#but arturo was in the way on the left one :(

[1moreff-creator]

Select Two, Choose One: How will the Culprit get Found?

Since the latest DRDT chapter seems to have narrowed down the suspect list to just two people, many have speculated on how exactly the cast is going to pin down the correct suspect, and whether or not the audience has the tools to do so. I thought I’d throw my hat in the ring too! And while I’m still really 50/50 split, there is one piece of evidence that could change the murder method… in a way that points us to the culprit. Very inconclusive evidence, but it’s there. Let’s get into it.

Spoilers up to CH2 EP14. CW: Hanging, murder, blood, Eden and Ace!Culprit discussion

As a starting point, I’ll assume that the deduction that the culprit must be one of Eden or Ace is accurate, to simplify things if nothing else.

I will start with what I’ll call “meta only” arguments. In other words, things that characters can’t reliably use to narrow down the suspect, but that we the audience can take into consideration for theory-crafting.

-Mindset post-Nico murder attempt: Immediately after Nico runs out of the gym, the killer needs to be in the correct mindset to grab the tape, and they also need to be able to more or less figure out what Nico did to replicate it with Arei. Although, importantly, the killer doesn’t need to come up with the full plan on the spot, and they don’t need to fully understand what Nico was doing. At the end of the day, the only real similarities are the general idea of a pulley and a hanging.

Here’s more or less the train of thought Eden might have had if she’s the killer.

Eden: Hmm… The fan is broken and there was wire on it, Ace’s neck looks cut… Maybe Nico used some kind of pulley to hang him and it broke? Maybe I could do that… This tape looks useful for that.

Meanwhile, since Ace woke up in the middle of the murder attempt, he has to do a little less deducing.

Ace: Did I just get knocked- HOLY SHIT NICO IS HANGING ME WITH SOME SORT OF FUCKING SPINNING DEVICE AAAA-! Ooh, tape! :D

The actual planning of a murder would come later in the morning for Ace, once he sits down and has A Thought about it. Grabbing the tape in that context seems insane, but there may be precedent for Ace being prone to stealing the weirdest shit (we’ll get to it), so…

I think both of these are plausible. I wouldn’t say either can be disqualified like this, so we keep looking.

-Ripping/reconstructing the note: The note to Arei was ripped up and thrown into the trash, then Eden, Rose and Whit put it together.

Ace has no real reason to destroy the note, he could have just left it as it was. Maybe throw it in the trash since “it’s what Eden would have done”, but destroying it runs the risk of people not being able to put it together to point at Eden/Arturo. Although, you could argue Ace was trying to frame Nico specifically, so the note wasn’t useful and he threw it away because it made sense in his mind.

Here’s where we get introduced to a pretty big problem of having Ace as a suspect; that thing Teruko said, that sometimes assuming people will always act logically is a bad idea. Ace is the prime example; a lot of shit in this case makes a lot more sense if you assume Ace did it because he’s not smart enough to notice the problems with it. Such as using the method to frame Nico when only a few people in the class know what the method is; he maybe wouldn’t have noticed that that could point towards him as well. Ace is erratic, it’s very difficult to pin down why he does half the shit he does.

Eden, at least, makes sense. By destroying the note, then rebuilding it herself, she throws off suspicion with the exact argument she used in the trial; if she’s the killer, why do that? Just leaving the note as it is runs the risk of someone finding it and presenting it, which removes that argument, meaning tearing it is imperative.

And she would want the class to find it, not just because it makes her look more innocent if she talks about a building friendship with Arei, but because the note is where we get the “7:30” time, which combined with the fish making people think the murder was at nighttime, appears to give Eden an alibi.

In conclusion, the note being ripped makes more sense with Eden as the culprit… but it doesn’t disqualify Ace because he’s an idiot. And speaking of that…

-Fish Paradox: As outlined in my Ep13 murder theory revision, the problem with the fish is that everyone who benefits from the fish being at the crime scene only benefits if they have an alibi for nighttime, but that coincides with the time the fish disappeared, as Nico fed them and counted all of them after having dinner, so they couldn’t have taken it. Meanwhile, people like Ace who could have taken the fish, wouldn’t have a reason to as they don’t benefit from the nighttime alibi.

Except, it’s fucking Ace. It’s genuinely possible he thought people would see fish and instantly jump on Nico for some reason. See the problems that arise when you can no longer assume the killer is acting rationally?

Anyways, inconclusive (we’ll talk Eden later).

-No blood on tape: This heavily depends on exactly how Ace could grabbed the tape. His hands sorta get covered in blood instantly, so it’s hard to imagine he’d be able to do that without staining the entire roll of tape with blood. He couldn’t have easily washed it, either, since he passes out shortly after, and the blood would have likely dried by the time he woke up. This is definitely a point towards Eden, but can the cast use this? I don’t think so, because it relies on what we saw during the episode, which is not easy to prove in a trial setting.

-Dialogue and trial behavior: This one’s difficult, and as you might expect, inconclusive.

I would argue Eden has a higher amount of outright suspicious lines (“Teruko, wait—“ haunts me), but she also has a higher amount of seemingly anti-suspicious lines that make her look very innocent (see: the entire speech at the end of Ep 14).

She also has a moment where she steers the trial in the right direction by denying that Arei could have committed assisted suicide, but it’s worth remembering that if the class thinks that’s what happened and they learn of Eden’s relationship with her, they might assume Arei and Eden worked together to get Eden out. In other words, by denying the notion of assisted suicide, Eden!Culprit avoids the class reaching the right conclusion through the wrong method. Of course, if she’s innocent, it’s just genuine.

Comparatively, Ace operates at a much more stable level of suspiciousness I can only call “Ace level.” He’s constantly throwing suspicion on Nico, who the killer seemingly tried to frame with the method; he kept David and Arei’s conversation hidden; and was one of the first to jump on the “David’s the culprit” bandwagon. In a vacuum, this is super suspicious; hell, Levi was the fandom’s prime suspect for less.

But… it’s Ace. His behavior isn’t too different from the first trial. So while it’s possible he’s doing all this because he’s the culprit, it’s also possible he’s just being Ace.

Impossible to tell, I fear.

-Eden’s Night 2 paranoia: You might recall Eden being very worried someone was following her in night 2, which could suggest she was doing something suspicious (eg setting up the ball of clothes, more on this later) and was scared she’d get found out.

The problem is that there’s a perfectly fine explanation for Spotless!Eden. This is the night after her confrontation with Arturo, and Teruko did enter the same room as her; she could have just been paranoid because of the former, and felt someone was following her because of the latter. Moot point.

(I don’t think anyone else was following Eden because Teruko would have presumably seen them. Then again, I have overestimated our protag’s perceptiveness in the past)

-Eden’s strength: Eden is the weakest of the cast, so it’s very possible that half the Arei murder method is just impossible for her. But… we can’t know for absolutely sure what “weakest of the cast” means, and it’s not evidence that can be used in a trial. Ignorable.

-Motive, character writing and themes: I’m lumping these in together because I’ll give the same answer to all of them: the dev can just add an explanation in the inevitable post-trial trauma dump. We don’t know absolutely everything there is to know about these characters, or the way the narrative is going, so it’s impossible to confidently argue based on this. Physical evidence will always take precedence over these things in my books.

And that kinda settles it for that. There’s minor arguments like “Eden won’t die before we explore the Fork CG” (well, Xander did, so) or “if the Scrum Debate is Ace vs Eden then Ace is probably safe” (we don’t know what the Scrum Debate will be), but I’ll skip them to get to the more pressing matters.

That being trial-worthy evidence. What can the most dysfunctional cast of any fangan ever (/affectionate) use to fully commit to a culprit?

-Fish Alibi: If Ace has the problem of “no reason to bring fish,” Eden has the problem that her alibi literally starts directly after dinner. If Nico ate dinner with her and Hu, she couldn’t have taken the fish.

Except, of course, Nico could have had dinner earlier, and this point is completely moot. We can’t know yet.

-BDA: This is very obviously not what the cast will use to come to the conclusion given the discussions we’ve had, but I’ll bring it up anyways. This was explained in the episode though, so…

-Playground floor: sorastar6’s idea; since the floor of the playground is made of the same stuff as the relax room, it’d become sticky after getting wet from the water in the jugs, and thus, the culprit could have some stuck to their shoe. Unfortunately for some of you, we can’t easily look at the cast’s feet all the time, so this would only work for the characters, not us. However, Hu does mention heels as an example of something that can scuff the floor, and Ace wears heels, so small point to him.

-Missing glove: I still have no idea where this thing went. My only guess would be that the killer removed it to more easily put tape on Arei’s wrists, but by the time they’d strung her up, they decided putting the glove back on would take too much time (? I have no concept of how hard it’s be to properly put a glove on a dead person’s hand), and they wanted to get out of there as fast as possible. If true, that would mean they still have the glove on them, as it wasn’t in the trash. Again, if I’m right about this, the cast can use this, we can’t.

-Random garbage:

Something here. Rose would remember everything about it, so it’s usable. Maybe Ace’s gloves were damaged and he had to use the needle and thread to fix them? Maybe one of those napkins is the cloth with turpentine Nico used and only Ace would have identified and used it (assuming it wouldn’t have dried and MonoTV wouldn’t have thrown it out for some reason)? What even is that pink paper thing? Who knows.

-Ball of clothes: Held together by something Teruko identified as starch, there’s been around three hundred theories involving this thing. The only one that’s actually incriminating (for the two possibilities being discussed) is thebadjoe’s idea of the starch being from the enriched formula of the relax room, which could implicate Eden as she was acting suspiciously around the dress-up room on night 2.

I’ve seen it argued that the clothes would be dirty in that case, but that can be solved with an extra layer of clothes under the clothes that actually get starched up, which would later be either discarded, washed, or simply put inside the ball itself.

(This might be the last murder diagram I make for this case. Holy shit I can’t believe that)

Which is all well and good, but this is still ultimately assuming both that the cast has some way of making sure Ace couldn’t have done this, which I’m not sure exists, and that the starch comes from the relax room in the first place.

Because something I learnt, like, last week, is that people put starch on clothes. Like that’s a thing they do. So it’s entirely possible there’s starch for clothes in the dress-up room and anyone could have done this. If that’s the case, this cannot be used to argue at all. I don’t love the idea, since we don’t know if there really is starch there or not, but it’s there.

-Grammar: The letter to Arei pretty famously misspells “responsibel” (responsible), has horrible punctuation, etc. It’s possible someone in the trial will realize, ask Ace and Eden to spell the word, and whoever gets it right is cleared. We can’t know, but it’s a possibility. This also has the benefit of being obscenely funny.

-Custom weapon: If the killer used their custom weapon, it may point to them as guilty, as only they have access to it. However, I fail to see how a riding crop (Ace) or a wrench (Eden) would help in the slightest.

There is, however, one more item that only one of these characters has access to. And while I am very unsure of this assumption, if you ask me right now what is the decisive piece of evidence that will close the case once and for all, I will tell you:

-The shoulder band thingy:

Ace: Too fucking bad. Mine now. I’m keeping it.

Yep. This one.

For starters, remember that thing I said about the tape? That Ace has precedent of stealing completely random shit for no reason, and so it’s plausible he grabbed the tape just because? This is the precedent.

More importantly though, it’s something only Ace has access to, so if it can be determined it was used in the crime scene, it’s curtains.

And there is actually one place I could see it being used. Followers of my method theories know that, through the fire and the flames, there’s been one deduction that’s remain constant: the rope was tied to the ball of clothes, which was thrown over the railings to get the rope as high as needed. The ball also hit the lights, displacing the bulb and causing it to flicker.

(He he I snuck the image into a fourth post >:D)

I’ve always sorta assumed DRDT takes place in a physics exercise where air drag is ignored, but it’s true that this might be harder than I’ve been presenting it as.

So, we get the use for the shoulder band; a slingshot. I’m unsure on how it would be constructed (swingset maybe? seesaw?), but the idea is that. Create a slingshot, throw the clothes, badabim badabum, Ace is the culprit.

