#Internet Detectives

[slutpoppers]

[lesbicosmos]

he's 123. he's 16. he's a sarcastic bitch. he's still coming to terms with being gay. he spent 73 years in hell. he read to a boy who was dying to make sure he wasn't alone. he's got a crow and a cat in love with him. he's in love with his best friend. he knows ancient aramaic. he doesn't know what a handjob is.

edwin payne the character you are.

[technically-human]

Mandatory handjob joke

[leahaart]

If you're still taking requests, can you please have a little funny moment of Edwin talking about his life and the others or just Charles/Crystal being concerned (I love your art and how you draw them!!!)

I wouldn’t say they are too concerned here…more like intrigued. Thanks for the request!!

[dxrkone]

youve got a demon in you..

[artemispanthar]

Crimes against short people

[dbdakindy]

What do the kids bring for show and tell?

(Also, quick question, are we able to talk to the characters directly?)

Hello and thank you so much for your lovely question!

First off: YES, you can talk to the characters directly! Please do go ahead!

Second of all...

Show-and-Tell is always an exciting time in Miss Nurse's classroom.

Let's see what everyone's brought!

Thomas is up first—Miss Nurse needed to get the cat to the Principal's office ASAP because she's deathly allergic. But also she didn't want to disappoint her students, who were so excited to meet Meatball!

After that, it was Edwin's turn. He brought his magnifying glass, which he was given by his Papa and Daddy. He uses it to search for all sorts of things.

Next up was Niko, who brought her Litty Kingy Dream House.

After Niko was Crystal, who... Crystal, where did you get a CHIPMUNK SKULL?!

Monty doesn't talk a lot, so we are not really sure about the story behind his Bepsi bottle cap, but it is shiny so maybe that's why he likes it so much.

Last but not least, Charles brought his mini cricket bat. After Show-and-Tell was over, he was supposed to put it away in his cubby, but he brought it out to play—Thomas was jealous, because he couldn't play with Meatball, who had by that time been sent home.

Sometimes after the excitement of Show-and-Tell, the children are a bit overstimulated. Charles turned into Mr. Meltdown. After that, it was nap time.

[eggy-the-boy]

Do you think the dandelion sprites were so aggressive and overly mean because they feed on attention and that was the quickest way to grab people's attention or are those particular sprites just like that?

[frankenbirdz]

a gf oc + a bunch of doods muahahahaha

[gh0st-ratt]

Charles, Edwin and action

Putting my two cents into the dbda analysis to talk about the boys' relationship with action/movement throughout the show

Within the first episode Charles easily defines himself as the "brawn" and Edwin as the "brain". This presents Charles as what I like to call a physical response character and Edwin as a verbal response character, which reinstates what has already been shown to us as the boys dealt with the WW2 ghost: Edwin recites the Latin enchantment as Charles grapples with the ghost. By doing this, job is jobbed, case is closed etc etc.

I feel I have to mention that this almost unconscious dance between them is something that Edwin couldn't have in Hell. Movement and speaking meant being caught and torn apart. But it's also the fact that he probably wouldn't have even had anyone to talk to in Hell, and now he gets to be a part of a duo where his main role is to speak and explain knowledge.

Anyhow, this pattern continues in most things that the boys do; while at the Dandelion shrine, Edwin is the one to read the writing on the shrine and verbalises (to both characters and audience) what the intent of the Dandelion sprites is. And then Charles is the one to pick up the vase (and break it).

The Devlin House is of note because this is the first time that we see this dance fail. Edwin has explained what the Stone Tape Theory is, and now it is time to look for what might have caused the loop. This is where their roles flip, if just for a moment. Charles talks to Crystal about how he connects to Hope Devlin while reading through her diary. He understands her situation, her fear, how it feels to be struggling under your parent's command. And he actually talks about it. In that scene, Charles is the verbal response character. You could say that it's because it isn't Edwin that he's talking to that he can change his role in the dance. Crystal isn't a part of their dance as the 'brain' and 'brawn', so he doesn't have to fit into the role of the physical response character with her.

(You could go as far as to say that this unfamiliar flip of roles is what leads them astray. Edwin has completed both the verbal and physical aspects of this scenario, the dance is off. You can go even further to say that Edwin didn't even complete the physical aspect correctly, he got the wrong trigger, he's not used to being the character of action)

It is then after all this, still in the Devlin house, that Charles steps back into being the physical response character when he attempts to attack Mr Devlin. This is the first time that the boys completing their roles has completely backfired. (You could argue with Esther, being hit back was just the response of a typical fight. You go to hit and you miss and get hit back.) Charles attempting his role as the 'brawn' takes him out of commission entirely, because there isn't that balance. He hasn't actually spoken about much and instead internalised it for 30+ years, and now uses that emotion to act. And it doesn't work.

Charles never really seems to make actions about himself, and the times he does? It never really works out for him. The Devlin house takes him out of commission, and the Lighthouse Leapers have his friends reject him for his actions (I might talk about this another time). Even his kiss with Crystal that he instigated doesn't go anywhere.

