#Motive 5: death puzzles

[phantommn1969]

Death puzzles !!!!

quote log from a fic I rlly am obsessed with rn

“Yeah, I lied! My parents are actually in Russia,” Kokichi told him gleefully, his eyes narrowed at the block he was very carefully wiggling free from the tower. “I haven’t seen them in years since I’m actually forbidden from entering Russia.”That was probably a lie, but Shuichi was curious how far this story went. “...why?”“I ran for president,” his classmate sighed mournfully. “Now I can never reunite with my family.”

If you’re neither, then congratulations, I think.

"Hmm, yeah… that’s too sweet,” Kokichi hummed thoughtfully, seeming to see an entirely different problem than he did. “How about babygirl?” “And I am stopping this conversation here,” Shuichi decided, rolling onto his side away from his classmate. “Goodnight, Kokichi.”

he had always had a bit of a soft spot for physical comfort. Maybe his parents didn’t hug him enough or something.

Shuichi got to have a full night of sleep full of peace and ignorance while Kokichi got to die of heatstroke in the night. Overall, it was a pretty fair deal in his books.

The second grave he dug up was also incorrect, he noted in despair. Also, he almost got whiplash seeing what looked like a girl in the coffin, and he didn’t even want to think about the implications of what the gravestone meant if this kid was what he thought they were. That was an absolute nightmare scenario for Shuichi himself, and he couldn’t imagine being killed over it…

Our bathroom’s gonna look like a crime scene,” Kokichi groaned, throwing his head back and letting it droop to the side. “Once my hands are cleaned up, I’m dealing with yours. You look like you’re about to cry.”I am about to cry, he thought depressingly.

This guy had bounced from borderline manic to the childish, game-loving prankster he had come to know in the Objective Room.

What's there to talk about?” asked Kokichi, thankfully lowering the gun. “It’s like Monokuma said! It’s a puzzle of luck. Either I die and permanently traumatize you for the rest of your probably very short life, or I’m totally fine. Seems like pretty even odds to me.

”I’m glad you asked!” A list appeared on the screen next to Monokuma, which he read out. “Shooting yourself with just one dummy bullet will earn you entertainment for the Objective Room. Watching you two argue about the earth being flat killed some of my brain cells, so I figured that you could do with some books or board games or something.”

"I didn’t know I was that still of a sleeper…” Shuichi admitted sheepishly. “Do I really look that bad…?” “Yes,” replied Kokichi without hesitation. “Yes, you do. Watching you sleep makes me want to spontaneously buy a coffin for you, flowers and everything.” “You watch me sleep?”The room went deathly quiet as the two of them stared blankly at each other.

“Not sure.” Kokichi shrugged, sitting on the pulled out chair and crossing one leg over the other. “You were sleeping for a reaaaally long time though. Why do you sleep like you’re a child from the 1300s dying of the plague?”

He decided that it was better to just let Kokichi get all of the Kokichi-isms out of his system before asking about the puzzles.

I haven't updated this in like. Many chapters oopsiesss

I won’t be able to do it myself… s-so please, Kokichi. Let’s survive this together.”“...we are so fucked up,” Kokichi whispered with a drastic shudder.

Maybe they had left for a vacation? That was okay, he supposed– they worked hard enough. Even organs deserved a vacation… little hard workers. So noble.

He briefly wondered why his hand wasn’t closing around anything.And that’s when he finally remembered, oh, right. That’s gone.

“So you have synesthesia,” Maki concluded.The minute those words left her mouth, Himiko broke out into a sweat, casting her eyes downward. “N-No… it’s my magic.”

It’s not that bad,” he choked out. “K-Kokichi took most of the beatings, even when he didn’t have to. I’m fine…”He didn’t even have to look up to see Hajime’s skeptical expression. “Shuichi, your hand is missing.”

“Where’s the others?”

“Saving the ecosystem,” Shuichi told him in barely a mumble.“Supposedly,” added Maki. Somehow, Hajime managed to look even more tired. He massaged his temples with two fingers each, squeezing his eyes shut.

Why would she put us through the trouble of putting it on if she’s just going to take it off!? he thought in outrage, fighting to get the stupid thing off of his head. It was so liberating to have his jaw entirely free once again– it felt like he was human again. Did she just want to humiliate me…?

Y-You really shouldn’t be walking around on a fractured ankle…” the woman continued stammering, her hands on her head. “I-If malalignment develops, then H-H-Hajime’s the only one who’d be able to fix it! You should r-really lay back down!”

“You should try ketamine,” he retorted dryly. “You sound like you’d benefit from it.”

You thought I was gonna die?” Kokichi scoffed, disguising his teary voice underneath a snicker. “Yeah, right. Like I’d die in a stupid locker.”

So apparently. The world ended.

And yes, he knew he shouldn’t be walking around yet. That was something Mikan, Shuichi and Hajime all reminded him of daily. Was that going to stop him, though? No. No it wasn’t.)

The rules were stupid,” Himiko insisted fiercely. “I’m glad you guys are okay now. I was casting all kinds of protection charms for you, but I wasn’t sure if they ever reached you.”Protection charms.Kokichi had nearly forgotten about it after what happened in the Seating Puzzle, but with that reminder, he could feel his body heating up.

“Or we can just… have a nice picnic somewhere,” Shuichi suggested hurriedly. “No one needs to slit open their stomachs.”Kokichi pouted. “Not even a little bit?” “What does a little bit even mean…?”

Maki made it… for Kokichi? Shuichi cast a surprised look back at his partner, who had stood out of his wheelchair and limped into the room. He gave Shuichi a similarly confused look, seeming to lack any form of an answer too.. Well, she was the one who found us. I was really aggressive over him when that happened…

Ah, barns. Shuichi didn’t imagine that he was going to be visiting that place anytime soon. Big animals were nice, and he always found horses a little fascinating, but up close? They were a little terrifying.

Hajime rubbed the side of his head, exasperation flicking across his face. “I wish I knew which god to curse, but no, I brought this upon myself. Let’s move on to our next topic: a recovery plan.”

He’s definitely going to run away from our sessions,” Hajime muttered under his breath as he closed the door.“A broken ankle will definitely not stop him,” Shuichi agreed fondly. “When are his sessions, anyway?”Hajime put on a small smile. “I’ll keep it a surprise, at least for now. He’ll be easier to catch if he doesn’t know when to flee.” “That– um, that sounds terrifying.”

You’re… feeling dysphoric?” Kokichi somehow found the bravery to ask.“What’s dysphoric?” Kaito whispered.

Obviously, that’s a lie. Vampires don’t exist, silly goose,” Kokichi declared. “Clearly he’s a ghost.”

“Also, even if you were high, why would you two be kissing each other? How bored do you gotta be?” “I can think of an emotion other than boredom that’d lead to it,” Kokichi snickered. Kaito paused, thinking deeply. “...curiosity?”Clearly, that wasn’t the answer Kokichi was thinking of. The only reaction he gave was a deadpan stare.

ONE CHAPTER LEFTTRR AGAHWHSJJD

Invisible paint brushes streaked lines of orange and yellow across the darkening sky, and he thought for only a moment, Angie must love her new canvas.

Every drop of color drained from his face and his head snapped forward, facing the sunset as he coughed awkwardly. Kokichi, probably curious, sat up and looked back at their apparent audience, forming an ‘o’ with his mouth when he saw them.“Busteddd,” Kokichi whispered, not sounding bothered in the slightest.

“I’m not jealous!” Kaito defensively shouted. “I’m just… really freakin’ confused!”

“What’s so hard to understand? Is it ‘cause we’re both boys?” Kokichi guessed, his voice layered with something akin to amusement. “Have you never seen two boys kiss before, Kaito?”

“That’s… that’s not the problem! I’m confused ‘cause I wasn’t expecting…” Kaito gestured wildly at them, his mouth open helplessly before he managed to spit out, “you two, yknow!?”

I wasn’t moping,” Shuichi protested at the same time K1-B0 exclaimed, “jetpack shoes!?”

As expected, K1-B0 looked even more surprised. “What? Kokichi and Shuichi are dating!? When did this happen?”

“This cannot get any worse,” Shuichi mumbled into his hand.“Nyeh!? What are all you guys doing here?”He stood corrected.

