#the pun is mightier than the sword
Text
where's that post that's like "I support polyamory but I draw the line at the vile conflation of greek & latin roots into the same word. it should be polyerosy, what is wrong with you people?" there's a joke in there about blaspheming together as a polycule
you know
polyheresy
87 notes
·
View notes
Text
okay. my favourite details from the death note musical london performance:
the booklet being paged right to left. with a page at the end saying "you're reading in the wrong direction!"
okay but MISA MISA HAVING LIKE 5 BACK-UP DANCERS LITERALLY ALSO DRESSED UP AS MISA MISA (it was so funny to see them dance around her)
light being dragged along by sayu to misa's concerts. like the Older Brother he is.
misa's concert on stage literally had a rap segment it was WILD
sayu later fangirling over misa's 'latest song' in light's bedroom only for him to be having a life crisis right next to her because of the message in the lyrics. he was sat there like...."ill gladly give you half my years"????
L keeping the "yagami-san", "light-kun" when he talked to them!!!!!! (naturally only happened one time each BUT STILL IT WAS COOL)
ryuk taking any and every opportunity to be sassy. the audience laughed tons at his lines in particular.
like light saying "they're calling it divine justice!" and him responding "or oooh, you know, mass murder. that totally has a ring to it too :D"
L's iconic "well, light...you're the first friend I've ever had." and "what? why are you staring at me? is it...because im the only one who has sweets?" (they changed it slightly cause I think he had marshmallows on a stick? and was walking around with it, gesturing)
after the tennis match, light threw down his racket at L's feet and L held both rackets up awkwardly like a peace offering as he walked towards him
but I swear L nearly DROPPED THEM when misa arrived, I just loved watching him slip into the crowd of fans all eagerly and then the phone call scene afterwards. so iconic.
rem's. vocals. were insane. Borrowed Time. was also amazing.
PUNS ??? during misa's interrogation scene, she's naturally defending light, saying he's not kira, but also defending kira all "kira has saved us all! he's taken away the darkness in society!" ONLY TO HAVE L SNAP BACK "so....light?"
then after this one song finishes, L exclaims "Light!" out of like realisation but then the stage lights actually turn on and he's like.... "oh. convenient :)"
the way the music played in between songs during dialogue was SO GOOD it was really satisfying.
AND THEN THEY REALLY HAD LIGHT SAY "well. they do say the pen is mightier than the sword." near the end. that's just CHEESY
light. laughing. as he was winning against L at the end. "I just wanted to see your face as you realised I won :)" unhinged arrogant boy
only to have him panicking and snivelling on the ground all pathetic as he realises what ryuk's about to do.
and so, at the end. ryuk was sat at the big red chair at the centre after killing light. watching over everything. both dead bodies. the last haunting requiem. it was such a menacing and powerful sight.
#death note musical#death note#light yagami#misa amane#l lawliet#txt#london palladium#dn#:D i really just enjoyed it#been obsessed with the demo for years#death note the musical#my thoughts
751 notes
·
View notes
Note
I'm interested in learning more about Quill and what went into their creation. I love OCs. If you aren't comfortable talking about them that's fine, but if you are, I'd love to know more. Please and thank you. 💜🫂
O_O
Oh. I...
>.>
I will do my best.
Quill was born from a pun, which should be completely unsurprising to anyone at this point XD but they were also born from a desire to insert myself into a story a little more.
Quill - the pen is mightier than the sword - who is the personification of a need to write that translated into a character that finds comfort in physical confrontation over diplomatic confrontation.
Quill - the author of my own destiny - who is doomed to reincarnate into the worlds of stories they enjoyed in their first life, who knows how the story is Supposed to go, who knows how they want it to go, who knows Changing It Could Break Everything, Who has learned that their very existence within the narrative changes EVERYTHING even if they do nothing - often frozen by indecision as to what is or isn't acceptable for them to do.
At this point, or maybe this won't change, Quill is almost less an OC and more a literary device given shape. I can't say what their favorite food is, or what their family is like, because none of those details exist.
No matter what world or what body they're in their hair is always white, devoid of color, but so shockingly white as to be a defining characteristic they can't shake. With light, white light has within it all perceivable colors and we can separate these into a visible spectrum, but in art white is a complete lack of hue and pigment, it's black that contains within it all manner of colors.
So the question is, is the persistent hair color a sign of fullness or emptiness? Is it for me to even say? Will I find that answer through Quill, and will I know it for myself to by the end of it?
And at the end of the day, does the question even matter if I can make an OC that lets me personally dive into a story so deeply that I get to spend hours writing smut and smooches with characters I enjoy in *this* life?
Maybe Quill will answer a question I've given up on answering for myself, having found contentment in simply not worrying about it, or maybe they'll just be a way for me to indulge and in doing so maybe effect someone else in a way they need.
#quin answers#quin muses#likesugarandcyanide#I'll admit what that question is#but you need to know that once you know#you won't be able to not know#and it's pretty heavy stuff#so tread knowingly.
9 notes
·
View notes
Note
🔪anon, it's a yes from me if I can wear my death metal crocs. i can take them off for pictures if you need to show them to someone sane, but sweets i am 6'1 woman i will perish if I'll need to wear formal shoes the whole day
corrupted anon, i will have no one else make me repeat the vows
ikea, in my shitneck of shitwoods we don't have maids of honor, so I had to google which role is it, and... would you say it's your... call of duty to be the head of bridesmaids?