I’m not the only one to think of this btw. Reddit user (yes we’re cross-platforming for this) Makatrull seems to have arrived at the same conclusion. Great minds think alike ig.

Of course, this comes with its own issues. Mainly, how do you connect the shoulder band to the crime scene? The only way I see that happening is if the cast determines this is literally the only way the lights get broken, which… yeah, I’m gonna have to let them do the math on that one.

It’s impossible to judge without existing in the DRDT world. Is the ceiling higher than I’d previously assumed? Then it’s possible to come to this conclusion. Is it lower, and possible that even Eden would have managed to just throw the ball over the railing? Certainly. So, for now, inconclusive. When I say it’s the most likely to be the decisive evidence, I mean by like, 0.1%, I really have no clue.

———

There’s probably more, but that’s all I can think of for now.

Seeing as we’re reaching the end, I’m gonna say that regardless of the outcome, this might be one of my favorite trials in all of both canon and fan-made Danganronpa. So much shit happened. I’ll save my full thoughts for a more dedicated post, but goddamn, I can’t wait to see the conclusion!

Hope you enjoyed! If you made it this far, you deserve a shoulder band thing. Do with it as you please. See you!

[pokemonshelterstories]

Is it possible for pokemon to develop patches of shiny or non-shiny coloring during evolution despite being fully one way or the other before evolution?

I ask because my cousin’s Eevee, Arturo, was fully shiny, silver all over, but he evolved into an Espeon last week and has a single purple foot (the back left) amongst the rest of his green fur.

My cousin has taken Arturo to the local pokecenter and the nurse says he’s alright, but she is equally stumped about the color change.

Have you ever seen anything like that?

normally i'd say no, because a pokemon is either born shiny or not...but two things here are interesting. the first is that this occured during evolution, a time where cells are naturally mutating. the second is that this happened in an eevee, and theyre known for throwing all kinds of weird mutations.

it sounds like one of two things happened here. the first is that arturo may actually be a chimera, and the nonshiny foot wasn't obvious because it happened to be a very light color. the other is that a select patch of arturo's cells mutated the shiny gene away during his evolution.

if he's been given a clean bill of health, i dont think you need to worry about him- but either way that's really neat!

[ashen-char]

back and forth

ship: max fox (better things) x gender neutral reader, though fem reader or paisley pov implied

warnings: mentions of a minor/adult relationship that was present in the show. fuck arturo!

summary: all max's boyfriends ever do is make her miserable and doubt herself. but you think your best friend is amazing.

word count: 1100+

notes: have some yearning :) inspiration/request is here

Max's boyfriend is an asshole. You've hated all of them, yeah, but this one pisses you off more than even the others did. Well, maybe except for Arturo. That 36 year old creep was the worst. You watched as Max was mesmerised by the man's supposed maturity and the thrill of dating someone so much older but she still 'clicked with'. Every time you saw them together, it infuriated you. You hated hearing Max go on about how he made her feel special when, in reality, he was just manipulating her. He wasn’t interested in who Max truly was. Not like you are.

From your spot on her bed, you watch as she paces back and forth, phone clutched tight in her hand.

Max had invited you over as she got ready for her date, pouring her heart into her makeup's little details, making you pick between her outfit options again and again. She looked beautiful in everything. Obviously. But now, an hour later than when he said he'd show up, he's looking like a no-show.

"Alright, come here," you say, holding your arms out. Max looks way too anxious and he doesn't deserve that. Not a bit of it.

"Wait, let me just-" Max taps out another text - a "where r u? lol" - her bottom lip tucked between her teeth.

You see her hand start to shake, her knuckles whitening. He's left her on read again. The look of frustration and hurt that etches across her pretty face makes your heart ache. You've seen this scenario play out with every boyfriend she's had, but this one infuriates you most. He never seems to appreciate her, always making her feel small and ignored. It's chipped away at the self-esteem and growth that you've watched Max painstakingly earn.

Max finally sits down beside you with a heavy sigh, her shoulders slumped in defeat. “I don’t get it,” she murmurs, eyes fixed on her phone screen. “Why can’t he just reply? Even an excuse would be something. It’s not like I’m asking for much.”

It's like when her dad couldn't be bothered showing up for her graduation. Max was shattered. You hate seeing her ask for less and less when you know she deserves everything. And you resent the men who can't even be bothered giving her the bare minimum. That they don't even know what they have.

Your hand reaches out to grasp hers, stilling its shaking. She's warm. Soft. The touch sends a shiver down your spine. You're half hopeful that she realises you've always been here and half shit-scared that she'll finally figure out how much you care. So you avoid her eyes. You hate seeing her like this.

"I'll break his fingers next time. Give him a real reason not to text back," you say, hoping the bitterness sounds more like a joke.

She laughs. You'd do anything for that laugh.

But then she looks at you, eyes filled with unshed tears, and it breaks your heart. "Maybe I'm just too much," Max whispers. Her honest fear, not just in this relationship but in life. "Too needy, too intense. Maybe he's right to ignore me. I mean, that'd explain the others too."

But you don't let her joke this away. Your hand squeezes hers, a silent showcase that you're here. That you've never ran. That she's not too much, not for you, not for everyone else that loves her. "No." She doesn't know how awesome she is because of shitty guys like Arturo, or Harvey, or her fucking dickhead of a father. "You're fucking amazing, Max. You're passionate. You care so deeply. Everyone who is loved by you is so lucky." 

Max squeezes your hand, offering a small, grateful smile. “Thanks,” she says softly. "I don't know what I'd do without you."

For a blissful moment, you pretend those words mean more than they do. Pretend that she'll finally see you as more than a friend, that she finally gets it. You’ve always been there for her, a constant in the chaos of her relationships and self-doubt. When the moment passes, you swallow that bitter pill that Max doesn’t know how deeply you care. You hate every one of her boyfriends, not just because they’re not good enough for her, but because none of them see her the way you do. They don’t see her strength, her vulnerability, or the way her eyes light up when she talks about something she loves.

You take a deep breath, deciding to take a risk. “Max, you deserve better." Sincerity, for once, rather than a joke so you could more easily brush it off as platonic. "Like, you're incredible." You gulp. These next words, you'd normally hold them back but she needs to hear them. You can see her vulnerability in those big brown eyes of hers. "I hate seeing how he makes you doubt that."

Max looks at you, an unsure, fragile expression crossing her face. Like she's apprehensive to believe it. “Do you really think so?”

“I know so,” you reply, your voice steady. “And one day, you’ll see it too.”

In that moment, Max’s phone buzzes, and her eyes dart to it as a reflex. You see the flash of disappointment as she realises it’s not him. But then she looks back at you, smiles, and throws her phone on the bedside table.

"Yeah, fuck him. I don't need him to have fun." Max's arms go to wrap around you, head nuzzling into your chest. "Thank you."

Her fingers tangle in your hair, playing with the soft strands of it. She's in your arms just like you've always been desperate for her to be. It aches. But it's the best you've ever felt. A niggling worry tells you that she'd hate you for wanting more. For thinking about kissing her right now.

"You're welcome, Maxie," you say. Because this is enough. Being her friend could be enough no matter how desperately, how passionately you burn for her.

Already dressed up, Max drags you along on a day out.

Every smile makes your heart skip. You love how you could always cheer her up, love how much Max brightens up every room she's in. You two walk hand in hand to a nearby park, one of Max’s favourite spots. The sun is shining, and the air is fresh, and you hope it's the perfect pick-me-up to help her. Strolling along the winding paths, the best thing about loving your best friend is that you can talk about anything and everything. You make her laugh with your terrible impressions of people you both know. The sound of her laughter is like music to your ears. You try not to think about how none of those men could treat her like you would.

Maybe, just maybe, she’ll start to understand how much she means to you. And until then, you’ll keep being there for her, hoping that one day she’ll realise you’ve been the one all along. You know you'd never say a word though.

[demodraws0606]

Not gonna lie as someone who has kinda changed their opinion on culprit!Eden as I think she's the most likely to have commited atp from the fact that she could've gotten hold of two pieces of evidence (ball of clothes + tape).

There are a lot of arguments that I think about people who don't want Eden to die now, and honestly the only good argument i've found was "killing her would upset the balance of the cast".

Killing Eden would definitely lead to the main source of sunshine on the cast being murdered, however a slight counterargument to that would be that we don't know how Eden's death would change other contestants. The biggest exemple would be Levi, as I can see him trying to take on a role of support if Eden if she ever passed away (he clearly seems to want to be helpful to the cast).

I also think people overexagerrate the amount of characters that are actively antagonistic as most of chapter 2's goal was to show (most of) everyone's darker side. Character like Hu, Nico, Charles, J, Levi and Rose I feel like could be helpful in the future. I don't think we necessarely need Eden to have companionship or light in the cast.

It would definitely damper the mood 100 pourcent but depending on how her death would be executed, I feel like it would definitely leave an impact on the cast that would influence how they act.

Another argument that I find credible against culprit!Eden would be how it would cause regression in Teruko's character.

However I think that depends on how Eden's death is handled and how Teruko just handles it in general. The reason why Teruko snapped the way she did in trial 1 was because of a culmination of multiple things.

In fact maybe Teruko could find that if she trusted Eden or stayed at her side, maybe Eden wouldn't have gone to the road of killing Arei (but were talking about possibilities of a possibility here). If Eden did end up killing someone, it would be because she ended up being isolated.

One argument though I see often but I find is completely wrong though is "It would be like cutting Eden's arc short, every other character would be better for their arc"

That I heavily disagree with because I'd argue Eden kinda is the character with the least amount of developping to do.

She already has a (mostly) good mindset in terms of her positive thinking. In fact she's almost the paragon in the cast, the one with the most morals which makes her the least likely to really need positive developpement. It also wouldn't be fitting for her to have a regression arc afterwards.

The main two flaws Eden has, is her guilt and her not really accepting of her own "weakness" (negative emotions and all that). Both of which would be addressed by her being the culprit.

In comparison, killing another character would definitely cut their arc short.

Whit, he's the one we've seen the less of the uglier side of, we don't know why he acts the way he does and we don't know what is behind his jokester persona. His relationship to his mother and his past would also be left unadressed. We also don't know what his special intuition means despite it being highlighted constantly. Overall, I feel like despite Whit being my 2nd pick for the culprit, he'd definitely be lost potential.

I could do this with almost every character, like Nico with their relationship to Hu (who also really needs her own developpement) and how they deal with almost killing Ace.

J and her relationship with Arturo, as well as her own heavy belief against murder as another exemple just there is a lot

The thing is Eden seems to have been written as Teruko's companion, the one that would allow Teruko to be softer and open up to people. She does give big protagonist compainion vibes, however it could just as well be easily have been something to subvert our expectations

[satureja13]

Beltane - Part 4 It all starts -> here (incl prequel)

The Boys spend a wonderful day together and it was so good to see Noxee again (and even Greg ;) They'd been on their own in the Otherworld (only with Arturo from time to time) for months now. Time for the fireworks and 'traditional' (says Greg) Beltane Canons before Ji Ho's spell fades!

Noxee looks so beautiful. (The way Greg looks at her <3)

And then the 'traditional' Beltane Fire broke out! (We also had a fire at Beltane last year...) The whole Beltane 2023 episodes are -> here

Greg to Jack: "Is this your fault?" Jack: "What? No!" (of course it is -.-)

The spell faded slowly and it's time to part. Greg, Jeb, Kiyoshi and Vlad will stay here, at Hotel Elvis, and Noxee, Jack and Saiwa will spend the night at the Campeggio (campsite), where the Boys had spent their last summer holidays. Before they left, Vlad went over to them to charge the Bond. He felt that Ji Ho will need more than the usual today because he is so exhausted from the ride and the spell. But he wasn't with the others.

Vlad: "Where is he?"

