#I'm thinking it's both of them because of the chess theory

[theriverdraws]

LMAO I feel ya Toby

Also C A SUAL TENNA MENTION

(Not like they've been a secret for us crazy people, but still)

[wtpyrofreak]

The "best thing to happen to Kinger's lower half" is not foreshadowing, but a hint to his past in the circus. Hear me out.

So we all remember "Kinger's Special Place" and how those Checkmates socks (Plus Kinger "wearing" one of them) caused a lot of fans to worry over the fate of our beloved chess piece?

Yeah. The more I think about it, the more I feel like we're viewing all this from the completely wrong angle. This isn't telling us what WILL happen to Kinger...

It's telling us what ALREADY happened to Kinger and WHY he's the way he is now.

Gangle's supposed "Near-abstraction" moment in EP 4 made me think back to Kinger's core memory with his abstracted wife. He couldn't recall the exact string of events that lead up to it, but that moment in the fort where she calmed down enough for him to caress her was forever ingrained into his mind.

Maybe it's because said moment was what saved him from immediately following Queenie into abstraction--

"Erm, eckshualeeeee, when Gangle snapped back from abstracting, she didn't go insane like Kinger. Theory debunked along with your Stupid sauce scandal idea."

Well, yeah. Because she was just starting to abstract before Pomni offered to switch shifts with her. Meanwhile, I think Kinger was already deep into abstracting before ending up in the pillow fort with Queenie.

This silly image of Keychain!Kinger wearing the Queenie sock? It represents HOW CLOSE he was to completely breaking. He still managed to snap back, the absolute chad, but having been so near the brink of no return, the mental damage was already done and couldn't be reversed (much like how you can't come back from fully abstracting).

That's why Kinger's mind is so scrambled/fragmented present day.

Upon this recontextualization, so many things start adding up (at least for me).

Both his and Abstracted!Queenie's behavior follow the same patterns. Erratic and unpredictable in the light. Lucid and calm in the dark. This can most likely be applied to anyone else who abstracted too.

He can't recall the events between after Queenie abstracting and before he ended up in the pillow fort because he was probably HARDCORE dissociating.

He was more paranoid and unstable than usual after the Gloinks took apart his fortress because they robbed him of his ANCHOR.

And of course, all this can further explain how Kinger has managed to last in the circus longer than anyone else. DOI\I'T FORGET. YOU'RE HERE FOREVER.

...Orrrrr maybe I'm just on extreme hopium + copium over my favorite character and the checkmates socks are just comfy socks and nothing more. I AM the same person who concocted the crack-ass "Spudsy's Signature Special Sauce Scandal" theory, after all. XP

We'll just have to wait and se

(EP 4 Gangle gifs ripped by @fleshgerm)

[kujakumai]

On the subject of being good with children, which characters do you think WOULD be good babysitters?

YUGIOH CHARACTERS AS BABYSITTERS, RANKED

TOP PICKS:

Seto Kaiba runs an entire company dedicated exclusively to safely entertaining children, and unless his parks are getting continually sued I believe he knows how. Your kindergartner is not only safe with him but will probably leave knowing how to play chess and write in C++. He may allow them to play with knives, but only if they're 9 or over, plus he has all the emergency numbers on speed-dial.

Hiroto Honda babysits his niblings on the regular. Can warm a bottle and change a diaper. A level-headed and practical guy. He’ll be fine as long as his friends don't drag him into a horrible game-themed deathtrap. Don't ask why that caveat exists.

Rishid Ishtar is safe, experienced, has dad energy, however he will crumple like wet paper at the first sign of conflict re: ice cream for dinner / no bedtime / blood-soaked cross-country quest for revenge / an extra episode of cartoons over the screentime limit.

Ishizu Ishtar would make a great babysitter. I don't really have a quirky joke here she just would.

"MAYBE"S

Jonouchi used to watch his little sister and I think he'll do about as well as any other teenager you're paying minimum wage, and with a lot of earnest enthusiasm. Your child will be fine at the end of the night, though they will probably have eaten some junk food and played a T rated videogame.

I do not think Atem would know what to do with a baby, and may panic about it, though if you have an older child he will be happy to offer a rousing speech and some deep-voiced mentorlike advice while teaching them to play board games. Not a bad choice, just try not to leave him with anyone under seven.

Yugi knows zilch about kids and often appears a little annoyed by them. Same general rules as Atem--do not leave him with a baby, but he'll probably just teach an older kid to play shogi or something.

Mai Kujaku will put the kid in front of the television and order pizza while she paints her nails. Honestly, though, what more are you paying her for?

Listen, I love Anzu. I do. She’s smart, driven, and big-hearted, but she is also sort of short-tempered and impatient, and patience is like 90% of child-rearing. Please do not ask Anzu Mazaki to watch your children. She WILL say yes because she needs the money, and she WILL go into it with optimism and gumption, and yes, both she and your child will both be in one piece at the end of the night, but it will be clear from both of their frazzled expressions that she lost most of her sanity an hour in after the fifth "Why?"

DEFINITELY NOT

Ryou Bakura would in theory be a perfectly good, if kind of spacey, babysitter, but you cannot trust him to remain Ryou Bakura, and the other guy is definitely not someone you want anywhere near your children.

I don't think Marik Ishtar has ever interacted with a child for very long and the number of people he talks to that are even his own age is in the single digits. And he is definitely not getting spat on or dealing with any bathroom stuff. I'm not saying he can't figure it out but the learning curve is going to be steep.

I have to put Yami Bakura here in principle and yet for some reason I think it wouldn't go that bad? I mean he definitely doesn't care about the safety of your child. And he may enlist them to the armies of darkness. And he's not cleaning anything up. But he's like, a weird socially awkward over-the-top guy? And children love those? Honestly I think they would both have fun. For at least an hour until everything goes horribly wrong.

Please do not summon Zork Necrophades to babysit your child.

[witches-dream]

The trailer is just. Gorgeous. In every way. The feeling of dizziness, infinity and confusion it gives is impeccable, i love the way everything flows together, i love the gorgeous 3d models and the horror of not really knowing what's real and what's fake. And ofc Japanese Shmilk is ohhhh my god 😳😳😳

Ok so pv doesn't appear to be going alone, he's accompanied by GingerBrave, Strawberry and Wizard who appear a bunch of times, and White Lily, who in pretty sure only appears in the beginning. But in a lot of scenes pv is alone, making me think that he's gonna get separated from the rest after some point.