“The stars look great tonight, don’t you guys think?” Kaito spoke up, lifting a finger skyward.“You say that every night,” Maki pointed out.“That’s ‘cause the stars are freakin’ awesome!” Kaito shot back with an enthusiastic grin

Hell yeah, Keeboy! Embrace the robot!” Kokichi cheered, clapping his hands together excitedly.

"Whoopee! Keeboy, you’re flower girl.”

“What!? Why am I the flower girl?” K1-B0 demanded, visibly frazzled.“It’s like when you have your dog bring you the rings. You’re perfect for the role!” Kokichi exclaimed, practically having stars in his eyes as he excitedly pumped his fists up and down. “Himiko’s my maid of honor.”

“Nyeh!?”

TGE ENDDDD AUGH ILOVED DEATH PUZZLES SO DEARLY THANK YIU TO THE AUTHOR FOR WRITUNG IT.

[silverraindropliliacsky]

So I couldn't help myself.

It's simply too good.

[kremlin]

i figure most human behaviour that, not only doesn’t occur in other animals but has zero connection to animal behavior is basically distantly rooted in the known fear of inevitable death. let me be clear. cats and shit don’t know they’re gonna die. we do. we have thoughts. we know it’s coming. we think we’re gonna be rich, bullshit like that, most humans believe in magic and most humans doubt that math is a universal or consistent thing. total nonsense right. but everyone knows their ass is gonna die. before you write me off as some dumbass reciting basic 101 level university lectures just Trust Me I’m An Engineer. anyways. being human and dying are somewhat one in the same.

“if i do nonhuman things i can cheat the reaper.” short and sweet. if i can beat zelda faster than anyone i can outrun the reaper. and you know what, fuck it, i’m scared shitless of dying. it’s gonna hurt really bad no doubt. what if the brain destroyal process makes time slow down in my perception and it’s not just like five seconds of bleeding out or fire ant bites or however you go. Scary. so i’ll play along:

i am an average american man and i enjoy bad game runescape. it’s a computer game. MMO. kill monster get loot. sell what i don’t want to other players for gold. spamming chat with “SELLING BOWSTRINGS 200gp” for an hour “sucks” so the devs add a grand exchange where you can post buy/sell orders for a given item+price to maximize gameplay efficiency and minimize social interaction.

like any other MMO you can pay some sketchy website real money for ingame gold farmer by chinese gold farmers. totally against the rules. remember this

so the first thing that comes to any male aged 23-27 mind is “buy low sell high” basic bitch shit. no good. there’s a 5% tax that’ll wipe out your profit margin intended to eliminate this behavior (you’re supposed to friggen kill monsters). but everyone thinks they’re a genius and can beat the system and that there is a secret george soros style illuminati group that is holding the secrets, blah blah blah, whatever, and this comes as a coping mechanism after losing your shirt after trying to beat the market (success rate of 0%).

here is where people mostly quit thinking: if you do the math, which takes about ten minutes and can be done on one side of a sheet of paper with the most basic calculator, it’s easy to figure out that the amount of gold you’d need to play dirty (buy out all the available Feathers or Fire Runes or whatever) in order to corner the market would be so high that there is no possible way for a character to hold that much without having spent IRL money for gold. you’d get autobanned.

SO..finally, go on the ol’ www.reddit.com, and make a really really professional-to-professional sounding post advertising a “service”. Saturate the fuck out of it with dense but very real financial jargon. the “service” (which needs to be obscured enough with plausible and relevant language) is a hedging service aimed at make-believe market players who are buying and selling such huge amounts of items and gold (usually in anticipation of a game update that will speculatively introduce a sudden, dramatic, and capitalizable price change for some item). you need it to be as alien-sounding and foreign as possible but with enough believability and clarity that a handful of reddit jackasses will figure out what the fuck your post is about. whenever pressed further, act totally puzzled and make it very clear that this is not a service relevant to “individual entertainment-motivated” players or some shit. no matter what amount of gold anyone quotes at you, just act puzzled and if that amount is 1/1000th the amount one of your “normal” clients deal with. you need to do all of this extremely artfully. and by “you”, i’ve been meaning to write “me”. really lay it on thick that whatever you’re “doing” is totally unavailable to them and that you want zero to do with them.

so now theyre still mostly totally confused but enough is made clear that their interest is piqued. got my hook in em. some guy will copy/paste wikipedia shit in an obnoxiously long and pseudointellectual, contemptible but characteristically reddit guy style what you’re “selling” actually is in the most exhausting, hand-holdingest way to his fellow reddit gamers. with complete tone of authority.

inevitably one of them will put on their sherlock holmes hat and go deep undercover, emailing me posing as an interested party. bingo. now i get to really lay on the WTF and go off the rails asking about vouchers from One Of The Big Seven, but oh no, you can’t get one of them to vouch for you, that’s fine, it makes sense, we’re the only firm that deals with unvouched, that’s our market, well, one of them at least. Just give me a rough rundown of your entry criteria, dwell time, risk tolerance, fuckin “Gamma Ratio”, you know, all the basic stuff, and i’ll have the team generate a .xlsx for you to plug your data into to get a rough feel for what the final contract might be like.

(lololol) But REMEMBER, that excel sheet is seeded, output is fuzzed and salted and if you share it or try and sell it to our competitors, it will be fuzzy enough to be worthless to them but obvious to us who leaked what. this is the only way we’re able to integrate unvouched clients without untenable premiums and while managing our risk levels

blah blah blah blah, i go on and on and on and the guy on the other end is developing a scab from constant head-scratching. and that’s about the maximum real-world harm i’m willing to inflict. i know this sounds like an elaborate as fuck confidence scam but it isn’t. that shit makes me sick. i’d literally slam my arms in a car door before taking a cent from all this. hell, i’ll go out of my way to guarantee i don’t even piss anyone off or offend them or anything.

your guess is as good as mine but i do stuff like this constantly for anything i know well enough and the example i gave above is just a pretty low quality one i made up on the spot. this is a public blog after all.

anyways, cheers, hoping this saves me from dying or whatever the hell i was talking about before that could have probably been cut out. Namaste. Mahala.

[saraswritingtipps]

Developing Characters in Different Genres:

1. Understand the genre conventions: Familiarize yourself with the key characteristics and expectations of the genre you're working with. Each genre has its own tropes, themes, and narrative styles. Knowing these conventions will help you develop characters that fit within the genre while also providing opportunities for unique twists and originality.

2. Establish the world-building elements: In genres like fantasy, science fiction, or historical fiction, the setting plays a crucial role in shaping the characters. Develop the rules, limitations, and unique features of the world in which your characters exist. Consider how these elements influence their abilities, traits, and conflicts. Ensure that the characters are grounded in the genre's world-building, but also explore the human aspects that make them relatable.

3. Align character traits with genre elements: Integrate genre-specific traits, powers, or abilities into your characters' development. For example, in fantasy, characters may possess magical abilities or belong to distinct races with specific characteristics. In science fiction, characters might have advanced technology or genetic enhancements. Ensure that these genre-specific traits are relevant to the plot and contribute to the character's growth or conflicts.

4. Balance uniqueness and relatability: While genre-specific traits are important, it's crucial to balance them with relatable human qualities. Even in fantastical or futuristic settings, readers want characters they can empathize with. Give your characters relatable emotions, desires, flaws, and personal struggles. This balance between genre elements and relatable human characteristics will make your characters more engaging and memorable.

5. Create multidimensional characters: Regardless of the genre, multidimensional characters are essential for reader engagement. Provide your characters with a range of strengths, weaknesses, fears, and aspirations. Avoid one-dimensional heroes or villains. Characters with complex motivations and internal conflicts are more compelling, regardless of the genre they inhabit.

6. Consider the impact of genre on character arcs: The genre can influence the character's journey and growth. In mystery or thriller genres, for example, the protagonist may undergo a transformation as they uncover secrets or solve a puzzle. In fantasy, characters may embark on quests that test their bravery and lead to self-discovery. Tailor the character's arc to the genre, ensuring that it aligns with the story's themes and pacing.

7. Use genre-specific conflicts and challenges: Explore conflicts and challenges that are inherent to the genre. In mystery, characters may face life-or-death situations or navigate intricate plots. In historical fiction, characters might grapple with social or political upheaval. These genre-specific conflicts add depth and tension to the characters' journeys while immersing readers in the story's world.

