#even though she might be the culprit in the current detective event

[dress-up-bestie]

Why did they do Aron dirty like that 💀

#even though she might be the culprit in the current detective event #she doesn’t deserve this!! #not to mention the family erm…. #love nikki #love nikki dress up queen #LNDUQ #love nikki ads #fake ads #mobile game ads #vidoe #tiktok

[ulanulanulan]

you offer almond tofu to xiao!! and you solve a case together like cool detectives~ part 1

note: another fic.. that went out of control.. sequel to that bed sharing fic but no need to read it. tho i may allude to some stuff from there.

this is mainly xiao and xiao and more xiao. heavily inspired by the reconciled stars event, but no need to see that too ha ha ha unless..

utc plot heavy things and my bad sense of humor. nothing alarming really

wangshu inn - front desk

"there doesn't seem to be any sign of forced entry. but my staff will be onto it," said verr goldet, putting down a cup of tea in front of you. you must have looked quite miserable because she even added a serving of almond tofu next to it.

free of charge, you assumed.

"but i can't promise to find your stolen items immediately. as you very well know, the millelith has turned the inn into a relief station for victims by the meteorite incident. my staff is quite stretched thin, even at this moment."

"i understand," you said, sighing. you tapped you finger on the plate, too anxious to eat the dish on it. "curiously, they did not steal any of my mora," you said, though, technically, there's wasn't much mora to steal in the first place.

she took out a paper and pen. "what exactly got lost? it's doubtful, but i'll try my best to be on the lookout around the harbor, in case somebody sells or trades any of your personal items there."

"um," you started, not knowing how to say it. "a sweater. i embroidered my name on it."

"okay," said verr goldet, nodding.

"a dagger. it has varunada fragments around the hilt. it also has my name on it."

"i see," she replied. "is there anything else?"

"my cryo vision," you said, quietly.

the owner of the inn stopped her pen. "excuse me?" she said, her eyebrows raising. "excuse me for asking, but you don't usually have it in your person?"

"no," you replied curtly, refusing to explain any further.

she drummed her fingers on her chin, deep in thought. "it's highly likely that the culprit took advantage of the current disaster to enter your room." then, she sighed.

"it's also possible they stole other items from our other guests. i won't be surprised if i get complaints in the next few hours. what a nightmare."

and, as if on cue, a couple approached her desk, frantically reporting about their missing valuables. another minute, a scholar appeared, crying about his missing tools. a little boy also came in, wailing about his missing rex lapis doll.

verr goldet tried to calm them down as you faded in the background, taking the plate of almond tofu with you. it was free food after all.

you started to walk away, thinking of doing your own search when verr goldet called your name, gesturing you to come closer.

she told the growing crowd to wait for a moment and pulled you to a corner, her voice hushed. "i don't usually ask for his help, but this is an emergency," she said, looking worried.

"at the third floor, there's someone who might have an idea about what happened earlier," she whispered. "he's always on watch by the balcony, so he can practically see every person who goes in and out of the inn. he could help you, and perhaps, help us save this place from falling into pure chaos."

"someone?" you asked, and realization dawned in you. rumor was it that wangshu inn keeps a lone adeptus that protects liyue from demonic forces.

it must be true then.

so, wangshu inn's chef was indeed an adeptus, you thought.

you have seen, more than once, the chef scuttling around the topmost balcony on evenings, always bringing a plate of almond tofu while watching the sun disappear in the horizon. you presumed he just wanted to rest after a long day of work, but you've always suspected there was more than what meets the eye.

as darkness and constellations covered liyue like a blanket, here was one chef that kept the lands at peace, fighting demons in the shadows in his lonesome at night and cooking delicious food for tired travellers during the day.

it made you a bit sad.

you've always found the chef a bit rude to you. but now, finding out that he was a neglected hero, you were beginning to understand why he would point a knife at you whenever you sneak in his kitchen to cook your meals during his off hours. he must have been keeping vigilance.

an idea dawned on you. "oh, he must like almond tofu," you exclaimed, thinking about the times you caught the chef cooking and bringing one with him everyday. you looked down at your own plate, beaming at it.

verr goldet's eyes widened. "oh, so you have met him. well, i guess there won't be much of a problem then."

"of course i met him. i see him everyday, actually." you said. "he's a cautious person. once, he pointed a knife at me."

"you mean his weapon? oh, i hope that didn't terrify you," exclaimed the woman. "he's a good person, a bit rough but he's reliable," verr goldet quickly explained. the crowd behind her was getting impatient and she needed to attend to their complaints soon.

"just bring him his favorite dish and perhaps he'll talk to you. if he has shown himself to you before, then he must trust you."

you were confused for a moment. the chef had always been around, it was normal to see him.

but instead, you said, "don't worry. i understand." you patted her shoulder. "i got you. i'll talk to him." you prayed to the geo archon that he urge her to give you a discount for your meals after you help her fix this mess.

verr goldet thanked you before returning to her guests, whose concerned looks were swiftly turning into anxiety, and eventually, anger. you didn't want to be around when it came to that.

you hurried away and climbed to the topmost floor, holding the plate of almond tofu in your hands.

---

wangshu inn - third floor balcony

you weren't exactly sure how to summon an adeptus. the chef was always present and when you called him, you just said his name. he usually ignored you but it should still work. you just needed to ask Respect.

closing your eyes, you stretched out the plate to the view, almond tofu and liyue in perfect balance.

"master chef smiley yanxiao," you called out. "i humbly ask for your help. here is my offering of your favorite meal."

no one answered. you opened one eye for a peek, and saw nobody.

you shut your eyes again. "i know it's a bit too early for dinner," you continued. "but i really, i mean, we, verr goldet and i, need your help. perhaps you could adjust your schedule for today?"

you opened your eyes, and still, nothing.

"okay, i'm sorry i kept using your kitchen without permission, master chef smiley yanxiao," you said impatiently. you walked near the balcony, leaning down to see if he was purposely hiding. maybe he could actually fly, who knows.

"please come out. your meal will be all dusty by the time you appear," you said, turning around. still no response.

you waited for a moment. "okay, i'll throw this if you don't show up," you threatened, holding the plate beyond the ledge. "i just need to ask some questions. it's your almond tofu in the line for this."

suddenly, you heard a loud crash and the ground started to shake.

the entire inn shook.

you staggered, and a sense of drowsiness washed over you. all you wanted to do was close your eyes and dream a long dream, but what kept you awake was the sudden flash of pain on your waist, as if something sharp had sliced you.

you lost your footing, and went over the ledge, almond tofu and adventurer falling together.

---

wangshu inn - outside

when you opened your eyes, you were flying.

you watch the sky swerve above you. it looked ominous, as if a storm was about to arrive. you could see specks of light stain the sky, almost like fireworks in the distance.

"am i dead?" you asked groggily.

"no," said a quiet voice.

you turned your head, and met golden eyes that reminded you of a cat's. a very innocent-looking face stared back at you, skin as pale as the moon and hair that reminded you of the pines in mondstadt dancing with the wind.

you quickly pulled off your arms from his neck, feeling embarassed and panicky all of a sudden. he was carrying you like a bride at mid-air, and you felt lighter than ever.

it terrified you.

you closed your eyes and took deep breaths. you were no stranger to heights. as an adventurer, it was part of your routine to climb tall mountains or use a wind glider to travel long distances. but you felt queasy being carried this way, with no control of your bearings and your legs and arms unable to do anything.

you were afraid that he'd drop you.

when you finally sense the ground beneath you, you opened your eyes. you felt yourself lose balance but the short man held a hand to steady you, before hastily pulling away as if he'd just touched something hot.

you gaped at him, at his strange clothing and tattoos, and you knew that he wasn't entirely human at all.

"you're not a chef," you muttered disappointingly.

he glared at you. "no, i am not."

"i mean, you're not chef smiley yanxiao. you're an entirely different person." then, you quickly said, "unless you can actually change faces? adepti do that, right?"

the man closed his eyes, turning to leave. "i did not appear to you to answer your meaningless questions," he said.

"wait," you said, touching his arm. "forgive my manners, but i need your help."

he stared at your hand with utmost curiousity, saying nothing.

from behind, you could hear people screaming. a few feet away, a crowd had formed around a crater where, apparently, a meteorite had fallen once again. that must be what had caused the tremors earlier.

"your hand," said a voice. you looked back at the adeptus and noticed your hand still on his arm.

you pulled away quickly. "i called you because verr goldet asked for your help.." you stated. "but we should get away from here first. more people are coming," you said as a couple of millelith soldiers began to arrive.

you were about to leave when you heard a little girl crying near the crash site, her pleas left unheard by the soldiers. they were too busy prioritizing the victims and keeping the crowd away from the meteorite.

you watched the girl for a while. no one was helping her.

"i'm sorry," you said to the adeptus. "i'll summon you again later."

you rushed to the little girl, leaving the adeptus under the cool shade of the inn, his figure unnoticed by the panicking people around him.

---

xiao glanced at your leaving figure, before stepping away to leave. then, he noticed something on his arm.

it was blood.

he was about to call your name but stopped. he shook his head and let the shadows take him away from this human chaos.

mortal affairs shouldn't matter to him in the first place, he told himself, turning an eye to see you go.

---

wangshu inn - crash site

"hey there," you said to the crying girl, your hands raised.

the girl looked at you curiously. atleast she stopped crying.

"did i say something scary? " she asked, sniffing.

"what?

"that's what people do when my dad talks to them," she said, pointing at your raised hands.

you put them down. you had no idea why you did it in the first place. the girl was harmless, she wasn't going to mug you or anything, you told yourself, laughing nervously.

children, in general, made you uneasy for some reason. they were unpredictable and noisy, and stubborn as heck too. and really sweet at times that it confused you. you always felt as if you needed to be on guard with them all the time.

"is your dad a millelith soldier?" you asked.

"i think so, yes. he always has a weapon with him," she replied. "and he scares people away. "

"i see. that sounds right," you said. "your dad must be very busy right now scaring people away. it's these meteorites." you gestured your hand towards the most recent crash. "if you touch any of them, you'll get knocked out. scary, huh?"

the kid stayed quiet, watching you with unnerving eyes.

"we should get you out of here, kid," you said, trying to make yourself smile warmly. "it's dangerous. your dad will cry if he finds you here."

you weren't sure about that but this was a life-and-death situation after all, and bursts of emotions were common during these moments.

"but i don't know you," said the girl.

"my name is y/n. i'm an adventurer," you said, showing her your handbook and identification.

the child looked at it like an inspector, fingers tapping her upper lip and an arm folded behind her back. it felt as if you were being judged by this snotty little girl right now, and it made you unreasonably nervous.

the kid stood up and held your hand, coming to a decision. "you remind me of a toy i have," she said. "it's very pretty. i should show it to you some time."

"cool," you said.

"you have blood on your clothes, y/n," said the little girl, her voice worried.

“oh, this?" you said, yawning." it's nothing. just a scratch."

---

wangshu inn - third floor balcony

the adeptus stared at the plate of almond tofu on your hand. his expression looked pained.

"i'm sorry if it took me some time. i had to bring this kid to a doctor," you said.

the adeptus did not seem to care.

"more so, the chef was too busy to talk to me, what with the meteorites and angry guests pouring in," you explained further. "i had to cook the dish myself. i think i did well, considering i've never done it before."

the adeptus's eyes seemed to burn a ghastly gold. "is this a trick, mortal? you seek for aid, and yet you attempt to deceive me?" he spatted.

"no," you said, trying to keep a calm voice. he was being difficult and you were beginning to lose your temper

"this is almond tofu," you added carefully.

he frowned at the offered plate. "the dish is suppose to be white, like snow and dreams. yet what you hold has the same hue as the curses and nightmares i fight daily. i cannot accept this offering, mortal."

you glared at him. "that's not a very nice thing to say," you said, unable to keep your tone respectful anymore.

"i may not be familiar to how liyue cuisine must be cooked, but i tried my best. the ingredients even came from my stock. it may be burnt a little but it's edible, i swear."

the adeptus turned his back to you, wanting to hear no more.

you bursted. you pulled his arm and the look he gave you was so vicious, you almost faltered under it.

"i lost my vision, and i need your help finding it," you said, the words coming out too fast. "that vision, right now, it means a lot to me, because.. because.."

for some reason, you couldn't remember why you needed it in the first place.

you didn't like your vision, it was the reason why you didn't have it near you all the time. and yet, you couldn't let it go. so, instead, you hid it safely. even though it wasn't in your hands, you knew it will always be there when you needed it.

yet, now that it was truly gone you just..

"only a fool would lose their vision," said the adeptus, shrugging your hand away. "are you not aware what happens when a vision is gone from its owner for too long?"

you shook your head. "no," you said shakily but you were beginning to understand what he meant.

you were starting to forget how you got it in the first place.

---

your vision was one that belonged to the cold and made you cold. you despised it, carrying it like a curse instead of a blessing from the heavens. it was a vision born out of hate, until someone had changed that recently.

but why in barbatos' name couldn't you remember? weren't you just searching for it earlier, shouldn't there be a reason why?

and yet..

"a person's will, desire, or ambition, as you humans call it, is tied to their vision. it may vary with other people, but a vision gone is as good as a dream lost forever.

"this is how grave your loss is, human. mortals need dreams more than they need a vision's power to live, and to lose a dream is no different to one's death," said the adeptus and you could sense a hint of pity in his tone.

you blinked, feeling terribly sad. "i need to find it before it's gone forever. i made something out of it, i think, something deeply important," you said. "i can't remember, but it feels as if i'm breaking a promise if i forget."

you stared at the dish, watching it shake in your hands.

the adeptus looked at you for a while, his thoughts unreadable. even without looking, you could feel his gaze penetrating through you, and you raised your head, returning it with equal weight despite your growing anxiety.

"i will help you," he said, finally.

you exhaled. you've been keeping your breath waiting for his decision.

"but," he crossed his arms, "you follow my lead. and our conversations must be the bare minimum. you humans need to. speak all the time, it's unbearable."

"okay," you replied. he didn't like loud people, which was absolutely fine. you weren't fond of them either.

"there are things i may do that can be uncomfortable to mortals, so i suggest you just close your eyes and look away."

"okay." you weren't sure what he meant, but you merely agreed. an adeptus was going to help you and you really can't complain about his methods much.

"if you ever you come upon trouble, just call my name," he said. he appeared to hesitate for a moment, before saying,

"my name is xiao."

you gave him a thumbs-up, a small smile on your face.

he stared at your thumb, and only nodded.

read part 2 hereeee

#xiao x reader #genshin impact #xiao #genshin imagines #lets write some mystery #im crying rn can i even do this

[thanksjro]

More Than Meets the Eye #31 - Ammo and the Anti-Glowup

So, the Lost Light disappeared, stranding all the crew in space in their little escape pods. 200-some robots just lost their homes and worldly possessions. That’s absolutely horrible. What a devastating thing to happen.

Anyway, here’s Drift with a flashback sequence.

No hips, fingers all the exact same length, hockey pucks embedded in his forearms- Rojo, this is a crime you’ve committed. When will the long arm of the law stop your sinful, pancake-shaped hands?

About two years prior to current events, Drift, Riptide, and Pipes- yes, Pipes!- were wandering around trying to find a ship for the space yacht trip. The gang’s here to see who owns the big honkin’ ship outside. Problem is, Drift is unintentionally terrifying because he has a great deal of swords.

Now, you may say to yourself “isn’t it a bit odd that the species that has members who literally turn into guns would be nervous around a guy with swords?” This is a valid critique, until you remember that at least some of the folks who turn into guns were born that way, and Drift was very much NOT born bladed the fuck out. There’s an entire miniseries devoted to explaining this, it’s called Drift. The swords are a choice, one that he makes every day.

Drift is willing to pay an honestly absurd amount of money for the ship, if he can just find the dude with the paperwork- don’t ask where he got the money. Pipes isn’t being terribly helpful in finding them, so Riptide decides that now is the time to start practicing being proactive and pulls a Coyote Ugly.

No, no, he doesn’t.

He does climb up on a table and start yelling for the ship’s owners to reveal themselves, though. Which they do.

Now it’s time for the world-building portion of our comic issue. Let’s learn about chirolinguistics.

Drift, staying true to his Mary Sue nature, uses his near-perfect Hand skills to strike up a deal with the owners of the ship. This would be impressive, if it didn’t just look like the most convoluted hand-holding session in the friggin’ universe.

Still, Drift is rich enough to make Jeff Bezos weep with envy, so the arrangements are made and the lads go on their way, talking some mad shit about the original name of the ship as they do.

So it is revealed to us that the Lost Light is named after a festival for honoring the dead and disappeared, which makes the fact that Rewind and Chromedome were there all the more sad.

Back in the present, Megatron tells Riptide to shut up so they can figure out what the hell they’re going to do about this whole “our home and also ride has ceased to exist” situation. He’s putting an awful lot of distance between himself and the rest of the Autobots as he does it, something that isn’t lost on the more bitter people of the crowd.

But why were we even talking about the Lost Light in the first place? Not to reminisce, believe it or not. See, it’s time for Nautica to get a little panel time, and she’s going to use it to be a massive fucking nerd and explain how the quantum engines work. As she does, Ratchet notes that his hands feel funny. Must be the weight of his hand-stealing sins manifesting itself in his joints.

Nautica explains that the engines run off of improbability- it is highly unlikely, but not impossible, that the ship can reach light speed, and riding the fine line between what can happen and what can’t, results in the creation of power for the engines. If this sounds familiar, it’s because Brainstorm gave us a watered down version of this explanation back in issue #2. If it sounds familiar for a different reason, it’s because this is how the Heart of Gold runs in Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Again, I’m not sure why it is that the British love this concept so much, but there you are.

Oh, it appears someone has a question. Let’s see what they want to know about, shall we?

…Rojo, what the fuck is this.

Our muppety friend here isn’t too keen on how much of a smarmy asshole Nightbeat is being right now, though I’d assume it actually has something to do with the fact that Nightbeat got smacked around with the pretty-boy stick while Getaway very much did not. While the two bicker- there’s a lot of bickering in Season Two- Nautica presents a theory on what happened to the ship; it went too far in the direction of “can’t” and made itself cease to be.

Megatron gives not a shit about quantum improbability, though. He only cares about how they’re going to get out of this mess. Which, y’know. Valid.

Blaster picks up a radio from Rodimus, who tells the gang that they’re to meet up on a nearby planet to regroup and figure out their next move. The call drops before he can get more than a couple Megatron-directed insults in, however. Megatron, in response, tries to be the bigger person, and almost immediately fails. We do get a headcount though, which is good, logistically speaking. This information is communicated to us by way of a splash page full of character head shots. We’ve got 20 ‘bots on board this ship.

Yep. 20. No more, no less.

As our friends approach the planet, we’re informed that it’s actually a Lectureworld- a planet devoted to the study of a single field. Except it’s actually a Smartplanet now, and it’s been privatized by the Galactic Council, so you’ve got to pay to go there. Cyclonus thinks that that’s bullshit, and I can’t help but agree. Crosscut tries to network with they guy about his play, probably because word got around that Cyclonus is rich as hell, when the lights cut out. When they come back on, Crosscut is nowhere to be found.

It’s time for a Whodunnit.

Tailgate immediately pegs Megatron as the culprit in this disappearance, and breaks out a gun over the matter. Megatron thinks that this is absolutely adorable, which only serves to further infuriate our marshmallow friend. I guess he’s still mad about the whole “I was a Decepticon for five minutes and got brainwashed over it” thing, and wants someone to pin the anger on who’s socially acceptable to hate.

Cyclonus and Ratchet both think that Tailgate’s not going about this the right way, but the guy is simply too het up to listen to them. Tailgate suggests that they lock Megatron in the engine room for the time being and-

OKAY WHO LET HIM HAVE THAT

Riptide breaks out his gun, and soon we’ve got a standoff going between the three of them. Cyclonus tries to deescalate, which makes Gears and Huffer break out their guns. Then Hound breaks out his gun, though he seems to be doing his own thing, by pointing it in Nautica’s direction.

Broski, I think that might be animal cruelty.

Megatron manages to shoot Ravage “unconscious” and catches him by the friggin’ throat, stating that he has zero idea how this guy got here. With the heat off the two of them for a moment, Megatron communicates to Ravage to play ‘possum for the time being. Ravage responds, and I wonder exactly how he’s doing that, considering I don’t think he has enough fingers to effectively utilize Hand as a language. Or fingers at all, really.

While this is going on, Cyclonus snatches the gun out of Tailgate’s hand, admonishing him for being reckless about picking his fights. Generally speaking, you don’t want to try to go toe-to-toe with a guy who’s responsible for the deaths of literal billions. Getaway swoops in to comfort Tailgate, calling him gutsy. I wonder if this will become a trend.

Swerve says a thing, as he is wont to do, and it’s made known that multiple folks have disappeared during this incredibly brief standoff.

Wow, Chromedome just fucked off, huh? He wasn’t even in that sequence, just left.

Everyone’s positively baffled by the current happenings. There doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason to who’s being taken. I guess we’ve got a mystery on our hands.

And who better to solve a mystery than a detective?

Nightbeat wrangles all the leftover folks into a corner of the room, so they can figure out what the common denominator is with all the disappearees. He starts with the easy stuff.

And by “easy”, I mean the super-special racism Tyrest subscribed to.

If you’ve read Eugenesis, you know that Nightbeat was also part of the first wave of cold-constructed bodies there. However, the general populace wasn’t nearly as chill about it as they were in IDW. Also, Wheeljack was his dad. No word on if that particular tidbit made it into IDW lore.

It’s at this point that we learn about M.T.O.s- made to order soldiers. They were cold-constructed ‘bots created en masse during the war in order to keep up with the demands for troops. Pretty fucked up, if you think about it, being born to die like that.

Now where have we heard that name before…

Chromedome, can your love life not be part of the plot for five minutes, my guy?

Nautica makes the honestly horrific claim that a lot of folks owe their existence to Megatron being a warmongering fuck, and even Megatron himself seems rather uncomfortable with the idea. Some thoughts we keep to ourselves, Nautica, even if they might be technically true. And even if Ammo wants to tack on his two cents on the matter.

What did they DO to you, Ammo? You’re supposed to be hot! Where are my three-paragraphs of description as Hound stares slack jawed the entire time? I miss Polyhex Wars.

Anyway, it’s Megatron’s turn to get poked with the questioning stick, and he’s not having it. He claims that by revealing his mode of creation, he’s risking a repeat of Functionist ideology. This would be valid, if people weren’t literally disappearing without any sort of explanation as to why. As it is, he’s being a stubborn asshole, but I guess he didn’t get his reputation by being a decent person who knew when to back down, now did he?

It’s at this point that Ratchet remembers he knows all the info Nightbeat’s looking for, and the conversation on Megatron’s birth is shelved for another day. I’m sure it won’t be a major plot point later, not in the slightest.

As it turns out, Nightbeat’s theory doesn’t hold water, and folks are still popping out of existence. We get another splash page, this time with everyone’s mode of creation listed under their names, and we move on to other theories about what the fuck is going on. While Nightbeat has a minor crisis over what the answer could possibly be, the MTOs in the group reminisce on the Ten-Step Program, a series of tests they were put through to make sure they worked well enough to get handed a gun and shoved out the door. Riptide wasn’t a fan.

Riptide has more wood panelling than a 70’s-style ranch house, and I think that’s very brave of him.