With the epic releases we've had accompanying the beast and awakened ancient releases, there's been a pattern of the first epic being someone who's on the beasts side and second being someone who's on the ancients side. It's only happened twice though so both of Shmilks epics might be on his side tho. The cookie with dark hair gives me butler vibes. The one with white hair looks like the type of character who appears cute and sweet, but it's secretly fucked up, sorta like Haetae. That's all i can say about them for now

Other than that, the rest of my thoughts are pretty scattered, so let's see

1. Love the music

2. Love the chess and the taro cards and the circus and the eyes theming. Not enough mirrors tho

3. Love whatever the hell this thing is

I really really hope we get some answers about either Blueberry Yogurt Academy or Dark Moon Magic, ideally both, which is what i think this is about

4. This Cookie reminds me of Crimson Moon Acolyte but i may be tripping lol

5. If anyone still had doubts about whether we were gonna get glimpses of pre corrupt Shmilk, i think it's pretty obvious now that we are

6. If this update doesn't make pv's character any more interesting to me I'm gonna be sad (i think he's boring)

7. Again. Where the heck White Lily gone

She appears at the start a couple of times, but the very next scene after the puppeteer one, she's gone. She also doesn't appear in later instances of the rest of the gang appearing, then running up the stairs, getting sucked into the nefarious vortex and on the chess scene. I wonder if Shmilks gonna gaslight pv about that, knowing how important she is to him. Plus Blueberry Yogurt Academy connection again

8. THE STAIRS. I've been listening to Stairwell by Nick Lutsko religiously waiting for this update you don't know how happy i am to see the goddamn stairs. This song to me is from Shmilks pov, singing about pv and "she" is Lily

9. Since when is Shmilk snake-coded. I'm living for it tho

10. I just realized i think the reflection is showing a Shmilkified version of pv. New costume anybody? (Don't have too many hopes for this tho lol)

11. The title screen, again, is gorgeous, probably one of my all-time favorites

So what can we see here? Once again, like with the other beast updates, the presence of the beast is overwhelming, and the hero appears small and insignificant. We can expect this turning the other way around in the second half of the update, though i imagine it will be a bigger change than with Mystic Flour/Dark Cacao and Burning Spice/Golden Cheese. Simply because i can't see pv being in the same position as sm here tbh

We only see one of the new cookies? Where's the second one?

There's cutouts of the other ancients in the picture (and they appear elsewhere in the trailer too) which makes me think that, just like Shmilk compares pv to his past self, he's gonna do that shit about the other ancients too. Just to say like ohhh you have this potential to become evil too you know, all of you.

My theory from a while ago was that Shmilk was gonna show pv the past of the beasts, showing that they too were good and driven by a desire to help others and spread kindness, which could make pv sympathize, because he's a softie like that. Which would then either corrupt pv or make him want to try to "redeem" the beasts and want to help them, which the beasts could obviously abuse. From The devs pov, that's a good way to hype the fans and tease pre-corruption costumes, which i think are 100% coming at some point. (Btw i don't think the coty costume Mystic is gonna get will be her pre-corrupt one, simply because i think that's planned regardless. She's gonna get a different, unique one. Plus, coty costumes are legendaries I'm pretty sure, and i think pre-corrupt costumes are gonna be epics, maybe specials, but deffo not legendaries. Watch me be wrong tho). Similarly to how Dark Cacao got so miserably helpless in his story and Golden Cheese was so physically and mentally drained in hers, i think Vanilla will be in a similar state before awakening too, but he's gonna have to break out of the illusions Shmilk feeds him, so maybe like. He's gonna get very very close to corrupting as a result of Shmilks influence. I hope I'm making sense here lol

12. Last thing i think. The decor set is gonna be sick

[sapphoswh0re]

A Kuroshitsuji theory about the emerald witch arc

I've never posted something like this and English isn't my main language but I just wanted to share some thoughts with other fans, so please let me know what you think about this :)

We are in the dream in chapters 93-95, and could these scenes hide clues about the future/role of certain characters???

Who are the pieces on the chessboard?

(Maybe a big foreshadowing about the most recent chapters????)

What pieces are present for each group?

Black: 1 king, 1 horse/knight, 1 rook*, 3 pawns

White: 1 queen, 1 horse/knight, 1 bishop, 1 rook*, 2 pawns

*I'm almost sure it's a rook because it's the only piece left and the other shapes wouldn't really fit.

First, let's include a bit of symbolism for each piece. (Full article: https://chessquestions.com/chess-pieces-symbolism-shape/)

After looking at the various characters that Yana linked to the pieces it was super interesting to re-read their role/symbolism and try to understand the reasons behind those placements.

Later two mirrored panels appear and they indicate that certain pieces represent certain characters.

Ok that was easy.

But what about the others?

And we know that Yana doesn't do things randomly, so what could be the reason for certain choices?

Let's see the theory little by little…

White:

▪︎ BISHOP -> Joker

▪︎ PAWN 1 -> Doll

▪︎ PAWN 2 -> ?

▪︎ ROOK -> ?

▪︎ HORSE -> ?

▪︎ QUEEN -> ?

▪︎ ?

Black:

▪︎ ROOK -> Vincent

▪︎ PAWN 1 -> Madame red

▪︎ KING -> ?

▪︎ HORSE -> ?

▪︎ PAWN 2 -> ?

▪︎ PAWN 3 -> ?

4 of them are revealed by Yana herself and two more are quite obvious: O!Ciel is the black king and Sebastian the black knight.

These two symbolisms are often used both in the first chapters and in the anime.

Furthermore, it is mentioned in the same chapter:

O!Ciel is frequently shown as the "black king" but in the chapter we can see him standing in front of the king, he covers part of it and it's as if he is the one wearing the crown.

R!Ciel is leaning on the horse when he says that Ciel is scared to look at the "proof of sin" which is a clear reference to Sebastian. Also, on the chessboard in the first picture, we find the horse close to O!Ciel.

Ok, perfect, now the hypotheses and spoilers for the latest released chapters begin.

I start with two characters who are shown in the chapter but not as chess pieces: Rachel and R!Ciel.

Rachel is not present in the second picture but is always shown next to Vincent (in this chapter too) so I think she could be the pawn seen in the first photo in the box G8.

For R!Ciel, however, the question is a little different because we actually know which piece he represents even if that piece is not shown on the board.

R!Ciel is the white king, this not only because he's O!Ciel's twin but because it's shown to us by Yana through the way he moves.

This picture is super helpful to understand where the characters are positioned and how they move.

We can see him (blue dot) standing on C3 in a scene, then he moves until he's on F2 (the X), standing in front of the black horse (G2, red dot).

I found it interesting how the way he moves is almost underlined with zooms and sparkles: first, a single step obliquely (in D2) and then another single step.

We don't actually know if the move was C3->D2->E2->F2 or C3->D2->E3->F2 but the important thing is that he moves in multiple directions but only one step at a time, and this is a main feature of the king in chess.

So what is the situation now?

White:

▪︎ BISHOP -> Joker

▪︎ PAWN 1 -> Doll

▪︎ PAWN 2 -> ?

▪︎ ROOK -> ?

▪︎ HORSE -> ?

▪︎ QUEEN -> ?

▪︎ (KING -> R!Ciel)

Black:

▪︎ ROOK -> Vincent

▪︎ PAWN 1 -> Madame red

▪︎ KING -> ? (O!Ciel)

▪︎ HORSE -> ? (Sebastian)

▪︎ PAWN 2 -> ? (Rachel?)

▪︎ PAWN 3 -> ?

I'm not actually interested in the black pieces at the moment so let's focus on the rest.

Looking at the situation that has been created with the return of the real Ciel and other characters recently, do we perhaps have some clues about the current factions???

Both R!Ciel and Doll returned as bizarre dolls, so could we consider the whites their side or at least a side that is O!Ciel's enemy?

Then we can now guess who the white horse is in my mind.

Why do I think that Undertaker is the white horse?

He has a somewhat similar role to that of Sebastian for O!Ciel, albeit distorted.

They're both the "knight" to their "kings", someone who stays by their side (white horse in B4, really close to the white king in C3) and provides support and strategy, I don't know but it just made sense to me.

What about the white queen?

OK, now it's going to get a bit crazy.

Let's look down again where the white queen and black knight are shown, and let's see what is said.

“Nothing will hurt you here” is referred to O!Ciel, so who could be a threat to him?

Sebastian, of course (in that same moment in the manga he was trying/considering eating him, his goal is to devour Ciel's soul at the end) but is also shown the white queen???