Saiwa: "We brought him to your room. He's too tired to make it all the way up to the campeggio. You will care for him. Properly." Vlad: "What? I told you I wont go any further with him! The spell is still affecting me. If I have to be near him, alone with him - I am not that strong. When he tries to kiss me again..." Saiwa: "He's your bonded and you already did anything imaginable with him! Ji Ho did everything so we can spend this day together! You know he's the most sensible of us and how much he suffers because we are apart from each other! We are going to do our best to be together again with the help from Tiny Can and the Therapy Game and until then, Ji Ho's well-being is your concern!"

Saiwa: "Have a good night!" Vlad to Jack: "Stay with us!" Jack chuckles: "Vlad. I love you - but I won't do that. He needs you." Saiwa: "Let's go, Jack!"

Vlad sighed and went upstairs to their room. He refuses to get physical with Ji Ho as long as he is not able to love him. But Vlad also knows how much Ji Ho longs for physical intimacy with him. When Vlad entered the room, he found Ji Ho collapsed on the floor. He was so exhausted, he must have been trying to take a shower to hydrate but it wasn't enough. They need to charge the bond. Thoroughly.

Ji Ho knows that Vlad is only reluctantly charging the Bond and refuses any interaction that involves anything romantic until he's able to love him.

Vlad approached Ji Ho to embrace him to charge the Bond. Ji Ho: "Vlad. This won't be enough - I tried everything to avoid it but I..." Vlad: "Don't worry. Come."

Ji Ho: "Forgive me." Vlad: "Shh."

It's the same room where Jeb and Sai spent their second date!

Ji Ho: "I will be yours, I promise." Vlad: "I know. Don't worry. Do whatever is necessary for you to heal. I will be fine." Ji Ho: "Wait for me." Vlad: "Always." (They are speaking of Ji Ho's ingame wedding with Caleb.)

'How many beautiful baths together and alter in the night Close, close I shiver a bit Don't try to deny that tonight, if I insist I will have you So small and fragile you seem to me and I'm making a mistake

So small next to me. And fragile, or not. But you're more strong than I am'

'Quanti bagni mozzafiato insieme e poi di sera vicino vicino a me tremi un pò Non cercare di negare che stasera magari se insisto io ti avrò.

Così piccola e fragile mi sembri tu e sto sbagliando di più. Così piccola accanto a me e fragile o no ma in fondo sei molto più forte di me!'

Piccola e Fragile - Drupi

Outtakes

Here they laughed together <3

Until Ji Ho got a message from Leander ^^'

No festival without chaos...

Them :3

From the Beginning  ~  Underwater Love ~  Latest Current Chapter: 🕹️ 'The One' from the beginning ▶️ here 📚 Previous Chapters: Chapters: 1-6 ~ 7-12 ~ 13-16 ~ 17-22 ~ 23-28

[ask-the-no-killing-game-au]

Can I get a recap of what happened in this AU so far? I'm really confused because it seems like *alot* has happened

No art with this one, sorry - I'll be updating this regularly & a link to the post will be in my pinned post so it can be referenced at any time for anyone new to the blog. I recommend reading even if you've followed the story to ensure you have everything clear.

TW - death (both murder and self inflicted).

Near the start of the blog, Veronika tried to stop herself from living. Arturo walked in on this, recognised that she was in extreme pain, and decided to finish the job for her, killing her just as she woke up.

Arturo didn't realise until after this that both Xander and Nico had witnessed the murder as Veronika's door was open. He forced the two of them to keep quiet about it by threatening to kill them if they told anyone.

Eventually, with the fact that dead bodies' conditions get worse & harder to hide overtime, Arturo forced Nico to help dispose of the body while Xander had to stay inside Veronika's room.

In the building where they're staying, there aren't many places to hide a body, if you consider factors such as blood and the smell. Arturo was also in an extremely bad state mentally, so with him not thinking straight, he hosted a dinner that the whole cast (minus Ace, Arei, and David) attended. However, for the food.. instead of serving the food from the kitchen, he instead made the desicion to cook the dead body.

The rest of the cast, totally unaware of what they were eating, all finished the meal together and split up. This wasn't it, though, as Teruko, Levi, and Ace all searched the kitchen, just to find evidence of what happened. They informed the others, which obviously terrified Nico.

Nico, now convinced Arturo would think they told everyone & murder them, spoke to David, who is also dealing with very bad mental health to the point where he can barely move, and convinced him to dress as them, thinking that if Arturo did try to kill them, David would act as a distraction.

What they didn't take into account was that Xander, the other witness of Arturo's murder, also wasn't dealing with the situation well - but instead of hiding and being scared of death, he became the opposite, obsessive over people "getting what they deserve" and serving "punishment" to anyone that did anything "wrong". And because he wasn't aware it was actually Arturo who cooked the food, but he also didn't want to kill Arturo for the murder incase he fought back.. he instead set out to kill Nico.

Xander found Nico in the bathroom and stabbed them from behind, unable to see their face. It was only when they fell to the floor that he recognised their pale yellow eyes as not Nico's but David's, & ran away panicking upon realising he was now just as much of a murderer as Nico, if not more so as Nico was forced to do the cooking. Hu entered the bathroom with Arei and Eden just to find "Nico" dying (not fully dead) on the floor.

... That's where I'm up to right now. Story post later, hopefully. Thank you all for supporting this AU so far <3

Xander panicked when he couldn't stop everyone else from seeing the body, but instead of being sad, it just revealed his true mindset - that he believed David's death was "supposed to happen", and he became fed up of the attention David got for, well.. dying.

To "fix" this, he decided to put the attention on himself by stabbing himself multiple times, in his chest, stomach, and eye. Unfortunately, because he killed David, nobody cared and left him to bleed out in the cafeteria.. except Arei, who swiftly returned, as the situation had also begun to make Eden a worse person, so she felt that she needed friends.

Arei and Xander thought of a way to get attention - that being a motive. Arei was able to get hold of secrets about every single student, and put them through other peoples' doors.

Meanwhile.. Arturo was getting worse, starting to believe things that weren't true, eventually stopping all his memory of being Arturo and fully convincing himself that he's Veronika.

[drdt-headcanons]

April Fools’ Day Headcanons!

A list of headcanons for what each DRDT character thinks of/does on April Fools’ Day!

———

Teruko Tawaki: She hates April Fools’ Day. No matter who the pranks people set up are meant for, she always ends up being the one pranked. She usually gets at least a few minor injuries throughout the day. She doesn’t want to prank anyone, since she’s worried one of her pranks will go wrong and she’ll accidentally hurt someone, whether it be physically or mentally.

Xander Matthews: He takes this holiday as an excuse to break school rules, especially the stupid ones. Running in the halls, chewing gum in class, breaking the dress code, etc. etc.. Any rule he deems a useless restriction. (He soon realized the rule of no running in the halls was not a useless restriction when he crashed into Teruko while running, making her nose bleed).

Charles Cuevas: Routinely forgets it’s April Fools’ Day…Until someone (*cough cough* Arei and Whit *cough cough*) decides to prank him and others. He thinks the holiday is dumb and immature, meant to be grown out of once you graduate high school. That’s the reason he gives for disliking it, but in reality he doesn’t like how he’s almost always the butt of the joke for the whole day.

Ace Markey: He’s been dreading April Fools’ Day for weeks. He doesn’t really like to pull pranks on anyone else (he’s terrified they’ll somehow get revenge and pull a humiliating prank on him). So the whole day he’s on edge and on the lookout for any obvious pranks. But his intense paranoia fails him and he usually falls for a few anyway and he hates it.

Arei Nageishi and Whit Young: They pull pranks together all day. They’ve been planning for months and have at least one prank for every one of their classmates. Arei usually comes up with the idea, and Whit tones it back to be less mean-spirited, because he wants everyone to have fun. They plan pranks to pull on each other, too.

Rose Lacroix: She forgot what day it was until she fell asleep in class and woke up with a drawn-on mustache, hearts, stars, etc. on her face. She thought it was kinda cute and pretended not to notice for a bit. Nico felt bad and admitted they submitted to Arei’s peer pressure and drew on the hearts, but she told them she really didn’t mind.

Hu Jing: She doesn’t usually participate in any prank-pulling, but is happy to see the class having fun. If she thinks a prank was too cruel she’ll step in, but she mostly stands to the side to let the others have their fun. She might switch up her wardrobe to wear something silly as a ‘prank’, but it only really works on Levi, who is horrified at how none of the clothing she’s wearing matches.

Eden Tobisa: She likes to pull pranks in literally the nicest way possible. She’ll give someone a cake, claiming it’s vanilla flavored, and then say “Ha! April Fools!! It was actually a chocolate cake!” once they take a bite and she’ll be so proud of herself. It’s cute, and people get free baked goods, so everyone’s happy.

Levi Fontana: He’s not quite sure how to approach pranking someone, because he worries any attempt will be too mean. He tries to look up light-hearted pranks on the internet because he doesn’t want to be left out. (I was looking up pranks for him and thought this was a vaguely fashion-related prank he could do:)

(I think this one is funny to imagine him doing).

Arturo Giles: He didn’t want to participate, but Veronika insisted he do something, or else she would prank him as many times as she could. Arturo, admittedly afraid of that threat, pulled a prank by copying dozens of photos of Mariabella Rosales and putting one copy in everyone’s locker. People were very confused and he found it quite hilarious. But he won’t ever tell Veronika he enjoyed himself, she’d never let him forget it.

Min Jeung: Doesn’t see much point in participating, and was quite annoyed to find that Whit and Arei replaced her textbooks with identical copies, just that the ones they made were blank inside. She demanded to have her books back and they eventually relented. She retaliated by pulling a prank so amazing I can’t even think of one good enough to put here. But it was great, whatever she did.

David Chiem: He enjoys playing nice pranks on the people he likes (he puts misleading compliment cards in Xander’s people’s lockers) and plays mean pranks on people he doesn’t like, except he never admits the mean ones were him and always ensures he never gets caught.

Veronika Grebenshchikova: She enjoys pulling as many outlandish pranks as possible, on anyone and everyone. No exceptions. Since she doesn’t have a Whit to tone stuff back like Arei does, her pranks are a lot more…eccentric. She really likes scaring people the best when it comes to pranks, and litters fake plastic spiders all over the school (Ace fell for at least five of them).

J Moreno/Rosales: She really wants to pull a cool prank but doesn’t know what prank to pull. But she doesn’t want to look on the internet for ideas because she wants her’s to be original. Evantually she settles for hiding behind doors and then jumping out and scaring Arturo specifically.

Nico Hakobyan: As previously stated, they drew hearts on Rose when Arei prompted them to, but otherwise were too scared to pull any pranks, since they thought people might get mad at them. They decided to just tell cat puns instead, which Whit loved. His reassurance that this was a worthy replacement for a prank made them happy.

———

All done! Hope you guys liked it, I know I don’t usually post my own headcanons. But if people wanted to ask me for headcanons about characters, ships, situations, etc. I’d be cool with that! This was really fun!

[testedcatdraws]

The newest DRDT video did drop some info (spoilers for chapter 2 episode 12)

Obviously David's not the killer, his motive of lying was revealed to be that he wanted to end the killing game like Xander. Either Xander told him this or David assumed that's why Xander killed Teruko. I'm guessing it's both though, he took the info he had on Xander and concluded the reason Xander tried to kill Teruko was to end the killing game.

Also Arturo says he neglected everything not relating to his goal, maybe he also neglected his little sister? It said her death is his fault and that he left her, maybe he left her to pursue his career as a plastic surgeon. Rather or not he regrets this is another question, considering his reaction though I'm saying there's probably at least some remorse, if not remorse at least fear of what others will think. Probably a mix of both if he does feel remorse.

The alibies were switched around, due to the blackened killing in the morning instead of the night,

People who couldn't have kill Arei now are:

Hu, David, Veronica, J, and Nico.

I'll add Levi onto the didn't kill Arei list since him being the blackened is too obvious due to him being the killer, since he was revealed to be the one with the killer secret.

The Hu blackened theory's disproven, unless another plot twist happens I guess.

What I think the remaining secrets are:

The competition one belongs to Min

The blaming yourself for your family's death one is Xander

The self harm one is Veronika

The death game's your fault one is Teruko

And the Hopeless child one is Hu.

