#wrapped in a mystery

[badwolf-burningsuns]

What I’m not seeing anyone talk about is the fourth wall break implying….WE GAVE IMPORTANCE TO RUBY’S MOM.

As a fandom, we were ENTHRALLED. WHO IS SHE??? So every “fan” complaining about the end and saying “why did Sute care so much about Ruby’s mom??” and my response now is “well why did you care so much??”

And then they say “we didn’t know who she was” and I’m like…..”yeah neither did Sutekh. And just like us, the mystery was killing him.” Ruby’s mom may not have been important but we made her important as a fandom obsessing over the mystery.

I don’t know how to explain it?? Like does that make sense to anyone else?? I was practically screaming at the tv “WHO ARE YOU?!” I was giving her that power over me just like Sutekh was.

[frog-thief]

"once a ordinary monk picked up a lonely and lost sparrow"

[waldherz]

Hope is the only thing stronger than fear …

( W A L D H E R Z ) ── A GUARDIAN in search of the TRUTH, her kind heart thirsting for REVENGE , entangled in the threads of FATE ... Is her DESTINY her DOWNFALL ?

(carrd) (board) (rules)

── independent , low to semi - active potrayal of the original esteria silvershade, based & crafted for fakevz/ ger&eng. Please read the rules before interacting.

[sincerely-sofie]

Thinking about @gehtsis’s children and how terrifying it would be to get their team assigned to help you escape from a mystery dungeon.

If these are what my heroes look like I'm 99% certain I'd be screaming and running the other way. Menacing cryptid-looking grim reaper and cursed psychic clay doll. I love them.

[strawglicks]

welcome to the Coal & Ice District!

[tiny-breadcrumbs]

Have some zongzi!

[mandaloriandragontrainer]

Okay, here’s what we still don’t know (and hopefully will find out in season 7):

What exactly did Aaravos do? We now know his why, but not his what

Similarly, what is his plan now that he’s free?

What role does Callum play in that plan?

What did Aaravos do to Queen Aditi and Luna Tenebris, and why?

Who was Sol Regem’s mate?

Who was the Orphan Queen, and what role did she play in bringing down Aaravos?

Who was Laurelion, what role does he play, and how does Claudia’s necklace connect to him?

WHAT EXACTLY IS THE KEY OF AARAVOS, AND DOES HE NEED IT BACK?

WHAT HAPPENED IN HARROW’S ROOM THE NIGHT THE ASSASSINS CAME, AKA IS HARROW IN THE BIRD

How cute will Rayllum’s children be?

Feel free to add more if I missed any!

[youling-the-ghost]

I can't believe the first time I've seen a sfth audience boo is because AJ fired a fan-favourite cop character in a longform.

In the audience's defence, Jimmy was fucking awesome and it was wrong to fire him.

[onceinawhilemoon]

tonight's insomnia is brought to you by:

in the ending where mycroft narrates the aftermath, he briefly mentions how one of his agents’ vehicles was ignited during a surveillance operation..

mycroft then says, “there's only one man who could orchestrate such a feat - or perhaps two.”

i'm pretty sure one of the "two" is M. him being responsible for something like this is my personal canon and just makes sense. but the way mycroft says it right after talking about sherlock and how he's afraid for him, and right after saying, "i suspect he is growing paranoid," drives me insane. the way it's phrased seems to suggest that mycroft is referring to sherlock as one of the two men who could have been responsible, and that seems to be what led mycroft to suspect sherlock was growing paranoid..

but why would mycroft even suspect sherlock, and why would sherlock even do such a thing?

"she was lucky to get out alive" implies the incident was pretty serious and could have killed the agent and whoever was inside the vehicle with her. i doubt that sherlock would intentionally endanger people's lives like that..

and why would he even go out of his way to sabotage mycroft's operations in the first place? unless this “surveillance" operation was actually a “keep an eye on my brother and make sure he doesn't do anything stupid” operation. and when sherlock realized that he was being followed/watched, he set fire to the agent’s vehicle to protect himself and scare her off, perhaps thinking she was sent by someone he antagonized in cordona?

