neck, sonic in hand and in an orange speedo, watching everyone like a hawk so that his past selves can heal and enjoy themselves.

(Oh, and did I mention Donna confiscated everyone's Sonic's/Lazers except for 15s?)

[zizz-asdf-re-r-o-u]

Headcanon time: Who might be on the aroace spectrum in a sex game?

I missed arospec week by... a few weeks lol. And hey look i'm making a Nukani headcanon post instead of a questionable theorizing analysis for once! If you have contributions for characters I don't have enough info on (especially Quincy), please add on!

Disclaimer: I'm aromantic but allosexual. For me, this means I experience sexual attraction, but not romantic attraction. In my local kink scene, I actually personally know several community members + friends who are asexual or aromantic or both, and some engage in sex while some don't. And lastly for demographic proof only, I'm in an unofficial discord server where some unspecified members are asexual, but they still play this porn game, so yes not everyone who plays this game are into romance or sex.

TLDR: someone can be asexual or aromantic or on the aroace spectrum and still have sex but that varies for everyone!

Now that that's out of the way, here are my headcanon times! None of this is true or ever will be true due to the marketing of a porn harem game, but I think it's fun to headcanon! Feel free to disagree cause I know how people reacted to that "Is Aster trans" reddit post.

Speaking of Aster. I think he's also aroacespec! In his SR room 5, we got text narration ONE time that he gushed or orgasmed or something with a vague hot rod behind Eiden's back. But we've never seen Aster naked nor involve his genitals with another body in the 5 H scenes we have with him. And unlike EVERY other character, he’s only described to have orgasmed once. He also constantly talks down on morvay’s sexual habits, and while it’s a running gag that’s played for laughs, isn’t it possible Aster actually thinks this way? But is still willing to engage in sexy times with Morvay because they're essence creatures so that's how you exchange essence, and they’re basically an old married couple & deep down they do care about each other. And remember what I said about aromantic or asexual people who still engage in kink or sex.

Next, Karu my beloved chew toy. At the time I wrote Garu/Karu analysis part 1, I thought both of them were firmly allosexual but also presented some evidence someone could use to argue Karu might be demi or aroace or something else. But the more I think about it, the more I think yeah, he might be. Or he’s just a tsundere. I swear I'm not delusional and am a logical canon-based theory fan. (Btw, according to google searching, it is possible for different alters to have different sexualities, so this does not apply to Garu).

Quincy- I have never watched a Quincy intimacy room (including his SR & R cards that I have unlocked) but my vibes based off all the other story content with him makes me think he might be in the umbrella, so Grey-ace, Demi, etc. From what I’ve heard other people say, Quincy has had a lover in the past but currently only has sex if Eiden begs for it. This might fit into the definition of people who don't really care for sex themselves, but is interested in it for their partner. If anyone has Quincy cards and has more information, please let me know!

Huey: ok so we have almost no information on him. But he didn’t have sex with his clan members. He was definitely not romantically invested in any of his clan members nor do I recall him having hints of being sexually or romantically invested in anyone else, which does not equate aromantic or asexual but its still possible. And that’s all I got. Anyone got additional input?

Eiden: ah our beloved Eiden. Let’s ignore that in meta, he’s supposed to be the audience self insert (even though he’s the least self insert type MC ever) and therefore he is not going to “prioritize” one ship over another.

Anyways, so I am 100% sure he’s not asexual. BUUUUT he has not expressed romantic lovey dovey attraction to his clan members. More significantly, he does not seem to pick up MULTIPLE clan members’ romantic hints towards him. Yes in Fateful Aegis, Eiden says “I love you too” back to Yakumo, but it’s prefaced with something like Your grandparents love you and I love you too-ish, which to me indicates found family love. Kuya has said the Chinese/Japanese equivalent of “I love you” (“the moon is bright/the moonlight is beautiful tonight”) and that totally went over Eiden’s head. Dante & Edmond are also intensely crushing on Eiden… but they’re tsunderes so it’s probably gonna take forever to get across. The other members are different types of dedicated but open relationships rather than traditionally romantic relationships (except for Rei, who’s still getting there). And I think this is a great thing! All these varying relationship styles that are given the same weight & importance & Eiden has such appreciation & care for all of them, despite not providing traditionally romantic affection back.

Aromantic people can still love their friends & family! We’re not heartless emotionless creatures. We just may not experience or be able to comprehend romantic attraction. And i don’t think that’s a defect nor a bad thing.* And I think it’s especially cool when we compare Eiden’s bad hookup habits in the real world with how he has multiple regular partners that truly value him and a new found family in Klein. If he was aromantic this whole time, it’s kind of a positive perspective, isn’t it? Some aromantic people do experience “squishes”, which is a term for when we feel emotional desire for a platonic relationship. Obviously none of Eiden’s relationships are truly platonic due to the sexual element, but they all lack the romantic element from Eiden’s side.

(Anyways, Eiden won’t ever “reciprocate” romantic love because it’s a harem game, but shhhhh. Also to anyone who says it’s an Asian game and the characters aren’t going to say “I love you”…. Well in their newest intimacy rooms, both Kuya and Yakumo literally just did. Heck one of Forest Night Kuya’s sprite dialogues repeats that!)

So yeah, I hope you enjoyed this pointless headcanons!

*Speaking from my personal experience, I’ve have several sexual partners over time, but I never had the desire to date them or be romantically invested in them. And a weirdly telltale sign, that Jaidenanimation pointed out quite nicely, is that when she listened to romance songs she was like “wait that’s what people experience when they’re in love???” I’ve read a TON of romance and have heard a TON of love songs, but I cannot relate to any one of them. I literally have not felt any of those feelings. And when I have sexual partners, the horniness is definitely the forefront compared to any “falling in love” feelings. I did have what I now realize were several “squishes” in high school/college. What squishes feel like to me, are like “I wanna be your friend & you’re really cool & I cherish you! Like a lot! And also I don’t mind if you fucked me!” which emotionally feels different from “I’m in love with you!!!” (Which yeah i still don’t know what “in love” feels like, and I’m fine with not knowing!).

[penkura]

Reader from where you belong: *staring intensely at chess board*

Luffy: *is eating her chess pieces when she isn't looking and hoping for the best*

Ehehehe I had to turn this into a little blurb thing cause it made me laugh.

You don't get it.

You don't get it.

How on earth was Luffy beating you at chess? Luffy, of all people! He's only twelve, Garp tried to teach him to play once, and you've been trying more lately, but he just hasn't gotten it yet.

Until today somehow?? Your pieces seem like they're disappearing slowly but you don't want to accuse him of cheating, he's just a kid. Ace keeps distracting you with new fighting moves he's come up with, but you still bring your attention back to the gameboard, lost on what exactly is happening.

Luffy is trying to hard not choke, literally. He watches you stare atbthe board, giving him a slight look each time you seem to notice a piece is missing, but you don't say anything. You instead make your next move and try to watch Luffy before Ace calls for your attention again. Each time you do, your brother snatches a piece and stuffs it in his mouth like a chipmunk. He's got so many he's trying not to choke, he doesn't want to swallow the wooden pieces that Dogra had made for you when you asked him.

"Hey. Hey, [Y/N], check this out!"

