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setsuntamew · 3 years

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So, Persona 5 Royal, huh?

Full disclosure: I had gotten about halfway through November on Wednesday and finished it out Saturday night, which took uhhh about 65-70 hours? Some of that was sitting there waiting for the PS4 controller to recharge or listening to music in the Thieves Den while eating, but I still feel like I need to own up to how extremely bad I am at making good decisions with my life XD

MOVING ON, THOUGH, HOLY SHIT. P5 was a very good game, but Royal’s additions & changes made it incredible. I like the ending way more; I think it’s more emotionally fulfilling and meaningful, especially with everyone’s more defined future plans. Definitely felt like everyone had more growth in the end!! Which is something I’d always thought P5 was lacking.

Snip snip for spoilers and the fact that this post ended up being too damn long, oops! the last third is basically Akechi feels and analyzing his ending, so......yeah XD

Part of why I plowed through SO much of Royal in so little time is....Akechi XD Like okay, this is my stupid fandom blog, I can be excited about him all I want!!! I got to Sae’s Palace and just....I couldn’t put it down. @dragonofeternal and I ordered an embarrassing amount of takeout instead of cooking because we just had to see how everything with Maruki and the third semester was gonna go down. I’d already been dying along the way because Akechi’s confidant dates are so good, I just. Fuck!!!

Also, look, for the entirity of Shido’s boss fight and the depths of Mementos/Yaldabaoth/etc, we’d look at each other every few minutes and just be like AKECHI SHOULD BE HERE WITH US, HE DESERVES TO GET HIS VENGEANCE ON HIS SHITTY DAD AND FORCED DESTINY!!!!!

December 24th had to be the longest god damn day in Akira’s life because like. Final exam grades are posted in the morning! He goes to school and then dives into hell, crawls his way back out, briefly dies by fading from human cognition, fights an actual fucking god, and then....ends up dissociating in Shibuya until Sae shows up and is like “oh hey thanks for everything you did, please sign up for being arrested now.” And while he’s still reeling from that, Akechi walks up to take his place, like some kind of bullshit knight in shining armor schtick, and leaves no room for conversation.

AND THEN WE HAVE TO GO ON A DATE

I romanced Hifumi this time around, because I wanted Akria to bang a girl who is just so incredibly out of his league, but....it’s not necessarily that I forgot I was dating someone, more that it had been *so many hours of plot* that I was emotionally exhausted. Like, Hifumi texted me and I was just like. Right. RIGHT. It’s still Christmas Eve, somehow. I was at *school* this morning. The whole world merged with Mementos briefly in the middle of this, Akechi is somehow alive, and I guess I’m going on a date now????

I do appreciate how many “god I’m just dissociating my way through this” conversation options there were for the date, tbh. I feel bad though, I really like Hifumi, but I feel like Akira is not giving a date his full emotional attention at that specific time. It feels a bit like emotional whiplash, more so than I remember it being in P5? Maybe it’s because I played it 4 years ago and there wasn’t the added emotional weight of Akechi’s reappearance, but it was just like....a lot, in Royal.

AND THEN THE NEW YEAR HAPPENED. I’d been spoiled on large parts of the third semester, mostly because Royal’s been out for a year already and I’m too curious for my own good. I’d also somehow lied to myself, saying I didn’t have time to play another Persona game right now, and yet here I am, 171 hours of game play within exactly a month, kicking myself for not knowing how deep in Persona hell I would get XD

Which is to say, as soon as the new year started, it felt I was drowning in anxiety. I knew something was wrong, I knew they were in a false reality, but knowing that sure as fuck didn’t make it easier to go through. If anything, it was somehow worse, knowing that it was all gonna come crumbling down, but I didn’t yet know the exact details, only the broad strokes of it. Just. Every time someone talked about something that was wrong, my heart would clench.

God, I’m so fucking tired, I pulled an all-nighter on Friday so I could get through Royal before having to work on Sunday, and I am feeling it right now. Life tips: don’t do what I do XD

Every moment with Akechi felt like borrowed time, at least for me, because I knew what was coming. I spent so much time in Mementos with him; I ended up putting just him and Akira in my party and plowing through everything, including trouncing the Reaper over and over just for the hell of it. I got his ultimate weapons, I spent so many nights in the jazz club with him that he ran out of dialogue options, and I still took him back for more. I accidentally failed to EVER trigger Sumire’s Showtime because every fight was just Akira and Akechi against the world, because fuck it, I’m playing this for fun!! If I want to play with them in stupid costumes and no one else in the party, I’m gonna. Royal did such an incredible job giving Akechi more depth and development: it was all I could hope for, and it made it that much fucking worse to know what was in store for him.

Somehow, I thought it would be harder for me to make the decision to refuse Maruki’s deal, since fuck, fuck what I wouldn’t give for Akechi to be alive???? But I barely hesitated, only really stopping because I had to emotionally brace myself for it, because a reality where he can’t carve out his own fate would be a disrespect to everything their relationship is built on.

I have a whole shit ton of feelings about post-beating Maruki but they’re basically all Akechi related meta so somehow they ended up at the end of this post, I’m sorry XD

I understand that they had to keep the going to jail bit because 1) Akechi didn’t turn himself in, Akira did and 2) it leads to the final events of the game, but let me just say....the emotional roller coaster of fighting Maruki, almost failing multiple times, waking up in jail, the Phantom Thieves & friends getting Akira out of jail, celebrating that, and then getting thrown into Valentines Day was a LOT for my heart to take. Once again, didn’t forget I had a girlfriend, just got too invested in the plot to really be thinking about her. It’s less than two weeks after the fight with Maruki and somehow, everything is supposed to be okay????

