#they were our emotional

[chattematsu]

[4.0 archon quest spoilers]

[eldritch-ace]

People seemed to enjoy my other hatchetfield art, so enjoy some murder spouses >:3

[reasonsforhope]

This is now a Kamala Harris for President blog btw

Obviously I'll keep posting good news as usual! And I'm going to pull up as much good news and reasons for hope about Kamala Harris's campaign as I can.

[your-turn-to-role]

AT DAWN WE PLAN

[juniemunie]

If we're not giving up, don't give up wherever you are.

That's a promise.

[asterlark]

me and den @unloneliest were just talking about murderbot and ART's relationship and i want to discuss how they quite literally complete each other's sensory and emotional experience of the world!!

there's a few great posts on here such as this one about how murderbot uses drones to fully and properly experience the world around it (it also accesses security cameras/other systems for this same purpose). but i haven't seen anyone so far talk about how once MB stops working for the company and consequently doesn't have a hubsystem/secsystem to connect to anymore (which for its entire existence up to that point had been how it was used to interacting with its environment/doing its job), after it meets ART, ART starts to fill that gap.

ART gives MB access to more cameras, systems, and information archives than it would normally be able to connect with while MB is on its own outside of ART's... body(? lol), but also directly gives MB access to its own cameras, drones, archives, facilities, and processing space. additionally, so much of ART's function is dedicated to analysis, lateral thinking, and logical reasoning, and it not only uses those skills in service of reaching murderbot's goals, it teaches murderbot how to use those same skills. (ART might be a bit of an asshole about how it does this, but that doesn't negate just how much it does for murderbot for no reason other than it's bored/interested in MB as an individual.)

we all love goofing about how artificial condition can basically be boiled down to "two robots in a trench coat trying to get through a job interview" (which is entirely accurate tbh) but that's also such a great example of ART fulfilling the role of both murderbot's "hubsystem" and "secsystem", allowing it to fully experience its environment/ succeed in its goals. ART provides MB with crucial information, context, and constructive criticism, and uses its significant processing power to act as MB's backup and support system while they work together.

from ART's side of things, we get a very explicit explanation of how it needs the context of murderbot's emotional reactions to media in order to fully understand and experience the media as intended. it tried to watch media with its humans, and it didn't completely understand just by studying their reactions. but when it's in a feed connection with murderbot, who isn't human but has human neural tissue, ART is finally able to thoroughly process the emotional aspects of media (side note, once it actually understands the emotional stakes in a way that makes sense for it, it's so frightened by the possibility of the fictional ship/crew in worldhoppers being catastrophically injured or killed that it makes murderbot pause for a significant amount of time before it feels prepared to go on. like!! ART really fucking loves its crew, that is all).

looking at things further from ART's perspective: its relationship with murderbot is ostensibly the very first relationship it's been able to establish with not only someone outside of its crew, but also with any construct at all. while ART loves its crew very much (see previous point re: being so so scared for the fate of the fictional crew of worldhoppers), it never had a choice in forming relationships with them. it was quite literally programmed to build those relationships with its crew and students. ART loves its function, its job, and nearly all of the humans that spend time inside of it, but its relationship with murderbot is the first time it's able to choose to make a new friend. that new friend is also someone who, due to its partial machine intelligence, is able to understand and know ART on a whole other level of intimacy that humans simply aren't capable of. (that part goes for murderbot, too, obviously; ART is its first actual friend outside of the presaux team, and its first bot friend ever.)

and because murderbot is murderbot, and not a "nice/polite to ART most of the time" human, this is also one of the first times that ART gets real feedback from a friend about the ways that its actions impact others. after the whole situation in network effect, when the truth of the kidnapping comes to light and murderbot hides in the bathroom refusing to talk to ART (and admittedly ART doesn't handle this well lol) - ART is forced to confront that despite it making the only call it felt able to make in that horrifying situation, despite it thinking that that was the right call, its actions hurt murderbot, and several other humans were caught in the crossfire. what's most scary to ART in that moment is the idea that murderbot might never forgive it, might never want to talk to it again. it's already so attached to this friendship, so concerned with murderbot's wellbeing, that the thought of that friendship being over because of its own behavior is terrifying. (to me, this almost mirrors murderbot's complete emotional collapse when it thinks that ART has been killed. the other more overt mirror is ART fully intending on bombing the colony to get murderbot back.)