An interesting note is that the times when Charles is much more passive in his actions is with his relationship with Crystal. He initiates the kiss first, but even before that he's almost tiptoeing around what Crystal might want or not want (I've seen a few people talk about this better than I could so I won't get too into it).

It's only really until after he and Crystal break it off that he starts really being a man of action for himself and not just others. He argues to not take Monty's case, he calls Crystal out on her lies about her powers, he stands on his decision to not let Crystal go to Hell. He's not being passive about what he might want and how it might clash with what others want.

Charles' arc and connection to his relationship with action kind of ends at the end of ep5 (Dead Dragons) when Edwin says "Let's get [Charles] sorted first" and they never really go back to Charles' arc lol

-

Edwin's relationship with his role as the verbal response character is interesting because part of his arc is about how he cannot verbalise what he is wanting. The Case of the Lighthouse Leapers makes that abundantly clear. To Niko he denies by "Absolutely not" wanting to kiss the Cat King, and he doesn't know what he wants with Monty. The Cat King has to literally spell him to get Edwin to admit what he wants from the agency ("[He] can make [his] case for leniency").

Edwin can explain anything for a case, anything for knowledge, but he does not like verbalising his wants. We see him struggle with this towards Monty at the swing set, he "-thinks it best if [they] stop seeing one another", but he also isn't sure if that's what he actually wants. It then!! Continues!! As Edwin begins to say what he wants, that there are "-feelings. That [he] thought were never to be spoken of.", Monty swoops (ha) in as the physical character in that moment, sealing it with a kiss.

But Edwin didn't finish! He as the spoken character has not finished his role before the action response occurs! And it doesn't work. The dance isn't working, they're stepping on each other's feet.

We then reach the Case of the Creeping Forest, wherein Edwin's feelings for Charles are, at this point in the narrative, one of the main things he cannot verbalise. So instead, Monty verbalises it! He is the one to finally state that "Those feelings that [Edwin has]? Are for Charles. He is the one [Edwin loves].".

(As I'm writing this I'm realising that Monty actually creates his own role as both a physical and verbal response character within like two weeks of being human compared to 2 oldass ghosts good for him)

Edwin's feelings for Charles have been established by the way he typically acts (with words), but not by himself, because he cannot do that. He has spent so long denying himself and avoiding verbalising anything akin to his own wants that he still cannot say it.

But then it is Charles' turn to establish how he feels for Edwin with his typical: actions. And how does this occur? With Charles' putting his hand over Edwin's as they are dragged by Teethface. It doesn't matter if the feelings being presented are or aren't exactly the same, it's still love. It's part of their dance. Edwin's perspective has been spoken, and then it's time for Charles' perspective to be acted on, and both times it means that they love each other.

Edwin's relationship with expressing want is also tied into his changing of clothes in ep6. One of the first things we are told about Edwin is that he "-[doesn't] like to try new things", but we see him in ep6 trying something new for Charles. This is Edwin, unable to express how he feels quite yet, but acting on something new.

Hell is really where the boys' relationship with action and movement turns almost entirely on it's head, because Edwin is Back In Hell so he can't really be the words or actions character, which leaves it for Charles to be both; which we've seen mess up in the past, but it works in Hell.

Charles gets to Hell fine, (he acts on ringing that bell impulsively because why not), he finds Edwin, he tells him they will get out, and then he is able to leave again! In the entirety of Hell Charles is able to go back and forth between a physical and verbal response character like he hasn't previously.

This then ties into our favourite myth of Orpheus and Eurydice.. and media illiteracy. The audience and Edwin know how the myth ends "-That story ends tragically.". That's the point of the myth, it's a tragedy. But Edwin (brains, words, verbal) finished the story and cannot choose their own ending. He's stuck with the understanding that the story never ends well, but he still acts on it.

In this story, Eurydice physically forces Orpheus to look, with the understanding that it could still end tragically.

Edwin forces Charles' to turn back to him and he finally finally acts on what he has been feeling to say "Charles, I'm in love with you", knowing it's a tragedy.

But Charles (brawn, actions, physical) did not finish the ending and therefore has the agency to change it. But he changes it with words. He turns around and he says "You're the most important person in the world to me" and he says "We have literally forever to figure it out".

Edwin and Charles, despite living in their unconscious dance roles of 'brain' and 'brawn', respectively, for 3 decades, swap their roles for the first time successfully in the show when Edwin takes a leap to act on his feelings and Charles responds with nothing but kind words and the reminder that their story doesn't have to be a tragedy, and they do this all on the steps of literal Hell because what wouldn't they do for each other.

[dixxiemaegraphics]

[slutpoppers]

[watcherwiki]

Ryan and Shane: really putting the "mystery" in Mystery Files!

[kodasea]

Reading yesterday's news

[e-payne]

Bonus:

crystal promoting her latest MV on instagram

fic series honey, are you coming? here on ao3

[aleespace-art]

okay I'm playing TDD so I had to draw something with it

my favorite faceless men