The scene with everyone talking about their future plans is such good character growth, though. Everyone feels like they’ve truly grown and are making decisions that, even though they might be painful or hard at times, are ultimately very important to them. It’s a really good contrast to the “almost everyone goes to Shujin and they all stay in Tokyo forever without doing anything for themselves” Maruki’s perfect reality bad end.

Standing in the Underground Mall on White Day, being told I had to get flowers but finally being able to have control of Akira again was....so bittersweet. The fact that the location of the date is the aquarium is a low fucking blow, and I almost threw the controller across the room I was so upset. Like. THE AQUARIUM IS UNLOCKED BECAUSE AKECHI HAS TICKETS HOW FUCKING DARE SOJIRO SUGGEST IT LIKE MY HEART ISN’T STILL ACHING????? God, speaking of that: The fucking god damn Featherman video game tore my heart out because I ended up playing it WHILE WORKING ON SHIDO’S PALACE and I cried a ton about Gray Pigeon because of course they had to dig the emotional knife in even deeper!! Just fuck me up, it’s fine, I’m just dying!!!!!!!!!!!!

I ended up scrolling through his texts to find the group chats that still had Akechi in them, and fuck, it was a LOT. Like. Maybe it’s because I’m too invested in the two of them, but it was probably the worst emotional whiplash of the whole game. Like, how am I supposed to go play happy with anyone while staring at texts from a reality built of lies? It wasn’t real but the proof lives on in his phone and his heart, and I’m still fucked up over it.

HOWEVER. FUCKING. I SPENT LIKE HALF AN HOUR BEING EMOTIONALLY COMPROMISED ABOUT ALL THIS AND THEN DISCOVERED THE BASTARD STILL HAD ALL HIS EQUIPMENT, INCLUDING THE ULTIMATE MALE ARMOR!!! He returned his shit after Sae’s Palace even though he thought Akira was dead, but this time it didn’t get fucking returned to my inventory, so he must have fucking run off with all his shit!!!!!!! Why the hell did none of it get returned if he was never alive in the true reality? Like I know it'll be returned for a new game+ but I like to nitpick game mechanics for story reasons, because one of the things I love most about video games is the experience of them as another layer to the story. The texts from the third semester shouldn’t exist anymore, since they never really existed, but there they are. Akechi insisted that he has a gap in his memory after Shido’s Palace up until seeing Akira on Christmas Eve, but who can say that wasn’t related to Maruki tampering with reality or some other Persona-related reason?

I mean. I got the full and complete True Ending; I saw him in the train station. If that’s not Akechi, then who the fuck is it? Atlus made sure to put the work in to make him a part of not just the main story but also, especially, the third semester, and for what....to have his final time on screen be as the butt of the joke, squished underneath everyone in the Mona-copter? As much as it hurts, his end in Shido’s Palace matters; it fits his character and he gets to go out fighting- carving his own path, really. In Royal, barring the tiny glimpse of someone who’s probably him in the train station, the last we see of him is when he watches Joker let go of the rope to finish off Maruki. I know we got the heart to heart where Akira agrees to reject Maruki’s deal and Akechi insists that he’d rather be dead than live in a false reality, but.....no one even says goodbye to him. It’s tragic, it’s painfully lonely, but it doesn’t feel right for such a major character.

Also, as undignified as it is, for the first time ever, Akechi looks like he actually belongs in the Phantom Thieves in that final moment. He’s never been the butt of their jokes before; they always kept him at arms’ reach and he took himself too seriously to be included, but for that brief moment, it really felt like he was part of their group. He stopped lying about himself for their last month together, and so even if they don’t all like him, they can make that decision based on the truth, instead of layers of lies. His death is all the more tragic for this; a life cut short just when he’s finally finding a place he belongs. But his death was already painful; why make it so, so much worse?

Final thing: I’m gonna be spending a ton of time in the Thieves Den trying to find Akechi’s opinions on everything, but also....hey. HEY. What do those six stars that Jose (probably?) painted on the wall mean? Is it just a reference to Persona 6???? LIKE????? I HAVE QUESTIONS. SO, SO MANY QUESTIONS!!!!

Anyway, I’ve gotta go cry into my Starbucks and desperately try to focus on actually doing my job at work, but I loved Royal deeply and cannot wait to drown in it ;w;

#persona 5 royal #p5r #persona 5 royal spoilers #goro akechi #akeshu #I have just so many Akechi feels I'm sorry #long post #persona 5 royal meta

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j0hn-deacons-perm · 3 years

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I’ve been reading Is This the Real Life: the Untold Story of Queen and some things in this...

-Brian and Roger got into it after a show one time and Roger just went in with hairspray in Bri’s face

-Freddie met with a group of people in tight satin pants and couldn’t sit down so he looked around and tried to not attract attention to himself while undoing them

-Freddie was also so exhausted during their US tour at one point he just completely passed out, face in his breakfast

-Roger chose the shirt Fred wanted to wear for their first Rainbow show so he stormed off during soundcheck and brian begged for him to come back

-Also during their first US tour, Brian got himself a love affair in New Orleans and had to be rushed back to the UK after waking up in New York with full blown hepatitis due to a vaccine he received earlier in the year.. Freddie got herpes apparently? Icons.