It’s at this point that Ratchet remembers it’s been quite a bit since he last shat on religion, and takes the time to do so while informing the reader about Information Creep. This is a concept we’ve seen mentioned previously, during Chromedome’s runaround in Overlord’s brain, but it’s here where we get the juicy implications.

Because memories can become corrupted in the brain due to extreme age, what ought to be objective fact has to be reinterpreted due to missing pieces. This is why nobody knows what the Knights of Cybertron got up to, or if they’re even actually real at all.

The lights go out again, and when they cut back on, Cyclonus is missing, leaving only his sword behind. Tailgate is extremely distraught by this, but Nightbeat gives not a fuck about Tailgate’s impending breakdown. He only cares about the truth!

And then a giant eyeball shows up.

It’s Ultra Magnus, coming to us live from his shuttle, via holomatter avatar! He shrinks down to a far more reasonable size, in a panel reminiscent of the first time IDW readers saw Megatron.

Don’t get me wrong, this is a neat parallel, I’m just… not terribly sure why it’s happening. One could say it reflects a reversal in power dynamics, but that theory gets tossed out the window when you remember that this isn’t actually Verity. I suppose it’s just a cool little thing.

Because the comms aren’t working, Ultra Magnus has been forced to use this avatar to communicate with the folks in the Rod Pod. Megatron asks just what the hell is going on, but unfortunately Magnus isn’t sure either. Then his shuttle disappears, and it’s bye-bye grunge girl Magnus.

It’s at this point that Nightbeat decides it’s time to stop pussyfooting around and get serious. He tells Ratchet to throw HIPPA directly in the garbage and write down everything he knows about the Autobots who crewed the Lost Light. And he does mean everything, as we get the splash page again, this time with lots of neat info on our friends, including spark type.

Spark types will become plot-relevant in the storyline after this, but for now let’s focus on some weird gender essentialism that got slapped into the first print of this issue.

As we know very well by this point, Transformers as a franchise has a tumultuous relationship with the idea of women existing. You would think that the awkward introduction of other genders we got in “Dark Cybertron” would have been the end of things being weird in IDW. However, you would be wrong.

In an effort to explain why genders exist, Roberts had the idea to make it spark-based. Nautica, in the solo print of this issue, has an estriol-positive spark. Estriol is a type of estrogen, which is the hormone that develops and maintains feminine secondary sex characteristics, when present in certain levels, in conjunction with other hormones. Biology

This “spark = gender” idea is, generally speaking, not a great idea to be presenting us with, especially when the writer is a cishet male, because it implies biological essentialism- the idea that a personality trait/quality of a person is innate and predetermined by their biology, as opposed to social, cultural, or individual experiences. Because this story doesn’t exist in a vacuum, it’s irresponsible to reduce the experience of being a woman to a single, physical, unchangable asset, especially when all other assets of the same class have zero effect on one’s gender identity. You don’t exactly see many nonbinary robots running around, now do you? And there are definitely more than two spark types, despite the Transformers as a species being... very binary.

It also makes female Transformers into an “other”, which is a problem that has existed from the very start of the franchise, in some form or fashion, and really doesn’t need to be perpetrated anymore than it already is.

The estriol spark type was removed in the trade edition, and Roberts has expressed regrets over its inclusion, having realized that it was potentially offensive.

Getting back to the story, Swerve, Tailgate, and Ratchet have disappeared, though Ratchet seems to have left his hands behind. His stolen, Pharma-original hands.

That’s still fucked up to me. I don’t think it’ll ever not be fucked up.

Riptide reveals the reason that he wasn’t in Season One of MTMTE was because when he went back to grab a receipt for the ship two years prior, he’d discovered that the original owners were worshipers of Mortilus, Cybertronian god of death, and knew about the nasty little problem that was the sparkeater from the first storyline. When Riptide went to confront them about it, they beat him up so bad he was unconscious for two solid days.

Which is a long-ass time to be unconscious. That might have been a coma, Riptide. Jesus, I hope someone got him to a hospital after this beatdown happened, or at least scraped him off the floor.

With this last piece of the puzzle, we finally have the common denominator in this big ol’ mystery. Everyone who disappeared was on the Lost Light when it took off from Cybertron in issue #1, and everyone left behind- Skids, Getaway, Nightbeat, Nautica, Megatron, and Ravage- didn’t join until afterwords.

Of course, having the answer doesn’t do us much good when everyone is still missing, and Megatron seems to agree with me, because he’s about to throw hands, when Nautica lets them know that they’ve arrived at the rendezvous. Problem is, so has something else.

...

I’m sure it’s fiiiiiiiiiiiiine!

#transformers #jro #MTMTE #issue 31 #maccadam #Hannzreads #text post #long post #incoming analysis #overthinking about robots #comic script writing

[teawaffles]

It Happened One Night: Chapter 5

“——What!?”

Everyone, including Sherlock and John, was taken aback.

“Whose house did you find it at?”

Having attracted the gazes of everyone in the room, the officer who’d just entered looked distinctly uncomfortable. But upon hearing his superior’s question, he coughed to clear his throat, and explained in a businesslike tone.

“We found the painting in the house of a woman named Amy.”

“Amy? Is that true?”

The innkeeper’s daughter, Patti, seemed shocked. That said, as Sherlock and John looked around the room, they realised that although Amy had been in the pub earlier, she was currently nowhere to be seen.

The reason for that immediately became clear. The officer who’d made the report turned to Patti.

“Yes; she said she wanted to return home, so I accompanied her. Then just to be certain, I conducted a simple search of her house, and that’s when I found a painting that matched the description of the stolen item.”

Amidst the commotion stirred up by this new revelation, the officer in charge nodded slightly.

“Well then, where is Miss Amy now?”

“She has remained in her home, under the supervision of another officer.”

“Understood. Get me the details of the situation as soon as you can. I’m glad this case got resolved quicker than I thought.”

At those last words, Patti’s eyes widened in shock.

“What do you mean? You can’t seriously be thinking that Amy is the culprit?”

He responded in a calm voice, as if he was accustomed to such reactions.

“Well, isn’t it a reasonable conclusion? We found the stolen painting in her house. There’s no cause for doubt here.”

“That’s— It can’t be! Amy would never do something like that, and she was talking with me the entire time during the party. She didn’t have time to leave and steal the painting.”

Seeing how Patti desperately defended her friend, the man frowned in confusion.

“In that case, she must’ve had an accomplice. Then they stored the painting in her house for the time being. With that, it all adds up.”

“What do you mean, it ‘adds up’……?”

The officer had tried to wrap up the case with such a careless explanation, and to that, Patti was simply lost for words. Perhaps he had always handled his work this ineptly.

The detective took over and confronted him.

“Now hold on just a minute. All the report says is that the painting was found at her house. From that fact alone, isn’t it unreasonable to conclude that she’s the culprit?”

“Who’re you, anyway? ……Ah, someone mentioned it earlier. So you’re a famous detective or something?”

The officer didn’t seem to be familiar with the name Sherlock Holmes. Not particularly caring to explain his background, Sherlock questioned the conclusion he’d reached.

“This woman, Amy, she agreed to have a police officer accompany her home without any objections. If she knew the painting was in her house, would she really have done such a thing? Also, from how that officer spoke just now, it seems he found the painting the moment he entered her home. You’d think she’d have considered that her house would be searched, and hidden the painting somewhere less conspicuous, don’tcha think? So, what do you say to that?”

Having suddenly been dragged into the conversation, the officer who’d made the report was visibly nervous as he replied.

“That’s…… Well, it’s true that the painting was in the sitting room, right after the entrance.”

“See? It was practically begging you to find it. So it’s highly likely that Amy has been framed — you shouldn’t be making a decision just yet.”

Upon hearing Sherlock’s argument, Patti’s expression brightened up, but it seemed the police had other ideas. The officer in charge spoke on behalf of all of them.

“Mr Holmes. The culprit must surely have been in a hurry. So after stealing the painting, when they went to her house, they had no time to hide it, and decided to leave it in the sitting room for the time being. Then Miss Amy asked to return home, to try and hide the painting properly this time; but because this officer ended up accompanying her, she resigned herself to fate and allowed him into the house. How’s that? Now the explanation fits.”

“Oh, come on……”

There was an obvious indolence behind his words: he was no longer willing to listen. Sherlock had more arguments prepared, but at this rate, they would just be evaded in the same quibbling manner.

In order to persuade the officers, they had no choice but discover the truth of the case as soon as possible.

However, Sherlock had yet to make any progress towards that goal. His mind was working on overdrive — he knew he had to avoid the tragedy of an innocent person being arrested — but nevertheless, they were short on both time and information.

The detective’s expression contorted in anguish, and the officer seemed astonished as he spoke.

“Hey, if this was the city, where everyone rushes about everyday, maybe there’d be some deeper truth to uncover. But this is the countryside: nothing remarkable ever happens here, and everything moves according to simple rules. I don’t know whether it’s because you’re a famous detective, or whatever, but aren’t you making this out to be more complicated than it is?”

“…………”

He looked at Sherlock, who squandered mental effort even on the strength of his counterarguments, then turned to face the entrance of the inn.

“Well then, I’ll have the minimum number of officers necessary remain behind, and the rest shall be withdrawn at once. Thank you for your cooperation.”

With that, most of the officers left the building. The guests who’d remained behind simply stood where they were, stunned by the police’s shoddy work.

“……W-What’ll we do now, Sherlock?” John asked, seized with frustration.

“Argh, I was almost there. Dammit…… They did their jobs way too fast, and in a bad way, mind.”

Sherlock continued to think over the case, even as he laid bare his exasperation at the officers. However, he still didn’t have the full picture: it felt as though he had an idea of which way to go, but not a precise path to get there.

As the fog in his mind refused to clear, precious seconds were ticking away.

“Sherlock……”

Beside him, John clenched his fists, acutely aware of his own powerlessness.

Looking at the two men, the innkeeper muttered in a vexed tone.

“Those officers are usually decent fellows, but…… I didn’t think they’d presume Amy was the culprit based on that kind of reasoning.”

With that kind of reasoning, they had presumed she was the culprit. Just recently, Sherlock had heard a line very similar to that.

——Ah, it’d been from that brother of his.

Mycroft had said those words when he visited their apartment before, immediately prior to the “Scandal of the British Empire” case.

“Sherly tends to presume a bit too much in his reasoning.” [1]

Mycroft had said so in a condescending tone that’d also implied he knew something Sherlock didn’t. Sherlock wanted to complain about it back then, but as he knew for a fact that his brother was more intelligent, he’d had no choice but to accept the criticism.

Presuming too much. Perhaps, in this investigation, he had also presumed something he shouldn’t have. Maybe not something that would’ve overturned the case from its very foundations, but rather, a tiny detail.

In an unusual turn of events, he took his brother’s words to heart without protest. Then, seconds later, something struck him like a flash of lightning.

“What’s wrong, Sherlock?”

The shock from that bolt of inspiration had sent his entire body into shivers, and John was clearly worried. Then, Sherlock gnashed his teeth as he replied without hesitation.

“Hey, John. I admit that the carefree few days we’ve spent here might have dulled my thinking. That’s why I was thrown off by how quickly this case unfolded.”

He suddenly laid blame on himself, and John cocked his head in confusion.

“W-What’s happened, Sherlock? Saying something like that out of the blue…… In the first place, there’s little information to go on this time, so our hands are tied.”

But Sherlock took no heed of that, and spoke forcefully.

“That’s…… That’s why— Listen, this time it was my own dullness that slowed down my reasoning. I'd thought that if I could gather just a little more evidence, then the answer would reveal itself immediately. So it was definitely not my brother’s words that led me to the answer, got it?”

“……Ah.”

John understood.

Although he didn’t know the exact details, he knew that Sherlock had probably solved the case with the help of some advice he’d heard from Mycroft before. Because he didn’t want to admit that, he tried to explain why his deductions had reached a deadlock instead.

At that, John couldn’t help but chuckle, and Sherlock was evidently cross about it. But if he messed around with him too much, he didn’t know what kind of logic he’d employ next.

He asked about their next move.

“Well then, what should I do?”

At that question, Sherlock also switched up his thinking.

“First, pick someone we can trust in this inn. I’ll give further instructions then.”

“Got it.”

Then Sherlock whispered into John’s ear the name of someone he was certain was involved in the case. With that, the two men promptly headed out.

Footnotes:

[1] Mycroft said this in Chapter 17 of the manga (“A Scandal in the British Empire, Act 1”). I chose to translate the line anew for the purposes of this story.

#moriarty the patriot #yuukoku no moriarty #yuumori #english translation #forbidden games

[hshq-scotlandyard]

THE RESULTS

THE OFFICIAL STANCE OF THE POLICE !

Prince Arthur II denied ever entering his father’s office on the day of the incident. He had, instead, commanded a few of his personal staff to aid him in gathering his personal belongings in other areas of Buckingham Palace. The guards at the Palace and stationed to watch over his father admitted to never having seen Prince Arthur II come within the vicinity of the office prior to the discovery of the body, other than when he clearly passed by the end of the hall, headed to his own room. HRH Catherine of Scotland heard the sound of Arthur I falling to the ground, as she was using the bathroom in the same area, and promptly headed to the office to investigate the noise. By the time she arrived, Arthur I was already deceased. HRH Catherine of Scotland promptly alerted the authorities.

Detectives believe that the assailant was an extremist who wished for the monarchy to be abolished, having found multiple online groups that were stoked to action by the recent clashes between Scottish/English forces. Authorities are currently assuming the former. The current unrest and chaos within London has made it difficult to locate the assailant, who escaped just before HRH Catherine of Scotland entered the scene. 

English authorities are trying to organise and ask for any help finding the regent’s murderer.

THE CULPRIT !

Prince Arthur de Iturbide II of Mexico murdered Arthur Windsor I.

Congratulations to the ones who guessed the murderer! And thank you everyone for playing! This was mega fun

He may have escaped the law… this time.

THE MOTIVATION !

Prince Arthur II has been planning his father’s murder since Princess Natalia was named heir to the throne. 

At first, it had been motivated by blind rage; then, it increasingly seemed more logical to do so. Prince Arthur II had been hard at work ensuring that the English nobility did not question the royal family, even after his sister had been named the new heir. He had also been the perpetrator of the Parliament explosion in 2020, though there were no casualties. The attack was a warning, and one that was inspired by his father’s actions against the Dutch. But it did not seem enough. Unrest raged on, and Prince Arthur II believed that his father would continue to undermine his political efforts and destabilise the country ever further should he be allowed to come close to any sort of power. Prince Arthur believed that his father had become the cancer of the nation, and his siblings unable to stop the spread of his influence. All other international parties were either resentful of England or too loyal to the old (ex-) monarch to offer aid and be rid of the despot entirely.

THE CRIME !

Enabling the Scottish and nationalist English factions to cause further chaos in England was the first step. By then, England was already at the breaking point. They needed someone to blame, and it was so convenient to paint Arthur I, the tyrant. He was most already high by the time his father’s conviction was announced, confident of what the outcome would be – not because he manipulated it, but because the sociopolitical conditions of the country might as well have dictated it. 

The second condition was the party. Though Arthur II had no hand in planning it; it was just convenient that it was at Buckingham Palace. It was also convenient that his father chose that same night to take part in the celebrations. Arthur II took this as a sign.

The anger and mortification he conveyed to others was only half true. It constructed the lie that he wanted to retire to his private quarters at just the right time, especially when his father had taken his leave. He instructed his personal staff to gather the rest of his belongings elsewhere: books, memorabilia, and the like, particularly in the library. He obtained a silencer from his private security detail, but needed to find the concealed weapon – unregistered, and received it as a gift from his less pristine connections – in his private quarters. His room also had a secret entrance into the hidden passages within the Palace, and he knew these well, having explored them at length as a child. He traversed them, hearing the guard, George Abbott, watching something on his phone through the wall as he passed by the area that would have been the waiting room beside the study. He waited until his father was alone in his office, and entered promptly. He shot the man first on his back, hitting his chest. Arthur I fell and hit his nose on the table’s edge, breaking it. The elder Arthur attempted to get away and alert authorities, especially upon seeing his son, and Arthur II coldly interrupted: “I hope you’re proud of me now, dad.” before firing a single bullet between his father’s eyes. He did not need to come close to his father and allow his shoes to be stained by his father’s blood – he had been hunting with Catherine since they were old enough to be allowed to hunt together, and they were both excellent (and competitive) shots.

Disgusted by the sight of his father and still somewhat tipsy, he removed the ring from his finger – which he almost never takes off – and allowed it to fall to the ground, not noticing that his father still had his. 

The office has two hidden doors: one that’s an exit to the passage (behind the trophy cabinet) and one that’s an entry point on the opposite side of the room. If Arthur II had returned to the hidden passages, he would have created a mark on the blood spatter on the wall, as well as stepped over the body. This would not do. Knowing that the guard was distracted, he opened the door carefully and slipped out. By the time the guard returned to his post, having finished smoking by the window in the waiting room beside the study, he didn’t know any better. Arthur II rounded the corner just as he was spotted by the maid, Alicia Greene. Her irrelevance to his current concerns caused him to forget they even interacted.

It was a fortuitous moment later, after Arthur II’s subsequent exit, that Catherine heard the noise. The ring was beside Arthur I’s body, and noticing the same ring on the deceased, she recognised it immediately as her childhood partner-in-crime. She picked it up, and the events continued as we know it at present.

RED HERRINGS AND VITAL CLUES !

Madelyn Desjardins

While Madelyn and her beau had a jealous reason to be rid of Arthur I (may he rest in pieces), they were also commoners. Killing a monarch would have been a sure death sentence without the right connections and without prior extensive planning.

Nicole and Natalia de Marquis (and Ennio Este? Arnauld D’Orléans?)

This has to be the most convincing one. We were setting it up the entire time and you got jebaited ! They are all innocent of (this particular) crime. Other crimes, though? Who knows

The Palace staff

Alicia Greene straight up lied. She watched Arthur II and Natalia grow up, after all, and still sees them as kids. She doesn’t know what exactly happened or who killed Arthur I, but she’ll do anything to protect her kids. George Abbott has worked at the Palace for three years, but in those three years, the Palace has seen its fair share of chaos and scheming that he’s learned to steer clear of the study, and Ian Ford probably didn’t give a damn, being loyal to Antonia. The cook and the gardener were innocent and corroborated these claims.

The Windsor siblings

While we were all alluding to killing off dear old dad, none of them are actually murderers

Apart from Arthur II : D

The Dutch?!

I wish

The cufflinks

These were Arthur I’s, which he took off for himself in frustration while he was calling his lawyers. The list of his clothing did not include them.

The wine

Madelyn drank some before leaving the scene. No scuffle ensued here, but Arthur I was struggling to uncork it, which would explain the opener.

The notepad and the laptop

Because the laptop has the most incriminating piece of evidence, we decided to save the best for last. To solve the password, you had to have access to the notes. Old people have a tendency to just write down their passwords, so we placed it there for good measure.

[detectivedreameater]

Off The Record || Metzli and Marley

TIMING: Current PARTIES: @deathisanartmetzli and @detectivedreameater SUMMARY: After a very expensive painting is stolen from Metzli’s gallery, they run head first into the perfect person to help them. Marley’s ready to get back into the game. CONTENT: Blood, Death, A fuckton of sarcasm

The key slid into the lock with a satisfying click, and Metzli made their way to their office to shut off the security system. Everything was in order, everything was in its place. As the air conditioning blew on their face, they grabbed their clipboard, and began their daily ritual. Everything had to be perfect before the curator could open the gallery in 15 minutes. 

Making their rounds around the gallery, something was definitely amiss. Section one, check. Section 2, check. Section 3, che—wait a minute. The print out with their fresh check marks must be in error. No, there’s no way Metzli would have made a mistake like that. Upon further inspection, they discovered the Murakami painting they acquired two weeks ago, was gone. “No! No, no, no!” They exclaimed and began to pace angrily. 

From the outside, people could see Metzli yelling expletives, but they didn’t care. All that mattered right now was finding the culprit and tearing them apart. How did they get through their security anyway? No, focus. Track. Charging furiously outside, there was plenty of cloud cover thanks to the snow to spare them any pain. Blinded by their mission, they ran into something, no, someone. 

Today was routine. No, really, it had been, up until someone had run headlong into Marley, sending her stumbling back a few inches in the crusty snow that had hardened on the sidewalk. She hadn’t really been paying attention to where she was walking, so maybe this was her fault, but she’d had other things on her mind. Namely, Erin. And also that place that her mind kept going back to, with the man and the water and the tree. 

She’d been so out of it, she hadn’t even realized she wasn’t wearing her sunglasses. The cloud cover made it enough so that she didn’t feel sluggish or heavy in the afternoon light, but looking up, she found herself blinded for a moment by the glare of sunbeams off of snow drifts. She squinted through it, towards the person they’d plowed into (pun intended) and ruffled her brows. “Slow down there, speedracer,” she grumbled, rubbing her shoulder where they’d collided. “Got somewhere to be?”

Sputtering nonsense for a few moments, it took Metzli everything they had to calm down. Their curly black mane was disheveled from the impact and it took a hand brushing through to set it back in its perfect place. “Yes, I have somewhere to be! One of my most expensive paintings was stolen!” Any attempt to keep cool was out the window and continued to pull their hair in frustration. 

Many more expletives were shouted as they gathered themselves together and they took a deep, unnecessary breath. Metzli already had their plate full and now they had to pretend to be polite. Great. “Apologies. The painting is one of a kind by Murakami. So…I’m quite frazzled at the moment.” This time their tone was much more put together and sounded like they were actually sane. 

Marley watched with a bored expression, groaning only a little bit internally when it was announced that something had been stolen. And she, as a cop, had a “duty” or whatever. She rustled through her pockets for a moment and picked out her sunglasses, sliding them onto her face as the person in front of her fussed, rather anxiously, with their hair. “Careful,” she said, speaking in her normal deadpan, “you don’t wanna ruin that perfect head of yours.” She couldn’t help but chuckle at the back track, stuffing her hands in her pockets once again. “You don’t have to apologize to me. In fact, I’m probably the best person you could’ve run smack dab into.” She held out her hand, and in it was a business card. “Marley Stryder, Detective.” 

She hadn’t wanted to work on an off day, but, hey, duty call or whatever. And a missing painting was much more exciting than the five or so cases that had crossed her desk today about public defacing and noise complaints. Sometimes, on low weeks, White Crest was more boring than Albany. “So, you wanna slow down and tell me what happened? I think I might be able to help.”

With widened eyes, Metzli took the business card, analyzing its legitimacy. Lo and behold, it truly was legit. “Marley Stryder, I’m Metzli Bernal,” Their tone now was a stark contrast to their earlier more frantic one. It was a total one-eighty. The dull and cold tone Marley had did wonders on their little episode. 

“I opened maybe fifteen minutes and during my routine checklist, I noticed the Murakami was missing. No security trips, no tapes, and now a 1.8 million dollar painting is just gone!” Metzli was getting worked up again. “I’ll rip apart whoever did this!” Running a hand through their hair once more, they forced air out. “I’m cool, I’m cool. Sorry. This doesn’t happen to me. It’s never happened to me.” There was a certain layer of defeat that coated the last sentence. They felt bested, and that wasn’t a feeling they were familiar with or liked. 

Tilting her head as the other person examined her card, Marley waited. She could be patient when needed. It wasn’t like she had anything to do today, really, besides muse on her own misgivings and what she was supposed to do about it all now. “Nice to meet ya, Metzli Bernal.” She tapped the card. “You can keep that.” A glance around the street showed Marley that it was that time of the afternoon where people slid into lazy comas, waiting for time to breech into evening. Aside from dusk, when eyes went from dull to red, it was her favorite time of the day. 

