#veronika soul

[nofatclips]

Interview, a short film by Caroline Leaf & Veronika Soul

[divineluckfuckoff]

"You believe me?"

ANOTHER AU WOOOOOOOOO-

HOW MANY AUS CAN I CREATE, LET'S FIND OUT! WEEEJEEE-

________________________________________________________________________________

"Seriously?! I'm not the killer!" Teruko insisted, pissed off. Almost the whole group was against her, accusing her of killing Xander. But it wasn't her, she was innocent! Why wouldn't they believe her?!

"Sorry Teruko, but I don't want to die." Hu Jing admitted. Ace clenched his fists, eyes fixated on the floor.

It's not her.

She's not the killer.

Speak up

He sucked in a breath, grabbing the podium and gripping it tight. Too tight. He needed to speak up.

Speak up

Turn everything off.

Like future you handled the investigation.

"...Future me. You were right." he thought as he felt time stop. His body was still and stiff as a rock, finding himself in a dark place.

"I told you. The trials are just as nervewracking and as the investigation. You want me to take over?" He heard as he turned around, seeing an older version of himself standing right next to him. He had a solemn look on his face, sitting down. The smaller Ace nodded.

"I want this to end already. Everything is going downhill." he whimpered. The older one ruffled his younger self's hair.

"Don't worry. I'll handle everything." He assured before slowly fading from the place.

"-'s sake! It's not me!" Teruko insisted.

"The evidence says otherwise." Arturo stated.

"Evidence that you can shove up my ass." Ace deadpanned. Everyone turned to him in confusion.

"Ace? You were quiet a few seconds before. Were you scared?" Arei asked with a smirk.

"Shove thlse words back into your mouth, Nageishi." the jockey spat, glaring at her. She flinched. It wasn't like one of those old, weak glares. It was scary, and strong.

"Ace, I understand this is a stressful situation but-"

"Shut the fuck up Chiem. Actually, all of you do that and listen to me for once." he said "Teruko Tawaki is not Alexander Matthews' killer, you dimwits." he announced.

"Huh?! Ace, have you lost your fucking marbles?! It's obviously her!" J yelled, confused.

"No. My brain is perfectly fine." he deadpanned 'Minus the trauma of being sent back in time to my old self's body, that is... But that's not the important thing here. I have to help Teruko.' He thought.

"Ace? You... believe me?" Teruko asked, surprised. The jockey gave her a soft smile, nodding.

"Mhm. And if these idiots need proof, you're the only one that can show it." he told her. Teruko's eyes widened before nodding. He was right. She had all the proof they needed to see in order for her to prove she is innocent.

"Thank you." she mumbled.

"...Ace, you've completely lost it." J sighed. The jockey snapped his head to look at her. Everyone heard a small snapping noise.

"I'm more sane than any of you will. You're not willing to hear Tawaki's explanation on why she has been wrongfully accused at all. If you were her friends, you would hear her out." he growled. Levi tensed. He sensed Ace would end up hurting someone if he didn't calm down. Even though Ace was a coward, even though he was all bark and no bite.

He knew that this Ace was different.

"Besides, we will all die if we vote for Tawaki. Wrong killer equals punishment for everyone except the killer." he added, secretly glaring at the true culprit. He didn't care if they saved Teruko. He didn't care about that. They still killed Xander.

"..." Veronika stayed quiet, shocked. 'No way...'

"...Who are you, really?" Rose asked. The others glanced at her.

"What do you mean Rose?" Whit asked, confused.

"Unless there was a logical explanation for his current behaviour, this is not Ace." the art forger stated "At least, not the Ace we know. A complete change of 180° without any explanation?"

"I agree. Ace, you're not your usual self." Levi nodded, staring at the jockey. Said person simply raised his eyebrow.

"You do realize we have better things to discuss other than me using my brain, right?" he asked.

"Yeah, and I'll present you evidence that will prove otherwise." Teruko stated, Ace nodding in agreement. It was them against the rest.

[leopardom]

Joker Out (Bojan, Kris and Nace) interview on The David Horton Show on Gorgeous Radio (18/2/24) - a summary:

if they could go to esc with another esc song they’d go with Zitti e Buoni (or Baila El Chiki Chiki as Bojan said)

*some laughter at the thought of Nace dressed as Victoria De Angelis*

Bojan’s and Kris’ favourite lyrics from Everybody’s Waiting are “what a wonderful life, a perfect time to get lost in the unoriginal line” and Nace’s “case closed, soul sold” (which he didn’t pronounce correctly because he twisted his tongue 💀)

they were asked about their fave song of all time. Kris: gotta check his spotify, Bojan: Yesterday by The Beatles, Nace: Behind Blue Eyes by The Who

they don’t want to spoil esc 2024 to themselves so it’s something they watch for the first time when the time for the live shows comes

the british habits they’ve picked up since moving to London are drinking english breakfast tea every morning, taking the double decker bus to rehearsal, taking the trash to the street and also poached eggs seem very british to them???

pineapple on pizza: Jure - yes, everyone else - no

they’re big soup lovers

when asked which slovenian esc entries they like a lot they said Samo Ljubezen, Veronika, Disko and No One

if they could collaborate with any artist it would be Dua Lipa and Käärijä in the same song (obviously Käärijä was mentioned by Bojan)

the sound for Everybody’s Waiting came naturally to them and they just rolled with it

the third album will be very diverse. it’s gonna have familiar sounds from the past but they will also experiment