Reasonings:

Min one is because she did that Ultimate Student competition and such, I'm sure you've heard that reasoning before from someone else.

Xander is because the secret makes more since then what David said was his secret, not really much other then that.

Veronika is because she's easily bored and watches horror movies to have fun. The secret says that the person harmed themself for fun and took up their talent to distract them from this.

For Teruko it's because Xander killed her to stop the killing game some how, so the killing game seems connected to Teruko in a way. It makes since that she in some way caused the killing game, she probably didn't make it happen though. Who ever the mastermind is, they probably don't have this secret since that's too obvious.

For Hu it's just because it's the last secret, no other reason then that.

Who killer is, I think it's Arturo, for no other reason then I don't know who else it could've been. I guess it could be Rose, Whit's probably the mastermind so unless were going the THH route he ain't the blackened, Charles can't look at dead bodies. I don't see why Rose will kill anyone so we can knock her out, she has no motive that I can think of. I don't see Eden killing anyone, she seems too sweet and there's no evidence that she's secretly evil or anything. Arturo is constantly pushed back at in the trial though, and he seems the most willing to kill someone based on his reaction to Eden confronting him on his secret.

That's all I guess, feel free to agree or disagree

[depressopax]

Before it's too late

Nacho Varga x gn!reader

Fandom - Better call Saul

Yoo! I haven't posted in ages, been feeling down and mentally exhausted 😭 Also been writing on my very own novel for a school project AHHH Basically been writing, procrastinating, writing, etc etc... But so far so good!

Now then... ✨Angst time✨

Pairing: Nacho Varga x gender neutral reader Genre: Angst, hurt/comfort Warning(s): BCS SPOILERS! Based on s4e3 “Something Beautiful”. Major character injury. Mentions of death and violence. Blood. Guns and bullet wounds. Cuss words. Mentions of surgery. Reader is gender-neutral and has they/them pronouns Words: 1.6K Summary: Based on s4e3, in which Nacho gets shot by Victor and is left in the desert. After being saved by the Cousins, reader rushes to the vet office to see him.  English is not my main language, if I make any spelling mistakes please let me know so I can improve my writing! <3 || AO3 link || Masterlist || Request ||

The sun is burning in Albuquerque today, making the concrete and highways threateningly warm. It’s an early morning and will only get hotter. The streets are empty and people are either sleeping safely in their beds or avoiding the burning morning-light. It’s a perfect day to stay in the shadows or - for those who have the option - close to the fresh breeze from the AC. 

Not everyone has that option. 

But bleeding to death in the desert is a rare case, too. 

This is how I die. 

Nacho thinks. He’s lost track of time. The man is lying on his side, facing away from the sun and hoping it will protect him from a sunburn. It’s the last thing he needs right now. 

The wounded shoulder is enough. His hands are bloody and so is the warm sand he is facing. 

Dehydration and blood loss. - That was not the way he thought he’d go down.

If it weren’t for the sharp pain in his shoulder - that’s slowly spreading throughout every inch of his body - he’d feel angry and humiliated.

Gus and his men left him to bleed out in the middle of nowhere. The damn Chicken Man. 

Arturo is dead. 

Nacho? About to join Arturo in the afterlife. 

His mind is bitter and he’s losing the battle of patience. 

“Do it quick, before you pass out” - That was the words of Gus’ lap dog, Victor. He was quick. Directly after he was left bleeding, he dialed the number to them. The Cousins. 

Where are they? 

He’s lost count if it's been days, hours or minutes since he got shot. All he knows is that he is slowly going insane. The sun burns his neck and he lets out a grunt, opening and closing his dry mouth. There's a taste of iron on his tongue due to his dry, chapped lips. 

Water. His vision gets blurry and with gloomy eyes he looks at the wet, red sand under him. 

They’re not coming. Those fuckers aren’t on their way. 

I’m dead. 

The realization hits Nacho, fueling the pain he’s already feeling. 

Dad. 

Guilt washes over him. What will happen to his dad if he dies? That, and…

He whispers your name hoarsely. 

You. His beautiful partner. The one who’s always been by his side, the only one that knows about and doesn’t judge him for his fucked up choices and his chaotic life. The person he’s been so distant and cold towards lately. Worst part is… 

They have no idea how much I love them. 

“I love you” - A sentence yet to be said. So many emotions are left unspoken, so many things left unsaid. 

Without thinking or caring about the consequences, Nacho reaches for his phone. With shaky, bloody hands, he dials your number and listens to the waiting tone. 

“Ignacio?” A soft voice filled with concern says. Nacho smiles. 

“Did I wake you up?”

“Yea… But don’t worry. What’s up, Nacho?”

The silence lingers. What the hell is he supposed to reply? 

“I gotta tell you something.”

“Nacho… What is going on? Are you ok?”

“No… But listen, mi amor.”

“Ignacio…-”

“I love you.” Silence again. His voice cracks from the emotions “...I love you so fucking much.”

“Why does it feel like you’re saying goodbye?”

“...Because I am.” His voice is barely a whisper anymore. “Take care of my father for me, will you?” 

Your voice breaks on the other line. 

“Where are you?”

No reply. You realize it’ll stay that way. He is too stubborn to let you help him. As if accepting defeat, you break apart.

“Don’t cry, mi vida…” He whispers.

“Please don’t die. Please.” 

I promise. Nacho wants to reply. But the last thing he wants to do right now is give you false hope. So he stays quiet. His ears are ringing and he wonders how he still has blood left in his body. 

“I’m sorry.”

“I love you, Ignacio. I love you…”

He smiles in relief. That was all he needed to hear. 

It’s all said and done and now he can at least die with some peace.

“And I love you.” 

He hangs up.

When a character faces death in movies, they see their life flash before their eyes. 

A cliche. Nacho thought up until now.

He envisions the few happy and peaceful moments he’s had in life. Most of them involve his dad Manuel, and you. The first date, first kiss, first time… 

Maybe it’s the sun or maybe he’s actually walking into the light, when suddenly a shadow covers it. He grunts. 

In the distance, he can hear two men talking to each other in Spanish. Someone lifts him from the ground. 

Exhaustion catches up with Nacho and everything fades to black. 

You almost kick open the door to the Veterinary Office. 

How you even got the address is a miracle.

Maybe because you’ve called Nacho’s phone at least twenty times within the last hour, or maybe because they know Nacho has a partner? That seems unlikely. Nacho has made sure to keep the relationship secret from everyone, to protect you. Only people that know that he is your boyfriend are Manuel Varga and your family. 

The last explanation… Maybe, somehow, Nacho’s Cartel colleagues are humane enough to let family and friends say farewell to their dying loved ones… 

Apart from an elderly lady and her cat, the waiting room is empty at this time in the morning. The receptionist looks startled when she sees you. But then again you can’t judge her. With puffy and red eyes and the almost wild expression on your face it’s no wonder people are concerned. Without waiting for her to greet you, you rush to the office whilst the woman shouts after you. 

Nothing can prepare you for what you see. 

It’s your boyfriend - lying down half-naked on a metal table whilst the vet, Caldera, performs surgery. Two men in suits stand next to the tense vet, watching over his every move with caution. As the door shuts behind you, the three men turn to look at you. One of the twins raises their guns. 

“What happened to him?!” A voice barely noticeable. The man lowers his gun as his brother mumbles something to him. The vet goes back to work and Nacho squirms on the table. They’re killing him. 

You know that's not true and makes zero sense. 

But what makes sense about this situation either way? 

You don’t realise that you’re shouting allegations until someone grips you and drags you out of the room. Before you get kicked out of the office, a weak voice calls your name. 

Nacho. 

Minutes turn into hours, morning turns to day and then afternoon. You remain seated on the cold tile floor hugging your knees against your chest. The anxiety grows stronger and it feels like you’re about to drown in worry. When the door to the office finally opens, you can barely stand up. 

It’s impossible to read the expression on his face. The scrubs he’s wearing are stained red. You can feel your stomach twist. 

“He’s alive.” 

Nacho wakes up from his feverish dreams. His mind is foggy and his eyes feel heavy. The sedatives are wearing off and his whole body aches, especially the place where the bullets penetrated his shoulder. 

He is in a cold room with his bare back resting against an even colder metal table. He feels like shit. With a raspy voice, he repeats the only word he’s been able to say lately. Your name. When a warm hand intertwines fingers with him, he finally breathes out. 

Your sobbing wakes him from his trance. He opens his brown eyes and looks at you through heavy eyelids and black eyelashes. He manages to give you a weak smile and in a raspy voice, he greets you.

“Hey, mi vida.”

“Hey, my love.” You reply and manage to smile through the tears. “You’re alive…” 

With those words said, you burst into tears again. The cousins and Caldera look uncomfortable with the emotional outbursts and the scene between the two lovebirds.

“...Let’s give Varga and his partner some time to talk.” the vet says. He’s quick to leave and the twin men don't protest. 

Once finally alone, Nacho brings a weak, trembling hand to your cheek. He feels the soft skin against his palm and feels a sense of relief. When you lean forward he doesn’t think twice before pulling you into a kiss, and then another one. 

He’s alive. 

“I love you. I should’ve told you earlier, I… I’m sorry.” 

Your boyfriend tries sitting up and winces in pain. 

“You don’t need to apologize.” 

He can no longer hold back the wave of emotions. The shock of watching Arturo die, the stress Hector and his nephews have caused him, for years. The worries for his own life, but mostly for his dad, and you. It all comes crashing down. And now… Gus is a threat.

Nacho knows his life just got more complicated and a lot more dangerous. 

He’ll have to tell you everything. 

But for now… 

He cries. He lets you hold onto him. 

Nacho squeezes you close to him, to make sure you can’t slip away. 

Once he’s healed, he’ll go back to duty. He’ll protect you.

But for now… He lets you protect him. 

When you whisper “I love you”, he feels at peace. 

You’re his shelter and his home.

Did my mentally unstable a- cry when writing this because I love Nacho so damn much?? Yes. 2am emotional damage

[thefandomenchantress]

My Headcanons for How Every Member of the DRDT Cast Sleeps:

Yes, this is rather random and strangely specific, but for some reason I have a lot of headcanons for this.

Teruko: She can fall asleep literally anywhere if she has to, since on the run she couldn’t count on having a bed to sleep in each night. Sleeps sprawled out on the edge of her bed, as proven by this CG:

Xander: Snores very loudly. And since the building DRDT takes place in has not-at-all-sound-proof walls, this means that Teruko and David have to deal with all the noise while trying to fall asleep, since they had the misfortune of being assigned the rooms next to his.

David: Doesn’t sleep. /hj

Rose: This one’s pretty obvious. She can fall asleep anywhere, in any position. It doesn’t matter how loud her environment is, she can and will fall asleep.

Levi: The fact that he was apparently the only one to hear the commotion when Ace was banging on Nico’s door after they failed to murder him suggests he’s a very light sleeper. He probably sleeps on his back with his hands folded across his stomach.

Nico: They have a lot of stuffed animals, and they make sure to sleep with each one of them for the same amount of nights so that none of them feel left out. They curl up like a cat when they sleep, unsurprisingly.

Veronika: Sleeps on her back with her arms crossed in an ‘X’ over her chest, much like a corpse or a vampire. She sleeps like the dead, and the only way you’ll be able to get her to wake up is by shaking her a lot.

Ace: Curls up into a ball under many blankets, often being startled awake by nightmares or even the slightest noise. Meaning he is a literal ball of anxiety when he sleeps. He still sleeps with a stuffed animal, but will take that secret to his grave.

J: All of her pajamas have to be black or some other dark color, and will usually be comprised of a tank top and shorts. That way, she can feel cool and tough even when she just woke up. The best way to describe her sleeping position is ‘doesn’t give a fuck’.

Min: She makes her bed every morning, unlike the other cast members. She does, however, usually keep a book on the end of her bed that will often fall to the floor when she inevitably accidentally nudges it in the middle of the night. If she doesn’t fall asleep while reading a book, which she often does. She’ll often sleep with an open book resting on her chest.