-Freddie kept up with visiting Brian in the hospital while they worked on Sheer Heart Attack since homeboy had an operation after he was cleared for his hepatitis bed rest then had an ulcer shortly after.

-Roger didn’t like his hair in the cover photo for Sheer Heart Attack so they added extensions in the final photo.

-Years after them leaving Trident, John was met with a former employee who recognized him at an airport and just completely shut him down. We love a king who knows his worth.

Edit #1 since I’ve read a bit more...

-Brian would somewhat irritate the person making coffee and tea. “...and then I’d ask Brian what he wanted. Then there’d be this pause and then he’d ask ‘How many teas are you making? How many coffees?...Two?...Three? Is it easier for you to make another coffee or another tea?’ You could spend 10 minutes just doing this. He was trying to make it easier for me, but in the end I’d be like, ‘Brian! Just tell me what you want!’”

-Bri thought Death on Two Legs was too mean and felt bad singing it.

-Freddie shutting down homophobes in the audience by shining the spot light on them and asking them to repeat what they said.

-Freddie didn’t believe the gold disc for a Night at the Opera was the album so he broke it open to play it and it was indeed their album. He was suspicious of EMI after everything at Trident which, I mean, valid.

-Mary out here recognizing her and Fred’s relationship was crumbling, accepted it and hugged him when he came out. We love a good support system.

-When in Australia, they had to go on foot to their venue due to a festival taking place. No cars could pass. But Freddie being extra, he was driven through in a limo while drinking champagne.

Edit #2

-Fred was being driven to the studio and they crashed so he went to a nearby house to use their phone...in a silk kimono with Queen written on the back...almost dressed in full stage attire. They let him in, made him tea and chatted.

-During their show at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto, Brian’s amp exploded and he ran over to tell Freddie but it was in his mic pretty much so everyone heard him panicing. Fred waved Bri away saying “Oh, just jump around a bit and the silly bastards won’t know the difference!”

-If Fred walked somewhere, a car would follow him with the door open in case he got tired. This boy is so extra I swear to god....

-I ALMOST FORGOT!! They had clocks as promo items for News of the World and they sounded kind of fancy so I looked it up and.....

Bitch...I low-key want one.

Edit #3

-That feeling when Roger could not confirm but didn’t doubt there being dwarves with cocaine at the Jazz debut party.

-In Munich recording the Game, the boys would split off to do their own thing after recording for the day. Freddie would explore the gay club scene while the others got drinks, dinner and a club then would meet back up with Freddie at the hotel. Taylor’s suite (not sure if it’s Roger or Crystal tbh) was the HH....the hetero hangout and Freddie’s was the PPP...the Presidential Pouff Parlour.

-John was nicknamed Ostrich because ‘He’s was like a bird who stays quiet until it finally lays a perfect egg.’ Kinda wish there was more about John in this book tbh

-the author really out here typing Deakey....unbelievable. Either Deacy or Deaky, binch. Come on.

-According to Crystal, Roger had his drum case be a close up of his face in case he had amnesia and needed to know what he looked like but we all know the truth, Rog 👀

-During a late night drinking sesh, one of the crew put on the Flash Gordon soundtrack and John, shit faced, asked who it was.

Edit #4

-Apprently Cool Cat was the first song written for/on Hot Space and Brian wasn’t a huge fan of it or Back Chat because it wasn’t heavy enough. Adding onto that, Staying Power and Body Language were thought to be too gay and Bri wanted things to be for everyone of different persuasions. Brian....let the gays have something.

-With the Works and Hot Space being my top two Queen albums...I was disappointed how much was just blown over with the recording process tbh.

-Paul Prenter was a massive cunt but everyone knows that.

-John was busted after a Phil Collins concert because he was drunk driving. He was driving his new Porsche but then got his license suspended for a year. Brian was a guest DJ for a radio show where he played Stevie Wonder’s Don’t Drive Drunk and dedicated the song to “John, whom some of you may know has had a little problem with his car recently.’

-Freddie’s pick up line for Jim was ‘how big is your dick’....I mean, in a way, it worked??? Iconic.

-Roger owned up to having their sound guy set false sound limits for the groups before them during Live Aid so when Queen went on, they were the loudest.

Edit #5, the last one since I finished the book

-Paul Prenter should have had someone kick him in the shins tbh fuck that guy

-Brian met Anita through a Eastenders event and he was gushing about how much he loved the show since Chrissie had him watch it then invited her to Wembley which she turned him down.

-Also fast forward to the later half of the 90′s, Anita helped Brian get into therapy for his depression and other emotional matters. We love a supportive queen.

-When the book finally talks more about John and it’s him saying the We Will Rock You musical sucked and he having an affair with a 25 year old erotic dancer like come on my dude....why couldn’t I be her??? But for real, I looked into it and found an article and wowza. When sd!Deaky be an actual thing????

-The press’ harassment of Freddie and his inner circle during his last years is absolutely horrendous to read about tbh. I think it was Roger (feel free to correct me on that if I’m wrong) who crashed his car because the camera flashes temporarily blinded him when he was trying to visit Freddie.

