#ooc: open to all plotting!

[lucimalfoys]

Character Basics

Character name: Lucius Abraxas Malfoy Age & Birthday: 27, December 27, 1954 Gender & Pronouns: Cis-male, he/him Occupation: Independently Wealthy (still making money from the Malfoy Apothecary) Blood Status: Pureblood Previous House: Slytherin Previous Affiliation: Death Eater Face Claim: Austin Butler Patronus: He’s never been able to successfully form a patronus, and it’s a topic of contention. Due to his intrigue with the Dark Arts, he doesn’t have the mental ability to create one. Wand: Elm wood with dragon heartstring core–a family heirloom concealed inside of a snake cane.

BIOGRAPHY:

Born as the sole heir to the Malfoy name, Lucius has been doted on since birth. Though his relationship with his parents has left something to be desired, he’s always loved being a Malfoy. While at Hogwarts, he excelled at the subjects he deemed worthy and was a Chaser on the Slytherin Quidditch Team for five years. From a young age, he’d been betrothed to the youngest Black sister, who he spent quite a bit of time with during their school years. It might not be a choice they each made, but there were far worse options in his mind. As long as she didn’t follow Andromeda’s lead, he suspected Narcissa would be the perfect wife for him.

Upon graduation, he found himself plunged into his father’s circle of Death Eater friends. As was expected of him, he needed to take the Mark and join the cause–something that he was more than willing to do at the time. The growing inclusion of Muggle blood in their world troubled him, and, because he was Abraxas’s son, he very quickly became one of Voldemort's most trusted Death Eaters. 

Unlike some of the others, Lucius didn’t entirely enjoy getting his hands dirty. At least not with violence. His main method of action involves using his wealth, influence, and connections to support Voldemort's cause. In his mind, lining the pockets of a Ministry official here and there is no cause for concern. During the War, he and his father were entrusted with keeping Voldemort’s Diary–now known as a Horcrux–safe. The thing is, and Lucius is perhaps too embarrassed to admit it, but he didn’t know exactly what the Diary was when they had it in their possession. He suspects his father knew the full story, but once Lucius knew the truth, he wasn’t exactly devastated when Severus swiped it from under him. Narcissa had been around it on more than one occasion, and he didn’t like the idea of his future wife falling prey to such a thing. Even if he believed in the cause.

As the tide began to turn against Voldemort, Lucius found himself in a precarious position. While he’s grown up with Pureblood supremacy at the forefront of his mind, he also knows the Malfoy name needs to remain unsullied. Above all, their family is meant to be one of the oldest and well-known families in their entire world. A member of the Sacred 28. They could never be seen on a losing side, especially if it involved prison time for him and his father. The Malfoys weren’t felons–they were practically Wizard Royalty. After all, their money and wealth could even be traced back to the Muggle Royal Family. They were simply held to a higher standard than some of the unsavory… beings who graced Voldemort’s ranks.

After Voldemort's defeat in January 1981, Lucius is left to navigate a world where his former allegiances are now dangerous. He must find a way to protect his family while maintaining his status in the wizarding community. Publicly, he distances himself from Voldemort's ideology, using his cunning and resources to reshape his image. Narrowly avoiding imprisonment, he’s stuck with the story that he was coerced into serving the Dark Lord. “Didn’t you hear? Abraxas and Lucius Malfoy claim they were under the Imperius the entire time. What a load of bollocks.” Privately, however, Lucius remains a complex character, grappling with his beliefs and the reality of a world without the Dark Lord’s influence. All that’s left is to quiet the discontented, marry Narcissa, and create the next Malfoy heir. Surely, it couldn’t be that difficult.

[r3dblccd]

Chat, how many benefits of the doubt do I give someone that keeps kind of ghosting me

[wordpress-blaze-30195609]

Living in a land, a nation, and among the people of America is different in every measure. We are the Land of the Free, Home of the Brave, inventor of Fast foods, junk foods, heavy metal, fourth of July hot dog cook outs and much more. We live free, or so we believe; even though burden by heavy debt from the government to the family unit that lives by paycheck to paycheck. We have freedom, in fact we have had more freedom than any nation on earth; I believe anyway. Many would disagree around the world and in this nation as well that other nations, especially in Europe, are free. But are they really. The biggest issue to freedom is the fact many Americans as well as citizens of other nations enjoy the freedom to live as they want and be what they want.

