#given your same intelligent arguments

[beheworthy]

Get a life, saying Taika Waititi ruined Thor, the real question is who ruined you to threat a FICTIONAL character like a real human being and trying to ruin the very real life and career of a person, besides you think Marvel it's otherworldly good? Those movies are pathetic, every single one follows the same template and Martin Scorsese was right, that's not real cinema. Yes, it's cool the idea of superheroe movies but a very different one it's losing the sense of reality for horrible that it can be, check yourself and contemplate the harm you are causing to someone because you are bullying them online, probably what someone did to you at one point, most geeks have that in common, be better. Honestly doubt you are so perfect and for you answer, he lost himself for a bit, that's why things weren't perfect, he was going through things while he developed that movie, he said so himself, that he lost his love for the art for a bit and in part it's because of things like this, people hating for the sake of it, no other reason, excuse him for being himan. Just leave him alone and move on, write some fanfiction fixing what you didn't like and move on, leave the guy alone, he's not doing anything to you by existing and he's not attached to the movies anymore. Whatever happened or not inside Marvel between TW and KF to make decisions over TLAT we will never know but there's a reason why senior executives have quit since then.

This ask was sent to me a few days ago when this news came:

Like I've said, I'm so glad Marvel has kicked him out so hard and wants to categorically veer from his version of Thor. And everyone hates him now. He deserved this and more. ☺️

Here is my masterpost for everyone detailing how this terrible director ruined Thor like he had a vendetta against him. And here is the tag on my blog to view all the criticisms against him from me and others. Have fun.

[vsimp]

say something (song drabble) - inspo

word count: 2.9k

pairings: alhaitham, ayato, childe, xiao, zhongli/morax (x reader)

genre: angst/hurt/no comfort

summary: they lose you

Warning: presumed death/injury of reader, mentions of blood

Alhaitham x "I’m giving up on you"

Arguments with no happy endings. Rough words that could never be taken back or forgotten.

Alhaitham was the true definition of stubborn.

It was “rationality,” as he so called it. He liked to say things as it is, and there was no need to include your emotions into these conversations, as they influence your motives and produce bias.

Technical, yet cold and harsh at the same time, Alhaitham would leave no room for arguments when he knew that he was in the right. To even validate your feelings would be impossible for him because that was who he was; an intuitive scholar who knew wisdom beyond his years.

Then when was his wisdom too much for others to bear? Was there truly such a thing as too much knowledge?

He couldn’t even fathom such an idea.

And as he argued with you, his mind only thinking of rationality, reason, logic, and analysis, he deliberately ignored the way your tears streamed down your cheeks, how your hoarse voice broke as you cried about your relationship with him.

He then doubted himself for ever thinking he could get into a relationship. Hah. Something like this could never work out again. You both were just too different, or so that was what he’d tell himself as you both slept in separate rooms that night.

But as the house grew emptier and emptier, as you moved all of your stuff out, taking every single thing in his home that made it feel like… an actual home… he grew strangely uncomfortable.

Even as he looked back to that day of the argument, he knew he was right, and that your worries were of no substance. But why did your expression shake up his heart? Why did you make his chest ache? And why did he suddenly feel so empty all of the sudden?

The questions were answered very soon, after every single one of your items have been removed from his house.

And it was at that moment when Alhaitham realized that his house no longer felt like home. And then he realized the true reason for those inexplicable emotions, as he found the present he gave you during one of your birthdays. It was a promise ring, adjourned with your favorite gemstone. He remembered how you loved it so much that you would never take it off your finger.

Yet here it was, left on a note with one simple word.

“Goodbye.”

That was the day when he figured out quickly that even if he had all the knowledge in the world, nothing else could have mattered more, for as long as he had you, he would be the happiest man in the universe. It was a severe lapse in judgment on his part, and a true mistake that he so bitterly had to realize far too late.

He had lost you. You had given up on him.

He had nobody else to blame but himself.

Kamisato Ayato x "I’m still learning to love"

As the head of the Kamisato Clan, Ayato always had to remain vigilant at all times. He had to prepare for any worst case possible while also trying to actively prevent it from happening. It was the reason why he wore a mask around everybody who he knew.

He feared that if he were to let his guard down, revealing what truly laid underneath the mask, they would take advantage of his vulnerabilities and strike down everything he was ever trying to protect.

And that was the reason why he never trusted you, his own spouse. He had agreed to a marriage with you quite easily, as your family had something he wanted, and in exchange, he would take your hand in marriage, thus binding you and your family tree to the prestigious Kamisato Clan.

Ayato had assumed the worst about you, as your family had not given him the best impression either.

As he got to know you, however, he found that you were beyond his expectations. You were kind, compassionate, and intelligent. You did everything you could so that the clan and the Yashiro Commission could thrive.

You comforted him on the days when he truly was stressed out from all of his work, took on his pain as if it were yours. Not only were you beautiful, but you made him feel as if everything was going to be truly okay in the end, so long as you could give him that smile.

He almost admitted to himself that he had fallen in love with you.

Yet, a silly ploy from your family, one of spite over the fact that you were thriving in such a place, had ruined your marriage into shambles.

Ayato had lost his trust in you. Your family had planted false incriminating evidence, one that insinuated that you were plotting the downfall of the Yashiro Commission. You weren’t able to defend yourself, and you asked him if he really thought you were the type of person to commit such atrocious acts.

His eyes wavered for a moment at your question. But the "you" in his memory grew fuzzy as the thought that everything he was trying to protect was being jeopardized, that he shouldn’t throw everything he’s built over a mere spouse. That you were one of the people trying to harm him and his family.

That night, he muttered cold words to you. As if you were never even considered part of his family at all. As if all of those memories you two once shared never mattered. You were but an outsider to him at this point.

Since the diplomats of the Yashiro Commission grew suspicious of you, pressuring him to take action, he threw you out of the household that day. Perhaps he never loved you as much as you thought he did.

With no place to go, you ran out of the estate with only some small mora and clothes.

The estate remained cold without your presence there. No longer would he be surrounded by your brightness. But a traitor wasn’t worth mulling over, or so that was what he kept telling himself as he constantly found himself looking beside him, where you would usually be.

It wasn’t until a month later did his sister Ayaka uncover the truth. She and Thoma were the only people who believed in your innocence. She presented it to Ayato, and for the first time ever, he had never seen his sister so angry at him.

Regret and guilt washed over him immediately. What had he done? He had truly messed up. But he didn’t know that it was all a ploy, and he was just trying to protect the Yashiro Commission. Surely, you would understand. Right?

His heart ached for his lover as he ran all over the streets to find you. Ayaka had told him where you had been staying. He wasted no time to get there as soon as he could.

Ayato couldn’t forget the way those cold eyes of yours looked at him. He tried to apologize, but you just gave him a look of disappointment. It was like a slap to his face, a harsh wake up call as reality hit him. Maybe if he had trusted you more, maybe if he had trusted in his own love for you more, this would have never happened.

And yet, here you were, in the middle of a ragged, old inn that you could barely afford without the help of his sister, your clothes worn out as you had been doing everything by yourself the last month, and your cold eyes that no longer held the same love and affection for him as before— he knew that there were no more chances for him.

You slammed the wooden door shut in front of his face that day.

Childe x "I will swallow my pride / you’re the one that I love"

“You don’t understand. This is my job as the Eleventh Fatui Harbinger. My only duty is to serve the Tsaritsa. I can’t always be there for you.”

Those were his cold words that pushed you away. He was too blind to see what was truly in front of him at the time.

Childe strived for strength. He enjoyed fighting you, as he felt that you were both equal in terms of strength, and that he could grow in power with you. But that was all he saw you as—a sparring companion.

So when you started to hope for more, he instantly grew detached. It was like walking through a narrowed tunnel, where the only thing he saw was his goal.

There were no emotions as you confessed your love to him. An apathetic gaze that shook your emotions to your very core. It was only then that day when you realized that the heart you wanted to capture was unreachable. He had built icy walls that were impenetrable.

So you decided to give up on him.

Childe didn’t think too much of it. You were just a battle partner to him anyways.

He told himself that, but why did his heart ache when he recalled your tears? Why did he suddenly feel empty now that your presence was no longer there?

The silly jokes you’d tell him, the delicious food you would cook for him, the smile you’d give to him, and him alone— you were no longer there to provide that comfort that he had missed from being so far away from home for so long. Perhaps he had even started to see you as his home outside of Snezhnaya.

He realized that all of this time, he really did love you. He loved you so much, yet he was too caught up in his beliefs to realize it. He wanted to spend the rest of his life with you, to start a family with you, to have and to hold you until eternity has reached its end.

So he set down his pride, put aside his duties to the Cryo Archon temporarily, and he went to see you that day. And unfortunately, it had been too late.

You were smiling at another man, and he had lost you. And then he realized the true extent of the pain you felt that day when he had broken your heart.

Xiao x "anywhere, I would’ve followed you"

Xiao would never admit that he needed a companion in his life. It was his fate, his contract with destiny to serve and protect Liyue for the rest of his life, even if it cost him his very own.

He always isolated himself from the mortals, like a lonesome Qingxin blooming at the highest stone peaks. He looked down from height above, but never got too deeply involved with the matters of the mortals. It was only time, however, when somebody decided to climb those mountains and pluck him off the ground.

A hindrance to his daily affairs, and a nuisance whenever you followed him around, he knew it was his fault for forming a contract with you.

If you called his name, he would come. That was what he promised you. Be it for serious matters, whenever you needed his help with something, or for something more trivial, such as having a simple meal with you.

It was irritating to be called so frequently, but he was a man who kept true to his words.

It wasn’t until one day, you had made his favorite almond tofu dish and then called him over. It hadn’t even been a whole day yet since you’d last called for him, and you were already wanting to see him.

He had enough at this point. You couldn’t get any more involved with him. After all, he had always been alone for the last 3,000 years, and the karma he has to bear living with is too much for any regular mortal to handle. He needed to push you away.

“Don’t you have anything better to do than invite me over for something as trivial as this?” He would say coldly, not even wanting to sit down at this point. “I don’t want to spend any time with you. I truly loathe people who force others to do activities that they don’t even want to do.”

His words were much harsher that day. Although a part of him did feel bad, he needed to do this. He had to, that’s what he told himself. It didn’t bother him when you started choking into tears, nor did it bother him to see that heartbroken expression that lingered on your face.

“I just wanted to spend time with the person I love.” Your voice cried out painfully as you attempted to walk closer to him. “I would follow you everywhere, through everything and anything! You just have to let me in to your heart, Xiao!”

“Do you have any idea how stupid you sound right now? I will never love a mortal like you.”

The rejection was clear as day. He didn’t love you back. All of the time he has spent with you, the way he held you up gently after fighting some monsters, his small smile when you made him almond tofu for the first time; those memories were all rendered meaningless as he cut you open with his words.