-Also Freddie was able to see the Bohemian Rhapsody clip from Wanye’s World since Mike Myers sent him a tape. Bri and Fred watched it and according to Brian, Freddie loved it and sent his seal of approval.

There’s the things I found interesting reading this biography. If you’ve read it or have any other fun facts, add them on my dudes!

#queen #queen band #roger taylor #john deacon #freddie mercury #brian may #damn this post got a bit long huh

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rant4hsmtmts · 4 years

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Caswell cousins

I thought of writing this ages ago but forgot to finish it- so here is a small story about Ej and Ashlyns childhood.

Sorry this is kinda a mess and jumps all over the place lol. Anyway enjoy!

@uglyballerina @beese-is-cheese-for-bees

“I’m proud to call you my sister”

“-close enough”

Both being the only child in their families, the Caswell cousins were quite close. Ej’s parents worked a lot. They were people of high profile jobs, taking any opportunity to just drop their son around the corner to Dennis and Debbie’s house. Ashlyn was happy to see her cousin, but she could see it was kinda hard on him that he never got to spend time with his parents. He spent a lot of time at her house as a child, to the point he could walk around blindfolded (which he did do once to prove a point).

She was always there for him, and he was always there for her. He would always wait for her clubs to be finished to walk home from school together and they always shared what happened that day. You’d expect such a popular guy to complete disown his cousin, but it was more the other way around... Ej was terrified that he would eventually do something so stupid that Ashlyn would disown him. Even after some of the things he had already done, it as a wonder to him that she still hung out with him.

Growing up Ej was the first person she went to for advice. He was an intense people pleaser, but once he got comfortable he had no problems being very blunt. It meant she could always rely on him for truthful advice, of which her shy jazz musician and quiet writer parents usually were too nice to give.

So when she wrote her first song- he was the first to hear it. His loud thunderous applause made Ashlyn feel like she had written the greatest song in the world. Along with his encouragement, he suggested it needed an instrumental solo, his idea was to add a harmonica solo (something that was joked about for years to come). In the end, she added a beautiful piano solo in the middle, all jokes aside Ej knew that Ashlyn really had a gift for songwriting.

Something that was really a great way for her to express herself. Ej never really found his own expression til much later.

They grew up on the edge of new technology, seeing the ipod and ipad come through but they were nothing compared to the very first gadget they both owned, the Nintendo DS. As their parents worked through the day, leaving the two to their own devices, the Caswell cousins would often play pictochat hide and seek. Though they could only draw and type to each other they would spend hours trying to find the best spot that would leave the seeker scrambling.

The overall winner was Ej (or so he claims) because he once had the ‘genius’ idea of hiding in his parents car. It was the only time that Ashlyn had to actually accept defeat as the sun had set and their dinner was ice cold on the table.

His competitive spirit was clear from childhood. Ash knew when he said he played to win he wasn’t kidding.

Ashlyn had just finished fourth grade when they officially banned Caswell game nights in the house, after a night that went down in history as the 2013 Monopoly disaster. Ej wouldn’t speak to Ashlyn for over a week due his bruised pride (and that was even after flipping the table just before landing on Parklane). After that Debbie, Dennis, Carolyn and Adam all decided that it was probably better (and safer) to just have family dinners on Thursday nights.

As they grew older Ej and Ashlyn’s hobbies started to grow apart. Ashlyn had her clubs, her songs and Ej had his team but musical theatre was something they still shared.

2014 just starting year 7, Ej started to play waterpolo, he was always quite a strong swimmer- never fast enough for the big leagues but had the perfect upper body strength from basketball. He loved it, although his competitive nature definitely got the better of him a lot.

Waterpolo has one major risk of injury, well whether you can call it injury is subjective, but one major risk of the water sport....sunburn. Ej’s play to win attitude always court him out in one way or another, Ashlyn knew this quite well.

However it had never been so evident until he rocked up for Friday night family dinner with every visible area of skin a rich red lobster colour that could made him hiss every time he had to move. After finishing dinner the two went to the living room, as their parents started an in depth discussion about whatever drama or crisis they were facing. Both Caswell kids were quite oblivious to this at the time, but EJ knew the looks that his parents would give each other meant there was something going on. Anyway, the two went on the night playing some version of ‘New Super Mario Bros’ on the Wii. They had done this for years- it was a constant they could always count on. As Ej got older and stopped openly talking about what he was going through, Ashlyn knew a couple rounds of the Mario/ Luigi power team would help him settle down and let it out.

Due to his parents lack of attention, Ashlyn knew that her cousin had always craved positive praise and interest from other people. He used his insta ‘fame’ to try and fill the void but she knew empty likes and followers would never fix something like that. After a disappointing Waterpolo game, he lost the game, his parents didn’t come and the team had a go at him, the cousins started their trek back home down Pakington Road. Ash suggested that they have a look at the Pet Shelter and she knew cuddling all the animals could get anyone out of a bad, self deprecating mood.

After spending a little while playing with all the tiny kittens Ashlyn looked up to see Ej in the corner slumped against the wall patting a small Labrador puppy. The lop sided grin Ej made as the puppy wagged his tail, Ashlyn knew that the little dog had captured his heart already. Preceding a long argument with his parents, he finally convinced them to let him adopt the puppy.

Practically prancing down to the shelter, Ej adopted Remy, and made sure that the little puppy would never feel rejected again.

Having Remy around had confirmed one thing for Ash, although she loved the dog, she was definitely a cat person.