“A Journey for those who investigate the Whirlwind of these Last Days! Bearing the Cross in the War of Ages where Faith is the Victory that overcomes the World.” "By Gods grace, we endure from faith to faith; day to day and pass by from trouble to endurance to an overcomer!" "Heralding the Truth of God's' Word!" "Life Expression in its simplest form is simply life in words" -- The Watchman Dana G Smith

Throne of Deceptive Godlessness

For America, however, we have been proud of our heritage, and it was the pioneers who drove herds of cattle, horses, and led mile long wagon trains into the ole’ west. The six gun, the famous marshals like Wyatt Earp, the fight at the OK corral and much more made America and its legends. Today, however, we have lost much of that with the myriads of youths from the halls of liberal America. In fact, one that just plain speaking and thinking can bring more understanding than going to some of these brain-washed liberal colleges and universities with their liberal teachers and professors.

In addition, America today is more divided than ever, with some conservatives and liberals also believing Civil War is in itself an event that will occur. We are divided as a nation; it is not so simple; yet the conclusion is simple. We cannot get along, cannot find a congress that will get together and get needed legislation passed. There is hatred, vividly so with wild tantrums. On the streets black teens blame the white Race with not a single moment to think about it. Meanwhile, black on black crime is horrendous. Stealing, thieving, murdering, hateful, lustful and much more describes a nation that growing up in the fifties and sixties never saw. It reminds me of Jeremiah who was commissioned by the Lord to warn Judah of their sins. Now the prophet understood that he was to warn them and also knew they would not listen. Judgment would come and Babylon would be the nation to bring Judah into seventy years of captivity.

Judah and those who walked the streets of Jerusalem said by their actions and motives that “we will walk after our own devices”-Jeremiah 18:12. When I see America and how we flaunt our sins and are proud of our iniquities, this country is worse than Judah ever was. Bluntly speaking America has the freedom to be evil and enjoy the fruits of wickedness, even if in rebellion with the Lord.  There is no doubt to this writer that this is what America, and many other nations are today. But as Americans, many of us reside in this land and must warn this nation and its people to repent, even if they think this is foolish.

Jer 18:11-12 As Jeremiah warned Judah, so we must also warn America.

(11) Now therefore go to, speak to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I frame evil against you, and devise a device against you: return ye now everyone from his evil way, and make your ways and your doings good.  (12)  And they said, There is no hope: but we will walk after our own devices, and we will every one do the imagination of his evil heart. Jer 18:11-12

The point comes at this juncture asking a serious question. At what time will a nation of people awaken to the truth? When will people gain wisdom? For Israel of old, wisdom came after seventy years in captivity. I ask you, when will America heed wisdom? When will these people living in America wake up?

We are surely a big nation, bigger in our own eyes, perhaps, than in reality. We do walk after our own devices, after all, who’s to stop us? If we want homosexuality to be made lawful, who’s to stop us? If we want to abort babies, who’s to stop us? If we want to declare sex outside of marriage is perfectly ok, who’s to stop us? If our ministers, pastors, deacons, bishops, and others want to ordain wickedness, who’s to stop them? So far, so good, appears to be the current adage. God’s mercy has been leveled at this nation and others, in spite of such wickedness. The problem is, His mercy will come to an end someday, then what?

Throne of Deceptive Godlessness

As a nation that has been blessed of God, we sure follow the ways of stubborn Israel. In spite of Gods warnings by His prophets, the nation headed straight into captivity. This is a nation full of churches, fine golden crosses, plush pews, the best educated seminaries, and the richest of all people on the earth, yet it is headed for disaster. This disaster comes when people think they answer to no one, believing their wicked ways will not be punished. This nation has been warned for years by many godly men. Even today, there are voices that cry for this nation to repent amidst godlessness. 

Justice and Mercy of God | Throne of Deceptive Godlessness

(7) But the LORD shall endure forever: he hath prepared his throne for judgment.  (8)  And he shall judge the world in righteousness, he shall minister judgment to the people in uprightness.  (9)  The LORD also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble.  (10)  And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee: for thou, LORD, hast not forsaken them that seek thee. Psa 9:7-10

In Israel’s day, David knew to put into words the Justice of God. In Psalms 9 verses 7-10, David says that “the LORD shall endure for ever: he hath prepared his throne for judgment.   And he shall judge the world in righteousness; he shall minister judgment to the people in uprightness.  The LORD also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble.  And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee: for thou, LORD, hast not forsaken them that seek thee.”  Those who know the Lord have put their trust in Him. The Lord will not forsake those who seek him.  

The Apostle Paul tells us in Ephesians 2:12 that we (who now know the Lord) were at one time “without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world.” Having no Hope, without God in the World, this describes many to worldwide including in America today. The fact is, there is abundant Hope for the Christian who has received the Lord and to those without the Hope of Christ. John chapter three says “You must be Born Again of the Spirit”, John chapter one says of Jesus, Yeshua the Christ that “He came unto his own, and his own received him not. However, in the next verse John writes “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.” See the context below.