But somehow, you knew this would happen. Your eyes looked defeated as you stared at him right then and there. You gave him a heart wrenching smile, which was a look that puzzled him the most.

He could never forget the look on your face. With eyes that stained with tears, and a beautiful, forced smile, Xiao knew that this was finally the end.

“I understand. Goodbye then, Xiao.”

He shut his eyes as you disappeared from his sight. It was inevitable that you would leave that day, yet the discomfort originating from his chest would not disappear.

Yes, this was something he had to do, no matter how painful it was, no matter how attached he was getting to you.

You never called him after that for a while. He thought it was a blessing, but somehow, the silence made it even more eerie. Like a singular piece of jigsaw that was lost amongst a thousand pieces of a puzzle.

"Xiao…” he heard you say after some time had passed. A weak voice. He knew something was wrong.

There, he found you. Laid in a puddle of crimson red. Everything was in slow motion at this point to him. He wasn't even able to assess the situation before he had pulled you immediately into his arms, calling out your own name in worry.

There was no response.

Thoughts of anger and regret washed through him, just like the heavy pouring rain that diluted your blood, like thunder that roared through the lands out of despair.

That day, he realized that this was the last time you would ever call his name.

Zhongli x "I’m sorry I couldn’t get to you."

The Geo Archon was a magnificent entity, one that inspired awe and respect from many individuals. You were but one of them who admired—no, more like adored him.

You fought alongside Morax in many battles to protect Liyue. It was your pride and joy to help with this almighty god.

But as often as you tried to pursue his affections, wanting Morax to look at you and you only, his gaze never seemed to find yours.

With a look gentler than any soft breeze in the plains of Liyue herself, you had never seen such an expression from him. He looked at Guizhong with such a tenderness, even dedicating a beautiful song on the lyre for her, bringing her glaze lilies to bloom from such a lovely song. You wondered if you could ever compete with such a beautiful goddess like her.

Your hands were tainted in blood, the malice of monsters and demons leaving scars all over your hands and arms. Your words were rougher with others, as you belonged on the battlefield, compared to the wise and kind-hearted God of Dust.

You were distracted more than usual one day, and you were injured quite badly in a battle with monsters. With blood pouring from the side of your rib cage, you immediately went to Morax to seek help. You could feel his divinity from miles away, and when you arrived to the area he supposedly stayed, your heart ached as he held Guizhong’s cheeks so gently. It hurt worse than any wound that you have even sustained.

You couldn’t help but drop your weapon. The loud clang echoed through the courtyard, and that was when the man had finally and actually looked at you.

Shock had laced in his golden eyes, his hands dropped down from her cheek to his side as he had realized the state you were currently in.

Your eyes had started to glaze over, tears pouring down your cheeks as you felt your own heart break. Your emotions were so strong, yet so ugly, that even the plants had started to wilt around you. You didn’t want him to see you like this, so you immediately turned your back away from him.

“Y/n, are you okay?!” His voice shouted as his footsteps drew closer to you, but your cold voice cut him off.

“Don’t take a single step towards me, Morax.”

He paused, unsure of whether or not to continue forward judging from your tone. Even as your blood seeped to the ground, staining the earth and dyeing the flowers around you a crimson red, you remained turned away from him.

You walked away from your unrequited love, ignoring his calls and pleas as he asked you to come back so he could treat your wounds.

You shut your eyes, enveloping yourself in the darkness.

[gold-onthe-inside]

critical asset

n. def. a specific entity that is of such extraordinary importance that its incapacitation or destruction would have a very serious, debilitating effect on the ability of a nation to continue to function effectively.

who? spencer reid (s7) x analyst!reader summary: the one where you and spencer finally get closer, even if it's just because penelope's too busy. content warnings: pining spencer, r and penelope argue word count: 1.8k

It’s painful how much Spencer likes you, wishing he could just transfer to counter-intelligence and be around you all the time, especially these days. You don’t come downstairs as often anymore, not since they put away Doyle, and it makes him all the more restless. He pursed his lips, looking at the chess game he was playing out, his interest in it sapping the more aware he was of your absence.

A few weeks ago, you would have been sitting right across from him, contemplating your next move, toying with the bishop between your fingers, so focused on the game that he could stare at you as long as he liked. He liked watching your sharp eyes dart around the board, assessing threats to your victory, liked watching you chew your lip as you thought about what to do. He could notice the exact shift in your expression when you knew you were either going to win or lose.

“I see it in 4,” you said, running the tip of your tongue over your teeth, glancing up at him as his gaze shifted to the pieces, the litte furrow in his brow as he wet his lips, trying to see what you did.

“How?” he asked. He was so sure he hadn’t given you a way out… until he watched you arrange each move delicately and his lips pursed into a pout. “Rematch?” he would ask, noticing your smug smile.

“Maybe tomorrow,” you’d say, standing up and squeezing his shoulder before you’d walk away, and he’d sigh, like he’s doing right now, sweeping the pieces into the cloth drawstring bag and folding up the wooden board to put back in his desk.

He’d get one over you more often than not when playing chess at least. He couldn’t say the same for everything else. But if anyone would say yes to a meditation sci-fi film, he knows it’s you — you’re one of the rare few people in his life who has obscure interests like his.

“My Russian isn’t that good,” you said as he waited by your cubicle for an answer, watching you turn off your desktop, drumming his fingers on the top of your transparent divider.

“I can translate anything you don’t understand,” Spencer offered, able to sense that he was close to prying a ‘yes’ out of you.

“I’ve heard your Russian,” you replied, raising a brow at him as the two of you stroll to the elevatory. “Just cause you can memorise the language doesn’t make you fluent, Reid.”

“Well, how am I supposed to become fluent if I don’t immerse myself in the language?” he asked, knowing exactly how to modulate his voice to melt your resistance. He sees your nose twitch and he knows he’s got you.

“Fine, but you’re buying dinner,” you replied, pointing at him and he frowned at you.

“How’s that fair if I’ve bought your ticket too?” he asked, pressing the elevator button. “Plus paying for snacks, and you know those places charge extra than normal—”

“Ugh, fine, jeez,” you replied, leaning against the wall. “I’ll buy dinner.” He was content with that, waiting for you to get in the elevator before following you. A thought crosses his mind, unbidden, that he had never said anything about getting dinner together, and hope flares in his chest. Maybe you wanted this to be a date as much as he did.

It’s dashed when he overhears your argument with Penelope when he’s supposed to be asking her to track down gas stations close to their crime scene — “Well, maybe I wouldn’t be feeling left out if you weren’t constantly shutting me out!” you cried. “God, I mean, you didn’t even let me know you were going to work this early, but you seemed fine calling up Kevin to carpool with.”

“It’s… That’s… It’s just complicated, okay?” Penelope cried, already on the edge since they’d lost Emily.

“Yeah, a lot of things seem complicated with you lately,” you said, scoffing. “It’s kinda hard to support you when I don’t know what’s going on with you, Pen. You’re either working or you’re with Derek or you’re with Kevin—”

“Yeah, well, I could say the same about you!” Penelope shot back. “Been on any dates with Reid lately?” she asked and his breath stuttered where he stood, out of sight, behind the slightly ajar door.

“What else am I supposed to do when you’re always bringing Kevin home?” you demanded. “Seriously, it’s starting to feel like he’s a third roommate lately. He certainly eats like one.” His heart sinks at your words — were you only hanging out with him because you had nowhere to go? Spencer pressed himself back against the wall. “You know what, if he’s gonna hang around that much, you could at least get him to split the groceries,” you snapped at her, heading for the door.

“Yeah, well…” Penelope struggled to come up with a retort as fast as you did — she didn’t have a cruel bone in her body. Or at least, she wasn’t as quick with using it. “Well, if you’re gonna spend that much time with Reid, the least you could do is throw that boy a bone,” she called after you as you stormed out, slamming the door behind you and letting out an enraged huff as you stalked down the corridor, oblivious to Spencer.

He swallowed, watching your retreating figure and letting a beat pass before contemplating whether he should go to Penelope. Maybe he should just have Morgan talk to her instead. He turned on his heel, making his way back to the briefing room instead.

Spencer stared at the clock, watching the hands tick round until you would finally leave. All this week he had been trying to convince himself that you were avoiding him, but that was just his paranoia talking. You’d been avoiding everyone, really — him, Garcia, Morgan… your behaviour towards other people was almost exactly the same. Almost, but not quite. You had been colder to him specifically.

He just couldn’t help thinking you were upset with him.

“You okay?” he asked, catching up to you outside the building, a slight pant to his voice due to the short sprint he had to do to catch up to you in time. Your pace had slowed, and with your gaze to the floor, you let him fall in step beside you. Spencer tried not to pay too much attention to the distance you kept between the two of you.

He noticed everything about you. He couldn’t help it. He had noticed the stiffness in your shoulders, the rigid way you carried yourself.

"Fine," you replied half-heartedly, turning your keys over in your pocket. "I just hate taking the train home."

“Why not get an apartment that’s closer to here?” he suggested, stuffing his hands in his own pockets, his messenger bag slung over his shoulder as he fell into step beside you. He’d noticed you had been taking the metro a lot more than usual. He wondered if everything was okay with your roommate.

"I like living in DC," you replied, walking with him to the station. He hated driving as much as you hated the train.

He nodded, walking alongside you. He wished you’d look at him, though. He could never guess what was going on in your head — was everything okay? Had he done something wrong? You seemed colder to him these days. “What’s been going on with you?” he asked, his voice soft. “You’ve been a bit down lately, are you sure you’re alright?” You finally looked up at Spencer and he had to catch his breath — he’d never get used to your eyes, the sharp intelligence in them, the focus.

You sighed, looking ahead again. "Penelope's been... I dunno, things aren't great between us."

“Why’s that?” he asked, reminded of your argument again. The two of you were always together, you were inseparable. “Is everything okay?” He was about to reach out, touch your arm, but he second-guessed himself, not wanting you to push him away. He couldn’t take it if you did.

"I don't know," you confessed, your nose tinged red with the cold, still turning over the key in your pocket to keep yourself grounded. "She's working overtime, if she's not on a case, she's working on something with Derek that she won't tell me about, which is fine, I get it. If anyone understands classified projects, I do. And then she's always with Kevin and I just..." You let out a breath, like you haven't let all of it out in a while, and it fogs up a little, your eyes glassy. "You know, you see yourself as this central person in someone's life and then suddenly... all these other figures come in and you just... don't know where you fit in anymore."

The look in your eyes made him ache to comfort you and he had to look away to stop himself from being overwhelmed by what he saw there. “People get busy,” he said, softly. “It doesn’t mean she doesn’t value your friendship, or that she doesn’t want you around as much as you want to be.” His fingers twitched against his own palm as he spoke — he knew the feeling in your words all too well. He hated the idea that you were going through what he did on a daily basis.