Nace would be down for a bass tutorial like the guitar tutorial Kris did for Plastika

they like playing all kinds of venues, from very small to big ones

apparently Bojan is learning to cook now that they’re in London and he’s looking forward to doing more when they get back to Ljubljana

from their time in London Kris has learned to not mind commuting

the Taylor Swift songs they like are I Knew You Were Trouble and Blank Space

Bojan’s favourite snack is popcorn

[xtarart]

born from the chaos of the Grand Festival (and the rejected costume pieces for the Now or Never Seven) a new band is born from the 5 understudies of these legendary idols. The Mysterious DJ with the soul of a leader, DJ Sango. Maries wild child, Zest. Off the hooks caring daughter, Eight. and Deep Cut's young understudies of anarchy, Vibrant child of the enemy found in the wasteland, and Smallest of runts born in the dry river. or just Veronika and Smallfry for short. they are... The Agents of Splat!

in other words i gave the NNSS agents grandfest outfits for fun.

[theglamourempress]

Venus in the 12th is a Goddess. She is a living embodiment of true spirituality: compassionate beyond measure. Her emotional quotient is high, here in the otherworldly home of Neptune. Venus in this landscape weeps at soul-stirring music, and cries at the exquisite feel of a newborn nuzzled against her cheek. Vibrational medicines which channel elemental devas are her ally. Art can leave her speechless.

She sees far into the future, our 12th house Venus, and, like a mermaid, brings lost treasures up from the ocean floor to share with others. Well, those who can be bothered to get out of bed at dawn! Her role is to guide us to the New Age, to taste the dew as the Sun greets morning, and to remind us that, as we go forth, we are so much more than we think we are. She delves, like the ancient priestess that she is, into her rich inner world, and speaks a language that crosses all cultures: love.

William Wordsworth painted the message of Venus in the 12th so eloquently for us when he wrote:

Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting

The soul that rises with us, our life’s Star,

Hath had elsewhere its setting

And cometh from afar

Not in entire forgetfulness

And not in utter nakedness

But trailing clouds of glory do we come

From God, who is our home:

Heaven lies about us in our infancy!

Oh yes! Venus dances naked in the 12th, draping herself with clouds of glory. She hasn’t forgotten where her star is set.

Love makes the world go around, and Venus wants to show us that divine love will have us all living happily ever after. We just have to remember where we’ve come from. And if you are willing to wake up, the Priestess of the Dawn will guide you. - Veronika Sophia Robinson

[lightstar789]

Thoughts/Recap on DR:DT Chapter Two: Episode 12!

spoiler warning below!!

I want to eat drywall so badly rn

The murder definitely occurred in the morning, and so far, Hu, Nico, Veronika, David, and J are safe!

David remembers and looks up to Xander, and is trying to (blindly) follow in his footsteps!! We know because of the LGI video that David sees Xander in this regard, but we didn't know it was because he wants to end the killing game without falling into MonoTV's hands.

I saw Levi having the "remorseless killer" secret coming, and the way he apologized for trying to derail the trial several times only to do it anyway 😭

All the screaming matches, break downs, and confessions holy shit the VAs really put their heart and soul into this!!

Arturo is technically 20 right now since its been 2 years i think??

6 years of medical school starting when he was 12... this means he would've had to skip a bunch of grades and be crazy smart...

[tied-ash]

With DRDT being revived and everything, it somehow corresponded to me making a family AU.

And by family AU… I obviously mean a fan child AU.

Basically, MonoTV has a new motive! To everyone’s surprise, they’ve been paired up based on personality, interest, relationship, or randomly to take care of an AI child! How is this a motive? Fake memories are given to every child, and whether they know it or not, their soul purpose is to cause drama.

Yes, I’m aware of how cringe this is. But cringe culture is dead. <3 I’m also aware that it’s probably worse that I used Gacha Life 2 to design these characters, but meh /lh

To save room, it’s under the cut!

BLAISE LACROIX - SHSL Bibliophile

The daughter of Veronika and Rose, she takes after her mama’s looks (Rose) and her mami’s personality (Veronika). She’s a general nuisance to the whole group, though she’s only often seen around her parents. …and Felicity. Oh, and those glasses don’t even have lenses in them.

Veronika is absolutely ecstatic, if not weirded out. Rose is a little concerned that she was paired with Veronika…

FELICITY FONTANA - SHSL Cosmetologist

The daughter of Arturo and Levi, Felicity takes after her father’s looks, and Levi’s muscle and apathy. Yes, she calls Arturo “father” and Levi “Levi” — she claims that it’s just easier that way. While she has Levi’s apathy and inability to truly understand human emotion, she has her Arturo’s rude nature. She’s not sure why, but Blaise has a certain attraction to her… though, it’s not really a romantic one.

Levi and her both have the understanding that they don’t know how to react. However, Felicity is having a worse time understanding why her father, Arturo, refuses to talk to her… or why her name freaks him out so much.

JUN-HEI HAKOBYAN - SHSL Zoologist

The son of Min and Nico - and nephew of Hu - he takes qualities from both of his parents. He’s awkward with practically anyone he meets, and he hates socialization. Why do you think he hangs out with animals so much?