You nearly roll your eyes when Ace calls for you again but you do look, missing the moment Luffy takes and stuffs another chess piece into his mouth. This one is the last straw, he feels one nearly stabbing the back of his throat, but tries to keep from coughing too badly.

"Yeah, okay, Ace," you sigh and turn back to the board, hoping to be left to finish the game now, "Lu, did you--Luffy? Are you okay...?"

You can tell he isn't, with how he's almost grasping at his throat and your eyes widen.

"Ace, Luffy’s choking!!"

"What?! On what?!"

"I don't know!!"

Ace hurries over and starts smacking Luffy on the back, while you say you're going to run and get Dadan, before your little brother finally coughs hard enough that the chess pieces he'd stuck in his mouth fly out. His coughing is loud and rough, but at least he's not choking now, right?

Ace bursts out laughing as you shove water into Luffy’s hands and he immediately starts to chug it down. You're not even concerned over the fact he'd been hiding your pieces, just glad he's okay.

"He's just like a chipmunk! I can't believe you fit all those Luffy!"

"Ace, shut up!! He almost choked to death!!"

As you all settle down, Luffy thankful to breathe again, you take in what happened and pout, staring him down. He knows he messed up, you probably won't want to play against him again, not if he's going to be sneaking pieces into his mouth. Maybe you won't tell Garp, or anyone else, about this?

"Luffy...you do that again, one of the pieces might be poisoned next time~"

"...you'll have an antidote right?"

You just give him a smile that tells Luffy you're willing to risk it.

He never plays you again, no matter how many times to try to get him to. When Law, one day, sets up a game for you to play against him, you tell him the story, and he has to take several minutes to settle his own laughter down before you can start your game. Even then, he snickers every little bit as you both move your pieces on the board.

[x0x0josephinex0x0]

bet | min yoongi

it's missing yoongi hours so here is this lil yoongi blurb to remind you he's the cutest ever <3 warnings: yoongi being a rizzler (jk), trash talking

It's game time.

Or at least it has been.

For the past three hours.

As Yoongi posts up for another round of one-on-one ball, you shake your head. "You like to nap more than anyone I know. How have you not gotten sick of getting your butt kicked by now?"

He grins. "You had enough? I'm pretty sure I've won more than half the games."

"What?! That's outrageous." In reality, it's probably close to even, but this is part of the fun -- the trash talk. And nobody does it better than Yoongi.

"Listen, if you're too tired to keep going, you can quit," he reminds you, a devilish glint in his eyes. "People your height aren't usually very good at basketball."

You laugh. "Min Yoongi, you are short."

He smirks at you. "Weak comeback," he says. "But I was thinking."

"Yeah? About how to stop getting your ass kicked?"

"No," he says with a chuckle. "Why don't we raise the stakes?"

"A bet?" you guess. He nods. "What are we wagering?"

He smiles, runs over to his bag, and pulls out a pen. "Write something on your hand you'd want me to do, and I'll do the same. Whoever loses has to do what's on the winner's hand."

Odd, you think to yourself. But you write on your hand -- "dance with me", something you've always wanted to ask him to do -- and hand the pen back to him. "Deal," you say lightly, although the laughter on his face as he writes on his hand makes you nervous. Is he writing something super embarrassing? Last time you lost a bet to him you had to climb a tree at 3 AM and pretend to get stuck so that the nearest passerby would have to help you out. You actually did get stuck, and Yoongi has never let you hear the end of it.

"There better be nothing about a tree on your hand," you call to him as you go to pick up the ball. You can hear him laugh.

The game is one of the best ones you've played against him. You're both playing extremely well, and you think you might actually have him beat -- until he aces a 3 from almost half-court. Then, the momentum is all his. You're tied up until the game point.

"What's on your hand anyway?" you ask Yoongi, out of breath.

He smiles, brushing some sweat away with his arm. "The only way for you to find out is to lose." And then he turns around and lobs the ball over his head.

Unbelievably, it swishes in.

Your jaw drops. "You did NOT just do that," you exclaim. "That was literally one of the coolest things I've ever seen in my whole life."

He shrugs. "I'm always motivated by the reward. What's on your hand?" he asks, grabbing it before you can dodge. He reads it and then his gaze flicks up to you.

"Dance with you?" he says quizzically.

"Uh..." Suddenly, you're embarrassed -- although you're not sure why. It's just dancing, right?

He pats your hand. "Don't worry," he says, misreading your embarrassment for worry. "There's no mention of trees on here." He hold his hand up.

"What does it say?" you ask, mildly dreading the answer.

"You'll find out tonight. I'll meet you at six at the square. Wear your normal clothes," he says, already walking away.

"What?" you say. But he's already gone, waving you away.

At six you stand anxiously in the middle of the small town square. The streets are mostly empty -- it's a sleepy little place, and most of the locals are inside with their families.

Suddenly, you hear a voice calling your name behind you. For some reason, this time around, it brings a chill to your spine.

When you turn, Yoongi stands there with a single white flower -- a daisy. Your favorite. He beckons you over with his head, the hand not carrying the flower hidden behind his back.

Gripped with curiosity, you move closer. "Okay, what's that about?" you ask, gesturing to the flower.

He sighs. "Gosh, do I really need to explain everything to you?" He laughs when you look confused. "It's for you."

He hands it to you. And then, from behind his back, the music starts -- a nice slow waltz playing on the speaker he had hidden in his other hand. He sets down the speaker and offers you his arm, and suddenly you are spinning onto the dance floor escorted by Min Yoongi.

"How on earth do you know how to waltz?" you ask him.

"This is by far the easiest dance I've done in awhile," he says. "Plus, you wanted to do it, so I learned after the game."

"You learned this in like two hours?" you ask incredulously.

"I'm actually pretty good at dancing," he reminds you, pushing you under his arm for a spin.

"Okay, you're right. But the real question remains." He raises his eyebrows curiously. "What did you write on your hand?"

He smiles and stops dancing. Taking both your hands in his, he places the hand he wrote on on top of your opposite one. In his neat handwriting, you read the words:

"Kiss Min Yoongi."

You look up at him, alarmed. "Is this a joke?"

He scoffs. "Why would I joke about that?" He tugs your arms so they rest around his neck. Your faces are almost nose to nose. He smiles gently. "Is it okay, though?"

"Okay?" you choke.

"Like, do you want me to?" He looks suddenly worried. "I won't if you don't like me like that. I just thought --"

But before he can finish, you make up your mind. Standing on your tiptoes, you kiss him.

His smile when you pull away is brighter than the sun. "Out of curiosity," you say, still stuck in his embrace, "what were you planning to do if you lost?"

He laughs. "There was no way I was going to lose that one."