in den's words, they both increase the other's capacity to feel: ART by acting as a part of murderbot's sensory system, and murderbot by acting as a means by which ART can access emotion. they love one another so much they would do pretty much anything to keep each other safe/avenge each other, but what's more, they unequivocally make each other more whole.

[crunchchute]

Sam and Max if they were cool /j

[beanghostprincess]

Franky met Sanji and Usopp in the middle of their breakup arc and had to deal with the consequences of the "No, we are not dating but yes, I will have to be held back against my will from beating you up for hurting my boyfri- I mean ex-boyfriend- Our longnose" situation

[stummysnort]

Good evening to all of the sleeper juno steel fans who are just now processing that the show is ending for real forever and are now binging season 5 to be ready for the finale. How are we doing gang

[rosakuma]

The Defense of one suspect and reasoning why the other one is sus(big spoilers for ep14 of DRDT)

Okay so with the huge reveal in the latest episode, we had a big revelation that we are down to two people who could be the killers. This post shall be a heavy discussion of that, so if you haven’t check out the latest episode, please go watch it before continuing to read(thank you!) Also warning: This is very long so prepare yourself to read for awhile if you can or want to.

Those being Eden or Ace. These two are picked as the murders due to both being connected to Nico’s murder attempt on Ace's account of being there. As for why, it’s because only those two could see the murder scene and gain access to the most important part of the crime scene, the tape. I’ve seen both parties talk about why their respective theories on which one did it before this episode. And while I can’t guarantee who I believe is innocent is not the culprit or vice versa, I wanted to share why I don’t believe Ace is the killer. Which would leave Eden as the culprit(unless we get another twist that there was someone following her). I’m going to go point by point with my reasoning. It probably won’t be perfect, but hey. If no one going to try to defend Ace, then I will(poor dude needs it, like seriously it’s so sad he has no one in his corner).

Reason 1: The crime scene + tape

As Teruko concluded, the culprit is connected to Nico’s murder attempt and tries to reuse that method to kill Arei. We know for sure Teruko is not the killer obviously from seeing her POV+ no motive to do so. When we get to the murder scene, we see that before Ace gets up, Teruko and Eden have enough time to look around at what happened. While Eden tells Teruko she needs a minute to process this, for all we know Eden could’ve been scanning the room still or maybe even listening to Teruko’s explanation.

Right as Ace gets up, he’s in pain and yelling while knocking Eden to the ground. He then grabs onto his neck from it stinging in pain.

After Teruko questioned him on what happened, he explained Nico tried to kill him(which he would know it was Nico before being knocked out again since Nico verified that he woke up struggling from the fan before going unconscious again when he hit the floor). To which to add to this, Ace at this moment must’ve been trying to get the wire off of his neck while getting a glance at Nico before he caused the fan to fall down and knock him back unconscious.

He then bolts out of the room to go find Nico to kill them. Afterwards, Teruko and Eden are greeted by MonoTv who has to clean up the scene and then kicks them out. They both go after Ace, who after talking with Teruko, Eden, and Levi, goes into his room for the night.

Now this could arguably be either him or Eden who grabbed the tape. But let’s think about what happens here. Ace wakes up in pain after being unconscious, immediately tries putting pressure on the source of his pain, and then runs out of the room trying to find Nico which is on his mind. Ace didn’t have enough time to absorb what was happening to process what Nico did to him along with grabbing the tape. But Eden however? She had a few minutes to look around the scene and was even knocked down onto the floor. And what was on the floor before that happened? The tape. (Also ignore the pony reacting to the tape being missing, I just wanted to draw my sona reacting to it for fun)

Another important detail to this is that MonoTv kicked Teruko and Eden out of the gym to clean it up.