Power to become the Sons of God! | Throne of Deceptive Godlessness

(10) He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.  (11)  He came unto his own, and his own received him not.  (12)  But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:  (13)  Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.  (14)  And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

Now there are many scriptures which the Apostles left us regarding our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, many assuring us, guiding us, leaving us with the fact that the Apostles of Jesus Christ believed, saw, handled, and living among the Word of Life, Jesus Christ; Yeshua HaMassiach! We have Hope, through our God and Father who gave His only begotten Son Jesus Christ to provide the atonement for the sins of mankind. But you must come to the Lord. Many people today live their lives having no hope in the True and Living Messiah Yeshua, who today is “the Almighty” in Revelation chapter one. Yet there is Hope, and Salvation through Christ Jesus.

Moreover, when we in this nation, forget God as we have been doing, this “having no hope” boils to the surface. Instead of glitz and glamour, young people become disillusioned with society. Instead of religiosity of the churches today, the young people opt for the dark side of the occult and mysticism. Instead of feeding on this nation’s secularism and hype, the young people find it shallow offering nothing of sustenance. They find that the offerings of money, fame, wealth, food, religiosity, and everyday life to be of no value. It is pure vanity, uselessness.  They see adults fighting to obtain, yet having not enough, politicians fighting in Washington offering no solutions, and in school they find humanism offering the empty wisdom of man.

The issue is that as David writes in the Ninth Psalm, verses sixteen to twenty that the LORD will Judge all people and the nations of men.

(16) The LORD is known by the judgment which he executeth: the wicked is snared in the work of his own hands. Higgaion. Selah.  (17)  The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.  (18)  For the needy shall not always be forgotten: the expectation of the poor shall not perish forever.  (19)  Arise, O LORD; let not man prevail let the heathen be judged in thy sight.  (20)  Put them in fear, O LORD: that the nations may know themselves to be but men. Selah. Psa 9:16-20 | Throne of Deceptive Godlessness

 In our strivings in this nation, people need wisdom. Not mans, but Gods wisdom. The beginning of such wisdom is fear of the Lord. The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, see Psalm 111:10. Furthermore, this nation and its people need to know, the way they are headed will bring a snare upon them. Just like nations before who thought they were Gods in their own eyes, they were brought low. This nation will end up just like the wicked before them, who were caught in the justice of the Lord and were cut down. Will America find herself in this situation? The answer is, America is already there.   Today, before I wrote this, I got a call for prayer.  This prayer was for the families of two young men. These families were unrelated, yet they faced the same dilemma.  Both young men had committed suicide. One succeeded, the other failed and is facing horrible consequences for his action.  In both these young men’s lives, we can see the reflection of America.

And, as they say it goes on and on in America and you know of the murders, suicides, rapes, drugs and so on. The ignorance never ceases, with wisdom of wicked men who fail to see the Justice of God that will come upon all nations who forget God. The trip to hell is paved with good intentions and is one step at a time. The problem for America is that we are taking the scenic trip and everyone, including many churches, is blinded to this.

Throne of Deceptive Godlessness by the Watchman Dana Glenn Smith. The Warn Radio shows are Hosted by the Watchman Dana G Smith and Tower who is co-host.| WIBR/WARN Websites and Ministries | An indepth Biblical Teaching, preaching, warning, agency in these last days! | All scripture quoted is KJV of the bible unless it is noted to be another version.

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Source: Throne of Deceptive Godlessness

[julesnichols]

So now that I can say it since a lot of (most?) people have seen 4.07:

What was the

✨ point ✨

of Zarah and Ben dying for Layton's plot this season when all he had to do was ask nicely and Headwood just handed her back 😐

[chantlight]

Sitting here wondering idly how Cassandra would react to learning about the lich lords and man

[khaleesizaldrizoti-a]

i’d love to get some interactions rolling. like this for a starter.

[brokenmagxc]

x. just a reminder: to make sure i am making time for my irl responsibilities, health, friendships, and hobbies, i am going to be forcing myself to use the queue more and schedule all replies moving forward ( save for when i have #BME aka big muse energy ). right now my queue runs 3-5 posts a day. just wanted to give my mutuals the heads up !! this does not change my openness for new threads and writing partners, just wanted to put more realistic expectations on my time here. though that being said, please feel free to DM me if you want my discord even if we haven't talked yet — i will be doing much more chatting, plotting, and casual writing there to fill up my brain throughout the day when i get small breaks from irl. otherwise, have a lovely rest of the day, i'll see ya when i see ya around !!