A queen who could hurt him?

Yeah so I think it represents Queen Victoria. Why?

My theory is that on the chessboard she is part of O!Ciel's enemy faction (she is not R!Ciel's ally at the moment and she wasn't involved with the blue cult arc since Undertaker despises her lol) because she could be connected with the events of the twins’ tenth birthday.

There are too many coincidences about 14 of December: Prince Albert's death, the twins’ birth, the attack. A lot of theories here on tumblr explain it really well.

And the other pieces? I don't think it's too crazy to assume that all 4 stars may be present on the board: Sirius, Vega, Canopus and Polaris.

2 of them are already there-> Sirius (both Ciel) and Canopus (Doll).

We now know that Vega is Layla, so she could be PAWN 2 or the ROOK based on her future role/importance(??)

Polaris has yet to be revealed but I believe it could be Joker who is already the white BISHOP, an important piece who is however not linked to the royal court but to a different master, who in his case is Baron Kelvin.

For my first post, it got waaay too long, so maybe I should explain in different posts all my theories on the queen's role, Polaris' identity, etc.

I hope it wasn't too chaotic 😅

[rimatsu]

Hello! I'm another anon who has to thank you for your optimism and good sense all these months!

I've seen your posts about speculation and I agree with most of it;

I think Eddie will move back to LA with Chris, because I think if they were going to stay in El Paso, the show wouldn't have gone down the "Chris isn't really happy and himself when he's with his grandparents" route. Chris could have chosen to move back in with Eddie and still enjoy chess and the life his grandparents were building for him, with Eddie reconnecting with them. Instead, the idea is that the distance between Eddie and his parents might be the healthy choice for the Diaz boys.

I don't know if it's going to happen, but I would like the bucktommy conversation about moving in to come full circle, with Tommy now reprising the "why be apart when we can be together?" and asking Buck to move in with him, because now they'd both be ready and on the same page.  They're also leaving that place at Fox studio (?), and I think it would make sense to have a new location/setting (Tommy's house?), like in the past we had Michael or May's apartments. I think if May or Harry come back, they'll live with Athena now.

Otherwise, I think it's more likely that Buck will think about a transfer but decide against it (imagine a callback to the harbor tour conversation + 8x05 speech, with Tommy helping Buck to realize he didn't need to transfer+the big emergency happening) and I'd love to see Buck supporting Hen as Captain instead of competing with her, that would show maturity on his part. I just don't know if this franchise has the courage to put a black lesbian as the definitive captain, since it seems like the rule of the OG and spin-offs is to always have a white man in charge of a diverse team.

hi! you're so sweet, thank you <33 as for specs, ditto! i agree with most of yours as well:

1) in 8a, chris seemed pretty settled and content with his living arrangement, and i'm on record here saying that uprooting a teen from that stability and his new friend circle would be cruel. 813 recontextualized the situation: i doubt he'd feel too torn up about the prospect of losing that support system now. awfully convenient for eddie and any future relocation to the west coast...

2) athena's insistence that the dream house was for her and bobby rather than the family home harry and may envisioned in 814 supports your theory. that felt very pointed. she might not have initially designed floor plans with her children in mind but i can hardly see them leaving her side now. the move-in might even be permanent if may ends up joining the fire academy to keep athena directly and intimately connected to the 118 as tim suggested

3) bucktommy sharing a roof by the finale would be circular and narratively satisfying. living together was brought up twice now, and the rule of three makes one expect a third discussion on the matter

4) i believe gerrard's soft spot for buck will come back into action next episode: he'll probably recommend buck for a promotion. now i'm still of the opinion that the show has not only primed hen as the next captain of the 118 but also foreshadowed her future position in 816, so i doubt buck will do more than contemplate the option before ultimately declining, be it in s8 or early s9 (with the acknowledgment that wearing the captain hat is something he hopes to achieve one day but isn't ready for yet). hen and buck temporarily seeking the same title could be an interesting source of tension and conflict, especially if buck internalizes bobby's last words as a request to take on his mantle while hen fears the weight of his legacy. but i've said it before and i'll say it again: promoting the relatively inexperienced 34 yo white man over the qualified black woman with seniority and several stunts as acting capitan under her belt would be egregious. however they'd justify it in verse, it'd still reek of misogynoir. now if you ask me, it's specifically because nashville has cast another white male as its lead that i think og can "afford" to part with that tried-and-true formula. they've already shaken the status quo with bobby's death. if anyone wants to see another bone-ash pasty guy give orders, they can check out the new spin-off or ls. at the dawn of s9, 911 is taking risks and trying new things: i'd say now is the perfect time for a black lesbian capitan

[mafagafo-amancebado]

My dummy silly nevermore theory now that the first part ended

How Annabel Lee and Lenore died

Or how I think they did

First of all I'd like to apologise for any grammar errors (English it is not my first language, sorry)

Long story short i think that Lenore was exposed to be a woman in her wedding with Annabel and noticing that they would be separated and would probably never see each other again Annabel told Lenore to kill both of them because she wouldn't be able to live without Lenore again. And here are my reasons to think that:

1. Annabel hates the life of a house wife

In one of Lenore flashbacks Annabel says how much she hates the idea of becoming a wife and looks devastated by this fact. Marrying with Lenore was probably the only way of her escaping from this future.

2. Who would have exposed Lenore?

Well I have two possibilities for this

#1 Lenore's Father. He was the one hosting Annabel and her father and he would very likely go to her wedding even saying he wants to meet her fiancé. Even though he has not seen Lenore for years I think he still would be able to recognise his daughter. So I think it was something like he arrived late to their wedding or took him some time to realise that it was his daughter in the altar and not his nephew (if he has one).

2# Annabel's previous suitor. Annabel mentions that her father found a suitor for her if she doesn't marry any of the ones she's been meeting. This doesn't mean anything but if this suitor was chosen by her father he is somebody important and would be invited to the wedding. I don't think he would be happy to know that the girl he wasn't able to defeat in chess in years and that defeated all of the possible suitors in England was going to marry someone that no one knows who is and where it came.

3. The place where they died

Okay this one might be just me going nuts but the backgrounds on this panels look kinda like a forest and Annabel dead body have a shadow that looks like a tree leafs shadow also her blood is splattered like if it's in the snow and not in a puddle like it would be if she bleeds in a regular floor (I do not know what is a regular floor).

(I actually never seen snow in real life so I'm probably wrong about this but I have seen trees so i still believe in the trees thing)

And okay, they could just have a wedding in a forest, but who has a wedding in the forest during winter?? I think they married in a church that was close to a forest and ran there when Lenore's dad/Annabel Lee previous suitor exposed they and in the forest they talk about how they didn't have a way out of that situation.

That's it! thanks for reading my nonsense.

There are other things in the history that make me think this but if I write in a single post it will be too much text and images so maybe I will post another part of this theory, I don't know.

[key0-m0ve-al0ng]

Times Milgram has implied 3 kayanosys alters sorted by how much of a stretch I think I'm making:

1. His chess piece in Deep Cover

Kotoko is a highly intuitive person - her subconscious has represented Mikoto with three distinct parts on his representative chess piece, and that could mean nothing, sure, but it's a possibility. also worth noting that when this breaks, it shows two prongs broken off, with the third missing. This is shown twice:

The paint splatters for that half are connected, while the other one that broke off was straying away. This is consistent enough for me to consider it a hint at something.

2. Backdraft, in which Mikoto has 3 lines of paint over him. The other guilty prisoners only get one. It looks eerily similar to the chess piece.