[aeoneris]

for archival reasons, and because rise has officially ended, i'm coping by looking back at the past two years and thinking about the master utsushi rabbit hole. this is based on a long reply i sent to a mutual but i think it deserved to have its own post where others can read it and i can expand further on certain details. or something. i don't know. i have no idea who will read this but if you do, please enjoy...

the ballad of master utsushi.

he was there regardless.

always watching.

waiting.

i wound up getting attached to utsushi-kyokan (master/instructor utsushi), ウツハン/utsuhan (utsushi x hunter) ship, and finding his Japanese fan community late 2021, and i've been chatting with mutuals and friends i made there since. at that time, capcom had opened up pre-orders for his nui (plushie). this plush is lovingly referred to as "Unui-kun", and people love to take him around and bring him places. here's my Unui-kun in new york city lol

fans love to dress him up and make clothing and accessories for him. had i known just how attached i would become, i would not have set my Unui-kun to ship via surface mail delivery because it took about 2-3 months extra for him to arrive... ;;

but anyway, it seemed that his popularity was growing because they continued to make more merch of him. he seems to have more than any of the other characters.

many of these are limited print/pre-order only, or were from specific events like the capcom cafe features. trying to get his merchandise became crazy, because scalpers started to pick up on how badly people wanted goodies of him?!

just how popular is this guy?! what's with the character tax!!

and how did this even happen... we're playing monster hunter, not an idol game! but i think it really speaks a lot for itself how rise had such colorful characters that you could get attached to. it seems he really jives with many female and queer players, so good on capcom for that hehe. many of the japanese fans i've met are either older women, very often mothers, or gnc, which i found to be really cool. the english-speaking utsushi fans are usually the same, too. the solidarity is real...

I found out that a lot of ppl, including myself, shared a similar experience: they missed out on a majority of utsushi's flavor text in base rise bc they didn't talk to him or the other NPCs very much during village and high rank quests, and therefore didn't even think much of him until after the fact. people double-taking when going through the game again and actually catching on to his antics... I think what really got things going was when they released his DLC voice and learned about his, uh, extremely affectionate lines towards the hunter when it comes to mew mew and blowing a kiss LOL. (the "welcome back, master!" line?!?! there's so much art of him in a maid outfit... and the way he says ace/manadeshi in his sleep at the table?!?! scandalous?!?!) even for me, he got my attention only once i saw the official art of him (realizing "hey he's got a cute design actually") and eventually encountering utsushi x hunter fanart on pixiv. another thing that got me noticing him was brian david gilbert's now deleted tweet about how zac efron and utsushi are the same. thankfully, we have the internet archive to save the existence of this post and i have to make sure people experience this lost media.

once i realized how weirdly close he was to the hunter, the gears started turning

i confirmed that ppl really did notice that it was unusual for an instructor character to refer to his pupil as "manadeshi (beloved/dearest disciple)" in the manner that he does, being so close to them in a way that felt so familiar and warm. he was already popular enough that by valentine's day 2022, fans literally sent real chocolates to capcom addressed to utsushi. i knew about this for a while, but i was shook that they wound up officially addressing that this really happened during the last update video.

after they received his chocolates, they immediately got one of the (female) illustrators on board to quickly draw that really cute valentine's day art of utsushi. the japanese tweet for that artwork had even a little bit more text than the english one…

that "i'll always be watching over you" line…

(and while i'm here, i have to mention the valentine's day art we got for 2023- i made a separate post about THAT.)

we started to suspect capcom caught on to this niche community's love for utsushi, and they started to kind of... troll us??? LOL.

throughout the previews of sunbreak last year, they would start obsessively sneaking utsushi into those chibi artworks. and when npc followers were announced, people were scrambling to find out if he was going to be one of them, but there also was some weird radio silence about him for a bit...

in one of the earlier trailers that showed the elgado hub for the first time, there was a very short part of the clip where ppl could see someone standing in the distance at the corner of the screen. all the utsushi fans went nuts because they were taking a magnifying glass and zooming up at there wondering if it was really him, because everyone wanted him to be there in sunbreak LOL.

of course we'd eventually find out that would be his perch for most of the game! it was only during the final preview trailer before the release of sunbreak did they finally announce utsushi as a follower, as if they were saving the best for last. and sunbreak dropped, we got to see him in elgado and enjoy hunting with him. and it didn't end there. he wound up being featured in two of the short stories released last summer, and we would not forget this incident.

when i think about how easy it is to just play through the story and miss out on following specific out-of-the-way flavor texts, let alone know about all this outside of the game, i wonder if utsushi joining the hunter in the battle against amatsu in the penultimate battle was strange, because he has such a spotlight on him, even being the one who allows you to ride an apex which was normally impossible. if people didn't acknowledge him before, certainly people would love him now.

his final line after you defeat amatsu: it's cute and silly in english... but in japanese, his line and delivery was extremely, almost unabashedly... romantic. many people were shocked because it sounded like a fervent confession.

"I'll say it once more... You are my pride, my beloved disciple."

finally, during the last update video…

we got this line straight from the director LOL. utsushi wound up being his personal favorite character in rise, and perhaps why we wound up seeing more and more of him in sunbreak.

all in all, if you kept up with the flavor text of rise, and if you followed utsushi's dialogue throughout the base game and expansion, the emotional pay off at the end was even better! and it is a shame when this stuff is mostly optional or you have to go out of the way for it, with so much being missable with every bit of progression. but making a monhun where story and character interactions are pushed more… i think they were on to something. it's probably something that could be divisive, but personally I think they should go all in on it more in the future. Rise proved that they could make charming and memorable (not to mention, named) characters... if they lean into it more in a future entry, then i hope they do it in a way where everyone can enjoy it and not feel like they missed out. but I also hope they would make it so that people don't feel overwhelmed with flavor text... it comes down to taste, but i think i have faith that monhun can try making more character-driven stories while still keeping the core of the series in tact.

here are some more miscellaneous utsushi things that i didn't know how to fit in earlier:

he's been featured multiple times in capcom cafe entrees. here's his matcha latte dango drink:

and for the sunbreak stories: a cake based on his fight with rathalos together with the royal guard, and then a drink that represents his... uh, struggle across the ocean to chase the hunter to elgado. because they will never let him live that down. i won't either.

here's a t-shirt of utsushi and kagami you can pick up on amazon right now. kagami was a very interesting arc when he was first shown- he was introduced as a long time friend of utsushi, training together in the past, but eventually parting ways.

his seiyuu in japanese is a sentai actor who loves monster hunter, so essentially, kagami is lowkey like a self-insert for him lol. he's goofy in english because he's voiced by a certain youtuber, but in japanese he takes a different direction of silly because he has a "chuunibyou" edgelord cringe way of talking. it's such a shame that kagami wasn't really in the game itself besides being mentioned in a few mission descriptions because i would've loved to see him interact with utsushi and the hunter, and i wish the royal knights and many of the NPCs had more cutscenes or something. it makes me think, if it weren't for the pandemic, could rise's story and scenario have been something more because of the DLC voice characters like hibasa/monju/kagami? anyway, a popular headcanon is that utsushi and kagami are ex-boyfriends lol (i personally like this one and adapted it for my utsuhan fanfics). but there are even those who ship kagautsu too (although it is rare because people overseas are a little wary of shipping characters who are based on real people).

and lastly, one of my personal favorites... the diseased kyokan shirt. this is from an online capcom shop, and you can use a proxy service like fromjapan.com to order it.

if you read this all, thank you! happy hunting! with the instructor! we love that guy! the guy of all time!

[valy-gc]

I can't imagine the MC as a girl. For many reason.

And I'm 30, so it can't be "me"

Here is one of my Twisted Wonderland MCs ^^ (the one I use on my youtube lyric pranks)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dust comes from a rather complicated world, since his home world is in the grip of a zombie apocalypse. His parents (father and aunt) died when he was very young, he don't remember them and he still managed to survive on his own for a time, hiding in burrows, since he was small enough to sneak in. He was found by a group of survivors after a few years.