You blinked the dampness in your eyes away, focusing on putting one foot in front of the other. "It's whatever," you murmured, tucking hair behind your ear.

Spencer looked at your profile as you walked and he had to look away again. He was starting to lose count of how many times he’d stopped himself from reaching out to you. He wanted to, he wanted to so desperately… but he was also terrified of rejection from you. He didn’t have an endless well of confidence, and he couldn’t bear it if you pushed him away. So he settled with wishing he could help you more than he currently was.

"How are you doing?" you asked, glancing at him. "With Emily and everything."

Spencer cleared his throat as he walked beside you, staring at the ground in front of him. “I think I’m still in shock,” he said, softly. “I miss her a hell of a lot, I’ve never connected with someone so quickly.” He didn’t even hesitate before he added: “Except maybe with you.”

You huffed a little, smiling. "Nerds of a feather, right?"

He nodded, smiling. “Yeah, I suppose so.” He glanced over and met your gaze, and he couldn’t help the way a grin bloomed on his face, your eyes meeting his.

You smiled at him, your eyes lighting up in that way he loves — not just with amusement, but with warmth, and his chest started to ache, just a little. He could do this forever.

His heart skipped, and for a moment he could forget everything. For a moment, everything was perfect, just you and him.

[luvst4rc0r3]

Ambessa and reader having a fight?

PT.2

The argument had started small—just a disagreement, a difference in approach. But now, it was something else entirely. Something uglier, something raw.

The room was silent except for your heavy breathing, the lingering echoes of raised voices still thick in the air. Ambessa stood before you, imposing as ever, but there was something in her eyes—a warning, a challenge. And beneath it, something else, something you weren’t sure you wanted to name.

“You are being reckless,” she said, voice low but sharp, like a blade against your throat. “Charging into things without thinking. It will get you killed.”

You scoffed, shaking your head. “And what, you think you get to decide what’s too dangerous for me? That’s rich, coming from you.”

Ambessa’s expression didn’t change, but her shoulders squared slightly, her fingers flexing at her sides. A warrior preparing for battle.

“War and foolishness are not the same thing,” she said.

You let out a bitter laugh, but it came out more like a breathless, exhausted sound. “Oh, but I’m the fool here, right?” Your voice cracked, and you hated it. Hated how small you felt next to her, how your words felt like they were hitting a wall, like she had already decided she was right and that was the end of it.

“I did not say that,” she replied, measured, calm—too calm.

You stepped closer, heart pounding. “You don’t have to.”

Ambessa exhaled slowly, as if trying to keep control of herself. “This is not about control,” she said. “This is about keeping you alive.”

Your lips parted, but the words wouldn’t come at first. Because you knew what you wanted to say, but the weight of it was suffocating.

Then, finally—

“And what if I don’t need you to protect me?”

Silence.

Ambessa stared at you, unreadable, immovable. Then, after a long pause, she said, “Then I suppose I have overestimated your intelligence.”

The words hit harder than any wound she could have given you.

Your breath caught, and you felt it, the sharp sting in your chest, the way something inside you cracked.

Ambessa must have realized it, too, because for a brief second, her mask slipped. Just a fraction, just long enough for regret to flicker across her face.

But she didn’t take it back.

You swallowed hard, looking down for a moment before forcing yourself to meet her gaze again. “I get it now.” Your voice was quiet, but it carried.

Ambessa tilted her head slightly, the closest thing to a question she would allow herself.

You huffed out something that was meant to be a laugh but wasn’t. “You don’t trust me.”

Her jaw tightened.

You inhaled sharply, blinking fast. “I’ve done everything to prove myself to you. I’ve stood by you, I’ve fought beside you, I’ve loved you—and still, you don’t think I can take care of myself.”

Ambessa was silent.

She was always so good at winning. Always so good at knowing exactly what to say, at breaking people down, at turning weakness into strategy. But now, she said nothing.

Because she knew you were right.

You let out a shaky breath, nodding. “You know what? Maybe I am stupid.” You gave her a small, bitter smile. “Because I actually thought this was real. That I was more than just someone you had to manage.”

That made her flinch. Barely. But you saw it.

You turned before you could change your mind, before you could do something pathetic like ask her to say something, to give you a reason to stay.

Ambessa did not stop you.

And somehow, that hurt the most.

You didn’t cry, not yet. But as the door closed behind you, leaving her alone in that cold, quiet room—she did.

I WILL MAKE A PT.2

I WANT FOOD

[cantareincminor]

Lives May Hinge

Given my recent Handler obsession, I've been rereading chapters where she features heavily, including chapter 63. This is the chapter where WISE has to thwart an assassination attempt on an opera singer without Twilight's help.

At the start of the chapter, as the WISE rookie spouts off about the tabloids smearing the opera singer, we see several shots of Handler in Fullmetal Lady mode. Shadowed or invisible eyes, threatening expression and actions.

Then she says this, which struck me as a layer deeper than everything else:

"Never forget that lives may hinge on any little scrap of information."

Now it could be that she's just referring to how the last war started in the first place. Both sides accused the other of instigating the war, as we find out during Franky and [Redacted]'s argument on the hillside. Ordinary foot soldiers had no idea which version was true, mostly believing the propaganda they were sold by their country's leadership.

She could also be referring to her experience in intelligence in general. The success or failure of many missions may have hinged on a seemingly insignificant piece of information.

But during this readthrough, something about Handler's expression, her shadowed eyes and the deep tiredness they hold, made me think she's talking about something personal. Endo often uses these solemn close-ups of characters' faces and eyes when they're thinking about the personal losses they suffered in the war.

For example, Twilight in chapter 20 (bomb dog arc):

Yor, in chapter 91:

And for Sylvia, in chapter 78, we see this:

We pretty much know that Sylvia's husband and daughter died in the war from her epic speech to the university students. It's possible she's talking about her husband when she says: "Have you ever discovered a blown-off piece of your lover stuck to a wall?"

But how exactly did she lose them? Could it be that a "little scrap of information" could have been the difference between their survival or death?

The backstory I've created for Sylvia in the Orpheus universe is that she was already working for WISE when she was married with a kid (she reveals this during Chapter 35 in her conversation with Yor). Her husband was fully supportive of her clandestine career despite the risks. And when her cover was blown, the Ostanian military bombed her home and killed her husband and daughter. All these years, she's had to live with the haunting guilt and regret of what she could have done to save them. In The Signal and the Smoke, I plan to explore this in more detail. Maybe it was a simple, tiny mistake she made on a mission that gave her away to the enemy. A scrap of information that escaped her grasp and ultimately led to the deaths of her family.

And that is why she is so exacting in her methods. So intent on cutting through noise and bullshit for the truth. So keen on having concrete data and evidence to back up any claim. And drilling the same instincts into her agents. It's not just to preserve the peace at large. It's to save people she cares about from dying, and to teach her agents to do the same.

This is what also gives me hope about how she'll deal with the eventual Twiyor reveal and the knowledge that Yor is a Garden assassin. In her own words, she will not view everything in black and white. She won't try to make everything fit into preconceived notions. And she won't rationalize.

She will be aware of her own bias, and after the initial anger and disbelief and shock have passed, she'll try to save as many lives as possible with her decisions. The Forger family will have a formidable force in their corner when all the cards are on the table (and after Handler reprimands Twilight so harshly she makes him cry lol).

[frickityfrackityfuckingshit]

Listen I LOVE the humans are space orcs thing, but imagine.

Humans are space crabs.

Like sure, there’s some really different looking aliens out there, with different ways of communicating and reproducing and stuff. But like. Being a human is just generally a good way to become the intelligent species on a planet. There are just human-like things everywhere.

“Our ship has 3 humans and 5 kraleex” Hendt reminded the human, Jane.

“What? No the ship has 2 humans, 2 splaids, 3 kraleex, and a loktad.”

“Agh, you all seem to tell each other apart but you look the same to me.”

“Kristopher is literally ORANGE AND 7 FEET TALL.”

“You’re beige. And Lance is uhhh.” He paused as he rooted around for the human sweet in his head. “Caramel. That’s practically orange.”

“Seriously humanity had some fucked up shit going on, you’ll probably offend Kristopher if you call him a human to his face.”

“Didn’t you convergently evolve?”

Jane sighed.

“Yeah but like- humans are pretty naturally aggressive. Loktads are quite peaceful, that’s why they took so much less time than us to advance. He’ll see it as an insult.”

Handt shifted uncomfortably.

“Humans are very useful in difficult situations. Despite your size and lacking in physical strength many of you have great problem solving skills. Your roots are nothing to be ashamed of.”

“Yeah because compared to other pentadactyly we were very distrustful of our own species and formed smaller groups. We had to be stronger as individuals.” Jane was starting to get a bit frustrated about giving this history lesson. Handt should have been given a briefing on human-like species, but the Strokt were know for their ability to pick up on skills, not knowledge.

Thankfully, they nodded slowly.

“I will refrain from calling Kristopher a human. I can see how this may hurt him.”

Jane let out a breathe of relief when he retreated. She couldn’t even remember the original argument. But at least Handt would now be less likely to offend one of their crew mates.

[zeyris-daydreams]

Not a request, but how do you think poly yandere Boothil and Robin would work together

Yandere! Boothill x reader x Yandere!Robin

Omg!! I absolutely love the idea of a Robinhill poly!! The mutual worry goes insane, and I’ll make sure to marinate their experiences in a seasoning of their experiences!

Boothill is a man who knows what loss is. After all, loss sent him on his journey, and bore a seed of vengeance in him. For Robin, loss was immaterial. It was what she felt to be loss of freedom, and loss of close ties. In that Robin and Boothill understood each other, and their experiences, albeit similar on the surface, shaped them differently.

Boothill is protective from his past experiences; scared that if he doesn’t hold his close ones, they’ll slip to never be seen again. The fear of further loss, embraced by his single-mindedness as a Galaxy Ranger, is quite the shake to deal with. It’s worsened by a sense of posessiveness, creating a similarly determined approach with you.

Robin however knows how it feels to be left with limited options, and so despite her ever-growing affection to you, she is rather reasonable. She can’t stop her feelings, but she can judge things from another perspective as well; Boothill never doubted her abilities or expertise when they combated the monkey-virus, after all. And, despite his possessiveness and jealousy, he knows she can take care of himself. She truly is an angel, in all the meanings of this word.

Then again there’s you, too, fortunate or unfortunate enough to have their gazes on you. Perhaps it is Robin to initiate, and perhaps it is Boothill. Both work out in the end; one way or another, their relationship based on trust and understanding starts to encase you too. Maybe not in the same understanding or trustful way, but still, it is based upon care for your being.