i've spent more time than i care to admit squinting at this screenshot depicting Mystery Man Around the Corner. M would definitely hire someone to do the dirty for him, but sherlock is more of a hands-on kind of person, right? i mean... the hairline kiiiiiind of resembles sherlock's, i guess? maybe? if you squint? i'm probably just seeing things at this point..

what further firms my suspicion that the "two" is in reference to sherlock and M, is how the phrasing seems to play into the idea of them being equals. the idea of only two people possessing the same level of intelligence and cunning, who have access to certain information, and who are capable of knowing exactly when and how to intercept mycroft's operations. M, who seems to have consistently stayed at least one step ahead of mycroft, and mycroft's own brother, who knows him a little too well and shares his brain genetics, who is also familiar with many of his agents, some even by name.

i love this ending because it's the only one where we get a glimpse into Sherlock After Jon from a perspective that isn't sherlock's. he's lonely, he's likely paranoid, his brother is worried about him... all of it contradicting the other endings in which sherlock tells us that he's fine and has moved on with his life.

so the whole fire incident thing and mycroft’s line about who could have been responsible could be a way of hinting at the negative consequences that jon's loss is having on sherlock. now, without jon to course-correct and reorient him, he's more prone to (extreme?) paranoid reactions such as this. though i'm not sure if i like the aspect of going to the extent of jeoprodizing lives... (also, funny how the loss of what sherlock perceived as his "irrational" part probably caused HIM to act in irrational ways..)

it gets even sadder when you think about it from mycroft's perspective, especially with him saying, "i saved my brother. he will never forgive me" right after he mentions the fire incident. if he truly believes that sherlock could have been responsible, then it would not only sprout worry and confusion, but also send him into a spiral grappling with conjectures, because what if sherlock WOULD go out of his way to deliberately break mycroft’s trust? what if it's an act of retaliation because mycroft broke HIS trust by lying to him to save his life? but mycroft attributes it to paranoia, possibly because he doesn't want to fully lose faith in his little brother and their relationship yet, but most likely because he's resignedly too aware of their family history...

from mycroft's perspective, even if sherlock truly did it, he had to have been driven by something out of his rational mind, rather than by mere spite or a desire for revenge. and mycroft doesn't hold it against him because he knows that sherlock only did it to defend and protect himself from a perceived threat. instead, he fears for sherlock and his mental health because the last time someone close to mycroft took action against a perceived threat in a fit of paranoid delusion... well, we all know how that went..

anyway. i'm choosing to end the ramble by rolling down the brighter side of this hill: mycroft dropping hints about his awareness of M in this ending (and his knowledge of M in TA in general) implies to me that sherlock taking jon's advice and swallowing his pride to ask Big Bro for help regarding M is most likely very canon. weeee :')

[shegoesbyjoy]

🚨 Link Click spoilers (up to S2 E3) below!! 🚨

I wanted to collect in one place all the evidence we're seeing for the theory that there are two different people with red eyes, so here we go.

First up is their hair, specifically where their bangs are. One is a straight blunt cut, while the other is more of a fringe situation.

A slightly more subtle difference can also be seen in their eyes...

As this great analysis video explains (sorry non-speakers it is all in Chinese but I'll note the relevant points below), Link Click stylizes men's eyes differently from women's—where the latter tends to have more well-defined lashes compared to the former.

There's also the clothing differences, a pink hoodie versus a yellow one. This COULD just be a lighting thing, since the patterning is exactly the same on both outfits, but hard to say!

(The thing that's throwing me off is that the Red Eyes at LG's door has different bangs from one shot to the next...animation error perhaps?)

In the following screenshots from S2's OP you can see one hooded figure with short hair (and a yellow jacket) and one with long hair...wearing a different outfit! This long-haired person is wearing a hooded jacket with a shirt underneath, rather than a hoodie underneath a jacket. Deeper down the rabbit hole we go...

In any case, the conclusion that the analysis video comes to is that there are two different people with red eyes, one male one female, and they are likely siblings. But what's really fun is that this video was made before E3's release, so they didn't have this very interesting tidbit to work off of yet:

The text translates to, "do not/cannot die, good (older) brother". It's vague enough to be interpreted in a number of ways—is she referring to Lu Guang as her brother? Is she referring to a person we haven't seen yet who's at risk of death, who happens to be her brother? If we follow the theory that the two Red Eyes are actually siblings, could she be talking about her red-eyed brother? Is this a taunt, a warning, a plea for LG to survive, or a request for his help???