Since he couldn't remember his name, and from crawling underground he was covered in dirt, they nicknamed him "Dust".

He's a bit on edge due to his usual lifestyle, but he manages to relax. Despite the difficulty of his world, he wants to return home, because the group has become his family. (or maybe bring them back to the shelter at Twisted Wonderland)

I know it didn't turn out that way, but I imagine him hitting the mine monster with his shovel, his favorite weapon, which he keeps with him as a precaution, although he is often called to order by the teachers. He's still a little wild and don't mind sleeping outdoor even in the snow.

He's really good at self-defense.

He has several scars, but no bite marks. He is also missing an incisor.

He also lost the little finger and ring finger of his left hand. Have been bitten so he cut them himself.

He thinks he is around 16 years old. He is not sure. His parents died when he was 6, he never really had the opportunity to follow the course of time and can't remember the exact date.

In fact, he is 18 years old.

He don't remember his birthday date either. So the TWST characters celebrate it for June 28. 

His real mother was actually an hamadryad but he learn it way later. She was accidentally killed by his father, because he forced her to get away from her tree. He have slighly pointy ears.

Back in his world, he was wearing whatever clothes he can found, being often obliged to repair it, he has therefore learned to love sewing, even if it is not his favorite activity (too calm for him). He also usually stay barefoot.

Since he's in Twisted wonderland, he discovered the "clean" and new clothes that exist. He likes things that are casual but also cute. He start to wearing girls' panties with cute designs and bows on them. He say :

"Why only girls be allowed to 'ave adorable underwears?? Who said it been only fer girls?? I want teddy bears, bows an' cats on me panties too!!" He have a "pirate-like" way to talk

Gay - Polyamory/polysexual - cis male

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

His relationship with the different characters : 

He has a very father-son relationship with Crowley, although they argue quite often. He treat Grim just like a cat-friend. He likes to stroke his fur. He's not used to taking care of himself, it's not his priority in his world, but he likes it when Vil decides to do it for him. He actually loves to hang out with the tweels ! Especially Floyd ! He can sometimes take naps and can actually sleep anywhere... and so he ends ups sleeping next to Leona or Silver. He likes to make Malleus confuses. It's funny. He likes to do some training with Jack. He also loves cooking and so can spend some times with Jamil or Trey. He knows a lot about surviving skill and eating what he can... so of course he get along with Ruggie! He likes doing music and can craft "instrument" out of anything, join sometimes the light music club to have fun with Lilia, Cater and Kalim. He's amazed by technology, since his desolated world don't have it anymore, so he likes to annoy Idia, always asking him to show him things. (he'll start playing games with him) He likes to work at monstro lounge sometimes. He argues often with Sebek but he think he's funny. Always hang out with Ace and Deuce to make trouble. Think Riddle is funny when he become all red. He knows how to use a bow and hang out sometimes with Rook to train. He respect Trein and sees him as a father figure too. He likes to play with Lucius. He always encourage Epel to be himself. He sometimes laugh at Crewel and bark when he call him a puppy. He's pretty sporty, since he's an apocalypse survivor, so he get along very well with Vargas and is very good at sport classes. He likes to go to the store and meet Sam, even if he's not familiar with the concept of money. Learning about this is very interesting to him. Want to slap Rollo Think Chenya is really funny Think Neige is fake (too good to be honest), he don't understand why he's seen as prettier than Vil Love to hang out with Najma

[lesbiansupernatural]

I really enjoy playing video games, and am usually quite okay at it, but I for some reason am completely incapable of doing them correctly. Let me explain.

I usually aim for 100% completion in all games I play, which in turn tends to make me accidentally do things in the wrong order. In addition to this I am slightly stupid and fuck up a lot, so here are some of my best moments:

1. Skyrim: was gifted the game by a friend who loves it and was immedeately hooked. After having played non stop (apart from school) for about two weeks, my friend asked me what my favorite shout was. My response? "What the fuck is a shout??" I'd played the game for two whole weeks and just casually not gotten to that quest yet. I had the quest in my log, but I was running around doing other things, also killed a few dragons and had to go back later to be able to absorb their souls

2. Stardew valley: Played the game till I got tired of it, 100+ hours. Put it away, and then realized that romance is a thing in the game. I did not have a single hint of romance in my play through lmao

3. Baldur's gate: I during the entire thing with the thieflings in the glade I somehow fucked up enough to kill every single person there, causing me not to have the thiefling party and not get the Halsin quest. I did not realize there was another solution to that problem until halfway through act two.

I also managed to enter the goblin camp the wrong way, so I entered through the exit. During this I somehow killed Halsin. Then as I exited the camp I got the pop up for the Halsin quest, and then immedeately after a pop up saying the quest was over

4. Assassin's creed: when I play open world games I usually try to do every side quest etc I can before continuing with the main quest. In the ac games you also have a neat question mark for everywhere you haven't been. So any time I entered a new a new area, I'd loot everything. This caused me to get an inventory FILLED with quest items I did not have the quests for yet. Also ended up with a lot of quest items I never got to use after finishing the game

5. Horizon forbidden west: I did not realize there were areas of the map you needed a flying creature to access, so before unlocking said creature I was going around trying to explore every single location. Somehow also managed to glitch my way into one of the places that could "only" be accessed by flying. (I jumped like a million times till I managed to angle it correctly so I was able to jump into a tree and then jump the fence that way)

Also feel the need to mention that I do not own a sense of direction, and this is often revealed in the way I play games. I have a bunch of examples, but let's do the one where I tried to play breath of the wild.

I entered into a room. Straight ahead was a very obvious opening for where to go next, but I wanted to make sure I didn't miss anything in one of the corners. So I walked around the room, "oh look! A secret door!" I opened said door, expecting a smaller room with some loot in it. What actually happened? I walked back outside...

That's all I can remember for right now, but there is most likely a BUNCH more

[spacepiratenemo]

It's not like I like you, Firecracker! PT2:

It’s not like I like you, Firefart PART 2 ! 

After Nemo repaired the radio and yelled at Ace for no apparent reason, she worked on the Omnis for the rest of the day, ignoring pretty much everyone with a whole lot of sassy attitude. In the evening though, she did what she did every night. Have a seat on the bow of the Moby Dick and look at the moon while falling into melancholy. Her heart felt heavy each time she watched her former home and the feeling of being the only one left constantly ached inside of her, yet there was this longing for an old world lay in ashes. At this point Ace was very much aware that Nemo acted tough, so she wouldn’t cry in front of everyone whenever she missed her family and her brother. 

Hence, he often joined her side at night, chatting, learning about space, playing games. Spending this lonesome time with Nemo usually came with a lot of fun and they often ended up spending most of the night enjoying themselves. He worried about her, frankly so, Nemo didn’t do a whole lot to ease his concerns. Stubborn, always acting like the coolest things since toolbars were invented; it was difficult to get Nemo to open up, or show openly when she wasn’t okay. Even worse, Ace was aware how dangerous the cold could be to her and she never told him when the thermal energy of her body dissipated. He told her countless times that it was okay, she wasn’t taking away his energy, he had enough of it and truth be told, Ace did enjoy her proximity. He wanted his friend to be safe and warm, and not in danger of being freezing cold. 