[ircnwrought]

what if you liked this and i sent you memes (you can specify if you want shippy or not)?

bonus: this applies to amaya, feyre, and vi too so who knows who you'll get in your inbox heheh

[dazais-guardian-angel]

Okay, a good amount of time has passed, and after having seen this post by @weretiger-be-my-horse , I've been turning it over and over in my brain going absolutely feral over this concept. I need to expand upon my thoughts on this idea and all the evidence there is pointing towards it, whether that be actual tangible things, or purely strong vibes I have.

First of all, full disclaimer: I did not like the season 5 finale, and how it wrapped up the DoA arc. To say that I "disliked" it is putting it extremely lightly, in fact -- I absolutely hated it, and I am still, to a degree, in disbelief that I actually even watched those 24 minutes with my own two eyes, and that it somehow wasn't a complete fever dream. While I'm not going to go in long-winded detail into all the ways that I feel like the finale almost completely bastardized all of its featured characters and destroyed any and all buildup we've had going on in this arc for 50 some chapters now, because that's not the main point of this post, I will not make any attempt to hide the fact that the theory-crafting I'm about to pose here is partly influenced and prompted by how much I hated the finale, and how much I desperately hope that it will not end up being manga canon. Therefore, if you enjoyed the finale — and that's fine! — and don't want to read any negativity about it, then I would not recommend reading any further (I mean, you've probably already left by this point, which is fair lol), While obviously it's important that I be as objective and unbiased as possible when explaining my thoughts, some of my negative feelings about the writing will be a part of this analysis, even if this isn't going to be a full-blown rant. Just know that if you proceed.

With that out of the way, let me continue.

So. In the aforementioned post, the theory presented is that the anime may be operating on an alternate timeline, and that this will become evident once we read the upcoming October chapter, wherein things will go completely differently post-chapter 110 than they do in the final episode — probably for the worse, with the s5 finale intending to lull us into a false sense of security and make us assume that everything in the manga arc finale will wrap up as smoothly and consequence-freely(? lol) as it did in the anime one. It also suggests that the Fukuchi we see at the very end that sskk are fighting came from the manga timeline, where he won, and that he used the Book to jump to a timeline where he lost, the anime one, proven by the fact that this Fukuchi is wearing a mask with the same design on it as the mask Fukuchi is wearing on the chapter 110 DoA color spread/title page.

First of all, I want to note the fact that it's not just the mask design that's the same: the entire outfit is roughly more or less the same as well. It's not completely 1-to-1, because the anime can never fully match the intricacies of Harukawa's beautiful outfit designs, and the Fukuchi in this scene has the kimono half-off because of the... super saiyan mode he's in, but most all of the main pieces of clothing are there. Any small inaccuracies could also be attributed to the fact that Harukawa probably didn't have this finalized art ready back when this episode was being made, so the animators wouldn't have had the complete design to work off of. But in general, because it's all so similar, I think we can quite confidently say that the ending episode Fukuchi is meant to be the one from this manga art.

Also, people have pointed this out, but it's worth mentioning that the mask Asagiri wore at Anime Expo in July was referencing this Fukuchi. It's not a crucial detail, but it just proves more that Asagiri is a gigantic fucking troll, and that he clearly wanted to draw attention to this Fukuchi design. It's important. He describes the mask here as made in the motif of an ellipses inside a speech bubble... could that perhaps be referencing meta aspects, like the Book?

Next, I want to talk about the even bigger elephant in the room, which to me is the most damning and undeniable piece of evidence there is of the anime operating on a completely separate timeline from the manga:

This Fucking Hand™️

As we all know, in the anime, Fyodor injures his hand when the password input device blows up, and as we all know, this does not happen in the manga. In the last episode, Dazai claims that the final nail in the coffin of his impromptu plan to kill Fyodor relied on this hand injury: because Fyodor couldn't pilot his escape helicopter himself, he would ask one of his Meursault vampires to do it for him, unaware that Bram and thus this vampire was now on the ADA's side, and said vampire could kill him while his guard was down.

Ignoring how utterly stupid and contrived this plan is when you stop and think about it for more than two seconds, the fact of the matter is that something that initially seemed like nothing more than an odd but inconsequential anime original addition ended up snowballing into being the entire reason one of the big bads was brought down. If Fyodor hadn't hurt his hand, he wouldn't have needed another pilot, and so the traitor vampire wouldn't have had an opportunity to get near him and kill him without him expecting it even though said vampire was presumably with him as they were leaving Meursault, and was probably already a traitor by then, so there was plenty opportunity for him to still die. not to mention by Chuuya's hands at literally any time he wanted to, because Chuuya was coherent the whole time. Also there's absolutely no way Dazai could have known exactly what Ranpo would do, no matter how smart he is and how much he trusts him. idk it's fucking dumb, just roll with it. Therefore, putting aside all other variables for now, we can conclude that, on the most basic level, this signifies that no hand wound = no death.