8. Give characters agency: Regardless of the genre, characters should have agency and drive the plot forward. They should actively make choices and take actions that influence the course of events. Avoid making characters passive recipients of the plot or relying solely on external forces to drive their development. Active and motivated characters make for engaging reads across all genres.

9. Pay attention to dialogue and language: Language and dialogue can be shaped by the genre. In fantasy or historical fiction, characters may speak in a more formal or archaic manner. In science fiction, characters might use technical jargon or futuristic slang. Ensure that the language used by your characters is consistent with the genre while remaining accessible and understandable to readers.

10. Embrace genre-bending and subverting expectations: Don't be afraid to challenge genre conventions and subvert expectations. Introduce unexpected elements, twists, or characterizations that defy the norms of the genre. This can add freshness and originality to your characters and story, making them stand out from the crowd.

[raven]

every single fight no matter how big or small has a story behind it that's why when it comes to Tekken and the king of Iron Fist tournament there's one hell of a story to tell in Tekken 8 Jin Kazama will face off against his father kazuya Mishima for the last time kazuya is threatening global domination and since jin is the only other person who possesses the devil Gene as well he may be the only chance the world has left but how did we even get to this point what the hell is a devil Gene and why do these Fathers and Sons keep throwing each other off cliffs well it revolves around these three men heihachi Mishima his son kazuya Mishima and his son Jin Kazama when kazuya was just 5 years old his father heihachi feared the boy possessed the devil Gene which has passed down through generations to the bearer's children it allows the host to transform into a winged demon that possesses Incredible strength and power so heihachi did what any loving father would do threw kazuya off this Cliff to see if he would survive and survive he did kazuya would spend the next 21 years training to become a deadly fighter the hatred he harbored for his father fueling his motivations ultimately kazuya would defeat heihachi and become the first king of iron fist tournament champion and then in a moment of poetic justice would throw his father off a cliff years later we find Kazuya has turned even more Sinister than his father was but it brings us to the one woman who saw the potential good in kazuya animal rights activist Jun Kazama together they would have a child the third piece of this patricidal puzzle Jin Kazama Jin grew up without knowing his father and after tragedy suddenly befell his mother Jin sought out his grandfather and would be trained in the Mishima fighting Ways by none other than heihachi Mishima ever the opportunist and knowing Jin possessed the devil Gene heihachi would use Jin until ultimately betraying his grandson shooting him at Point Blank Range in the face however death was not for jin and what would kill any other man would trigger what had laid dormant in Jin until that moment and Devil Jin was born since then these three men have waged war against each other time and time again this is until the most recent tournament where kazuya faced off against his father heihachi for the final time by taking his life and throwing the body into a volcano like only a Mishima can which brings us to now kazuya's complete global control is almost at hand and his power is seemingly unchecked however now fully healed from his own battles jin has resurfaced and is focused on stopping his father to become not just the newest champion of the king of iron fist tournament but possibly the savior of all mankind too in teken eight fist meets fate

[hamliet]

I saw your post about Glass Onion, can you talk more about it? What do you think of the movie? Do you prefer it or Knives Out?

I love both movies and will not choose. They are both excellent, hilarious, and extremely well-written where almost every detail comes back to be relevant. Basically, peak writing.

Fun fact: the estate where Knives Out was filmed is actually 5 minutes from where I grew up. I went there all the time. Surreal. Also, I've often walked through the town area that was filmed too.

Glass Onion also does twins well; it's a twist, but it's very obvious Andi and Helen are different people with their own individual goals. So, I was pleased.

Glass Onion might be literally crafted around a metaphor for something appearing to have a lot of layers yet being very simple, but the movie itself has a lot of layers even if the metaphor is an apt description of the plot. Knives Out also has these layers of symbolism and foreshadowing. Essentially, each story can be interpreted as a social quasi-allegory in some ways (Knives Out for immigration and Glass Onion for oppressive structures and systems), as a thematic study on what ultimately matters to humans, as a commentary on money and power, and as a deconstruction (in the HxH or ASOIAF sense of deconstructing, which is to say taking a genre and breaking it apart to examine its tropes and see what works and what doesn't--out of love, not contempt--which generally means arriving at the beating heart at the core of the genre and ultimately affirming it) of cozy mysteries.

Why do humans like mysteries? Put aside puzzles and games and excitement thereof, and think about the core of murder mysteries. They have similar appeal to horror, but also appeal to people because they address several universal questions: how do we live knowing we are all going to die? what is the value of a life? doesn't everyone--which means we ourselves, too--matter? will there be justice?

The justice idea is why these movies are somewhat socio-political allegories, or at the very least address these issues. We're crying out for justice in this world in so many respects. It feels cathartic to see Marta get the house, and keep her kind heart. It feels satisfying to see Helen truly disrupt a vile idiot who doesn't deserve the prestige he gets just for having money.

As for the value of life: compassion is the primary motivation for Marta, and love for Helen. These are values that society in theory holds up as good, but doesn't actually practice even where they should be practiced--see, the Thrombey family, who can't stand each other, and the Disrupters, who have an extremely utilitarian idea of friendship. Society doesn't actually assign sociopolitical value to compassion or love, not even in societal structures like family or friends where you'd think it'd exist, because sociopolitical movements by their nature need power to accomplish anything. That's not inherently a bad thing either, but human nature tends to lose sight of compassion in favor of power.

So then, how do we live knowing there will be death, that justice won't always come in the real world, that not all lives are valued the same by power structures? Each movie offers a different answer for different situations, because there is nuance. Each movie does this, however, through the same metaphor: a game.

Marta wins because of playing the game her "way, not Harlan's way," to quote Benoit Blanc. Her way is the way she wins the game of Go with Harlan right before she's tricked into thinking she's hurt him. She's not focused on trying to beat Harlan. She's trying to make a beautiful pattern.

Helen wins not by playing Miles' game that no one person can solve on their own, but by refusing to play entirely and smashing it apart. Which is also how she wins against Miles in the end of the film, too: smashing the Glass Onion apart.

I genuinely think these are both absolutely brilliant films, and highly recommend the Youtube channel PillarofGarbage, who has created some truly amazing video essays on both movies.

[antimatterpod]

It is so awkward when you literally stick a guy in a refrigerator and then his death provides motivation for his grieving partner to go on a rampage. Anika and Liz discuss season 5, episode 7 of Star Trek: Discovery – “Erigah”(!!!).

It is DEVASTATING that this is Discovery‘s last season and we’re going to lose Rayner as fast as we got him

Liz accidentally talks herself into shipping Michael/Nahn and also Nahn/Ortegas

We have unlocked Rayner’s tragic backstory

Hot take: Michael is now a better captain than (prime) Georgiou

Anika is here to make it about Jack Crusher

We aren’t puzzle people, but neither are the Discovery writers, and it kind of shows

Jett/Pelia has never been more canon

[thefandomenchantress]

I think... I think if Ace doesn't die soon, he won't die at all. I can only see him as a victim because he's too dumb to be a third chapter/fourth chapter (let alone fifth chapter) killer. He might be a victim, though...

Yeah, I agree! I’ve actually thought for a while that if Ace isn’t the chapter 2 killer, he won’t die at all.

Let me explain that. While victim-Ace is possible, I feel like seeing him be killed might be a bit undercut by the fact that we’ve seen someone attempt to murder him before. Usually, seeing a character you like all bloodied is a new thing that will make you feel sad and distraught, since you’ve never seen them like that before. But with Ace it may feel like we’re just rehashing old events so that he can actually die this time, if that makes sense. It doesn’t hit as hard to have him be a victim if he was already almost a victim once. If it happens in chapter three, it might feel like that first time didn’t effect his character enough to actually justify his almost-death, it makes it feel like he was just a plot device to get Nico’s arc to be fully realized before Ace could finally actually die.

Onto the question of Ace being a killer or not, chapter 3, 4, and 5 killers often have more complex murder schemes, and you’re right, Ace doesn’t seem like the type of character to be smart enough to make up a murder scheme better than someone like Min would, even if Min’s attempt was done on the fly.

He’s so dumb that the only way I could see him being a killer…Is if that was the point.