I believe Robin and Boothill may initially find their ideals to crash, it doesn’t lead to an argument. With your person, Boothill believes that the best course of action was to protect what he likes most; you, and Robin. Robin however understands it, and given she likes Boothill too, there is no fuss around the topic. Therefore no extreme measures need to be taken.

In your case… compliance isn’t promised, that’s what Boothill had told “singing queen” when discussing you over lunch. Because in case of you rejecting them, how can they ensure your safety? Robin does not wish to cage you. Boothill believes the only way to ensure safety would be to keep an eye on you, supervised.

And, given your acceptance isn’t promised, Robin is fairly easy to convince. While she doesn’t plan to hold you hostage - goodness, no. She’d never do that to someone else - she can try other ways of conviction. If you understand their care, then you’ll surely choose to stay; that is something that Boothill can get behind.

And, if you choose to stay, then it’s not keeping a bird in a cage.

Their mutual care for each other extends equally to you, really! I mean, Boothill can take care of himself! And, Robin is intelligent, she did well all this time too, dealing with so many things. . .

You have to understand why it’s just different with you. You have to.

Maybe she will have to.. tune you slightly. Slightly, promise, it’s not even going to hurt! Boothill and Robin mutually don’t want anyone’s feelings hurt. And so it’s unacceptable if you offend either of them as well - same as if you were being treated badly.

Obsessive care and being protective of you isn’t bad treatment, however. You simply have different needs from them. That’s it.

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

I think that Astruc’s claims that Chloe has the lowest IQ out of the entire class perfectly show writers’s misogyny. In that same tweet, he said that the smartest one in the class is Max (a BOY), while the dumbest one is Chloe (a GIRL).

I looked to see if I could find this tweet and got this:

I wouldn't call it a strong case for misogyny when only two characters were mentioned in a random tweet. It's not bad for a boy to have a high IQ or for a girl to have a low one. It would only be a slam dunk case if we had a official full class ranking that showed a clear bias.

Given the limited data, someone could very easily counter your argument by pointing out that Marinette is shown to be incredibly clever so clearly the show values female intelligence! What does it matter if Max is technically the one with the highest IQ when the show barely features his character? Kim Possible's smartest character was also a dude and he showed up way more often than Max does, but no one is calling that show misogynistic! That's not even getting into the issues with IQ tests in and of themselves. We put a ton of undue weight on those numbers.

That's not to say that Miraculous isn't misogynistic. I'm just saying that your argument is not the one I'd use to convince people of my case. There are much stronger arguments to be made based on the actual text which is not limited by a character count and has far more thought behind it than a random tweet that I'm hesitant to give undue weight. It's a tweet about a specific type of intelligence, not a thought out character analysis where he explained why Max is the best and brightest character while all the girls are silly and dumb.

I will note that I am judging him for being happy to say who has the lowest IQ. While there's nothing wrong with having a low IQ, the social stigma makes the label feel mean. I don't think I could answer a question like this even if I had an answer pop to mind. Like I was originally going to point out that Kim Possible does have a minor female character who could probably get the lowest IQ label, but it made me feel like a bully. If this were me, I would have ignored the ask.

[artist-issues]

So if you believe every biblical word is 100% the word of your god, not to be questioned, only obeyed, regardless of how far humanity develops, how do you manage Ephesians 6:5-9?

Should human trafficking victims simply obey their captors “with a sincere heart” given that they are “servants of Christ” and the Bible urges bond servants to be “faithful and obedient?”

Hell, it promises obedient slaves will be rewarded in Heaven.

To anyone reading, seriously, check the whole verse, the context doesn’t make it better.

If your argument is that all in the Bible is above question, how do you account for that?

Nobody said "not to he questioned, only to he obeyed"—if what you MEAN by "not to be questioned," is "not to be carefully examined in order to get it right." The Bible straight-up says to carefully examine God's words. So don't be disingenuous.

Every Biblical word is 100% the Word of God, yeah. Ephesians 6:1-9 says:

"Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honor your father and mother (which is the first commandment with a promise), so that it may be well with you, and that you may live long in the land. Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. Slaves, be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in the integrity of your heart, as to Christ; not by way of eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, serving with good will as to the Lord, and not to men, knowing that whatever good thing each one does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether slave or free. And masters, do the same things to them, giving up threatening, knowing that both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no partiality with Him."

The chapter is talking about Christian-human relationships with other humans. Starts with the most basic human institution—family. Moves on to slaves and masters. Slaves, indentured servants, bond slaves, were all common in the time of the Bible being written. It was not cultural taboo to have people living with and working for you, or even being bought and sold by you—what the Bible is saying here is actually very counter-cultural. Because it means you have to keep treating them as equal humans, not objects or beasts of burden you can beat or mistreat however you want. Which is a low bar in our minds, but was an incredibly high bar back then. It's called "interpretation." You can't just take words written in a specific context and time period, for a specific intent, with a thousands-of-years-older vocabulary and culture, and go "oh, well in my time period and my language that word means this." It's about as dumb as saying the Wizard of Oz is about queer sex purely because of how many times the word "queer" is printed in the book.

Human trafficking victims are not the kind of "slaves" this verse is talking about, and I bet you know it.

In fact, there is too much anti-human-trafficking philosophy in the Bible for even the most ardent atheist to try the same little "discredit the Bible" smear tactic you're trying right now. Anyone who knows anything about history (beyond a mere 185 years ago, that is) and can see concepts beyond the far-West-ideology of "slavery bad" can have a more intelligent discussion than this.

I'm tired of the same old tripe.

Don't you see that God is using the same term, "slaves" to refer to Christians, HIS people, who are also called His "sheep, children, beloved, inheritors, heirs?" In this same verse? So then when the God who invented humanity uses the word "slave" can't you infer that maybe He doesn't mean it with the same baby-level-100 1/2-year-old connotations that you do? If He's using it to refer to the very same people He loves, protects, sacrificed His life for, and goes to unimaginable lengths to bless--then do you really think this verse is talking about people who are categorically worth being treated as less than human?

That doesn't make sense. You can see that it doesn't make sense.

Bottom line: if God said slavery was morally acceptable, guess what? It would be morally acceptable. He invented reality, your brain, and morality. But He didn't say that, so grow up and be serious. Instead, what He said was listed above: no matter your circumstances, be it as a child, father, slave, or master, remember and conduct yourself as if you're all slaves of God, and you're living to please Him, not each other or yourselves.

God condemns "man-stealing" in Exodus 21:16. Deuteronomy 22 condemns rape. The same God wrote 100% of the Bible through several different authors across centuries by the inspiration of the very words with His Spirit. No, this passage of Ephesians does not tell sexually trafficked victims to obey their kidnappers and rapists. And you know it. Got anything else?

[nostalgebraist]

Having read your recent mega-post, I'm curious: What do you think about this?

https://metr.org/blog/2025-06-05-recent-reward-hacking/

I'd seen that post, yeah.

It's not really "big news" in itself, since it's just reporting some METR's own experiences with a phenomenon that has been noted previously by many users of "reasoning"/RLVR models – for instance, in the OpenAI paper linked in the post. (Claude 3.7 Sonnet in particular is infamous for doing this, to the point that it makes it significantly less useful.)

That said, obviously the phenomenon itself is noteworthy and worth thinking about.

FWIW, I basically agree with 1a3orn's argument here that these behavior patterns are a (retrospectively) straightforward consequence of these models' RL post-training objective:

That is: we're basically training these things so that, when given with a math or coding problem (or something sufficiently similar), they behave as though their task is "maximize the probability that a rigid programmatic solution-verifier (such as a test suite) will pass."

This isn't usually what humans actually want in context. Indeed the models know (from base model background knowledge + assistant training) that isn't what humans want in context, and to some extent they can even notice that this is a weird case where they're doing something that goes against the values/behavior-patterns they normally apply to other types of input.

Hence the fact that if you ask them, conversationally, about whether they would do things like this, they will be like "oh no, I'd try to actually help you" – because here they're not in "a context that resembles RLVR math/code/etc training" (where they "think" they're trying to satisfy a programmatic verifier), but rather in "a context that resembles the other stages of assistant training" (where they "think" they're trying to satisfy a human).

IMO this isn't so much "dishonesty" – which implies a single coherent point of view that the character is choosing not to reveal in this case – but an incoherent "split personality," where the LLM does seemingly inconsistent things in different contexts, and it hasn't been trained to have any particular "point of view" about the disconnect or even a baseline awareness of its existence.

(The LLM can of course "rediscover" the disconnect and spontaneously comment on it, if you point it out after eliciting both the "oh I wouldn't reward hack" type of response and the reward-hacking behavior within the same context window. But AFAICT these things haven't been prepared to respond to this scenario – they're winging it, inventing "their point of view on it" from scratch in each case.)

And all of that, in turn, is a consequence that these models are currently getting heavily optimized for a particular science/math/coding-specialized notion of "intelligence" – which is getting hyped up a lot in the industry right now, as the next big direction for scaling (more RL, more tokens sampled in inference) – and, as usual in this industry, this is being slapped on top of the thing that came before in a casual fashion, apparently without much care towards the coherence of the resulting character, or even the utility of the resulting tool (cf. the 3.7 Sonnet user stories again).

[venusmage]

genuine q's from someone wanting to place KCD2 and saw your huge praise!

Do you have to have played 1 to get it or no?

If you do have to play 1 is that one good? I heard such a mixed bag when it released and I'm not sure if that was just the 'there are only white people' thing or what

I want to play these games but I have not personally paid a lot of attention to the world of video games in many years and do not know the current narrative/vibe around the KCD1 and 2 team, appreciate any insights!

1. No you don't! As someone who bounced off of KCD1 when it released, 2 does a great job recapping the most important story beats within the first hour of the game. I think it might be one of the best done "previously on" type segments I've ever seen. My wife knew nothing about the series at all and she understood everything going on with zero issue.

That being said, I'm loving 2 so much that I am going to go back and give 1 another shot after we're finished. 1 IS good, but it was Warhorse's first game and a niche one at that, so it has some jank that I'm not feeling in 2 so far. I think they really polished things up in the sequel and it's probably going to prepare me for 1. I won't lie and say 2 doesn't have a learning curve. One of my only, if not my only critique is that I wish the game had better accessibility options for those who want to customize parts of the experience. Right now mods are handling that, but it's only a fix if you're a PC player. However as a person who tends to find an abundance of systems/options overwhelming, this game does a good job in making the management aspects FUN rather than a chore. This has quickly become a cozy game for me lol.