And let me tell you, this hand wound bothers me. It really, really does. Because they focus on it a LOT — they go out of their way to draw attention to it MULTIPLE TIMES, from the moment it first happens to the end of the season. Fyodor even talks about it to himself, about Dazai being able to cause him tangible, visible, bodily harm, (something that, again, as far as we've seen, has never happened in the manga). Hell, even after Fyodor's death, they're still drawing attention to it, because his right arm is all of him that survives, and Dazai picks it up and gives it to Nikolai to do his hilarious sad little gay fondling of it played completely straight even though there's nothing straight going on here at all! It's like it's a big red flashing sign at all times going "you see this injured hand? This is important. Are you picking up that it's important? Are you taking note of it?" Why is that? Obviously, it serves to give us the lore crumbs about Fyodor and "that man", but that's hardly the main, much more glaring reason, as I've already mentioned.

Fyodor doesn't hurt his hand in the manga. Fyodor won't die here in the manga. I am so dead serious by this point about this, and it's not just simply the fact that this was absolutely not at all the time for him to die, or the fact that his hand is the reason for his death in the anime in and of itself, but how much EMPHASIS they place on this, and on the hand in general. What would be the point of adding something like this, if it's not meant to alert us to the fact that it has a major impact on how the story plays out? We all know Bones: they struggle to get right and include everything that's already there in the source material; they would never go out of their way to add something this noteworthy if there wasn't a very good reason for it, if it wasn't absolutely necessary. I've seen a few people bring up the fact that Fyodor gets shot in the shoulder by Sigma and that that could lead to the same outcome in the manga, but I disagree: although he has blood on his shoulder in the manga, it seems like the bullet just grazed the top of it, because his arm and hand appears completely functional afterwards (not hanging limp by his side or anything). But that doesn't even matter, because this isn't even about the semantics/logistics of how the hand wound caused Fyodor's death because again, it's a stupid outcome, or what could serve as a substitute in the manga — thematically, this is a textbook example of the butterfly effect. Countless parallel universes exist within this series, ones where even the most minute differences lead to a majorly different outcome: this just happens to be one of them. There's no reason to think it isn't, and there's no reason to not think that the anime wants us to clue into the fact that things only went as smoothly as they did on the Meursault side because of this wound; in other words, that things will go very differently in the manga thanks to the absence of said wound. They wouldn't have added it in the first place and put such clearly deliberate emphasis on it otherwise.

Things are going to happen very differently in the manga, at least when it comes to the Meursault crew (but then, if you assume that, you then naturally assume it all will be very different). This is the only conclusion one can come to with the presentation of this anime-only wound, combined with the fact that parallel universes are a very real thing in BSD.

I'm going to go on a bit of a tangent, so bear with me. I play a lot of visual novels, and although such concepts aren't really as original now as they were a while ago, some of my favorite and some of the very best VNs out there are the ones that break the fourth wall and make the visual novel branching route format directly intertwined with the story: you know, the ones where the characters go "if only I had done things differently, maybe everything would have turned out better...!" in a wink wink nudge nudge moment, and the ones where the characters are aware of the different timelines, even, or even have the ability to gain information from their selves in said alternate timelines to influence events in their current one (I'm intentionally not naming the games I'm thinking of for the sake of spoilers, but if you know, you know lmao). It gets very meta in this regard, and this is how I started viewing BSD through the lens of ever since I first learned about Beast: like a visual novel with many branching routes, and only a few routes that feel entirely "right".

When I first read Dazai's Entrance Exam, I was struck by how unnerving the ending sequence in the abandoned hospital felt. Obviously, Kunikida's internal struggle over Sasaki's actions and motives is him still desperately clinging to his ideal world that does not exist, but the specific type of phrases he uses — "who is wrong?" "[who is] the cause of all this?" "there has to be an ideal world" "there has to be something, I'm sure of it" "There must have been something we could have done!" — and the framing of the scene in general, is eerily reminiscent of a bad ending in a visual novel, to me. There's a haunting, looming, bleak sense that a different outcome could have been achieved, if different decisions had been made, or if things outside of anyone's control had been different... and we know that this is true, because in Beast alone, Kunikida never goes through the Azure Messenger incident, because Dazai doesn't have his entrance exam. Hell, you could even consider the anime's version of the Azure Messenger arc an alternate timeline in of itself, if you really wanted to, long before we even arrive at season 5.