3. His birthday flowers. Everyone else got one distinct flower - Mikoto has 3. I don't remember what they all are but in the depths of Tumblr there's an analysis I'm sure I remember existing so shout-out to that mf.

both his prisoner number and birth date are divisible by 3 but that's a bit of a reach lol

4. These flashes in Double

Why 3 silhouettes? Why is one cut off? Could be for aesthetics, could be a clue.

3 eyes = 3 points of view? Mild stretch, but the art of Milgram strikes me as very very intentional. The repeated vertical "stacking" of the lines in Deep Cover, Backdraft, and these eyes remind me of the concept of structural/tertiary dissociation, but again a bit of a reach

4. His uniform

Would almost rank this above Double's visuals. Sure, nearly every prisoner has three vertical straps across the torso, but Mikoto has 3 horizontal straps across his waist and 3 on his wrists (worth noting that the third wrist strap is broken on the Double album cover, which matches the breakage in Deep Cover's MV). 3 stacked lines again. A pattern is a pattern I suppose.

5. A) how the fuck did he know to do this when Mikoto and John had no clue what was happening to them, B) we never see him with his hair like this after MeMe. He disappeared, like Mikoto is implied to be trying to do in Neoplasm. Presumably, he split and/or stopped fronting, resulting in the theoretical "other" two taking over.

6. This frame in Under: MEOWWWWWW BIIIIIG STRETCH!! He's holding up 3 fingers lol (also emphasizing the wrist straps). I'm reaching the way he reaches for his face under stress but it's Something

Some other things that are almost too minor to consider but I thought about them anyway because this project has driven me insane:

-repeated use of red-green-blue-specific coloring in both MeMe and Double

-John is associated with Christ imagery (crown of thorns graphic in Double, "savior" complex etc.), which is closely linked with the "Holy Trinity." The 3 aspects are all considered equally God, and at the same time, equally their own being. Never understood that until I understood plurality, even though we aren't religious anymore.

-3 prevalent major arcana - the Fool, the Hanged Man, and the Devil - in MeMe; followed up by Death at the end (drastic change).

- 9/3 = 3 (could be a coincidence). Also his bangs are divided into three parts (big stretch)

In conclusion either this all means absolutely nothing or I'm about to boost my "theory maker" credibility tenfold in t3 lmao only time will tell

[finisnihil]

Do you have any jingluo rambles or headcanons :3

I'd like to know more ☺️

Oh hi thanks for the ask! I don't typically talk about my more fanon ideas because I usually like to do analysis/theories of the canon material, so most of the time I write my headcanons and stuff into my fics or whatnot but! I'm totally happy to talk about some of them!

-More so a theory I'll die on the hill of but I do think Luocha is an Emanator, I have a post explaining my evidence here! It's not the most fleshed out because it was one of my first posts on here but yeah!

-One of my big Luocha headcanons is the flowers blooming out of his hair according to his emotions. He's considered an Abomination of Yaoshi, a term only really used for Mara-struck, and the Mara-struck typically have mutations of like ginkgo brances/leaves growing from their bodies. I think it'd make sense if Luocha also displayed Mara symptoms in his own weird way!

-I like to think Luocha can kinda "eat/digest" Mara. To me, Mara reads like a weird combination of rabies and chronic wasting disease. Vultures are a favorite bird of mine and they have extremely strong stomach acid, strong enough to digest rabies. They help manage the spread of rabies because of this and I can see Luocha's body functioning a similar way with Mara. Something percieved as scary or gross (Emanator of the Abundance/a scavenger that eats predominantly dead animals) but being essential to the managing of a healthy ecosystem because they perform a thankless task.

-Jing Yuan has crows feet. Even though the Xianzhou people don't really age past a certain point and their bodies stay that way no matter what (see: Dan Shu and her explanation of disabilities on the Xianzhou which is incredibly interesting) he is 721-ish years old and he smiles a lot. I think it'd be sweet to see evidence of that, that despite everything he still can smile so much it leaves little lines of joys in his face.

-Jing Yuan to me is more of an acts of service guy (His being General shows his love for the Luofu because taking care of its people is the ultimate act of service). I think Jingliu was also more of an acts of service person because to her fighting was all she lived for, for a while, so her showing love is wielding her sword for somebody (like wielding it against Baiheng to free her). I think that's a way Jing Yuan kinda embodies her yaknow? As for Luocha, he's more a quality time person. He's a traveler who doesn't really have anywhere permanent to call home so he likes to soak up as much time with the people he loves as he can before he's forced to move on again. He also likes receiving gifts because they're momentos of those people he can carry with him.

-I think Luocha would like to garden but he's never had a permanent place to do so, so when they get together he just takes over Jing Yuan's garden (which is suffering due to Jing Yuan's busy schedule) and rules it with an iron fist. The neighbors are jealous.

-I saw this post propose that Jing Yuan might be half Foxian and I really love that idea so that's something I like to chew on

-Both Luocha and Jing Yuan are strategic people and Luocha is one of the few people who have successfully outsmarted Jing Yuan so I imagine their enrichment is playing strategic games together. Western chess (my beloved), General's chess, Go, etc. I imagine Luocha is better at western chess and Jing Yuan at Go and General's chess, simply bc those were the games they were raised with.

-Luocha runs cold and Jing Yuan runs hot. Adding to that, if Luocha is an Emanator, he's probably stuck in this pseudo-death limbo so I imagine he's cooler to the touch. Meanwhile, Jing Yuan is very alive and pretty active, therefore warmer to the touch. Jing Yuan likes to nap resting on Luocha because it's like having a cool pillow and Luocha likes it because Warm. He would also like to tease Jing Yuan by putting his cold hands on the back of his neck or something and make Jing Yuan jump due to not expecting it.

-Being General is a demanding and exhausting job. I can imagine Jing Yuan doesn't really spend a lot of time on self-care in that aspect. He has a planet-ship to run after all so he probably doesn't care too much about what shampoo or soap he uses. Luocha is appalled and uses his connections as a merchant to acquire quality stuff (some of which is better for foxian hair types) to systematically switch out when Jing Yuan isn't paying attention. Jing Yuan obviously notices but he doesn't particularly care, later noticing his skin is less dry and his hair is way softer and healthier.

-Jing Yuan can cook but it's a 50/50 on if it actually ends up eatable. His job can be tiring and I imagine sometimes he's just too dead tired to stay awake and the food burns or whatever. After him and Luocha get together, Luocha will cook or he'll check on the food for him.

-I've been pinging around the idea of Jing Yuan having narcolepsy

[lochlogie]

Chloe is a Predator

So everyone gives Chloe shit for this little speech. I was inclined to think, yeah it's weird, but it's not like it's evidence that she goes around seducing underage boys. Plus she clearly has a dark past as a sex worker and maybe she wants a "john" who's wholesome and would never hurt her, maybe she enjoys the role reversal of it all. She says "When I was modeling, all the girls who were romantic ended up broke and brokenhearted, or worse."

It's weird, it's inappropriate, but I thought, surely it's not like outright predatory, right? Surely it's not pedophilic, right?

But no, I trawled through episode five once more, and it's very clear that she takes this shit seriously. When she says she likes innocent young guys, that's code for kids. Because she treats Lochlan like a child.

Sidenote, nice going Saxon. Way to normalize something like this because of course he would.

