CHARLES!!???
right who sent these quotes onto my homepage (thank you)
Trista Mateer, from "Aphrodite Made Me Do It," originally published in 2024
THIS IS IT
I want to talk about THIS moment. Right before. There's a TON of people misreading Caitlyn's intent because she's using such a playful demeanor after Vi's sorrowful self-deprecation. To be honest, it's the best response she could have had, and the best tactic. Her demeanor serves as a stark contrast to the spiral of self hatred that Vi is going down, and it's an excellent distraction. Caitlyn is stopping her line of thinking, right then and there, and she does it while delivering one of the most romantic and understated declarations of love I've ever seen.
Stay with me here.
Let's be very clear: Caitlyn did NOT come to the cell with the goal of seducing Vi. Not even. How do we know? Aside from several context clues that come before this scene, the way Caitlyn responds to the kiss is very telling:
See how long it takes Cait to even register what the fuck is going on?? She's literally like "oh. OH. we're kissing? WE'RE KISSING." And Vi also OPENS HER EYES very briefly, to check that Caitlyn is as into this as she is, right as Cait settles into the kiss, likely sensing her hesitation/delayed reaction. This scene is NOT Caitlyn seducing Vi. This scene is Caitlyn giving herself to Vi, and Vi choosing exactly what she wants to do with her, which is VERY different.
What does Caitlyn say right before the kiss? She says, "Do you really think I needed all the guards at the hexgates?" Translation: I left Jinx's cell unguarded on purpose. I want you to know that I heard you during our last conversation. I want you to know that I trust you. I want you to know that my love and care for you is more important than my need to sate my grief and desire for revenge. I choose you.
And following: "Sorry to say, you've grown a bit predictable." Translation: I know you. I see you. I knew you would choose this, coming after your sister, and I facilitated the circumstances in which you COULD choose this. You don't choose wrong. You choose love, and I understand that now. I want you to know that I support your choices, and they won't cost you the people you care about, at least not me, not anymore. I know that you'll always choose your sister, and I've made peace with that. What you want is what I want.
That is MONUMENTAL. That's quite possibly one of the most romantic things I've ever seen in media. Because who the hell has the guts to give up their grief and forgive their mother's murderer, all for love? That's a level of sacrifice that not enough people are acknowledging.
People say Caitlyn never changed, never felt remorse, never grew from the bad choices she made. I say wrong. And this was the turning point.
I'm gonna go feral don't try and stop me đš
Pookies
I'm gonna go feral don't try and stop me đš
Pookies
It's pretty darn special when even the directors are participating in DBDA twitter posts that ask questions like, what is your favorite moment from this episode?
For those who don't know, Richard Speight, Jr. directed The Case of the Very Long Stairway. You might recognize him from Supernatural. He's also given interviews about this episode and what it was like from the perspective of a director, and what a truly special experience it was to work on the set of Dead Boy Detectives.
He's a fan of this show. And he wants it to be saved, too.
bisexual behavior
:> @raven-thingie you're an American pie and I do it.
in the US we only have 3 genders. american beauty, american psycho, and american pie
Re blogging things at the speed of light to help the dbda Tumblr ecosystem and I found this gem. *inhale* YEESSSSDDSSSSSSS THIS IS SO EKWKWJEJDBRBDBDN I CAN'T
Iâve seen so many alive!DBD auâs where Edwin and Charles meet first, or Edwin and Niko/Charles and Crystal meet first, but I raise you: Rich Payne and Surname-Von Hoverkraft families meet first. They are industry RIVALS, okay? They DESPISE each other with a burning passion and trade thinly veiled insults back and forth at every event they meet.
(More under cut cause this shit is atrociously long.)
At first Edwin and Crystal ignore each other or send glares, following their parents lead, but then they get older and Crystal starts acting out to get her parents attention while Edwin starts distancing himself from his. Both of them get the idea of, âWhat if I get to know the Payneâs/Surname-Von Hoverkraftâs daughter/son? My parents would HATE that.â So a friendship is formed.
In the beginning itâs toxic bitch levels of fake on both their sides, good lord they canât stand each other. One day Crystalâs drunk off her underage ass and just starts openly venting and Edwin â the always sober guy and no itâs not cause he cares thatâs preposterous!! â meets her tit for tat. Because, câmon. Of course theyâd drop random trauma on each other like fun facts.
Anyways theyâre proper friends now, still appear the same â arguing is their love language â but thereâs a level of solidarity now. Insert Edwin getting sent off to St. Hilarionâs for another year â Crystal threatens him to write her back per usual â and his classmates pull the prank. Not sure what 73 years in hell would be here, Iâve seen so many interpretations but I think kidnapping and torture is accurate.
While thatâs going on Crystal gets a new boyfriend at her school. Any guesses?? She writes Edwin about David and Edwin does not hold back, heâs part of the reason Crystal tries to break up â it doesnât go well, not sure how yet â and she writes Edwin about what happened craving comfort. Usually postalâs pretty fast, they arenât that far, but she doesnât get a response one day in. Two. Three⌠She finds out her best friends been kidnapped AFTER a news article has been released.