When it comes to Beast, this timeline has almost the opposite feeling of what I described above, that I've also encountered in visual novels: the idea of a "good route" or "good ending" that still doesn't feel quite earned, or as perfect as one would expect. Beast is presented as the "ideal" timeline purely for one sole reason: Oda is alive. It is the only timeline where he's alive, and keeping Oda alive is the ultimate goal Dazai wants to achieve, the only reason this timeline exists; therefore, disregarding all else, Beast should be the best timeline, because Oda's death is the greatest devastation in the series to date. We all want him to live, so why wouldn't the timeline where he does be the best one? And yet... of course, it isn't. Dazai is alone, and steeped in darkness and loneliness without Oda, and dies by the end of the story for Oda's continued living. Atsushi has Kyouka still, but he's suffering and more traumatized, and unable to heal while stuck in the mafia, and neither can Kyouka. Akutagawa is living a much better life in the ADA... but without his sister, and without what he has from his bond with Atsushi in canon, that isn't replicated in Beast. And Oda... Oda is alive, and he has his children and his novel, but there is a feeling that he is aimless, that something in his life is missing. He has everything he ever wanted, but all that means nothing without what he truly needs: Dazai, and his time with Dazai and Ango at the bar. In this way, things going well and us getting what we want — in this case, Oda living — goes against how it's supposed to be, the natural order, which is why it feels so hollow. In the specific visual novel I'm thinking of here as a comparison (again, shoutout if you know), there's an alternate ending that involves you inputting information you gain at the end of the game very early on in the game, wherein the protagonist now has memories of the future and is able to bypass and prevent all of the events that take place normally. This means that people who die or are hurt somehow in general are saved from that fate, and nothing bad ever occurs; everything wraps up neatly and nicely... but again, there's an undeniable, unsettling feeling of emptiness, of a victory that rings hollow, because what's the point if everything is simply handed to you easily, where's the sense of accomplishment, without any struggles to achieve said victories, or any growth along the way? How can it feel earned if one doesn't have to, in Dazai's words, "scream within the storm of uncertainty, and run with flowing blood"?

You can probably already see where I'm going with this.

This finale feels weird. Really, really weird. It feels too cheap, too simple, too unsatisfying. So much so, in fact, that for almost the entire runtime, as I was bombarded with resolution upon resolution one after another, I kept thinking "There's no way this can be real. Where's the catch? When is the "gotcha!" moment gonna happen? The "it was all a dream" reveal?". And this isn't just because I hated the writing, and that it really did feel like a fever dream watching fanfic levels of bad (actually, that's an insult to fanfic writers, tbh; they could do better) — no, it genuinely feels so incredibly fake. Even upon rewatching it and already knowing what happens, my brain still naturally keeps expecting some kinda of "sike, you THOUGHT!" moment to suddenly appear. It just.... feels "too good to be true". Dazai and Chuuya come out unscathed, and it's revealed that they were never in any real danger to begin with. Fyodor, one of our biggest threats, is dealt with supposedly for good (I say "supposedly" only because of the Jesus line, but if anything imo, I think that's just a hint that this won't be the canon ending in the manga, so in a sense he's going to "come back to life"), and Nikolai seems somewhat at peace with his death. The other biggest threat, Fukuchi, is also dealt with, and he and Fukuzawa get their final moment together of closure. Yes, Sigma is left in Meursault don't even get me started on how angry this alone makes me, and Fukuzawa loses Fukuchi, but overall, everything is portrayed in a positive light, and any negatives or losses are quickly glossed over. Everything is tied up nicely, neatly, and smoothly. ...And that is exactly what makes it feel so wrong, and hard to trust in.