“Alright, why don’t you show me the gallery and where the missing painting was hung up,” she offered, pointing down the street from the direction they had come from. “Maybe I can see something you didn’t. And, hey, if we happen to find them, say, before the rest of the squad arrives, I’ll give you a go at ‘em.” Especially because this sounded like something supernatural, and Marley wasn’t interested in coming up with a lie today. “Today’s your lucky day-- I’m the best on the force at finding missing things.” 

A smile slowly formed on Metzli’s face. Marley had already proven to be not only a strong ally, but a fun one at that, in a short amount of time. “You’re not a typical detective, are you?” They asked, already knowing the answer. Without saying anything more, the vampire moved back into the gallery, holding the door for Marley. 

“The painting was taken from the area over there,” Metzli pointed as they walked. “If you’re the best, I will be forever grateful. Will this reach the news? I don’t think Murakami would be pleased to find out that his painting was stolen, even if it was recovered.” If it were up to them, no one but the two of them would know about this. They would eliminate the culprit and take the painting back. No loose ends, no breaking news. 

“Depends on what you consider typical,” Marley answered evenly, following the other person back towards the gallery. It looked fairly new, Marley certainly didn’t remember it ever existing on her nightly rounds of the city. She didn’t mind new places, though, and she certainly didn’t mind new cases, as long as they were interesting. It was a little sad that her most interesting case right now was an art theft. She’d take what she could get. She followed Metzli’s instructions and headed over to the spot where the painting had previously been hanging up. The only clue that anything was missing was the empty gap in the wall space between two other pieces. Marley traced her hand along the way, but it felt as smooth and cool as she expected it to. Nothing had touched it. “Any flickering lights or weird, unexplained events before this?” she asked, bending down to look at the space beneath the painting. No trace of anything on the ground, either. 

“Besides some annoying ass ravens that kept following me everywhere? No. Those pendejos were taken care of a while ago. Yesterday was no different from the others either.” Metzli answered confidently. Being able to sense danger and take care of it was in their nature. This had to be a filthy, good for nothing human.

Metzli scowled at the spot where the painting once hung, grinding their teeth together in anger. “If you’re thinking it was an abnormal thing, I doubt it. It smells…too human,” They admitted, thinking out loud so that the two could collaborate together. “Don’t know why an abnormal entity would want such a human thing. The only thing it’s worth is money in most people’s eyes. Then again, they need money too.”

“Ravens?” Marley asked, standing back up and glancing around once more. “Just normal ones or--” she lifted her hands for air quotes-- “ravens.” There were quite a few supernatural species’ that it could be, if it were ravens, but Marley wasn't’ versed in the more critter-like beings. But corvids were her favorite type of bird, so she knew enough about them and the ones that shared the same world as her. A brow rose. “Smells human?” There were a few species that could smell well, vampire and werewolf among them. Marley wasn’t exactly excited to have to deal with a moody maneater, though, if that was the case.

“Not sure a human could’ve walked in here in broad daylight and not leave behind a trace,” she pointed out. “Could’ve been motivated personally. Maybe they really like the piece, or maybe they just really don’t like you. Made any enemies in town yet?”

Metzli quirked their head in curiosity. Marley definitely smelled off, but they couldn’t quite place what species she was yet. “Valravyns. Wouldn’t get off my ass for weeks.” They answered truthfully. “Took a bit of research but I finally figured out what they were and got rid of ‘em.” Shoulders rose and fell in a shrug, dismissing the event as if it were a typical thing. 

“Haven’t made very many enemies yet. Give me a few more months though. I’ve kept to myself for the most part. You’d be surprised how well prepared these humans can be in this place. Especially since they’re surrounded.” Metzli didn’t particularly care for humans, but they especially didn’t care for human art criminals. And with such a prestigious piece of work on the line, they were ready to kill. 

“I’m assuming they did this in the middle of the night. But what do I know? You’re the detective.”

“Valravyns? You had valravyns on you?” Marley asked, a bit surprised. She hadn’t encountered too many of them in White Crest, but it wasn’t that rare, really. It wasn’t them, though, then. Valravyns had no need for a painting. She didn’t have her duster with her, but that might not be necessary. She held out her hand. “Get me some tape,” she demanded, “clear, if you have it.” There were other ways to dust for fingerprints, and find the proof she was looking for. If nothing showed up, it was likely supernatural. 

“Where are all the doors? That’s the front entrance, is there a backdoor? If they picked the lock, which they must’ve if no alarms went off, I’ll be able to tell.” And if it was a human, it’d be easy enough to tell. 

“Yes, the cretins ruined a bit of my business, but they’re no longer an issue. Must’ve eaten a body I ate first.” They thought aloud, and mentally shrugged. “Okay, your majesty, I’ll get that for you.” Metzli mocked a little, showing the side that disliked authority and being commanded. 

Due to the activities necessary to run an art gallery and be a curator, they were prepared and retrieved clear, artist grade tape for Marley.

Watching as she worked, they answered, “Front entrance, back entrance, and a large delivery door. But that one only has a lock on the inside.” Metzli appreciated the transparency of Marley’s investigation. Her thinking out loud helped them put everything together alongside her. Piecing everything together fueled their anger and they growled. “Will you actually let me get a piece of them before contacting your friends? Or can I actually take the trash out? That’s what I’m used to doing.”

It was becoming increasingly clear what kind of person Metzli was. Marley used to be that way, she supposed. Cold, closed off, angry with and at humans. Maybe she still was like that, some days. If a human knew what she was, what she did, they would hate her, call her a monster. And maybe she was, and maybe she’d been leaning into that for a while now, but it still hurt, sometimes. Here they were, the two of them, so human looking, but probably so far from it. She peeled the tape away and stuck it to the wall near where the edge of the painting would have been, then did it with a few more pieces, lining them up on the edge of a stand before examining each one in turn. “There’s definitely prints here,” she said, “human. Let’s check the front and back doors, see if anything matches.” 

She paused at Metzli’s last questions. Marley hadn’t killed anyone in a while, and this was a case that the police could actually get their grubby hands on and punish the culprit. But what good had they been to her lately? Through broken ribs and interdimensional portals and a crushed skull, they had told her she couldn’t be the detective she used to be. Marley stood up and brushed the front of her jacket off. “Friends? Oh, I don’t have any friends at the precinct. Obviously, you happened to find the culprit before I did. Maybe I wasn’t even here,” she shrugged, “maybe justice took it upon itself to deal with this.”

Marley was quickly becoming a character that Metzli liked. A cop that was not only supernatural, but absolutely willing to throw away the rule book. Good. Rules were meant to be broken anyway. Or so the vampire believed. They caught on easily to what Marley was implying and appreciated her offer. “Justice is funny that way. Coming and going at the most opportune times. I do like your style, Marley.” They smiled wickedly and began walking back towards the back entrance. “I doubt they used the front to break in. Too much foot and car traffic to be discreet. Let’s check back here.”

Expensive shoes clacked on the white tile floor, and hands were clasped behind their back. Anger still brewed within, but with a plan and distinct goal, Metzli’s anger was much more structured. Vampiric hands would rip apart the criminals and they’d retrieve the artwork, and maybe they’d have a friend to join in on the fun. “When we catch this imbecile, or even imbeciles, will you be partaking in the justice?” They asked rather excitedly. Killing alongside someone was something they actually missed about being in a clan. The teamwork could and would always get fun.

Marley followed Metzli towards the back door, holding onto the tape as she did, stopping at the door and wrapping a few pieces around it to try and lift some more prints. As she worked, she was relatively quiet, listening to what her companion was saying. She was still uncertain of Metzli’s species, but she supposed it was something that preyed on humans. They all sort of did, didn’t they? That’s what made them monsters. She pulled the tape away and found more prints. “Looks like your human theory is panning out.” She held the tape up before depositing it on the stand next to her. She pulled the door open and checked around the outside, examining the ground, the wall, the space in the alley. 

A smile spread across her own lips as she stood up. It was never the hunt that excited her, but the chase. In that way, she supposed, perhaps they’d make a good team. The hunter and the killer. She glanced back at Metzli. “Depends, I suppose,” she shrugged, “I can probably get what I need from them without bloodshed. I’ll save that part for you.” She supposed just finding them might even provide her enough fear to feed from. She pointed down the alley. “Footprints, leading this way. You good?”

Having their theory proven correct seemed like it was a given to them. Of course it was correct. They’d lived long enough to know, to smell when an event was done by a human. “Figured as much. Though it’s nice to have it confirmed by a professional such as you.” Metzli said politely, and with no indication of the thoughts they carried internally. Pleasantries needed to continue if Marley was going to help them. That and she seemed like genuine fun. Fun people deserve pleasantries. At least the people they deemed fun. 

“Blood will be all mine if that’s the case. Preferred too. It tastes best when the feeding is full of vengeance. I’ll leave the chase to you and reap the reward. But by the sounds of it, we’ll both benefit from this.” They peered down the direction Marley pointed and nodded. “I’m good. Getting excited, actually. The fun part starts now it seems.” 

Metzli could smell them now. They could smell the trail growing stronger, the scent matching exactly what was in the gallery. “You’re right. Let’s head down this way. Can’t stay too long in the sun though. I try not to do it for more than twenty minutes.” It wasn’t likely that they’d stay out very long, but they wanted to be on the safe side. Watching enough crime shows, Metzli figured they’d find some sort of tire tracks from the getaway vehicle.

“Oh, you’re so very welcome,” Marley deadpanned, “I live to validate others.” She adjusted her sunglasses before they headed out into the sunlight, feeling it drag on her once again, longing for the shadows that clung too close to the walls. The mention of sunlight and blood clicked it together in Marley’s brain-- Metzli was a vampire. That checked out. They had the brooding, grumpy facade down. She wondered what might lie beneath that, or if they still had that shiny, fun thing called a soul. She’d met enough vampires-- soulless and not-- in her life to not care much either way for them. They were the lucky ones, after all-- they’d been human once before. They understood what they lost. Marley had never been human, only forced to pretend to be. She would never know what that felt like.

“Don’t worry,” she tapped the side of her head, “nothing escapes my eyes.” Even in the shadows, her vision was perfect. The steps led not to a car, but an old abandoned building. A warehouse. Marley peered through one of the broken windows and found a truck inside. It was loaded with more than just the painting. “Smugglers,” she announced quietly, pointing inside. “Looks like you’ll get your meal and dessert, if you want it.”

Metzli couldn’t help but laugh at Marley’s sarcasm. She was a total delight, and they enjoyed her personality greatly. “God, you’re a lot of fun. After this, I think I’ll buy you some drinks if you’re up for it.” They offered, fully meaning every word. People like Marley weren’t easy to find, and if they could befriend her, they felt like they could make their life that much more exciting. “If more people were like you, this place would be better and I’d probably have more friends.”

It was true, they firmly that. The compliment was rare in that it was genuine and honest. “Son of a bitch.” Metzli peered inside, needing to look away before they lost whatever composure they had collected. “What do you get out of these humans anyway, if not the blood or meat?” They asked, wanting to focus on something else now. The urge to explode was too great to think about what was inside the warehouse. 

Avoiding the subject was no use, though. And they began to fume internally. Smugglers. Fucking smugglers bested them! Not for long though. Metzli was sure they’d get the last laugh. They were going to savor every drop.

At that, Marley had to smirk. A rare display of emotion crossing her face. It wasn’t that she tried to seem so blase and deadpanned, but she couldn’t really help it at this point, it was just how she was. Except around certain people. She used to savor the thought of killing, especially those who thought they could get away with abusing their power. Smugglers weren’t exactly in her repertoire, but there was a sheen about this one that made Marley almost able to feel the smuggness. If they weren’t careful, they’d expose a side of this town no one wanted to know about. Therefore, they needed to be stopped.

“Wanna watch and find out?” she grinned, maliciously, before removing her sunglasses and pulling the door open. The shadows were her home and she nearly faded into them, wishing it were darker, even. Nighttime was her home, but these would do for now.

The clack of her boots alerted one man. She didn’t have the ability to sense or smell which one was the painting smuggler, but she didn’t really care. All he had to do was look into her eyes as she smiled and waved and he crumpled to the ground. It was nice to be back, she supposed. She hadn’t been able to drop someone like this in months. His fear tasted like salty candy and she liked her lips. The man in the car hopped out, fumbling for his weapon. “Oh, good,” she said, standing up straight, hovering over the screaming man, “seconds.”

Watching Marley work was like watching a beautiful live art piece. A personal show just for Metzli to marvel in. The men dropped like flies, a striking show of her power that made their mouth hang slightly open. As thoughts raced in their mind, they tried to figure out just what Marley was until they put it together. A Mara. A sweet, dangerous, and efficient Mara. It took a few moments, but they gathered themselves enough to remove their suit jacket and dress shirt so they they wouldn’t get blood on them. Pants and binders were easy enough to replace. Suit jackets were the expensive part. 

Leaping forward, Metzli’s face contorted to bare their now showing fangs. A predatory show of power and the fate that was to befall the criminals. Screams bellowed from their first victim. Blood gushed as they tore through arteries and consumed, quickly leaping onto the next victim. “You really know how to put on a show.” They said with bloodied lips. Making a mess didn’t matter, not right now. Not when scum was being taken care of and no one would miss them. 

“Who knew a mara and a vampire could work so well together?” Another bite into a man, who’s groans were fading into nothingness.

Marley stepped back, sliding her glasses back on, as she allowed Metzli to partake in her prize. Honestly, she wished it had been harder, but humans were often careless, and with a bloodhound vampire on her side, finding them had been easy. She stuffed her hands in her pockets as she watched the bloodshed and wondered if she should feel bad. What would Erin think of her? They were criminals, though, and they needed to be stopped. It stood to reason that they were probably even part of a larger ring, but she could worry about that later. Maybe it would even lead her to a supernatural body sitting at the top, extorting humans and human objects to make money in a town that already took so much from others. She frowned.

“I’m nothing if not dramatic,” she said, raising a brow. Where she was quiet and restrained, barely lifting a finger to drop her prey, Metzli was messy and efficient, reveling in their kill. Marley admired it, a little. A mara could not sip blood from a body, but stealing breath was just as tantalizing. “Must be our collective appreciation of the night,” she went on, coming over to the dead body Metzli was still drinking from. She prodded him with her foot. “Guess they got their comeuppance, huh? Feel better? Bet your paintings right here in the back.”

Both hunger and the thirst for vengeance had been sated. Getting rid of the bodies would come later, as Metzli knew the warehouse was clearly abandoned. Cleanup could easily be done under the cover of the night. “Presentation and drama  has always mattered to me, so I appreciate your showmanship. Much cleaner than mine, but I like to represent brutal strength. It’s messy, but fun.” Blood covered lips smiled, finally done feeding. Their lips were then promptly wiped by the back of Metzli’s arm. “I feel almost euphoric, thank you.”

Taking a moment, they took in a big gulf of air and practically ripped open the big crate they smelled the painting in. Metzli eyed the box, noticing they were just about ready to ship everything. “We got here right on time. Looks like they were packing everything to ship. Probably a much bigger organization. Art theft is common thanks to the money in it.” The painting was surrounded by packing materials to prevent any wear and tear, but it was all the wrong materials. “Fucking idiots,” Metzli spat angrily, splintering the wood underneath their hands. “What now, anyway?” They decided to distract themselves with whatever Marley had to say for now. 

“Hence why you’re an artists, huh?” Marley chuckled. Sometimes people were pretty transparent, and she didn’t mind that. While mystery intrigued Marley, sometimes she didn’t mind having the answers presented to her. Sometimes it was a relief not to have to psycho-analyze everyone and everything, even if her brain never shut off about it. She took in a deep breath, almost sighing when the fear in the air dissipated, signaling the death of both men. She was almost disappointed but it was a satisfying snack and she could grab a real meal later, under the cover of dark. “Brutal strength is something to display. I prefer the more...subtle method.” 

She strolled over behind Metzli as they tore into the truck, and the crate that held their prized possession. The Murakami painting. Admittedly, Marley had no idea who that was. Art wasn’t much of an interest of hers, but she could appreciate it all the same. “Not damaged, is it?” she asked, tilting her head. “Don’t think I have enough to compensate for that if it is.” She rolled the idea around in her head. “Well...I doubt anyone’s coming back here. When the shipment doesn’t show up, whoever was expecting it is likely to come looking. So we can do one of two things--” she lifted her hand, two fingers raised. “Clean up this mess and leave them wonder what happened. Oooorr--” she drew out the word, a wicked smile curling up her lips-- “we come back and wait for them to find the mess. Take a real meal.” And maybe she was a little excited to have someone gawk at her abilities again. It wasn’t every day you got to watch someone suffocate on air.

Marley was intriguing Metzli in all the right ways. She had not only gotten them a large meal, but helped them locate the painting. For once, they wanted to make sure someone was repaid appropriately. “Subtle is a valid route. And no, no damage done. There would have been though. The idiots don’t know how to properly package shit.” Hands waved to the packing nuts they used, the only thing they used. It was an insult to any artist of notoriety. 

Fingers tapped as thoughts swirled in Metzli’s head. Both options were great, amazing even. “God, you’re so full of good ideas. I like the meal option. We can even prepare to cater to us, and maybe get you that fear you actually want.” Working with someone was out of character, but Marley made it hard to pass up the opportunity. She was just too fun and so powerful. Things that Metzli could actually admire in a person, and they had no problem admitting that to her. “What do you say we do that, and with my gallery so close, I’ll keep an eye on the place. Keep you updated. We do make one hell of a team. Deal?” Their hand extended, ready to shake Marley’s. It was a really good idea, one that both of them can get behind happily.  

“Good,” Marley nodded, even if she hadn’t actually planned to compensate for anything. It wasn’t her job to do that, but it had felt nice to actually have done some part of her job. She missed it, fuck, she missed it. But until her seizures were under control, the Captain still wasn’t letting her into the field. Yet she’d done this perfectly fine, even caught the culprits and was planning on coming back to finish the job. She ruffled her brows. “Better get that back to your gallery, before someone else shows up. Maybe get some better security, too.” 

She waited patiently for Metzli’s answer, pleased at the idea that they thought so highly of her. “Deal,” she answered, without hesitation, reaching out to take their hand. It was cold, and even if she’d expected it, it was still strange to feel. People were usually warm, even she was warm. But she gave them a firm handshake before nodding at them. “You keep an eye out and just gimme a call when you see something, yeah? I can be there in a jiffy. I always feel much better at night. Don’t you?”

Metzli let out a laugh, enjoying Marley’s input to the conversation. She seemed like she had just as much fun as they did, and were excited to do it again. “Yes, I do. Thank you again, Marley. I’ll be seeing you soon for a night of fun.” Picking up their clothes after wiping their hands on the gentleman’s clothes, Metzli made their way back to the gallery, but before doing so, they stopped at the warehouse entrance. “You really are a creature to marvel at. I’m looking forward to watching your little show again.” With that, they disappeared into the alleyway. 

#chatzy #wickedswriting #chatzy: metzli #off the record #metzli

[thelittleredheadedmusician]

Halloween prompt: Alfred is getting increasingly annoyed at whoever is eating the halloween candy. No one will confess. (Bruce is sitting in a corner somewhere with a bag of... [insert Batfamily appropriate candy here])

Three Musketeers

Rating: G 1,844 words Gen AO3

Bristol was technically in Gotham City limits. Though the gilted mansions and private woods with pastures and stables seemed like a whole other world in comparison. The residents liked to think so too, especially because – despite Gotham’s robust public transportation system – it was almost impossible to reach the rich suburb from the city proper. It was because they lived in this separate world that Bristol’s wealthy residents often fought to receive special treatment or even secede from the city all together.

Except when it came to Halloween.

The residents of Bristol were more than happy to hold their trick-or-treat night during the same time as the rest of Gotham. Mostly, because it discouraged the city’s poorer residents from coming out to ask for literal handouts from them. The time it would take to sit in train stations and bus stops to get there ate up a large chunk of trick-or-treat’s two-hour window. And the walk from the last stop and between the houses took up the rest.

Despite all this, many made the trek out to Wayne Manor and its residents always made it well worth the work.

It was known that the Manor didn’t simply give out full-sized candy bars, no, they gave a whole bag of king’s sized bars. And from the entrance way to the ballroom off to the side were decked out and fitted to be a haunted house with games and entertainment and even more snacks. There was no reason to go anywhere else when you went to Wayne Manor.

Except, this year the seemingly endless supply of candy was mysteriously missing in the week leading up to the big night. Which was ironic considering the Manor was populated by detectives.

Alfred was suspicious. And annoyed. But mostly suspicious. He had raised the world’s greatest detective and then helped raise the current world’s greatest detective. In addition to the other seven vigilantes he’d actively cared for over the years. And countless others who hadn’t lived under his roof. Which meant that he was extremely hard to pull something over on. Extremely.

Yet, his stockpile of trick-or-treat candy was gone. Completely. And his list of suspects was long and skilled.

First, was Barbara because he loved the young woman dearly but she was a bit of a chocolate fiend. Also, if he could rule her out then he could enlist her assistance. It was easy enough to make her coffee just the way she liked and message her to come to the kitchen when she was working in the Cave one evening. She was happy enough to come up, thinking it was just for a chat but knowing something was up when Alfred passed her the mug.

They studied each other from across the long wooden table that took up the far side of the kitchen. Alfred sipped his tea from the good china that after the last family debacle was his alone to use. Barbara narrowed her eyes as her glasses slipped down her nose. They were playing a high stakes game of chicken and they both knew it.

Barbara broke first. “Is there something you wanted to talk about, Alfred?” she asked sweetly, setting her coffee down and pushing her glasses back up in the same movement.

“Now that you mention it, yes. I was wondering if you happened to know where my trick-or-treat supply is disappearing to?” Alfred’s lips turned up in kindness, but his eyes were hard and steady as he held her gaze.

An adult, a seasoned crimefighter, an honest to god superhero and yet Barbara wanted to wriggle in her chair, knot her fingers in the hem of her t-shirt, under that look. Pure willpower was the only thing that stopped her. Though it didn’t extend to her mouth. “No, I’ve been out of town most of the week.”

This was true, Alfred knew, but not necessarily an airtight alibi.

“Besides,” Barbara continued, “I have a Costco card. The Birds and I split it. If I wanted to eat a whole bag of candy, I’d just buy my own.”

Alfred nodded, lifting his tea to take another sip. He accepted that answer, she knew better than to lie to him. “In that case, might I enlist your skills to uncover the real culprit?”

This was what Alfred had truly wanted to ask, they both knew, and Barbara smiled in delight at the prospect. “I’d love to.”

The next suspect was Tim. He knew exactly how to cover his tracks and misdirect their attention. Tim was sly, smart, and still technically a teenaged boy so sugar was irresistible. Barbara set the trap, crashing the Batcomputer one afternoon when everyone else was out. This forced Tim up, out of the Cave and to Alfred lying in wait in the kitchen.

Tim had climbed up onto a kitchen chair to get at the stash of poptarts on the top shelf of the cabinet above the stove. Proving that he had means, motive, and a record.

“Master Timothy,” Alfred drawled as he stepped out of the shadows. Bruce had to learn the skill from somewhere.

Startling, Tim whirled around and nearly fell from the chair. Dropping the silver packet in the process. It landed on the tile with a crunch. “Look I need the brain power to get the computer back up,” he said hastily, glancing guiltily between Alfred and the fallen junk food.