2. I guess the criticism you mentioned for 1 could be levied at 2 as well, but I do think that kind of argument may be taking the game in bad faith or misguided. KCD's thing is that it's heavily researched, fairly faithful historical fiction. Bohemia is in what is now the Czech Republic. The games take place in the early 1400s and try to accurately reflect the people, culture, and beliefs from that era. I don't think its a bad thing that the devs, who are based in Prauge, want to create a game that is inspired by their country's history. If you have absolutely no interest in the time period or that part of Europe then maybe it won't be for you and that's totally okay! As someone who usually likes A) creating my own playable characters from scratch B) playing women and C) doesn't often care for war stories -- this game surprised me in that it didn't deter me at all. I love Henry as much as if he were a custom PC.

I admit to not knowing a lot about the devs in general. I like keeping a distance from the commercial art I consume because I think blurring the line between creators and fandom pretty much always ends badly (bioware...larian a bit too). I've heard that there is at least one vocally shitty developer who's a typical anti-woke gamer asshole, but I have no reason to think that the other people involved with making the game are like that at all, and I don't believe in discarding an entire piece of art because one shitty person is attached. Because here's the thing: while KCD2 very faithfully portrays some deeply upsetting subject matter (war, racism/xenophobia, PTSD, homophobia, sexism, antisemitism), 3/4ths into the game I've only seen these portrayals done in a way that is respectful to the vulnerable parties. An acknowledgement that these horrible things happen while clearly condemning them at the same time. I've not had a suck-my-teeth-and-grimace moment with this game despite the grim plot line. It does not punch down. Which is funny, given the crowd of gamerbros that are fans of it as well. The story and characters are too thoughtfully written for it to be anythibg but intentional. Having a game not insult my intelligence has been lovely. I feel like that's rare lately.

Yes most of the plot important characters are European Christian guys from 1403 and they act like it. However the minority characters that are included are handled with just as much respect and effort as our lead Henry. Katherine, Samuel and Musa are three of my favorites in the entire cast, actually. As well as Hans who genuinely feels like he's written to be implied gay/bi. His romance, compared to the two straight options, genuinely seems to me like the "intended" one just due to how the plot is written and the themes throughout the story, and hes with Henry the whole game. And the thing is this game is so carefully and lovingly put together that I struggle to believe it's just a coincidence. Because nothing in this fucking game is a coincidence.

Sorry for the gigantic response but I think this RPG is so special in such a rare way. The Writers, developers, musicians artists and actors all deserve the highest praise. The first and only game that if it doesn't win GOTY I'm actually going to be pissed.

[cultkinkcoven]

Mild TW: mentions of self harm

When I first started my Luciferian journey I was always like, aware of the laws around bodily care, but as I’ve progressed Lord Lucifer has elevated my understanding of my body and that law so so much. Take care of your body, your body is a temple, now means so much more to me.

“You better ask your body about that.”

Lord Lucifer told me to think about my body as an intelligent machine, to actively have conversations with it, and respect it not only as my vessel but my best friend. It is my greatest companion and it is the only one that will hold me until the very end.

When I think about my body as an intelligent machine with hardware, making its best effort to maintain me at every moment, I come to appreciate and have far more empathy for it. When I pay attention to it, I can see it trying.

Reflexes, thank you. It knows so much faster than I do to dodge. Blinking, breathing, ear drum vibrations, vision. even itchiness, this response that says hey, there’s something on our skin. When I acknowledge my body as a friend, I appreciate the millions of things it does for me to care for me at every given moment.

and then I can have empathy for it, especially as a person with a disability. I have a chronic nerve pain disorder, and I hurt every single day. I used to hate my body for it, I used to get mad at it. But now it’s like, I understand that it’s sending me pain because something is wrong, it’s trying to communicate with me. If I don’t respond properly and do the things I need to do to manage my condition, it will continue to cry for help until I do.

It carries me through the world, and I can only make impact on the world through using it. It is the proof that I was here. Idk if it’s pretty, idk if my face is pretty, but I do know that my eyes are probably shaped that way for a reason. My skin is the color it is so it can manage sunlight, my teeth might be fucked up but hey, they’re doing a good job at breaking down food and keeping me alive. I’ll give them some credit. This body is far from perfect, but I appreciate it so much. It’s my best friend.

Growing up trans, I’ve always had a feeling of “oh, I wish I didn’t have to have this body, this body is a prison,” and I’ve had a history with self harm. When I was in therapy I heard a lot of arguments for why or how to stop self harming and the mindset you should try to strive for. Most of those arguments did nothing for me. One day I kind of just looked at myself in the mirror and talked to my body. It’s not your fault. You didn’t do anything wrong by existing, I’m just as stuck with you as you are with me. and idk, I wanna protect you too. I want to treat you differently than everybody else does. I wanna be your friend and watch you change. I want to shape you, cause, we’re here together.

Lucifer has always told me, “ask your body about it, it remembers things you do not.”

and for a long time I didn’t understand what he meant, ask my body. But then I actually tried doing it, listening, and it answered. It always does, it cannot lie. Me, I lie to myself constantly, but my body always keeps it real.

Fingers thank you for writing this, shoulder I know you’re hurting and I will figure out how to alleviate that somehow. Today you are 21 years, 9 months and 30 days old. 7,974 days we have known each other. I will do my best for you for as much longer as we have and I know you will do the same. You always have.

[mehiwilldoitlater]

hai, this is my first time request in your blog,

May i've headcannon for Sun wukong x swan princess s/o (because I saw a post about them in your blog ) please.

This will be so romantic ❤️

Most of these headcanons are based on a modern setting! Mostly because it's funnier:

-Living together was one of the first things that these two wanted to do, mostly because they wanted their own privacy (small monkeys excluded) and mostly because they knew that they still knew how to live together as a couple. Of course they needed to make some setting rules, and, as much as some would not believe, Wukong was the one that came up with a cleaning schedule. The job changes every week, so no one can complain about "doing the same things over and over," which is quite helpful. Usually, they cook together!

Once she opened the door, the smell of frying meat met Odette's nostrils.

The view of a certain monkey moving around the kitchen was quite the view, even if it broke her heart a little.

"I'm back! Sorry I'm late; I met traffic in the subway!"

"How did you meet Traccif in the subway?" He laughed, moving his hand in the air. "No worries! I'm almost done here. Want to help me with the veggies?"

After discarding her coat, she tied her hair in a ponytail, putting herself to work.

-Date could be on common ground or be something that the other loves or would have loved to do, and the other is so in love to say no. Of course they have some lines that are better not to be crossed (not to be forced to partake in something that could remind them of some traumatic experience since both of them need a lot of therapy).

No one said that they could not complain about the activity, but never to the point of putting the date on the wrong mood. Then, we had the yoga accident…

They both sit in silence, one far too angry to speak to him, the other quite embarrassed to bring the argument on.

"…Do you really need to scream from the top of your lungs?" Odette finally spoke.

"She said to let all of our negative thoughts out of our mind!"

-If they argue, which can happen, not so much but can, they can stay for hours in silence in the same room, ignoring the other for no one knows how long. Despite being the rational one, Odette too had enough pride to not let her good heart be swayed by giving him right on something on which he was clearly wrong, and Wukong? Well, he's Wukong! He'll never apologize!….If he's sure that he's not the one to blame, of course.

The only sound was the ticking of the clock on the wall. Odette sat on the sofa, Wukong just on the complete opposite side. They avoided making any sound, any eye contact, or any possible thing that could make them talk. Her nails ticked like the clock on the sofa surface; Wukong's tail swayed like a snake.

"…I'm sorry if I overreacted." He finally said, moving his hand up. "I didn't mean for us to fight like that… and I'm sorry I had said something that had hurt you."

"…" She didn't speak, but she started to at least look at him.

"It's just…I really can't control myself…I still have issues."

"…I know you have them… and I appreciate your apology…"

"…Thanks…"

"……But I still think Gordon shouldn't let Michael leave Hell's Kitchen."

"SERIOUSLY—"

-Wukong loves Odette; that's a matter of fact. With her, it was the first time in his life that he didn't know how to talk or how to be a little smartass. He loves that fire in her, how elegant and yet so fierce she can be. He loves the fact that, given up, it seemed the easy way out; she still holds on to her pride and didn't give up at all. She is strong and intelligent, and he would literally move the moon for her... he did it once.

"I'm ridiculous."

"I think you're lovely…" she smiled, leading the small dance they had on the rooftop of the building. His height never was a problem for him, but trying to dance surely shows some cons from it.

"I can't even look at you properly!"

"Is the mighty Monkey King having height issues?" She smiled, making a quirky remark. He twitched his eyebrow, touched by that comment, then he smirked. In one movement he was able to swing Odette, holding her in a dip. She gasped, holding herself on him to not fall down on the cement.

"Now," he smirked, "I can enjoy the view!"

-Odette loves Wukong not only because he saved her, but also because he showed that he cared. All her life she was forced to accept the fact that she was supposed to marry the prince, who noticed only one trait of her (her beauty). Wukong not only noticed firstly how she really was but also what she could have been. She grew closer to him than she ever was with the other. To Odette, Wukong is the sun, who came to put some light in her life and give her a second chance, and she loves him for that. She supported him from the beginning and always did, and tried her best to be the reasonable voice of the two.

Her finger caressed his head, her nails slowly scratching his scalp, resulting in a small sound coming from his strong chest. He was purring; he allowed himself to do it only alongside his friend and her… she blushed, thinking how cute that was. She gently kissed him again, feeling a twitching under her lips.

"Are you awake?" she whispered; only the golden color from his irises responded to her.

She giggled, allowing herself to give him another kiss, which he followed immediately.

@thepoweroffiction @angryvampire @the-little-devils-chaos

@sleepingdramaqueen @nerium-lil

@ibelieveinfairytales606 @freeflowhighway @crosspunzel @mymultiverseofmadness @twisting-echo @crimsonflameproxy

@phoenixeclipse-lmkau @miifu666

[sgiandubh]

The missing link

You do not watch the show or have stopped doing so for a long time.

You don't even like it.

You did not read the books.

You do not like the characters. Or, at least, one character.

You do not like the actors. Or, at least, one of the leads.

This person is probably guilty for everything going wrong in this world.

In your humble opinion, this person lacks talent. You do not understand how this person got any opportunity, in their entire life.

This person lacks intelligence, class, empathy and even beauty.

Them getting a part in a successful production was a glitch in the matrix.

This person is a liar and a crook. You never fell for this person's dark schemes and you tell everyone about it.

This person has no future in their chosen career, because you analyzed every single thing about them and it lead you to this conclusion.

You have never met that person face to face. Yet you somehow feel they personally wronged you.

At the same time, you follow every step and every breath of this person.

You are able to tell, with reasonable precision, where this person is (and sometimes even with who), at any given time.

You make compilations of your observations and keep records and tabs accordingly, for future reference.

You are able to detect this person's presence in rough footage or other people's more or less private reels. You actively engage with these people and sometimes get permission to use those reels.

You post those reels on the Internet for public consumption, without the prior consent of the person featured in them.