“I don’t need your help”, “Yadaa, yadaa! I’m fine”, “None ya business, Firecracker!”. He had heard all sorts of protests, arguments, and sassy replies. At some point Ace had enough of it. He wasn’t someone to dare and cross any boundaries, but Ben told him often that she kept herself in critical levels and he wasn’t willing to watch her stubbornness any longer. He cared. Simple as that! 

“It’s not like I like you” = The biggest, most obvious lie ever told!

Author’s Note: Pls keep in mind that the “yellow voice lines” serve as EMOJI and are NOT what the characters are saying. Ace wouldn’t say “oof” just like Nemo wouldn’t say “gangsta” out of context. The yellow voice lines serve as aesthetic, thoughts and emote. Please keep in mind that story-posts are severely shortened and less detailed on IG, due to obvious limitations. Thank you <3

Please check out the first Part on my IG: https://www.instagram.com/r0tt3n_rabbit__/

More fanficiton&story content can be found on my wattpad: https://www.wattpad.com/user/R0tt3n_Rabbit

[menkhu]

Are you playing in, or GMing any TTRPGs currently?

very yes to both! i'm gming two campaigns. it's less overwhelming than it sounds bc one is monthly rather than weekly. making the stories come to life has become one of my favorite things

i'm sort of playing in four campaigns right now? it's also not as overwhelming as it sounds; the group only meets once or twice per week. one of my gms got excited about a different campaign while gming the first so now we're swapping between the two campaigns when we finish each book. the gm for campaign three has been overwhelmed by Life™ recently so another gm stepped up to run what was conceived as a series of one-shots for when the others aren't able to run anything but we're currently on a pirate-themed (sort of) mini campaign so i'm counting it as campaign 4.

all are pathfinder, some 1e, some 2e. more about the particulars of each under the cut

the weekly campaign i run is hell's rebels! i play with kcvagabond, chromaticcarton, and two others who aren't on this site. we're about 3/4ths of the way through it. i was resistant to the idea of gming at first but a friend of mine who lives in another state was talking about how he missed playing ttrpgs and i wanted to change that but i wasn't going to ask anyone to do something i wasn't willing to do myself so i took the plunge and i'm so happy i did.

the monthly game i run is kingmaker and it's for a church group actually! i'm not really religious, just friends with the pastor who is a big fantasy nerd and has always wanted to play in a ttrpg. there are six players and i was nervous about managing such a big group, but they instantly had a great rapport and they put a lot of value in making sure everyone gets a say in decision making. we've only had 3 sessions but i'm loving it so far.

campaign 1 is strixhaven. my character is zefi (he/she/they) a fetchling champion of alseta who is perfectionistic and a people pleaser. alseta is the goddess of transgenders and also letting people do whatever they want so zefi's dogma, as they follow it, is basically being an enabler i love playing paladins that aren't lawful good

campaign 2 is rise of the runelords. my character, sylvie, is a human tower shield specialist who i min/maxed for ac. her concept is basically she's a teenage girl. she's brilliant except for when she's stupid. she's cool except for when she's not. she painted purple stripes on her shield with nail polish. her closest friends in the world are a geriatric scholar and the orphans she babysits il ove her

campaign 3 is homebrew, possibly taking some cues from extinction curse? i play lee, a human bard who ran away from the pressures of noble society to join a circus. massive nerd. his muse is the heroine of his favorite adventure novels. he didn't realize he was nearsighted until he tried on a pair of glasses while looking for circus disguises. his initials are lol. il ove him

campaign 4 is also homebrew. i call it sort of pirate themed because the gm defines pirates as sailors on adventures. knowing the gm it's probably one piece inspired although i'm not familiar enough to say for sure. good cartoony fun. my character is aven (he/they) a suli oracle. he's the least evil of his party which is saying something because he can get pretty bitchy. pf2e oracles are a huge chronic illness mood; using certain abilities advances their curses and the only way to reset and recover is by resting which i think is pretty neat. he's a lot of fun to play

[voidify333]

20 Questions for fic writers

I was tagged by @almarnatiaam- thanks!

1. How many works do you have on A03?

36

2. What's your total A03 word count?

133,211

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Mostly Ace Attorney these days.

I've also written for Les Mis and Good Omens; Les Mis makes up most of my works at 20 (though 4 of those aren't really fics, they're fanart pieces I posted to ao3 for sewerexchange).

And there's a couple random fics that aren't any of these: The Temptation Of Immediate Relief is a Pride & Prejudice missing scene fic that I wrote for high school english class and posted a polished version after graduation, and All Alone is a short War & Peace fic expanding the character of Anatole's wife who's entirely just a plot device with no character in canon (elephant in the room: the name I chose for her was retroactively made weird by my later fandom journeys by being cognate to the name of a completely different character, but like, whatever). I still think both of these are pretty good

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

Wilson & Sons (Good Omens outsider POV fic about Aziraphale's barber, a family business that he's been going to since the 1700s), at 1861 kudos

You're Better Off Without Him (Good Omens outsider POV about the guy in episode 4 who says that line), at 763 kudos

perfectly statue-still (Ace Attorney 3+1 fic about elevators being a trigger for Miles, angst with a happy ending), at 433 kudos

driving back in style (in my saloon will do quite nicely) (Good Omens fic, silly cute little A/C getting together scenario), at 303 kudos

naughty list (Ace Attorney fic; angst with a happy ending; the premise is that Gregory didn't get to tell Miles that Santa wasn't real so when the von karma household didn't do santa Miles thought he was on the naughty list for a solid 4 years. If you haven't read it, ho ho ho 'tis the season to read it now), at 241 kudos

Yeah, my good omens stuff is never being unseated from the top of my leaderboard unless I end up getting into an even bigger fandom at some point in the future

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I try to, because comments absolutely give me life and I need a constant stream of them, but unfortunately I don't get around to it often enough

6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Absolute angstiest out of my published works is probably my very first ao3 fic, not quite nowhere to turn. Valjean sees Javert die and is too late to do anything. The fic is very flawed in that I was 15 and had not learned how to do subtlety, I can't look at it now, but I was a hyperlexic kid with A's in English so I think it's still better than what most people were writing as teens

Second answer is merry christmas., my most recent fic (if you haven't read it yet, HO HO HO TIS THE SEASON), it's Miles' POV for the first bit of Turnabout Goodbyes, it ends on a note of hopelessness that he's doomed to be convicted, but it only debatably counts since anyone who's played the games knows that the turnabout is coming

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Most of my stuff has pretty happy endings, that's just my sensiility as a writer-- even "not quite nowhere to turn" has an afterlife reunion scene-- so I'm not sure what to say here.

There's some fics where the conflict was trivial in the first place (comedy and crack stuff), there's some fics where I feel in hindsight that the ending was a copout and that a rockier path to happiness would have been more interesting if I had mustered the strength to write it (When Tomorrow Comes is the primary example tbh), and there's some where it feels earned (the fics in this category include the ones I like the most)

8. Do you get hate on fics?

I've thankfully never gotten hate on AO3 that I can recall

9. Do you write smut?

Yes I do, but none of it is up on my ao3 account at this time. I have a ton in my google docs though...