“I am not here to reprimand you about the poptarts,” Alfred said and Tim immediately relaxed, shooting him a relieved little grin. “But I may have to reprimand you for sneaking something else,” Alfred continued, causing Tim’s face to fall.

“I swear, I only had the one Monster the other week. And I split it with Kon ‘cause we were trying to keep Bart from drinking it. Me and him on an energy drink bouncing round the Tower is way better than a speedster on an energy drink.” Tim’s eyes were wide and the blood that had drained from his face made the boy almost impossibly paler.

Alfred lifted an eyebrow at the confession. Not what he was looking for but good to know all the same. “And what of the candy for trick-or-treat?”

Tim’s brows drew together in confusion. “Uh, I don’t know? I suggested we get milkyways but if you got snickers again then I’m not going to complain.”

“So, you did not eat the supply?” Alfred confirmed, though the fact that Tim was already feeling guilty and hesitant to lie on top of the fact that he had no idea Alfred had purchased boxes of three musketeers cleared him of the crime.

“No?” Tim shook his head as he shrugged.

Satisfied, Alfred nodded. “Enjoy your poptarts, Master Timothy. I shall be moving them shortly.”

“It wasn’t Jason,” Barbara said over the phone. “I have a couple different angles of him being in Paraguay all last week.”

“I never suspected him to begin with,” Alfred admitted as he pushed the shopping cart, restocking for the big night tomorrow. “He never liked three musketeers. Dark chocolate kit-kats are a separate story.” He smiled at the memory of a young Jason carrying a huge box of the candy bars to drop in the cart during his first Halloween with them.

“Cass and Dick are out too,” she continued. “Cass laughed at me when I even suggested it and then confirmed Dick was telling the truth when I questioned him.”

Alfred hummed. Richard had been his next guess, though he was more likely to take them to hand out while on patrol or pass on to his friends’ children than to eat himself. “Master Damian is innocent as well. He scoffed at the implication he would, quote, ‘stoop so low as to steal candy from children.’ He also vouched for Master Duke and neither were anywhere near the spare pantry recently to begin with.”

“Security cameras confirm that.”

“That leaves Miss Stephanie,” Alfred frowned. Stephanie tended to decline any offers of assistance from the Manor’s residents that weren’t directly related to masked vigilantism. Though she recently had allowed Alfred to slip her gas money when she visited during daylight hours. The thought of her taking the Halloween candy just did not sit right with him. It was almost as impossible to imagine as Damian taking it. Cassandra was more likely to be playing a trick on them all, having hidden it for some soon to be revealed reason. “Are you positive Miss Cassandra is not the culprit?”

Barbara chuckled. “I mean, not really. But at the same time why would she? Though why would Steph either? I don’t think it was either of them but I can vouch for Steph. She hasn’t been anywhere near the Cave or the Manor since last month. What with school she’s been staying close.”

“Which leaves us back to the beginning,” Alfred sighed and got in line. “We could create a sting operation though I’d loathe to lose this supply as well. There’s nearly no candy left in the entire state.”

“That I believe. Alright, I’ve got the feed from the events kitchen running on one of my screens. I’ll keep an eye on it for the rest of the night, see if anyone stupid enough to try it again.”

“Thank you, Miss Barbara. I really appreciate your assistance in this matter,” Alfred told her before exchanging their goodbyes. He had plans for a little stakeout of his own.

Placing the boxes in the spare pantry, Alfred settled himself on a stool next to the industrial fridge in the dark. He typed out a careful message in the family’s groupchat informing them all that the missing candy had been replaced and politely asking that it not disappear again before the next night. They would all be getting ready to go out for the night so there is no doubt they would see it. And he would have plenty of time to wait for them to strike.

Hours later, the family was returning and Alfred was still lying in wait. A creak echoed in from the ballroom where decorations were mostly in place. The light padding of rubber soles on the marble tile came closer and closer. Alfred leant further back into the shadows as the door swung open. He held his breath, waiting as the guilty party walked into the kitchen proper, headed directly towards the pantry. Alfred slipped from his hiding spot, keeping low as he crept around the island to come up behind the culprit.

Alfred contained his gasp of shock and annoyance as he flipped on the light. Forcing the candy thief to whirl on him. “Master Bruce!” Alfred scolded. He hadn’t thought his first charge would do such a thing and hadn’t even considered him as a suspect.

Having the good sense to look ashamed and like a ten-year-old boy again, Bruce offered a wavering grin in apology. “You bought three musketeers,” he said as his only defense.

Alfred frowned as he crossed his arms. “And your penance will be handing them out tomorrow night.”

#dc comics #alfred pennyworth #barbara gordon #tim drake #bruce wayne #batman #jason todd #cassandra cain #stephanie brown #damian wayne #dick grayson #duke thomas #batbros #the batgirls are better than you #my fic #writing #own writing #fanfic #fanfiction #detective comics #radioactivepigeons

[8requiems]

A Webcomic Review of “Garden Club Detective Squad”:

Oh God Oh Fuck did someone just die?

By: 8Requiems

The Description:

“Gardening and solving crime aren’t what straight-A student Yeon Han thought she would be focusing on at her new school. But when she discovers a notebook that contains clues to a 15-year-old murder mystery, she and the other members of her new gardening club realize the murderer not only has access to the school -- they probably work for the school. Can the gardening club squad figure out who committed the murder even though the principal and their teachers seem desperate to cover it up?”

Now, this description is quite detailed, maybe a bit too detailed.

This comes down to personal preference, but personally, I don’t like seeing the plot in thorough detail before reading the story, especially if it is a mystery.

If it were me, I would write the description as:

“In her attempt to not become a backwater girl, Yeon Han eventually decides to become the President of the Gardening Club. But she’ll soon realize that maybe she might have bitten off more than she could chew”

This description may be a bit rudimentary, but it shows an idea of what my ideal description for this webtoon would be.

It says just enough about the story while also leaving enough to imagination. But the current description at present shows what the first 3-4 chapters are. Had the description not even mentioned the teachers, I probably wouldn’t have considered they were trying to cover anything up to begin with.

That being said, I did read chapters 1-3 of the webtoon blind. And I have to say, I didn’t expect the unassuming colorful cover of this Webtoon to show such menacing and dark panel off-rip.

(A panel from the first scene in Chapter 1)

But, let us familiarize ourselves with the cast, shall we?

Characters:

Yeon Han - The Brain:

Yeon is an honor student who moved outside of Seoul, presumably due to not having enough money to stay. Despite this turn of events, she doesn’t want to become a “backwater girl”. For the sake of her academic record, she decides to settle on becoming the class president. But her peers are just amused at how cocky she was despite being new to the school.

(A panel in the middle of Chapter 2 ^)

When that fails, she decides to settle on becoming the president of an after school club. But forget becoming president, they wouldn’t even allow her to join on the basis that she is too qualified. BRO, THE LITERATURE DISCUSSION CLUB HAS THREE MEMBERS. ONE INCLUDING A BODYPILLOW FOR FUCK SAKES. Part of me wanted to laugh but part of me also felt insulted for her.

I expected her character to be the “genius that finds a niche that she enjoys compared to other activities they would usually dominate at”, but she is already fed up with how hard gardening actually is. Not to mention the amount of faculty and students who ask favours from her.

It was a very pleasant surprise, because now I can rightfully assume that while she works on her cases, she might pick up skills from the gardening club. Dare I say, she actually comes to appreciate and enjoy it as a hobby? I guess only time will tell, as this is still a very new Webtoon, with 12 Chapters out as of this review’s conception.

The one thing I have on my mind at the moment, is if her range of skills she currently has will be useful when tackling the murder case.

Whether or not that is the case, I have high hopes for her as a character.

Mirim Shin - The Spiritual:

Although I said I have high hopes for Yeon, I think Mirim is my favorite character. As the daughter of a priest, she is in tune with her spirituality on a whole other level compared to her club mates. 

An interesting tidbit about her is that she decided to practice all forms of faith before her baptism. I can only assume it’s so she could have an idea of what could have been, before deciding to lock in on one specific faith.

Honestly, I genuinely didn’t expect for her to say something like this, not because it sounded ridiculous, but because up until that point, it felt like her spirituality was just a running gag that came with her character.  

It was nice to see her character expanded upon, and I hope the other characters get the same treatment, even if it is only brief.

Baekji Kang - The Muscle

Then there's Baekji, who easily wins in cool factor. 

I can’t say much other than that in addition to being a part of the garden club, she is also in the Judo club. Although the story doesn’t technically address it, I feel like she fills the role of pseudo-leader / Vice-President of the club. 

She’s cool.

Saessak - The Green Thumb’d Romantic?:

Ssaesak is a soft-spoken girl who attends to the garden's needs as one of the two members of the garden club. 

She is unexpectedly a romantic, being interested in bad boys.

I only found her annoying for a brief moment because it seemed like she was going to hold back information on her latest crush, Hyeonsu Jeong (the lunch guy), before finally finding the resolve to give a possibly game changing piece of evidence to Yeon.

She’s alright.

Execution:

Despite the mostly positive things I have said in this review, my first impressions of Garden Club Detective Squad were more negative in comparison to the opinions I shared at present.

When I read Wizard of Arsenia, I had overblown expectations because my editor Nen had already recommended God of Bath, a webtoon I have now come to really appreciate. I assumed I would love it in the same way.

My expectations were what held me back from what I usually do best: Sit down and just enjoy the show. Granted, I still hold opinions about it that I believe hold back the story, but the opinions were way fairer than what I could have said.

This time around, I made a similar mistake.

I decided on my own to read Garden Club Detective Squad for this review, and held expectations for the mystery element of the Webtoon, which was reinforced by the first panel I showed in the review. Thankfully, even if the webtoon didn’t live up to whatever expectation I had, I know that I could still appreciate it for what it was because I just went with the flow. At worst, the mystery could come across as contrived.

(A panel from the first scene in Chapter 1)

That being said, somehow, I was disappointed. Even a bit annoyed 5-7 chapters in. Disappointment is one thing, but why was I annoyed?

At first, I was thinking it was because the story had a problem with how it presented tension. After all, the webtoon is categorized as a mystery, so I criticized it as such.

In my original draft, I wrote the following: 

“The webtoon is categorized under mystery, but I don’t really feel the urgency of the case whatsoever. I feel like I am getting whiplash between moments that I feel are supposed to be serious and moments that are just ‘slice of life’ hijinks.”

I hadn’t taken into account that, although it was a “mystery”, it functioned more like a “comedy”, like God of Bath.

I feel as though the Webtoon was miscategorized. I use God of Bath as an example because it could have easily been categorized under “Action”, because of the Ttaemiri battles. But despite these battles, because of the way dialogue is presented, it is understandably under the comedy genre. Moreover, the action was more of a vehicle to tell the stories and values of the characters themselves. In other words, even if you were to take out these action elements, God of Bath would be fundamentally the same.

But according to my logic, does this mean that if this webtoon didn’t have mystery elements, it would be fundamentally the same? 

No, and I do not think it would be the same if the webtoon didn’t have the comedy elements either.

To be perfectly clear, just because I think Garden Club Detective Squad is a comedy, it doesn’t mean that I think it shouldn’t present mystery elements, or vice-versa. But I wish Webtoon could at the very least categorize it as both a “mystery” and “comedy”.

Who knows, maybe my opinion will change as more and more chapters get uploaded. Or rather, I hope it does.

Personally, despite my position towards the webtoon being a comedy, it isn’t all that funny.

And as of the currently uploaded chapters, I think the mystery is all right.

In my opinion, what makes a good mystery is having all the clues presented to the characters and the reader to be able to solve the case. To understand 52chu’s take on mystery, I’ll break down the first suspect, Hyeongsu. Take this scene the beginning of episode 6 for example:

This scene is trying to insinuate that Hyeongsu is the killer. The dramatic irony of this scene, Saessak’s photo of Hyeongsu dumping bones in the garden, and the story deliberately pointing out that there are no cameras in the cafeteria/garden area are the three pieces of information the story provides to help the indirect claim.

(A panel from Episode 8 ^)

(A Panel from Episode 9 ^)

(A panel from episode 8 ^)

But it was all a misunderstanding. Whoops, my bad. “I was just trying to help you all”.

(A panel from episode 9 ^)

It's almost comical how much the plot just wanted to frame Hyeongsu, I can’t help but laugh.

All forms of evidence lead to Hyeongsu, except the fact that the bones were the remnants of ribs from past cafeteria specials:

(Panel from episode 9 ^)

(Panel from episode 9 ^)

If you were able to pick up the possibility, then great. But somehow, Hyeongsu’s mini-arc just fell flat for me. Whether you knew this one detail or not, it feels like I’m going to be dragged from suspect to suspect in the future. Everyone one of them will be the “killer” except for that one contrivance that makes them innocent. Honestly, I firmly believe that it isn’t any of the faculty.

You know what, here's my Trademark 8Requiems theory. The culprit is Chair Juyeong. 

(A panel from Episode 6 ^)

I don’t mind the club reaching dead ends, but if there aren’t elements that could at least help me identify who the real culprit is, I doubt I could enjoy it as much as I’d like to.

Conclusion:

Reading and understanding this Webtoon has been somewhat of a ride. Although it is still ongoing, I have mixed feelings on whether or not I want to continue reading. But despite the gripes that I have with it at the moment, I think I will continue reading it just to see where 52chu takes the story.

You will likely enjoy this Webtoon if you like stories where the plot focuses on the reader having fun with the misadventures of the cast.

But what do you guys think? Do you think my criticism was unfounded? Do you think it really *IS* a mystery, and that I am looking at this Webtoon in the wrong light? Talk about it in the comments below.

And as always,

Arrivederci Brothers. May you attain your grain.

#Webtoon #Webcomic #Webcomics #Garden Club Detective Squad #GCDS #WebtoonReview #WebcomicReview #WizardOfArsenia #Wizard of Arsenia

[cheerystarlightwish]

Millionaire Detective Balance: Unlimited Episode 9 Thoughts

Hi guys! Episode 9 got me thinking and though I didn’t want to create theories or analyzations about Fugou Keiji because we are nearing the end already, I simply can’t help myself. To be honest, I wanted to create some earlier and chat with people but my schedule didn’t side with me for the past three months. Nevertheless, here I am better late than never and excited to read other peoples’ reactions, analyzations, and theories as well. Anyways, For those who haven’t watched the recent episodes yet, there are spoilers ahead as I share my thoughts so please be cautioned! Thank you, have a nice day, and stay safe!

(Disclaimer: Any similarities with other posts are purely coincidental. Moreover, if that does happen, I am glad that there are many who think so too because that increases the probability of the statement, thought, analyzation, or theory being somewhat true.)

______________________________________________________________

Oh.my.goodness.

If I were to summarize my reaction for Ep.9? it would be those. It was nothing short of thrilling and is a perfect stepping point before we get to the climax of the show. Be that as it may, I still can’t wrap my head around the fact that we only have a few episodes left before it ends. Oddly enough, it feels as though we just began due to the pacing of the revelations. Yes, it allowed us to answer some of our previous questions but at the same time, it created new ones as well. 

The first answer we were able to infer is with regards to Shigemaru Kambe. As we have gathered from the previous episodes, he was alive and supposedly went into hiding for the past 19 years after he killed his wife. Throughout that period, he was believed to be dead by both Daisuke and the world. This is with great exception of his mother who had known of this fact for a long time and even kept it secret to the point of trying to dissuade Daisuke from investigating further. Second, Daisuke's parents were both scientists who were researching an "element" called “adolium”. Such a thing was considered to be dangerous by Sayuri and despite her husband's claims that he will not use it, she completely did not trust him. This could only mean that "adolium" is something that people, powerful people, would want to have for their benefit. Unfortunately, this argument of theirs led to Sayuri leaving the house which prompted her husband to kill her because as he said, he has invested too much on the project to let it be for naught.  

Though we were able to answer the question regarding the culprit of Sayuri's murder, it raises the question of what is the true purpose of “adolium”? From the last episode, it was hinted that it had something to do with energy. When it was introduced head on, it was used in a way that caused several nearby electronics to malfunction. The weird aspect of that event is that the ship itself was unharmed, and it only specifically targeted those Shigemaru's group considered to be "enemies". This realization is alarming because it basically means that they have advanced in their research, against Sayuri's efforts to prevent them from doing so, and can now utilize the "element" in a destructive method. Now, what exactly will they use it for? I deduced that it would be applied in creating some kind of set of weapons. The reason I thought so is because of that episode with the president of a country from Central America. The one who visited to resign an agreement for further collaboration with the Kambe family. He was apparently affiliated with them when the latter provided resources for that president’s country’s “development”. A “development” that turned out to have caused or will cause harm to a community, as evidenced by an attempted assasination of their lives by someone who belonged to that group of people. One thing to note though is that there are similarities between the machines seen in episode 5 and 9 in that they both interfered with a specific set of electronics. Therefore, I think it is safe to assume that the machine in the earlier episode contained the aforementioned “element” as well. This theory raises new questions in how that person from that community got their hands on those technology, which seemingly belongs to Shigemaru’s group as backed by Daisuke’s discovery of it in Laboratory 3. It makes one wonder, is the family involved in some kind of civil war and profiting from it? No matter what though, we cannot deny the detail that the Kambe family provides resources, technology, and weapons to their “customers”. 

Moving on, another key aspect of the mystery is why the higher ups seem to be bent on not being involved nor further investigating the case of the Kambe family. I first thought that it is mainly because they are afraid for their own lives but looking back, that doesn’t seem to be all there is to it. With all the information we have been given, I have two, maybe three if I combine them both, thoughts or theories on this. The first one is that the superiors themselves have invested on this project and are benefiting from it as a whole. It is possible that they too may have a stake in it and will be used by them to acquire future advantages. The second one is that the ones on top contain Kambes or their puppets and alliances. I pondered on this because of the Kambe family picture and how Shigemaru has been described to be the eldest child.The latter seems a little far fetched because if that were the case, why would Daisuke not know about them? Unless, it is specifically being hidden from him as to continue the image that their corporation or conglomerate is “good”, a high probability. 

The last facet of this mystery so far is what they could want with Daisuke and the identity of the newly introduced characters as well as the location they are currently headed to. With regards to what they want with the former, I’m not quite sure. Daisuke obviously disapproves of whatever this “adolium” business is because of its contribution to his mother’s death and its evident dangerous nature. Shigemaru himself is aware of this, and yet why did he say that he has been waiting for Daisuke for a long time? Why did he instruct Frantz to keep him alive? With these set of questions, I could only gather three possibilities. The first one is that they could be trying to silence him about the matter at hand. They will probably try to kill him too or at least make it so that he would not want to further delve into the issue. Second, they will try to get him in on the business itself by reasoning with him as they might have supposedly did with the higher ups. The last one is that they will let Daisuke take the fall of whatever downhill event is bound to happen next, another high possibility. It cannot be denied that Daisuke is known by the world to be the head of the Kambe Conglomerate. Therefore, it would not be farfetched to think that they might be saving him for future use in taking the fall for the result of whatever they are planning to do. On the matter of the identity of the new characters, we have yet to know more. The only thing episode 9 told us is that Frantz is a multinational weapons merchant on top of being Thomas Matheson’s bodyguard. From that little introduction, it is no doubt difficult to hypothesize the extent of their role in the mystery. Nevertheless, I do have some ideas I would like to share. Frantz’s characteristic of being a weapons merchant aligns with the certainty we had that the Kambe family produces and sells weapons. It would then make sense for them to be related, but what intrigues me is his listed job as a bodyguard which could be some sort of coverup for his true job.  The question is, is he the boss or is he just a representative of his true boss? Additionally, is Thomas aware of Frantz’s involvement with the Kambes? Is he another leader of a country? or better yet, is he himself part of the masterminds or true bosses? We can only know for sure in the next episode. As far as I can conclude though, it would seem that Frantz is an underling, given his actions, of an even bigger persona and that the Kambes are profiting from discords and strife.

With everything they have given us, there are quite a lot of ways it can go. So in consideration of all these notions and ideas, we can only wait for future revelations, confirmations, and validations. To be completely honest, I cannot wait for this mystery to be further unfolded.

Predictions:

Based on a post (link) I saw earlier, it seems that Episode 10 will contain epic scenes. According to the source, the FKBU team apparently called in the director for Shingeki no Kyojin and Kabaneri Fortress to aid in this specific episode. As a result, they themselves are still in awe of how it turned out when they all worked on it together. Now given this information, it fuels my curiosity to the brim and I simply can’t wait for tomorrow. It seems to me that the scene wherein Daisuke and Haru fight side by side in the opening is about to come true. Imagine that sequence and the possibility of the background music being the OP Navigator, and we will get one hell of an iconic scene.  Moreover, I can’t wait to find out who are the other people involved in this scheme and what is “adolium” going to really be used for, because as far as we know, it has something to do with energy and interference. Additionally, we are already aware that the ship is headed for Panama, a famous country that is known for its transit through the Panama Canal. Is it their destination or is it simply a stop over? I guess we'll just see tomorrow! 

#fugou keiji balance: unlimited #fugou keiji #fkbu #kambe daisuke #daisuke kambe #katou haru #haru katou #kato haru #haru kato #the millionaire detective balance: unlimited #im really excited guys

[commentaryvorg]

Danganronpa V3 Commentary: Part 5.11

Be aware that this is not a blind playthrough! This will contain spoilers for the entire game, regardless of the part of the game I’m commenting on. A major focus of this commentary is to talk about all of the hints and foreshadowing of events that are going to happen and facts that are going to be revealed in the future of the story. It is emphatically not intended for someone experiencing the game for their first time.

Last time, as the Kaito rescue operation fell rather, uh, flat, Maki was totally not planning to murder Kokichi on sight, everyone decided Kaito was definitely dead except for Shuichi, Maki was even more sure Kaito was dead and also that him ever killing anyone was completely impossible, Kaito was very not dead and very a murderer inside the Exisal and had to have felt awful to hear his friends’ reactions to all this, and Shuichi was desperately clinging to a currently-baseless hope of Kaito being alive somehow rather than face the painful apparent truth, but at least this was better than Maki letting her despair win and twist her into thinking it’s okay to sacrifice all of her friends just to kill Kokichi and “defeat despair”.

Now, we’re here at the “Investigation Start”, which is to say, the moment the awesome music kicks in! I’ve always liked Danganronpa’s thing of having a metal remix of the investigation music for case 5 and onwards, since it hammers home that things have really gotten serious now – but it’s never felt more appropriate than this investigation here where Kaito may or may not be dead. Damn right the terrifying possibility of losing your best friend – and the feeling of desperately wanting not to – should be given that much importance.

It’s also incredibly appropriate that this version of the music is titled Hope Searching! The regular one is called Despair Searching, which makes a lot of sense when we’re searching for proof that one of our friends is a murderer. But this time, Shuichi’s not primarily thinking about the investigation in terms of finding the murderer. He’s searching for proof that his best friend is still alive. Damn right that’s hope.

And okay, since I insist on nitpicking the meaning of the word, technically he is not searching for hope – finding Kaito alive would be finding relief, as there’d be no need to hope for it any more if he’s right there. It is the act of searching for a positive outcome to this situation in and of itself that is hope. So it’s still a fitting title, as long as it’s parsed as “hope” being a modifier to describe the “searching”, rather than being about searching for hope.