Hu: Sleeps in a night gown with her hair up in a bun, and is the only one besides Min to actually make her bed each morning. She’s a relatively light sleeper.

Arturo: Let’s be honest. He’d probably own a body pillow of some famous celebrity and cuddle with it at night.

Arei: Wears a blue sleeping mask that probably says something like, ‘Wake me up and you die!’ in a glittery, cutesy font. She’s a very light sleeper, since her sisters used to try to play pranks on her or steal things from her room as she slept.

Eden: She is a VERY deep sleeper. She acts like the three alarm clocks on her nightstand are just for show, since she made them and they look very pretty…But in reality she needs to have multiple going off in rapid succession in order for her to wake up.

Whit: His bed coverings are all some shade of pink. He also somehow always smiles in his sleep. It would seem his efforts to always look and feel happy 24/7 are even transferred to his sleeping, subconscious state.

Charles: He would really like to have a stuffed animal to cuddle, but he has deemed himself ‘too old and mature’ to have one. So instead he’ll just cuddle a pillow.

[rekino2114]

Danganronpa despair time girls reacting to your death.

This might be an excuse to use the character's "breakdown" images cause they're great and write more angst

Teruko tawaki:Ultimate lucky student

She just broke down completely when she saw your body. She started laughing maniacally like she did in the first trial.

You were the only one she could trust. After she was literally backstabbed, she couldn't trust anyone except you. You helped her deal with everything. She loved you and swore to protect you, but she failed.

She was ready to stab anyone who annoyed her. If she killed someone, that would be a plus cause she'd get to see you again.

Throughout the investigation and trial she was incredibly cold she needed to find out who killed you. when your killer was revealed she stood up from her podium and tried to stab them with her knife before monotv could pull her away.

After the trial, she was almost always in her room silent. She regretted not dying when she was stabbed and considered doing it herself multiple times.

Min jeung:Ultimate student

Her first reaction is denial:you couldn't be dead it was illogical. You promised to survive with her, she couldn't believe it.

She was more silent than usual after your body discovery, she just reading useless books she had already read thousands of times.

When your culprit was discovered, she yelled at them and cried. She thought she would be happy seeing their execution, but she was left even more despairing.

Arei nageishi:Ultimate bowler

She was livid, who the fuck dared to kill you?she needed to know and she swore to beat the shit out of whoever did this.

She was even more pissed off and angry than usual. She cussed out everyone at least once even eden who came to help her multiple times.

She cried in her room. She didn't want to let anyone see her weakness, but she wasn't strong enough to handle your death.

When your killer was revealed, she was one step away from choking them, but instead she cried, you wanted to help her become a good person and now you were gone she was lost without you.

Hu jing:Ultimate zither player

Her heart sank when she saw you, she didn't want anyone to die of course, but you especially, you were special and helped her lead and calm everyone herself included.

She wanted to try to heal you somehow or at least to bury you to make you rest in peace, but nico and eden convinced her that she couldn't preserve the evidence.

She needed to be strong, to guide everyone and help them get through this game, but how could she when she was in so much pain?

She didn't have any reaction when she found out your killer. She knew they were just another victim of this game, and seeing another death wouldn't bring her closure.

J rosales:Ultimate effects artist

She just wanted to put her hood over her eyes and forget what she saw.

You helped her after everything that happened with Arturo, she didn't want to believe you were gone so suddenly.

She was very snappy, especially at Arturo. She couldn't deal with his bullshit right now, she needed to grieve.

She told your killer to go to hell, but besides that, she knew that wouldn't do anything. She needed to continue being strong, for you.

Veronika grebenshchikova:Ultimate horror fanatic

She just laughed when she saw your body, just like she thought, you were still beautiful in death.

Everyone thought she was the same as always, a creepy psychopath who didn't even cry at her lover's death, but inside she was completely different, she had truly gone insane.

In the investigation and trial, she was really helpful, but her creepy comments doubled, she threatened to kill the culprit in the most brutal way possible and recommended monotv to make their execution an entertaining one.

When your culprit was discovered, she just started at them smiling and waiting, and during their execution, she laughed so much it covered all their screams.

If she wasn't gonna kill someone before, she definitely will now.

Rose lacroix:Ultimate art forger

She needed a moment to truly accept what happened, you were really gone.

During the investigation, she painted one last picture of you and her together to remember you.

She didn't care who the killer was, and she didn't participate in the trial, nor did she watch their execution, it's like her will to live was completely drained from her.

She couldn't bear to see any more people die. She just wanted to fall asleep and never wake up again.

[numberoneanika]

The Whit Culprit Theory

Hello everyone and welcome back to Anika Theories Based Off Little to Nothing except this time i actually have things. This is basically just me explaining to @accirax the Whit culprit theory. Spoilers for Chapter 2 Episode 11.

The Evidence 

We’re gonna start off by saying that the time of death is actually this morning. 

The jugs in the trash could be used to keep water around and stored in the minifridge in the gym, thus making the murder able to be committed during nighttime.

The marks on Arei’s wrists look too new to be made last night. They would’ve faded away by now if they were made last night.

Her body was also still moving when we found it, implying it was hanged recently. 

Charles’s rebuttal crosses through “time of death”. 

This then makes everyone who had an alibi for that time period suspicious. Granted, you could argue that the people without alibis were planning to have one but got caught up, but going through, Levi was doing his laundry which he could’ve simply left at any time, Ace was working out which he again could’ve left, Nico was wandering around, Rose was sleeping, and David was in the relaxation room. Any of these could’ve just watched a movie with Veronika or hung out with Eden and Hu, and yet they didn’t.

Side note: if you want to say they used the evening to prepare for next morning, they could’ve simply prepared an hour or so after nighttime, as getting the fish and clothes takes barely ten minutes. In any case, having an alibi would benefit them, and it doesn’t make much sense for them to not have an alibi for the fake time of death.

By the way, I probably won’t be making a whole entire murder theory on how it happened, cause this doc is really long already. Maybe later.

So, the people with alibis are Whit, Charles, J, Arturo, Eden, Hu, Teruko, and Veronika. We can obviously rule out Teruko and Charles, so this leaves us with Whit, J, Arturo, Eden, Hu, and Veronika. Let’s do some process of elimination. We know Arei’s death was initially framed as a sewerslide, from the cause of death, so the culprit had to see the rope being put in storage and know, at the very least, about the people who sent Arei ropes.

Veronika wouldn’t want to kill, as she wants to stick around and see the chaos unfold. She also defended Arturo and went on a very creepy tangent. While she was in the cafeteria to hear Arei’s hanging line, she didn’t seem to have any reaction to it. And knowing Veronika, she would’ve thrown away everything to hear about this backstory, so I think I can rule her out.

Hu wasn’t even there to see Arei’s rope getting put in storage, and she didn’t hear Arei’s line about being told to ykw. She got a new outfit, so the creator had to redraw every single one of her sprites - for one singular chapter? Seems unlikely. 

For J I have some of the same reasoning as Veronika. She was busy fighting with Arturo, and she didn’t seem to have any reaction to the hanging line - and if she had heard it, she would DEFINITELY have a reaction. She doesn’t have a motive to kill Arei, either, so I don’t think she did this. 

This leaves us with Arturo, Whit, and Eden. Arturo was so focused on J, he wouldn’t notice anybody else unless they butted in to his conversation (like Eden), and he doesn’t really have a motive? If he wanted to protect his secret, he’d have to kill Eden too. He’s also way too antagonistic to just kill off now. Also don’t see why he’d make a note in direct reference to his secret. 

Eden. I’m not even going to try and argue against her, you guys already have a theory that is like twenty freakin acts but I still don’t think it’s her for reasons

Anyway, what we’re here for is Whit. He wasn’t breaking up any fights or in a fight, and was presumably just watching Charles make cucumber flowers. It’s not out of the question to think he might’ve heard that line.

I’d also like to bring up how involved Whit is in this chapter for so far seeming irrelevant? It’s like a little circle. Whit sends David to the relaxation room where he meets up with Arei*, Whit has David’s secret, David knows Arei’s secret, Arei knows David’s secret by looking over Whit’s shoulder… and you’re telling me Whit is just A Guy in this chapter?

*Side note: This is also a major reason for suspecting him. If you want to argue that Whit couldn’t have known Arei and Ace would be there, he didn’t really need to? David being in the relaxation room, a place directly opposite from the playground, could easily frame him, and connect him to the fish. Though it’s possible that since Arei was looking for David, Whit told her where David was.

He also wouldn’t feel bad framing David, compared to someone like Hu, because of a lot of factors-

He knows David’s secret is that he’s a master manipulator

He saw David lie about his secret in front of everyone

He saw David suggest a plan that was most likely dangerous and could get someone killed.

His intuition.

Take a look at this screenshot from Chapter 1, Episode 8 (i think) when Whit is defending Charles.

From the screenshot, it can be inferred that Whit knows when people are acting. That means Whit knew from the start that David’s whole optimistic persona was fake. Combined with David lying about his secret and making a dangerous plan, Whit could, guilt-free, frame David, knowing that it would be likely that he would break down and reveal his true colors when accused, only serving to incriminate him further.

There’s also the fact that he was literally in the room when Teruko and Hu got their new outfits, so he would know where the clothes were. Also, his redesign had three changes, and you can’t even see one of them unless you’re looking at his full-body sprites, so it doesn’t make him less suspicious in the way it makes Hu less suspicious.

His special weapon is stationary, which includes fancy pens and stuff, which could help him make the note and disguise his handwriting.

He also willingly helped construct the note with the fake time of death, and unlike Rose, this benefits him. He was also the one telling Charles to ‘relax’ during the investigation.

There's also that godforsaken hanging line right before we find the body. I'm not going to say this is evidence, necessarily, but it's possible that this was a Freudian slip (when you say something that gives away what you're thinking).

And now you may be thinking, "Didn't he literally discover the body? The BDA went off, it couldn't be him!" And to this, I want to direct your attention to one of the rules -

I could've sworn one of the rules was "rules can be waived in the case of murder" but it seems that's only for property damage. I think.

This relates to the complicated murder system. Why did the culprit go to such lengths to make a pulley system instead of just hanging her normally?

One answer is to use this rule. Technically, if they are looking away when the murder happens, then they don't count as someone who witnessed the body. Also, I don't know why he didn't want to check in the playground, considering he wasn't that close to Arei, unless he was scared the BDA wouldn't ring.

Another answer is that someone else discovered the body first. And who would be the most likely to do that? David Chiem, who's already trying to kill us all. Not to mention, he tried to stop MonoTV from revealing the secrets because Arei was missing.

Considering he probably isn't the culprit, it seems like he already knew someone was dead.

Another option that ties into this is that they weren't strong enough to pick her up just like that. There are also marks near the swingset, which could be marks of dragging Arei's body. And, if we take a look at the strength chart...

Whit (along with many others, of course) is near the bottom, so he would need this pulley system.

In conclusion, a lot of this evidence seems to point to him, but there's more to talk about.

Whit’s Motive

You may argue that Whit has no motive and that he readily confessed his secret. However, remember that Rose didn’t see her slip of paper, and she knows neither the owner or the contents.

After this, David, Arturo, and Hu all say a couple sentences (you can check for yourself), and only *after* this…

Take a note of the wording here. He doesn’t say the contents of the secret - just that the secret Rose has is his. 

Also note the only two people left after Hu are J and Eden, and their secrets were already revealed. (Also, if Whit listened to the Arturo-Eden confrontation, he would know the secret Eden received as well.)

Remember that this is before MonoTV puts up its own board, and the logic it leads by is…

What you all agree on, not what is correct. This is the logic many people use to say David lied about the secret he received, but who’s to say it doesn’t apply to Whit as well?

It’s a little strange how Whit jumped on Rose’s secret, seeing how he was saying he led such a normal life before and didn’t know what his secret was, but let’s give him the benefit of the doubt for now. (Not to mention, if he was “omitting the truth”, as the secret says, it seems unlikely that he’d just change his mind all of a sudden and confess it so casually.)