(i apologize i'll see myself out)
...
marry me
fuck 🔪 (affectionately), marry me instead
the puns you just made and the mention of death metal crocs have stolen my heart
i will fight 🔪 for the honor.
they have a knife but i have pen
and the pen is mightier than the sword
or something
1 note
·
View note
Text
An adaption of Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar” in the style of Disney’s Robin Hood, where Brutus and Cassius are portrayed by cartoony porcupines shooting quills to kill their ( a beautiful cat dating) dictator!
Bonus points for puns like “ the quill is mightier than the sword “
1 note
·
View note
Note
1, angst 15, and depth 18 for whatever couple you want? Thanks!
I shall answer these for Shina and Jiraiya, Toshinori and Darlene, Evie and Mirio, and Stomula and Grerard.
What makes them laugh?
Shina and Jiraiya: Hijinks of the pranking kind are a sure laugh getter with these two. As well as awful puns. Like, dad joke levels.
Toshinori and Darlene: Speaking of dad jokes, those make these two laugh so hard they start crying and changing color. As well as a well-timed joke in any action movie.
Evie and Mirio: Dad jokes and horrific puns as well as physical comedy. Nuff said.
Stomula and Grerard: Ironically enough, they just about die laughing at animal hijinks. Goats in particular.
15. What are traits they dislike in one another?
Jiraiya and Shina: For poor Shina, this is easy. Jiraiya has a tendency to flirt and get slightly handsy with younger women, and almost completely ignore her from time to time. Jiraiya probably dislikes that she is what he would call a prude when really, the fan base for her books is literally almost entirely sixteen year olds, and she feels uncomfortable writing sex in books that sixteen year olds are reading. That, and he probably dislikes that she's up him about the flirting with younger women thing.
Toshinori and Darlene: Darlene doesn't like how Toshinori is running himself into the ground while he still has his power, and that's the most mutual feeling other than the feeling of love that they have.
Mirio and Evie: Mirio doesn't like how insecure Evie is in her skin simply because of the beauty industry and Hero Society perpetuating an unhealthy idea of an attractive woman or man. Evie doesn't like how Mirio constantly phases out of his clothes.
Grerard and Stomula: Grerard doesn't like how Stomula works so hard and takes things so seriously. He wishes she would be kinder to herself. Stomula doesn't like how Grerard lets people judge him based on his looks.
18. What would be their love motto?
Shina and Jiraiya: "Pen And Ink May Be Mightier Than The Sword, But God Help Anyone Stupid Enough To Hurt You, Because Then My Wrath Will Equal God's, And Nothing Will Stop Me From Rampaging Until The One Who Hurt You Is Either Dead Or Hospitalized."
Toshinori and Darlene: "Forever And Always, As Long As I Live, In Fair Weather And In Bad, In Sickness And In Health, I Will Be By Your Side."
Mirio and Evie: "Marshmallows Are Soft And Sweet, But You Are More So."
Stomula and Grerard: "By Sword And Pen, By Healing And War, I Will Fight And Heal In Your Name."
Thanks for the asks!
0 notes
Text
reading celebrities’ tweets: i can’t say i cher your love of emojis but i’m gonna carrie on reading these anyway
#something something william shatner#this is a total lie i hate emojis enough that it absolutely prevents me from reading tweets#the pun is mightier than the sword
1 note
·
View note
Photo
All possibilities you could use for a pen sword! Although I feel like there’d be some “mightier than” pun in the description regardless of anything else.
35 notes
·
View notes
Note
trick or treat!
so there's this remote village, right, and they want to dam the river that runs down the mountain so they can have a steady source of water for irrigation. but because the village is so remote, and halfway up a steep mountain to boot, it's really hard to get supplies in, and harder still to do construction at the point where it would be best to have the dam, and the village doesn't really have the funds to overcome these problems. so the city council and all the village's best engineering minds have been debating this a while, but they're going in circles arguing about it.
now as you know, reclusive authors are always looking for remote mountain villages and the like in which to dwell away from the cloying closeness of the world. and this village has once such author, who overhears these debates one day, listens to all the arguing, and says, "leave it to me."
the author hikes up to the optimal spot for the dam. it's a bit of a trek, but you don't move to a remote mountain village if you don't enjoy long walks over difficult terrain. the author finds a good vantage point, and then just looks out at the river. looks up the river, looks down the river, gazes upon the flowing churn of water, eyes the sloping banks, contemplates the glitter of sun upon the stream.
the author proclaims, loud in the mountain air, "it's a nice enough river, I guess."
when the author returns to town, the townspeople mob them. "what did you do? how did you stop the river? what happened up there??"
the author responds simply, "I dammed it with faint praise."
#just for you tano :)#trick or treat!#finx has friends on the internet#the pun is mightier than the sword
69 notes
·
View notes
Photo
TASK: Three of a Kind
Katherine Pierce: The Vampire Diaries
“Don’t piss off the diabolical ones.”
“Do you have any idea what it’s like to run in heels? I have blisters, Damon.”
“I will rip this town apart until it rains blood.”
“Do you like who I am or do you miss who I was?”
Olivia Pope: Scandal
“I want painful, difficult, devastating, life-changing, extraordinary love.”
“I am very good at what I do. I am better at it than anyone else. And that is not arrogance, that is a fact.”
“It’s handled.”
“I don’t play second fiddle to anyone.”
Isabelle Lightwood: The Mortal Instruments
“It’s my motto, ‘nothing less than seven inches.’ I’m talking about my heels. It’s a pun.”