I'm not sure if this will make sense, but to me, the finale is so incredibly poorly written that it almost feels.... intentional. It's so bad to the point of feeling self-aware in how bad it is, how unrealistically happy and convenient an ending it is. It had to end this neatly in order to rush to wrap up this arc for the season finale and not leave the last episode on a cliffhanger — which imo is chiefly the main reason it turned out this way, and, if this whole theory is true, Asagiri just used it to his advantage — and I'm not saying this was probably an effect Bones had in mind intentionally, I'm sure they just threw shit at the wall and went with whatever stuck, maaaaybe with some suggestions/approval from Asagiri, but the result is that you have a conclusion that contradicts so much of what was set up before and goes against so many character arcs, making some characters so out of character and even regressing in their development Dazai. I'm talking about Dazai abandoning Sigma, because he would never; hashtag #NOTMYDAZAI. Also Nikolai, Nikolai for most of that is so ooc I can't even begin to describe it oh my god. Everyone is OOC to a degree though lmao, and opens so many plot holes, to the point that it's impossible not to watch all that and get the feeling that it is subtly saying to you "did you really think it could be this easy? It feels wrong, doesn't it? It doesn't feel satisfying. It feels unearned." I find it incredibly interesting and suspicious in particular that they confirmed multiple theories people had about soukoku in Meursault: that Chuuya slowed the elevator's fall so that Dazai wouldn't die from it, that Chuuya slowed down the bullet so that it only penetrated Dazai's skin and not his skull, and that the both of them used Fyodor's camera angle to their advantage because they knew he wouldn't be able to see certain things from his view. I'm not saying that Asagiri trawled BSD twitter and tumblr after those chapters dropped for the most popular theories before the final episode was made lmao, there was no time for that (imagine though lol—), but I do think it's highly likely that he already had in mind exactly what theories would be made about these parts (I mean, the evidence for the gun scene was all there), and that Dazai rattling them off in his long monologue to Fyodor at the end is essentially him speaking to the audience and going "yeah, that's what you would predict, right? Those are the clichés, after all", much like him suggesting earlier that he can maybe bring Chuuya back to himself with a few moving words and the power of friendship, and Fyodor using the split personalities trope to fool Sigma. We expect these tropes to be true. Of course we'd fall for them, as Fyodor tells Sigma, especially if the evidence is right there. But Asagiri himself has explicitly said that he likes doing the opposite of what people expect. And so just because people predicted correctly with the three things I mentioned in this timeline... doesn't mean they'll be true in the manga's. Things happened how we wanted and expected it to, and everything turned out happily. So we can relax now, right? Everything will work out just as easily in the manga, right? Or... is the reason most of this finale feels so fake and unsettling and unsatisfying because it's meant to lull us into a false sense of security before all our heroes lose in the manga? Because deep down, we don't want an ending that's this simple, because we'd rather have a conclusion where our characters have struggled more and grown more and come out the better for it, and we know it?

After rewatching the episode a lot, and watching some other videos, and doing a lot of thinking, I am pretty confident in suspecting that the only part of this finale that is actually from manga canon, aside from Aya jumping off the building of course, is Fyodor and Nikolai's exchange after Fyodor leaves Meursault — specifically, them talking about Fyodor leaving Sigma behind, and their "new game" and Nikolai being excited at the prospect of it. This little conversation actually feels in character for them, and it's easy to tell this when contrasting it with everything that happens immediately after, wherein Fyodor is fatally stabbed, and Nikolai, completely at odds with what he was just talking about, just... stands there and watches Fyodor die while Dazai monologues lmao. I'm not sure if the helicopter is still a factor, but I would bet good money on Fyolai getting out of Meursault being manga canon, and that Dazai and Chuuya getting out as well and killing Fyodor + everything with FukuFuku, is part of the anime original ending, in order to wrap up everything positively. It makes much more sense if you think about, in reality (aka in the manga), Dazai and Chuuya still being left behind in Meursault (where they can eventually try to get Sigma), because none of it was an act and things did not go according to plan, and Fukuchi having an entirely different goal that doesn't feel so stupid and contradictory to his character, and Fukuzawa possibly dying — everyone seemingly loses, with Aya still being the last hope, perhaps by awakening her ability like we all speculated.

There's a youtuber I watch who covers BSD in-depth, despite being an anime-only (she reads the respective manga content after each season, though). Going into this finale, she knew about the fact that the anime had overtaken the manga, though she didn't know where the cutoff point was; despite that, however, she made predictions about what was from the manga so far and what was anime original, and it was almost entirely spot-on, based mostly on what she basically described as "anime original dialogue." She talked about how you can always tell when dialogue is veering into the realm of anime-original, because the sentences are very short, choppy, and slightly out of character, but generic enough to not be TOO out of character, and so that anyone can easily write said lines, even if they're not extremely familiar with the character like the original author would be. And when I heard this explanation, everything clicked — because so much of this finale has dialogue like that. The Fyolai scenes just feel peppered with it, around the lines I mentioned earlier, the Dazai dialogue does too, and ESPECIALLY shit at the end like Fukuchi and Fukuzawa exchanging the cliche death lines to end all death lines: "Are you there? I'm a little tired." "Rest up." That just isn't Bungou Stray Dogs. That isn't Asagiri. BSD is cheesy at times, yes, but it isn't like this; it's smarter. The dialogue is smarter, the explanations/plot twists are smarter, Asagiri is smarter, and the aforementioned youtuber I watched agreed. She's a pretty casual fan of the series, so if even she could pick up on these things, I think it speaks volumes.