Since Ej got Remy, and managed to look after him by himself, it was a lot easier to convince her parents that she could have a pet. If Ej could do it… she could definitely do it.

Ash knew the moment she saw her curled up in the shelter that she couldn’t leave without her. Soft spoken meows, cautious, it was such a contrast to the brash energy that Remy had. Scarlett was the smallest of the litter, she was a gorgeous little Burmese cat.

Scarlett was always there for Ash, listening to her practice lines, watching her bake cakes, looking unimpressed when Ej would tell Ashlyn all the dumb things he managed to get up to, and being the very first fan of all her songs (as she would always make a little meow at the end).

Unfortunately, Ashlyn is the only person Ej trusts to look after Remy when he’s not home. Safe to say, Scarlett is not impressed. Remy and Scarlett tried, well at least Remy did, bouncing around the small cat wanting to play a game. Scarlett was very displeased with the notion of having to entertain the dog, so she found a loving sunny spot near the windowsill and decided to have a siesta for the arvo.

They have been there for each other through thick and thin, including discovering and having a rough lesson in heartbreak.

The very first girl Ej Caswell ever really liked was Anna Madden. It was freshman year and Ashlyn had seen the way his eyes would light up every time she was mentioned or how whenever she would call he couldn’t help but smile. But the problem with Ejs love life is he would fall hard, and fast. Saying ‘I love you’ way too early or something just as scary to a freshman who doesn’t understand commitment. After Anna dumped him for Justin, the captain of the Basketball team, Ej shut down for a while. He didn’t express his emotions as openly as his former self, he felt the rejection of his childhood once again.

Ej didn’t know why he was such an a**hole after that. He always tried to do the right thing, but at the end of the day, his lack of regard for the consequences of his actions would always come back to bite him. He really did want to have a relationship, be a good boyfriend but he was terrified of reliving the rejection, so he just had causal flings. Winked at all the girls, hanging out but at a far enough distance so that he didn't get too involved.

So when Ashlyn heard that he told Nini that he loved her- Ashlyn knew that she was different. She knew her cousin had messed up, and so did he, but she tried to plead with Nini... knowing that the girl had unlocked a part of Ej that Ashlyn thought was long gone.

Their personalities were really quite different.

Although somewhat quiet at school, Ashlyn was quite a loud person a home. She was a chatterbox that would spend every dinner retelling the details of her day with great dramatic hand gestures. Like the time she was in fifth grade, and people started a riot outside the canteen because raised the price of cookies from 50 cents to a dollar. She never really had this confidence at school but Ej knew the bright dramatic personality that hid in the shy school girl.

Ej however was rather the opposite. It was almost like his outside life he was constantly trying to entertain everyone and make them happy, while painting himself as a cool, smart and all around good guy. His constant façade was rather tiring for a guy that liked to go home and spend an hour reading the works of William Shakespeare every night.

But through all their differences (and all of Ejs stupid choices) the Caswell cousins were always there for each other. Advice, a laugh, a dangerously competitive game- they would always have each other’s backs.

#hsmtmts #high school musical the musical the series #ashlyn caswell #ej caswell #nini salazar roberts

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whatsapp-rpg-moments · 3 years

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Whatsapp RPG Halloween Event

3rd/2nd Place

Blue's Submission

--------------------

“The Sunset Jazz Club, brings back memories. Never did I think that I would have a reason to come here again. In fact I completely forgot about this place until that guy asked me whether there was a jazz club nearby. Ever since then I’ve started to come here regularly. The atmosphere is nice, and the drinks are amazing. Especially their newest drink, the Sweet Sunrise. A special blend of tea. Heard they used nectar from a flower high in the mountains for this. Or it could just be their marketing scheme. Wherever it comes from It’s a shame he isn’t here to taste this. Do you still remember Alex?”

“You’re talking to me as though I’m not drinking that very tea right now. Anyways you know the answer to that question. How could anybody forget about him. He was like a brother to me as well. Coupled with the fact that he’s the legendary detective, you’d think it would be difficult for me to forget about him,” says Jacob Romani as he takes another sip of his tea.

Glad to hear that you didn’t forget.

“So why did you invite me here today?” Romani asks.

“Now that’s a very good question Jacob. Allow me to show you”

I pull out a file from my sling bag and hand it to Jacob.

“The Manipulator...why are you showing me this?”

“It’s a case Alex worked on. I remember sitting down at this very table listening to Alex telling me about it. It was a fun story to hear so I thought it would be a good idea to share that story with you as well.”

“So...you called me here for storytime? I thought you were being serious when you said that you had something of utmost urgency to discuss with me. I’ve already read the case files regarding the Manipulator so I don’t see why you called me here then.”

Well that just makes things awkward huh, let’s see...

“Sure you might have read the files but doesn’t listening to Alex’s own recount sound much more exciting? I think it’s worth lending an ear to.”

“...Alright I’ll listen. I don’t have any plans for today anyways and I would like to continue enjoying my tea.”

Oh wow he actually agreed. The truth was that this was a matter of great urgency but I just wanted to fool around for a bit.Try and recover our friendship. Now that Ricaye is staying with me it feels as though things have finally started to return to how they used to be. The three of us just being good old friends.I started telling Jacob what Alex told me all those years ago.

“Here’s the suitcase Detective.”