Nico doesn’t like him. Why were they paired with Min…? Hu, on the other hand, is more than happy to take on the parent role, regardless of Jin-Hei wants her to or not.

LAILA CUEVAS - SHSL Tutor

The daughter of Whit and Charles, she takes a lot from Whit. The only things she got from Charles was his hair, skin, and height. Her personality reflects that of Whit almost completely, though she tends to say “that’s… actually insane!” Rather than “that’s wack.” However, neither know where she got her fashion sense from… or her slight interest to nicotine.

Upon finding that this was the pairing, both were flustered. They shared it in different ways, though. Charles went straight to interrogating her, asking how they are as parents and also what she knows. Whit’s first question was “so… how’s my cooking?”

CASSIOPEIA “CASSI” CHIEM - SHSL Motivational Speaker

The daughter of David and Xander - and the niece of Ace, Cassi takes her personality from the more rambunctious of the two. She gained his determination and loudness. Despite how naive she can be at times, she always means well. Her nativity sometimes translates into obliviousness, which then powers her patience.

LEO CHIEM - SHSL Protestor

The son of David and Xander - and the nephew of Ace, Leo takes his personality from the more intelligent of the two. He’s a somewhat patient person when people actually want to listen. Otherwise, his temper is constantly dwindling. The only person who is almost incapable of causing his true anger to show is his twin sister.

David doesn’t know what to think of them… but they’re Xander’s kids too. He wants to protect them, and they want to help stop this killing game. Hu, despite not being part of the family, finds great interest in David’s kids. The children are unsure of how to approach her.

YUMI NAGEISHI - SHSL Roboticist

The daughter of Arei and Eden - and the niece of J - takes her personality from Arei and J. She’s blunt and bossy, often ridiculing others for their dumb ideas. However, if you squint hard enough, she’s only trying to keep everyone alive. If she got any other traits from Eden… it’s slight blackmail. It’s never anything serious— anything dangerous is instantly told to somebody she trusts, most likely being Kobe, Cassi, or Felicity.

Eden has made it her mission to get as close to her daughter as possible. Yumi has made it her mission to be her mother’s spokesperson, saying what she believes her mother means (“Can we maybe be nicer?” “Mom wants to say shut your trap and listen for god’s sake.”) . J… Well, she’s trying to convince herself that she isn’t turning into her own mother. It doesn’t help knowing that Yumi acts just like J.

KOBE TAWAKI - SHSL ???

The son of Teruko, no one knows who his other parent is. It has to be either Ace, Veronika, or Xander, right? But due to Kobe’s kind and patient nature, no one can be sure. Neither of his parents act like he does…

Teruko doesn’t want anyone talking to her son. At the same time, she doesn’t dare trust him. He is a motive that should never be trusted.

[bitter69uk]

“Seeing a Fassbinder retrospective is better than drugs, liquor and sex put together”. John Waters

Born on this day: inspired, despairing and uncompromising director, playwright, actor and turbulent New German cinema visionary, Rainer Werner Fassbinder (31 May 1945 – 10 June 1982) – a true titan of European art cinema. Expressions like “wunderkind,” “monstre sacré” and “enfant terrible” are all applicable here. All these decades later, his best films (off the top of my head, my favourites include Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (1974), Martha (1974), Fear of Fear (1975), Fox and His Friends (1975), In a Year of 13 Moons (1978), Veronika Voss (1982) and Querelle (1982)) still sting like a slap across the face. Fassbinder also elicited career-best performances from the crème de la crème of German actresses like Brigitte Mira, Margit Carstensen, Irm Hermann, Ingrid Caven, Hanna Schygulla, Barbara Valentin, Rosel Zech, Barbara Sukowa and Christiane Maybach. “Fassbinder had the reputation of being quite difficult to deal with in real life, but anyone who made as many films as his years on earth (especially if they’re all good) deserves the privilege of being a true monster,” John Waters concludes in his 1987 book Crackpot. “If Fassbinder ever got any sleep, maybe his genius would have evaporated.” Pictured: very cute young Fassbinder (before the drugs and alcoholism prematurely ravaged him) in the titular role in Fox and His Friends.

[finestcigar]

My personal favorite lines from every DRDT character + explanations

Most of these are my favorites because they carry deeper implications about the characters or are thematically interesting. A few of them are just here because they're funny.

Fair warning that this is at least half just an excuse to talk about my subjective character interpretations and various cool shit I've noticed.

Spoilers up to CH2-11. Content warnings for DRDT-typical stuff.

J:

It's a kind of funny part of J's character how genuinely vindictive she gets over her secret despite it seemingly being minor and almost completely meaningless. To be fair, I guess spending four straight days hanging out with Arturo does that to a person.

Xander:

This is very interesting to me because a lot of the cast feel trapped by "fate" or unfortunate circumstances they're unable to escape (well, besides the killing game...). Teruko is the obvious example, but so are David, Arei (at first), Rose, Ace... It's common enough among the characters that I'd argue it as a central theme of the series, and I'm excited to see how it gets explored. This line being coupled with Xander immediately trying to kill Teruko despite the fact he doesn't want to seems like a contradiction, so I'm curious about that, too.

Veronika:

A big part of her character is just parodying Danganronpa fans (think Shirogane but less insulting) and I think this sums it up well. David was my least favorite character pre-CH2 and I break out in hives whenever I hear people saying he was better before, so I unfortunately can't deny how accurate this is :p A healthy appreciation for morally bankrupt characters is a keystone of maximum Danganronpa enjoyment!