Note that Lochlan is walking closer to the water, which has the effect of making her higher up than him, looking taller than him in certain frames. His body language and facial expressions are mostly nervous throughout this interaction. He smiles when she says "Everyone gets laid," but he's mostly worrying his lips and blinking (which he does whenever he's unsure about something). When he asks a pragmatic question "What can I expect tonight," Chloe answers that vampires come out, as if he's a toddler asking what the moon is made of and she says "cheese." It's a red flag for me that she's actively leaning into her perception of him as naïve to that degree. And the hand on the shoulder looks very possessive.

This scene is interesting, because Chloe walks right up to Saxon with the drugs. She says "Guys look what I got!" meaning she's not singling Lochlan out. She shoves her hand up to Saxon and calls the drugs little candies and little sweeties, which is very infantilizing and meant to sound fun and harmless, not dangerous. Is she trying to pressure Saxon specifically to take drugs because he just rejected her offer? Was that her plan? Get Saxon to cave so Lochlan would be more amenable to take them next? Or is Saxon young enough that he also counts as an innocent young boy to her? Much to think about. It's definitely weirder than most people would think. That's twice she's used baby talk with her explanations of things. And note the camera focuses on Lochlan as she says this.

It's definitely to show the wheels turning in his head as he rejects Saxon's mentorship and replaces him with Chloe (he just wants to be used after all). But the fact that we see him while Chloe uses this cutesy language tells me it does fit into the pattern. Chloe talks to her prey like they're actual little boys.

Nevertheless, she's pleased when Lochlan takes the ecstasy. Did she avoid offering it to Lochlan directly because he'd be too nervous? Could she tell that offering them to Saxon would make Lochlan more likely to take them, whether Saxon said yes (worship) or no (spite)? I don't think Chloe's that much a mastermind, and it would be hypocritical of me to accuse her as such, considering this is the sequence that kicked off the Lochlan Spit Out The Pill "theory," which hedged on him playing 5-D chess, which is just not how this show works.

Considering the age gap and experience gap between her and Lochlan, I'm fine with saying that she drugged him. She pressured both brothers to take ecstasy at once, even if she was facing and talking to Saxon. Lochlan probably didn't even know what it was, much less had the information or sobriety to make an informed decision about it. She wanted them both high, and definitely Lochlan specifically.

When Chelsea asks "What is it?" she says "Come on, this is our one night away from the grumpy old geezers." Still a little infantilizing, definitely weird that she won't answer her supposed "best friend," but noticeably she doesn't try to make it sound like it's made of sunshine and rainbows.

And as for the sex itself, during Lochlan's flashback in episode six, Chloe can be heard saying "It gets better," which pretty heavily implies that she had just made out with him and was telling him the best was yet to come. And um... wouldn't he know that? Like he knows what sex is Chloe. Are you infantilizing him again? Do you wish he were a literal little boy who had no idea what sex is? I think she wishes he were a literal little boy who has no idea what sex is. She clearly gets off on talking to him like he's in elementary school. It's creepy as fuck!

Here's another example, more physical than verbal. During Saxon's second flashback, Lochlan is sitting on the bed, legs crossed, arms at his sides, passive, letting Chloe grab his head and lean in for the kiss. I'm not saying that her liking submissive men means she's a pedophile, but she's treating him like he's literally never kissed anyone before, and he did in fact kiss both her and Saxon earlier. Maybe she wanted to teach him how to properly do it since his earlier kisses were rushed and closed mouthed. In any sense, there's a definite experience gap that this shot only highlights. Also Saxon watching wishing that were him tenderly making out with Lochy, okay fag.

And finally the iconique choking. Again, not necessarily pedophilic, people are into choking. Did she ask first? If Lochlan has to take the heat for touching Saxon's dick can she take heat for grasping his throat? Anyway it ties into her hand on Lochlan's shoulder, almost on his neck, as they walk on the beach. It's clutching and possessive. I can't tell if she's squeezing very hard, but she's using enough force to pull his away from Saxon and toward her.

The whole night of the full moon Chloe has openly lusted after Lochlan, talked to him (and Saxon) like he's a child, and confirmed that she really gets off on his inexperience and naivete. The fact that she extends that out of the bedroom and says that vampires come out on the full moon and calls drugs little sweeties is a giant red flag to me that this isn't just her wanting to take control in the bedroom. I think she fetishizes the act of deflowering a pubescent boy, and is probably subconsciously viewing Lochlan as young as physically possible.

She never hears Saxon confirm that he turned 18 a couple months ago. She never asks on screen. I don't think she really cares either way. If Lochlan were still 17 during the season, she would've still fucked him. If he were 16 or 15, she would've still fucked him. Just because Lochlan is of age doesn't mean Chloe doesn't clearly fetishize that he can still pass as underage. And she treats him like that. She's still a predator.

[screamsofanoutlawbrain]

Alright, I'm dropping my Queenie theory in the cup before it's too late.

I think that Queenie and Kinger in life were a middle aged married couple, but held many differences that had their families indifferent to their relationship (like religion, political views, etc). I think their dynamic was very "girlboss malewife", I also think that both of them had worked as developers on the game, with Kinger making some of the base stuff and Queenie touching up the rest of it.

The two's digital forms as king and queen chess pieces from different sides, tie back into their personal lives and their relationship with eachother, both being from different sides, but together despite that (after all, why would they both be chess pieces of a king and queen if they weren't together?)

I think Kinger and Queenie's digital forms also slightly work into the world aswell, like a game of chess; the queen can die/abstract with little difference other than losing a strong piece in the game, but if the king dies/abstracts, the game is over, and that is why Kinger is still around while Queenie is not, Kinger cannot abstract, because that would end the game.

[overdressedcarp]

Aventurine, Dr. Ratio, and Ruan Mei for the character ask! (Love ur Aventio fic btw).

Thank you for the ask! I had fun doing these. (Also I'm glad you're enjoying the fic! I am sitting in my authorial hobbit hole with a big smile on my face.)

Aventurine

Clarifications (yellow boxes):

I don't see as many bad Aventurine takes as I do for Ratio, but I do think his rough edges often get watered down in a way that either justifies or ignores his canonical flaws. So "they got done dirty by fans" and "wow! they are a horrible person" both get soft nods because I think his character deserves to be both sympathetic and kind of an ass sometimes. (The other issue I see is people acting like he's vulnerable and helpless, which is just. fundamentally not true? He's not as secure in himself as he pretends to be, but he is a ruthlessly competent strategist, and he knows how to read people and give them what they want to see. He's a member of the Ten Stonehearts for a reason.)

"If they were real I would be afraid of them" alright let me explain. The 2.1 story did a masterful job of humanizing Aventurine, but his first impressions in 2.0 were fine-tuned to be unnerving, and it was really effective for me as a player. For a while I couldn't articulate why it made me uncomfortable, but @starcurtain did a great analysis on female influence in Aventurine's life, which touched on how his early interactions with the Trailblazer are designed to be intimidating and off-putting in a way that channels the sort of masculine dominance Aventurine has historically experienced at the hands of other men. Suffice to say: if it served his plans for me to be afraid of him, he knows how to do it, and it would work.

Also I forgot to mark "why do they look like that" on the bingo but I do think Hoyo should have given him more melanin considering how deeply Romani-coded his culture is. Everything else about his design slaps though.

Ratio

Clarifications:

"Wasted potential" is subjective because I've loved every moment we've gotten of Ratio onscreen, but damn do I want the game to delve deeper into his backstory and his dynamics with other characters (I'm still sad that so far Aventurine is the only character that has a voice line about him).