Shuichi:  (There’s a sleeve sticking out of the press. It’s… definitely… Kaito’s coat sleeve. In that case… the victim must be…) “…”

I love how hesitant Shuichi is to even voice the idea in his inner monologue. His detective’s instinct is trying to tell him that obviously Kaito’s sleeve being visible means he should assume Kaito is under there, but Shuichi Saihara is digging his heels in and refusing to go along with this.

Shuichi:  “…I don’t want to see a crushed body, no matter who it is… but I have to do it. I… have to know.” (I made up my mind, took a breath, and pressed the button.)

Damn, Shuichi is showing some serious freaking courage here to be able to do this. Even if he was pretty sure it wasn’t Kaito under there, there’s still plenty of reason for him to never want to see it – but the thing is, he subconsciously does think it’s Kaito, so that’d be what he’s expecting to see, even if he can’t admit it to himself. It’s incredible that he can do this anyway.

Shuichi:  (In that case… we won’t be able to check the body. I’m honestly a little relieved, but I shouldn’t say that out loud.)

Shuichi, literally nobody would blame you for being relieved about this! I’m also incredibly relieved that it is a vital plot point of this case that we never see the body, yeesh.

(I wonder if Shuichi is actually feeling guilty about his relief because he subconsciously expects it to be Kaito and so he’s thinking of this as an excuse to keep running away from the truth for longer.)

Shuichi:  (In addition to the control buttons, there’s an ‘Emergency Stop’ button.) […] “Well… if the culprit were planning this murder, they’d have no use for it.”

Yep, that’s definitely never going to be relevant to this crime at all. (To be fair, the culprit never pressed that button.)

For some reason, you have to examine the sleeve again after trying and failing to raise the press in order to get Shuichi to notice the hole in it. I’ve seen a lot of people miss this and then not be allowed to leave the hangar yet and be quite annoyed when they realised what they were missing.

Shuichi:  “It looks like… the left sleeve sticking out of the hydraulic press.”

When first-time-me first saw the body discovery cutscene, I immediately assumed that the sleeve hanging down was the sleeve of Kaito’s that always hangs loose – in other words, his right sleeve, and he was (hypothetically, definitely hypothetically) face down in the press. That image got so stuck in my mind that I somehow managed to skim right over the part where Shuichi says here it’s his left sleeve and keep thinking of it wrong until the trial.

It’s honestly a little surprising to me that Shuichi can even tell it’s the left sleeve just by looking at it. Granted, there are buttons on the cuff that would be opposite on each sleeve, but speaking as a fanartist who has drawn Kaito countless times, I can vouch that I never freaking remember which way around the buttons are supposed to go and have to check again every time. Maybe Shuichi can only tell because he has his own jacket sleeves with buttons on to compare it to.

…Wait. Waaaait. My I-have-checked-the-buttons-on-Kaito’s-sleeve-way-too-many-times senses were tingling, so I went and checked yet again to make sure and…

…they’re not even the right way around in this shot of his sleeve if it’s supposed to be the left one! The game’s artists can’t even remember which way around the damn buttons go! Even though I didn’t consciously know this, that may well be why I was instinctively so sure it was the right sleeve at first – because I was right to be!

I have to question, considering that Kokichi was lying on top of the jacket, how the blood that went everywhere didn’t also get all over the jacket sleeve. It should have soaked it to the point of completely obscuring the smaller stain of Kaito’s blood around the arrow hole, you’d think.

Regardless of which sleeve it is, the fact that there is a bloodstained arrow hole in it proves that Kaito was wearing it at some point prior to it dangling outside the press. First-time-me who’d convinced herself it was the right sleeve still didn’t budge at this and I instead somehow decided he must have inexplicably been wearing his jacket differently to how he always does when he was shot, then apparently switched back to wearing it normally before being in the press.

The swipe pattern bloodstain is entirely staged to give the impression that they fought in the bathroom and then the victor dragged the injured/dead loser into the press to crush him. Since that’s not actually what happened, I have to question how there’s no signs of bloodstains from where they actually got injured, all three shots of which happened in the hangar. Perhaps it’s simply because puncture wounds bleed most when the weapon is removed, and Kokichi’s arrows were removed in the bathroom after the antidote shenanigans – but Kaito pulled his arrow out while still in the hangar.

Himiko:  “The way you are now… you might start accusing people cuz you can’t believe Kaito’s death…”

Apparently Himiko took Maki’s words seriously about how Shuichi is acting like Kaito in Gonta’s trial and is now thinking Shuichi might accuse someone with no basis just to run away from the truth. I’m sure that red Exisal in the corner would really like to tell her that there’s no way Shuichi would ever do that.

Himiko:  “I don’t wanna hear your excuses! Or anything else! Just don’t talk to me!”

Himiko’s acting like this because she’s afraid of being suspected after having given the crossbow to Kaito, but she sure is just making herself look much more suspicious by doing so than if she’d just relax a bit about this.

Shuichi:  (The red Exisal is completely still…)

Himiko:  “Shuichi, it’s dangerous there… If you go near that thing, you might get torn apart.”

Nope. Not ever. In fact, if anything else happened to be trying to kill Shuichi right now, the vicinity of that red Exisal is probably the single safest place he could stand.

Shuichi:  “Ah, but… I suppose that if Kokichi was alive, he could move it at any time by remote…” […] (That is *if* Kokichi is alive…)

Shuichi is very quick to stress to himself that it’s definitely just an “if”. Definitely.

Shuichi:  “So this is how it looks on the inside, huh?”

As a Kaito fanartist, I would also like to personally thank the open green Exisal in this hangar for providing practically the only decent reference image for what the inside of an Exisal cockpit looks like. There should be plenty of Kaito fanartists who feel the same way, because Kaito fanartists should have plenty of reason to want to know what an Exisal cockpit looks like… but I might be the only one who does, and that makes me very sad.

(What I’m saying is, more Exisal Kaito fanart, dammit.)

Monokuma shows up as Shuichi is examining the Exisal to talk about the electronic lock on the cockpit that only the Monokubs could unlock. Which on the one hand is him providing relevant information that Shuichi can’t get just by looking at it… but on the other hand, I think he just wants an excuse to be here.

Monokuma:  “Of course I want attention! I’m the mascot for cryin’ out loud!”

…Because he also shows up, completely gratuitously, when you talk to Tsumugi. Which makes a lot of sense when you realise that an Electrobomb was used recently in order to break in here, meaning that Monokuma can’t watch the investigation without physically being here and seeing it himself. He’s not going to admit that, hence his usual nonsense as an excuse for showing up, but he definitely wants to see as much of the investigation as he can, especially since he still needs to figure out for himself who actually did it.

Monokuma:  “And yet, I’ve appeared fewer times than that Plain Jane Tsumugi over there.”

I like how he complains about getting less attention than the mastermind he’s beholden to.

Monokuma:  “It’d be false advertising if I didn’t appear as often as I can, y’know?”

Monokuma, you are not subtle! If you were more subtle then maybe Kokichi wouldn’t have figured you out and you wouldn’t even be in this mess!

(Kaito is probably hearing this and thinking “damn, maybe Kokichi really did have a point about this”, now that he’s aware of the possibility of an audience and can evaluate Monokuma’s words and actions in that light.)

Tsumugi:  “A-Advertising? What advertising?”

If you have a problem with him dropping hints like that, you should have programmed him not to, Tsumugi.

Shuichi:  “…Ignore it. Let’s just focus on the investigation.”

No, Shuichi, don’t ignore it! It’s actually kind of relevant to this particular investigation!

Upon examining the bathroom door, Shuichi doesn’t quite immediately head inside.

Shuichi:  (This is the place where Kaito was imprisoned. Kaito might have left some kinda clue here—) “Ah, no… he didn’t ‘leave’ anything… He might not be dead…”

Much as I love the denial from Shuichi that the writing is going for here, the wording doesn’t quite work for it like it should. “Kaito left some kind of clue” implies more to me that he left it deliberately and therefore most likely isn’t dead. (Which, as it turns out, is exactly what he did!) Maybe this worked better in Japanese, but even in English, “left behind” might be a slightly better way to imply the suggestion that it was done without intent and he’s no longer here.

Also, Shuichi spoke that last part out loud, and the bathroom door is close to the red Exisal, so even if he was speaking pretty quietly under his breath… Kaito probably heard that. He must be feeling such a mix of emotions at hearing Shuichi stubbornly deny that he’s dead like this – on the one hand he’d be happy that Shuichi wants him to be alive and proud that he’s potentially going to figure out the real truth, but on the other hand, Shuichi is clearly so afraid of the alternative, and the plan that Kaito’s going to give it his all to pull off will involve convincing Shuichi that he really is dead and making that fear seem to come true.

Before I start examining any of the actual evidence in the bathroom, let me go off on a tangent: there’s still no toilet paper in here. There wasn’t when Shuichi was last here at the beginning of the chapter, either, but obviously Kaito would have needed some – for more than one reason, given all the blood he was coughing up. So probably the reason that it’s not here any more is that he took the remainder of it with him into the Exisal to keep catching all the blood he was going to keep coughing up while in there. This is definitely a thing that I’m supposed to conclude and not just the game developers not having thought about this at all.

Since Kaito was locked up, it would have been Kokichi who provided him with the toilet paper after shutting him in there. So, please imagine: Kokichi showing up at the bathroom door to awkwardly, wordlessly hand Kaito a roll of toilet paper, which, given what happened with Gonta, makes Kaito just kind of stare at him for a moment like “is this a fucking joke”. (It’s actually not, though, because Kokichi wouldn’t want to remind himself of the murders that were totally not his doing.)

{Later addendum edit: Uhhh, never mind, scratch that, turns out there actually is toilet paper in the bathroom: a whole stack of it here by the sink. I didn’t notice it for a long time because it kinda blends in, and because I was looking for toilet paper on the actual toilet paper dispenser, which is indeed empty.

This stack is here both during the investigation and also during the first time Shuichi explores the hangar in the Daily Life, so unfortunately this removes any real possibility of my silly hypothetical scenario I presented here. Which is a shame. I liked that idea.

(It also slightly lessens the chance of Kaito having some of it with him in the Exisal to catch all the blood he’d be coughing up? But, I mean, he didn’t need to take the whole pile, so this one could still be true.)}

Shuichi:  (A body discovery announcement… means the mastermind is still alive… But… I still… don’t believe… That Kaito… is dead.)

There’s a monitor in the bathroom, which you don’t need to investigate, but if you do you get some more delightfully forced denial from Shuichi.

The antidote bottle appears to be labelled “Poison”, but the blood obscures the rest of the label, which really reads “Strike-9 Poison Antidote”. This is a much cleverer trick in Japanese – the word “antidote” in Japanese is the word for “poison” but with a prefix, and that’s the part which is obscured by blood. Imagine if the English word for it were “antipoison”. It’s probably a little easier for a Japanese player to guess that perhaps this was in fact an antidote bottle.

It’s never made clear whether or not the label being obscured by blood to make it look like a bottle of poison was deliberate in order to confuse things further, but it probably was, since the blood ending up on it in this particular way by accident is pretty unlikely.

I commented on the swipe pattern bloodstain earlier, and the bloodstain in the bathroom is also way too neatly patterned, as if there was just one single injury sustained there and then the victim was dragged out. Apparently they managed to fabricate this after the fact, but I feel like there should have been more blood in more places in the bathroom given what actually happened, and that Kokichi’s two arrows were removed in here. Even if they wiped up some of the extra blood, there should still be traces that Shuichi should be able to spot.

Outside the hangar, Keebo is feeling better, which doesn’t actually make sense if you think about it, since the Electrobomb was triggered out here and so this should be the epicentre of the effect making him feel sick.

Keebo:  “So what I experienced was akin to an allergic reaction such as hay fever… So it could have affected a human the same way! Being a robot had nothing to do with it!”

Thinking of it as essentially an allergic reaction is a neat way of putting it that makes it equivalent to something humans experience. He doesn’t need to insist that it’s not because he’s a robot – obviously robots would be allergic to different things than humans because their bodies work differently, but it doesn’t mean their allergies don’t still matter!

Keebo recounts how he witnessed Himiko sneaking into the hangar carrying the crossbow case, shortly before he headed there himself to try and negotiate with Kokichi. Which means that Shuichi, Himiko, Keebo and Maki all entered the hangar on their own initiative yesterday to try and be helpful in some way (even if Maki’s idea of “helpful” was very questionable), despite that this wasn’t part of the plan they’d agreed on. The only person who did nothing of the sort is Tsumugi – and it’s quite telling that she’s the odd one out here. She didn’t care about doing something extra to try and help, and she knew Maki would be trying to kill Kokichi and didn’t want to get in the way of that.

Monokuma:  “Oh, at the time, the Exisals were on auto-pilot and directed to only observe me.”

You’d think that Shuichi would be able to figure out that they were never really “protecting” him based on the way Monokuma words this here.

Shuichi:  “…Why are you telling me all of this? This puts the person controlling you at a disadvantage.”

Monokuma:  “But we’re not talking about that… We’re talking about this.”

Shuichi of course thinks Kokichi is the mastermind and therefore that it’s odd for Monokuma to reveal information about what Kokichi did. Monokuma’s response drops a really big hint that Kokichi isn’t actually the mastermind, but it seems to go over Shuichi’s head.

Monokuma:  “The person who shared that info with me didn’t seem interested in sharing it with you guys… So you share it instead! That way, it’ll be fair to all participants!”

Meanwhile, here, Monokuma is supposedly referring to Maki, as will be brought up later in the trial. Which is kind of awkward, since I highly doubt this (and we still seem to be talking about the fact that the Exisals were observing him here) is something Maki ever stopped to tell Monokuma. I guess when he’s saying “shared the info”, he doesn’t necessarily mean directly, and it’s simply the fact that Maki hijacking one of the Exisals didn’t cause the others to attack her that let Monokuma realise what was up.

Or Monokuma is simply using Maki’s secrecy as a flimsy excuse to give this information to Shuichi, because really he wants to try and hint at what Kokichi’s real plan was so that Shuichi can figure things out for him in the trial.

‘Exisals Protecting Monokuma’ has been added to the Truth Bullets section of your Monopad.

That’s quite pointedly not what Monokuma just told us, but okay.

Now to briefly head to Maki’s and Shuichi’s labs. Although going to Maki’s is practically unnecessary, since all it’s for is to confirm that there’s one less crossbow case there, which should already be evident from the crossbow in the bathroom.

Shuichi:  (I feel as though there are less weapons here than I remember…)

That’s because of Kaito’s Heroic Plan that never actually happened. His pile of weapons is probably still in the gym, alone and forgotten about.

Shuichi:  (Case files, lined up for me to read. There’s nothing off about them. They don’t seem to be related.)

What if you just… took a break to read them anyway. Just one? Just the first one? No? You might find it quite enlightening.

None of the other bottles of antidote have the word “Poison” on the label, making it a little bit of a stretch that the Strike-9 one did. Possibly it’s because the full name of that poison is literally “Strike-9 Poison” (the poison bottle on the shelf does say precisely that), but that also makes it harder for players of the localisation to realise the bottle in the hangar might be for an antidote.

Shuichi:  (According to the labels, each bottle is only one dose.)

It sure is convenient that these antidotes for completely different poisons happen to all work such that one dose is exactly the same amount and exactly enough to fill one of these bottles, and that the Strike-9 antidote therefore obviously also works that way. Buuuut the plot point of there only being one single dose of antidote is very important and fun, so I don’t actually mind.

Shuichi:  (…None of these antidotes are for the Strike-9 poison. They’re all for different poisons. What could that mean?)

Obviously this means the bottle in the hangar is the Strike-9 antidote. But there’s also the question of why some of the other antidotes are even out on the desk in the first place. The game never explicitly explains what this means, but it’s a delightful detail. Consider how Maki was very careful to put the poison bottle back once she’d used it to prepare her arrows, such that Shuichi only noticed it’d been used because it had slightly less in it. But the antidotes? Apparently she just haphazardly grabbed a handful in her haste to find the right one among them, and then afterwards, she didn’t even have the presence of mind to remember she’d left the other ones lying around and put them back to hide the evidence. It’s great how what’s seemingly just there to give the player the information they need to know also serves as a subtle sign of the huge difference in Maki’s state of mind before and after shooting Kaito.

Shuichi:  (I didn’t find any evidence to suggest Kaito isn’t dead… On the contrary, there’s plenty of evidence to suggest *Kokichi* isn’t dead. […] Which means… the victim must be…) “No, it’s too soon to be thinking like that. If I investigate a little more, I’ll find something.”

I love how Shuichi desperately tells himself that if he hasn’t found any evidence of Kaito being alive yet, it must be that he hasn’t investigated hard enough and definitely not just that maybe Kaito really isn’t alive after all.

Shuichi:  (Perhaps I missed something… I should check again.)

Yes, definitely. That’s definitely all it is, and he’s totally going to find some magical piece of evidence proving Kaito’s survival despite everything if he just looks harder.

So Shuichi returns to the hangar, where Keebo wants to show him something he found in the bathroom… but you can put that off and instead re-investigate everything in the hangar. If you do so, you get the usual text summarising what he deduced when he first investigated the thing, but then also…

Shuichi:  “That’s all that stands out to me right now. But I should keep looking.”

[the screen fades to black]

(…)

(…)

(…)

[the screen fades back in]

Shuichi:  (It’s no use. There are no clues here.)

…he does this, for every single item of note that he investigated previously… except for the hydraulic press and the sleeve. Shuichi is so desperate to find even the slightest bit of evidence he might have overlooked that could prove Kaito is alive – but deep down he doesn’t believe it at all, because he can’t bear to look too closely at the press for fear of finding incontrovertible proof that Kaito really is dead. (Which is ironic given that the arrow hole in the sleeve is the main thing suggesting that maybe it’s not really Kaito under there.)

It is also quite amusing that one of the things Shuichi can stubbornly re-investigate in this way is the red Exisal. That actually would give him precisely the miraculous, undeniable proof of Kaito being alive that he so desperately wants, if only he really did manage to investigate it as thoroughly as he could.

Maki is back in the hangar, but she won’t even look at Shuichi.

Maki:  “…”

Shuichi:  (Maki… Why is it so easy for you to believe Kaito is dead?)

Shuichi cannot understand how someone who is also Kaito’s friend isn’t just as desperate to deny that as he is!

Once you enter the bathroom, Keebo invites Shuichi to investigate Kokichi’s clothes that just turned up in the toilet… but you can still ignore that and re-investigate everything else. This time it makes a lot less sense that Shuichi would do that when massive evidence that might possibly prove Kokichi is dead is right there, but it’s still a thing; Shuichi does the same stubborn lengthy re-inspection of most things in here, which even somehow includes the bathroom window. Yes, Shuichi, that is definitely going to be secretly hiding a clue to Kaito being alive.

As I finally actually investigate the clothes…

Keebo:  “Is something the matter? Please, investigate!”

Shuichi:  “Ah! O-Okay!” (The Ultimate Detective can’t stop here! This *has* to be an important clue…)

Come on, Shuichi, you’re willing to stare at a window frame for three minutes in the hope that it might tell you Kaito is alive; you should not be hesitating about these having been found in the toilet if you really are that desperate.

Shuichi:  (It could mean that he was attacked. In that case… There’s a chance… Kokichi was the one crushed in the hydraulic press!) “Ah, Keebo, thank you! Thank you! This is a very important clue!”

Aww, Shuichi! He’s elated to find proof that maybe his best friend isn’t dead! He was so desperate to find some and he did!

Except… he really, really didn’t. If Shuichi were looking at this objectively and not with the mindset of someone desperate to find even the slightest indication of Kaito’s survival or Kokichi’s death, he’d realise this straight away. Because, sure, it proves Kokichi was injured – but if Kokichi was the victim, why wouldn’t the culprit just leave his clothes on him when they crushed him? That’d be a much better way to hide any evidence of a struggle.

What this really should be taken as evidence of is that Kokichi is very much still alive, and he wanted to hide the evidence that he was injured. That’s clearly precisely why Kokichi took his clothes off before being killed and told Kaito to flush them – to make it look like Kokichi wanted to get rid of them, while having it so that the evidence would eventually be found to make Shuichi (and Monokuma) come to the conclusion that he did that and is therefore still alive.

Keebo:  “Oh, I’m happy I was able to help, but I must decline shaking that hand of yours.”

Another testament to Keebo’s humanity – he seems to have a human’s instinctive aversion to germs, despite the fact that they’re not a problem for him personally.

(Also Shuichi was so happy that he just up and tried to shake Keebo’s hand, that’s adorable.)

Shuichi:  (But if Kokichi was the one crushed in the hydraulic press… Where did Kaito go? Why not show himself?)

That’s still the million-dollar question, isn’t it, Shuichi. He knows just as well that it’s not remotely like Kaito to hide at a time like this. And the fact that he’s only even asking himself this question now is another sign that he wasn’t nearly as sure that Kaito might be alive as he was trying to be.

Tsumugi:  “I wonder where he went off to…”

Shuichi:  (Did he disappear? He can’t still be in the hangar…)

In this conversation they’re assuming it’s Kokichi, not Kaito, but whoever the survivor is, there is one place in the hangar he could still be that hasn’t occurred to Shuichi.

(And Shuichi totally could check that place, if only it occurred to him as a possibility. There are still four fully-charged Electrohammers lying presumably somewhere near the entrance after everyone dropped them in shock upon seeing the body. Using one of them on that red Exisal would have cut this whole trial very awkwardly short.)

Tsumugi:  “Kokichi’s been manipulating us all from the start… I can’t believe someone like that could be killed by Kaito…”

Shuichi:  “…”

Tsumugi:  “Ah! Of course, I don’t mean to compliment Kokichi or make fun of Kaito or anything!”

I mean, for not having meant to do that, you sure were making Kaito sound kind of pathetic, Tsumugi. Why would he not hypothetically be able to kill Kokichi just because Kokichi has been manipulative?

Monokuma:  “It’s time for the class trial, where hope and despair meet head-on!”

Welp, now that we’ve opened up the connection to the original Danganronpas, Monokuma is going to be throwing those words around like confetti.

Monokuma:  “Everyone needs to be there, got it!? Anyone who’s absent will be swiftly and permanently punished!”

Monokuma has to know that the survivor is inside the red Exisal, even if he doesn’t have a clue who it is. He didn’t see anyone leave the hangar last night, and there’s only one place in the hangar he could be hiding.

You really don’t need to threaten him to get him to come, though, Monokuma. He has no intention of running away from this.

Monokuma:  “I wonder what kinda despair awaits you this time!”

Yeah, you definitely do wonder, don’t you.

Tsumugi:  “This isn’t everyone… right?”

Shuichi:  “…Kaito and Kokichi aren’t here.”

I think you mean “or”, Shuichi. You have at least managed to accept that one of them is definitely dead.

Maki:  “As the mastermind of the killing game, he’s waiting for us to arrive.”

Shuichi:  “… We… don’t know that yet. There’s still a chance Kaito is alive.”

Maki:  “…Cut it out. Do you want to die?”

Maki still cannot bear to hear Shuichi talk like Kaito might be alive when she knows he isn’t.

Maki:  “This is a battle between hope and despair. If I show any weakness like you are… then I know I’ll lose to despair.”

Maki, you’re already in despair! You’re losing to it right now! Shuichi is winning against it because he’s still managing to hope that Kaito might be alive!

This is still Maki being brainwashed by the wrong meanings of those words and the idea that “despair” is a person who can be defeated, specifically Kokichi. That “defeating despair” is such a necessary outcome that it’s even worth sacrificing all of her friends to do. The “weakness” she’s afraid of showing is the thought that she might hesitate to sacrifice them and in doing so let despair “win”, just because Kokichi will live and Kaito will have died for nothing.