Let’s do a little logic here. Whit, Eden, and Rose were all putting the note together, and never got to see the secret board, no? Rose wouldn’t be able to tell him - or anyone - because she didn’t see who had the secret. The only way he could know his secret was if he found the paper slip, but that’s also impossible - last evening he said he still didn’t know, and even if he had found out this morning somehow, he would’ve confessed it on his turn or Rose’s, more likely than not.

Granted, there is a hole in this logic. Before MonoTV’s board is revealed, J (who was guarding the crime scene) remarks that “hang on, was one of those secrets about murder? One of you was a murderer before this killing game?” and Charles remarks “some of these secrets seem to be about sewerslide,” so that. Might be a hole. I still think it’s rather suspicious that they specifically made Whit the only one who confirms his own secret - if they just wanted to give it to them, why did they make Rose not look at it?

There’s also a rather big deal made out of the fact that Whit “doesn’t know what his secret is” and him asking for someone to reveal it. 

Let’s go off-track for a bit - if we assume Whit doesn’t have the dead mother secret, then that leaves the murderer secret (that Arei received), s///h secret (that Hu received), hopeless child secret, (that Veronika received), and cause of the killing game (that David received). His wrists are fully visible, so I don’t think he has the s///h one (apologies if this is insensitive). If this was a Whit mastermind theory, I’d say killing game, but it’s not. The hopeless child… I mean, maybe? There was that thing Hu said that was “you can’t tell how someone feels just by looking at them”.

For this theory, let’s assume Whit has the murderer secret**. I know it seems pretty obvious that Levi has it, but there have been more than a couple times they’ve faked us out with a seemingly obvious secret, and considering the victim was Arei, it does seem the most likely.

**If you want to argue there’s too much evidence for Whit having the dead mother theory, it’s entirely possible that the person Whit killed was his mother, for one reason or another. There’s plenty of theories that say Whit’s mother wasn’t the best person. Also, this entire motive section is mostly speculation, if we’re being honest, and it’s possible Whit does have the dead mother secret and the motive for killing Arei is something else entirely, but I’m trying to make a more convincing motive.

Now, you might have a rebuttal - Arei received the murderer secret. Wouldn’t she have called him out on it? 

And to this, I say - remember, this is Arei before her redemption, before David gives her a speech. She’d take the chance to blackmail Whit easily, just like how she was planning to blackmail David before the speech. And remember, Whit went off with Charles a little bit later after that, so she wouldn’t have a chance to get him alone, and so she went to confront David instead.

During the Trial

Now, you may be asking, “Didn’t Whit deflect the topic when the note was brought up? Why would he do that?”

There’s an old argument I made that is still relevant, which is that “It comes down to Teruko's nature. She's distrusting, blunt, and won't leave any issue that could help solve the murder alone. If Whit was the culprit, he could safely assume that Teruko would eventually get the note out of Eden, so he could derail the topic while knowing it would eventually come up and make his "alibi" and look less suspicious at the same time.” However, I also have new reasoning. What does Whit deflect the topic to?

That’s right - alibis. And this directly leads Teruko to conclude that the murder happened before nighttime thanks to the fish. Whit laid out the groundwork for this fake time of death, along with

He was also trying to ‘help’ by asking out for any accomplices, and also really wanted to keep talking about accomplices for some reason?

Which… strange?? Really strange?? Why do you wanna talk about it so much??

He also didn’t agree with Teruko about sharing the secrets, suggesting that she simply solve the murder without them.

There aren’t any particularly suspicious moments in episode 10, but boy oh boy do I have content for episode 11.

(Apologies if some of these screenshots are low-quality, I took them on my phone) We know Whit delayed revealing David's secret, but once Charles backed Ace's testimony up, he was quick to withdraw. Not to mention, the wording here puts him in a good light - according to him, he was only trying to "protect David's career" and deeefinetely not trying to drag out suspicion towards David. Deeefintely not.

When David goes on a tangent about how Arei meant nothing in his or the others lives and that they shouldn't care that she's dead, here's Whit's reaction.

David goes on a tangent on how Arei meant nothing really and he's just like "oh yeah this lines up with what I know about him and they're DEFINITELY gonna vote for him now"

He doesn't have a terribly large reaction to David's reveal, and that could be because he knew it would happen (again, thanks to his intuition). If he wanted to frame David, everything is going as it should.

The Godforsaken Tape

In episode 2, we learn that Whit is a light sleeper.

So, knowing this… How did he not wake up when Ace was banging on the door and yelling??? I sincerely believe he would not have just brushed off someone yelling outside, and yet the only new person who shows up is Levi. 

To answer this, I also want to bring up another thing that happens. When Teruko goes to find her new clothes, Eden says this before she realizes it’s Teruko:

Someone has been following Eden, according to her. And it’s a really weird thing to make up on the spot, to be honest, so I think she’s telling the truth.

So, naturally, I’m suspecting Whit for this because it seems like he wasn’t in his room. And after I Hashtag Researched, I found this:

That’s right, ladies and gentlemen (and others) - Whit can canonically sneak up on people, just like Eden. You can’t see it in this screenshot, but you can check it out for yourself - he just pops up out of nowhere. Boo. Hi. (To be clear, I don’t think Whit tried to kill Ace - I’m sure that was Nico.)

The freaking tape, man - I don't even know. It seems like a very inconsequential detail, hidden behind a textbox, not even in the background where you can see it. But let's consider it for a second - Teruko would certainly notice either Eden or Ace picking up the tape, though I suppose Ace might be a little less suspicious if he grabbed it right while getting up. Eden, I think she would definitely notice, because Teruko already doesn't really trust her terribly, and Teruko is very attentive anyway. Rather, I think it's possible that Ace might've kicked it behind something when getting up (I didn't come up with this, but I don't remember who did) and MonoTV, while cleaning up, simply put it in storage. 

Other option - if you're bleeding at the neck, on the verge of collapsing, and your only goal is killing the person who tried to kill you, are you really gonna notice someone quietly slipping the tape out of your hand and/or into the trash for later? Also, knowing MonoTV, it probably wouldn’t object if someone was just like “sooo heyyy you got any tape in there can i have it please haha” so Whit could’ve easily acquired the needed tape.

Conclusion

So, that’s why I think Whit is a really likely person to be the culprit this chapter, though there definitely is space for to me to be wrong. Imagine Whit is just on our side during the scrum debate and boom entire theory in the trash. That'd be funny. There’s probably more I could say, but I don’t have the energy to, so if you find any weak points or anything to talk about, feel free to let me know. Thanks.

[rebouks]

Okay, so I'm being completely self-indulgent here but I went on a little foray and dug up a load of old posts n' such to go thru Wyatt's journey n' pick out some important moments/juicy tidbits so uh.. here it is if you're interested 😆

Major Somnium spoilers if you haven't read it yet tho so be warned...

The first hint of genuine emotion/doubt we see cross Wyatt's face, and it's about his father.. hmmmmm, also to be noted is that even if he did up sticks n' go to work with Ash, he wouldn't have been free of anything, least of all his father's judgement!

The infamous Silas scene, yikes.. two things here, anytime he mentions it, it's not Wyatt's reach, always Arturo's! Like Oscar said recently, he doesn't have any connections now that he's gone (and Ashton, so.. oops) Second of all, Bruno DID understand.. which is interesting. Wyatt's family may not have been any relation to Bruno by blood, but they were still his found family for a long time and he n' Wyatt didn't much care for each other either, but they knew one another pretty well (what they showed each other anyway aha..) So yeah, he didn't LIKE it, but he UNDERSTOOD.. much to Ivan's dismay 🙈

Wyatt pretty much admits here that he's pretending his way through life.. which is SUPER fun to look back on, 'cause we all took him at face value here, but who's to say it wasn't just another act? 🤷‍♂️ He learnt to look at the world through calculated logic at a very young age.. and he's kinda right, if you observe everything & everyone else from a neutral standpoint, it's pretty interesting what you can see that you might've missed if you were too angry, sad etc.. to notice...

Did anyone believe Wyatt when he said he would leave Joslyn's kids out of it? 'Cause he was telling the truth.. maybe she should'a called his bluff. An easy bargaining chip, never to be played.

After learning of Oscar's plan, Wyatt decides to help him.. why? I don't think he's sure at this point, he just knew he'd had enough of his father's disrespect and wanted to fuck him over.

This is suuuper interesting, mostly because of Bruno's "no".. he's a bit of a hypocrite ngl, cos he knew more than Wyatt, and for longer, that what he, Artie n' co. were up to was wrong, yet he stuck with them, protected them and continued to work for them anyway. The difference between them tho, is that Arturo respected and trusted Bruno enough that he would've let him leave if he wanted to, but he didn't.. and Wyatt never had that luxury ⚆_⚆

In this scene we (I think?) first got a glimpse into Wyatt's brain, and I particularly like this part...

Although he wanted to prove to Arturo that he had been right, he knew he couldn’t risk it. Doing so would only reveal his own betrayal. It should have been satisfying, but Wyatt could already feel himself shrinking under his father’s cold, piercing gaze as he realised his own son had deceived him so immeasurably. He didn’t need to know; his demise would be satisfying enough, it had to be.

Simply because as it turned out, it wasn't satisfying at all.. and Arturo was already well aware of his own son's involvement at this point, double yikes.

So everything's gone to shit but Wyatt/Darien are still sitting pretty with Ashton.. but why is it sad boi hours? Why doesn't it feel right? Hmmmmm.. I like this scene because Wyatt's pretty much lost his whole family and yet.. is he sad? He doesn't think so, not really. It's kinda the start of him "waking up" so to speak, with no one left to live "for" and no one to impress, please or serve he's lost at sea! It's fun, because honestly at this point he could have slotted neatly into life in Del Sol. He could've worked with Ash, business as usual, new connections and protections, lotsa women, lotsa money and power..... and yet.. it doesn't feel right? 🤔 HMMMMMMMMMMM

Thanks to Brynn's help, Wyatt finally comes face to face with the reality of his actions. It's interesting for so many reasons.. first of all, he'd always kept the details at bay, 'cause that's what he was used to, what was easier, what he was taught to do.. business isn't personal, right Pookie? 🙈 and Ashton hadn't exactly told the whole truth either, making out like the girls would work for him (which ig they would in a way, at least some of em.. but it's definitely worse than Wyatt assumed, which I think can show how naive he could still be sometimes) but with no daddy around to answer to/impress, and no one left to pretend to, Wyatt suddenly NEEDED to know and there was no one left to persuade him otherwise.

Love this scene.. Wyatt's still a little demented isn't he, taking sadistic pleasure in fucking someone over, but at least this time he's on the right fkin side. Look at that smirk.. ohhh Ashton you are fucked, but please enjoy your sauna whilst you can 😁

So it's been a few years at this point and Wyatt's had a hell of a lot of time to think, and a lot of distance from his old life. He doesn't really know who he is at the moment, but he's kinda learning to just BE instead of pretending all the time.. kinda scary, tho a little less so when you've adopted a cute old neighbour who invades your space with his genuine care and good advice. Something Wyatt's definitely not used to, but he doesn't completely hate it.

Not only does bumping into Brynn again make Wyatt realise how grateful he was for her help, but it also kinda forces him to stop ignoring his past. Her visit and their brief time spent together really made him start looking back at his old life n' tryna figure out how it fit into his new one. He still has no idea who he is or who he should be and it's particularly disconcerting to him how comfortable Brynn is around him, given what she knows...

He'd just about managed to keep it at bay until this point, but it's time for an existential crisis 🤸‍♀️

Ahhh baba Ichi is so kind 😭 would he still be so keen to help Wyatt if he knew about his past? Who knows.. but he sees someone struggling and he wants to help! I think it's interesting that Wyatt trusts him/likes him enough at this point to actually admit his doubts/feelings, which is more than he'd ever done before. He might not see it yet, but it's still progress.