Nico:

Everyone knows this one, but still. I like how Nico's shyness feels more like a character choice to make them seem unstable rather than non-threatening. This is accurate to reality since it's mostly shy people who send death threats on Tumblr dot com. (just kidding)

Eden:

Sums up her entire speech to Teruko in 2-3. What she says here cements her as the only person to stand in clear-cut opposition to the cynical worldviews of people like Teruko and David, which is important, since they're clearly supposed to be in the wrong but would otherwise lack a clear source of pushback. Disturbingly convincing theories about her being the CH2 killer aside, I think she's the only character more likely than David to die in CH5, since she seems to be taking on a role similar to Nanami and Momota in the mainline games.

Charles:

I'm getting a degree in computer science. Gonna start randomly dropping this one into conversations with people. (not really)

Rose:

This along with the rest of her backstory is symbolic for how corporations take the autonomy from artists and suck the soul out of their work. (Can you even call it symbolic if it's practically word for word?) All I can say about it is that it's a creative's horror story and this is exactly how I would feel if I were in her shoes.

Ace:

There's very obviously a lot more going on with Ace than what meets the eye. This line is a particularly clear example and I'm curious exactly what he's referring to when he says "this".

Whit:

This guy has problems.

Teruko:

Teruko being a doomer who thinks everyone besides her is fated to die. Should be obvious by this point, but this is actually why she's refusing to get close to people more than physical self-preservation: she doesn't want to deal with the grief of watching everyone else in the cast die one by one. Also ties in nicely with the next one:

David:

Similarly to Teruko, on the inside he's in complete fatalist despair thinking everyone (including himself) is gonna die. This is very telling of why he gives up on surviving and tries to get everyone to vote for him in 2-11.

Hu:

The motive secret she got is "You only took on your talent to distract from your incessant need to harm yourself for fun." This is a pretty morbid secret, but she doesn't think it's odd because the secret doesn't apply to her; she only thinks it's odd because it doesn't have her name on it. Interesting tie-in to her actual secret being the "hopeless child" one.

Min:

As someone who is an exceptional student but mid in every other area of life, I feel this hard. Min's entire bonus story speaks to me.

Levi:

Pretty funny, I laughed. Levi hasn't had his development yet so he's really leaving me with a shortage of things to say about him.

Arturo:

Again, can't explain why, I just think this is a very funny thing to say for some reason.

Arei:

I love the way this kind of cynicism is portrayed in DRDT. If Teruko and David are super negative and pessimistic about other people, Arei is a visceral demonstration of just how miserable and wet-cat-pathetic it is to hold views like those. As Eden says, "Not caring about others is the worst way to live." Although the aforementioned two were the only witnesses to this scene for a reason, I think the point was lost on both of them. Very sad!

Honorable mentions:

Self explanatory. Teruko really wants to be loved; she just believes any meaningful relationships she makes are figuratively and literally doomed.

Also self explanatory. Another indication that there's a lot more going on with Ace than meets the eye.

I always forget he said this so I get jumpscared by it every time I rewatch the prologue. Like whoa man, you're in America, you can't say that word here.

Anyway, thanks for reading this far. Feel free to ask me to elaborate on any of this if you want to, though be aware I might write an entire essay if prompted. See you next time! 🚬

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

Arturo if you do see her as a sister you should still freaking check on her, unless you wanna lose another sibling figure like before smh. >:(

(I'm being mean to him in this ask but op I think it's really cool what you did there with the parallel with what Veronika is planning and what we assume happened to Arturo's sister in canon that's awesome and also hurts my soul ouch)

( It's currently midnight in BST, 7pm EST.)

Please read past the "keep reading" sign!! I just wanted this to not be too long.. and to build suspense.

"...Fine. Only because you're all constantly going on at me... and I guess there's the smallest chance that theoretically, something could have happened.. but if I find nothing, I'm never listening to you again." (-arturo)

...

1.

2.

3.

Explanation; Arturo walked in to see Veronika's almost dead body.. however she wasn't completely dead, just very clearly in extreme pain she couldn't recover from.

Arturo knew what he had to do; take away that pain from her. Finish what she started. Kill her.

All that was in the room was a (very blunt) knife that Veronika used to cut off the right length of rope, and.. the most important thing, the quickest way to kill her.

People can survive without an arm, or a leg, and it'd take a while to die of blood loss. So the fastest way was to just cut off the most important part of her body; the head, which would kill her in seconds.

However.. The knife wasn't as sharp as Arturo expected. So it wasn't as swift as he thought, and Veronika began to slowly wake up, but by the time Arturo realised, he'd gone too far.

The last thing Veronika saw was Arturo killing her. Pretty sad, isn't it? Thinking that the person you used to like the most hated you so badly he'd kill you? When in reality, Arturo saw her as a sister?

I don't know what was going on with that last line, though. Her name is clearly Veronika. Why did he almost call her a name beginning with the letters.. "f e"..?

-

Chapter 2, Episode 10 - 11:08.

Eden Tobisa's quote.