To which it stated “I kept the gym closed overnight to make sure everything was super dry. Don’t want you slipping and falling into my chemical cleaning brews!” Meaning no one would’ve been able to go back and grab the tape or see the crime scene before it was cleaned up. So at that moment if our potential killers wanted to get that tape for murder, it would have to be right at the moment Teruko and Eden entered and caught Nico. Ace only had one thing on his mind, which was finding Nico. So he would not have picked up the tape. Plus we have to keep in mind that Ace acts on his emotions rather than logic(basically he ain’t that smart). Bro was willing to kill Nico(even though the complications of what would happen if he did it) without stopping for a moment to realize what happened nor to let himself calm down. I doubt he thought of a complex idea to copy Nico’s murder on the spot like that. While Eden on the other hand, our little clockmaker would probably be able to understand the mechanism of this murder in a matter of minutes since she’s used to having to build and work with parts running in motion.

Reason 2: Eden’s behavior, the note, and the timing of Alibi

Eden’s behavior across this case has been strange to me on rewatch. When going to the moment when they found Arei dead. Whit tries to cheer up Eden who is sad and crying over Arei dying. Immediately afterward switching up in saying she’s fine and just needs to deal with it. Even being peppy of saying “I’m super ready to investigate! I’ll do everything I can to help find Arei’s killer”.

She then tries to investigate with Teruko before she rejects her out of worry she could be the killer. Eden still tries to follow Teruko after this and overhears her talking to Charles, Whit, and Rose about the note. We know the note does have Eden’s name and was written to Arei to come meet her at the playground.

Now the logic was brought up of why would Eden try to help resemble the note when that would incriminate her to be the killer. Well, remember, pieces of the note were missing, with the key part being the time on whether it’s “PM” or “AM”. This evidence must’ve been important for Eden to get to prevent anyone from knowing when the murder takes place. Since Arei’s murder was confirmed to have occurred at 7:30 am due to her swinging. We know Eden doesn’t have an alibi for the morning. Only at night around that time she does.

Even the nighttime alibi I argue could’ve not prevented her from getting the fish due to the time frame of when her alibi is and the relaxation room. Eden claims around 7:30 pm that she was cleaning up dinner with Hu, right around when people thought it was the original murder time. Nico claimed after dinner, they went to feed the fish and then left afterward without seeing anyone. We know the relaxation room closes at 10 pm.

To which I purposed that Eden would’ve had enough time to get the water before it closed and after Nico left. Nico didn’t keep track of what time they fed the fish right? So for all we know they could’ve finished up dinner early or around 7:30 pm, left, and fed the fish. I doubt it took Eden and Hu that long to clean up dinner, so she could’ve slipped and gone to the relaxation room before 10 pm to receive the fish. Now yes you can still apply this to Ace of doing this still too, but I just wanted to point out that Eden could’ve still done it within the time frame. Eden if she was the culprit, she would wanted the note to be vague originally to make them think it was around 7:30pm as around the time of her alibi with Hu so no one would think of any suspicious on her possibly preparing for Arei’s murder for in the morning. Which would by default make someone like Ace who has no alibis at nighttime and the morning seem more suspicious than her who has one at least during nighttime. Thus why she came over to help repair the note as while it would make her seem suspicious of restoring it, she could argue with someone trying to frame her and that “Why would I help repair something that would incriminate me!?”

Reason 3: Evidence that doesn’t add up with Ace.

The evidence that confuses me with Ace being the killer is the starch ball and the turpentine. The starch ball most fans have concluded is turpentine, which was used for the clothes to stick them together. The thing is we don’t know the exact use this has in the murder case. But that isn’t important for this yet, what is important is where it came from. Charles found the ball in the dress-up room formed by Teruko and Hu’s old clothes.

The clothes were left in the dressing room. Meaning the murderer must’ve known about this outfit change occurring in there. We see suspiciously later that before Nico’s murder attempt, Eden was already there when Teruko went to that room. Eden claims she heard about the outfit change from Hu and went there to receive the new clothes for her and Teruko.