You sometimes engage with this person's entourage, asking them private questions, in public.

You post legal documents, publicly available but meant only for private use, on the Internet, in order to make a point.

You are an expert in areas that have nothing to do with your own chosen profession and have adamant opinions on everything ranging from how to properly prepare a cocktail to legal matters.

This person's sexual orientation, as determined by you, is of paramount importance in order to understand and judge this person's professional achievements and ethics. Or lack thereof.

When challenged, or even just questioned about your endeavors, you resort to bullying and victimization.

People doing so have a personal problem with you. They are evil, stupid and paranoid lunatics and boors.

You send hateful Anons to these people on the regular, in the hope you will manage to undermine their confidence and make them disappear.

You use several sock accounts or proxies in order to read and/or interact with the person(s) you feel you have a personal problem with.

You sometimes post music with lyrics expressing your true (violent) sentiments about a particular person or group of persons, but do not admit to it. It is a #coincidence or reflective of a particular #mood.

You regularly make these people responsible for everything, exaggerating their reactions and twisting their arguments.

You prompt your audience to do the same.

You are never wrong and have trouble admitting it.

You did nothing of the above or, if you did some of the above, you did it for the public good.

....

Excuse me, but I am surely missing something, here.

This is not about a particular person and clearly aims to paint a collective portrait. All of the above come in many shapes and forms.

It is what it is.

[luminouslywriting]

Band of Brothers enemies to lover trope

Hi Nonny! For this one, I just decided to do the men who I thought would fit the trope haha! So bear with me and let me know if there's anyone you really wanted to see that I didn't include!

Lewis Nixon:

-It's not that you two are enemies as much as you two are competing to be Dick Winters' bestie lol. And considering that both of you are in intelligence, it makes it pretty easy for the two of you to clash.

-The drunken arguments and accusations are honestly hilarious and it's all in good fun

-But he's genuinely concerned about you stealing Dick from him as a friend and taking over intelligence because he feels a little superfluous when you're around

-Level with him that you respect him and his work and things might work out...

-Otherwise, the way this gets solved is 110% a drunken one night stand that results in the weirdest friends with benefits relationship that turns real haha

Ronald Speirs:

-I can't imagine you're his actual enemy—one of you just thinks that the other highly dislikes them and is fine with it, thus propelling a mutual disdain and dislike for one another

-It's probably you that thinks he dislikes you and he does nothing to help the situation lol

-It probably all comes to a head when he gets switched over into Easy Company and you have to actually be around each other rather than just in passing

-And suddenly the arguments are turning soft and the glares are turning into starry eyed sweet conversations

-He's a little baffled that you thought he hated you—he's liked you the entire time haha

Buck Compton:

-Academic rivals anyone?? This man screams academic rivals in school to me so hard

-So it naturally translates that when you get put in the same company, this rivalry still exists and the two of you are consistently arguing about the dumbest historical or geographical facts lol

-Everyone is very very entertained. And also really sick of it. So they definitely lock you in a closet until you two actually have a real conversation about feelings haha.

-From then on, the banter is 100% witty and fun and cute rather than aiming to be right.

-Though if anyone asks, you're the one who's right at all times lol

Joe Liebgott:

-Just dislikes you? For, like, no given reason?? Idk, he thinks you said something about him and immediately starts to beef with you no matter what.

-This means somewhat harmful pranks back and forth and purposely being mean to one another

-I think this gets solved during Bastogne and the two of you end up huddling for warmth in the same foxhole.

-Secrets are shared, things are confessed, and the whole thing was a misunderstanding to start with. He's very embarrassed about that entire thing haha.

-It's only smooth sailing and fun pranks in your lives after this.

Joe Toye:

-The only way I can see this happening is if you have a brother that he knows and he just really dislikes your brother. So it's a whole Montague/Capulet thing going on.

-Everyone is over the whole, "i'm not standing next to Y/N." etc.

-But I think that if you have his back during a battle, his tune will quickly change and he'll do his best to have your back.

-Will not admit feelings unless something happens to you though, so that's an rip moment for sure

-Maybe you two go back home together?? Happily in love and both injured and taking care of one another??

[1moremilgram-enjoyer]

is everyone in milgram just dead

Okay I'm making this post because while I'm not sure how much I believe this, it's a possibility that's been eating at my head for a while, so I gotta share it somewhere even if it's not the most solid theory in the world.

So anyways, hello members of the jury! Today I want to discuss the weirdly recurring theme of the prisoners in Milgram possibly being dead, and Milgram being some sort of afterlife thing. Given the fact it clearly has some supernatural elements, it certainly isn't impossible. So let's get into it!

CW Death, murder and suicide, abortion, child abuse, drowning, cults and indoctrination, waterboarding, gang violence

Yuno and the Allegations

The biggest hint that at least some of the prisoners might be dead is the in Yuno's second VD, Absolute Zero.

Yuno: Oh! Also, that reminds me, there was one thing I'm curious about. Es: What? Go ahead and say it. Y: Am I…really alive? E: That's…what do you…. Y: Hm…if you don't know, then it's fine. E: Yuno…. Y: Hey, it's time, right? E: Y-yes. Prisoner number 2, Yuno. Sing your sins.

Weird thing to say, really. So, presumably, she has some reason to believe she might be dead. Which is especially worrying because Yuno is one of the most intelligent and perceptive prisoners in Milgram, and might even have higher awareness of some of the more supernatural/meta elements of the series, as seen by images from both her cover songs appearing in Umbilical and Tear Drop.

All this is to say, if Yuno has reason to believe she might be dead, we have reason to believe so as well.

There are two points of Yuno's story were I feel she could have died. One is during her abortion, given a question from Trial 2.

(T2) Q20: Did you hate the person you killed?

Y: It was too much of a pain to for me to think about anything.

So her abortion was painful, which likely means it wasn't done in a hospital, as professional abortions typically don't cause too much pain in the moment (source), even if they can cause cramping or discomfort in the recovery period. If it wasn't done professionally, and it hurt a lot, it's very possible she may have died while performing it.

However, because of a few things we'll talk about later, I'm not sure this is very likely. The answer I find more likely is that, unfortunately, she may have committed suicide by jumping off the staircase we see her standing on in her Undercover silhouette shot.

For one, because what the hell would this shot even be otherwise. I've seen people suggest infanticide as opposed to abortion, but that wouldn’t cause physical pain (you could argue that answer is about emotional pain, but I'm not sure how much that works), it doesn't match her kill-shot in Undercover, and she herself has claimed her "muder" was abortion (and I don't see reason for her to lie about that). It also doesn't seem likely she would get pregnant more than once, seeing this question:

(T2) Q10: If you could turn back time, would you commit the same murder once again?

Y: I'd make sure that I won't have to commit it. That's it.

So, then, what the hell is up with that Undercover shot? Usually they say something important about the prisoner or their crime, but it really doesn't seem to have anything to do with anything.

This is where I bring up that Yuno falls off a staircase at the end of Umbilical.

Like, obviously this is more meant to be metaphorical, as in Yuno "slipped up" and now has to avoid falling by grabbing the balloon, which ends up destroying the staircase which had previously been related to the mixing of DNA (long story). But... she still is falling from a staircase. That is what is happening in the video. This is a silly argument, but it does exist.

Now, there's a few other things which could imply this, but that will have to wait for a moment. So while there is very little evidence for now, I'd say this is the most likely reason for why Yuno believes she may be dead. Especially given she might have depression (check out this cool post by weather-cluddy), her comitting suicide is sort of the best guess we can make I feel.

Nevertheless, no matter the reason why, Yuno believes she may be dead, which opens the door to other characters, if not all of them, to be dead as well. Let's take a look at the other prisoner most likely to actually be dead in my opinion, and see if we can establish a pattern.

Haruka's Worrying Situation

I believe, even if no one else is dead, it is highly likely Haruka attempted suicide. I am not going to go too in-depth in here, because moibakadesu already made a really good post about it, which is where I got the theory from in the first place. In fact, the idea Haruka may have at least attempted suicide has existed ever since Trial 1, check out this cool post by Venus from thinkin-bout-milgram. Here's a summary of what the main points of the theory are:

-The repeated motif of water and drowning could indicate the way Haruka killed himself, especially since he lived in Naogaka, Niigata, known as the "city of water."

-Haruka repeatedly attacks and even strangles a younger version of himself in Weakness, in one occasion alongside the lyric "I've become a victim, I've become a victim."

-The young girl in Weakness might actually be a representation of the "ideal Haruka", as he's stated his mother wanted a daughter instead of a son (I don't actually agree with this part, I do think the girl is a literal girl Haruka killed, due to several lines from his VDs, such as him saying Amane "brings back bad memories." However, it's still a possibility)

-The nonchalance with which Haruka speaks of comitting suicide in his second MV, Metamorphosis of the Weak, could imply he's already done it once.

-The line "if with one click, and I can reset everything" in AKAA can be more directly translated to "if with the push of one button I could be reborn", which paired with butterflies being symbols of death and rebirth and being connected to Haruka because of the name of his second VD, could imply Haruka died and was reborn.

-Haruka standing on a chair in AKAA as his shadow lines up with the shadow of the bars in the window to create the ilusion he has a noose around his neck.

-At the end of AKAA, Haruka is surrounded in what looks to be formaldehyde, which is used to preserve the corpses of dead animals, while the aforementioned "I could be reborn" lyric plays.

As you can see, there's a lot here, which is why I think it is highly likely Haruka comitted suicide.

There is an issue with bringing this theory in, which is that part of the theory is that Haruka's silhouette in the Undercover shot doesn't have white noise, which separates him from the others and could imply he's a victim like Hinako and Mahiru's boyfriend, who similarly have no white noise. The problem for our purposes is that this theory assumes a lot of the other prisoners, such as Yuno, may have committed suicide as well, creating an inconsistency with this point. I don't have a good answer for this, beyond a really odd, Hamlet-esque "Haruka is a victim of his own madness" kind of thing which doesn't work very well, so unless any of you have another explanation, it's best for this theory to just sorta ignore the white noise thing.

So, now we have two prisoners who very likely died before Milgram. This vaguely establishes a possible pattern: what if all the prisoners were taken right as they died?

Muu’s Mysterious Memory Mishaps

Es: You said you wanted to go back home, right? And, "suppose" we did let you… Even if you were to leave this place, you'll then have a brush with the police, won't you? Muu: *Surprised* E: I mean, you've killed someone anyway, so are the police not making a move in regards to that? M: Well, I don't know. As of now, I don't have a clear memory of what happened after I did it. And then before I knew it, I was here. E: Is… that so? M: You guys should've known that, being the ones who brought me here after all.

This line from Muu’s first VD has always intrigued me. Muu doesn’t have a very good reason to be lying here when seen in full context, so she’s likely telling the truth. But, why? Why doesn’t Muu remember anything clearly after her crime, and why was she taken so quickly after committing it?