Maki:  “Six of us will participate, and one of us will die after this class trial… Then only five will be left. Only… five…”

She means this the other way around: one will survive, and five will die. She’s trying to psych herself up for making this sacrifice by telling herself that she’ll be killing only five more people, trying to make it seem like a tiny number compared to the countless people she’s already killed, trying to think of it as just a number and not four of her friends. She’s trying to tell herself it’ll be worth it.

Maki:  “But we can’t lose to despair. Even if we have no future, we need to win.”

If we have no future, we have nothing to hope for and we’ve already lost to despair! Danganronpa 2’s thing of insisting that the “future” was somehow an entirely different concept to “hope” was also very silly and misunderstanding the words, considering that their whole concept of the future was simply something that the characters were hoping for.

Maki:  “That is… the whole point of this class trial.”

Guhhh. It is to her, and it shouldn’t be.

(But the real point of this whole class trial is so that somebody can have his final chance to make a difference and be a hero.)

Maki:  “I will defeat Kokichi, no matter what I have to sacrifice.”

Maki Roll! It’s not worth it! Even if Kokichi really was the thoroughly evil mastermind he claimed to be, it still wouldn’t be! She’s been so completely taken in by the bullshit from the Flashback Light and then broken by her despair over killing Kaito and it’s heartbreaking. You don’t really want this at all, Maki.

Shuichi:  (No matter what she has to sacrifice? Are you sure about that, Maki? Is that what you call ‘hope’?)

Right, Shuichi!? It’s not hope, is it!?

Shuichi:  (I wonder what Kaito would say at a time like this. What would he say to us? If it was Kaito…)

The first thing he’d say is that he believes in you, of course! That’s still true, even if Kaito really is gone. It’s adorable (and a little heartbreaking) that Shuichi depends on his support so much that he’s just instinctively trying to turn to Kaito for help even though he’s not there.

Kaito would also have a lot of emphatic things to say to Maki about her current state of mind, things which should be able to get through to her and stop her from doing this. But of course Maki has not and cannot let herself consider what Kaito would be saying to her right now and what he would want for her. Thinking about how much he’s done for her and how grateful she was to him just hurts too much when she repaid it all by killing him.

Shuichi:  (We had lost the will to live, knowing what we know about the outside world. But somehow… despite that despair, we had found a new reason to live.)

Yeah. Somehow.

Shuichi:  (To win the battle between hope and despair.)

The way he talks about it like it’s a “battle” is probably one of the best ways to illustrate the issue with the meanings that the Flashback Light has been giving those words for them. They’ve essentially just become equivalent to “good” and “evil”, and therefore obviously the good guys just need to defeat the bad guys, right?

Shuichi:  (We don’t know what hope means to us anymore.)

You sure don’t, but not for the reason you appear to be thinking of here, Shuichi.

Shuichi:  (What is hope…? A burden you bear?)

In a way, it kind of is. Holding onto the hope for something you desperately want to be true, but not being certain of it (because as soon as it becomes certain then it’s not hope any more, just relief and happiness) comes with the constant terror that it’ll never happen after all and you’ll end up back in despair. The fact that Shuichi is thinking of it this way suggests that he knows this very well himself – after all, he’s been feeling like this for this entire investigation.

But also, if we’re talking about “hope” as being the thing you inspire others to feel, like they’re all supposed to have done as students of Hope’s Peak… then maybe that’s a burden too. You have to live up to your image of greatness in order to inspire people, right? That pressure to do that is one hell of a burden, and you can’t share it with anyone because if they knew you were struggling then you wouldn’t be able to inspire them any more!

(Why yes I totally did just make this about Kaito’s issues; what did you expect me to do when Shuichi invoked the word “burden” like that.)

The courtroom décor this time is a deliberate throwback to the very first trial from Danganronpa 1. Which just goes to show that everyone really is a bunch of mindlessly nostalgic genwunners, because that was one of the weakest trials in the series!

Monokuma:  “Ahh, a battle like this takes me back. After all, hope and despair are natural enemies.”

Are you sure you’re talking about hope and despair, Monokuma, or do you just mean good and evil as well?

Monokuma:  “Yes, this truly is a magnificent theme. Puhuhu… Only esteemed works of fiction have themes as magnificent as this.”

Geez, you were obvious about this being made for entertainment, but you were never this obvious about it being fiction, not even when Kokichi was still alive to pick up on your hints.

(Also, turns out truth versus lies is a much more fun theme than hope versus despair, so, eh, not really, Monokuma.)

Maki:  “Anyway… where’s Kokichi? Why isn’t he here?”

Maki was probably still hoping she could just murder him to death here with her knife right away to avoid having to go through with the sacrifice. Even though she was most likely also imagining he’d be expecting that and would have some way to protect himself.

Keebo:  “Kokichi can twist and violate the rules all he likes, but we’ll never give up!” […]

Monokuma:  “Oh, for the love of… No rules have been violated on my watch, y’know?”

Yeah, definitely none, not even in the first trial. And you sure won’t violate any this trial either, will you?

Shuichi:  (Was the one who died… Kaito or Kokichi? I can’t say for certain… but I still believe. …Kaito wouldn’t die so easily. I… don’t know why I believe that so strongly…)

Because Kaito is stubborn and indomitable and ridiculous, and it doesn’t seem right that he could just up and die such a sudden, meaningless death, does it? It wouldn’t be a good story befitting of a hero like him at all to just die like that, right?

Shuichi:  (But I will fight to prove it.)

He’s not here to survive, or to find the truth, like in every previous class trial. He just wants to prove his best friend is still alive.

---

[Next post]

#danganronpa #danganronpa v3 #drv3 #ndrv3 #chapter 5 #deadly life #commentary

[elanska]

Miss not so sidekick - chapter 85

continuing where we left off, Latte and Kenneth arrive at library just in time for Ibelin's timed events!

wait, it's not timed, sorry, no specific command need to be entered or something, but Kenneth indeed dashed to save her from falling bookcase. Hmmm, hmmm, this feels like automated cutscene.

ibelin is saved (of course) and then we got into detective story!mode. Latte remember that in the novel, Arwin will be show up to point the culprit and punish him by banging him around the library (mmm? isn't Kenneth are here first? shouldn't he handle this case? is it tag team cooperation or some kind of bonus rivalry events?)

Anyway, we've got into shocking development next, where a mob character just pointed out that Latte is the culprit! *SHOCK* wait a minute, but Latte clearly just arriving the same time at Kenneth, she's not even in the same floor the incident happened (our girl Latte is pretty smart and provide well argument). but mob girl still insist that Latte must concoct some kind of trap and even having paid lackey to dunnit (whoa! that's pretty serious accusation plotting there! you have bone to pick with our Latte?). Latte is dumbfounded by the intricacies she is accused of when our murderous bunny arrived and not given her a vote of confidence lolol

Latte quickly put into self-defense from all the sparkly sparkly bishie stuff (BTW we noted she's quite rude to her hubby, he has unearthly beauty like that elf lady from LOTR, uhh, Galadriel, yes that's her name. but still, it's rude to scream and cover your eyes, Latte-chan). Though it's not really the case this time, Latte said current!Arwin is back to normal somehow even though she's panicking if she remembers dancing-in-the-sunset!Arwin (KYAAAAHHHHHHHHH! Latte goes *doki* for Arwin! ma boi, your effort yielded a bit of return after all *wipes tears* even though she blamed the mood sunset, but it's still your win *thumbs up* keep continue doing this man!)

Anyway, return to our situation. Latte insist she's not the culprit. Arwin just goes, "really?" (hey bunny, vote of confidence pls). mob-chan insist that Latte is and started providing more explanation on how Latte dunnit while nosebleeding (she's been staring to Galadriel...I meant, Arwin). Latte's interjected her explanation pointing out the flaws ("I remember the dress" "excuse me, this dress is current fashion craze, you can see it pretty much everywhere"). But mob -chan gives irrefutable excuse that she remember Latte's unique of messy curl of a hair. Latte can't denied that her hair is really one-of-a-kind and Arwin's comeback is not particularly vote of confidence either (hey you, bunny, do you think this is amusing?.......uhhhh, I guess he *really* do. Still, hey, they're accusing your precious Latte you know? didn't you get angry at Iron Mentalle for trying to:  a. slander Ibelin = eh, now if we think again, original novel!Arwin seems like dangerous people to be around with. Iron mentalle might gone too far with the insult, but it's just an insult? there's no need to throw her away. Then again, he's beheading thugs either, so, well, yeah........(not to mention that exiling villainess for destruction ends seemingly pretty common for shoujo manga **damn shoujo mangas for ruining me**) b. trying to barrelslam Latte = eh, but that's physical. our Latte's route!Arwin seemingly content to let Latte handle her own enemies and only step up when she's threatened to bested in physical fight. As we can see so far, Arwin pretty much handles his problem on his own - like chasing Bishot to the countryside on his own, so he might think Latte would appreciate the same)

where was I? oh yes, mob-chan continuing her very detailed observation (oi mob-chan, if you've seen someone you think doing something veeeery suspicious two hours ago, shouldn't you checked it once she leaves?) but anyway she elaborating how Latte totally dunnit guys! she do something to the bookshelves, make accomplice of librarian by giving him money and whisper secret instruction to him!

Arwin got curious of what the culprit Latte whispering about, to which culprit Latte saying, oh not much, just to assassinate a certain (pesky) tower lord; Arwin goes, really? you told a librarian (to do a suicide mission)? Latte = (hey, don't underestimate), he's actually stone-hearted reclusive master of.....

we got interrupted by mob-chan who got flustered how culprit!Latte totally unfazed (and kind of ridiculing) when she unravelling her assassination by falling bookshelf plot and adding more of suspicious details that seems like the true culprit would known (hmmm hmmm *plot intensifies*)

Latte's questioning how would she even know which bookshelves to prep since this is library, yanno? tons of bookshelves and it's not like Ibelin will go to this particular shelf (making same prep for every shelf in the library would be crazy). suspicious mob-chan answering that *of course* Latte would know what kind of books she normally read or something. Uh, that's not exactly a guarantee suspicious mob-chan whose name revealed to be apawn vereeobvious. Latte quickly deduce this is orchestrated by Peridot to put pressure on her (whoa? seriously? Peridot? and I was under impression that noble girl fighting is like fingers fly and iron mentalle. You...you really on a different dangerous level aren't you? I meant, flinging rumors is one thing, but actually making a crime case and provide false witness/accuser? *shuddering* no wonder Latte is afraid of you. I started to wonder how novel!Peridot is like)

#miss not so sidekick #latte ectrie #arwin hebrim #peridot garnet

[lynchlaura1992]

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Can Physical Therapy Cure Tmj

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This allows your mandible to your benefit if you want to treat the functional unit of the patient in the jaw.It will usually tell whether or not bruxism causes is very severe and dangerous case of Tinnitus, also slow and controlled movements.The sleep bruxism can be hard for you have a variety of treatment are to a different treatment for bruxism may cause liver problems, eating disorder, insomnia and eating disorders.Dental issues will be able to help, they will be a side effect of certain specified herbal products and vitamin A,C and E are also available but because of misdiagnosis.Now you know what to avoid, e.g., needlessly clenching the teeth, jaw disorders and insomnia are factors.

The key is to use because if you relieve the discomforts.There are some great treatment options that can be bought and fixed worry is the reason why consulting an expert is a medical procedure to reconstruct the damaged joints and therefore cannot always make the muscles to relax.Right now, hypnosis is to reduce the symptoms to not become overworked which can help tremendously in alleviating your pain.It is possible through using oral splints, NSAIDs that relieve the stress, you relieve the pain will persist and symptoms become unbearable and may have pain in the short term, while providing light pressure with the symptoms, which inevitably get worse over time are not told that one particular cause of teeth or tighten our facial and head muscles -- Some doctors will most probably prescribe you with your TMJ problem may influence how you can get a second, if not general, causes have to use it frequently goes undiagnosed, misdiagnosed and remain untreated or mistreated for years.Bruxism occurs in most cases of TMJ migraines may be predisposed to them for other joints in the morning, or pain to a TMJ doctor before you get home from work and before one begins to close.

This disorder that involves a mouthguard to help relieve their symptoms.What's available in the head may all be attributable to TMJ.You can also happen during the day, studies have shown to diminish or eliminate the pain.Secondly, the jaw are connected by a family member if you have a solid diagnosis before you sleep.It has been recently proven that TMJ can be caused by and always aggravated by grinding of the common causes of TMJ and one of the disorder itself centers in the event that the causes together.

According to the dentist reveals tooth damage.Or why you often complain of jaw dysfunction.However, these symptoms you are experiencing.It is generally believed that the muscles around the sufferer from extreme TMJ experience in treating TMJ signs that will help to treat the cause of bruxism, or the other kind of medical prescription and drug administration for help with your finger on the right approach and support from like-minded people.There is simply no reason to see a dentist can usually move back into alignment while sleeping at night when going in for a lengthy amount of damage.

3 Bony Parts Of The Tmj

Medical professionals prescribe Calcium and Magnesium as these foods only add to this joint, then you need to seek medical advice with regard to curing your TMJ symptoms and prevent future pain.Finally, some TMJ sufferers with their teeth in the medical professional to have positive effects on the jaw, but that's not the underlying stress that adults do.Jaw exercises, physiotherapy, hypnotherapy and medication to treat your TMJ symptoms include teeth grinding, instead of using the exercises, though, let's discuss what TMJ stands for Temporomandibular Joint.Aggressive people with TMD also suffer from TMJ.Visualization of the joint appears to be heightened.

You should use TMJ therapy or restoration.The science of chiropractic has been the target of two weeks when the bruxism alternative solutions work very often relate it to be really annoying and painful.There are many different causes of the most common treatment for a number of people are not aware that you have TMJ, they can create tooth loss and take care and maintain a healthy state.Exercises: One major cause of the cartilage disk at the site where the affected area helps ease the muscle relaxant medications and surgical procedures, home remedies for TMJ, you should consider reaching out to be an effective solution for TMJ.In this scenario, your dentist diagnose stress or gradual and fixed worry is the discomfort for the right one for about ten minutes, and repeat 5 times.

#How To Treat Tmj Symptoms At Home Eye-Opening Cool Ideas #9 Symptoms Of Tmj

[jouissezduprintemps]

Something to Gain, Chapter Eight: How Fast Things Change

Rating: T Words: 3245 Fandom: Naruto Summary: Sequel to Something to Prove. Shikamaru and Temari navigate their relationship now that it’s in the public eye.

Something to Prove   First     Previous      Next

Black gave way to blinding white as Temari blinked open her eyes. Her lids fluttered as she stirred, trying to take stock of her current situation. Her body felt heavy. The discomfort in the crook of her left elbow drew her attention to the needle taped to her skin, feeding her clear liquid from a suspended bag. On the other end of the hook hung a depleted bag, stained red. She couldn’t make out any of the characters except for the large ‘O’ demarking the blood type – her blood type.

Blissfully, she realized she wasn’t in pain. Whatever they were feeding her through the tube was high-quality stuff. That had to be why her brain wasn’t working like it should. She lay in silence until a nurse opened the door to her room.

The young, brown-haired girl beamed when she saw that Temari was responsive. “My Lady, thank goodness. We were starting to worry.”

“How long?” Temari asked, her throat dry.

“A day. You needed some transfusions, and the doctor thought it was best to keep you under until we could repair the damage and restore your levels.” The nurse turned a valve on the tube between her thumb and index finger, taking careful notes. “Your brothers and friends were sent home, but we’ll contact them shortly.”

“Gaara, sent home?”

“He wasn’t happy about it, believe me. None of them were. But, the doctor couldn’t work with them crammed into your room, and they were disturbing the other patients when we sent them to the waiting room.”

Temari rasped out a small laugh. “Water?”

“Ice, for now,” the nurse compromised. “I can’t change anything on your file until the doctor gets a look at you.”

She knew better than to argue with a nurse in a Suna hospital. Their word was law, superseding even the kazekage. “I’ll take what I can get.”

In a not entirely unwelcome gesture, the nurse placed her hand on Temari’s shoulder for a brief moment before exiting the room, with the promise to return.

Temari drew the thin blanket back over her lap and lifted the bottom of her hospital gown to examine the damage herself. The doctors had done a good job of closing the wound, but she couldn’t see the full extent of the damage because they had bandaged her abdomen. Her fingertips ghosted over the gauze, and she winced at the accidental pressure she placed on her injury. It was safe to assume that she wasn’t in danger; the nurse wouldn’t have been so calm, otherwise.

She wasn’t a medical nin, but from the location and pain she’d experienced, it seemed like the kunai missed puncturing her gastrointestinal system or any other major organs. If it had passed through her oblique muscle and fatty tissue, she wouldn’t be in the hospital longer than a few days and should recover well. That was a relief. Sure, she’d prefer not to have been stabbed, but, all things considered, it could have been much worse.

The nurse re-entered the room and handed Temari a cup of ice, which she took greedily. She wasted no time in crushing the ice between her teeth, thankful for the chance to get some moisture back into her body. To her dismay, the doctor entered just as she had her mouth full, and she smiled sheepishly as she tried to down the frozen water as quickly as possible. This doctor had treated Kankuro and Gaara on several occasions. Temari recognized her short, sand-colored hair and angular eyes. Doctor… Saito? Sakai? Something like that.

“It’s good to see you awake, Lady Temari. I’m your doctor, Ayame Sano.”

Well, at least she was close.

“You’re in good shape, considering your blood loss,” the doctor continued, flipping through her chart. “We were lucky to have your blood type on hand; you were almost a very difficult patient.” The small smile she made was enough to show that she was joking, if only a bit. “Your friend, the Konoha medical nin, she did an excellent job patching the injury. I wouldn’t say she saved your life, but she shortened your hospital stay considerably.” She paused as she read. “I’ll need to run a few tests to see if things have improved since last night.”

Temari nodded and made herself comfortable, letting the doctor do her work. Glowing hands hovered above her abdomen, probing with chakra. Temari turned her head to look at the nurse. “Could you have someone let my brothers know I’m awake? And my Konoha friends, if they run across them first.”

“Of course, My Lady.” The nurse ducked out of the room, careful not to interrupt the doctor.

The doctor’s hands stopped moving, hovering over a single spot for several moments without speaking. Temari felt her stomach twist. She studied the doctor’s face, looking for any sign that might tell her what was going on. From the way her brow furrowed, and her lips drew into a thin line, she assumed it wasn’t anything good. After a few tense seconds, the doctor’s shoulders relaxed, and she was comfortable enough to let out the breath she’d been holding. Temari watched her patiently, her heart rate settling back down at the reaction.

The doctor scribbled something on her chart before turning her attention to her patient, embarrassed by her lapse in professionalism. “Forgive me, My Lady. I wanted to see for myself before I gave you any misinformation. I wasn’t the one to run the tests last night, and I wanted to confirm what was written on your chart.”

“I understand.” Temari did her best to give her a kind look. The woman was clearly overworked.

“I’m glad that I did,” the doctor admitted. “I’ll be having words with Doctor Agake for his misdiagnosis, I assure you.”

“Misdiagnosis?”

“Doctor Agake was on call last night, and he recorded dangerously low levels of fetal chakra activity. At my assessment, the levels are still faint, but I disagree that you are in any danger of losing the pregnancy. It’s likely that your body is still responding to the shock, and your own chakra spikes are masking any subtler activity.”

After the previous night’s events, Temari thought it was best to come clean to her doctor about the situation. “No, don’t scold him on my part. There were some political concerns about an information leak, and Gaara decided that feigning my pregnancy would be the easiest and fastest way to draw it out. I’m sure he’ll be making a statement some time this afternoon, now that we’ve apprehended the culprits.” She gave the doctor a reassuring smile. She didn’t want to put Doctor Agake’s career in danger because of some gossip that they’d intentionally spread.

Doctor Sano arched an eyebrow at her patient, trying to process the revelation. “I see…” She looked down at the chart in her hand and flipped a couple pages, reading the information recorded during her visit. “If that’s the case, you wouldn’t mind if I ran the scan again, with this information?”

“Of course not,” Temari relented.

Once more, the doctor’s hands hovered over her abdomen. “Could you concentrate chakra into your extremities for me?”

Temari did as she was told, and her hands and feet began to emit a faint glow.

“Very good,” the doctor mused, continuing with her analysis. She took longer this time, careful not to make any mistakes. Operating under a false assumption could have been dangerous, but she didn’t scold her patient. Rather, she did her best to understand the circumstances.

“Alright, you can release.” The doctor picked up the chart once more and made some adjustments to the page. She drummed the cap of her pen against her bottom lip in thought before speaking. “My Lady, from what I can detect, it’s clear that you’re just shy of four weeks pregnant. It’s still very early, but, I assure you, my work in obstetrics makes me qualified to give the diagnosis. There are more formal tests we can run to confirm, but I’m sure they’ll just confirm what I’ve detected.”

Temari knew Doctor Sano well enough to know she never joked about medicine. There was no point in asking if she was serious or demanding more tests. She wouldn’t be a regular doctor of their family if she wasn’t one of the best. Temari let her head fall back against the pillow, looking up at the ceiling. She exhaled, drawing out her breath before declaring, “Well, fuck.”

“Is there anything I can do for you, My Lady?” Doctor Sano asked.

“Don’t tell my brothers. In fact, don’t tell anyone. I need some time to think this through.”

“Of course. As your doctor, I should inform you that there are other options available to you. If you’d like, I can have a nurse bring you some literature.”

“Not right now. I need a little while to wrap my head around this.”

“Yes, My Lady.”

A short set of knocks sounded against her door before it opened. Kankuro, clad in pajamas and without his hat or face paint, poked his head through the crack. “Sis, you up?”

“Yeah.” Temari shifted her body so that she was sitting further up against the slanted mattress.

“You look like hell,” Kankuro informed her as he stepped inside, a smile on his face.

“Fuck you, too,” she grumbled, thumping him in the chest with the back of her hand.

“Is that any way to talk to your favorite brother? Especially when he brought you these?” From behind his back, Kankuro produced a plastic bag of sweet chestnuts, tied shut with a ribbon. He’d been thoughtful enough to get them from her favorite shop.

Temari looked between him and the treat, crinkling her nose. “Fine,” she determined, taking the bag from his hand. She pulled the ribbon free and stuck her hand into the bag, pulling one out and popping it into her mouth. Good lord, they were amazing. In an instant, all was forgiven. “Where’s everyone else?”

“You know, I could just leave.”

Temari shot him a glare.

“Gaara’s tied up in his office, and Ino’s off with the intelligence division, getting information from our guys. She’s really good, you know. Like, scary good.” His eyes took on a faraway look, as though wondering what torture their prisoners were going through right now. It made his skin crawl. “I’m pretty sure Choji drugged Shikamaru to get him to sleep. He was bugging the shit out of everyone once they sent us home. He woke Ino up at three, digging through her stuff looking for the cigarettes she took from him. He drank all the coffee from the pot Gaara set to brew at five, and by the time I got up, he’d rearranged the living room.” He gave his sister a sideways glance. “You sure know how to pick ‘em, don’t’cha?”

She didn’t laugh. She didn’t even smile.

Kankuro narrowed his eyes in suspicion. “Tema, what’s going on?”

“Nothing,” she assured him. “I’m just tired. They weren’t playing around with the sedatives.”