Chapter two is all about subverting expectations about people’s true nature. Hence the title connecting to the saying “not all that glitters is gold”. David actually has an incredibly depressing and pessimistic outlook on the world, Nico is capable of doing evil things, etc.

So having the culprit subvert expectations would make sense, too. That’s one reason I like the Eden culprit theory (I DON’T THINK SHE’S SECRETLY EVIL, JUST THAT SHE MAY BE THE CULPRIT). The nicest person in class committed murder, gasp!

If Ace were the killer, the twist would be that their quote on quote ‘dumbest’ classmate managed to almost fool them all into voting for the wrong person, and would’ve if it hadn’t been for Teruko, and overall created an extremely clever murder scheme that almost let them get away with it, something that they never would’ve expected Ace to be capable of.

And since Ace almost got murdered right before this trial, his motive could be that since he just almost died, he thought he’d definitely die for real if he didn’t murder someone soon. His emotional instability is probably at an all-time high right now, after all.

Still, Ace being the culprit this chapter doesn’t seem to really feel like it should happen? His secret shed a lot more light on his character, sure, but it didn’t feel like the final puzzle piece we were missing before we can fully understand his character. It feels like his character has a lot more it should do before he dies.

One could argue that we’ll figure out the rest of his backstory and all that in a bonus episode, but there’s a reason those episodes are called bonus episodes and not epilogues. They shouldn’t be required viewing in order for you to understand a character, they should be there to help you further get to know a character you already understand.

There’s also the tape. I know everyone who’s seen the Eden culprit theories knows all about the titular disappearing tape, since that’s what a lot of the theory is based on. And I still stand by it not being a technical error until proven otherwise. I hate assuming the creator of anything I watch/play made a mistake or a retcon before we get the whole picture, just because it doesn’t fit with my current view of the story they’re making. But to get back on track, if we go under the assumption that the tape disappeared on purpose, which makes sense since it literally is said to have disappeared by the time Teruko and Rose get to the gym the next morning, that leaves us with three potential suspects: Eden, Ace, and Teruko. Only they could’ve taken the tape.

I don’t think anyone will disagree with me dismissing Teruko as the culprit immediately. It just doesn’t fit with her character motivations, especially since she literally told everyone she’s not going to commit a murder and she wants to live in the killing game building, because free food and no rent and such.

And Ace…Well, he could’ve taken it, but it still just doesn’t seem right. While you can argue he decided to commit a murder because of the Nico incident, there’s no way he could’ve thought ahead about needing the tape for that when, as stated by Ace, his only goal at the time was to kill Nico right then and there. He had no complex murder scheme thought up yet, so he couldn’t have known he’d need the tape. You could argue he lied about wanting to kill Nico right then and there and that he actually secretly had thought up a murder plan, I guess, or that he somehow thought he could use the tape as a weapon to kill Nico, but still. It feels like a little bit of a stretch, especially since Ace both just woke up and was bleeding heavily, not leaving much of a possibility for him to have believably been able to think of a complex murder method on the spot and know he should steal the tape. And if he wanted to use it as a weapon, why would he hide that from Teruko when he was perfectly fine telling her he was going to kill Nico? Overall it doesn’t seem as likely as Eden stealing it when she fell, leaving her as my prime suspect for being the killer.

Also, having Ace be like “I’m gonna die” and Teruko be like “someone like you isn’t going to last long here” at the beginning of the second chapter and then actually just having him die in the second chapter feels a little unsatisfying, because you were waiting for the narrative to prove them wrong. Then again, we’re on chapter two, the doom and gloom chapter, so maybe this is the part where Teruko’s beliefs are proven right (for now) and Ace does die.

So, to summarize: If Ace is going to be a culprit, the second chapter is the only spot where that kinda makes sense for me. I don’t think it’s too likely he will be a victim, especially in chapter three. And all in all I think he has a real shot at surviving the killing game!

Anyways, thanks for the ask! It let me ramble about my convoluted thoughts about when I think Ace will die, which was very fun!

[leafbladie]

Kuroe Character Analysis Rough Draft

A year ago, inspired by how much I really liked Kuroe’s depiction in the anime, I was inspired to make a character analysis for her in a similar vein to my ones on the other Madoka Magica characters. However, my life had grown a lot busier since then, and while I got a rough draft completed, I never got around to cleaning it up, editing it down, and making a satisfying throughline. Over a year has passed, and nothing’s changed, besides being wheeled off in an ambulance a few days ago. Life’s short, so I felt I might as well release what I did write up for you guys, and I hope you all enjoy it.

***

Part of the reason Kuroe is so interesting to me, is that iconic line by Madoka, “If someone ever tells me it's a mistake to have hope, well, then, I'll just tell them they're wrong. And I'll keep telling them 'til they believe! No matter how many times it takes.”

To me, Kuroe is that “someone” who would tell Madoka it’s a mistake over and over again. She’s a Magical Girl who doesn’t belong on stage, thrust onto it anyway. She was a character who was meant to disappear after the first episode, absorbed into the faceless mass of Magius, only to be pulled into focus right at the end of season 1, forced to answer a call to adventure. This happens when Nemu has her search for Iroha despite Kuroe obviously not wanting to. Then later seen in how Iroha convinces Kuroe in episode 4 of season 2 to help her stop Touka and Nemu, how the camera gives us PoV shots from Kuroe’s perspective to show that Iroha is essentially having a conversation with herself; talking past Kuroe.

To Iroha, doing the “right thing” just comes as naturally as breathing, as she discusses with Kuroe when they get on the train in the same episode. However, Iroha’s willingness to do the “right thing” without hesitation only serves to make Kuroe feel worse about herself for not being up to snuff. Before she could blame it on her weakness, but when she met Kuro (other pink hood girl), she realized that even girls physically weaker than her had this quality she lacked.

When Kuroe tries to sacrifice herself in episode 5 & 6, she tries to emulate these strong people, to find meaningness through self sacrifice. However, she can’t, she just feels like a hypocrite. She can’t find meaning through friends and relationships, because she doesn’t feel she belongs with them, as we see in episode 8 of season 2. This is in stark contrast to the Magical Girl archetype, one who finds meaning through helping people and their relationships with others. Any benefit she got from being a Magical Girl through her wish is gone as well, she threw it away herself, so she can’t even say she’s fighting for her wish. Devoid of any intrinsic or extrinsic motivations, what reason is there left for Kuroe to be a Magical Girl? The answer is that Kuroe shouldn’t be a Magical Girl, yet she is forced to be.

And that’s what Iroha misunderstands. She assumes the issue is just Kuroe’s lack of strength, that she can become a great Magical Girl if she just takes a step forward and leans on friends, because that’s what Iroha did. We see Iroha talk of her friends completing the puzzle of who she is by giving her the missing pieces. However, when Iroha offers Kuroe such a piece, we see from its color that it’s a piece to complete Iroha’s puzzle; not Kuroe’s.

Through Kuroe, we finally see Iroha’s rather trite moral philosophy challenged, exposed, and shattered. Iroha was literally about to turn into a Witch/Doppel Witch before her friends called out to her, from the realization that just doing the “right thing” is an impossible choice for some people. That’s why she has such trouble believing that Touka and Nemu are the Magius, because they wouldn’t do the “wong thing”. That’s why Touka and Nemu feel they have to work through illicit means, because they can’t convince Iroha to consider doing the “wrong thing” for her own benefit. Through Kuroe’s death, Iroha finally understands that she actually doesn’t understand Kuroe, Touka, and Nemu. So instead of appealing to them to do the right thing, she appeals in a selfish manner, shouldn’t we enjoy the time we do have, make it precious?

Kuroe’s failure to live up to the role of Magical Girls also provides a rather interesting critique of Madoka’s salvation for Magical Girls. Because I think an eternity as a Magical Girl would be a living hell for Kuroe. She finds no joy in being a Magical Girls, it only reminds her of her weakness. Madoka’s salvation is for the “strong” Magical Girls, not the most physically endowed or combat blessed, but the ones who can stand by their ideals and find meaning in their existence as Magical Girls. Something even Sayaka is able to do at her own end.