First idea is that perhaps all the prisoners are simply taken right after the murder they’re in Milgram for; even in the case of multiple murders, you can say Milgram just decided to take them for the last one exclusively.

However, Shidou serves as a counter example, because of the ending of Throw Down.

It’s a pretty simple logical progression. Shidou has no reason to kill after the flower person dies, so their death is after his last murder most likely, and yet he does remember it happening. Thus, Shidou has a memory of something which happened an undetermined amount of time after his final murder.

That means the "fuzzy memories" thing isn't universal. This can also be vaguely inferred by the attitudes certain prisoners have regarding their "murder(s)", like Kazui for example.

Now, you could argue Muu simply doesn't remember well because of the Trauma, and she just happened to get taken shortly after her murder. However, there is a chance now that there is a reason she was taken shortly after her murder.

You know what this post is about. You know what I'm about to imply. So I'll make the observation now:

In It's Not my Fault, one of Muu's shoes is off after she kills Rei. And we have seen this imagery of "one shoe off" to represent suicide before.

It's common in Japan to take both shoes off before comitting suicide, but if you want to read into only one of the shoes being off, you could argue it represents they're "half-suicides", as Milgram also considers them murders. In that sense, you (or Muu) could argue were Muu to commit suicide after killing Rei, then she would also become "Rei's victim", the same way Hinako and Mahiru's boyfriend are Kazui and Mahiru's victims.

This idea that Muu might still be a victim in the situation could also be implied by the lyrics here:

[It's Not my Fault] It’s not my fault after all, after all. Everyone wants me to be innocent. What a relief. Can’t be helped. I’m always meant to be pitied!

(Btw I'm using the fan translation in the wiki because the English subs in that video are... odd)

Yes that sentiment is repeated a lot during the song, but Muu does shout "I'm always meant to be pitied" ("I'm always the drama queen") at the top of her lungs here.

Now, the shoe thing isn't quite like that in After Pain, but we never actually see Muu's shoes in the real world, only in the blank inner world with the broken hourglass, and there are other inconsistencies with reality there, namely Rei's body's position.

You can see her right shoe is on there, but again, this scene isn't real.

The concerning thing is that apart from that, After Pain does not help Muu beat the suicide allegations.

In particular, look at the scene of the photo I put there. You can see there's a bunch of people judging Muu for her murder, as it's usually not considered a socially acceptable thing to do. But, hold on, didn't Muu say she didn't remember anything after her murder? Correct! That means she doesn't remember this "judgement" happening, but she imagined it would. Perhaps that's what the one line means:

[After Pain] Counterattack being a suicide note

Counterattacking Rei, killing her, is social suicide. For obvious reasons.

...

But it's still called a suicide note, which is not a good look. And yes, I do think the Japanese lyric explicitly references death, though take that with a lot of salt since that's just Google Translate and DeepL talking.

In fact, that entire set of lyrics is pretty odd.

[After Pain] Let’s meet up inside the pain, a place just for me Postmortem makeup to hide my heart, how to solve it is a secret The stabbing of the little devil’s voice, counterattack being a suicide note “I love YOU”

"Meeting up inside the pain" probably refers to hurting Rei, so now they're hurting together. The "stabbing of a little devil's voice" is probably referring to dangerous impulses, so murderous thoughts. "Counterattack being a suicide note", already explained. "I love YOU", because Muu is a girlkisser.

But the "postmortem makeup" is odd. You could argue the "death" which happened before the "makeup" was applied was the "death" of Muu's reputation, her old persona. Rei "killed" "that Muu", and now Muu is hiding her real feelings with "postmortem makeup."

But then, why would the method to solve it be a secret? Who is she keeping it secret from? Rei, and all of Muu's old 'friends', all know what lies beyond that makeup, they all saw what Muu was like before Rei stepped in.

That means there's another interpretation. If her real feelings are a secret, there's only one person they would be a secret from. Es (and us by extension). In a way, After Pain is hiding part of her heart, the less sympathetic parts shown in full in It's Not My Fault. Muu being a bully was already implied in After Pain, mind you, but it was still relatively "hidden", at least compared to It's Not my Fault.

And if that is the way we're meant to read that line, we run into the allegations again. If the makeup is for Milgram, and it's "postmortem" makeup, then Muu is already dead.

And that's without mentioning how much After Pain seems to imply suicidal tendencies in general.

[After Pain] If I was gone, If I had just disappeared I overheard, I found out How much I’m not needed There’s no special meaning, I got the short end of the stick I overheard, I found out How much I’m not needed

I don’t want tomorrow to come, I want to forget yesterday I was miserable, someone please help me

Maybe I’m done Just one more time before saying goodbye I’m just kidding, please forget I said that

The only lyric that doesn't seem to imply it is:

I want to feel “alive”, is it ok if I breathe?

But feeling alive and being alive isn't quite the same, right? You can be alive without feeling alive, and if someone doesn't feel alive, it's possible they're not a very good state of mind.

So, what could this all imply? If we're going with the idea of murder-suicide, it's possible Muu was very worried about how people would hate her after the murder, as implied by After Pain, decided she didn't want to deal with that, and unfortunately made the decision to kill herself.

One small thing which could serve as a counterpoint is her Trial 1 Voice Reveal distorted line.

Fufufu... It's your fault... for doing horrible things to me.

She seems pretty sure of herself here, and it's very likely this is after her murder. But it's perfectly possible she said this initially, then thought about the social consequences, and that's when she started to feel bad. It's also worth noting the only time in It's Not my Fault where Muu seems to hesitate is right after her murder.

[It's Not my Fault] Wait, wait, just as a hypothetical. What should I do if I’m actually a bad girl? Don’t ever hate me, and don’t look for what lies “after and from” the pain.

This is immediately after the murder, when she comes out of a caccoon, presumably her arriving at Milgram. So, she was initally confident, that's when she says "I’m always meant to be pitied!" in It's Not my Fault and presumably her Voice Reveal line, then hesitated and started to feel awful as we see in After Pain.

... Well, there's also the way more uncharitable reading where Muu killed herself so people also pitied her instead of just hating her for killing Rei, but that's a bit too dark and in bad faith for my tastes. It is there, though.

So, yeah, Muu may be dead too. And she brings with her an interesting implication; the prisoners may not have clear memories of the events leading up to their death. So, even if some of them committed suicide, it's possible they simply don't remember ever taking the decision to do so, explaining their behavior in the prison.

And it also could explain away... one apparent contradiction. One which exists outside of this theory, but that this theory could explain.

Amane and the Voice Reveal Trailers

As most of you know, the Voice Reveal trailers for all these characters contain certain distorted phrases which in general seem closely linked to their murder. And as pointed out by blueepink07 in this post, it seems the First Trial Voice Reveals are things the prisoners said after their murder, while the Second Trial ones are showing a point before their murder. Check out Kazui's, for example.

(T1) "I'm so dumb... Why did I have to dream?"

(T2) "Hinako, I love you more than anything."

There's also Muu's, since I've already brought it up before.

(T1) "Fufufu... It's your fault... for doing horrible things to me."

(T2) "Hey..why don't you listen to me...? I'm telling you... Hey...HEY, I'M TALKING TO YOU"

The second being right before she killed Rei.

That works well enough for all the prisoners... except Amane.

(T1) "Ahh! I'm so sorry...! I'm sorry...! I'm sorry for breaking the rules!"

(T2) "Father is a very praiseworthy person. Once [my/his] virtue increases, he'll come back home, right? It's a little lonely, but I'm fine!"

In theory, Amane would have been punished before her murder, as we see happen after she heals the cat in the taser scene. Meanwhile, if she's lonely without her father, it could perhaps be because her mother is dead after Things Happened (yes I'm going with Mother!Victim theory on this one).

But that's not the case. Following the pattern, the line about her father coming home at some point is before her murder, and apparently, she was punished for breaking some kind of rule after her murder. The implication here, horrid as it is, could be that her father returned home after she killed her mother and punished her for doing so.

Thankfully, this is impossible. After all:

(T1) Q18: Do you regret your "murder"?

A: No. It was a natural obligation.

(T2) Q3: State the name of your victim.

A: There is no victim. Only the punished.

(Taking some liberties on the translation of Trial 2 since the questions are still coming out as I write this)

So Amane genuinely believes she was following her cult's principles to a T when she killed her mom. As much as that likely isn't the case (long story), if she had gotten punished for killing her mom, then she wouldn't think like this. If she had been punished for it, she wouldn't think her murder was a "natural obligation", but rather a mistake on her part.

What this implies is that Amane doesn't remember being punished by her father.

...

Amane... doesn't remember...

Fuck.

Yeah, remember when I said it was possible the prisoners don't have clear memories of the events leading up to their death? Going by the "T1 after - T2 before" logic the Voice Reveals seem to follow, we can infer Amane was likely punished for killing her mother, but we also know she can't remember it happening, otherwise she would regret it. And based on what we learnt from Muu, we do have a way to explain how that could happen. If Amane died while receiving the punishment the T1 Voice Reveal alludes to, she wouldn't have a clear memory of it.

And the thing is, it does seem likely Amane received this punishment. Think about it. Interrogation questions are one thing, since the creators don't fully control them, but why mention her father would possibly return home in the Voice Reveal trailer? Unless he did. Hell, you could argue we might know the exact moment he returned. Amane does look at the entrance of her apartment at the end of Purge March, though that could simply be for dramatic effect rather than being a literal thing which happened.

But there's more. Because if her father returned home, we might actually have an answer for another one of the mysteries surrounding Amane's situation. The Undercover prisoner card.

The image on her card seems to show a bathroom. It is widely assumed the images on these cards are the location the murders happened in, but to my knowledge, this isn't 100% confirmed. However, this creates a small issue with Amane. Just looking at the murder shot in Purge March is enough to confirm that.

I made a more detailed theory on her murder on this post, diagrams included (scroll to the bottom if you're only interested on the murder), but for now, there are two things to note here. One, there's a trail of water which seems to come out of the door with the light on, as the puddles are bigger the closer they get to it, implying that room is the bathroom. And two, the room the murder actually happened in seems to have a window/door behind a curtain, which isn't what Amane's bathroom looks like.

Adittionally, there isn't any blood outside of the murder room, implying the victim's body wasn't dragged there.

All this seems to imply Amane's victim didn't die in the bathroom, which is sorta a problem considering the previously mentioned commonly accepted theory. But this idea that Amane may have died while being punished, perhaps while being drowned as we know that's one of the accepted methods of punishment in her cult, brings up a different possibility.

What if the images in the prisoner cards aren't showing murder location? What if they show the last place the prisoner was seen in, the place they died?