“Hearts are breakable. And I think even when you heal, you’re never what you were before.”
“You don’t understand what it’s like to live always at war, to grow up with battle and sacrifice.”
“Whoever said that the pen is mightier than the sword is an idiot.”
7 notes
·
View notes
Text
Review : I Care A Lot (2021)
Here we go again, discussing whether or not a Netflix original film can stand up to the same level of judgement that your standard box office fare does. This week’s contestant looks like it may have what it takes to stand up to the scrutiny, which is definitely a good sign for Netflix as a production house and tastemaker. The film is question is the J Blakeson film I Care a Lot, which looks like another winner for leading lady Rosamund Pike.
Marla Grayson (Rosamund Pike) is a slick talking opportunist who makes a living by taking over the guardianship of elderly people and draining them of their finances and valuables. With the help of her assistant Fran (Eiza González), Dr. Karen Amos (Alicia Witt), Judge Lomax (Isaiah Whitlock Jr.) and a handful of others, Marla pulls the trigger on what feels like the whale of all whales : an elderly woman named Jennifer Peterson (Dianne Wiest) who seemingly has no immediate family and plenty of wealth tied to her name. Unbeknownst to Marla, however, her actions raise the ire of Roman Lunyov (Peter Dinklage), a ruthless gangster with an endless network of resources and a burning desire to have his property returned to him. Lunyov and his associates apply pressure to Marla, but the resulting plays for power turn out much more difficult than either side intended or imagined.
On the page, the exploitation of the elderly may not seem like the fodder that film dreams are made of, but framing this with the construct of a capitalist cult infuses a sinister uniqueness into the story. The sheer vastness of parties involved in the hustle, including judges, elderly care, medical professionals, realtors and even fences is mind-blowing, but wholly believable based on the reality that news media presents us with on a daily basis. The evil element comes in the form of legislative logistics and red tape in a manner that truly illustrates how the pen is mightier than the sword in some cases. A bit of the King Midas element is sprinkled on top of everything, which leads Marla Grayson right down a self-sustained path towards destruction simply because she doesn’t know when enough is enough, or when a threat is a legitimate one rather than a hurdle.
Having a film absent of good guys that isn’t centered around cars, guns or war is a positive stroke, as it tosses out the need for justification of actions while setting up the viewer for an absence of expectations. This absence of expectations creates some of the freshest tension I’ve had the pleasure of experiencing, as the lack of scruples across the board makes any action (and subsequent reaction) fair game. The chess of human lives escalates rapidly as the story unfolds, quickly moving from threats of manipulative force into the realm where human lives are the cost of bad business. The direct connections made between the traditional criminal underworld and the paper-pushing criminal eradicate any fraction of right in the “right and wrong” debate that often arises when attempts to justify crimes are made.
The general dark nature of the film is offset by a multitude of production aspects that radiate, giving the story a sense of energy and momentum. For starters, the overall warm color timing and film grain look, along with a 1970’s style title card, give the film an exploitation look and feel that makes it hard to pinpoint the time in which the story takes place. The style choices, mainly hair and wardrobe, further the vagueness of the setting, while also standing as a statement on how the bad guys are sometimes hard to pinpoint strictly off looks. All of this warmness is offset by the heavily synthesizer-driven score, which builds tension and unease even when the score is high tempo. The cinematography is kinetic without being overly flashy, and in tandem with the aforementioned warmness, creates a visual unease that is as slippery as the main players in the game.
Rosamund Pike gets to flex the tough guy role in a way that many women are not given the opportunity to do in film, and she navigates those waters with all the aplomb of a seasoned veteran and cunning shark. Eiza González stands firm as a sidekick, making up for an absence of toughness with the blind devotion of a ride or die partner. Dianne Wiest is interestingly layered, seeming like a sweet old lady at first, but quickly revealing that she is as dangerous and cognizant as the elements that satellite her. Peter Dinklage exudes the frustration of a man with extreme power up against a foe that should be easily defeatable, and yet, persists well past extreme means. Chris Messina steps in with slick talk that seems effective, but is no match for Pike’s energy that fills her Marla characterization. Nicholas Logan displays a lackey driven by parallel fears of failure and punishment to the point where he becomes an extension of Roman Lunyov’s rage. Appearances by Macon Blair, Isaiah Whitlock Jr., Damian Young, Alicia Witt, Georgia Lyman and a handful of others help bring the mad world of I Care a Lot to life.
I don’t want to declare Netflix as having found the formula just quite yet, but in the spirit of giving credit where credit’s due, I Care a Lot must be praised for both its entertainment and production value. Films such as this one will certainly help eradicate the discussion of quality that arises when the Netflix association to a film comes up, and honestly, that’s how it should be anyway… a film should be appraised by what it is, not by who delivers it to you. If you care a lot (pun intended) for modern cinema, then set a couple of hours aside for I Care a Lot.
#ChiefDoomsday#DOOMoNFILM#JBlakeson#ICareALot#RosamundPike#ElzaGonzález#DianneWiest#PeterDinklage#ChrisMessina#NicholasLogan#MaconBlair#IsaiahWhitlockJr#DamianYoung#AliciaWitt#GeorgiaLyman
3 notes
·
View notes
Text
ASOIAF and the yellow feather.
I have been trying to understand why I have become so obsessed with understanding A Song of Ice and Fire. It's not just about unlocking a puzzle. It's about unlocking a puzzle that speaks my language. It’s a puzzle that becomes more beautiful the longer I look at it.