We know basically nothing about Lu Guang's life before he met Cheng Xiaoshi. Since the end of S1 I've been hoping and wishing for the show to dive into LG's backstory, and this could be a really really good opportunity to transition into that, if this note actually has some sort of personal significance to him 👀

[djevelbl]

"Why couldn't he save himself?"

Yeah, Fanny... why couldn't he?

Rabbit Reflections is quite possibly my favorite Fanny-related Inky Mystery chapter ever! We see her finally start to shatter her incomplete view of who Cuphead Dish is by coming to the singular conclusion one could reach in her shoes: he sees something of himself in her, and feels responsible for that.

While I like this illusstration and enjoy the little details of its full picture - Fanny's pupils looking up to Cup, the cut on her ear, his heart resting at her eye level and yet still being ignored - it didn't really turn out how I thought it would y'all, so bc you can't see their individual shapes all that well, there's a couple versions below for each!

Thank you for coming to my art showcase! I'll see you in the scheduled shitposting I'll inevitably do before I start drawing again 💗

[bisexualchaosdemon]

Being a bisexual woman with female friends is funny because am I just being a really good hype woman? Am I flirting with you? We may never know.

[xinyuehui]

△ Zongzi Ping △

[da-birb-writes-sometimes]

One of Us is Guilty; Epilogue (Part 1)

Cater is missing and Vil, Azul, Silver & Jade are now remaining. Will they find Cater? Will they catch Rook? Will they survive the night?

Characters; Vil Schoenheit, Azul Ashengrotto, Silver, Jade

Content; Murder mystery, revealing some clues

Content Warnings; Dead bodies, kidnapping (dead dove content)

Word Count; 1.2 K

Prologue | Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Epilogue (Part 1) | Epilogue (Final)

Do not put my work into AI If you enjoy my writing, check out my masterlist

Rook was gone, and so was Cater. They should have felt relieved that the killer had been found, but now, he was missing, and he had taken Cater with him.

Vil clenched his jaw, and his nails were digging so hard into his skin that he nearly drew blood, nearly. Even though he can be strange, Rook wouldn’t do something like this… it’s against his own code; he would own up to it, not hide it. “Is everyone okay?” Obviously not, but still, checking in can help.

Out of everyone, Jade looked the least panicked, but Vil could read him well enough to know that this situation disturbed him greatly. Silver was shaking a bit, not from anger, but rather, grief. And then there was Azul, who was pacing and muttering to himself; of how this could happen, to possible motives. And Vil? He was hurt — not physically, but emotionally — since he knew Rook the most, but knew that whatever was happening, was not the real Rook.

“No,” Silver spoke up, eyes meeting Vil’s. “But there isn’t time to waste, for all we know, Cater cou- is still alive. And we shouldn’t waste time, the sooner we find him, the better the outcome is.”

Vil nodded, “I agree, and I want you all to stay behind me.” Just in case. But he didn’t say that. Vil was the eldest of their remaining group, and he saw it as his duty to protect his juniors… even against his own friend and vice-house warden.

Jade looked at Vil, and could tell that the Pomefiore house warden was willing to protect them. “And what about your safety?”

“… I trust that you all know offensive and defensive magic enough to where you won’t hit me by accident,” was his answer. Vil knew the risk, but the more that he ruminated on all that had happened tonight, the more he was sure about what they were going to do. “We’re going to the teacher’s lounge.”

Azul stopped pacing, turning his eyes to Vil, trying to get a read on him. “Is that really the best idea,” he questioned. “The last time we moved rooms–”

“I know what happened!” Vil hissed, before taking a breath and calming himself down. “My apologies,” he sighed, “but we can either try and solve this and try to get Cater back or we can stay here like sitting ducks. And trust me; Rook is quite the marksman.”

Azul backed down, “Sorry.” But he still felt uneasy, as if there were eyes watching him still, even though the guilty party was now known. “May I ask why the teacher’s lounge though?”

Vil opened the door out to the hall, “Even if Rook isn’t there, and it isn’t the room where the original murder took place, there could still be clues about why this whole ordeal happened, and how.”