10. Do you write crossovers?

I've written a couple. Both of them, funnily enough, of the format "javert meets one of my other blorbos and they recognise what they have in common"

In "and if you fall" (honestly the point of the title would have landed better if I did the full lyric "and if you fall (as lucifer fell)" but at the time that felt too corny), Crowley happens to be in the right place at the right time to talk Javert down from jumping (context: within GO book canon Crowley was asleep for the 19th century except for getting up in 1832 for a loo break)

In "The Choice Of Death" Miles Edgeworth meets Javert's ghost (AA ghost lore notwithstanding) one liminal night during his year away

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of.

On a tangent though, bc there's no question directly relevant to share this info, I HAVE gotten fanart for a fic before: this amazing fanart by @maym0rin for chapter 2 of "perfectly statue-still" (she gave me permission to crosspost it on tumblr bc she didn't have tumblr at the time but she later got tumblr when the twitter ship started sinking). There is nothing more flattering as an author than getting fanart, I hope this first time isn't the last time

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Not yet!

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Yes, I helped with @almarnatiaam's fic A King's Heart and got a co-writer credit.

And outside of cowriting on the level of be listed as cowriter on ao3, my friend who doesn't have tumblr (it's tsl for all the mtnr server friends reading this) and I have been collaborating and bouncing ideas on each other's fics for... wow, it's been over a year now!

14. What's your all-time favourite ship?

Honestly it would have to be Valvert because it got to me at a formative time and has shaped the kinds of ships I like for life

15. What's the WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

What do you mean "the" wip????

I have two dead fics and counting (one for les mis, one for good omens), and that's just the ones where I posted the initial content before realising it's too intimidating to finish. There's so many more in my docs; my friends know about some of them

16. What are your writing strengths?

Here are some that I have no problem bragging about, I reread my own fics often and smile at the moments where I did a banger line

Character voice (especially when the characters are my blorbos)

Using fancy vocabulary with precision in the prose to achieve effect (a skill born from trying to copy the vibes of victor hugo)

Witty prose humour (a skill born from trying to copy the vibes of pratchett & gaiman)

Prose from the POV of someone in a fucked up state- someone in a dark place emotionally, or someone whose motivations are fundamentally misguided or outright malicious. This is THE most fun shit to write for me

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Committing to long term character pain and tragic character conflict when it's not pulled/extrapolated directly from canon. I have many times read a fic where the author puts blorbo through the ringer and thought "damn if only I wasn't such a fucking coward and could write stuff like this". I've become less of a coward over the years and now enjoy

Writing anything long without a detailed plan for the entire thing

The need to use words with precision and write perfectly in character is as much a weakness as a strength. I am not a "write a whole first draft then edit" person I am a "dot points for the bits I don't have perfect words for" person and this sometimes causes issues where I assume I'll figure out how to get from A to B later but then it turns out to not make sense to get from A to B

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

I have 4 years of Duolingo French and have used this occasionally for my Les Mis works. The way I think of my Les Mis works is that the characters are all speaking French behind the fourth wall but the fourth wall translates for us, so I avoid puns that only work in English except on a couple super cracky occasions.

For Inspector Javert Chooses Death (a fic with the premise "AU where instead of dying Javert fakes his death like Edgeworth and goes to england and unrepresses his homosexuality") I was originally planning to write the whole letter near the end of the fic in french and put the translation in footnote but my beta reader got confused so I scrapped that and had the prose paraphrase most of the letter and only included one French sentence

19. First fandom you wrote for?

First fandom I published fic on ao3 for was Les Mis. First fandom I published fic anywhere online for was Animorphs (when I was 12 I published a weird dark comedy fic to FFN which was a 5+1 or similar format of Visser Three executing people for slighting him by morphing into huge creatures and eating them. Then people on animorphsforum.com told me the fic was bad so I lost all confidence and didn't write fic again for years)

20. Favourite fic you've ever written?

Right now it's between my two most recent AA solo fics: merry christmas. (already explained; 1-4 fic) and the perfect weapon (Manfred POV throughout his revenge plot, SUPER fun to write all that villain pov, grew from the premise "he had to have known about the nightmare to plan all that")

My best Les Mis fic is but i have seen the same (i know the shame in your defeat); it explores my favourite parallel with a cool alternating scene format and I actually still like the writing and characterisation even all these years later which is a rare honour for one of my high school Les Mis fics

Tagging: @squadron-of-damned @kaleran @samioli @ashkazora @azalawa-scroggs

[anonshu]

Hello a long awaited post,

Welcome to Shu's "Ranking Media My Friends Have Gotten Me Into"!!! If I missed any, feel free to say, and I will make a part 2 if there's enough I missed! Let's go!!

Hazbin Hotel - 5/10

I really enjoy the songs of this show but I found the story too rushed for me to care for the stakes of what's going on. I also didn't feel any strong connections with much characters. Maybe Sir Pentious, but his character, much like the others, didn't feel very.. complex, so his death didn't that impactful to me. Which is unfortunate. I found the show concept interesting, but it just felt a bit lame to me by the end.

Dungeon And Dragons - 10/10

This is a category with many subcategories, but the overall concept and game and everything of DnD? LOVE LOVE LOVE. My desire to be in a fantasy world is somewhat documented well, so the concept is perfect for me. The idea of being able to create a character and a story and be able to EXPERIENCE it is my heart's only oxygen. And to play with friends and experience their stories they've created? BEAUTIFUL. LOVE LOVE. I love DnD

DnD The Movie - 9/10

I really liked this movie. It really captured the essence of what I imagine is a stereotypical dnd session would be. It was so fun to see that in a movie. Just a bunch of idiots trying to do a mission. Gorgeous. I didn't like the romance they added for Doric and Simon, seemed unnecessary. Should have had more Xenk in the movie. I loved him, he was so goofy

Epithet Erased - 6/10

I already made a post detailing my thoughts on this show but to re-iterate it, I really liked the characters and the first part of the show but I did find the plot structure a bit strange? Read my old post for my proper review, give me views.

Baldurs Gate 3 - 6/10

I think I'd really like this game if I could make it farther in the story without my mac exploding. I do really like what I've done though. The battle system isn't my fav but I would have sucked way more if it was any other system. The designs of the characters and the world is absolutely stunning though. And I love Karlach, my wife.

Dimension 20 - 9/10

I love what I've seen from this. I love the variety of stories, and Brennan DM-ing is so delightful. I love how he does it.

Dungeon Meshi - 10/10

LOVE LOVE LOVE. SO FUN. GREAT SONGS. GREAT CHARACTERS. AMAZING STORY. LOVE LOVE. Only downfall is the changeling arc, not my cup of tea BUT EVERYTHING ELSE STUNNING

Good Omens - 9/10

I love love this show. Beautiful. Gorgeous. There's so much to be said about this show. I love the dynamic of the Aziraphale and Crowley. I love seeing their past experiences together. The pining?? It's beautiful. I just- AUGH!! The characters are my particular favourite, as I just love that I can reason with what's happened because I have an understanding of the characters. Augh, beautiful

One Piece/Live Action - 9/10

I absolutely adored this so so much!!!!! This connects both anime and live action because I watched the anime because of the live action. I absolutely adore this show. I love the diverse goals and abilities of the characters. It just feels so real that way. I love the bright, exciting adventures portrayed while also showing more serious moments when necessary. I love stories that aren't so down and moody, and are about a group of friends going on stupid little adventures!