Where do you find food for your very mortal soul when you are not religious? What do you do when there is nothing after you die? How do you reconcile unresolved pain when its source is forever beyond reach? How do you come to fly when your legs are broken, how do you speak when your tongue has been ripped out, how do you see when you are blinded and how do you fight when your sword hand is gone? How do you live when your dreams have turned to ashes?
You can turn that pain outward and multiply it in the world around you. You can numb yourself to it and lose all connection to yourself in the bargain. Or you can turn to the power of the imagination and create your own reconciliation. Write in your head the story of a goodbye or an apology or a confession. Even write the perfect the response that will allow you to move forward with a sense of harmony. The power to create life and justice, to make sure that love prevails, can be very metaphorical.
That is the story GRRM is writing. He is writing a story about writing stories. About finding peace of mind in Western culture post-religion. He's writing it in the intricate, multidimensional, sensual, symbolic and intertextual manner of medieval Christianity. A feast for all senses.
(Vague spoilers below.)
What fits with this is how GRRM draws heavy inspiration from medieval hagiographies, saint’s lives and their stories of martyrdom, to flank our protagonists' journeys. Hagiographies and early biblical scholarship. Sansa, Jon, Arya, Ned, Syrio Forel... a lot. These stories are harrowing. Tremendous suffering with a reward only promised beyond death. There is also no happy ending in the real historical events that inspire so many of the worst fates in the books.
And the worst fates often happen right next to our heroes at the very same time. Lollys and Sansa. The miller's sons with Bran and Rickon. The innkeeper's daughter with Arya and the Hound. Doreah with Dany. Or they happen to their alter egos. Mutilation, rape, murder. The annihilation of their hopes and dreams and human dignity. We are working with double-Vision. The one who is savaged by the cruelties of reality, and the one who gets away. Our heroes get away.
What saves our heroes from such a fate each time? A knight, a guide, a twist of luck. The tools of the fairytale, the tools of fiction, of songs. And, indeed, GRRM has created a gigantic carpet of literary rerefences. From Grimm’s fairytales, to classic children’s books (SO MANY), ancient mythology, folklore, the entire spectrum of what you can reasonably draw inspiration from as a student of the written word, at least as per the western canon. (And likely much beyond.) Pick your favorite vaguely influential book, you will find it. But there is a pattern to it. He uses literary works AND their authors. E.B. White, Lord Byron, Charlotte Brontë, Mary Shelley, Jane Austen, Heinrich Heine, Sandor Petöfi, Abelard and Heloise, Cervantes, Anne Frank,... “And the old gods beyond counting.” You'll find them all represented in their life and their works. It’s especially harrowing when there is a particular tension between life and work: romance v. spinsterhood, childloss vs. Frankenstein’s Monster, the deep love of language and culture v. political exile from home, marriage for love v. death in battle. It is all there.
The “pointy end” of it all is the way human beings use fiction to cope. Humans write to battle with the conflict in their soul. “The human heart in conflict with itself.” But when they create, their art becomes a gift to the world. It becomes available as food for the soul of those who cannot wield a “sword” themselves. It becomes Stuart Little or Charlotte’s Web, or the Hardy Boys or Little red Ridinghood, it becomes Pride and Prejudice or MacBeth or Anne Frank’s Diary. It becomes the Roman de la Rose. It becomes the Song of Songs.
Stories save our Souls because they create a world for our dreams. Where our dreams can live, even one where our nightmares can safely dwell.
That is the power of Florian and Jonquil.
Our heroes will not outrun the horrors forever. GRRM will become less subtle in hinting at a tension between truth and fiction. Any happy ending we receive will be forged in the fires of the redemptive powers of writing. Of the kind of authorship that heals. The Kind of authorship that is both black and white, male and female. The author of the swan song.
After delving deeper into his use of languages, especially French and German, as well as into Oldtown, my understanding of the literary angle of Arya's swan song took another leap. Buried in bad linguistic puns, I got the following:
German:
Knight = Ritter, etymologically sourced in Reiter (rider), which is a homophone for an English word = writer, i.e. author,
French:
writer = ecrivain (m.), ecrivaine (f.) = “a craven”
Needle = aguille = a quill
Quill... quill.. quill...
Jonquil = Jon + Quill = jaune (fr. yellow) + quill
Quill: a writing tool made from a moulted flight feather (preferably a primary wing-feather) of a large bird. (Wikipedia)
What do you call a female swan: a pen
What is mightier than the sword: a pen
What is the craven, the ecrivaine: a female writer
A female knight, the Lady Knight. Lyanna. Arya. The blue flower, the Knight of Flowers. The Florian.
A blue flower (German: Blaue Blume) was a central symbol of inspiration for the Romanticism movement, and remains an enduring motif in Western art today.[1] It stands for desire, love, and the metaphysical striving for the infinite and unreachable. It symbolizes hope and the beauty of things. (Wikipedia)
The yellow feather is the craven’s sword, the writer’s pen.
A yellow feather also represents joy and hope. Jonquil is the new Needle. Arya is Florian. Jonquil is Lightbringer, the sword of Azor Ahai. (Azur = blue)
Arya will lose her sword hand and learn to use her “left hand”, the hand she has left, which Syrio had so approved of when he explained how to use her first Needle. She will be the writer, saving the world by wielding a pen. She will write it for Jon and Sansa, the other Florian and Jonquil. And for every single person whose suffering she witnessed on her many journeys.