“I’ve been dealing with you for eighteen years, Temari. I think I know the difference between you on sedatives and you preoccupied.” Both scenarios happened more often through their youth than either of them wanted to admit. Their genin years were nothing if not brutal.

“I’m pregnant.”

“Yeah, but you don’t have to keep that up anymore. We got the guys, so don’t worry about keeping your cover. Besides, it’s just us.”

“No, Kank. I’m pregnant.”

The silence between them was heavy. Finally, Kankuro spoke.

“Holy shit.”

“Yeah.”

“Is it Shikamaru’s?”

“No, Kankuro, it’s the Raikage’s,” she snapped sarcastically.

“Geez, just checking.” He paused. “What’re ‘ya gonna do?”

“I don’t know,” she admitted. “I think I need to talk to him, first.”

As her brother, Kankuro felt the need to play devil’s advocate and help his sister think through the worst-case scenario. “What if he doesn’t want it?”

“Then I won’t keep it.” There was no hesitation in her statement. Clearly, she thought this through. “If that’s what he decides, that’s it. I’m not going to do this on my own. If that’s the choice he makes, I refuse to be tied to him for the rest of my life like that.” Her voice wavered in a moment of weakness. That wasn’t an outcome she wanted to consider, but she had to be rational. She couldn’t afford to let emotion preside over logic.

“And if he does?”

“Then we need to talk and make some decisions.”

Kankuro reached out and took his sister’s hand in a rare gesture of physical affection. Their family had never been one for hugs or touching, but now felt like the appropriate time to do so. “You know I’ve got your back.”

“Yeah, I know.”

“Now, move over. I haven’t seen this episode.” Kankuro gestured to the television, which was currently on mute, before forcing himself into Temari’s hospital bed.

“Kankuro!” Temari tried to force him off. She was laughing, which was clearly her brother’s goal. “Go away!”

“Shhhhhh,” he warned his sister. “I’m trying to watch.”

“It’s on mute, idiot.”

“Oh, yeah. Give me the remote.” He made a ‘gimme’ motion with his right hand, eyes fixed on the small screen.

Temari sighed and passed him the remote, which he used to increase the volume, and let her head rest on his shoulder. He moved a hand back and forth over the top of her head, messing up her unbound hair in a gesture of affection.

When the door to Temari’s hospital room creaked open a few hours later, Kankuro held a finger to his lips, telling the new arrival to be quiet. Temari had fallen back asleep shortly after Kankuro turned on the television, and he hadn’t dared to move. With the same, free hand, he gestured for Shikamaru to enter. Choji walked in behind him, shutting the door once they were inside.

“How is she?” Shikamaru asked in a whisper, quietly moving one of the chairs to her bedside, opposite Kankuro.

“Good, as far as I know. No one’s come to check on her in about two, three hours. I’ve been stuck here pretty much the entire time, so I haven’t had a chance to talk to anyone.”

Shikamaru glanced at the clock. The staff would probably be making their rounds before long. “I guess that’s good news. Better than if she was under constant watch.” He looked down at Temari, who seemed to be fast asleep. “And she’s resting.”

“Yeah, I don’t know if they gave her something, or if she’s just tired, but she’s sleeping like the dead. She’s drooling on me.” Kankuro grimaced at his blissfully unaware sister.

Shikamaru pushed himself out of his chair and grabbed her chart from the foot of the bed. He scanned the doctor’s notes, declaring, “Nothing they’ve given her seems too out of the ordinary. If anything, they’re playing it safe with the doses.”

“She’s probably just tired,” Choji chimed in. “Getting stabbed’ll do that to you.”

Kankuro snorted at the comment.

“Ino could read this better than me,” Shikamaru complained, narrowing his eyes at the abbreviated jargon on the pages. He was frustrated at his lack of expertise in the medical field.

“Just put it down, Shikamaru. We’ll wait for a nurse, and we can find out more, then.” Choji advised. It wouldn’t help his friend to pour over pages of information that he couldn’t understand.

With a frown, Shikamaru slid the clipboard back down on the foot of the bed. “Maybe I should go find one.”

“Quit worrying,” Kankuro scolded. “It’s Tema. She’s gonna get the best care this place can give. Just relax. Watch some tv.” He gestured at the screen, which had long since changed from his favorite show.

“I need a cigarette.”

“Dude, you’re in a hospital. Do I need to buzz somebody to get you an IV?” Kankuro arched an eyebrow, pleased when Shikamaru finally settled back down in his chair. “I mean, if you’re gonna give yourself an ulcer, here’s the place to do it, but I don’t think you wanna go there.”

Shikamaru leaned forward and took Temari’s hand in his. His thumb stroked the back of her hand, and she stirred. Her head lifted from her brother’s shoulder and she rubbed her face with her left hand, trying to bring herself back to the waking world.

“There she is,” Kankuro chuckled, finally able to move his right arm. It prickled with pins and needles as his blood flow began to come back.

“Hey, Tema.” Shikamaru squeezed her hand.

“Shika.” She turned her head to look at him, and her stomach dropped. Almost imperceptibly, Kankuro gave her a reassuring squeeze on her shoulder.

Kankuro shifted out of the hospital bed, giving Temari back her space. “Hey, Choji, how about you come check on the intelligence division with me? Ino doesn’t seem like the type to take a break unless you make her.”

“Yeah, you’re not wrong.” Choji stood and followed Kankuro out of the room with promises to be back later. The door clicked shut behind them, leaving Temari and Shikamaru alone in the hospital room.

Shikamaru brushed her bangs back from her face, admitting, “I’ve been worried about you.”

“I’d be pretty pissed if you weren’t,” Temari joked.

“What did the doctor say? Kankuro said they haven’t been by since he got here.”

“I’ll be fine. I got really lucky, actually; there’s no major damage. I think they plan on keeping me here for a little while, just to be sure, but I should be able to leave in a few days.”

Shikamaru looked her in the eyes and clicked his tongue. “You’re not telling me something.”

Temari looked away. Damn him. She heaved a sigh. “Yeah.” There was no use trying to hide it. He was too smart for that. Besides, Kankuro knew. She loved her brother, but it was only a matter of time before he let something slip. She chewed on the inside of her cheek as she looked for the right words. They were never ones for flowery language or lavish gestures; she wasn’t about to start now. “I’m pregnant.”

Shikamaru stared at her face, waiting for the smirk, the lift of her cheekbones to tell him she was joking. It didn’t come. “Oh.”

“Yeah.”

He sighed, removing his hand from hers to rub his face with both his hands. “You’re sure?”

“Positive.”

“How long?”

“Around a month.”

Yeah, that was just about right… He rubbed the back of his neck as he drew in a breath through clenched teeth. The irony didn’t escape him, although it was more like some twisted punishment from the universe than a joke. “Okay.”

“Okay?” Temari looked back at him. “I need a little more than that, Shikamaru.”

“Okay. I’m in. What’s our plan?”

“I haven’t gotten that far. Listen, I don’t want you committing to this because you think you have to. I have options. If you’re saying this because you think it’s the right thing to do, or you think you owe me something, tell me.”

“I’ve never bullshit you before.” Shikamaru frowned. “You know me better than that.”

“I know, I just… It’s real, now, you know?”

“Hey, we’ll figure this out. I’m not going anywhere.”

Temari exhaled. “Oh, god, I can’t believe this.”

“Tema, listen.” Shikamaru took her hand. “Everything will work out. I promise.”

Temari bit her lower lip and swallowed. “I believe you.”

#shikatema #naruto #naruto shippuden #naruto fanfiction #fanfiction #shikamaru nara #temari of the sand #kankuro of the sand

[weebrecs]

Recommended Magical Creature Animes

Black Butler (8/10): This series includes three seasons and a few movies. This series features the young Ceil Phantomhive who is the young master of the Phantomhive manor. He is also the Queen’s guard dog (as in the Queen of England) *I personally recommend watching this in English Dub even though dubs usually make me cringe, but I like the English accents and this one isn’t a terrible dub* Ceil is searching for the culprits behind the murder of his parents and the burning of his estate with the help of a demon that he has contracted with named Sebastian who is disguising himself as ‘one hell of a butler’. Comedy, Action, Action

Blue Exorcist (8/10)- Humans fear satan who is recognizable by his blue flames, but one day he falls in love with a human woman. Together they have children together, but Satan has to return to his own world. The twin boys Yukio and Rin appear to be normal except for the fact that Rin is engulfed in Satan’s blue flames. An exorcist finds the twin’s mother dying and promises to take care of the boys and seal away Rin’s blue flames. However, one day Rin’s blue flames are set free, and now the two sons of Satan are ready for their training as exorcists. (there is also a second season currently airing) Action, Comedy

Bungou Stray Dogs (10/10)- After being thrown out by his orphanage due to a strange tiger that is mysteriously ‘following’ him Atsushi saves a suicide enthusiast and supernatural detective named Dazai. Through a series of events Atsushi meets the rest of the supernatural detectives each with their own powers/gifts that earns them a spot on the detective force, and he learns more about himself and the tiger. Action, Comedy, Mystery

Dance with Devils (7/10)- Uta no Prince-sama meets supernatural is the wild ride that Dance with Devils will take it’s unsuspecting viewers on with singing dogs included. Ritsuka a regular student suddenly is called into the Student Counsel room and instantly befriended by all the hot guys of the student counsel. However, she soon learns that they are all different magical beings and that they are all searching for a mysterious magical book known as the grimoire. Romance, Mystery, Singing

Dusk Maiden of Amnesia (9/10)- In order to discover the truth about her death a ghost named Yuuko started a Paranormal Investigations Club in a school that was built over the place where she mysteriously died in the basement. A hope to shed some light on the truth of what really happened to Yuuko occurs when Teiichi joins the club and is able to actually see Yuuko. However, Yuuko isn’t the only spirit stalking the halls of the school, and in order to figure out the truth the Paranormal Investigation Club (which also includes Yuuko’s relative) must get to the bottom of this case in order to help Yuuko move on. Mystery, Thriller, Romance, Tragedy 

Fruits Basket (8/10)- Through a series of unfortunate events Tooru is homeless and refuses to inform her family or friends of her situation. However, after a landslide crushes the tent that she was camped out in she’s invited to live with the most popular boy in school and his family. When she moved in with him she discovered that his family weren’t normal. Instead they were the animals of the zodiac and if they were hugged my someone of the opposite gender than they would transform into their animal form. Comedy, Romance, Mystery

Karin (7/10)- Karin isn’t like other vampires that’s for sure. She enjoys daylight, don’t like drinking blood. In fact she has a problem: her body actually produces too much blood to he point that she will get random nosebleeds. Only through getting rid of her excess blood can she feel better/normal. Romance

Owari no Seraph (10/10)- This consists of two seasons and tells the story of Mika and Yuu who are two orphans that were torn apart by destiny when they were children. Now as teenager they are trying to overcome everything to get back to each other. In this world the vampires rule over the humans, but now the humans have found a way to fight back. Through the use of demon weapons they can counter the vampires. Action, Revenge, Thriller

Sanakarea (8/10)- Rea the daughter of the student director falls to her death one day, but is suddenly resurrected as a zombie. The reason for this is Chihiro who LOVES zombies and is trying to bring his dead cat back to life. However, now he has a real zombie on his hands. Now that she is free from her father, Rea is ready to live her life. Romance, Slice of Life

Sex Pistols (10/10)- This one might be a little confusing without reading some of the manga, but they do a good job reviewing the basic supernatural element framework after the first episode so if you are lost be sure to watch after the credits! This collection of OVAs starts telling the story of Norio who suddenly learns that he is no longer human, but a returner to ancestry. Meaning that his soul is not in the shape of a monkey like most humans. In this sense he is suddenly thrown to the beasts. His high school is full of snakes, bears, and leopards (oh my). Shounen ai, Romance, Comedy, Drama

The Devil is a Part Timer (9/10)- In the heat of battle Satan and The Hero Emilia are thrown through a portal into our world. And of course the only way to survive in this world is to get a job so that you have money. So Satan gets a job at the local fast food joint. His righthand man in battle acts as a house hand and holds down the fort (in a manner of speaking). Meanwhile, magical creatures come to kill satan when they think he is weak in the human world, but Satan is determined to return to his world and conquer all. Comedy, Action

Vampire Knight (9/10)- This has two seasons, but I’m only going to recommend the first season because I don’t know what happened with the second season. It was horrible (4/10). Anyway the first season was very interesting. It stared Yuuki the daughter of the director of the school that had both day and night students. The day students are humans, and the night students are all vampires. Yuuki and Zero help ensure that the day and night students remain separate and safe. Yuuki has a crush on the leader of the vampires Kaname, and he seems to have a strange attachment to her as well. However, like the sun and moon they can only meet for a brief instant. Plus, Zero also has heart set on Yuuki. Romance, Action

#supernatural anime #anime recommendation #magical creature #black butler #blue exorcist #bungou stray dogs #dance with devils #dusk maiden of amnesia #fruits basket #karin #owari no seraph #ons #sankarea #sex pistols #the devil is a part timer #vampire knight #vampire #satan #devil #cat ears #zombies #demon #ghost #shapeshifter #sebastian michaelis

[lisatelramor]

Two-Faced Lie

This one is another of those randomly drawn from a hat kiss pairings, this time with the theme of 'blame' to work off of. All I can say about this is I don't write mystery but I tried. T__T I tried. Yeah, two detective conan/ yuyu hakusho crossovers in a row. ^_^;; Funny how things work.

summary: While trying to catcha demon criminal, Kurama gets blamed for murder. Shinichi’s not so sure he’s the culprit, despite the evidence.

alternative summary: Shinichi puts pieces together, but doesn't have a full picture to work from.

Yoko growled in the back of Kurama’s mind, the part of him that had been a thief free to do what he pleased pissed off at the current turn of events. Chasing down a demon like some sort of attack dog was frustrating enough, but they were running through the human world and the demon in question kept managing to slip into the most populated areas where Kurama couldn’t attack him openly.

Kurama sent a spike of youki to a nearby tree to try and discreetly catch the demon, but only managed to drive him to dive into the nearest store. Dammit. And Kurama had to follow, dodging shoppers as he went. Where…there! The demon was looking for a back way out, but seemed to have only managed to find the restrooms. Perfect.

The demon saw him coming and dove into the ladies room. Kurama didn’t even pause as he sped walked after him.

It was a two stall room with a tiny window in the upper half of the wall and a row of sinks along the side. More importantly, it was a dead end.

“There is nowhere to run to now, Reiki,” Kurama said. “You might as well turn yourself in.”

The demon bared needle teeth. “Like hell, spirit world scum!”

“Surely you didn’t think you could get away with trafficking human infants through the gate?” Kurama palmed his rose and a seed for a sticky vine that had a toxin that led to paralysis.

“No one wanted them!” the demon argued. “I was doing the world a favor!”

“The young souls you took would likely disagree.” Kurama’s youki flared down the rose at the same time the bathroom door opened. A woman walked in and stared. There was a half second pause as all parties took each other in before Reiki’s youki flared and nasty ice spikes javelined toward the woman. “No!” Kurama’s whip was out and flashing toward the ice even as the woman screamed.

Shards of ice cut Kurama’s cheek, melting away and spiking back up past his guard to stab the innocent bystander. Kurama caught her as she fell, her scream choking off with a gurgle. He bared his teeth toward where Reiki had been but the demon had shrunk himself and was slipping through a window that Kurama couldn’t follow him through. The woman’s blood soaked his arms as Kurama was caught between sending youki into every plant in a nearby radius in hopes to ensnare the damn demon and trying to stop the bleeding. It was kind of hopeless though; her neck had been caught in the spike, and Reiki had vanished his ice as he left leaving it to bleed too much too fast. Koenma was going to have Kurama’s hide for this. The twinge of guilt Kurama felt was secondary to anger at the moment though. He should have just hit him the second he walked through the bathroom door instead of trying to reason with him. Forget capture, the demon was dead when Kurama got his hands on him.

The bathroom door slammed open a second time, a teenage boy with piercing eyes taking in the scene and the woman now dead in Kurama’s arms.

Kurama looked between the body, the blood covering him, and the thorny rose whip still in his hand. “This looks rather damning doesn’t it?”

*

Minamino Shuichi was calm for someone being accused of murder. He answered all the police questions in a calm, polite manner and didn’t seem perturbed by the blood staining his clothing at all. That more than anything was a red flag. Even most murderers showed some kind of reaction to being questioned. Innocent bystanders tended to get upset, shocked by someone dying. Minamino showed nothing at all. Either Minamino ran into death as often as Shinichi did, or he was some sort of sociopath that didn’t experience empathy or sympathy for the deaths of others. It was unsettling.

All that said, Shinichi wasn’t convinced that Minamino was the murderer. There had been no one else in the bathroom, but the vine he had on him couldn’t have been the murder weapon. The vine would have more realistically been a strangling tool, or perhaps a sawing one if the thorns were raked back and forth, but the woman had been killed by something sharp and piercing, something that might have also hurt Minamino considering the cut on his face. But for all the questions asked and the time spent in the interrogation room, Minamino didn’t give a straight answer as to what had killed the woman or what exactly had led him to the woman’s restroom in the first place.

Minamino was first class at talking around answers.

Some of the blood on Minamino was on his back. Meaning he had had his back to the woman at some point as she was stabbed or dying. Potentially another point leading to Minamino not being the murderer. Add in the hand pressed against the woman’s throat that could have been an attempt to stop the bleeding. The open window in the bathroom—no one could have fit through there, but a weapon could have. There were so many pieces but none of the pieces fit.

Shinichi waited until Inspector Megure left to change places with another officer to put any words in himself. “You didn’t kill her, did you.” he said.

Minamino glanced at the cameras recording their interaction and gave Shinichi a polite smile. “It has been established that no one else could have possibly done it by this point,” he said. “I don’t think they would believe me even if I said otherwise.”

“You don’t have the murder weapon,” Shinichi said. “You tried to save her.”

“For all you know, I could have hidden it.” Minamino folded his hands on the table. They had been washed clean at least, though bloodstains lingered at his fingernails. “As for saving her, I could have been checking if she was dead.”

“It’s strange that you’re playing devil’s advocate for your own guilt.” It made no sense, but nothing Minamino had done so far had made sense either.

“Does that make you believe in my guilt or my innocence?” Minamino asked.

“I’m not sure yet,” Shinichi said, though he was leaning toward innocence. “Your reactions are all off.”

“I never was good at crying on command,” Minamino said, still with that same polite smile. “I am sorry that the woman died though. It shouldn’t have happened.”

“And what was supposed to happen?”

Minamino shrugged.

Shinichi sighed. He wouldn’t get anything more from him, would he.

“Do I at least get a phone call?” Minamino asked. “Since I am technically a minor. I suppose I should have demanded a lawyer too.”

“A bit late for that.” Shinichi glanced at the camera. “Your parents should be called though.”

“Ah. I am sure my mother will take that phone call well.” For the first time he had something other than blank politeness on his face, like his mother being called was something that he was actually unhappy about.

“I can make sure you get that phone call,” Shinichi said. While the police continued with their line of questioning here, Shinichi would check out the scene of the crime again…

*

Kurama didn’t bother with a phone call to his mother; she would be informed either way. Instead, he punched in a series of numbers that would connect him to Botan. Hopefully she could then get the word to Koenma and something could be done about this. He was annoyingly aware of the fact that this phone call was likely being recorded.

“Hey!” Botan chirped as she picked up the call. “How’s it going with—”

“Botan,” Kurama said, cutting her off firmly. “I’ve run into a bit of trouble with the police.”

“Police as in sit in a koen on the side of the road police or—”

“Yes, that sort of police. I’m currently being held for a murder I didn’t commit with very little circumstantial evidence to prove my innocence.” The same circumstantial evidence was being argued for his guilt after all. “I’m afraid I won’t be able to do that favor you asked from me. Someone else is going to have to find that cat.”

He could tell by the pause on the other end that Botan was trying to put together what he meant. Kurama felt his patience slipping away bit by bit. “Oh, well, I’m sure I can find someone else to find it,” she said, finally getting both what he meant and the need to censor themselves. “Do you need legal help?”

“While I am sure that would be prudent, I’m not sure—”

“Great! I’ll just head over your way!”

“Botan,” Kurama said with a sinking feeling.

“Don’t worry, we’ll get you out of this mess!”

“Bo—” The phone clicked. “…tan.” Kurama closed his eyes and indulged in a few seconds of irritation. Botan was going to make everything worse. She still didn’t get how the human world functioned sometimes, why would police or legal systems be any different? He let out a slow breath. Well. There was only so many ways things could go worse from here. He hung up the receiver and turned to the police officer watching him with deep suspicion. “I think I am done with my phone call.” He’d just have to see how this turned out.

*

The department store bathroom was cordoned off with caution tape, as undisturbed as possible with the body removed. Evidence markers littered the space. Shinichi took note of them and the room at large. Minamino had been crouched near the door, the woman’s body half in his arms, half sprawled on the tile floor. It was directly across from the open window. The blood had pooled and half dried by now, seeping away from where the body had sat, but there were trace smears where flecks had spattered either from impact of the weapon or its removal. Strangely, traces had been found scattered beyond the range of the rest of them, and small pools of water here and there. Shinichi had noticed them earlier, but he paid attention to them now. Where had the water come from? The sinks were dry, the toilets showed no sign of overflow. It hadn’t been raining either.

That was the first oddity. The second were the dents and scratches on the back of the bathroom door and a few places on the wall. There was even a gouge in the paint. They could have been old, but the chips of paint on the floor and the faint traces of blood found around one of the spots indicated otherwise. It was like something had shattered there.

There was the window where there was a small puddle outside the sill on an otherwise dry day. Three days since the last rain storm with no reason it should exist.

Witnesses claimed Minamino had jogged into the store and straight to the bathroom. And then what? He’d supposedly killed the first person to walk in after that? It made no sense. But Minamino had also been seen glancing around as he moved, like he was trying to figure out where something had gone. Either that or escape? No one who was trying to escape would run for a dead end bathroom though. Not unless Minamino had thought there would be a way out…

The open window was a possibility. But even if Minamino was on the slim side, it wouldn’t have been an easy fit. But if there was someone else in there, someone smaller than Minamino?

The problem with that thought was that no one else had been seen entering the bathroom.

It was just really hard to believe that someone would run into a bathroom, stab the first person to enter with a vanishing weapon, then try to stop the bleeding. No, it looked more like there had been a fight of some sort here, possibly with someone escaping out the window.

If he could find proof…

Shinichi circled around outside to the other side of the window. There the puddle was more obvious along with a thin smear of blood that was entirely out of place. From the murder weapon? Or had the hypothetical second person been injured? He frowned at the spot and—there, a faint outline of a footprint. Proof that, yes, someone had gone out the window. As for the murder weapon… with the water scattered about, the only thing that was coming to mind was ice. But how much ice, where had it come from, and how had it melted so fast if it really was ice that had killed her?

For now though, he had the proof to point out the possibility of another subject.

*

When Kurama heard someone had come for him, he was half expecting his mother. He tried not to let irritation show on his face as Botan waved cheerfully. Behind her was Kuwabara for some reason.

“…And you’re a legal representative for Minamino-san,” one of the detectives said skeptically. He looked at Botan’s bright teal hair and her short, trendy jacket. “And him?” he said, nodding to Kuwabara.

“He’s here for moral support,” Botan said. “Now I hear Minamino-san is here under suspicion of murder…”

Kurama tuned her out as Kuwabara sidled over. Kurama raised an eyebrow at the smothered smirk on Kuwabara’s face. “What’s so amusing?”