I take the suitcase from the officer. The rain poured heavily and the sky was pitch black. As of now we’re standing outside the Vortex Mansion, a dilapidated old thing that has been abandoned for many years. However I wasn’t here to spend a night at a haunted house.

“Has the area been secured?”

“Yes Sir. The whole area is surrounded. There’s no way that the suspect is escaping from here alive,” the officer says, “The ransom money is in the suitcase.”

The Manipulator. The man that stays in the shadows and masterminds the game. Using blackmail as his means to commit murder without even laying a finger on a blade. That was what the Manipulator was all about. It wasn’t until I started looking into those cases that the existence of the mastermind was known. First, an Inspector murders a news reporter. Second, a member of the Aristocracy burns down an entire orphanage. Followed by a professor in a university killing herself. The final victim of the Manipulator was a detective killing a member of the Aristocracy. They were all given false motives to kill which they believed or they had been blackmailed. However, the one common point I found in all the cases was that all the perpetrators had received some kind of mail one week prior to their crimes which I did by interrogating friends and family of the culprit. Unfortunately nobody knows where the mail came from so I got the mail agency to start keeping track of the sender’s addresses as well. However the last thing I expected was.

The Manipulator sending me a letter

A ransom note. The Manipulator was holding the Chief Justice hostage and demanded a payment of one million dollars from the government. In addition, he wanted me to be the one bringing the ransom money. The drop off point was the Vortex Mansion. The dining hall to be more exact. If I had anybody accompany me the Chief Justice would be as good as gone. It seemed as though there was no room for negotiation.

“Well I’ll see you after my vacation is over officer!” I say cheerfully as I head to the front door.

I drag the suitcase full of cash and push the doorbell to the Mansion. Gotta be a gentleman you know? Only an uncultured swine would storm into someone’s home without even knocking first. Much to my expectations the doors opened by themselves inviting me to the candle-lit hallway. What if this is just an elaborate prank and I’m just entering a haunted mansion in an amusement park? Well I couldn’t rule out that possibility considering how I got played last year. No, I will not talk about that. Anyways as I stroll through the hallway I feel as though I'm being watched. Good, the Manipulator has his eyes on me. Just adds to the thrill. I take a turn to the right and I enter the empty dining hall.

In the centre of it all was an arrow sign pointing to the ground which read “suitcase here.” Nice of the Manipulator to mark out exactly where I should put it. I place the suitcase at the designated spot and suddenly I hear the sound of the door closing on me.

“How original Mr Manipulator.”

Honestly, the ‘I’m asking for a ransom but I actually just wanna kill you” trope? Get some new material.

“Glad to see you kept your end of the deal Detective Lupin” a voice booms throughout the room, “You’ve kept your end of the deal and I’ll fulfill mine”

So this is the voice of the Manipulator huh? Or maybe he manipulated his own voice. Either way the voice I heard was that of a man which was a bit on the higher register of male voices I’ve heard. It had a slight raspy touch to it as well. Then, a hatch in the roof opens and a body falls in front of my feet

“Sir!” I exclaim from shock. Partially because I didn’t expect the Chief Justice to just fall from the heavens in front of me and the fact that the Manipulator returned him in the first place. Alfred Manov was tied up and blindfolded in front of me. I quickly untie him and help him get back on his feet.

“Glad to see you’re doing as good as ever Alex Lupin” the Chief Justice says to me

“I’m just glad you’re safe sir”

I turn my attention to my surroundings and I still see that we’re locked inside

“Mr Manipulator, isn’t the deal fulfilled now? Why are we still being kept here”

“Heh. Well one deal has been fulfilled. But if you want to make it out of here you’ll need to make another deal with me”

“Well then, out with it. What do you want? A safe trip out of the country? More riches?” I ask

“I don’t desire such materialistic things boy. You’re a detective right? Investigate the room and then we’ll talk”

I hear a sort of beeping noise and the Manipulator was nowhere to be heard anymore. Investigate the room huh? Well the room was quite empty so it shouldn’t be hard to spot anything out of place. I comb the area and then I find something stuck on the underside of the dining table. Mr.Manov notices that and approaches me. The mysterious object was a news article. The Chief Justice seemed to recognise it. The headline reads “Children in Orphanage scarred after seeing the corpse of their caretaker” Interesting but why would the manipulator want us to read this. I keep on reading and find out that the caretaker of the orphanage killed himself. Just then I heard more beeps coming from somewhere in the room. I turn around and the doors of the dining hall opens.

“Proceed upstairs” the Manipulator commands. The two of us follow his orders and go upstairs. The only door opened to us was the one that lead to the game room. We enter with heavy breaths.

As expected the moment the two of us stepped in we felt the wind close the doors on us and now we were stuck again.

“I hope you’re enjoying my little game Mr Manov,” the Manipulator says eerily, “I think we should kick this into the high gear now! If you don’t find all the clues I scattered around this room in time I’ll make sure you never see the light of day again.”