Silver stood beside Vil, and matched his stride; if Vil was willing to risk his own safety to keep them safe, he was going to make sure to guard him, to put his training to use. He may not have a sword, but if it came to it, Silver would not hesitate to use his magic, or his body, to protect the others, even if he had to use said magic against a fellow classmate. 

Jade brought up the rear since he trusted his own keen senses and his magical capabilities; the ocean made him acutely aware of his surroundings after all, and he wouldn’t have made it this far without them. “The professors do sometimes make notes about student behaviour, so that could bring up some new information,” he hummed.

“Professor Trein would probably keep the best notes,” Silver offered quietly. “So… should we just read them without his permission?”

“I don’t see any other option. It’s better to ask for forgiveness in this situation rather than each of us…” end up dead “find ourselves in a difficult situation,” Vil answered, finding himself in front of the door all too soon.

Azul, despite being in the centre of everyone, still felt uneasy. Still felt eyes watching him. “Difficult how? Dead? Perhaps tortured? Made to watch as the rest of us are picked off like bait fish to a shark’s kill–” He stopped himself, forcing himself to take in a deep breath. Have I been holding my breath? “… do you think we’ll find anything of use?”

Vil opened the door, “I guess we’ll find out eventually.”

Silver, Azul, and Jade followed after him.

…

…

“I find that Mr. Hunt has been acting lacklustre in class. He told me that everything was fine, but after talking to Divus, it has come to my attention that Mr. Hunt could have been in contact with an expired potion,” Vil read Trein’s notes. “Other than this though, he seems to be doing well… but he is far too good at masking his true emotions, so I can’t help but worry.”

“Did Professor Trein mention what the potion is,” Azul spoke up. If anyone could figure out the side effects of an expired potion, it would be Azul and Vil.

Vil looked over the note, “No…” But his eyes widened as he got an idea. As much as he hated it, it could be their only lead. “But someone does. Come with me.”

He marched back down the hall, Silver on his right, with Azul and Jade keeping up behind him. They were going back to the main hall, where all three of the bodies were.

“You must be joking,” Jade huffed, looking at Vil, avoiding looking at the bodies of Headmage Crowley, the Ramshackle Prefect, and Professor Crewel. “You know reanimation–”

“It isn’t reanimation magic, I would never dream of doing something so… dark.” Vil brought out his pen, and he walked over to Divus’ body, kneeling down beside him. “Bring memories back,” he whispered, staring into the glassy, dead, eyes of Professor Crewel.

The others shuffled as the memories of the past week started to play out around them; from the professor having his morning coffee, to him sighing over papers. 

“Show us Rook,” Vil demanded. He knew that he wouldn’t be able to keep this up. Even though this wasn’t as taboo as reanimation, looking into the memories of the deceased was still considered a violation… but they had very few choices, so in comparison to what else had occurred that night, this transgression was far less important in the grand scheme of things.

The memories flashed until they showed Rook in class, three days ago. He was talking animatedly to his alchemy partner as he reached for an ingredient, but his hand bumped into a glass vial, making it crash onto the ground, covering him in the contents.

Vil paused the memory and examined the vial. “Azul,” he called, beckoning him forward. He gave him a look, and Azul looked at the vial. Vil wanted to make sure that he was actually seeing this. That he wasn’t wrong.

“A love potion? An expired love potion?” Azul huffed, wracking his brain for the side effects. “Lacklustre behaviour… obsession…” He muttered to himself. 

Vil stopped the spell, knowing that if he lingered, it could risk blot accumulating. “It makes sense… the hunter of love,” he sighed, pinching his nose. “But this, this is…”

“AZUL!” Silver shouted.

Vil turned around, but he was too late.

Azul was gone, and his glasses were broken on the ground, the glass shattered. He didn’t even have the chance to make a sound.

“You chose the wrong room!~” Rook’s voice hummed merrily on the PA system.