[twiginthewind-7]

♡

Там далёко, за холмами синими, за угрюмой северной рекой, ты зачем зовёшь меня по имени? Ты откуда взялся? Кто такой? Голос твой блуждает тёмной чащей, очень тихий, слышный мне одной, трогая покорностью щемящей, ужасая близостью родной. И душа, как будто конь стреноженный, замерла, споткнувшись на бегу, вслушиваясь жадно и встревоженно в тишину на дальнем берегу.

© Copyright: Вероника Тушнова / Veronika Tushnova

♡

Far away, beyond the blue hills, beyond the gloomy northern river, why are you calling me by name? Where did you come from? Who is this? your voice wanders through the dark thicket, very quiet, audible to me alone, touching me with aching humility, terrifying with the closeness of my own. And the soul, like a hobbled horse, froze, stumbling on the run, listening eagerly and anxiously to the silence on the far shore.

[divineluckfuckoff]

Self-inflicted attempt

More au shit WOOOOOOOOO. This time Ace finds a way to stop Xander's death! How?? Well you're gonna find out!

Also uh- TW: for throwing up and blood-

________________________________________________________________________________

Today, in theory, Xander would die. He knew that, and he had to find a way to stop that from happening.

So, he stayed up until midnight to make a plan with his future self. Not really healthy, but when you know a murder will happen and you want tk stop it, you have to make sure the plan is not disturbed.

First, he snuck out at night, as quiet as he could, and slipped in the infirmary so he could get the thing he neeeded. He quietly opened the door, not expecting to see Nico in there. He was frowning, looking at the pill bottles in the right side of the cabinet.

'Shit! You didn't tell me this would happen!'

'It's bound to happen, we had no clue Nico was here. But don't worry, he's not planning a murder. The pills he's looking for are for himself.' His future self assured him. Awkwardly, he coughed, gaining Nico's attention. He flinched, looking at Ace with wide eyes.

"Ah?! A-Ace, w-what are you d-doing here?!" he asked, trembling. It was almost as if he was afraid of the jockey. Ah, he probably was, considering how rude he normally is.

"I was... getting something. To help me get sleep. Can't sleep at all after the damn TV head announced the whole motives thing." he lied, it almost sounded perfect, if it wasn't for the fact that his voice was trembling and he was nervous. But, hopefully, Nico would buy the act.

"Ah, same here... Well, not really? It's... mostly because I'm out of my meds for my... anxiety..." the pet therapist shyly admitted. Ace perked up at that. Wow, he did buy the act. How lucky of him.

"Tranquilizers? I think they're all the way to the right, hold on." he recalled, walking over to the cabinet and reaching for the pills. He handed them to the shorter boy.

"Ah, thank you Ace! I... couldn't really distinguish them due to how dark it is..." Nico softly spoke, a small smile on his face.

"No need to. But you could've gone here at the morning, y'know? Waking up earlier than normal and such." Ace told him.

"I would, if I wasn't such a deep sleeper, heh." Nico sighed, rubbing the back of his head nervously before waving at him, exiting the infirmary. Ace sighed in relief, feeling his chest deflate at this.

'Told you.'

'Just-... Shut up and give the name of the poison, for fuck's sake.'

'It's the one all the way to the left, bottom row. The red bottle with the yellow label.' He grabbed it, inspecting it closely. The liquid inside was a dark, greenish yellow, and he could already feel himself gag at the thought of having to forcefully digest it in order to prevent Xander from dying, but here we are. It was for the sake of everyone being alive, after all.

"Got what I needed, now to get to my room." he mumbled, slipping the small, plastic bottle in his breast pocket before he exited the infirmary, wandering back in the darkness that is the hall to the dorms.

________________________________________________________________________________

He skipped the morning announcement, waking up a few minutes earlier than it. It gave him time to practice his lines all over again while getting dressed and styling his hair. Instead of the usual all up look, his future self decided to switch it up a little.

His hair was swiped to the right, a small strand sticking out and falling down on his forehead while he rolled up his sleeves like always and bent down the collar of his jacket while not fully closing it eith the zipper.

"Damn... I look like... a different me!" Ace couldn't help but gasp in awe at the sight.

'Heh, your welcome little me. It was time to get rid of that Walmart Kirishima Eijirou looking hairstyle anyways, so I thought: Why not earlier?' His future self boasted with pride, sparkles all around him.

"Ouch. That hurts." Ace huffed, slipping the bottle in his pocket again before heading over to the kitchen. He could already smell the food from out of the kitchen, which was a good sign. The plan would be in action soon. He peeked his head in the kitchen.

Levi and Hu Jing were there, discussing some random topic, probably related to the killing game. The two were wearing aprons while cooking. It seemed like Levi noticed him, as his tilted to the side.

"Ace? What are you doing here?" he asked. Hu turned her head to the side, surprised.

"A-Ah, eh, I was just walking around, haha! J-Just happened to smell something delicious, and I wanted to take a peeek..." he trailed off, mentally cursing hi,self for stammering like that even after practicing a lot.

"Ah, thank you! Me and Levi were making a plate my family taught me. Would you like to help?" Hu asked with a warm smile. Ace paused for a second. Was it a good idea? While he could have a better opportunity, it was risky. Very risky.

"Oh, uh, I can't really cook... I-I wouldn't mind helping with bringing stuff though!" He nervously said. Levi raised a brow at that, while Hu nodded.

"Right. Can you get us the recipe book while we take out the food from the oven?" the zither player asked. Nodding, Ace hurried over to get the book, a thick, red book full of traditional chinese dishes to the brim. It amazed him how many there were.