Eden at this time could’ve easily gotten hold of Teruko and Hu’s old clothes to use. Not to mention, if we assume that Eden was going to plan to kill Arei(just maybe didn’t have a set method yet), their conversation between them of Arei promising to be Eden’s friend happened before she came here.

As for Ace, when at any point was he in the dressing room? He wasn’t there when Teruko, Hu, and Whit had outfit changes or after it. So I’m confused about where Ace could’ve known about the clothes and got them to form the ball. And the ball has to be important as otherwise why is it there? It needs to be used for some part of the murder we haven’t figured out(my guess is it was used to knock out Arei) as I doubt the Dev would’ve just added a useless piece of evidence(even in DR there wasn’t evidence that was useless or not used). The only thing I’m confused about is how Eden got the turpentine, but idk how Ace would’ve either.

Reason 4: Fricken David

Okay I know this is David we’re talking about here and we know he’s a lying scumbag who tried manipulating everyone into committing mass suicide to follow in what he thinks Xander wanted to do to end the killing game. But I don’t think he’s lying about seeing Arei first. As much David trying to get everyone killed here(which causes more doubt of agreeing with J on he could be lying AND putting the idea into Teruko’s head that “Oh you want to distrust others, it’s the only thing you can do” which would motivate her into trusting Eden), I think he’s serious about Arei. If David truly didn’t care about Arei, then why were we shown that flashback that continued off of the conversation Arei and David had that Ace overheard?

David thought back on that moment when Arei confided in him that she was relieved they were the same and that maybe they could be friends while learning to be less shitty together. He even lied to Eden that nothing else happened because he didn’t want to share that moment or possibly give despair to Eden about what happened between them.

Even before when he had his fake persona on, the way he reacted about Arei dying and in the trial of his feelings towards the killer…I feel like it’s one of the rare times he’s being genuine about his feelings here. Arei was someone who understood him and could’ve helped him as a friend…to only lose her the next day. Of course, he’d be pissed and upset. I can even believe he did see her first because in disbelief or upset that he lost the only person who truly knew and understood him. Following I wrote out the dialogue word for word of the scene where David describes how Arei could’ve fallen for the note, him showing disgust for the killer, and even Eden showing regret in thinking this(which before we thought was just about the note, but now…she might’ve meant that as “I killed Arei and all she wanted to do was change…but I didn’t give her that chance….it is my fault”).

David: What kind of person would fall for such an obvious trap? You’d have to be shortsighted, naive, foolish, senseless, downright idiotic.. Unless, of course, you were Arei

David: That girl wanted desperately to prove herself as a “friend” to Eden. And yet she completely lacked any experience with what “friends” were actually like.

David: Of course it never occurred to her that handling out suspicious notes was something that normal people did. What could she know about “friendship” after all? Someone like her, who had not once experienced kindness in entire her life up until now?

David: Even if she had her misgivings about something so suspicious, she must have pushed it aside due to her unwavering faith in her blossoming friendship. A friendship that she didn’t understand in the slightest.

David: It’s…it’s so…Ahaha. It’s just so foolish. For someone to take advantage of Arei like that….

David: It’s absolutely unforgivable. All she wanted was to change. What a reprehensible person this killer is. I look forward to seeing their painful execution.

Eden: …So then…It really is my fault…isn’t it? She died because she believed in me

With David’s expression throughout this entire scene even if this was before he revealed his true colors. It shows signs of his true self and how much he really loathes the person who killed Arei. He knows personally that she wanted to change and that she understood him. There’s no way by now he’s making it up that he didn’t see her body with knowing how much emotion he has in his facial expression and dialogue in this scene. It also really doesn’t help Eden’s case of seeming so regretful after this.

Reason 5: The theme of the chapter overall

Okay, so I think ultimately to me at least, why it doesn’t seem like Ace would fit as the culprit of this chapter is due to its theme. The theme is “There are no good or bad people” and “Everyone is not always what they seem”. We see throughout this chapter that every character we thought was a “good person” is slowly showing their flaws and even turning out to have some darkness in them.