Six Of Crows - 9/10

To go against what I just said. This is found family like how one piece is but has a different tone. As opposed to being friends connected through fun, they are co-workers connected through experiences. I love the fact that they are on a mission and begin as co-workers, but later on, trust is formed, and I just love seeing that. I'm realising my review is gonna be very one note soon.. oh well

Ace Attorney - 7/10

I am not that attached to the characters of ace attorney yet. But the game concept is so my thing. Investigating and solving a crime. I love puzzle games sm ahdhhrf I do find some stuff really stupid and tedious BUT that's honestly fine because I feel like a genius every time I complete a trial whdht

Shrek 1 & 2 - 7/10

Stupid, fun kids movie. What can I say? Watching it on a bus.. was an experience.. but I really liked going to the cinema to see it. I found it really fun to watch this with friends. Love

Tom Cardy - 10/10

This is a small addition, but I love love love this man. Such good songs. Love it.

Spiderverse- 9/10

Also a small addition, but the art of this movie was so incredible. So excited for the next one! Loved loved loved the chase scene and the ending scenes

[evachuber]

More theories because I am on a brainrot

I spent some time to think of theories and what everything means during the wait for part 2, and whilst it's quick, I do think I should lay down some I have right now and see if they make sense. Let's begin.

Spoilers for all of Chapter 2 but I think you all knew that the moment you saw my post's title.

I do think that if David IS telling the truth about his secret, then Hu can be the three suicides one. After all, she mentions not being useful after David's big reveal and seems to hold a significant amount of trauma due to that.

It WOULD also help show why the fuck she keeps babying Nico, seeing them as someone who needs guidance on how to survive a killing game with people like Ace in the room, not to mention, she already has a friendship with Nico, so it's a starting point.

Does that mean I like her?

Look I may have such low standards I like Veronika but Jesus Christ Hu is a fucking annoying character, just cuz she has a good reason DOESN'T mean she's likable

ANYWHO, enough Hu hate or else she will give me at least 20 Aneurisms in a matter of a millisecond, we got another killer suspicion

Do I believe it? No. Not because It's not right, but because if it IS right, my discord pfp changes and I am naturally very biased because of it.

People are saying the killer is Levi. Which... definitely has points.

Levi using the crazy sprite here makes him seem like he's fucking insane, but also... hiding something? most of the cast has something to hide, and by this point, Levi is definitely the most sus one who's hiding something

close second/third is David/Arturo but they've revealed big something already so they're not on the list

Dude was MEGA quick to hit the vote button on David, even to the point of it looking too quick. Since David is the most sus person this chapter, it's natural to think he's a suspicious person and the best person to vote, therefore get them out of the way and win the trial. The only reason this fails is because Teruko's thinking and Charles realizing the group fucked up (Just between us, that's the most BS cliffhanger I've seen. Makes sense, but damn it was fucking abrupt.)

I find it oddly out of character for Levi to instantly push Eden as the killer. David? You can make the argument he revealed a new side to him and confessed to the murder instantly, but EDEN makes less sense to me. They are shown to be friendly, as shown in the first episode of the chapter.

ANOTHER THING is that Charles brought up a point I would see the calculative Levi agreeing with; No one was going to accuse Eden of murdering, she was just suspicious as the note had her name on it.

All this makes Levi very suspicious, and that's just from the trial. There is also evidence that points back to him.

I will not cover every evidence. Not because this post is too long as is and you'll need to read it when you have the next few hours free, but because I do not remember how the evidence plays into the case and my IQ usually isn't higher than 5

Man I am such a good DRDT fan :D

ANYWHO- One I will cover is the Merry go round, or as Infinite from Sonic Forces Teruko describes it, "The spinny thing".

Now, tape being wrapped in some sort of way around the merry go round is already looking suspicious, but then you look at Arei's wrists.

There is a mark on her wrists. It also can't be rope because of the shape, rope would leave a few patches of untouched skin, whereas in this case, Arei has a complete rash around her wrist, showing that tape was definitely used to drag her. This is also why her glove was missing, most likely to keep people from either guessing it's tape compared to rope or her glove was resistant to tape. It's one of the two, I have 0 idea.

Now, the main idea is that Levi used the Merry go round to push Arei up on the swing set to make it SEEM like she hanged herself in order to stage a suicide. However not only is that not the case due to Suicides not causing a trial, but also look at the fact that we can confirm that Arei's death had nothing to do with drowning (meaning no relaxation room ravine was involved.)

Arturo confirmed her neck was broken.

At first, this seems irrelevant. After all, hanging usually ends in broken necks, right?

APPARENTLY NOT.

seems sus for someone to die from a neck snap without the use of a noose. and let's remember what Arei's talent is...

Yeah, she's pretty fit

Of course, a Bowler has uses with the arms...

OK that sounded wrong- but I can't explain it better-

ANYWAY, Given her strength, it would be natural she could overpower most of the cast, even if they tried to hurt her. Some people are also not physically fit enough to either fight back/kill Arei or even fight her, and I doubt most people would know how to snap her neck.

Levi looks like he has healed, so I don't see him looking like he CAN'T snap Arei's neck. He also could easily push the carousel as long as his arm doesn't get hit with the pain, but the dude is buff enough I think his remaining hand will be fine.

There is DEFINITELY more I can think off, but remember, I'm some British guy theorizing on how buff dude killed a character who nearly got character development, but DR;DT played it well. If I think of more shit I can make a part two to this post but until then imma go commit tax evasion and angering Karen's with my shitty opinions, have a nice life

[ranger-kellyn]

Getaway Car WIP 4

reading through my nano doc trying to get back into the thought of working on this again. i thought i wasn't going to write another world tournament chapter, but then i realized i could have all kinds of fun exploring the emotional aftermath of letting diantha be a little petty. as a treat. :)c

there is a small skip note towards the bottom bc it's a nanowrimo draft but ¯_(ツ)_/¯ wygd

-- -- -- --

Elesa dragged Burgh with her over to one of the tunnel’s lights, needing better sight to get his mic pack back in place.  A light that was probably out of earshot.  

Diantha knew an opportunity when she saw one.

She could play mind games with the best of psychic specialists.  

“By the way,” she began, keeping her voice casual.  “I’ve been meaning to tell you that your villa in Undella is absolutely stunning.” It certainly wasn’t a lie.  

Caitlin’s head tilted to the side, as if lost in thought.  “Thank you,” she said, tone unreadable to Diantha.  “Forgive me– did I ever rent to you?  It would have slipped my mind if you had a filming company reach out to me,” she continued.  

She might have been fishing for context, but Diantha was going to snag her line with nothing but subtext.  

She shook her head.  “No, Cynthia has had me over quite a bit while we’ve been filming the past few months.  You have impeccable taste,” she said. 

Caitlin hummed, carefully studying her features.  “You’re too kind.” 

“And this is probably a silly compliment, but Cynthia said you had the bathroom remodeled, and it absolutely shows.  Only a tall woman would know to refit it with a bathtub that would be enough to actually soak in.  Practically big enough for two people,” she continued. 

She didn’t miss the way Burgh and Elesa had both stopped talking at their end of the hall.  They were clearly listening in, but she couldn't be bothered to care. 

She also didn’t miss the very subtle raised brows from Caitlin.  “I do try.” 

“And don’t get me started on that bedroom.  The way you can watch both sunrise and sunset– absolutely stunning,” she said, lowering her voice just enough to hopefully keep at least Burgh from overhearing.  “Can’t say I’ve ever had a bad morning waking up in that bed.”  