"Deeper than they seem" and "not as deep as they seem" exist in a paradoxical state for me because I do think some folks stop at the surface reading of "arrogant asshole" when he's got way more going on in his character stories and his actions in canon... but I also think some people err on the side of taking him too seriously, in a way that likewise takes something away from his character. Like, this is the guy who plays chess with himself and trash-talks from both sides of the table like a goddamn cartoon character. He owns at least one rubber duck and takes a bath with it every day. He likes all of Aventurine's social media posts and replies "Heh." to anything he finds vaguely amusing. This is not a serious man.

"Why do they look like that" okay I need to clarify that this is not a criticism. I love Ratio's design. The neoclassical vibes are impeccable. But it's also extra in a way that I feel morally obligated to call out, considering how much he rags on Aventurine for dressing like a peacock. Sir, you walk around in robes and sandals with an alabaster bust on your head; you have no room to talk about subtle fashion choices.

Ruan Mei

Clarifications:

Ruan Mei gets both "they are so cool looking" and "why do they look like that" because I love the theory behind her design (the DNA elements, the embroidery and floral imagery, the qipao paired with the pearl necklace) but she also has the unfortunate distinction of being a female character in a Hoyoverse game, so the more unique details fall prey to the homogenizing force of the male gaze.

Another case of "they got done dirty by fans" and "wow! they are a terrible person" existing in tandem, but in Ruan Mei's case I think some people reduce her down to her worst qualities without acknowledging the more complex aspects of her character. Her unchecked pursuit of knowledge leads to her doing Objectively Bad Things, but I don't think it's a fair (or particularly interesting) reading to portray her as heartless.

I thought about marking "wasted potential" because imo 1.6 wasn't nearly enough to delve into Everything Going on with This Woman, but it seems like they're setting up something for a future patch, so I'm content to wait and see what the writers have planned. I'm really excited to find out what she's doing with those leviathan fossils and Tingyun's wrecked ship.

Link to the character bingo template

[writing-whump]

The reveal

The long awaited reveal of the truth. Hector and Arnie find out about Isaiah from their father. Hector stress sick as hell.

"Are you entirely sure you don't want to come?"

Arnie shook his head for what felt like the billionth time. "I'm sure. I told you, I'm sick."

Hector gave him a sceptical look. "Sure you are not just pretending to get out of the meeting with dad?"

Arnie sighed dramatically. "No. I have a fever, my nose feels all clogged up. I'm gonna take an easy day. You have fun."

Technically speaking, Arnie didn't feel any desire to meet their father. It was an annual internal Wolfson pack meeting, but this was the first time in 6 years their father would be attending.

Hector was admittedly excited. Arnie didn't know what about, a guy who didn't think of them for 6 years and ignored Arnie specially for another 6 years before didn't seem much worthy of attention.

There were two people to choose from to blame for the whole of their family falling apart. Arnie would choose their father where Hector would Isaiah.

It was 50:50. One of them was certainly right. Maybe both.

Hector glared at him, which would look a lot scarier if Arnie didn't know it was out out frustration. "You know 37.5 is barely a fever."

Arnie shrugged. "Excuse me, for not waiting for my brain to be half-fried before taking a break, like some people."

They both knew that wasn't what they were arguing about.

Hector sighed, then gave up. "Fine. Whatever. See you."

Arnie smirked, leaning against the wall. "You will tell me all about it anyway."

Hector rolled his eyes. "Don't count on it." But his tone was lighter, which Arnie counted as a win.

Once the door closed behind him, Arnie relaxed. He wasn't lying, he really wanted a day off. Taking some vitamins, he got into PJs and a comfy bathrobe so he wasn't cold and promptly passed out on the sofa with Friends rerun in the backround.

Arnie woke up when twilight was falling through the windows, which meant he had a good sleep, all the way from noon.

Was there a coughing sound or did he imagine it?

Arnie lifted himself up, rubbing the back of his head. His hair got all tangled, he would have to recomb it all over. He wasn't feeling worse, but neither quite okay per se, limbs heavy and his shirt all sweaty.

He blinked around, wondering what woke him up. When he couldn't find any source of the noise or light, he fell back onto the cushion. When was Hector coming back? Likely not before midnight if he didn't decide to spend the night.

The image of Hector bonding with their father after his long absence left a bitter taste in Arnie's mouth. In theory, Isaiah left them too, at about the same time.

But Isaiah always cared for him, cooked and sat with him when he was sick and taught him to play chess. He never made Arnie feel less special for not being a wolf.

Maybe Arnie was just petty. Just because father didn't care for him, didn't mean he wouldn't be nice to Hector, right?

In a way, Hector couldn't help being exicted. Role models were very important to wolves. Fathers, uncles or older brothers, it didn't matter as long as it was an older wolf who could show the proper behavior and control to pups.

Especially in puberty, when most pups struggled the most with their shadows. Wolves lived longer than humans and were nearly indestructible, if they survived their teen years.

There was that weird coughing noise again, bordering on a gag that had Arnie shooting up again. He felt a bit dizzy as he stumbled upright and out of the living room.

Did Hector come back and he didn't notice?

He found their second bathroom alight, although the door was shut. Without thinking, Arnie barged in.

Hector was on his knees in front of the toilet, both elbows planted on the toilet seat. His breathing was ragged, choked at the end.

He lifted his spikey blond head up at Arnie, turning his palm up. "Hi."

"What the hell happened to you?" The sleepiness left Arnie in a rush as he skidded to his knees next to Hector. "When did you come back? What's going on?"

Hector waved him off, but turned back against the toilet, burping loudly against the water. It was still clear though, so he haven't vomited yet. "I'm fine, I'm fine..."

"Hex, for real. Did you catch some kind of flu? Do you have a fever?" If so, he had it worse than Arnie? Or was Hector sick before but pushed himself?

Arnie slapped a hand to his older brother's sweaty forhead, but his skin was cool and clammy. "What's wrong with you?"

Hector gave a whole-bodied shudder that was so out of character it had Arnie scrambling up to shake off his thick woolen bathrobe and throw it over his shoulders. "Are you cold? Hey. Talk to me."

Hector spat into the toilet, squeezing his eyes shut as he rode out a wave of nausea, but nothing else happened. He swiped a hand over his mouth and leaned back against the wall, panting.

Arnie went with him as if glued, wrapping his hands around Hector's arm, trying to coax him into talking with the contact.

"I met father today," Hector said into the silence.

"That's the most important thing right now? I was asking-"

"Just shut up for a second." Hector put the side of his fist to his mouth, muffling a weak gag, before leaning his head back and closing his eyes.

Arnie frowned, unsease pooling into his stomach.

"Rolled my shadow down."

An icy cold feeling crawled up Arnie's spine. That would explain why Hector was so distraught and shivering. Rolling down someone's shadow was always unpleasant and painful, but it was worse with big shadows. And it was worse for Hector, who had nobody roll it for him for years. He was too powerful, too invincible and too controlled to let the happen.

"Why?" Arnie stammered.

"Said that he was testing me. That I was too weak, because nobody trained me the right way. Not like Isaiah." Hector shivered again, huddling deeper into the bathrobe.

Arnie stayed silent, feeling like there was more coming.

After a beat of hesitation, Hector continued. "He said this is why he trained Isaiah with silver. In fighting. Beat him bloody. Rolled his shadow. That that was the best kind of training that would have made me powerful." Hector swallowed heavily.