Turns out her parents knew the entire time but neglected to tell her. Crystal stops speaking to them. Itâs 73 days later before she gets anymore news outside of, âThe Police Are Still Lookingâ, and it comes in the sign of a knock. She hadnât got much sleep that night â didnât most nights â so sheâd been wandering around her kitchen aimlessly. (As you do.) When she heart a soft rap on her front door. Curious, and too tired to care about danger or consequence, she opens the door.
Crystal doesnât recognize him at first, heâs shivering and thereâs so much blood on his- his everywhere but then a very weak voice croaks, âCrystal.â She screams. And sobs. Because what else do you do when your friend had to escape himself after 73 days of captivity and torture and the first safe place he could think to go wasnât the police, or hospital, but you? Her parents are awoken by her scream and come rushing down because what the fuck is going on? And itâs all a blur from there â she refuses to leave his side and Edwin clings to her like a limpet.
It takes awhile of recovery and physical therapy â and regular therapy â after that but Crystal is holding his hand nigh every session, sheâs there to bring him books and bicker and provide a sense of normalcy. Crystal forgets David for awhile, the only one to occupy her thoughts being Edwin because she knows heâd do the exact same. The two also get the satisfaction of watching their parents actually try to be amiable after this, itâs so stilted and awkward and they revel in it. And, yes, the tabloids somehow get ahold of the fact that kidnapped Edwin Payne fought his way to the Surname-Von Hoverkraftâs doorstep instead of literally anywhere else. Rumors pop up about his and Crystalâs relationship and the two make a teir list of their favs and least favs. Secret love child/half-siblings is their favorite, secretly dating isnât even on the board they hate it so much.
College!!! The two decide against anything super fancy. And by that I mean they move to America together to find some community college to go to because neither want to be reliant on their parents who took a whole ass kidnapping to pay attention to them. Anyways, they share a flat above Tongue & Tail butcher shop with Jenny as their landlord. Crystal works as a freelance artist and tarot card reader (Sheâs really good.) while Edwin works as the librarians â Maxineâs â assistant.
Charles and Niko meet differently, Nikoâs actually advertising her need for a roommate and Charles â who also moved to America to get away from his dad â takes it up. Fast friends donât have a thing on these two. Niko gushes about this pretty girl across from them and Charles is man enough to admit, yeah, their neighbors are pretty fine. Too bad theyâre dating.
âââ
Anyways more highlights of this AU in no particular order:
Crystal and Edwin physically recoil when Niko says something like, âWait, I thought you two were dating?â Edwin puts his hand to his heart, too stunned to speak. Crystal fake gags and goes, âWhy does everyone think that?! HEâS GAY!!â
Edwin discovers his sexuality at one of the clubs Crystal drags him to when Thomas King â older then them by a few years â flirts with him and he Panicsâ˘ď¸. Crystal drags him away with a scathing look toward Thomas and asks if Edwinâs okay. He blurts out, âI- Iâm gay?!â and Crystal goes, âYou didnât know??!?â
David tracks Crystal down to America and itâs a whole thing for obvious reasons, also because she forgot to tell Edwin about it in full â too busy helping him. This is how Crystalâs abusive ex trauma gets aired. (Charles maybe reveals some shit about his dad here too.)
Edwin and Niko go on a little faux-date together â cafe, library, just a chill day and night out â but Edwin leaves his flip phone at home and Nikoâs dies. (Yes he has a flip phone.đđ) So Crystalâs panicked as shit, last time she couldnât contact him he was literally KIDNAPPED and TORTURED. Charles tries to calm her down before simply offering to wait up with her. When Niko and Edwin get back Crystal breaks down like, âYou canât DO that!!â This is how Edwinâs kidnapping and torture trauma gets aired.
Charles has a near death experience at St. Hilarionâs a few days after Edwinâs kidnapping. Turns out they went at the same time but Charles was a year under him and they ran in very different social circles. He gets chucked into the freezing lake and stoned still but a teacher catches them all and sends him to the hospital.
Nikoâs dad died and her mom sent her to America to get away from the sadness, she caught a really bad illness and also almost died. Charlotte Knight was her Nurse. (Unrelated but she has Poliosis, which turns parts of your hair white.)
Esther is a serial killer and uses her son, Monty, to lure people in. Very brain washed Monty here sorry guys. She kidnaps Edwin who has several trackers on him â after the Niko Night Out incident Crystal and Edwin spent a night sewing them into each others coats and shoes â and the police arrest Esther and Monty.
Payneland and Palasaki of course, but this would probably be focused on Edwin and Crystalâs friendship. Yes, Niko and Charles get a shovel talk. âYou know I adore you Niko and whilst I do not think youâd intend any harm, I will have to do something drastic in the event that it happens.â âOkay listen here dipshit. I have full faith you wonât hurt Edwin but if you do, intentionally or not, I will have to castrate you.â
Thereâs more I forgot lmfao, this is too long alreadyđđ If I made any spelling mistakes no I didnât
chimcken nomgett :) ââcurrent fandoms: ARCANE ââ â â old fandoms (I'll make ocs but I kind of forgot the story lines oop) : warrior cats, wofâ â just having a little fun :D
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