“The main reason I picked that particular villa,” Caitlin said with an edge to her tone. 

Forgoing any other compliments, Diantha instead aimed straight for her jugular.  The true ace she had been waiting to play.  “In some ways I know Cynthia and I have the film to thank for giving us a chance to be friends, but that lanai of yours.”  She paused, a small shake of her head.  “Can’t tell you how many hours we’ve spent out there just chatting and enjoying one another’s company.   I think I really do have you to thank for our–” It was an intentional pause.  Just long enough to make Caitlin dig her fingers into her arms, smothering any reaction.  “Friendship.” 

“Always happy to help Cynthia branch out,” she said.  

Diantha didn’t have to be a psychic specialist to know she had gotten completely under her skin.  The look of utter disdain–  

In some ways, Diantha had never been so eager to make an enemy for herself…but then again, it wasn’t entirely fair to call Caitlin an enemy.  Enemy would have implied she was even a player in the game– and judging by Cynthia’s own obliviousness to her affections…she wasn’t even a contender.  

“Field’s all set!” the assistant yelled from the back end of the hallway.  

Diantha smiled at Caitlin, in truly what was her best and most well rehearsed shit-eating grin.  “See you on the field, darling!” 

Elesa was quick to catch up to her, pulling her along the underground hallway so they could make their way to the other side of the field.  “Oh my god–” she began once she was sure they were at least out of earshot of Burgh and Caitlin. 

Just as quickly as she had been reveling in the satisfaction of it all, the realization of what exactly she had done crashed over her.  Anxiety clawed up her neck, marring her face and shoulders in hot shame.  

Elesa paid no mind.  “You know– I even fucking had the thought, and I almost even said something to Skyla!”  She said, laughing through talking.  “But then I was like, ‘No, I’m not gonna do that to Diantha! I’m sure she gets enough shit as it is with being accused of dating everyone she goes near’ but like! Oh my god!”  They had finally reached their end of the tunnel, still a few minutes to spare before they would be called onto the field.  

Diantha just hoped that none of the tunnel security cameras captured too much audio. 

“I have never seen anyone actually shut Caitlin down like that before– are you two fucking or what?!” she asked with the biggest grin.  

The heat had yet to leave her face, and she was sure it was showing even though her makeup.  “That was highly unprofessional of me.”  As though she wasn’t literally the champion of another league that was in the same alliance–

Elesa stopped her spiraling in her tracks.  “Oh, uh-uh, shove it!  That was hot!”  She said it so matter of factly, it could only make Diantha laugh.  “And like– look, if I’m being nosey, tell me to back off I’ll get it, no hard feelings– but I wanna be nosey.  Are you two, like, together-together?” she asked.  

Had it been practically anybody other than Elesa, she would have kept her mouth shut.  However, it was Elesa. While not an actress, she was someone who dealt with a similar level of public scrutiny.  Someone who likely understood all the varying ways her hands were tied.  

“We’ve been…” She wasn’t even sure how to really describe it all.  “Casual up to this point, but…” She grimaced.  “That wasn’t exactly a casual reaction, was it?” she asked.  

Elesa snorted a laugh.  “Was gonna say,” she teased. 

Diantha shook her head, crossing her arms.  “We were going to talk about it today, but– then we were asked to join this, and from the moment she called Cynthia to invite her I’ve been worked up, and…” She shook her head again, forcing herself to drop her shoulders to release all the tension that had built up. 

Elesa nodded.  “Hey– look, I get it.  Caitlin isn’t subtle, she’s never been subtle– but it’s also Cynthia.  This isn’t a knock against her at all, but like– it’s Cynthia.  I know I’ve watched people throw themselves at her left and fucking right.  It’s not easy being with someone like that– trust me.  Talk to Skyla.  It’s something we’ve been working with…” 

[fill in rest of convo later]

“I'm warning you now, Elesa– I will be sending out Gardevoir up front,” Diantha said, getting a harder laugh from her.  

“I’m about to start crying– oh my god– I had no clue you were like this! I am living for this!”  She sifted through her poké balls, holding up the green and yellow capsule.  “If you’re going for the petty angle of beating the psychic specialist with a psychic pokémon, then I’m joining you and beating the bug specialist with my own bug!” 

Her Galvantula. 

Diantha grinned.  “See, this is why I’m glad you and I partnered together.  I’m glad I didn’t even have to explain that to you.” 

Elesa pulled her in by the shoulder.  “Let’s kick ass, babe!”

[a-student-out-of-time]

I know it's been awhile, but if the Arei/J thing is true, Levi is a prime suspect because of the chapter 1 FTE video. In the top 20 most voted pairing, J and Levi got 8th place, despite them not interacting with each in the first chapter from what I can remember. Almost every other pairing on that list either had some interaction, even if it was small, or something like Ace/Arei who were both bullies. Me thinks people on the team may have wanted to give the chapter 2 deaths some spotlight.

//I know people are probably tired of me talking about this...but I'm gonna do it again.

//I want to ask a genuine question: let's say you're right and Levi is the killer. I've seen a lot of people who are thoroughly convinced it's him and even patting themselves on the back over it, thinking they've got it all figured out. But are you happy with that?

//Let's say that's the scenario. Arei, who wanted to be a good person, went to Levi about her secret. Levi, who's tried to be a good person but still has a dark streak to his personality, doesn't know she's trying to turn over a new leaf and thus either kills her in a fit of rage or knocks her out and sets up the death contraption, both of which he could do because he's strong.

//Okay, but as an explanation, doesn't that just feel...predictable? Unsatisfying? Even flat-out boring?

//In fact, not only is it all three of those to me, it completely undercuts the messages and themes of Despair Time itself. Something that I feel a lot of people continue to miss entirely.

//Despair Time Chapter 2 has, in large part, been about the importance of building and rebuilding trust. Not only has Teruko been the centerpiece of so many discussions about why her paranoid distrust of everyone is unhelpful, but Ace has constantly been antagonizing and mistrusting Levi after that outburst in the first trial.

//If you're saying Levi is the killer, you're effectively saying Ace is right. You're saying that every paranoid accusation that Levi was waiting to kill him or someone else was accurate, and that in turn, you're also saying Teruko was right for not trusting anyone.

//Except the game is trying to tell us that trusting nobody is just as dangerous as trusting everybody. That's a key theme in everything going on here, and having a killing that undermines that feels out of place.

//Furthermore, another thing to consider is this: wouldn't it be far more knife-twisting and tragic for them to make Arei an active part of this chapter, and we get to see her desire to change, then leads to her death? Instead, she only gets a handful of scenes here and there, one of the big ones in a flashback with Eden.

//They were good scenes, don't get me wrong, but if they wanted us to feel like she was raising legit death flags, there should've been more focus on her, not less. Instead, she practically vanishes after the playground scene and apparently then turns up dead. And with all that's gone on so far, I believe it was by design. Arei dying like this also makes no sense otherwise.

//This is why I still stick to my switch theory. Not only does it fit with themes of the story, but Levi, being the Ultimate Personal Stylist, is the perfect person to make them look similar enough that nobody would notice.

//So no, I don't think Levi is the killer. It's the most predictable and played-out explanation one could go with, and with as high production value as DT has had, I absolutely cannot believe they'd go that route. There's far more going on here than we realize.