"But he didn't?" Arnie wanted to make it sound like a statement, but it swang into a question at the end. He wanted to make sure nothing like that happened, cause surely he would have noticed if Hector went through something like that.

"He couldn't. Isaiah wouldn't allow it."

Arnie's eyes widened and he crooked his neck to look at Hector properly. Hector's eyes were open to slits, amber brown, almost yellow in the bathroom light.

"Can you imagine that? Rolling his shadow, not every day, but several times a day?" A distressed choked edge came into Hector's voice as he met Arnie's eyes. "To teach him how to call it back faster? Taught him how to stand silver injuries by cutting him with silver knives, to get him used to pain? So he would be unbeatable by simply ignoring-" Hector's voice broke, his breathing speaing up like he couldn't get enough air.

Arnie went deadly still at his side, realizing with some kind of horrified detachment father might just have confessed to them the pack's biggest secret.

The reason behind Isaiah's behavior during his executioner training and work. Why he would lock himself up in his room. Why he would disappear for days. Why his expression closed up, why he stopped talking.

Why Isaiah left.

"I didn't know. I swear I didn't," Hector said in the most broken voice Arnie ever heard from him, his own lungs constricting. "Why didn't he say anything? We could have- I could have-"

Arnie held his arm tighter, wrapped around Hector like a monkey. "You wouldn't have been able to do anything."

"No!" Hector's hands shot up into his hair, pulling at them desperately. "Probably not, I guess not, but I should have known! I could have- I could have helped him! He didn't have to be alone, he didn't have to keep it secret, he didn't have to take the blame-" This time Hector gagged, body heaving violently.

Arnie tugged at his arm to direct him over the toilet, Hector barely making it over it as he heaved and heaved, until a splash of sick hit the rim and then the water.

Arnie patted his back, feeling it arch with the heaves. "Breathe, Hex. Just breathe," he managed to whisper, throat all closed up, tears pressing into his eyes.

Hector retched, then made a horrible choking sound and coughed.

Arnie thumbed the middle of his back harder. Hector's breathing hitched, dislocating a loud burp that brought another wave of chunky brown vomit into the bowl.

Hector kept heaving over it for what felt like an eternity, groaning and burping. Arnie wasn't sure if he was crying or if his eyes watered from the strain.

He could understand what Hector was feeling very well, his own stomach in knots. But he had no time to panic himself with Hector struggling to breathe and expelling everything he had eaten that week violently into the toilet.

Arnie pressed his face between Hector's shoulder blades, out of comforting things to say. It felt like he could feel the earth turning, spinning with them, how it sped up and them raced into the opposite direction with the revelation.

Hector moaned loudly, shoulders slumping as he cushioned his head on his arms. He was folded over the toilet seat, still panting and sweaty.

Arnie reached behind him to flush the toilet, the air sticky and smelling of stomach acid. Then he resumed his position, face pressed against Hector's back. A steady diligent presence, joined with him in suffering.

Hector's throat bobbed and he shuddered again. Arnie wrapped his hands around his waist, slow to let Hector react if he wanted to shake him off.

Now that he knew what was wrong he understood why Hector seemed so subdued, so lost and cold and small without the presence of his shadow, the faithful intimidating force always radiating from him.

Hector didn't feel complete without it and Arnie hated it. He hated this is what one rolling did to Hector.

He hated the idea what so many did to Isaiah.

Hector groaned again, the sound somewhere between an angry growl and a pained sob.

Arnie rested his hands gently on Hector's stomach, feeling it suck inside and then blow up again with his harsh breathing. He could feel when it spasmmed under his palms, shooting pressure up his brother's ribcage that has Hector burying his head between his arms into the bowl with a loud productive heave.

Arnie gently stroked the upset heaving organ, feeling the gurgling and clenching under Hector's sweaty shirt.

Hector winced at the movement of Arnie's hands, then relaxed, slumping forward against his arms. His breathing was still fast, but it was slowing, becoming more regular.

Arnie turned his face to the side, so he could breathe better, but not letting go for a second.

"You know what's going to be really important right now?" Arnie whispered into the silence.

Hector turned his head too, looking up at the ceiling with one eye. "What?"

"Don't shut him out right now. You guys...we have to talk about this with him. If this is the reason...maybe we should call Isaiah right now-"

"Fuck, no," Hector protested, straightening up. It would have looked more intimidating if he didn't have bile hanging from the corner of his lips. "I'm not-...I can't-"

"Yes you can," Arnie interrupted sternly. "You have to. Or this is never going to get solved. He needs to know we know and that we are on his side."

Hector looked down, eyes shiny and watery. "I don't know how I'm supposed to look him in the eye." His voice trailed off to whisper. "I told him so many horrible things. I blamed him so many years...I was so wrong..." he blubbered, confirming Arnie's suspicions.

"Yes, it was a mistake. Doesn't mean you should keep making it," Arnie protested, untangling himself to get a good look at Hector.

"Okay," Hector quaked. "Okay. Just...not right now."

"Hex-"

"Please." Hector turned to rest his forehead against the meat of his wrist.

Arnie sighed, a sinking sensation in his chest at the sight. He couldn't make Hector do anything in this state.

But he was afraid this would only be more painful, if it dragged on.

[saytrrose]

Small question you're free to ignore but I'm curious.

What are all of your head cannons for Kinger and Queenie? :3

I have SO much so this definitely won’t be ALL of them but ramble time lets go some might be a bit suggestive because silly silly!!

—————

- Kinger and Queenie aren’t actually married, due to circus rules they’d had to have met in the circus because the erasure of memories but yes they were in a relationship and dated.

- While they don’t need to sleep, they still enjoy keeping up the schedule as if they do, in order to not go crazy over it. Kinger and Queenie usually spend their time in on or the others room though, as opposed to seperate.

- Kinger the type of mf to give Queenie a friendship bracelet and her say it’s lame and he almost cries and tries to take it back and then she puts it on her wrist and says no it hers (she cares she’s so bad at showing it)

- Queenie get jealous easily and Kinger can’t wrap his head around the concept of jealousy

- Kinger is Vegetarian and Queenie finds it weird

- Kinger is your token cishet white man

- I lied he’s maybe bisexual but won’t admit it

- Queenie is a trans woman AUGH❗️❗️

- I genuinely love the theory on Kinger and Queenie being the originally beta testers and the first of everyone to enter the circus. And for my peeps that love religious imagery esp tied to tadc- then you could think of them as Adam and Eve, the firsts and Queenie being the first to abstract aka a way to resemble the betrayal of sorts.

- Kinger hates chess and Queenie doesn’t know how to play

- Old music fans ❤️❗️ Frank Sinatra plays and Queenie is dragging Kinger to dance with her

- Oh yeah, good dancers. But traditional dancing of course.

- Kingers “bug” collection is actually glitches within the circus, not genuine bugs. Like the glitched potted plant, he picks up glitched items or “bugs” and collects them in his room.

- Pls pls projecting Queenie was a motorcycle girlie

- Kingers autistic, but Queenie is not

- Kinger also has paranoid schizophrenia and ADHD, Queenie is bipolar

- Made a comic on this one, Queenie always made pillow forts and eventually invited Kinger into them, and taught him to make them.

- they are both married to me /j

- One time they were doing “adult relationship couple things” when Caine called everyone into the hallway and they accidentally rushed out of the room in one another’s robes instead of their own

- Kinger is a horrible liar and Queenie just gives him a look and he immediately spills everything he’s thinking about

- Queenie is a hello kitty fan

- First time!! Kissing!! Kinger leaned in to kiss Queenie for the first time and it was pretty quick and he was nervous, and Queenie grabbed his face and told him to calm down and whispered if he’s ever kissed someone before, and he said he doesn’t think he has so Queenie gave him a good cute little “tutorial” on that.