We thought Levi was just an awkward guy who wanted to be helpful to others around him, turns out he killed 4 people(one is his dad) and barely remembers it because no one he cares about as the concept of caring for others is foreign to him and he just tries to copies others to try to be good. Nico seems like a shy person who struggles to defend themself from bullies like Ace. Nico then literally tries to murder Ace and almost does, while admitting(with regret) that they did try to kill Ace because Ace reminded them of their traumatic past with their peers, teachers, and father. David is the biggest example of someone we thought cared about giving inspirational speeches to others to turn out to be a manipulative jerk who might be suffering from depression(if he was telling the truth which I think he was to some extent). Even others had their moments too with Arturo being revealed to have guilt over his sister dying because he left and threatening Eden to keep it secret, Veronika only doing her talent to prevent herself from self-harming her, and even Hu showing her flaws of trying to be useful and letting her ego get the best of her in defending the wrong people.

So looking at both of our two culprits, Eden fits to be the main culprit. Before all of the reveals and Arei’s revelation about good and bad, I felt like the characters were categorized into two groups. The “Saints/Good people” and “The jerks/irredeemable ones”. Like what Arei said, she thought people like Eden and David were the ideal good people to look up to or to be, while someone like her who had a rough start and ended up as a jerk cannot ever be good. To assume that means not seeing any of the other cast people as people generally can either be good or bad or even neither(morally grey).

We see the flaws of who we thought was the ideal good or potentially good person of David, Hu, Nico, or Levi while seeing there’s more than what meets the eye to the jerk group of Arturo, Ace, and Arei(the triple A battery squad lol). Eden is the only person left in the cast we haven’t seen(not counting her being responsible for Xander’s eye as only us the audience seen that) whose main flaws or her status as a good person is broken. I’m not saying Eden has to be the culprit to reveal she was secretly evil all this time! But she has to be the culprit because she has yet to be shown as human as Arei is. Ace started as a jerk and while still is, we get hints and see how his situation is a tragic one. Like Arei, he probably had a bad start in life or before this killing game that affected him. His worst enemies are himself and the others, he has no one to defend his side for who he is to them. Despite the fact, that he’s a victim of an almost murder attempt on his life and even a victim of an eating disorder that is eating away from his body and mind. Ace unlike Eden or Nico doesn’t have someone willing to defend him or speak up for him when in trouble. The one person he did think he had was Levi, but that was just a projection.

Eden on the other hand I feel like what’s not talked about her is her main flaw of being “weak” and relying on others.

Examples:

▪️Ep 9 when Eden says “Teruko! Back me up!” “You’re smart and you always know what evidence to use during the class trial so find a way to show everyone they’re wrong about Arei!” “Please! I’m relying on you!”

▪️Ep 10 when Eden says “If I was strong enough…If I didn’t need Arei to help me…” and Arei saying “Just as I thought, you’re pathetic and weak, and you always need to rely on others to get by”

In a sense, this parallels Nico who attempted to murk Ace because others had to pick up their battle and Ace called them weak for not being able to stand up for themselves. Eden for all we know might’ve gone through the same thing when Arei yelled at her and it resulted in her planning Arei’s demise. Like Nico, she probably regrets it now. But unlike them, Eden isn’t admitting to this flaw of being the cause of this situation and is trying to rely on others like Teruko to defend her from being accused of Arei’s murder. Even down to doing the same hug that Min did to Teruko previous chapter.

Another point to add is that with the previous points showing a bit of Eden showing guilt. I can possible see her main motive of killing Arei is because of not believing her at the time. Even Arei notes this in ep10

Arei: That look you’re giving me…You don’t believe me, do you? Figures.

Arei: I’ve been so shitty and manipulative this whole time. It’s only fair that you think I’m only putting on another fake act to make people like me.