On the show, the book Samwell Tarly presents to the Small Council as “The Song of Ice and Fire” is written by Maester Ebrose, whose specialty is medicine, the healing arts represented by the silver link in the maester’s chain.
Whichever way GRRM chooses to do it in the books, the creation of the Swan Song will be a healing event. It will not be bitter or nihilistic. I think it will be magical, with the option of being metaphorical. It will be food for our soul.
I think there are two quotes by authors that inspired GRRM, among many, that work with what it will be:
"All that I hope to say in books, all that I ever hope to say, is that I love the world.” (E. B. White)
“In spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart. I simply can’t build up my hopes on a foundation consisting of confusion, misery, and death. I see the world gradually being turned into a wilderness, I hear the ever approaching thunder, which will destroy us too, I can feel the sufferings of millions and yet, if I look up into the heavens, I think that it will all come right, that this cruelty too will end, and that peace and tranquility will return again.” (Anne Frank)
(In fact: read every single thing she says here.)
GRRM is not writing an uncomplicated romance. But he will give us a song that will leave us fulfilled. It will leave us nourished. And he is writing it in such a way that we can take a walk outside, look at swans, trees, rivers, clouds and floating leaves on the wind and remember that feeling, the indomitable power of the human spirit when it chooses to create.
12 notes
·
View notes
Video
G: We need you, Iggy!
I: The “Pan” is mightier than the sword, eh?
Ignis The Pun Master strikes again XD
(from Nii’s gameplay)
#ignis scientia#gladiolus amicitia#ffxv#ffxv banter#sassy scientia#mama ignis to the rescue!#nii's gameplay
14 notes
·
View notes
Text
CARNIVAL DAY recaps [8/13]
Today’s recap: Ghostly investigations, the Ultra Evil Really Bad Guys in an awkward Mexican standoff with Slightly Less Bad Guys, and XX’s thoughts on writing.
--
FORTY-FIVE
14 Jun 1997 — 20 Jun 1997
CONTINENTAL DRIFT
--
The writer detective XX wrote a few stories (including the seppuku detective one) that would be put together in one book. The work would be published under the name “Seiryoin Ryusui” and—on Yasha’s request—called 19box in memory of Juku, whose DOLL nickname was Jukebox. [19box or Juke Box is an actual book by Seiryoin that indeed contains the seppuku detective story.]
On June 6th, Yuiga Dokuson fled JDC leaving a confession about being the Billion Killer. It’s now been three weeks since his escape and still no new confirmed Billion Killer cases have happened. The Crime Olympics still continue, but at least everyone knows they will be over in two months.
--
All stories influence people, for better or for worse, and the story with the biggest, sharpest impact is the news. Then again, even entertainment has a major impact on people. The pen is mightier than the sword; the story is the strongest weapon. [Insert a horrible pun about how kakuheiki, “written weapon”, is as strong as kakuheiki, “nuclear weapon”.]
--
(...when Hikimiya Yuuya had been working with the AI Desert Colosseum in February, he found an unbelievable secret file.
Below is Hikimiya Yuuya’s testimony. [Originally in first person.])
Once Hikimiya got out of shock upon seeing the different numbers of daily deaths, he instantly went to the hospital to talk with Frau D (or at least went there as fast as he could in a wheelchair). Frau D only told him to show the file to DOLL’s leader Madame Alpha to get answers.
Madame said she hadn’t seen this particular file before, but she had known all along that the UN numbers were faked. Good thing Hikimiya didn’t tell anyone else about it—if he did, he’d probably be disappeared on his way back to DOLL. He accidentally got mixed into a matter bigger than just the UN; a shadow organization was at play here, and one misspoken sentence could possibly doom the human race.
Madame then told Hikimiya what her Zero Reasoning actually was. The Japanese word for “zero”, rei, happens to sound exactly like the word for “soul”. Madame’s ability was seeing and talking to ghosts. The difficult part of her reasoning was discerning whether or not the ghosts were telling her the truth.
Other people would find it hard to believe, but Madame knew best that the souls who helped her solve cases were certainly real. She purposefully stayed away from other people, as anyone being too close to her for a long time would also start seeing ghosts, including those who had died in less than pretty manners. Several people even landed in the hospital from shock.
The ability wasn’t perfect. Madame would have a problem talking to souls who spoke different languages. The world of ghosts was also pretty complicated and consisted of more than just nice, well-behaved souls (but it’d take too long to explain everything now). Thanks to her powers, Madame knew better than anyone how drastically the known history changed throughout the ages, true events replaced with fake stories so different from what the souls told her about their times. She was also aware that knowing the truth was not always a good thing.
Using her ability as a sort of a soul information network, Madame was able to learn many things about the Crime Olympics.
They say that Christopher Columbus kept two journals out of fear of being deemed insane by his crewmates: a fake one that everyone else could read freely, and a secret one talking about his true goals. The death count data files similarly used two kinds of information. The true one (what Hikimiya found) allowed the UN to grasp the real situation, and the fake one (the official stats) were displayed to the common man.
To explain why that was necessary, Madame told Hikimiya about the Cosmic Bomb—the Moon. The Bomb was set to fall on August 10th, but it wasn’t impossible that the enemy would drop it earlier if they felt threatened. It was in the world’s best interest to not interfere too much in their plans—to make them think four million people really died each day—before a good way to counter the Cosmic Bomb was established.
As for how Frau D got his hands on secret data, Madame thought the reason was very simple: Frau D was one of RISE’s Dogs, probably responsible for leaking info from DOLL.