SUSPECTS:

- Silver; the kindhearted knight with a mysterious past, is it just for show?  (Plum) - Vil Schoenheit; the actor who is always pigeonholed into the role of a villain (Scarlet) - Divus Crewel; the alchemy teacher with a penchant for fashion, Crowley’s co-worker (Peacock) DECEASED - Rook Hunt; the enigmatic hunter who always has a hunch of what’s happening (Mustard) MURDERER - Azul Ashengrotto; the owner of The Mostro Lounge, a businessman with dubious morals (Green) MISSING - Reader; the ‘house-keeper’, a role that was imposed on them by the late Headmage (White) DECEASED - Jade Leech; a student enamored by fungi and seems to have a foreboding presence about him (Orchid) - Cater Diamond; the preppy beau of Heartslabyul, but his smile seems forced (Peach) MISSING

ROOMS:

- Main hall (eliminated in Chapter 2) - Teachers’ lounge (eliminated in Epilogue (Part 1)) - Cafeteria - Kitchens - Lecture theatre - Botanical garden - Alchemy lab (eliminated in Chapter 3) - Library - Crowley’s office (eliminated in Chapter 1)

WEAPON: MAGIC (found in Chapter 2)

TO BE CONTINUED!

Author's Note; The last vote ended in a tie which included the correct room where the murder took place, so Chapter 5 will be a continuation of this. It just felt natural to end it here for this chapter to build suspense!

So congrats!!! Just need to sit for a bit and decide how to wrap things up! And since you guys did technically get the room, there won't be a poll this time; just putting the next part in a new chapter.

[verflcht]

NEW UPDATE on my rules regarding SHIPPING & COMMUNICATION. 

[laiqualaurelote]

2023 Fic Round-up

This year I wrote seven fics and 108,512 words, which is more than I thought! Here's a round-up

maybe everything that dies someday comes back (The English | Cornelia/Eli | M | 14k)

The post-apocalyptic Mad Max Fury Road zombie AU where David Melmont hires bounty hunter Eli Whipp to track down and retrieve a fugitive called Cornelia Locke.

wins this year's award for: Fic That Fulfils My Childhood Dream (writing a zombie apocalypse)

ain't practical, a world you can't touch (The English | Cornelia/Eli | G | 5k)

The Pushing Daisies AU in which Eli can bring people back to life with his touch, but has tried his best not to until Cornelia.

wins this year's award for: Deepest Cut, Zagged

The Lady With The Recorder Asks The Questions (Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries | Phryne/Jack | T | 6k | WIP)

Modern-day newsroom!AU - Phryne is a star investigative journalist who breaks news as easily as she breaks hearts; Jack is just trying to do his best in the war on error.

wins this year's award for: Fic I Most Regret Not Finishing (I'm sorry!)

constant as a northern star (constantly in the dark) (Ted Lasso | Ted/Trent, past Trent/OFC | T | 10.5k)

The saga of Trent Crimm and his independent ex-wife.

wins this year's award for: Most Surprisingly Popular Fic

all the men and women merely players (Ted Lasso | Ted/Trent, Roy/Keeley/Jamie | T | 50k)

The Station Eleven!AU where the Richmond Players are a travelling Shakespearean company performing in the ruins of a post-pandemic England, and Trent is, despite the apocalypse, still a journalist.

wins this year's awards for: Longest Fic, Fic That Survived The Most Hiatuses, Fic I Am Proudest Of

well-versed in etiquette, extraordinarily nice (Good Omens, Historical RPF | Aziraphale/Crowley | G | 3k)

The Regency heist fic in which Jane Austen, criminal mastermind and aspiring novelist, pulls off the 1810 Clerkenwell Diamond Robbery with the help of a certain demon.

wins this year's award for: Quickest Fic (I wrote it in four days)

speak easy, swing hard (Marvel Cinematic Universe | Steve/Tony | T | 13k)

The 1920s Prohibition era!AU in which Tony runs a nightclub empire, Steve is an aspiring artist and/or questionably undercover agent, Sam and Bucky are bootlegging their way through America and nobody knows what Natasha is up to.

wins this year's award for: Most Historical Research (I watched two seasons of Boardwalk Empire and had to figure out multiple characters' speech patterns, then transpose these to the 1920s. Also I listened to so much vaudeville)

I don't think I will be around as much in 2024, barring unexpected hyperfixations, but I wish you all a glorious year anyway! May your WIPs be finished, your ships prolific and your fandoms full of joy.