- Translation: THEY MADE OUT GANG!!

- Anytime there’s a snow themed adventure, Kinger likes to make a Snow Queenie (this applies to before and present day)

- Kinger is little spoon Queenie is big spoon

- Very clingy- they both are very clingy it’s just Queenie is the only possessive one over it.

- Kinger randomly mutters to himself “Queenie would love this”

- They aren’t afraid to always perform pda around the others, hugging/kissing/nuzzling into one another and the only one brave enough to comment on it would be Kaufmo who I personally think hates viewing affection in the slightest and he’d later get whooped by Queenie

- Kingers a service top/sub

- Queenies a bratty bottom/top

- They can both be switches why not

- Queenie loves plushies

- I’m getting tired so I’ll stop here this isn’t even most of them or a lot hhhh

[celestiamour]

ooo i saw that anons theory and a question popped up in my head!!

who do you think will (realistically) survive at the end of season 3? and what are YOUR theories?? :3

i'm actually really bad at theorizing what will happen next, especially when seeing other people talk about their theories and I sit there like "oh that sounds cool :o." but here are some thoughts (also feel free to share yours in my inbox :3)

the most common theory, gyeong-seok was shot by no-eul but isn't dead, he'll somehow be disguised as a guard (based on that deleted photo actress park gyu-young posted) or maybe she'll smuggle him into the organ trafficking room to get the bullet out and save him. i also see na-yeon (his daughter) dying before he makes it back like gi-hun's mom did

i've seen people theorize that gi-hun might be the next front man, I don't really see it, but I can see him accepting the role solely to dismantle the games from inside even if I can't think of any reason he would be offered that in the first place

jun-hee goes into labor early due to stress, maybe dies in the process because of the way seon-nyeo looked at her like she was placing a curse on her, but I see the other older women helping out in the process

speaking of jun-hee, I don't see both her and myung-gi getting out alive together, I feel like one of them will die and I feel like it would be jun-hee (also iirc, I think si-wan admitted that his character did something really stupid? i don't know what would be)

I also don't see geum-ja and yong-sik both making it out alive, one of them might sacrifice themself for the other (and I really want to see her using that knife she snuck in, maybe she would use it to help jun-hee deliver her baby? that would be so gruesome)

no-eul and jun-ho will meet based on the picture below, maybe she'll help them out

it's speculated that no-eul and sae-byeok are twins, and I believe this because I remember director hwang saying "maybe her (sae-byeok's) twin sister" will be in season 2, but gi-hun and cheol will never learn about it

min-su growing some balls and killing nam-gyu as revenge for se-mi?? idk if this will happen but I would like to see it happen

imagine if the revolt was all for nothing and they have to play the games like normal?? i think the games were monkey bars and human chess and I know the latter would be insane

if that happens, gi-hun won't be able to participate and gets handcuffed to watch them die :(

i've seen people point out that the shadow looks to be a tracksuit instead of the frontman hood, so I wouldn't be surprised if there was another person aside from in-ho participating in the games to keep an eye on gi-hun

vips make a return

I also don't have the foggiest idea who is in the coffin?? it's clearly not hyun-ju, jung-hee, geum-ja, yong-sik, I can see dae-ho and myung-gi in the back so??? it could be gyeong-sik or jung-bae, maybe even young-mi to taunt hyun-ju

HYUN-JU LIVES AND HAS MONEY TO PAY FOR HER TRANSITION AND MOVES TO THAILAND AND LIVES HAPPY

I'm split on whether gi-hun lives or dies, but for my own mental sake, I'll say he lives (imagine in-ho dying in gi-hun's arms after getting shot by jun-ho)

[barbwritesstuff]

Speaking of Marcel's chess game, it got me thinking about how he thinks, especially in relation to things like duels or what have you. Marcel is skilled at chess and fencing, which are both incredibly strategic activities but also ones that have, for lack of better words, "tried and trued methods". Kind of similar to how video games have "metas" or basically, "a generally agreed upon strategy by the community", which can also be seen by the community as "what is currently THE general best way to play and win".

I played with a Doctor background and chose to train under Marcel to unlock Path of the Shadow, so I don't know if this affects anything regarding blocking mind reading since I assume any mental powers would be in the Path of the Masters.

Regardless! I went into the chess game with this hypothesis about Marcel's character and how he approaches situations like chess matches or even fencing matches (I'm an ex-fencer, so I did consider the connection): as mentioned above, there are "generally agreed on strategies". With that in mind, the thing is, sometimes complete newbies can best masters at their given skill because they have no understanding of which moves are exactly the best. For example, choosing a "non-standard", or more accurately "nonoptimal" starting move at chess to force chess masters to adjust in real-time rather than go by a memorized opening theory. This then may frazzle someone because now their opponent is no longer going "by the book" and they are under pressure to adapt quickly.

It's basically a complete noob beating a master because the noob isn't employing Finklerunger's Gambit even though EVERYONE uses Finklerunger's Gambit! And the master has no prepared counterstrategies against people who don't use Finklerunger's Gambit!

This idea of "noob-fu" can be applied to fencing, and even video games like competitive Pokemon! Because the idea here is that masters at these games are so used to (and sometimes outright wedded to) what is the tried and trued strategies or the meta to the point that they can be blindsided by unpredictability or people who don't play the game by the rules they and other masters like them know. They are confined by the strategies they and other masters typically employ to the point that they hadn't even considered the very possibility of someone doing something that ISN'T The Very Best Possible Move, even if that possibility was always right under their noses.

Where was I going with this? Right. I just thought it was an interesting thought regarding Marcel and his strategic thought process. Since we're still pretty early in the game, I don't think that it's a case of Marcel being unable to think creatively or outside of the box at all, so much as I think he likely tends to put more trust in what he knows. He sees an opportunity and he takes it. He creates situations to put pressure on one of your most important assets and expects you to scramble.

At the same time though, I think the chess match comes down to knowing your opponent. Again, very, VERY applicable to fencing matches (or really any sort of one-on-one martial art) and competitive video games: a big part of the game is knowing your opponent and how they will behave, predicting what they will do, and playing around them.

Skip this paragraph for light spoilers about the Ch5 chess match: For example, you know that Marcel is too good of a player to make simple mistakes like leaving certain pieces vulnerable, so you don't take the bait, which opens up the avenue to win (or at least it did in my file).

It also kind of got me thinking. Again, I may not be 100% right about this read of Marcel's character because it is still fairly early in the game, but it did manage to lead me to victory in this situation. It made me think about the ways in which the MC and Marcel have gotten to know each other and what they may not know about the other yet, if ever. I dunno. I just like him very much lololol

Anyways I am sorry for this gigantic word vomit! (シ_ _ )シ It was just an interesting thought I got while playing against Marcel and I wanted to share it. As someone who has never played chess ever, I was proud of myself for beating him on my first attempt (or I guess technically my character's fourth attempt lololol) I didn't expect to fall this deep for Thicker Than and its characters, especially considering that I haven't played Blood Moon yet! (it's now on my next to play list o(^∀^*)o)

from: @binteractive

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You're right... about pretty much everything. He's been playing this game (be it chess, fencing, or being a vampire) for a long time and is very good at it. The way to beat him (and to seduce him funnily enough) is to be a bit unpredictable.