Ultimately to fit what Arei said even someone as sickeningly sweet as Eden had done something bad, which makes her human. Eden I feel has to be the culprit as what would Ace fit in this? It would just feel like Arei’s words meant nothing and Ace was the irredeemable jerk the whole time who “got what he deserved” despite not having anyone to reach out to him like David did for Arei.

Hooboy that was long. Like I say this may not be perfect in terms of defense of Ace and might not fully cement Eden as the culprit. For all we know, there could be a secret third option. Plus there still isn’t a full explanation for some parts like how both parties got the turpentine or Eden’s stalker(tbh tho I could just see her being paranoid it’s Arturo and Bro is stalking J so). But I just wanted to share my piece as I think part 2 of ch.2 did make me see Ace in a different light and Eden too, to where I wanted to at least give Ace a defense the best I could because he doesn’t have anyone on his side. Along with highlight parts of Eden’s character I feel needs adjust for why she could be the culprit. Anyway, might make more post stuff on analyzing Ace or other parts of the case. If you have any thoughts, share them! As long we’re all civil and just having fun with this tragically emotional case, I’m happy to hear others' thoughts on who dunnit. Thanks for reading!^^

[uncanny-tranny]

If I'm honest, the whole "love in every stitch" saying for fiber artists does not apply to me, like. I'm trying to get this fucking hook into stubborn yarn and I'll be stabbing it like it owed me money. Is that love because I hope not 😭💀

[runewrights]

Hurt people don't always hurt people.

[bougiebutchbitch]

cannot believe that 'yelling at your boss when he repeatedly almost gets you and your crew killed and lies to manipulate you into staying when you try to leave, is not emotional abuse, actually' and 'there is such a thing as a mutually toxic and unhealthy relationship where both parties are incredibly shitty to each other - and this is obviously where Ed and Izzy stand until S2, when it becomes blatantly abusive' is a controversial take. But as this is Abuse Apologism And Ableism, The FandomTM, I really should not be surprised

Just.

I was deep in physically and mentally abusive relationships in my teens/twenties - including relationships that started out with mutual toxicity and bad decisions on all sides, but which became outright physical & mental & other sorts of abuse with myself as the victim. I know my shit.

I suppose I can see where 'Izzy emotionally abused Ed' comes from IF people give literally the most uncharitable interpretation to Every Single Scene, and assume Izzy shouts angrily at Ed and negs him all the time rather than this being how he acts when he's incredibly stressed by circumstance caused directly by Ed and at the end of his fucking rope? Which, as we see in S2... Is not the case.

It's not freaking emotional abuse when you're shouting at your boss who keeps almost getting you and your crew killed. Even if this is NOT a kind or productive way to help Ed deal with his mental health, considering that Ed's actions have consequences that he repeatedly and blithely ignores, it's pretty fucking justified!

It's not freaking emotional abuse if your boss OPENLY LOVES MAIMING PEOPLE AND IS MORE THAN HAPPY TO BURN THEM ALIVE and you encourage that, while upholding his right to not kill with his own hands. Even if he has private breakdowns after the fact because he suffers from black-and-white thinking, dissociates himself from any wrongdoing, and is afraid of his potential to become 'a monster'.

Are these choices helpful? No. Are they kind? No. Is Izzy demonstrating Model Citizen Behaviour? Definitely not.

But it's sure as hell not emotional abuse. And it doesn't justify the physical and emotional abuse Ed puts Izzy through in S2.

Nothing you say can 'make' him hit you. If he chooses to hit you (or... choke you out then repeatedly mutilate you and pressure you to commit suicide and makes you constantly live in fear for your life and the lives of people you care about) he makes that decision himself. Yes, even if you shouted at him first. Yes, even if you were arguing. Yes, even if you were in the wrong in that argument. Yes, even if he has a Tragic BackstoryTM and mental health issues. This shit shouldn't be controversial.

Signed: one of those actual abuse survivors.

[soulmvtes]

feminine urge to cry on your birthday etc etc

[ddagent]

IAC 1984 I'm glad we were finally able to find time for a drink.

[elloras]

Ted Lasso: All Apologies