"Here!"

"Thanks."

________________________________________________________________________________

It was fun cooking with Hu Jing and Levi. He got to learn a lot of recipes and learn a few basic rules of cooking. He felt like he could be more calmer around those two, they had such a calm, parent-like aura he found himself comfortable in.

However, in his mind, he still had to start the plan. He was simply just looking fkr the right opportunity. And, he just so happened to find it.

Hu Jing had excused herself to go to the bathroom while Levi was busy entertaining himself with reading the recipes from the book, his lipshad formed a small smile while doing so. With the opportunity in hand, he decided to put the plan in motion.

He walked over to what would be his portion, quietly opening the bottle.

Drop

One

Drop

Two

Drop

Three

Drop

Four.

Four yellowish green drops fell on his food, one by one. While he debated whether or not he should put more, his future self told him four was enough. And, with that, he closed the lid of the bottle and put it back in his pocket. This had gone very smoothly.

'...Now what?'

'...Can I... take over..?'

Surprised by the request, Ace glanced at Levi before he understood what his future self really wanted.

'Of course. Now go and talk to him, I bet you missed him.'

And with that, he adopted a more mature glance as he walked over to the brown haired boy. "You seem really interested in the book." he softly spoke, leaning his back and hip against the wooden counter. Levi perked up at his words, glancing at him for a second. He seemed taken aback by the sudden maturity the jockey had.

"Ah, well... I like keeping my hands occupied with, quite frankly, anything. Sewing, cooking, reading... I like always having something to do." the personal stylist admitted. Ace hummed.

"I guess it makes sense."

"What about you? What do you like to do?" Levi asked. Ace paused for a second, rubbing his chin.

"Well, I've always liked climbing." he admitted "As a child, I would always climb trees and act a bit irrational."

"Really? Considering how fearsome you are, I wouldn't have expected it..." Levi mused.

"There's more to a person than what meets the eye, Levi. I think we both know that." Ace shrugged.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Levi asked, confused. Ace eyed him for a second.

"I think both you and I know what we're talking about." he whispered, Levi's eyes widening. 'No, it can't be. Nobody here knows, why would Ace say that? He's just messing with me.' He thought, internally panicking. His mind was already being flooded with questions, he just couldn't utter a single word, he felt a lump stuck in his throat. He felt... anxious. Anxious that he'd judge him. However, before Levi could actually ask him anything once he felt likehe could talk again, Hu came back.

"Sorry about that! Arei was already causing trouble." she apologized.

"It's fine or whatever." Ace shrugged, back to his usual self again. Levi stayed quiet for a second, confused.

"Levi? Is everything okay?" Hu Jing asked, worried.

"Ah, uh yeah. I just...dozed off a bit, my apologies." he quickly answered, glancing at Ace, who was getting everything ready to serve the food.

"Right, if you say so. But if something's bothering you, feel free to tell me, okay?" she smiled before walking over to Ace, helping him with the plates. Levi frowned.

He suddenly had that really bad feeling again.

________________________________________________________________________________

Once everyone gathered and started eating, Ace held back the urge to gag as soon as he tasted the poison going in his stomach. He forced himself to swallow the food, acting normal to not throw everyone off almost immediately.

One

Two

Three

By that point, he could already feel something crawling up his stomach, but he forced himself to not throw up as he kept eating.

Four

Five

Six

Seven

He quickly reached for his glass of water, using it to force the vomit down once again. By that point, he guessed someone would notice his face, which now showed signs of a very forced expression. "Ace? Are you okay?" Levi whispered, confused. The jockey nodded, taking another bite of the food with a forced smile.

Eight

Nine

Ten

At the tenth bite, he couldn't anymore. He quickly got up, running to the bathroom. "Ah- Ace?!" Veronika called, confused. Everyone paused, glancing at the door to the .

"Well that was... weird." Whit commented.

"Should we go after him?" Eden asked, worried.

"Yeah, I'll go." Levi volunteered.

"I'll go too." Teruko nodded. Getting up, the two walked out of the dining hall, following the direction Ace went.

"I wonder what happened to him in order to ran out of the dining hall." Teruko mused.

"I do want to know too. Perhaps that will calm the bad feeling I have." Levi agreed. The lucky student stopped, looking at the taller in confusion.

"Bad feeling?"

"Mhm. Ever since I woke up, I've had this weird feeling that something was going to go wrong today. I just hope it's false." Levi explained.

"Huh... Well, I'm sure it-"

*THUD*

Teruko's words were interrupted by a thud, a close thud. The two stopped walking, confused. It sounded like someone fell. Did someone get hurt? But everyone was in the dining hall?

Levi quickly placed the pieces together before he started running to where the thud happened. "Ah- Levi! Wait up!" Teruko called as she chased after the blue eyed boy, worried. She, too, had pieced the puzzle and figured out it could only be Ace, but she had no clue of what happened as well. It didn't take them long to find Ace.

An Ace that was knelt down, holding his stomach in pain while he kept coughing violently. The two gasped at the sight, loud enough for Ace to hear them.

"Urk- G-Guys?-" he stammered out before another round of coughing came out of his mouth, he was covering it too.

"Ace! Ace what's wrong?!" she questioned as she knelt down next to him, panicked. What was going on??

"I-I don’t- URK- know-" the jockey choked out those word before he hurled, turning away from the girl before he finally gave in, letting it out.