The beeps to signify the end of transmission go off and now a new beeping noise starts to go off. “Probably the timer,” remarks Alfred Manov, “We ought to hurry up now.But I do wonder what this man’s goal is.Does the great detective have any ideas?” I just shrug and go back to investigating. There’s a pool table in the middle of the room and it appeared to already have been set up. In the corner of the room I also found a mini-safe. “Simple enough” I say as I type in the numbers ‘1108’ and the safe opens. Alred Manov lets out a gasp and asks me, “How did you know?” However I was too intrigued by what I found in the safe. In my hand I was holding a trophy labeled as the ‘Budding Innovator Award’. “It’s a trophy given to students who show potential in making a difference in the world. I wonder why it’s here.” says the Chief Justice. But there was more inside the safe. It’s another newspaper clipping and the headline was as follows, “Esteemed University Student claims to have witnessed an imaginary murder.” I continued reading and it’s about an eyewitness testifying about a murder he saw. Apparently he was so shocked from what he saw his entire hair turned white from the horrifying incident. However investigators concluded that no such murder ever took place and that this student had turned dellusional. “Interesting tale huh” I asked the Chief Justice. He doesn’t respond to me.

“Well done Detective, I expected nothing else. You even surpassed my expectations! I actually thought you would take longer.For that I will allow you to come meet me face to face. I’ll be waiting”

The doors of the game room open and it leads to another room. However it was dark and I couldn’t make out anything. But the only way to go was forwards so that’s what we did. We walked in and as usual the doors close behind us. It was total silence until.

Sounds of cogwheels turning, gears twisting. Suddenly a spotlight was brought to life and it shone onto an area in front of the two of us and a dimmer light shone on us

“Thank you for waiting boys”

We saw a man lying on the ground and what we saw next astounded us. His whole body movement was so jittery. It was as though he was a puppet being pulled from strings as he got up. And then the cogwheels started to turn once more. The noise of the gears weren't coming from stage equipment. It was the man himself. He was tall and fair, had a long narrow nose and was wearing a black suit with a yellow tie. However his main defining characteristics was his long white hair going down his back and bronze colored bionic left arm.

“Surprised? I get that a lot” says the man.

There was no questioning it. This man was the Manipulator. The next thing I knew the Manipulator takes out his right eyeball and wipes it with a cloth.

“Sorry about that, it was getting a little dirty. Thank you for coming gentlemen, would you like to know why I gathered you here today?”

Alfred Manov opens his mouth but before he could mutter a single word the manipulator raises his bionic arm and slams it onto a desk creating a deafening sound.

“I don't want to hear it from you Lord Chief Justice, I want the other one to talk”

I answer “It’s about the orphanage incident isn’t it, Mr Drebber Fraq.”

The name of the person who killed themselves in the orphanage was Enoch Fraq. Right now I was looking straight into the eyes of his brother. The brother who nobody believed.

“That’s right Detective. I was there to watch my brother’s life get taken away. I will never forget the look of that killer for as long as I lived. But what was I treated like?”

He slams his fist on the table again with twice the amount of strength

“I WAS TREATED AS A LIAR,” he says as his stare penetrates my soul

“It wasn’t a murder it was suicide. That was what I kept getting back. The law was supposed to help me but instead look at me now. I was called delusional. Crazy. Psycho. I was even expelled from my university because I was deemed non functional. I was so close too. Given a little more help from the research grant I could have completed my research.”

“You didn’t even deserve that research grant. How to communicate with the supernatural using Science? What are you a god damn clown?” shouts the Chief Justice. When he says that the cogwheels in Enoch’s bionic arm started to turn faster

“That was no joke. I put my heart into it. But that doesn’t matter now. Today I’m here to show you the person who killed my brother”

“What?” gasps Alfred Manov. The lights in the room slowly start to brighten and it reveals that we’re in an art studio.

“It’s time that the world comes face-to-face with the fearsome murderer of that day” shouts Drebber.

He walks over to an object that was covered by a tarp

“Over the past few months I’ve worked endlessly to exact my revenge on those who damned me to failure”

“So the news reporter that was killed by an Inspector…” I mutter

“Yes. It was the damn reporter that wrote the story of how much of a fraud I was. The Inspector was the one in charge of the investigation of my brother’s death. I just held his children hostage and the Inspector submitted so easily. I then blackmailed a member of the Aristocracy and told him to burn down the orphanage my brother worked in. Nobody was going to miss them anyways. After that it was the professor who was responsible for my expulsion. I just had to weaken her resolve. And finally I convinced a detective and another member of the Aristocracy that they both wanted to kill each other and I just watched the havoc unfold.”

“You make me sick you bastard. And thanks to you the people are starting to lose faith in our country’s police force thanks to all those murderers you made” says the Chief Justice

“Lose faith just like me. I was only doing what I thought was fair. And now, the second part of my plan. To the murderer who took the life of my brother. I spent the last few months sculpting a statue of that man for the world to see. Now, ascertain the truth with your own eyes...the truth of one year ago,”

Drebber grips the tarp and swiftly and pulls it away. Revealing a most horrific scene. On the ground lies Enoch’s lifeless ceramic body in blood with the most horrified expression and standing above him was his killer. A man in leather boots, wearing black pants and a black trenchcoat. But most importantly of all, his knight’s helmet with one horizontal gap as it’s eyeholes but it glowed red.

I asked “Who is this man?”

“I don’t even know as well. But for now I call him the Phantom. The one that appears and disappears in a blink of an eye.”

“Shouldn’t you show this to the police. We could hunt him down with this visual evidence.”

Beep...beep...beep.

The beeps of the timer!

“I don’t plan on helping you catch this man. In fact, the two of you are going to die here without sharing this knowledge with anybody.”

Drebber makes a mad dash to another room and before the two of us could chase him down he locks the door on us.