Right after this conversation, Hikimiya returned to the hospital for more answers. Frau D stated that Madame was smart enough to understand how to stay alive by keeping quiet. He confirmed that he was a Dog. However, the secret file was not meant for RISE at all, but for Hikimiya. That’s why the password was YUYA, and why the report was addressed to “Desert Colosseum”—once Hikimiya inherited the AI, he would become the next “Desert Colosseum”. The signature D meant Frau D and referred to his identity as a Dog (all of them are designated as D-[numbers], for example Frau is D-159837).
Hikimiya felt like there was something strange about Frau D’s demeanor during that conversation, and only realized a few days later—after the Crystal Nightmare—that the S-detective knew he would be killed soon.
But that wasn’t the last Hikimiya heard from Frau D, as Madame passed him a message from his soul. It was strange hearing Frau D so unusually serious (even if the words came from Madame’s mouth).
Frau D wanted to apologize. The whole “I love you” thing was just another one of his jokes, and he chose Hikimiya solely on the basis of his skills and ability to become the next Desert Colosseum. Thanks to Madame, he was never afraid of death. Aside from RISE, he also belonged to the suicidal sect of DICE, who were the ones to kill him in the end. “Desert Colosseum” was still indispensable to RISE—and that meant they would rely on whatever data Hikimiya would send them in the future.
After relaying the message, Madame commented that Frau D was actually a really serious man; you don’t become an S-detective by acting like a clown. She could speak with him easily so soon after his death, but making contact would get progressively harder with time, so Hikimiya should better become “Desert Colosseum” as soon as possible while he could still get ghostly tips.
It was the first time Hikimiya truly felt respect for Frau D. Though now that he thought about it, maybe even earlier he felt a sort of a strange, begrudging affinity.
On the day Frau D died, news came about Juku, Ronely Queen and Ushiwaka Gigolo. Juku’s death was especially hard on Hikimiya, considering they had worked as partners in the past. Then Firannu Meirunesia died a week later.
Hikimiya of course wanted to talk with the dead detectives, but Madame was so busy with all the cases she had no time to spare, and calling specific souls was hard—her work was mostly just waiting until someone with the right information came to her. Asked about Ryuuguu Jounosuke, she said that she’s sorry, but from what she could see he really was dead. At least she was able to assure Hikimiya that Otohime was still alive, held prisoner by RISE together with Amagi Hyouma and Tsukumo Nemu.
The day Frau D was killed, Hikimiya found a new entry in the database that belonged to a fake F-detective, “Flower Design”. [At least I think that’s the right romanization for that]. Frau must have made that fake detective so Hikimiya could hide behind the identity and obtain information safely. It was hard to work a double job as both “Hikimiya Yuuya” and “Flower Design” behind the scenes, but the exhausting training under Frau turned out to have been a blessing in disguise.
Hikimiya analyzed the death count reports (which by this point reached early March) and found that while in the big picture the number of deaths rose steadily, it actually came in waves. Doing some statistical magic, Hikimiya realized that the death rate usually fell a bit during weekdays, but then rose significantly on each Sunday—right after the Billion Killer cases. Step back, two steps forward… It’s like the Billion Killer served as a periodic impulse that kept the Crime Olympics going. The Crystal Nightmare caused an especially high rise in victims, too.
Hikimiya made some calculations. The numbers were at first much lower than the proclaimed “four million deaths a day”, but if the growth continued, it would lead to a bigger overall number of deaths.
Constant four million a day would give 1,4 billion total deaths in an entire year.
But if the numbers continued to rise, the final figure would instead be 3,7 billion, more than half the world’s population—assuming the Cosmic Bomb wouldn’t kill everyone else.
--
FORTY-SIX
21 Jun 1997 — 27 Jun 1997
MOHENJO-DARO
--
(It was once thought that alchemy could produce homunculi in bottles.
Black Rook is a human obtained through cloning, a three years younger identical twin of Ryuuguu Jounosuke, with whom he shared this name. Yearning for an identity of his own, Black called himself Ryuuou.
RISE had the cloning technology long before his birth, but didn’t see a reason to use it, as getting normal imposters was much easier. They say that everyone has at least three perfect look-alikes in the world—RISE had no problem finding those three with their omnipresent reach.
The truth is that the original Jounosuke was supposed to become Black Rook at first, but RISE made a critical mistake while raising him. In the end, the clone achieved what the original couldn’t and became Black Rook.
Below is Black Rook’s testimony. [Originally in first person. As expected, he might be… biased.])
From what Black heard, his older brother had travelled all over the world with their parents as a young child in order to naturally pick up native accents of many languages. He was successful at this goal, but in the process he became so used to the outside world that he couldn’t stand the dim closed spaces of the Sanctuary (which was back then still under construction), even showing signs of serious childhood claustrophobia. He was constantly upset and kept crying no matter how long RISE tried getting him used to his new life. Childhood claustrophobia sometimes vanished with age, but there was no guarantee it would happen.
In the face of this, the Doctor decided to start anew and cloned the boy, and so Black was born. To avoid past mistakes, RISE made sure he got used to the Sanctuary since birth, the fortress transporting him to all those different countries and essentially becoming his home. Staying in the Sanctuary instead of with foreigners led to him not quite reaching the language mastery of his brother, but the difference was marginal and didn’t really matter.
When RS became the leader of RISE in 1987, Black formally inherited the position of the Sanctuary’s Master from his father Kintarou. Similarly, Endou Naoto became the next Doctor / White Rook after his father Naomasa.