It does nothing for “weak” Magical Girls like Kuroe, who find nothing in that well but their own prison. Who have been duped by Kyubey into accepting a raw deal, hung out to dry, with nothing to show for it, forced to conform to a role they do not desire. That’s why Kuroe turns into a Witch, willingly, she finds more freedom in that existence than continuing on in her forced role as a Magical Girl.

[miss-ingno]

Everything I Wrote In 2023

...or at least the bits I posted to Ao3 :D 21 works with a word count of 71,998 total! I'm honestly surprised, I thought it was much less considering how little I felt like writing between work and health issues sapping my energy.

I'll sort these alphabetically by fandoms and within the fandoms chronologically from first posted to last.

Assassin's Creed II Title: Return To Sender Ship: Claudia Auditore/Desmond Miles, Claudia Auditore & Ezio Auditore Words: 3.5k Tags: Epistolary, Time Travel, Marriage, POV Outsider (as in Outsider on the Time Traveller PoV), In-Universe Documents Summary: Over the years, Ezio and Claudia exchanged many letters. These are the ones concerning Claudia's husband, then-stranger, Desmond.

Deja Vu by Dreamcatcher (Music Video) Title: All Our Memories, They're Haunted Ship: Jiu/Yoohyeon Words: 1.1k Tags: Memories, Regret, Grief/Mourning, the Queen is dead; long live the Queen, Dark Yoohyeon, Murder Summary: There are no witnesses to her ascent. There is no one she trusts not to stab her in the back. Title: Our Love's A Curse Ship: Jiu/Yoohyeon Words: 833 Tags: Backstory, Happy with A Bad Ending, Off-screen Character Death, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Yoohyeon's descent into madness, Assassin Yoohyeon Summary: Yoohyeon worked hard to create a perfect world for Jiu and herself. But perfection isn't forever.

Detective L Title: Both Is Good Ship: Ben Jieming/Luo Fei/Qin Xiaoman Words: 1.5k Tags: Relationship Status: It's Complicated, Pre-Relationship, Developing Relationship, Background Case, Post-Canon, Pre-Poly, Polyamory Negotiations, Insecurity, lbr they all have their issues but they love each other for who they are and that's what's important Summary: The day before the police ball, Ben Jieming and Luo Fei discuss who should accompany Qin Xiaoman. Unbeknownst to them, she already made her choice.

Dimension 20 - Mentopolis Title: Where in Mentopolis are the Prefrontal P.I.s? Ship: Ensemble Words: 800 Tags: Logic Grid Puzzle, Worldbuilding, Post-Canon Summary: It’s the Grand Opening of Daniel Fucks’ new Emporium of Exquisite Pleasures, but none of the other Prefrontal P.I.s have shown up! However, through his criminal network, Daniel hears some rumours about what they’re each up to. Can you help him find them and drag them away from whatever they’re doing for this most important of all events?

Granting You A Dreamlike Life Title: The Hero Returns Ship: Hong Lan & Luo Fusheng, implied Duan Tianying/Luo Fusheng Words: 826 Tags: Late Canon Fix-It, Somebody Lives/Not Everyone Dies, PoV Tianying Summary: The first thing Hong Lan does as head of the Hong family is to order Luo Fusheng back home.

Grimm (TV) Title: Back In A Spell Ship: Sean Renard/Juliette Silverton, Nick Burkhardt/Juliette Silverton, pre-Nick Burkhardt/Sean Renard/Juliette Silverton Words: 7.2k Tags: Time Travel Fix-It, POV Juliette Silverton, former Hexenbiest Juliette, Nick is not a Grimm yet, Identity Reveal, Magic Revealed, Dinner Date with Ulterior Motives, Secrets Summary: Going back in time has a price. Juliette will make damn sure it was worth it. Title: Sting Of Love Ship: Nick Burkhardt/Monroe Words: 1k Tags: Kissing Slice of Life Action/Adventure Wesen of the Week Episode Style Summary: Monroe accompanies Nick on Grimm business.

Guardian (drama and novel) Title: Growing Pains Ship: Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan & Da Qing Words: 2.5k Tags: Case Fic lite, Haixing-Dixing politics, set between Episode 4 and Episode 5, Early in Canon, Zhao Yunlan takes a bullet for a Dixingren Hurt Zhao Yunlan Protective Shen Wei (Guardian) Morality Summary: During their most recent case Zhao Yunlan's superiors put him in a difficult position: follow orders, or summon Heipaoshi to hand over the Dixingren? Title: Telenovela Ship: one-sided Zhao Yunlan/Zhu Hong, background Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan Words: 315 Tags: Slice of Life, Zhu Hong gets to be snake-y, Pining, Denial Summary: Zhu Hong watches dramas in her free time. Title: In This, As In All Things (WIP) Ship: Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan & Da Qing Words: 13k+ Tags: Time Travel Fix-It, Time Travel: Post-Canon to Pre-Canon, Secret Identity, Identity Shenanigans, Established Relationship, Family Issues Summary: Given the chance to right the wrongs of the past, Zhao Yunlan and Shen Wei go back to before they met (again). But how much can they change faced with a very different SID than the one under Zhao Yunlan's lead? Title: Ruffling Feathers Ship: Zhu Hong & Da Qing & Ya Qing Words: 7.1k Tags: Post-Canon, Handwavey Fix-It, Yashou Politics, Case Fic, Zhu Hong and Da Qing team up to solve a theft, Yashou High Chief Zhu Hong, Yashou Worldbuilding, Mistakes Are Made, Zhu Hong is new to this job Summary: Zhu Hong is more than ready to delay her responsibilities for old times' sake when Da Qing approaches her about his missing bells. But the case takes them smack-dab into internal Yashou politics and Zhu Hong's mettle as High Chief is put to the test. Title: Two Of A Kind Ship: Ya Qing/Zhu Hong Words: 12.9k Tags: Time Travel Fix-It, Pre-Canon, Yashou Politics, Yashou Worldbuilding, Pre-Relationship, PoV Ya Qing, mentions of the Time Loop, Background Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan, mentions of the canonical ending, Antagonist Ye Zun, BAMF Ya Qing Summary: Zhu Hong approaches Ya Qing with a warning from the future. Ya Qing is... intrigued despite herself. Title: Freezing Ship: Chu Shuzhi/Guo Changcheng/Ye Huo Words: 507 Tags: Character Study, Missing Scene, Episode 19 Summary: Stuck in the experimental lab, Chu Shuzhi has time to contemplate his newest companion. Title: Days of Splendour Ship: Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan & Zhaodad & Zhaomom (novel) Words: 1.9k Tags: Wedding Planning, Wedding Fluff, Post-Canon Summary: Zhao Yunlan knows what he wants: Shen Wei, at his side, forever. Title: Happy Hour Ship: Shen Wei & Shen Wei's students, Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan & SID Words: 975 Tags: Background Case, Shen Wei's terrible lies, undercover at a bar Summary: A criminal, a professor, and a cat walk into a bar. The professor's students did not expect to be part of the joke. Title: An Intimate Touch Ship: Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan Words: 2.2k Tags: YOHE, Facial Shaving, Hair Brushing, Hair Braiding, Almost Kiss, Domestic Fluff Summary: Shen Wei helps Kunlun shave his beard. Title: Gossip Mango Ship: Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan & Shen Wei's students Words: 1.9k Tags: Social Media, Episode Related (1-8), Canon Compliant, mentions of canon suicidal ideation and murders Summary: Not only does Dragon City university have a great and sophisticated study program for many different majors, it also has a flourishing social media site for students to discuss their studies social activities recent events.

Harry Potter Title: To Seek Knowledge Ship: Hermione Granger & Luna Lovegood & Ginny Weasley Words: 4.4k Tags: Female Friendship, Spell Theory, Bullying, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Hogwarts Second Year, Golden Trio (background) Summary: A precocious pre-teen on a quest for knowledge ends up changing the future. She even makes a friend or two on the way.

Naruto Title: Adventitious Ship: Haruno Sakura & Hatake Kakashi & Uchiha Sasuke & Uzumak Naruto Words: 5k Tags: Developing Friendships, set after the Wave mission but before the Chuunin Exams, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, in which Team 7 grows closer and Sasuke doesn't defect, Dai-nana-han | Team 7 Have Issues (don't worry they're working on it), Mission Fic (sort of), no literal geese were involved in the making of this fic, in which Team 7 accidentally topples several villains' plans Summary: To keep Team 7 busy, Kakashi-sensei sends his students on a wild goose chase. Much to his dismay, they actually find a golden goose.