Brynn's back, and she's about to fuck Wyatt's shit up (in the best way).. I love how he's been so wrapped up in his own misadventures that he hadn't even stopped to think about hers. If we're gonna look at things in black and white (which we don't do here but just bear with) they're both "bad" people who've done terrible things and made terrible decisions; driven by necessity, both perceived and literal. They've taken lives without regret, stolen from people who didn't deserve it, fucked people over for their own survival or for revenge ETC ETC.. and yet, Brynn knows she's not black and white, she knows she's still capable of being a good person and she can see it in him too, even if he's like ??? about it himself.

Wyatt not only admits his feelings to himself, but to Brynn too.. and goes against what HE wants n' agrees to her wishes instead, putting someone else first for like.. the first time EVER 😳

Though he was glad to know the truth, Wyatt was less than thrilled with Brynn’s plan; but she craved true freedom, and after everything she’d endured – in part due to his own transgressions – he figured he owed her as much.

What sorcery is this?!

Wyatt's not great with empathy or at putting himself in others shoes, but I loved this scene with him n' Oscar because now he's actually been forced into Oscar's well worn vans and he had no choice but to confront his previous decisions head on.. he did NOT like his own medicine and I think it's the first time he properly felt regret/guilt.. super important discovery.

Ahh the crux of the issue, daddy issues.. 😅 I'm not saying Wyatt didn't have free will or the chance to idk NOT partake in the family "bidness" but idk, he was indoctrinated into that life since birth. The fact that he eventually made it this far and didn't go totally insane in the process is still kinda impressive.

We don't have to forgive him, Brynn hasn't, and won't.. but people are grey and there's hope things will be different in the future. I love how much these two have been through in life, yet still managed to SOMEHOW end up with a second chance/a way to be & do better. Idk I think it's awesome (disagree with me if u want idc ahahakjsdksj) and I especially love that they literally know almost every nasty detail about each other but still perceive the other as "good" despite those details.. ough

With a dead dad (yay), plenty of distance, a lot of time and some forced introspection not only from himself but Brynn, Oscar, etc.. and ELLIS, Wyatt finally broke in the best way possible. It'll take time and it'll still be shit at times but now that everything's outta the bottle maybe he can piece everything together again. I especially love this part..

The moment Ellis had made his way into the world, something deep inside Wyatt’s soul had shattered, breaking into a million tiny pieces that pricked his heart with every shred of hurt, regret, and stifled guilt he’d ever buried within its previously impenetrable depths. Try as he might, the tears refused to cease.

I think it was easy to believe that Wyatt was a psychopath (that was the point) but we only believed it with such conviction because HE did too. I think he's relieved to finally learn that that's NOT the case, even if it's scary af tryna figure out who he is from scratch.. but hey, he has a pretty good reason too now. Being the dad he wished he had... ;-;

Anyway.. thanks for coming to my pointless, long ass, self-indulgent TED talk, if you read all this please take a cookie on the way out and know that ily muchly 🖤🍪

[a-star-that-burns-brightly]

[TW: Mentions of abuse, suicide, and imagery of hanging] - - - The symbolism behind Arei’s arc/death and the playground makes me so goddamn sad and I’ve only seen one post talking about it

A playground is self-explanatory as a concept, it’s a place where people, specifically children, can play and have the time of their lives. It’s a symbol of childhood, fun, and carefreeness All things that Arei doesn’t exactly have a lot of experience with

As revealed in CH2-5, Arei never exactly got to have a fun and carefree childhood due to the physical and verbal abuse from her sisters and classmates alike. Not a lot of information has been revealed yet on Arei’s parents (hopefully we get more information on them in Arei’s future bonus episode), but considering that they seemingly did nothing about their oldest children blatently abusing their youngest, and this exchange with J in their free time event I think it’s safe to say that they were negligent at best.

All of these factors combined made it so that Arei never got to experience a proper childhood as it was all thrown into toxic waste by her family and classmates. But what does this have to do with the playground? Well, I believe that the playground is meant to symbolize the childhood that Arei never got to have. Arei has two scenes in the playground, the first one being the scene where she explains her past in CH2-5

In a place that’s associated so well with childhood Arei’s exclaims loudly that her sisters made her hate every single day of her’s and how she had to act cruel to survive it. She ended up continuing the cycle of hurt and abuse on others in an attempt to defend herself, and it’s likely that she thought she would stay like that for the rest of her life. But somehow, she is given a second chance.

Even though all of the horrible people in her life kept her from having a childhood, she is able to live her life the best way she possibly can now as a young adult. She can be a better person now and realize that she doesn’t need to be a rude person to survive anymore. And she tries. She really tries.

She defends Eden from Arturo, she tries to put her faith in David, she does anything she can to make up for what she has done. She wants to be a good person, and she wants to prove to everyone else that she can be a good person too. She hasn’t changed overnight, but she was getting there... And then she’s found dead in the playground.

Her being hanged on the swingset has a double meaning I feel. The more obvious one being that she was sent boxes of rope on her birthdays telling her to go kill herself. The culprit knew this as everyone was in the room when she said it, yet they chose to hang her like this anyway. The other meaning has to do with the fact that she is found in the playground, specifically dangling above the playground’s floor. She was so close to getting the life she could’ve had, the life she should’ve had, the life she deserved after everyone in her life from her sisters to her classmates tore her away from it. But now, she’s left dangling above it, out of reach. And she will never be able to step foot on it ever again. [I feel like I should mention the post that inspired this one, https://www.tumblr.com/tuxedojelly/711463491409772544/major-spoilers-for-drdt-chapter-2-episode-7?source=share by @/TuxedoJelly. I hope I didn’t copy over too many of their points especially near the end, I really tried to put things into my own words and add onto the conversation]

[satureja13]

The Boys also have a R̂ān h̄ạw mum (=thai for 'corner store') now. There's a copy of LY behind the counter. They live in the Otherworld now and they prefer to be home alone (for security matters). Not even Arturo, the only other creature here, knows where they live. And no one can see or enter their lot anyway ;)

This is both an online store to sell their produce and a shop for them to buy stuff Noxee sends them. The tales of the Boys' adventures spread among the creatures and they are quite famous in certain circles ^^

I love the little 'vegetable tent' that came with For Rent.

There is also Kiyoshi's 'Moonchild' cheese!

And Jack can sell the vegetables from his garden here. And his nectar.

There will be no other customers than the Boys here but they ship their produce to the Muggle World with the device Saiwa built. There's a newer, smaller version now. The cameras show the online customers the wares and Sai also made a store page with the descriptions and prices. Then Ji Ho packs and ships to Noxee and she sends them to the customers in the Muggle World.

They call Noxee to thank her. This device is also the only way for them to 'remote communicate'. No internet, no landline, no cellphone network here - nothing ö.ö

Noxeema: "My Babees! I miss you!" They chatted for a while but it's clear that Noxee is dying to get back to Greg ^^' After they ended the call, Jack was jealous, as always: "Omg, what does she see in him!? They are together 25/7 and still can't get enough of each other!" But Jack also never understood what Kiyoshi saw in him. (That's love, Jack.) Sai: "I envy them..." Ji Ho sighed: "Couple Goal."

Jack found the 'Stranger Section'...

Sai to Ji Ho: "Was this really necessary? As if he's in need of even more weird ideas!" Ji Ho: "That was actually Vlad's idea ^^'"

And then Jack found the Armadillos... Jack: "A blue version! I've never seen this before! Look how small and cute they are! Can please I have one?"

Saiwa: "No! We have no money for this nonsense! Don't forget we have to payback Rubyn and the others." Poor Jack...

They paid

and Sai checked the new 'Postage and Communication Device' aka 'PACkeD'

And when he left the shop...

The kids these days! Ji Ho had bought the Armadillo for Jack when Saiwa had been busy with 'PACkeD' ^^'

From the Beginning  ~  Underwater Love ~  Latest 🛺 'Home happy Home' from the beginning ▶️ here 📚 Previous Chapters: Chapters: 1-6 ~ 7-12 ~ 13-16 ~ 17-22 ~ 23-28

[accirax]

Charles Tawaki: a DRDT Crack Theory

(Spoilers through DRDT Chapter 2 Part 1. Also for Star Wars Episodes 4 and 5, somehow???)

So… I know this sounds crazy (it is), but hear me out, okay?

After rewatching all of DRDT for a second time (as you do), I was left puzzled by Teruko’s final conversation with Veronika before the Chapter 2 motive reveal/body discovery. Y’know, the one about prosopagnosia.

Because, under my current understanding of the case, Teruko’s possible face blindness is completely irrelevant.

Now, I know my comprehension of the crime is nowhere near perfect, and that many popular theories include a culprit either dressing up as or swapping places with Arei. The person who makes the most sense for this is obviously J. She’s the same height as Arei, they’re both girls, and they have similar eye and skin colors. Additionally, J has one extra advantage that no one else does: her talent. J is the Ultimate Effects Artist, specializing in practical theater effects as opposed to digital post production.

Out of everyone in this cast, if someone was going to disguise themselves as Arei, J would have the best chance at being able to use makeup to disguise her face. Maybe her history with actors would even give her a better shot at acting like Arei, if worse comes to worse.

However, there’s a major problem with this premise at its base: even if Teruko is face blind, not everyone in the cast is. If Veronika can see the similarities between Teruko and the actress, wouldn’t she also be able to tell the differences between J and Arei? Moot point, Veronika could notice and still choose to conceal that because it would make the trial more interesting. But, Whit is still a pretty observant guy when he wants to be. Arturo has a particular eye for people’s faces, and has spent a lot of time with J specifically. Rose has a photographic memory. While it’s possible that Teruko wouldn’t be able to see through a disguised killer, between the twelve-or-so other innocent students in the rest of the case, it feels like it would be impossible for the killer to actually get away with dressing up as Arei for any meaningful amount of time, or in front of a meaningful group of people.

But this conversation with Veronika is so suspicious!!! The fact that DRDT’s creator chose to give Teruko prosopagnosia, or at the very least to suggest it, means that it has to be relevant to the story in some way, right? That’s, like, mystery writing 101.

So, I have an alternate theory as to how it could come up: if Teruko has failed to notice that her long-lost missing brother is amongst this cast.

And, that that brother was someone who was present for this very conversation: Charles.

Sound unbelievable? Well then, let me start off with some of my best evidence to get you more on board. That being, their character designs.

Charles and Teruko have pretty similar faces, all things considered. Their eyes are both pretty narrow, and upturned at the end. They also have really similar hairstyles: two bang spikes in the middle, with two longer pieces framing the face. The side opposite their long ponytail has a tuft of hair overlapping the side of the hanging piece, while the other side is more plain. Charles and Teruko also have really similar skin tones, with Teruko’s skin only being slightly redder and darker than Charles’.

Obviously, the two of them have different eye and hair colors. However, as Veronika already pointed out, that doesn’t matter:

(Teruko brings up skin color too, but it’s treated as secondary to eye and hair color.)

Inadvertently, Veronika is telling us that if two people have different eye and hair colors, they can still look similar as long as they have other similarities. Thus, while having different coloration can throw us off the scent, Charles and Teruko can still look similar, and remind us of the other.

Speaking of which, the personality similarities between Charles and Teruko have been highlighted in the story multiple times before. The most obvious one in my memory occurs at the end of the scene where Charles entrusts Teruko with the secret he received, right before Teruko decides to use a Monocredit to get rid of him.

Here, he calls Teruko out for her hypocrisy, directly pointing out that Teruko holds the same apathetic attitude that he displayed in Chapter 1. Beyond that, I think it goes without saying that both Charles and Teruko have displayed some majorly antagonistic qualities throughout the story. Both are intelligent, guarded, and a little sassy. When they banter, they’re able to trade similar insults.

Also, they both have a particular fondness for cacti.

Obviously, siblings do not need to have the same personality, especially if they didn’t even grow up together. I bring this up more to say that these are ways in which the author is intentionally drawing parallels between Teruko and Charles, showing us that they are similar and connecting them in our minds.