RISE continued to fight their long battle. Black didn’t really understand if there was an objective good or wrong, but he knew for sure that the Beasts wanted to destroy the human race, and RISE’s Gods wanted it to continue in whatever shape. A battle between good and evil.
Their greatest enemy was a secret group called Akutou 666 Rengou (lit. “the 666 villains union”), known in short as Akuren. It was much older than RISE and had been threatening humanity for thousands of years.
Akuren was a worldwide information network created by the 666 most evil people of the world, all their names written down on a secret Luck Black List. Aside from the top 666, there were also two lower “replacement groups”, each also counting 666 members, so 1998 in all. Those who died or were arrested would be erased from the list, though one could always get on it again later. Note that the first group members were too skilled to be eliminated from the list unless they died.
All the historical villains one may have heard of—like Nero, Catherine de’ Medici, Ivan the Terrible, Rasputin, Aleister Crowley, even Hitler—all reached no higher than the second group of Akuren. Those in the first group are all untraceable and take care to erase their pasts, only their horrible impact on the world hinting at their existence, their true nature that of pure evil beyond imagination (Black doesn’t even want to think about the stories he heard).
Akuren categorizes all people on Earth into thirteen tiers of evil, starting from 1 (those unwittingly doing everyday evil), going through those who commit crimes as part of a company policy or “usual” criminals (4-5), through famous organized crime (6), through those with political power (7), through country elites with even more influence (8), through secret organizations ruling those elites (9), through the evil that controls the history of humanity (10), the first group of Akuren (11), the few members of Akuren that have transcended the concept of pure evil (12), and the “ultimate organization of extreme pure evil” (13).
Upstanding citizens are classified as tier 1 (it’s impossible to be lower, as every single human eventually hurts another human, if only by existing). Tier 10 would include Akuren’s first group and half of the second group, together 999 people. Tier 11 would apply only to the first group; they’re so strong that an S-detective could maybe manage one or two of them at once, but not several, and certainly not 666. Tier 12 are those from the first group that aim for even more evil and want to throw the world into darkness. Tier 13 is so secret that even RISE can’t get any information about it, more suspecting their presence than knowing for sure.
The members of every group of Akuren are numbered from 001 to 666, with those numbers moving if someone falls off the list. Number 001 is always the person who stayed in a group the longest, while those from lower groups will enter a higher group starting from 666. Groups two and three have to provide information for the network, but those who already rose to group one are privileged and can simply get data without having to give any in exchange.
Akuren attempted to wipe out the human race many times before, their crimes usually showing as wars on the surface. The Persian Wars, the Peloponnesian War, Alexander the Great’s conquest, the Seven Years’ War, the Hundred Years’ War, various Prussia wars, the Russo-Japanese War, both World Wars, the Cold War…
After WWII, the 12th tier of evil first showed itself, possibly with the 13th one right behind them, and the most serious plan to destroy humanity (including themselves) had been in progress ever since. Their twisted reasoning is basically, “everyone has to die one day, and when I die, the world may as well not exist for me, so why not bring everyone else down with me while we’re at it”.
The current Crime Olympics were conceived as yet another of Akuren’s plans to destroy humanity. RISE was created to gain control over this plan in order to prevent the ultimate tragedy and limit the damage as much as possible. Of course on the surface they still had to act like they’re cooperating with Akuren, and so had to put the Crime Olympics into motion like they were supposed to.
Akuren acted like they didn’t notice their true enemy, but considering the quality of their information network, they had to already know about RISE’s goals. However, RISE was too useful to get rid of it so quickly. Fifty years of preparations passed in a pretend cooperation between the two organizations. RISE has three trump cards in their deck: Alive, the Billion Killer, and the Cosmic Bomb.
RISE’s true goal was purging evil at the root for the sake of humanity’s survival. If they left Akuren alive, it would just lead to another attempt at total destruction in the future. RISE had already succeeded at using the Crime Olympics to kill the lesser ranks of evil in droves, even though it cost a lot of other lives and the true malicious elites were still staying safely hidden. If RISE didn’t kill off those elites before August 10th, the Cosmic Bomb would fall.
Those “worst of the worst” were called Pure Ultimate Beasts. The purest evil often wore the masks of saints; they truly were beasts disguised as humans, creatures that would kill with a smile. The first group of Akuren was too careful to be easily led into a trap, so RISE had to start with eliminating the lower groups and make their way up.
All the above was a very rushed explanation, but the gist of it is that humanity is in a horrible spot. If they don’t do anything, the Cosmic Bomb will fall; if they try to fight openly, perhaps the Bomb will just fall faster. The fate of humanity is in the hands of RISE—of Black Rook.
...but Black feels a bit weird those days, like something is very wrong with him. Perhaps it’s just a lingering symptom of Alive... or perhaps he’d been caught into Akuren’s trap? Something feels wrong. With the Sanctuary, with RISE and with himself. Something is strange. He’s supposed to stop the Cosmic Bomb, and has been for sure making preparations, but now he can’t remember how to do it, as if he simply forgot something so important. He can’t remember… What the hell happened to him? What the hell is going on? It’s like he’s not himself.
Has he also been brainwashed…?
[End of testimony.]
--
Writer detective XX continues to write. He feels a strange compulsion to do it, a sense of mission, almost like someone is forcing him to write. Sometimes he wonders if he hasn’t been brainwashed.