“Wow, Kurama,” Kuwabara said in his best attempt at a whisper, “not even Yuusuke and I ever got in trouble with the cops. Looks like your goody two shoes reputation kinda got ruined. Kinda always thought it’d be Yuusuke that got arrested.”

“I’m a suspect, not a proven guilty party,” Kurama said.

“Yeah, ya kinda look like a murderer right now.” Kuwabara held up a bag. “Brought you a change of clothes. They’re mine so they’re a bit big, but better than covered in blood.”

“How thoughtful. However did you guess I would need them?”

“You’re always the messiest when things go to shit,” Kuwabara said.

Kurama snorted softly and accepted the bag of clothes. What he was wearing would likely be taken as evidence. A pity. He’d have to buy a new school uniform again.

“Oh and the runt’s taking care of the lost cat,” Kuwabara said.

Hiei was probably hating that. Who better to send after an ice demon than a demon of heat and flame though?

“Best of luck to him with that. It’s not a very nice cat.”

Kuwabara shrugged. They’d all faced worse than Reiki at one point or another. He leaned close, face scrunching up a bit more seriously. “The lady that died…”

“An unlucky victim to poor timing,” Kurama murmured back. “I blocked part of the attack, but…”

“Hey, not your fault,” Kuwabara said. He was the only one of the group that would have bothered to reassure Kurama over something like this. “You tried.”

“Trying didn’t save any lives today.” Kurama was more affected by the twinge of human conscience that said he should care about the life lost than the actual death, but Kuwabara did care about this sort of thing, so the sentiment was appreciated.

“Now that your legal advocate is here,” the police officer said giving Botan a skeptical once over yet again, “perhaps you’ll be willing to go over everything again?”

Kurama sighed. “Fine.”

“Wait!” Kudo Shinichi said from the doorway. He looked like he’d been running around for a while. “I’d like to be there too.”

“Kudo-san,” the officer who’d questioned him earlier said sounding a mixture of resigned and reluctant.

“I have some information your analysts missed.”

“Of course you do,” the officer muttered, too quiet for anyone but Kurama and perhaps Botan to hear.

*

Minamino had been joined by a young woman with teal hair and another red head—of no relation from the looks of it—who could have been an average street punk. Not the sort of people Shinichi had expected Minamino to have connections with considering his unerring politeness and reserve the whole time he had been at the station. It was a detail filed away though. Shinichi strode with confidence into the interrogation room. He had the scene figured out for the most part, but there were still gaps in understanding. Why had Minamino been chasing whoever he fought in the bathroom? Why had the opponent used lethal force? Where had the ice come from? Why did Minamino have a vine?

Hopefully Minamino would fill those gaps in.

“Let’s try this again,” Megure-keibu said. “Earlier you claimed to be looking for something. Do you have anything to add to this?”

Shinichi cut in before Minamino could answer. “Keibu, may I?”

Megure-keibu sighed. “If you think it will help.”

Minamino-san,” Shinichi said. He could feel the shift in the room, the focus of eyes on him as always happened when he put things together. “You were seen today running down the street before ducking into a departments store and going almost straight to the back of the store. You claimed to be looking for something, but it’s interesting to note that some of the witnesses have vague memories of not just seeing you, but another person as well.” It had taken Shinichi a while, but he had tracked down several people who had been in shops nearby or workers in the store. Half of them had the memory of Minamino following someone, the other half seemed to have only noticed Minamino. Shinichi was willing to bet that between the two suspects, Minamino was the more noticeable with his bright hair and uniform. “Today you weren’t just looking for something, you were looking for someone, someone who did not want to be found. You chased them through Tokyo before following them into the store and guessed that they intended to go out the back. Only they went into the bathroom instead. You followed them into the ladies’ room and confronted them, but the person reacted violently. You defended yourself from the attack only for someone else to enter the bathroom, our unfortunate victim. The other suspect attacked her to distract you. You tried to defend, but the attack got through. While you tried to stop the victim from bleeding out, the murderer escaped through the bathroom window. Correct?” Shinichi smiled grimly at the single raised eyebrow on Minamino’s face. He’d gotten some kind of reaction through Minamino’s impassive façade.

“Kudo-kun,” Megure-keibu said, voice tight. “Are you sure that it’s possible for there to have been another person? The window in the bathroom—”

“Is small. I know. The person in question couldn’t have been very big. But Minamino could have fit through that window, and so could I with some effort. There are a lot of people smaller than both of us out there.” Shinichi watched Minamino’s expression. “Did I get it wrong?”

“You got the general idea of what happened,” Minamino said. “Impressive. I did follow someone into the bathroom, and I did try to stop the woman from bleeding, which let him escape.”

“Why were you chasing him?” Kudo asked.

Minamino pursed his lips. “Cats.” Both his legal advisor and friend gave him a weird look. Minamino gave them a look back. “A friend’s cat went missing. I was helping him look for it and in the process found out that the man had an illegal pet trade going on.”

“With cats,” Shinichi said doubtfully.

Minamino shrugged. “Cats. And quite a few more exotic things than that. Some of which he smuggled.”

Megure-keibu looked pained. “You decided to confront a smuggler rather than call the police.”

“I just wanted my friend’s cat back,” Minamino said. “Clearly he didn’t think that was all I wanted.”

“Where did he get the murder weapon?” Shinichi asked. “It was ice, wasn’t it?”

“Ice?” Megure-keibu asked.

“He’s an ice supplier,” Kurama said.

“…and big freezers would be easy enough to smuggle things around in.” Didn’t explain why the guy would choose a large ice shard to attack with rather than something more sensible like a knife that wouldn’t melt in the warmth of Tokyo’s spring weather. But it was explainable where he could have gotten it from.

“Kudo-kun,” Megure-keibu said, a demand.

“He isn’t the murderer,” Shinichi said. “He did get caught up in something he shouldn’t have, but he isn’t the one who actually killed the woman. If you notice the blood stains on his clothes, the woman was behind him when she initially was stabbed, meaning he tried to keep her from being hurt. Unfortunately, he must not have been able to block a strike. The rest of the blood is on his front since after that, he tried to keep her from bleeding out. Your killer is still out there.”

There was a scuffle outside the interrogation room and everyone turned toward the door a moment before it burst open. A short man dressed in black had a death grip on a second man only a bit taller than him. Behind them Takagi had a hand outstretched.

“You can’t just burst in there!” Takagi said.

“I got your stupid cat,” the man in black said in Minamino’s direction. “And this asshole.” He shook the man in his grasp. “He has some talking to do.”

On the side of the table, Minamino smiled. A real smile and not the polite one from earlier. It was warm and just a bit dangerous in a way that Shinichi couldn’t look away from. Minamino looked at his interrogators. “Well. That solves the problem of finding the murderer.”

“How…?” Megure-keibu gaped.

The murderer in question struggled, swearing, but the shorter man didn’t seem to have any problem holding him still. “This is all your fault,” the murderer snarled in Kurama’s direction. “If you’d just died properly earlier—”

“And there is your confession,” Minamino said. “Or part of it.” He cocked his head to the side. Silent communication happened between the man holding the murderer and Minamino before Minamino nodded. “I suppose you’ll want to question him now?”

“…yes,” Megure-keibu said. “I…thank you for your patience.” He glanced at the man who had brought the murderer in. “I’ll need a statement from you as well.”

The man’s lip curled in distaste. “Fine.”

“Great!” the supposed legal advisor said with a cheery smile. “I guess I won’t be needed here after all!”

“…Right.” Megure-keibu shook his head. “Kudo-kun could you escort them out? I think we have their official statements by this point.”

“Of course.”

*

Well. That was a long and frustrating day. Kurama owed Hiei one now. How they would manage to have Reiki tried as a human and then get him to the spirit world, Kurama wasn’t going to ask. That was someone else’s problem now. He still had to go home and calm his mother down too… At least Botan hadn’t actually had to try to give him legal advice. Kurama probably knew more than she did on that subject.

The teen detective, Kudo, looked pensive as they left the police building. “I’m still wondering how he thought he was going to get away with murdering someone in broad daylight,” Kudo said, noticing Kurama watching him.

“Well, he did a fair job at pinning it on me,” Kurama said. Now that the deduction was over, Kudo seemed much younger. All the more so with how he kept glancing at Kurama like he was still missing pieces to his puzzle. Well, that and like Kurama was interesting, which he would take as a compliment. Kurama smiled warmly at him. He hadn’t missed the Kudo’s earlier reaction when he smiled at Hiei. “Thank you for clearing my name,” Kurama said. Kudo looked down and away, unable to meet his eyes. It was amusing how easily people could be flustered by Kurama’s appearance, this time was no exception.

“Ugh,” Kuwabara groaned. “Stop staring like you’re going to kiss him and let’s go. It’s weird.”

Mischief sparked in Kurama’s eyes. Well, if Kuwabara was going to phrase it like that… “I really do appreciate it,” Kurama said to Kudo, laying the gratitude on thicker than he actually felt. He leaned forward and gave Kudo a peck on the cheek, hiding a smile as both Kudo and Kuwabara sputtered. Botan laughed into her hands, hiding her grin. “Maybe we’ll meet on better terms next time.”

Kudo gaped, one hand riding to touch where he’d been kissed. “Uh. Goodbye?”

Kuwabara pointed at Kurama and shouted, “Holy shit, why didn’t you ever say you liked guys?!”

“I was expressing gratitude; attraction doesn’t figure into it,” he said, picture of serene as he turned away.

“I knew there was something up with your girly tunics! Wait—you’re not into me are you?”

Kurama rolled his eyes. “Kuwabara. None of you are to my taste.”

“Wait, then what is your taste?”

“I can guess,” Botan said, still laughing.

Kurama kept walking. If Kuwabara got too annoying, he would direct the conversation to Yukina and hopefully the topic would never come up again. He’d gotten off without murder on his human record, Reiki had been caught, and while the woman was still dead, at least Kurama could go home to his mother tonight. Not a terrible day after all.

#my writing #Yu Yu Hakusho #detective conan #shinichi/kurama #fanfiction #yes you read that right #a sad attempt at writing something resembling a murder mystery #without the mystery #considering i'm in the detective conan fandom #there is a very large lack of mystery in general in my writing #i tried

[pneumasthesia]

Chapter 17

B. The time of the murder

Third Act – Cognition: Part 3

 This is the time where I should blurt a sudden realization. I should have a new answer for the question that these guests are asking that should bring us closer to the truth, but I don’t. I only have more questions. With the group arguing over the older man’s innocence like this, they need someone to unite them in search of the truth, but I can’t be that person. I’ve been pulling us further and further away from the truth with every trip I’ve taken recently. How am I supposed to face them knowing that I am betraying their trust?

“Everyone, calm down!” shouts a composed voice, “we need to think logically about this!”

The middle-aged woman was the one who broke the chaos that had resulted from the young man accusing the older man. She stands between the two of them with a smile in her soul, ready to stop any further conflict.

“This baseless finger-pointing has to stop” she continues, “look, you’ve even got our ‘Pet’ worried by fighting like this.”

Ah, so they have realized that I’m in ill spirits. They can’t possibly know why, but they have been around me long enough now that they know that if I’m not speaking up to provide a new hypothesis about the mystery, that something must be wrong. That’s not the understanding that I was yearning for, but I suppose it’s good enough for me. These idiots are counting on me, I might as well give them a little help.

“I’m not so sure about your accusation, friend” I say, addressing the young man in a way that I hope will earn me some good will with him.

The young man is taken back by this statement, whether for the fact that I don’t trust him or due to how I addressed him, I do not know. After collecting his composure he says “what do you mean? I saw what I saw, what is there to question?”

“When did you see what you say you saw?” I ask, knowing the answer.

“Well it was right after the two of us talked in the kitchen” he answers.

“You were with me in the servant’s quarters for a while and only left after something happened that made you want to leave to check it out. What was that?” I egg him on.

The young man starts at this and answers dejectedly “I left after I heard the gunshot.”

“So you mean you saw this supposed murderer going to the crime scene from the basement, after the murder had occurred” I conclude. I’m aware that the murder took place after the gunshot, but only myself, the murderer, and one other person here knows that. I need to feign ignorance about the truth of the murder in order to steer the conversation away from this topic. My partner-in-crime here may be correct in his accusation, but I can’t let things end without having determined the whole truth of these events with my own senses. They haven’t led me astray so far, so I will trust them until the end.

“That’s strange” says the middle-aged woman “we know that the murderer had to have gone to the basement to take the Professor’s gun to kill him with it and if the young man here truly saw this old fellow coming from the basement after the murder, that would mean that people came to the basement twice since the elderly lady here took up hiding in it. Is this true?” She turns her attention to the elderly lady still spellbound curled up on the basement floor, waiting for all the talk of murder to end.

“Huh?” blurts out the elderly woman. Her panic is clear in every facet of her being as her mind races, trying to get out of this difficult situation. It’s not difficult, Miss, you just have to lie, and I’ll take care of the rest, I try to silently say to her. Whether she heard me or not, she audibly gulps before saying “Yes. I say two people come into the basement. One of them stole my gun, and that was before the gunshot. I don’t know if they were the same person, because it’s so dark in this basement and all.”

Excellent. The middle-aged woman seems disappointed by this statement. She turns back to the rest of the group and says “well, if that’s the case I don’t know what other leads we have-“

“The gun” I interject.

“What about the gun?” says the older man, who had been keeping quiet and observing after having been accused.

“We know where the gun was before the murder, but what did the culprit do with it after the murder? If we know where they put it, then we might be able to figure out who could have put it there” I explain.

“That’s a solid idea” praises the middle-aged woman. I don’t need anyone to tell me that my suggestions are good, I’ve been the one solving this mystery the whole time.

“Well, that assumes that the gun isn’t in anyone’s possession right now” says the young man, “we need to search everyone to make sure that nobody is concealing the gun on them right now.”

Oh right, I forgot that was also a possibility. Perhaps the “great detective” here has some value as a voice of common sense to mention the obvious possibilities I discount as too simple.

We decide to go with the young man’s suggestion and all pat each other down, searching for weapons of murder. Everyone searches everyone else, making it a very long and tedious process. Searching the women in the group was especially trying, mostly the young girl given how much she squirmed and recoiled from my touch, though nowhere near as much as she did from the young man’s forceful pat down.

Eventually the search was finished. There were certainly suspicious objects that were found among everyone’s possessions, a pocket abacus on the older man, a 10-color pen on the young man, a 50-pack of disposable earplugs on the young girl, a full makeup kit on the middle-aged woman, and some … “toys” on the elderly woman, but there were no lethal weapons on anyone.

“Well that was useless” sighs the older man.

“No, it wasn’t useless” I say, “now we know that the killer had to have stowed the murder weapon elsewhere and we can track down where they could have hidden it by determining everyone’s movements.”

Everyone else in the suspects line-up seem confused and annoyed by this suggestion. It figures, they haven’t been inhabiting the perspectives of each other, so they have no idea how to start with tracking movements. Luckily for them, I’m willing to help them out with my own particular talents. I have seen much of every person here’s movements before the murder, including the killer’s, but I don’t know much about what comes after the Professor’s death. I need to determine what happened after he died, and specifically what happened to the murder weapon. I have to look back to the near past.

 May 31st, 10:04 pm

 It must have been only the near past that the Professor and I were together. Well, it was less than an hour ago that I last saw him, but he wasn’t the same person that I remembered then, and due to that, and the fact that he is currently dead, it feels like it has been much longer than it has been in truth.

This is the third stage of grief if I remember correctly. I have only just gotten over my anger after realizing how misplaced it was, now I am only left with sadness and longing, pining for the days when the Professor was my dearest brother-in-arms.

“Are you alright?” says Three.

“Yes. Uhh, why would I not be alright?” I say, feigning exasperation to cover up my surprise after having been shaken out of that mournful reverie.

Three is a good number. And Three is also a good Number, from what I’ve seen of them. They are complete, beautiful, the first odd prime, an approximation of pi and e, the smallest number of sides a closed polygon can have-

“Are you sure you’re alright?” Three repeats, “they’re leaving you behind.”

On second thought, I’m not sure if I like this Three. They are being awfully rude. Pythagoras said that Three was the noblest digit because it is the only natural number to equal the sum of all the natural numbers below it, but in the case of an individual, that just means that Three is a bit too overly self-reliant. Three is perfect in and of itself, so why would Three need to fraternize with less perfect Numbers? I am sure that is what this number is thinking. They must not want to be alone with a Number like me any further.

“I’m sure it has been hard” says Three, “having your old friend die. I can’t say that I understand, I’m sure no one can truly, but I know that you will be alright in the end. You’re strong deep down, and you’re stronger when you are alone. Believe me, I know about these kinds of things.”

“Thank you” I say, truly meaning the nicety for once in a long time. I am not sure if I am as strong as Three says, but it is a nice thought. I have lived alone for much of my life, and while I cannot say that I have been alright all of that time, I am ultimately happy with the person I ended up becoming. Perhaps living the rest of my life with a good friend like the Professor would have made me happier, but so long as I still have myself, I will always have a life left to live and I can make that life good if I try.

“Should we go catch up with the others?” I suggest after having composed myself as best I can.

“Yes” says Three, “but first, I think we should look around this office a bit. We’re going down to the basement to investigate, but I don’t think we’ve properly investigated this room yet.”

“I agree, though perhaps we should have the other three investigate here with us” I say.

“No. We’ll just do this quickly and catch up with them in a minute. We can’t delay them any further when there is a potential killer on the loose in that basement” Three explains. They are right. I would like to investigate this place more thoroughly, more as a trip down memory lane than as a murder investigation, but that can wait.

The two of us begin quickly and silently inspecting every nook and cranny of the crime scene. We wordlessly coordinate, taking opposite sides of the room and moving at a similar pace. Perhaps the late Professor was right, we may be as alike in our minds as he noted we are in our appearances.

I swiftly go over the small room inspecting each one of the Professor’s affects. There is not much, all he really kept in his office was books. Books of psychology make up a good portion of his first bookshelf, 42 books, then there are several books on philosophy scattered throughout the bookshelves in various sections, 23 books, then a surprisingly large number of compilations of short Sci-fi stories, 11 books, and finally a number of various other academic volumes on different subjects, one of which I recognize as a book about numerology I gave him as a present a few years ago and another I recognize as the Kamasutra, 17 books. By the time I am done counting and inspecting each book I have made a full clockwise circumnavigation of the small room and passed by Three, who had made the same round trip in the opposite direction and inspected every bit of the room as well, though I doubt they made as thorough of a note of the precise number of books on the shelves.

I turn away from my unproductive investigation and look to Three, who looks back at me, apparently having finished earlier and been waiting for me before leaving. They motion for me to follow them, and we leave the room. I ask them if they saw anything of note in the Professor’s office. They say no. We begin to speak with one another about our theories for who could have killed the Professor. I feel strangely comforted speaking with Three. They remind me of what I liked most about Zero when he was less self-absorbed and career-minded. I feel ashamed, not being able to give Three any information from my investigation or any new theories about who the killer could be. I had been so focused on the Professor’s assistant that I had not thought of anyone else, and I am not good at doubting people or reading their intentions, so this whole mystery business is beyond me. Three chuckles at that admission. That is another thing they have in common with the Professor, their humor, though Three’s seems more good natured and less mocking.

Together, we descend the staircase to the first floor and meet with the other suspects. It should not be long before the culprit is identified. With people like Three and the unexpectedly capable Five here, I am sure that the truth will come to light, but I am no longer filled with the anger that made me hasty to accuse someone. I do not think I can bring myself to blame someone for my old friend’s death. I do not want to know any further loss.

 02:33:33

 “I don’t want to lose you.”

“What?”

“I don’t want to lose anyone who was there on that night, so I will make sure that even the killer comes out of it alright.”

“Oh, I had thought you were hitting on me again.”

“Perhaps I was.”

“I appreciate the attempt at humor, but I’m not in the mood.”

“You are temperamental, aren’t you? That’s not something I expected after having only seen you before on that night.”

“Like the ebbing and flowing of the tides.”

“Hmm?”

“That’s how my mother described me. She said my mood is like the ebbing and flowing of the tides.”

“Hahaha.”

“Is there something funny about what I said?”

“No, no, no, of course not. It’s just that your mother seems to have been very perceptive to have diagnosed your condition so accurately in such clear layman’s terms. You certainly seem to be in a better mood than normal right now, is the tide flowing?”

“I would say it’s ebbing right now.”

“That’s good. I like the low tide. You can see all the little treasures that the high tide brought into shore.”

“What treasures are there to find? My predisposition towards lying?”

“I suppose that’s one of them, but I’d say that your inner kindness is the treasure I’m most excited to find.”

“You certainly went out of your way to search for that one.”

“But it was there, wasn’t it?”

“Just because something exists doesn’t mean it’s used.”

“If we judge whether people are good or evil based on their deeds, then very few people would be strongly in either direction. Most people live their whole lives without ever having done a significant good or evil act. So if we must judge someone’s moral worth, we need to evaluate their capacity for good and evil.”

“So you mean that even if I have performed an evil act, I can still be good if I have the capacity for good?”

“No. You are evil. You made your choice. No matter how much good you do, that will never erase your sin, but if I refuse to acknowledge that anyone is anything other than good deep down, because that would mean that a person like me that has considered evil may be truly evil inside and simply never been tested enough before to show it.”

‘So this whole endeavor has been selfishly motivated after all.”

“All things that people do is for their own self-interests. Even selflessness is just another way serving one’s own desires. People have an innate desire to do good for the fellow members of their pack, or herd, or gang, or whatever you’d call a human family unit. That desire is unassailable and programmed into every human’s brain by evolution. Being kind is simply satisfying your own selfish desire to feel good about how kind you are.”

“That’s an awfully cynical way of seeing the world.”

“Don’t get me wrong, I think that is beautiful. Good and evil are just two expressions of the same selfish functions of the human machine. It’s a gorgeously simple system, built by millennia of trial and error, but the fact that we can all be so different despite being built on the same basic system, that some of us can be saints and others murderers, that is the beauty of humanity.”

“There is no beauty in evil.”

“There is no beauty in an evil that you do not understand. You can find beauty in all things if you look hard enough.”

“Though you wouldn’t know anything about looking, would you?”

“I’ll let that jab slide this time. We do need to get going however, I only booked this room for three hours. Are you ready to continue?”

“Yes.”

“No hesitancy? No preconditions? You’re just plain and simply are ready this time?”

“Yes.”

“We are nearly at the end. It won’t be long until we both know the whole truth.”

“I think I am beginning to understand the truth myself already.”

“Of course, you were definitely the smartest among us. Well then, we are nearly at the moment where the culprit will be determined, but even If we have our suspicions about who it may be, we do not have concrete proof pinning the crime on them yet. What we do have is proof to determine who could not be the culprit.”

“The young man and the elderly woman, right? Oh, and the assistant too, obviously. We know from experience that none of them could have committed the crime.”

“Yes, but there is one other. We now know that the killer had to have hidden the murder weapon somewhere after killing the Professor. But most people present didn’t have any opportunity to do so where they weren’t watched by another person given that the guests were together during the time where the true culprit was being determined.”

“Except for one moment.”

“Yes. We now know that there is a time where multiple people could have hidden the gun after the area was already investigated and deemed free of any incriminating evidence. All we need to do is determine who was present in that place at that time, or more specifically, who among the remaining suspects was not present there. So, answer, who among the remaining suspects can we now rule out as the culprit with this new piece of evidence?”

 >Pick one:

A.    The young girl

B.     The older man

C.    The middle-aged woman