长公主在上 | Zhǎng Gōng Zhǔ Zài Shàng Title: By Your Side Ship: Li Yunzhen/Gu Xuanqing, Li Yunzhen & Li Chenglin Words: 2k Tags: Post-Canon Court Politics Dom/sub Undertones Established Relationship Relationship Development Summary: After tricking the Chancellor into publicly rebelling, Li Yunzhen retires from politics.

[sneverussape]

2, 5, 6, 25, 46 for the Snape asks!

sure thing :)

2. A canon or headcanon hill I will die on

I won't necessarily ~die~ on this hill lmao since it's a headcanon and therefore something that's personal to ME but not necessarily one i expect everyone else to conform to, but i think out of all the snape hcs i think up, i'm most loyal/consistent to the one with him being catholic (at the very least, he had grown up as one, it doesn't really matter if he's lapsed as an adult). for me it fits so perfectly with how he is in canon and a lot of how he thinks and acts. there's just so much material to build off of it and is a fun one to explore.

another one is probably him being good friends with the malfoys + being draco's godfather. sue me, i love a good found family trope. lol. the malfoys just work so well with severus, and they're all such fun characters besides.

also am very partial to the “tobias and eileen were human and therefore messy” trope and had done their best with their marriage and with severus. not a big fan of the hc that tobias was black-and-white abusive etc as it can get very boring. i’d rather explore the depths of their characters and how they got to where they were in canon.

5-6. Best and worst personality trait

already answered here but here's another one:

one of severus' better personality traits was that he was very strategic and a lot of that stemmed from a deep sense of self-awareness. he knew his own strengths and weaknesses and had the uncanny ability to disconnect from his own feelings to see what the most optimal outcome would be depending on the variables he was working with. it was what made him an effective spy and a very dangerous person to meet as an enemy.

one of his worse traits was he was highly suspicious of everyone and their motives. he believed as a default that everyone expected something from him, and he couldn’t accept when people would do things for him ‘just because’. he would always be obligated to repay them in some way. he didn’t like owing people, especially when it came to favors. he preferred being on equal footing with people if he could help it, otherwise he would just not interact.

25. 3 things they'd want to take with them if they were dropped off in the middle of nowhere

i suppose this would come with a condition that his wand wouldn’t be allowed, or any other magical object, so i would think he would choose to bring a knife, rope, and a mirror (for fire starting purposes and also for signaling). the man was half-muggle and grew up in the sticks. he would survive.

46. The person they most admire

also already answered, but i like to think that at some point he grew to admire harry. not as a student, heaven forbid, but as someone who was brave and loyal beyond measure, no matter that he was a child and likely scared to death. i feel like he saw lily - his intrepid friend - in harry more times than he could count, and he both loathed and reveled in the recognition. i sometimes wonder what emotions severus felt when he saw harry in the shrieking shack. despair that the boy was there, still playing his part in the elaborate game spun between albus and riddle? disdain at the poetic justice of it all? or relief, since he could still do potter one final thing, give him one more piece of the puzzle to do with it what he would, and just the tiniest bit of gratitude that he wouldn’t have to die alone?

[silverraindropliliacsky]

Non non non,

I don't want to read a 14+ fic in which my favorite characters are slowly dismembered...

But the parasites in me-

[forget-me-maybe]

Get To Know Me Tag

Thank you @savriea for the tag <3

(I'm still too shy to tag anyone so I'll just sit here and smile politely)

Do you make your bed? No, I have like 3 blankets and 5 pillows, it'd be too much. Also one of them is a weighted blanket and my arms are weak. (These are excuses, I'm a grown woman, I should make my bed)

Favorite Number: 6! I have three 6's in my date of birth so either that's a sign or I'm the devil (or both).

What's your job? I'm a full time student at uni (Environmental Science).

If you could go back to school, would you? See the question above, but honestly, I love being a full time student. Don't get me wrong, I'm no good at it, but I love learning new things especially at uni where I get to learn things I'm interested in.

Can you parallel park/drive a manual car? Well, I do have a driver's license but the question is if I SHOULD have driver's license. Can drive manual but can definitely not parallel park.

Do you think aliens are real? Definitely! It'd be strange to think we're so special we're the only ones.

What's your guilty pleasure? Europop. I will be taking questions.

Tattoos? I have like 15??? but at least half of them are drunken stick n pokes. I have a bunch or motives planned but usually I just go whenever studios have drop in and get something spontaneously.

Favorite type of music: Indie rock, I'm still stuck in the 2000's/early 2010's in my music taste and I WOULD NOT CHANGE A THING.

Do you like puzzles? I have the attention span of a short piece of string. I might enjoy it if I get into hyperfocus and then I won't eat until that damn puzzle is solved but mostly no. Don't try to explain rules to me, I will disassociate.

Any phobias? Yes, both rational (claustrophobia and fear of heights) and irrational (balloons and spiders).

Favorite childhood sport: I was quite a good swimmer.

Do you talk to yourself? Yeah, even when I don't do it out loud there's still an inner dialogue.

What movie(s) do you adore? Trainspotting is my favourite movie of all times.

Coffee or tea: Coffee!

First thing you wanted to be growing up? I wanted to be Steve Irwin but then I found out I was allergic to furballs to then I wanted to be a marine biologist.

Last song I listened to: Someone else is getting in - Drowners (I have this damn song on repeat)

Favorite color: To wear: Black. Generally: Purple - Blue - Green.

Current obsession: BG3 :-----)

Last thing I Googled: Scrying spell (is this for the third (maybe fourth?) WIP I'm currently working on? Maybe).

Favorite Season: Early summer! When it's light all day around but still not too hot to breathe.

Skill I'd like to learn: SO MANY! Drawing, crocheting, pottery. But I suffer from "If I'm not good at it right away I'll never be" and thus I never get good at anything.

Best advice: When my mum said "just take one day at the time" I was deep in a spiralling depression where I just panicked if I had anything planned and it kind of helped to just be more shortsighted.

Currently watching: Latest season of Drag Race All Stars (but I'm a three screen girlie, I don't really watch as much as I just have it there to not let any thoughts into my head).

Currently reading: I only read fanfics these days and currently it's 'Wild Winds Are Death To The Candle"

Relationship status: Single and ready to stay that way.

Sweet/Savory/Spicy: Savoury!

Lots of love!!!

[phantomoftheorpheum]

so I just watched all the eps of School Spirits that are out (honestly, I thought they'd finished releasing the season or I wouldn't have started rn, but that was my bad) because I am a sucker for a murder mystery & apparently I like ghosts (sensing a theme on this blog??), so anyway, I have some thoughts/theories.

spoilers for the first 5 episodes below the cut!

If you had asked me to put money on a suspect after the first episode, I would have put it all on Nicole, but I'm feeling less good about that the further we get into the show, despite her "creepy" moment in the last episode. At first, I felt that her character didn't justify her own existence (she was basically just "there" and seemed suspiciously optimistic about Maddie being alive, etc.) and also had potential motive- she could be mixed up in the money stuff because she mentions not being able to afford college. I thought at first she might have had feelings for either Simon or Maddie & there was a jealousy thing going on (since Maddie was with Xavier, and Simon seems pretty in love with Maddie), but she doesn't honestly seem all that interested in spending time with Simon, and I don't feel like they've dropped many hints about her having feelings for anyone in particular.

My immediate gut feeling was that Xavier wasn't involved, since they were so quick to the point the finger at him and make him look suspicious in the first couple of episodes. I suppose they could be pulling a Billy Loomis, trying to get people to write him off by immediately accusing him, but I really hope not. Not because of him as a character, really, but because that's kinda interesting in a movie with a 2 hour runtime, but kinda boring when you spend hours and hours on something and then it loops around to the first ever suspect.

I'm assuming that the ghosts do not have the ability to kill anyone, and I suppose that could be a bad assumption, but that's what I'm working with, so I'm automatically ruling out the other ghosts as Maddie's murderers. That seems like A LOT, if they were going in that direction. Unless they're going to address how many students have died on campus & it has something to do with that. Because that is a bunch of dead people at their school. Like this school has had multiple murders on school property, multiple major accidents, etc. What are the odds? But rn I'm leaning towards, they just wanted Maddie to have characters to interact with & to make their points about life/death with.