“You hear those beeps? Those are going to be the last thing you’re ever going to hear” Drebber says, “What’s my revenge plan all along you ask? I’m going to kill the two of you and let Estraya’s up and coming serial killer go free. 5...4...3...2...1…”

“....huh?”

The beeping stopped.

“WHAT’S HAPPENING?” Drebber shouted desperately

At that moment I couldn’t help but laugh.

“This is why you don’t underestimate the great detective,Alex Lupin, Mr Drebber. Did you really think I didn’t know about your whole bomb plan? I already deactivated those last week and replaced them with my own dummy bombs!”

“L...Last Week?!?!” Drebber screams

“I already figured out your trick after your professor killed herself. After that I tracked down where the detective got his letter almost immediately after his incident and found this place. I did some snooping around and saw some very dangerous items so I swapped them out and set my dummy bombs to the same timer that the real ones were on.Although I’ll give you credit for your sculptures, I didn’t see that when I was here last week. If you want to know where the real ones are they’ve all been defused.”

“DAMN YOU DETECTIVE” Drebber shouted as I heard him running away. Just then I heard something and when I look around I see that a trapdoor had opened from under Manov’s feet and he fell down. “Don’t worry about me, chase after him!” he shouted. I forced open the door with all my strength and gave chase.

I ran upstairs and at the top I saw a ladder leading to the roof. I barely managed to see Drebber’s legs climb out of the hole so I pursued him. When I got onto the roof I found Drebber standing just a few metres away from me.

“You have nowhere to run Drebber!” I shouted as I ran towards him. That was when I realised that it was still raining and the roof tiles were wet. A wrong step and I was going to slide off the mansion and fall to my death. “It’s more like YOU don’t have anywhere to go detective!” says Drebber as he turns around. That was when I saw all the color drain from his face.

Drebber stammers as he tries to ask,“Y..You…..What...are you doing here?”

I turn around and that was when I saw him.The man in leather boots, a black trenchcoat and his signature helmet.

It was the Phantom.

The Phantom runs on the wet roof tiles with astonishing ease and chases after Drebber.

“Stay away from me! PLEASE!” Drebber screams as he frantically tries to run away. But it was no use. Drebber slipped and he started to slide off the roof, desperate for his life he tried to grab onto anything to stop his fall but there was nothing. But just as Drebber was going to slide off the roof the Phantom catches Drebber’s bionic hand. But Drebber was still hanging from the roof.

“W...What are you...going to do...Give me hope and then let go….?ha….”

That was when he answered

“Probably so Drebber. You’ve sinned and now you need to pay” says the Phantom

_What am I going to do...I can’t die now...I can’t die now...wait a minute_

_Jahrlath I awaken you to forge a contract between the two of us, save me and you may have my soul_

_Please work please work_

_SAY MY NAME AGAIN AND OUR CONTRACT WILL BE FORGED_

“It worked….” says Drebber

“What worked?” asks the Phantom

Drebber cackles unlike anything that I ever head

“Jahrlath”

That was the final word that came out of Drebber’s mouth before he let go of the Phantom’s hand and fell to his death. Or so I thought

Suddenly, mid- fall his body disintegrates

I was in disbelief. Drebber just vanished! But my shock wasn’t anything compared to the Phantom’s

He began punching the ground so hard I could see blood dripping from his knuckles.

“DAMN IT DAMN IT DAMN IT”

He turns around and notices I’m there. He puts a finger up to his helmet signalling I should be quiet. After seeing what the Phantom could do I didn’t want to trigger him. He slowly backs away into the hole leading back to the third floor. Once he was out of my field of view I climbed back down and returned to the trapdoor I left Manov in. I got a rope from somewhere in the art studio and pulled him back up. I told him about the events that unfolded on the roof.

“That’s...insane….” He truly was at a loss for words. I brought him out of the Mansion and escorted him to the police. Once I arrived at the safepoint I was praised for the successful rescue mission and my status rose. But I never expected the Phantom to appear again after that case. It was only after the subsequent phantom killings did I realise how scary he truly was. How scared Drebber was once he was targeted. When I returned to the art studio I couldn’t find the sculpture anymore. The only evidence that we had of the Phantom’s identity was gone. Manov strictly told me never to tell anybody that I saw the Phantom so I never included that in the reports. Although, I wonder why he told me to do so.

After I told Jacob Alex’s recount he was at a loss for words as well.

“He saw the phantom….The Phantom….my god. I thought Drebber was shot down . Looks like there are things that are kept hidden from us”

Jacob finished his tea and put his cup down.

“There’s still something else I need to discuss Jacob”

I knew I didn’t have much time left.After discussing another important matter with Jacob I went back home to continue making my preparations. Preparations for my imminent death.

_”Hello? Can anybody hear me?” I shouted. Nobody responded. No luck today huh. It’s been so long since I’ve been stranded in this desert. I don’t even know how I got here. I don’t even know who I am. I feel so alone. What happened to me. I tried again one more time. “Hello?!” I screamed with everything I had. Just when I was about to give up for good I heard a voice. I looked around and I didn’t see anybody. But then I saw some kind of red aura flying around me. I captured that red aura thing in my hand and asked , “Who are you?”_

_I am Jarlath. I will be your spirit companion from here on_

_Jarlath? Do you know who I am?Do you know my name?_

_Your name...is Drebber_

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