A pool of nasty green mixed with an odd shade of pink came out of his mouth violently, splattering Teruko's shirt. The girl paled at this while Levi knelt down too, rubbing Ace's back. He hadn't noticed the shade of pink in the vomit yet.

"A-Ace... W-Why did you- t-throw up blood?" Teruko asked. Levi's eyes widened as he felt the world stop at that moment.

"...B-Blood?" He choked out, trying to process the situation. Before he knew it, Ace had collapsed onto the boy's arms, out cold.

"Levi! We have to bring him to the infirmary!" Teruko shouted before she got up. Finally snapping out of his trance, the boy nodded, carefully picking up the jockey. The two then ran to the infirmary.

________________________________________________________________________________

"P-Poisoned?!" David questioned, worried.

"Mhm. That's what happened." Arturo confirmed, Charles nodding in agreement.

"What... Who-Who would poison him?" Hu stammered, worried.

"Anyone could. I have no clue why. Perhaps wanting to escape." Charles mused "Either way, the poisoned they used simply causes vomiting. This person was not very smart."

'Wow gee, thanks.'

'I forgot how much of an ass Arturo was.'

Ace sat in his mindscape, watching the scene with his future self. He felt bad he had to worry the rest. However, if it means that no murders will happen, then so be it.

'He softened around me?'

'Thanks to Nika, of course. The horror trio, as she called it, grew very close.' FuturAce stated 'Good times, really.'

'Heh, I guess so...'

"Someone should guard incase the killer tries to finish what they started." Min suggested.

"I will." Levi offered, serious "I refuse to let someone die today."

"Alright! Anyone else?" Eden asked. A second happened before Xander raised his hand.

"I will, I'm worried about him too. Besides, it's a good idea that the strongest stay and watchover him." He reasoned. The others nodded.

"Alright. If he wakes up, tell us." Hu Jing asked before everyone else left the room. Levi sighed, sitting on the bed.

"I feel like I just had a heart attack..." he let out, breathing heavily. Xander layed his back against the wall.

"Levi... You and Hu Jing were the ones cooking, right?" the rebel asked. The blue eyed boy widened his eyes, catching up to what Xander was implying.

"Neither of us poisoned Ace, Xander. We both woke up around the same time, met up at the entrance to the dining hall and never went to the infirmary at all." He argued, glaring at him.

"I know, and I want to believe you! But... I'm sorry, I just want to rule out all the possibilities." Xander defended himself, hands up as a way to say he wasn't going to fight him. Levi huffed. He was getting jumpy and agitated, he might slip up again.

"Sorry... it's just-"

"You like Ace, don't you?" Xander asked. Levi felt his face heat up at those words.

"Ah?! X-Xander what are you-"

"I kinda caught onto you, heh. Don't worry, I will keep it a secret." Xander smiled "Just promise me to confess once we get out of here." he said.

"Ah... I don't know if he likes me back, so... I'd rather keep them a secret." he sighed, holding Ace's hand. Xander frowned. He knkws he shouldn't intervene, but this is a killing game show. Either of them could die soon. He thought it might be better to just say it now, but... it could be more painful if the feelings are out.

'Xander... now you are safe...' FuturAce mumbled to himself, feeling proud of himself and his past self for being able to achieve this. No attacking Teruko, no Min saving Teruko, no Min killing Xander. Nothing. The three were all safe.

[erika-cuddlesworth]

Veronika doing a stretch!

Haven’t had much inspiration lately. I’m currently wrestling with burnout and some soul searching. But despite that I managed to finish a drawing for myself today. I’ll share it with you!

Backgrounds are overrated!

[borisbubbles]

Eurovision 2024: #16

16. PORTUGAL Iolanda - "Grito" 10th place

Decade Ranking: 56/153 [Above Circus Mircus, below Alika]

OH NOES THE FINGERNAILS!! SO BLATANTLY POLITICAL!! I legit had to zoom and enhance to even NOTICE, jesus christ EBU.

For an entry that I have ranked relatively high, Iolanda is such a pain to write about? I feel like the appeal and placement are both obvious? There are also no real fun things about it? It's all fairly cut and dry (hence why I skipped yesterday to give myself extra think time for the write-up).

I find it hard to believe that anyone can muster up feelings beyond 'yah this is good, next one please' for a song of Grito's calibre. Especially over the more immediate (read: better) "Pelas Costuras"?

That said, I must soldier on and write a few more words. "Grito" is actually a pretty competent Growth Ballad. It starts slowly but then gradually builds up the tension. It handles the overcoming of inner demons with a beautiful touch of melancholy (it IS Portugal after all), and never stays too long in its phases.

In other words: it dodges the main pitfall of many other cerebral ballads: Despite what Joel and Myff were insinuating (Aus NQ'd, in your FACE) Grito is not boring.

But it's also not that engaging of a composition. My gripe with it is that it banged the hardest in studio for me, and studio cuts just... don't matter to me? At last not post-show. I get all of my listens from Youtube, not Spotify. In the studio version, "Grito" goes from zero to hero IMMEDIATELY at the first chorus, and doesn't back down. It goes quite hard. Live, the transition is more gradual and subdued, which pulls me into the immersion at a later point. Almost too late? "Grito" is a slow burner, and I'm not a patient man. You need to make me care about you immediately, not until you're halfway through the song.