Mr. Anderson & Claire both seem too obvious at this point (I mean, obviously they are/were hiding things & it might even include evidence of what did happen to Maddie, but I don't think they killed her) and are low on my suspect list for that reason. There are 3 more episodes (if they even wrap up who killed Maddie) to fill out, so inevitably more twists.

Current top of my suspect list- Ms. Fields. Why is she here? I mean, obviously there need to be teachers, so I understand why her character exists, but she gets just a little too much screen time, imo. That makes her inherently suspicious. Generally, you want to make sure that when a killer is revealed, the audience actually recognizes them and felt that they had some shot of puzzling it out. She & Maddie's mom talked about how little money teachers make (did she pose as Maddie to get money from Mr. Anderson? is she who used Maddie's account to like Nicole's photo? did she take the video of Mr. Anderson and Claire?) so she could have a financial motive mixed in with other things.

I'm still trying to decide if I think we're dealing with one or more person for the above actions. There seems to be a good chance that whoever got money from Mr. Anderson (pretending to be Maddie? with her phone?) is who killed her (this does make me still a little suspicious of Nicole, since she has a potential financial motive, but that bothers me because some of Nicole's actions make no sense if she killed Maddie), but are they the one still using Maddie's account? Are they who took/released the video? Or is there another unknown party who is aware of certain things and trying to make them come to light. The photo being liked & the backpack being in the house feel like things someone would do to try to keep police believing Maddie is alive (and presumably only the killer would have her backpack, since it was with her when she died), so they would be done by someone who knows she's dead. IDK.

Where. Is. Maddie's. Necklace. ???. They only mentioned it briefly when she's talking about not having her phone or her necklace, which means she didn't have it when she died. That's gotta come back around soon, though I wonder if it will be in a red herring kind of way (like they'll show us a character with the necklace to make them look extra suspicious, but it will have reasonably innocent reasoning) or as a real clue.

Um. I want more ghosts. Rhonda, Charley, and Wally are a lot of fun & I would like more of them. Like, no offense, but I would rather spend more time with those three than Simon, Nicole, & Xavier. BUT I get it, because the ghosts can't leave the school & they don't have tangible impact on the world, so it would be hard to get things done with just them.

Other suspects - Maddie's mom, Xavier's dad, and the principal all have roles just big enough that they could turn out to be involved. I don't really think that makes a lot of sense for most of them (the principal is barely in the show so far, so that would be a stretch, Xavier's dad could have a motive involving the election [interesting that they included that detail], but we haven't seen him much, and it being Maddie's mom would be really dark, but I never completely cross off people the list just because it would be dark).

Not a theory, but I'm actually quite pleasantly surprised how little romance there has been in the show so far. I'm not against romance, and I won't even be mad if we get a little in the next few episodes, but I do like that that hasn't been a big focus because it can get really tiring when a show just becomes solely about ships.

Anyway, I think that's all my thoughts for now. Idk if anyone else is even watching this show tbh, but I've been super drawn to things that my friends aren't talking about & that don't have a lot of episodes lately, I think because it feels freeing to go into something with no expectations and to not have any of your friends be disappointed if you end up not liking it.

[amagicdoctor]

Strange Academy: Finals just revealed the most anticipated backstory of the entire series. But I would argue there are more pieces of the puzzle to connect. #5 may have introduced Doyle’s mother and with her reveal, gave us some understanding of how Doyle came to be, but I have a feeling that they’re not telling us everything. And worriedly, one can ask: will they ever?

Follow me under the cut where I’ll walk you through some theories around the real story behind Doyle’s ‘family.’ Hey, and grab some tissues, it gets a little sad in the end.

Those who have been with this blog for a while now already know that Doyle is at the very top of my list for favorite Strange Academy characters. I took an immediate liking to him because of his connection to one of Dr. Strange’s most dreaded villains: Dormammu. I love super villain characters much more than I do with heroes, so I initially thought they would create Doyle’s character as some sort of heir to the throne, spelling much trouble for the students and staff of Strange Academy. But even with the marketing (prior to the first series release) setting up Doyle as a big bad, his antagonist days have not come to fruition. And honestly, I don’t mind that at all.

Throughout the beginning of the pilot series, I watched Doyle’s career grow with much interest. But with interest came questions, and one of those questions was one of the biggest 3 year secrets the writers had been hiding: what is Doyle’s true family situation?

Everyone, readers and in-universe characters alike always assumed Doyle was the direct biological descendant of Dormammu. 

(from Strange Academy (2020) #1)

But as we learned in SA: Finals #5, looks can be deceiving. Doyle has a real human mother and father. So he was just a normal human when he was born! He was only reborn as a Faltine-look alike as a side-effect to healing a medical condition he once had as a baby.

That much, we know. We’ve all read the latest issue. And as big of a deal that is, there is something much more important to talk about now that she’s been revealed: Doyle’s mother herself and her backstory (and motives). 

Let’s take a quick step back into the early days of the series. Family (and lineage) became a big deal to the Strange Academy cast when we read the fated “Parent’s Day” issue (see Strange Academy (2020) #9). While many students were able to bring their parent’s to school, we never saw anyone show up for Doyle. Dormammu, we can understand (more on this in a bit), but where was his beloved human mother who was always in his life? I know adults can be busy with whatever, but it sure is interesting that not only has Doyle’s mother not shown up for an important event, but neither has Doyle’s (surrogate) father, Dormammu.

Remember in the first big event of the series when Doyle was killed? Remember how Dr. Voodoo, school headmaster, put his own life in danger to directly ask Dormammu to save his only son and Voodoo was met with rejection? 

While a simple Parent’s Day social event pales in comparison to the priority of a student’s death, neither of Doyle’s ‘parents’ came in to save the day. Or to see if he even recovered following his death on campus. They sure as hell are passive, especially Doyle’s mother since she already saved him from early death once. But what does this all mean?

Dormammu is complicated (we’re gonna get to him in another minute). But his mother.. Maybe you’re asking: does his mother actually care about him? You may say “yes” just on the account of the flashback (which is from her POV only, also problematic when trying to get the full story. Doyle was too young to remember himself. She could have conveniently skipped over something, more on this soon). She did everything she could just to save his life from that inoperable tumor. But that’s exactly the problem. She did everything and went down every path, even the wrong ones.

People become desperate when they’ve hit the wall. To a single mother, alone, raising a child who’s barely even grown out of diapers, you want to do anything for him. Absolutely anything. To cure her son, we saw that she went to traditional help first: the medical doctors, even to a former neurosurgeon who, as we know, went through the desperation of fixing his own disability. But the difference between her and Dr. Strange is, he ended up not going down that dark path: to Dormammu.

Similar to Dr. Strange’s issue though, she did try to find magical fixes, which is OK. This is a story we’ve heard before. But why Dormammu? This is equal in magnitude to selling your soul to a demon, but in this case, she sold her son.

Doyle's mother claimed she went as far as finding a cult that 'worshiped' Dormammu. Yeah, she may have been desperate, but I also feel as though she may have liked that option as well. Listen to me, this may seem like a stretch, but look at the way both Doyle's mother and Dormammu look at Doyle. They look like two consensual parents who are raising a child together. 

They’re both smiling, joyous, happy, proud.

And notice this: Doyle looks a bit older than he does in the earlier parts of the flashback. He could still be a toddler, but he’s not being wrapped up in blankets anymore, some time has obviously passed. Romance or not, there is something deeper, more intimate happening here. And think about it like this: We do not yet know how long this transformation process took when Dormammu ‘healed’ Doyle. If longer than a few days, I could argue there may have been some baby daddy weekend custody situation going on, just so Dormammu can visit and see that his magic is working. 

I’m also not saying it’s too early to ship it, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Dormammu revealed that Doyle’s mother was actually his wife. Maybe she has an alternate form too.