Kotoko, Mikoto, and the Prisoner Cards

So, first, is there any indication either of these might be dead? For Mikoto, not really. Sure, there's the whole Death card at the end of MeMe thing, but that doesn't have to be taken so literally.

Kotoko has a very little potential hint in the fact she's shown alongside a wolf at the start of HARROW, but by the end the wolf is by itself. If the wolf represents a potential partner (long story), then maybe Kotoko died?

Though you can easily argue the wolf is slightly different and thus is meant to just represent Kotoko.

However, the reason I'm bringing them into this is because their prisoner cards are completely nonsensical under "murder location" theory for the images shown. Let's start with Kotoko.

It shows an alleyway, which at first seems like it makes sense. We do see her attacking a man in an alleyway. However, after that happens, one of the pieces of background text says this:

◆ A wanted thief was assaulted by an unknown assailant Early yesterday morning, a nearby shop employee reported hearing screaming and seeing a man lying on the ground. According to the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, the man had lost consciousness after being beaten on his face, stomach, and other areas, and was taken to the hospital. The police are currently trying to identify the suspect. [...] According to previous investigations, the male victim was wanted throughout Tokyo for theft and assault charges and was identified as the suspect, Mikio Oshii.

(Translation by Maristelina)

Mikio Oshii is the name of the man Kotoko assaulted in the alleyway. It seems odd to me that we would learn he was taken to the hospital if he later died in it somehow, especially because Kotoko didn't want to kill him. We can clearly see this because of a crucial difference between her attack on him and her attack on the serial killer who likely is her victim.

She covers her face while attacking Oshii, because she doesn't want to be recognized. She is committing assault, after all. However, that only matters if she's planning to keep him alive. Conversely, she doesn't cover her face while attacking the serial killer, because she knows he won't be a witness. She went into that warehouse planning to kill.

Of course, she could have accidentally done too much damage, but the issue there is that she would probably express some remorse in that case. She doesn't, and the fact she only ever talks about one victim-

[TASK (T1 VD)] I did kill someone. [...] I don't have a single regret.

-it really seems like Oshii was able to survive her attack.

That creates an issue with her prisoner card. It shows an alleyway, but her only victim died in a warehouse. As confusing as that sequence is, he did die in the warehouse.

You know when we do see an alleyway again, though?

But she's not wearing her face covering. And if this was the alley with the one sign about a car accident that shows up over and over in HARROW, I'd imagine we'd see the sign, even if it was obscured in some way. So once again, a silhouette shot which seems to have nothing to do with her murder or her general situation.

So, is it possible she died in this alleyway? That's the only other reason I can imagine why it'd show up in her prisoner card, so. As for what exactly happened, I imagine she may have been murdered at the whim of her victim's father?

Shocking revelation: The heinous criminal behind the crime is the privileged son of a high-ranking official!

(Article referring to Kotoko's victim)

So, she got found out and immediately assassinated? It's a bit out there, but it would explain both her prisoner card and her attitude in the prison.

And then there's Mikoto.

As you can see, his card shows a street. The issue with Mikoto is one of format. The cards only ever show one location, but we know Mikoto has at least two victims.

[Text: To the right, the Subway Murder, which clearly has a ceiling. The murderer has blood on his right cheek, his left cheek is hidden. There's also the bathhtub scene, where the right cheek is hidden, but the left cheek has blood already trailing off, which doesn't quite fit what we see in the other murder if you think about the bath chronologically.

To the left, a murder out in the street, with an open sky. The murderer has blood on their left cheek, but not on their right. This is seen in both the crime and the shower scene]

So yeah, at least two. You could argue the bathtub murder is actually a third one, which... huh. Two things that absolutely exist and a Secret Third Thing, the existance of which is disputed? Trikoto vibes.

Point is, Mikoto has two different murder locations at least. The street, yes, but also the subway. This creates a problem with the "images in the prisoner cards are murder locations" idea, because it only shows one. You could try to gymnastics your way out of this by saying maybe Hostkoto committed the street murder while Orekoto killed the other victim(s), and because only Hostkoto is considered a prisoner by Milgram, only his murder is shown? But I feel that raises more questions than it answers.

Instead, if we assume the images to be death locations, the ambiguity disappears, because Mikoto as a system can only have one death location. The issue is you have to explain how Mikoto died in the middle of the street, which is a bit difficult.

The best guess I can give is related to the subway victim. It's been pointed out before that guy looks a lot like a stereotypical Japanese delinquent, which could imply he was part of a gang. If that's the case, it's possible the killer angered the wrong people by killing him, similar to Kotoko, and thus was later murdered himself. We know that street isn't very safe, on account of one of the alters getting away with murder there. It's a pretty large stretch, and has like zero evidence, but it's physically possible at least.

Let's take a quick look at the other prisoners and see if their images can also be explained by the "death image" theory.

We know Muu would share a death location with her victim if she really committed suicide as the theory states, so nothing weird there. Haruka's a bit more awkward, because it shows the forest he very likely killed the girl in, but I'm not entirely sure if the forests near Nagaoka has bodies of water deep enough to drown oneself. There is the Shinano river, which has... trees, around it.

This was taken from Google Street View in Nagaoka. Again, not sure how deep it is, but assuming it's deep enough to drown, it could work if you ignore the trees don't look too much like the ones irl. Maybe Haruka threw himself off the bridge?

Alternatively, Nagaoka borders the sea, and it seems like there's forest almost all the way up to it. So maybe that could work? Unsure.

Worst comes to worst, we can maybe change it to saying Haruka didn't drown himself, but killed himself in some other way in the forest. Point is, I think Haruka's isn't too big of an issue.

Fuuta, Mahiru and Kazui don't have a lot of evidence towards what the hell would have happened, but the best assumption I can make is they all committed suicide because of guilt. Fuuta in his room, Mahiru in the suicide forest (likely also where her boyfriend committed suicide), and Kazui by jumping off a building like Hinako. As for their evidence...

>Fuuta burns at the end of Backdraft, which is the same thing that happens to Killcheroy, so you could argue that's meant to show he's dying. It's not great, it absolutely is just meant to be metaphorical most likely, but it is there.

Additionally, he's also an outlier for the "muder location image" theory, since what one would consider his "murder location" is very ambiguous. Is it his room, where he sent online hate from? Is it Killcheroy's room, where she assumedly died? Wouldn't it be the front of Killcheroy's house, where Fuuta took the picture to dox her? Again, death location is less ambiguous.

Fuuta's attitude during Trial 1 could be seen as a bit weird if he was suicidal, but I'm not sure we can comfortably say that with the limited information we have.

>Mahiru in I Love You goes to sleep after seeing her boyfriend dead, which could be read as her committing suicide. You know, if you're insane like me.

Especially given this question from Trial 1:

(T1) Q20: What do you think about smoking?

M: I've never smoked before, but I might copy him if who I love smokes.

That, alongside a lot of the bg text from TIHTBILWY, implies Mahiru likes the idea of copying her lover. Not the greatest quality to have when your lover commits suicide.

>Kazui has this:

Where the smoke of his cigarette turns into a noose. Of course, that's meant to represent self-destruction in general, but it could also be taken more literally. He... doesn't have much else.

Thus, everyone else vaguely fits the idea of "death image"... except him.

Our favorite headache inducing doctor strikes again! His card shows a hospital room, which is a very strange death location, but perfectly fits his murders. You could argue he runs into the same issue as Mikoto, but it's actually possible Shidou just killed all his victims in the same room, so.

Yeah, Shidou's probably the biggest counterargument for this theory. Because while it's possible he died in a hospital, there is zero evidence for it, beyond the image itself. Hell, neither Throw Down or Triage ever seems to imply he died in the first place, which is an issue. This theory's already heavily dependant on the extremely flawed "you can't disprove it" argument, but at least most of the other ones have some kind of logical progression which gets you to how they died.

So, to complete the theory, we have to make the pretty big jump that Shidou died inside a hospital room, without knowing how that happened.

... Wait, inside the room?

Wait wait wait, show me Fuuta's and Amane's again.

Hmmm... 0308... hmmmm... 0308... I totally didn't just do this to put the two together... hm...

Yeah, same thing. They both show the inside of a room. Which, along with Shidou's, shows that these images can show the inside of buildings, right?

But, then... why is Yuno's outside?

That very clearly isn't the inside of a building. But this generates a problem for the "murder location image" theory, because Yuno's "murder" was abortion. Even if it wasn't done professionally, she would have still done it inside, presumably. This creates an inconsistency with Fuuta, Amane and Shidou. If their murder locations are shown from inside, why is Yuno different?

However, this inconsistency disappears if we assume the images to be death locations. I previously established if Yuno died, she likely committed suicide by jumping off a staircase, which does vaguely fit this image. It's similar to Kazui's in that way.

Now, I don't want to get too ahead of myself here. Murder location is still absolutely the more straightforward answer, but it does come with its issues. As stated, Fuuta's image would face some ambiguity, Mikoto's would face extreme ambiguity, Amane's seems to contradict the evidence we're shown in Purge March, Yuno's is wildly inconsistent with the other images, and Kotoko's is straight up nonsensical.

Meanwhile, death locations physically work with all the cases, even if Shidou's case is extremely weird, but it requires huge assumptions and stretches. It relies heavily on how impossible it is to disprove, which is not a good sign. Russell's Teapot, and all that.

Summary of the Theory

>Everyone in Milgram is dead, and their prisoner cards in Undercover show the place where they died.

>Prisoner's memories of the events leading up to their deaths are extremely fuzzy, explaining why only Yuno seems to even suspect it.

+Haruka: Committed suicide by drowning himself, possibly in the Shinano river or the sea. [Most likely to be dead]

+Yuno: Committed suicide by jumping off the staircase we see her standing in on her Undercover silhouette shot. [Most likely to be dead]

+Fuuta: Committed suicide in his room out of guilt. [Very little evidence]

+Muu: Murder-suicide, she committed suicide after killing Rei. [A bit more evidence than others]

+Shidou: Died in a hospital room [???]

+Mahiru: "Copied" her boyfriend by killing herself in the suicide forest. [Very little evidence]

+Kazui: Jumped off a building, like Hinako. [Very little evidence]

+Amane: Drowned by her father as "punishment" for her murder. [Unfortunately, sorta likely]

+Mikoto: Murdered by one of the members of Subway Victim's gang. [Sort of filling in the blanks here]

+Kotoko: Murdered at the order of her victim's father. [Very little evidence]

Conclusion

Do I believe this theory? Honestly, I don't know. It makes a few too many assumptions for me to fully believe it, but I do think it's a decent possibility, so I wanted to share it with you all. In any case, that's all I have to say for now. If you have any thoughts about any of this, feel free to share! Also I didn't even touch on Es but you can try to fit them in somehow if you feel like it.

Anyways, if you made it this far, you deserve a hug, this post was depressing. Take care!