It makes sense that Iolanda was sort of the Alika of the year resultswise (getting a good amount of jury votes into a negative televote) but she had the opposite problem for me. Alika came across like she was aimlessly screaming at a mic without any sophistication. Iolanda came across as frosty introvert who deliberately held back on purpose to sound frail before the big note. BELT WOMAN, YOUR SONG DEMANDS IT.

Eventually, she did. And it was pretty good.

That was a really good climax. Grito succeeds where Ramonda and Before the Party's Over (and in a sense Veronika which I'll address in a few days) struggled with or even outright failed to do.

So going into the contest from FdC, I always expected Portugal to be a qualifier (why were SO many people sleeping on it? I know a lot of eurofans are dumb (sadly, not of the mute variety), but also hard of hearing?) but I was hoping for Iolanda to inject more life into her song. This was why I had difficulty getting into her at FdC.

and she... sorta did?

Like, if I'm honest, the performance wasn't enough to fully win me over. It went from a 7 to a 7.5, it's not the LEAP forward I had hoped.

However, Portugal managed to elevate the act from its FdC counterpart, and respected the song's strengths. Befitting the lyrics, Iolanda ~transformed into a better verison of herself~, serving personality.

The staging in Sweden was also better - the use of the cubes to create a confined space for an intimate performance, the interactive choreography and the camerawork that framed it beautifully were great. In FdC, it felt like Iolanda had too many ideas for her staging, and they were poorly implemented. In Sweden, it clicked together smoothly. Her styling was great (die Joel!). She got the message across, while staying classy and sophisticated, which I suppose is Portugal's entire spiel at Eurovision nowadays.

In terms of my personal preferences though, it doesn't set my soul on fire, or makes me raise roofs tonight. Iolanda was good across the board, so she makes perfect sense as a high jury carry, but at the same time she also makes perfect sense as a televote bottomfeeder. It cuts both ways - "Grito" is good on all accounts, and outstanding at none, nor particularly is it particularly high on Fun Factor. It's too polished and competent for that. Like, "Grito" is not Eurovision. it is a well-executed live of a well-written song that found it's way there by winning the NF. It's highbrow. And I can appreciate that, but ultimately, others this year have delivered entires that were more to in line with the vibes I like to receive from my Eurovision entries.

AND NOW WE'RE MOVING UP A TIER. Here are whoever's left:

Which one is #YOUR favourite?

THE RANKING

[lady-madxnna]

The Palestinian people are being BOMBED, STARVED, KIDNAPPED, RAPED, and MURDERED. As we eat our food on our table, they barely eat anything. As we stay within the comfort of our homes, they are shaking in fear with their houses destroyed. I hope that raising awareness is enough help to support the people—adults, children, animals— people who still have a future ahead of them, people who deserve to live safe and peacefully.

To everyone who follows me, and to anyone who sees this post, please donate to the following GoFundMe's, if you can. I am using my small platform as a voice for Palestine. FREE PALESTINE 🍉

[pinovapie]

DRDT Talent Swap V2

This time their talents are swapped with V3 talents! Vague spoilers for DRDT might apply!! Direct Spoilers for V3!!

Teruko Tawaki -> Ultimate Supreme Leader

(oh? idk, i can't really see Teruko being a willing leader?? I guess she takes the lead during trials ??)

Xander Matthews -> Ultimate Survivor/Adventurer

(.... Ignoring the obvious, this totally fits him! I can see it vividly-)

Charles Cuevas -> Ultimate Anthropologist

(literally perfect. i think he fits this talent well.)

Whit Young -> Ultimate Robot

(walking, talking Tinder lmao. In all serious though i think he'd have a cool design)

Min Jeung -> Ultimate Cosplayer

(... again with clothing related talents for the person with the blandest outfit in canon ??/nm)

Rose Lacroix -> Ultimate Inventor

(sold her soul to a big tech company.. rip../j)

Eden Tobasia -> Ultimate Detective

(DETECTIVE EDEN DETECTIVE EDEN DETECT-)

David Chiem -> Ultimate Artist

(.... seeing this made me realise that i headcanon David as a god awful artist...)

Arei Nageishi -> Ultimate Entomologist

(Arei scaring everyone with graphic and horrifying bug facts-)

J Moreno -> Ultimate Pianist

(i think she'd probably play keyboard instead because it's 'cooler')

Arturo Giles -> Ultimate Magician (Mage)

("it's magic you ugly pathetic peasant!" I think this would be really funny. "do i really have to explain to you plebeians again?! It's ultimate MAGE. Not 'magician'!" Okay. I'm sold. This is my favourite !!)

Veronika Grebenshchikova -> Ultimate Astronaut

(she'd go to space for the thrill. she'd probably love that weird spinny thing they use in training lmao-)

Ace Markey -> Ultimate Child Caregiver/Assassin

(... I mean... he has the many siblings and angriness of Maki i guess??? Ace but he has the balls to actually kill you? unrealistic)

Levi Fontana -> Ultimate Akido Master

(yeah. Idk what to say here uhh acevi training together or smth?? No but i could definitely see him doing martial arts-)

Hu Jing -> Ultimate Maid

(she already has the Kirumi vibes!)

Nico Hakobyan -> Ultimate Tennis Player

(sports dysphoria time! oof. rip Nico for rolling this talent..)