I would also like to ask you to think about the cost associated with healing her son. Magic always has costs. And no, Doyle becoming a Faltine-like thing is not a cost, it’s a side effect. I think those can be different. But look, by granting Doyle a new life, does she or her son owe their loyalty to Dormammu now? Doyle could be hiding his allegiance somehow but he’s such a sweetheart I doubt it. Strange Academy is funny with its writing but they would have alluded to him being a potential antagonist a long time ago if this was the next big reveal. His mother on the other hand is a different subject.

Maybe Dormammu felt Doyle could be his next project. He may have been bored. He thinks himself above human lives, so why else would he save a random sick human? Did he possibly fall in love with the woman who summoned him? Does he suddenly have feelings to care for an heir after completely abusing his sister and niece? I find it hard to believe he could have positive feelings about his long-term relationship with a human and her offspring. I don’t like thinking of Dormammu as someone who is capable of having those feelings. His concerns are about his own needs: conquering worlds, ruining lives, beating Dr. Strange. So he may be playing a long game at something else too. Maybe it ties into why he didn’t care enough about Doyle dying at school (or maybe he knew Doyle would survive). Maybe it ties into him seeing Doyle fall in love with a girl who has the potential of revitalizing Doyle into some warrior he prophesied Doyle would become (to take his place perhaps?). This may be why he’s so manipulative of Emily Bright’s development. Dormammu definitely does not care about her, I don’t need to explain that. But why? What does this all add up to? Theories behind Dormammu’s relationship with Emily is a different discussion, and it’ll probably be revealed in #6.

But back to the main subject. Of course, all of this is too soon to tell and I’m eating the hell out of one single page of context, but Doyle’s mother is seriously something else. I know as superhero readers we can get past the initial shock of someone selling their soul to a demon, because of course that happens. But I think it’s so SO important to think about what this really means. I don’t think Doyle is as safe with his mother as they want us to believe.

Lastly, since Doyle had a real human father, it's so weird now seeing him refer to Dormammu as a 'dad.' Is there some kind of affection between the two or three of them (see my earlier points)? Imagine a different scenario really quick: why the hell would a mother allow her son to call a bastard demon their ‘dad?’ In other horror/supernatural pieces of media, due to the power imbalance, the giver of magic/wish is usually called a ‘master.’ Why is it that the mother allows this intimate name calling to continue? Perhaps she actually wants the three of them to be a family. Perhaps Doyle’s mother is lying in the flashback, perhaps she was a member of that Dormammu worshiping cult the entire time and made the ultimate sacrifice–

And now this leaves me to ask something truly vital: what was Doyle's life like prior to Strange Academy? Where did he live? Which of his parents did he live with, if any? 

This, actually, was partially answered during the Strange Academy tie-in for the Death of Doctor Strange event:

Doyle, for whatever reason, was seen temporarily living in a cabin in the woods when Strange Academy closed. I ask you, why would Doyle decide to live by himself– homeless in fact– instead of going back home to the mother who saved his life when he was a child? Back to the human mother who supposedly loves him dearly? The mother who is “the best part” of him (Doyle’s exact words btw!!!).

You know, Doyle has frequently referred to the Dark Dimension as “home,” especially in the above panel. Unless he’s still egging the Mindless One on as he did with Calvin about his connection to Dormammu, we have to believe that Doyle is a regular resident of the Dark Dimension (or at least was, in the past, possible months ago if he has been living homelessly as a regular thing on Earth). Because if someone like Doyle was walking around on Earth, with his magical signature, he would have been been a regular character to the Dr. Strange series. So did his mother and Dormammu lock him away somewhere like they did with Clea when we were first introduced to her? Why? Was it that they only let him out, or somehow he escaped to go live with his mom prior to coming to the academy?

Doyle living with Dormammu (doubt it like a prisoner, he isn’t giving off vibes in that way, but like a Rapunzel situation) is such a worst case scenario and it breaks my heart. Because this leaves us to think about all the times Clea and Stephen have gone into the Dark Dimension to fight Dormammu or Clea being LEADER of the entire Dark Dimension, freeing the Mindless Ones but not her little cousin, and not once did we EVER get a whiff of Doyle. So where was he?? What was he doing? What is really going on here, because the less context we get, the worse Doyle’s real situation is. My heart breaks for him, really.

His real mother is suspect as hell, his SURROGATE father is literally Dormammu (nuff said) and his overall home situation is extremely suspicious!! I hope this overview has raised a few red flags, more than I hope you have already had.

Anyway here’s how Clea adopting Doyle can still win–

[redsamuraiii]

5 Crime J-Dramas You Could Watch

Investigation dramas that have a good mix of seriousness and comedy with strong chemistry among the casts.

1) Hakozume ~Tatakau! Kouban Joshi (2021)

Pic by Tokyo Hive

20 year old rookie police office Kawai Mai (Mei Nagano) joins the police force out of family expectations for her to be a civil servant and as such she does not have the right motivation to push through when things get tough when she becomes physically and mentally drained.

Feeling unappreciated serving the ungrateful and rude citizens, she contemplates her life and considers quitting, until she was assigned to an enigmatic and fearless senior officer, 30 year old Fuji Seiko (Erika Toda) , who is said to be a former ace detective who was demoted.

After going on patrols with Fuji, Kawai became inspired by her driven nature and wishes to be like her. Over the course of the series, they solve numerous realistic ordinary cases that everyday police officers faced, unlike the typical armed robbery cases you often see on TV series. 

2) Tengoku to Jigoku: Psychona Futari (2021)

Pic by IMDB

Mochizuki Ayako (Haruka Ayase) is a determined and passionate 35 year old who is the only female detective in her department that she works hard to earn herself a name and seek justice to hunt down law breakers like the shrewd Hidaka Haruto (Issei Takahashi) who often gets away with his crimes.

Ayako has come close to apprehending Haruto under the full moon when something mysterious happens that knock them both unconscious. When they re-awakened, they discovered that they have swap bodies, much to Haruto's delight. Now Haruto in Ayako’s body is arresting Ayako in Haruto’s body!

The game begins as one tries to outwit the other as Ayako tries to buy time to figure out what happened and how to get her body back while Haruto takes the opportunity of being a police officer to frame Ayako for the crimes instead so that when their bodies switched, Ayako will be arrested instead of Haruto. 

3) Unnatural (2018)

Pic by Drama Wiki

Misumi Mikoto (Satomi Ishihara) is a forensic investigator who works for the special department that investigates unnatural cause of death, solving dead-end cases or re-opening cases due to requests from police departments or family members of the deceased who wants a full closure .

She works with her team of misfits of different characters and backgrounds, from arrogant veteran investigator who has record breaking of solving numerous cases to a young part time officer, fresh from school who wants to work to gain experience and learn the ropes of becoming an investigator .

I think it is the most interesting show out of the five here as each episode are like puzzle solving where the story start off with one assumption leading you think that it might be this case but halfway through it makes you think that it might be that case but eventually it turns out to be something unexpected.

4) Hello, Detective Hedgehog (2017)

Pic by Asian Wiki

Goro Nanase (Eita) and Kyusaku Kogure (Go Morita) are private detectives at Akatsuka Detective Agency, which is led by Kaoru Kaze (Tomoko Yamaguchi) . They handle dead-end or weird cases that the police do not want to handle, from corporate conspiracy, to treasure hunting and ghost sightings.

On their bad days when they are struggling to pay the space rent of their agency, they even perform non-investigative cases like fulfilling strange requests from clients which eventually turned into a genuine criminal case when some mishap happen along the way.

Their days of being private detective changes when they assisted Ranko Shidawara (Kyoko Fukada) who believes that her father was murdered and did not commit suicide as the police and company led her to believe. Their antics alone are worth watching as it's meant to be a lighthearted show.

5) You're Under Arrest (2002)

The story revolves around two police officers, Natsumi Tsujimoto (Misaki Ito) and Miyuki Kobayakawa (Sachie Hara) . Being an officer is not as glamorous as you would think, just like any other jobs, there are the good days and there are the bad days on the job, dealing with difficult people and challenging tasks.

Although they are with the traffic police department, but their line of work often cross path with criminal in progress activities that they decide to take matters into their own hands instead of waiting for the respective back up team to arrive which cause jurisdiction problems with the other department.

I love their complex relationships as they have opposing personalities, mindset and way of doing things, which makes them conflict each other from time to time but once they learn to set aside their differences to work together, they're an unstoppable pair.