--
FORTY-SEVEN
28 Jun 1997 — 04 Jul 1997
HONG KONG
--
Writing as “Seiryoin Ryusui” is weird to XX, like wearing someone else’s clothes. He’s been feeling like he isn’t truly himself. But if it’s so weird to him, why does he simultaneously have the compulsion to not just continue writing, but to write as “Seiryoin Ryusui” specifically? Nothing else changed. It’s just that whenever he works as “Seiryoin”, he ceases to be himself. Almost like someone else is guiding his hands, like he’s only the first reader instead of the writer.
Inugami Yasha wants XX to write a book about the Crime Olympic as soon as possible. Yasha’s plan is to use the power of stories positively, to light up at least some of the darkness surrounding them.
No one is faster to rise to fame in mass media than the worst criminals caught red-handed. “Seiryoin Ryusui” wasn’t that popular, but his name is still spread around because of the Cosmic Jokers case, so releasing a book under the same name will gather the world’s attention. This will possibly allow them to lure out the actual mysterious “Seiryoin Ryusui”. The book will be technically fiction, just like Cosmic and Joker, but will give readers enough clues that maybe someone solves the still unfinished mysteries, or gets to the actual truth behind something that has been considered solved.
To be honest, XX hates the writing style in Cosmic and Joker. It just seems bad and unbalanced to him. Strong J Outa the editor thinks it’s because XX has a similar writing style, so reading “Seiryoin” feels to him like reading his own old works, which is rarely a good experience for a writer. The important thing is keeping that unbalanced style while writing about the Crime Olympics.
Languages, just like anything else created by people, aren’t perfect. No matter how much one tries, a recording of events will never be perfect specifically because of the nature of words. Even non-fiction is fiction in the end. Words on their own aren’t the truth, but the moment someone encounters someone else’s words, they may read out the truth between the lines—which is what Yasha hopes for by releasing the Crime Olympics book.
(By the way, it’s been a month since Dokuson disappeared, and not a single Billion Killer case has happened in the meanwhile. There were giant cases happening at 1 PM local time on Saturdays, true, but no symbolic skull has been found.)
XX still can’t get rid of his strange feelings. It’s almost like there’s someone else within him, “the true writer”, perhaps even “the true culprit”. Strong J Outa dismisses these worries and says that in a sense, the mystery writer is always the real culprit manipulating the characters. A mystery novel is not as much a showdown between a detective and a murderer, as a showdown between the writer and the reader. The challenge is not just solving a mystery, but also solving the writer’s intent put in his work.
The idea of the writer as the culprit is sort of a taboo that everyone knows about, but that isn’t really relevant inside mystery novels by design. All fiction is real as far as the world within that fiction is concerned. There’s no reason to escape into delusions about a writer making all this happen; instead XX should focus on writing and fighting crime this way.
19box is set to be finally released on July 5th.
--
(And in the latest news...)
On June 14th, the entire island of Tasmania suddenly moves towards mainland Australia and smashes into it, resulting in 100,000 dead or injured and several small islands sinking. Right afterwards Tasmania returns to its proper place. How all this happened is a mystery.
On June 21st, about a hundred tourists visiting Mohenjo-daro in Pakistan are found naked and dead. The cause of death is unknown, but the incident is thought to have been influenced by the Carnival Dice cult.
On June 28th, all the power lines of Hong Kong are suddenly cut, leading to a complete power outage. Massive fires start in the aftermath. Giant playing cards are found around the place, so the group F4C is suspected. The situation becomes so bad it leads to political shifts and Hong Kong being completely returned to China.
--
On July 5th, a mysterious continent surfaces from the depths of the Pacific, so unimaginably huge that it takes half the ocean’s area. The continent’s sudden movement causes kilometer-tall tsunamis to rush towards other lands. It’s only a matter of time until the record waves reach the shores and destroy anything in their path.
Japan has twelve hours to prepare for the wave.
--
[>>>NEXT PART>>>]
2 notes
·
View notes
Note
oooh, there's so much i wanna say now that you're done with tutu and i don't have to worry about spoiling you but where to start. a lot of people tend to interpret fakir's entire role change as a stealthy 'pen is mightier than the sword' pun! playing off of that, a lot of people really enjoy how fakir / ahiru's gender roles tends to play into this: the finale has ahiru going in to 'fight' while fakir's more in the background being her support. any thoughts??
Can you imagine how angry Fakir would be if he found out that his Designated Role in The Story was just to be a vessel for a pun? he would transcend his own existence and enter the realm beyond his own reality to punch Drosselmeyer in the face
For sure, there’s a ton of gender-role-flippery going on. When Fakir threw away his sword and dedicated his life to creating things instead of destroying them, I was like “oh good, toxic masculinity is finally dead.” And the way Ahiru manages to take on an active role in the battle without it being a harmful one is perfect and I expect nothing less. Ahiru, Fakir, and Mytho are kind of like a party that’s all bards. They’re always playing defense and support, and use their art to heal each other up.
#rue is maybe a rogue#gold crown academy more like bard school#i love getting all this sweet sweet meta delivered directly to me#from the ask box#sms watches pt#pt 26#Anonymous
86 notes
·
View notes
Last Seen Blogs
xinsomnicatx
Ravyn
joelmillersdumbslut
one single thread of gold tied me to you
oxygenfile37
Texas Criminal Record Search 101
spgtoto
Situs Agen Bandar Judi Togel Resmi Online Dan Hadiah Terbesar
thanos-kachow-heely-ugg-crocs
Untitled