Now, let’s take a look at what we know of their backstories. As previously shown, Teruko was an orphan who lived at an orphanage with her brother. When she was five, her brother was adopted, and she was not. She had a pretty rough life after that, with “no family to speak of” while sneaking into schools to get an education, forced to choose between food and rent. Very unlucky, but not particularly relevant to this theory.

Charles’ life, on the other hand, seemed a lot easier.

Charles claims that both of his parents are alive. Additionally, while I don’t think it’s been confirmed, the fact that Charles doesn’t know how to cook or do his own laundry implies that either his parents are very caring and attentive to his needs, or he comes from a rich enough family that they have some sort of housekeeper to take care of their chores. My money is on the latter based on Charles’ overall demeanor, but that’s just speculation.

However, anyone who’s read Charles’ secret knows that his past wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows.

While Charles believed he had no siblings, in truth, he actually had a brother who died when he was young. Many characters, including Charles himself, also connect his forgotten past to his fear of blood and dead bodies. That means that whatever happened to his brother, it wasn’t pretty.

So, that’s great, right? Another similarity between Charles and Teruko: both of them have a brother! Except, really that’s more of a problem than anything. If Charles and Teruko are siblings, then Teruko should remember having two brothers, and Charles should believe he has a sister. However, there is a way to get out of this.

Here’s my proposed theory for Charles and Teruko’s intertwined backstories. Charles and Teruko Tawaki are born to the same parents, likely as twins, given that they appear to be in the same year in school. While it’s a little odd that Teruko only said she had a brother as opposed to a twin brother, it’s possible she doesn’t remember the details herself, as she doesn’t cite the brother as older or younger, either. Anyways, at some point, their parents die, and the two of them are sent to the orphanage.

Then, when Charles and Teruko are five, Charles is adopted by the Cuevas family– a mom, a dad, and an older brother. I can’t speculate as to exactly why the family would adopt only Charles and not Teruko, but considering that Teruko getting left behind is a canonical plot point no matter who her brother is, clearly the author believes it’s possible. Once Charles is adopted into the family, tragedy strikes, and his new older brother dies in a terribly bloody accident. This event forges Charles’ phobia of blood and bodies. And, in a desperate attempt to save itself, his brain wipes his memory of his older brother… as well as his adoption and his twin sister, too.

Even if Teruko seeing a dead body happened after she left the orphanage, it’s clear that her past was pretty bleak. Having your parents die and being sent to an orphanage at such a young age must have been a traumatic event. So, if Charles was already in the process of developing childhood amnesia about the trauma of his brother’s death, I think it’s possible that his brain could have decided to shut out the trauma of being adopted, too. It’s childhood amnesia. Obviously he didn’t forget enough of his childhood to concern him or tip himself off that something was wrong, but who has super crisp memories from age 5 or prior anyways? And, if Mr. and Mrs. Cuevas simply hadn’t chosen to tell their son that he was actually adopted (possibly for fear of triggering him by reminding him of his adopted older brother), Charles could grow up thinking he had an exceptionally normal childhood.

Thus, while it requires a bit of creative interpretation, I think it’s possible for Charles and Teruko’s backstories to fit together. And, once you clear Charles’ brother dying, the two of them never saw each other again until the killing game began, so anything that happens afterward can still fit under the siblings theory.

This includes their secrets, as well. While we don’t know Teruko’s secret, I’ve gone on the record saying that I believe that hers is “How could I even select what secret to make your motive? Just about everything you’ve done in your life is worth killing for. The killing game is all your fault”. This secret isn’t specific to one event, so Charles being her secret brother would still totally fit. It’s a little weird for Charles that they wouldn’t roll the other half of his forgotten siblings into the secret. But if they wanted to limit it to one secret per person for the sake of fairness (for instance, not having Whit’s secret be that he omits the death of his mother AND that he’s bisexual), I could see them cutting it out.

And that’s not even operating under the theory that Teruko could be the mastermind. In that case, she could have A) chosen to not talk about that secret because it mentions herself and her past, or B) not known it herself, and therefore not have been able to make it Charles’ secret.

From a meta writing perspective, I don’t know how the creator would tell us that Teruko and Charles are twins now that the secrets motive has passed, but I believe they could come up with something.

So, have I convinced you at all that it’s possible yet? I would hope at least slightly, if you’ve gotten to this point in the theory. Sadly, however, that means it’s time to discuss some of the… large potential holes in this theory that almost prevented me from writing it in the first place. Here we go.

Let’s go back to Charles and Teruko’s similar appearances, my “strongest point.” Well, Google tells me that the last name “Tawaki” is most commonly found in Japan, while “Cuevas” is Spanish in origin. Thus I, as well as likely many others, have assumed that Teruko is Japanese, and Charles is Hispanic. If Teruko and Charles are twins, that would mean that Charles’ ethnicity is actually Japanese, and he only gained the Hispanic last name “Cuevas” after being adopted by the Cuevas family. Through the magic of anime stylization, Charles and Teruko might look the same to us. But, in reality, if Charles was the only Asian looking member of a Hispanic family, wouldn’t it be pretty easy for him to realize/remember he was adopted?

While it’s a bit of an uninformed cop out, I did come up with a solution. If Charles and Teruko are both mixed race, specifically Asian/Hispanic, it’s possible nobody could have remembered. Charles could have been born a Tawaki, taking his Japanese parent’s last name, but when he was adopted, his Hispanic heritage amongst his new fully Hispanic family caused him to forget his Japanese roots. Like any child, some mixed race people look more like one parent (or therefore, one parent’s race) than the other. For example, as a mixed race person, I believe this is true of myself. I also think this is true of Whit, who appears to be Asian and white, but passes more as a white person.

(Obviously, it’s a little hard to tell exactly how white passing Whit is when he dyes his hair and we live in multicolored anime land, but the point stands.) So, this theory could be especially viable if Charles happened to look more like his Hispanic parent, while Teruko looked more like her Japanese parent.

Additionally, this could be a bold (mis?)characterization of the Cuevas family, but it is an explanation of why Charles could have been adopted while Teruko was not. If the Cuevas family was Hispanic, they may have wanted a child that “looked more like them,” so they only took the more Hispanic looking kid of the pair. If true, that would also potentially be another reason why Charles’ parents wouldn’t tell him he’s adopted.

For what it’s worth, I also do think Teruko is an American. While she was initially wearing a Japanese school uniform, and MonoTV confirmed she’s been to Japan, the fact that she “hasn’t been in years” makes me think that she currently lives in the US, where it really seems like the series is based. It would make sense if she now resides in the country in which she was born, and she’s never mentioned being a foreigner. She also speaks perfect English with no accent, which implies that she grew up in an English speaking country. If Charles is Teruko’s twin, and Teruko was born as an American, it would make it much easier for Charles to wind up in the United States.

Again, I don’t love this point, as it is extremely speculatory (what about this theory isn’t), but it is an answer. If Mr. Ultimate Chemist could take a DNA test for me real quick, that would be extremely helpful.

Point of contention #2: the existence of Charuko.

Speaking of which, please please please do not let this stupid theory stop you from shipping Charuko. There’s a 99.9% chance it is not true.

Anyways, Charuko is a big problem for this theory, given that I doubt the creator wants to incorporate incest into their story. While it obviously isn’t canon, Charuko is a decently popular ship, and that’s likely because of how their relationship is presented in the story. What was previously cited as sibling-like banter could easily be read as flirtatious teasing, and their similarities could be showing how compatible they are. But obviously, it could be totally platonic as well!

…Okay this is kind of a problem.

Even as more of a CharWhit enjoyer myself, I can’t deny that this is a particularly shippy moment. If you don’t recall, in this part of this scene Charles details how he likes talking to Teruko because she’s never pitied him, blushing all the while. The biggest blow to the theory is the sprite choice in this particular scene.

He has a version of this sprite with no blush. And yet, the creator chose to use the blushing version.

Now it is true that blushing can just be a sign of being flustered, which Charles often is. He could be embarrassed by merely complimenting Teruko at all, especially to her face. However, as any Owl House fan could tell you, blushing is often used as a shorthand for one character experiencing attraction to another. And, if Charles and Teruko are secretly siblings, I can’t understand why the creator would decide to imply the possibility that Charles could be crushing on Teruko. If the creator is a fan of… well, anything, they could probably expect that two of their most relevant characters have a possibility of being shipped together. They wouldn’t need to add any fuel to that fire– if anything, they would need to be throwing the firewood into the trash.

To be honest, I don’t really have much of a defense for this one. More than anything, this is what convinces me that this theory couldn’t be true. Really, all I can come up with is another example of something like this happening before, point at it, and say “if it happened there, it could happen here too.”

Said example is found in Star Wars, with Luke and Leia. At the end of the first movie, they kiss, but in the second movie, they learn that they’re actually twins, and cease romantic relations. Especially if this theory is true, I doubt Teruko and Charles would get to the point of sharing a kiss, but it would be a similar plotline to Star Wars.

Of course, I’m not the biggest Star Wars fan, but I’m pretty sure that when George Lucas wrote the first movie (in which Luke and Leia kiss), he didn’t know at the time that the characters were siblings. Meanwhile, if Charles and Teruko are twins, I would have to assume that it was in the creator’s plans the whole time, similar to Charles’ phobia of blood.

On that note of confidence, the final issue I could come up with: so what?

You’ve just spent 2.8k words+ trying to convince me that Charles and Teruko are siblings. Who cares? What does that actually have to do for the story? How would it ever become relevant?

Good points. Truly, I struggled with this myself. Like many others, I fear that Charles will die in Chapter 3 (after all, he was already pronounced dead at that time). And, given all the other drama that’s already going on with the other characters, and all the additional drama that the end of the second trial may cause, I wasn’t sure that a Charles/Teruko sibling reveal could really fit in that time. Even if Charles makes it past Chapter 3, I wasn’t sure how or why it would make sense for the story. But I did come up with a couple of ideas.

First of all, it could give Teruko another character to trust.

Charles is probably already the character that Teruko trusts the most (yes, even despite the above knife), but if she learned that he was her brother, she might feel even more connected to him. Or, she could pull a classic Teruko, and back even farther away from him in fear that she would come to trust him. At the very least, it would give Teruko an interesting dilemma. It would be interesting for Charles, too– he just learned he had a sibling that he lost, so how would he feel if he had a second sibling who was trapped in this killing game with him?

If Charles dies as an innocent victim, too, Teruko would have to face the loss of another person who’s important to her, but in a situation where he did absolutely nothing to betray her. This could happen even if Charles isn’t her brother, too, but I digress.

Secondly, it could force Teruko to talk about her past.

Given this scene, we know that there are aspects of Teruko’s past that she’s hiding from us, the audience inside her head. And, if she’s not telling us, then she definitely doesn’t want to tell other people.

But if Charles somehow learns that Teruko is his twin sister from a past he has no recollection of, after just receiving his dead brother secret, he would almost certainly want to start pressing her for answers. Although Teruko puts up a tough front, she has had moments of breaking down and showing “weakness” in the face of things that catch her off guard. It’s possible that if Charles genuinely came to her seeking answers about his own life, she would feel obligated to at least tell him something. And in that something, we could find some info relevant to the plot at large.

That is, if she actually knows anything about the situation. If she doesn’t and, say, MonoTV is the one who had to tell them about their siblinghood, part of Teruko’s backstory could also be rolled into the way that MonoTV would tell them that fact. That could be interesting, too, if Charles alone is privy to extra information about Teruko’s life beyond what happened when she was 5.

And, that’s about all that I have to say. As I’ve hinted at throughout this theory, despite being the one who came up with it, I really have my doubts that this theory is true. However, with the apparent lack of face blindness in this case, I can’t help but speculate as to how it could apply to something in the story in later chapters. I feel like I might be onto something, even if “Charles and Teruko secret siblings” isn’t it.

I would love to hear what anyone has to say to bust or support this theory, or if it inspires any other similar crack theories in its stead. Despair Time is a crazy enough series as is, so I wouldn’t be surprised if one of our shots in the dark makes it close to a target.