I mentioned this briefly earlier, but this theory makes sense if you consider that this situation probably came about because of Bones wanting two seasons back-to-back when they did, and this arc being as long as it is. Season 3 aired in 2019, and I imagine Bones would have wanted season 4 in 2020, and might have then been willing to wait a bit longer for season 5 in order for more of this arc's manga chapters to come out — but then covid happened. Because of that, season 4 was delayed to 2023, creating the longest gap we've had between seasons, and I wouldn't at all be surprised if the delay made them want season 5 right together with it, after getting so far "behind", so to speak. S4 was announced in November of 2021, and roughly around that time, Asagiri was finishing up writing the plot of the DoA arc. If Bones came to him sometime in late 2021 and said they wanted two seasons now (so basically, one giant two cour season), Asagiri would know that not only of course would this arc not be finished publishing in the manga for a very long time yet, but that roughly 20ish episodes would not be enough to cover it all to the end, with this arc being longer than any arc the anime has adapted to date. Because of all this, and the arc manga chapters being nowhere near fully drawn to completion, he'd have to make a decision about what to do, and what to give Bones. Without ending season 5 on a massive cliffhanger that wouldn't be resolved for years until an eventual season 6, the only other option would be to rush towards an anime-original ending for the DoA arc.... and for Asagiri to take advantage of that, and integrate it into BSD's lore. Thereby creating a truly unique cross-media experience that utilizes the different mediums to create multiple timelines, that could make both the anime and manga interact with each other and become part of a bigger picture (not that you'd need to see both to get the full experience, mind you, just that it'd provide a little bonus if you did).... and would without a doubt be Asagiri's biggest surprise yet.

...I feel like at this point I'm starting to ramble, and my evidence become more and more incoherent and less substantial lmao, so I should probably end this post. 💀 Thank you if you've read this far, and hopefully it made some semblance of sense, despite not being structured very well; I know I promised at the start to try to be as objective as possible and curb my negative feelings, but I'm not sure how well I succeeded in that regard. If it weren't for the Fukuchi thing and the Fyodor hand thing, I probably wouldn't take how wrong and strange and bad the finale feels to me as serious evidence about it being an alternate timeline, especially since I seem to be one of the only people who actually hates all of it.... but combined with everything else, I am just so convinced of this theory being true. It started off as pure copium, but as more time has gone on, I fully, 100% believe in my bones (ha) that there is no way that finale is the same Bungou Stray Dogs I know and love, for so many reasons. It just isn't. It can't be. I know BSD better than this, I know Asagiri better than this, and I know that it's absolutely in the realm of possibility for him to cook up this whole scheme to completely blindside us with in the upcoming chapters, because that's exactly the kind of shit Mr. "Please Be Surprised!" himself would pull. If I end up being completely wrong, I guess I'm wrong, and you can laugh at me all you want then.... but I just know that ages ago people were teasing the idea of the anime operating on a different timeline from the manga, and I truly do think that only now are we finally seeing that idea come to fruition, as a setup for Asagiri going full-bore insanity with the Book in the upcoming arc(s). if I and the OP of that theory end up right, this will be the wildest time in the BSD fandom's history.

Like. I cannot even emphasize how hard they are trolling us at this point. Something is going on. Something is being cooked over there, the likes of which we've never seen before... and I don't think any of us are ready for it.

Oh yeah, and one last thing of note: both Fyodor and Nikolai here have their right arms hidden from view. Is that alluding to anything? I'm not sure. I also think that since chapter 110 was so short, next chapter will likely be 110.5 instead of 111, and if that's the case, this title spread could still technically be associated with the next chapter... wherein we might see this Fukuchi, who ends up wreaking havoc, right before he jumps to the timeline in the anime, as we see him at the end of the s5 finale.

I guess we'll find out on Tuesday.

[darabeatha]

/ I didn't end up making my s.tar r.ail muses-

[klarsynt]

ARC III CANON UPDATE!!

in emil's default canon he typically is married to stella harris ( @ayarn ) after the tantalus trials. it's difficult to separate her from his past so from now on any time emil is in a romantic relationship with other muses he met during arc iii he is a widower. stella died in a mundane car accident a few years after the trials, just before he joined the G.I.U. he very rarely talks about it but he still wears his wedding ring unless in a serious relationship.

[apoapsis]

Been hittin some ruff patches so i apologize for the absence but things are feelin pretty normal ish again

Hit the like if you'd like a seasonal starter?

[byanyan]

it's a wholeass month after pride has already ended but i finally changed my icon

[goldbiz]

i'm cracking down on drafts slowly, and throwing things into the queue but moving forward, i am going to prioritise dynamics i currently have going on with current writers as opposed to just responding to things off the bat. i don't have any mains yet, but i will be putting focus on threads that have somewhere to go? if that makes any sense. i have no plans to drop booster, but right now my multi is something i want to give more focus to.

[templeofvengeance]

[harwinsbabymama]

my loves! new post bc i lost the other one and i enjoy fresh notes on a post anyway :P if you'd like to join the ooc fandom server, give this post a like and i'll link you! ps i do ask that if you receive a link, please don't share it. share this post with the person you'd like to join instead and i'll send them the invitation myself. thank u <3

[askbeannuts]

I... think I can safely start unloading these... still working on the last stretch of this.