I lovingly eat orphans

✨I'll share what I think when I think it✨ They/she/him or just they/them

[mirellapryce]

Musing over a DBDA Soulmates AU. The trick is that Charles and Edwin aren't soulmates though. Edwin is the most disappointed about this, as he feels like Charles would make the best soulmate. Truly he's never felt as seen or as cared for by anyone else.

Then he meets Niko Sasaki and he inexplicably likes her before they even truly meet. Then when she can see them, her first words to him match his soulmark. Charles knows, and congratulates him. "That's brills, mate." And it is. And she's wonderful. They understand each other on a level Edwin didn't even realise he was missing, but he's torn about...so much really. He meekly tries to discuss the typically romantic nature of soulmates, and in the same conversation as she tells him that boys can like other boys, she explains that soulmates can be platonic. And it's such a breath of fresh air, and a novel concept (and ignore the part of him that had been hoping Charles was his soulmate while also holding onto the concept that all soulmates should be romantic)

If you ask Charles, he doesn't have a soulmark. Edwin should know seeing as he's seen Charles down to his vest and shorts, and has never seen it. The truth is, it's a bit more complicated than that. He had one. It was on his back so he couldn't even really read it. He's sure his mom must have read it to him once, but it's so long ago now and so much happened in between. Namely the number of times his dad beat him with a belt happened. The whole thing is mangled by a mess of scars to the point that most of it is illegible. That's okay though. Aces really if you ask him. Soulmates are...complicated at best. His parents were soulmates after all, and look how that turned out.

[onesmolhurts]

if they could bleed... :')) I drew this a while ago for @kaciart's bday!!! <3 love these boys :'))

[shaylogic]

Okay, so we know that Charles' polo goes red>burgundy>black and back by the end of the season.

Because there's so much going on, I always missed the exact transitions. This time I specifically tracked them down. (Apologies if this has already been done.)

Charles shirt is bright red through the majority of the Devlin House, even in Hope's Diary scene, when he opens up to Crystal.

Even when he first swings at Mr. Devlin and gets knocked back, his shirt is red.

The very subtle shift to burgundy is after he disappears and first reappears in the loop.

It remains burgundy throughout the entire lighthouse leapers episode and beginning of the two dead dragons.

I finally realized the very last moment we see of Charles in the burgundy is with Crystal. She tells him after the confusing makeout night, "But I think we should be friends," and kind-hearted Charles, of course, respects that and puts on a friendly smile.

It's difficult to see in the next scene with him because of his jacket, the angle he sits at on the ladder, and the lighting, but it's immediately after that when we first see him in the black polo.

My brother in death, you are NOT doing well.

here's another song from Jayden Revri's official Charles playlist, that I think is about this conflict with Crystal:

His shirt is still black during the "I don't wanna be a bad guy" scene.

After Edwin's affirmation of Charles' inherent goodness, it is directly after this scene that the shirt goes back to burgundy!!!

He's still wearing the burgundy during the confession:

BUT IT GOES BACK TO BRIGHT RED LITERALLY RIGHT AFTER EDWIN'S CONFESSION AND THEY ESCAPE HELL TOGETHER!

Yo I equally love Cryland and Payneland but the show canonly said "Crystal hit him in the loneliness and Edwin hit him in the loved"

[anders-chr]

Also, hear me out on a headcanon really quick for the Dead Boy Detectives: Edwin Payne does not have a good memory at all.

And he swears up and down that before Hell, he had a damn near perfect memory but 70 years in Hell will screw something up about you, if not everything.

Why do you think they document every case with time cards and why he carries a journal around? It’s because without it, he’d genuinely would not remember a lot of shit. If it isn’t written down, to Edwin, it’s almost like it never happened. And not to mention how I think he’s terrible with names too. He confused Charles’s name with so many things for years, and only just recently got better at remembering them. And Charles never really got pissed off or faulted Edwin for it, because at the end of the day, Edwin is REMEMBERING.

He genuinely panics about the passage of time too. Quickest way to get him in a dissociative shutdown? Manipulate the clocks around him to have passed faster than they should, you will have him actually having a panic attack over it. His concept of time was so fucked in Hell, he prefers to have a clock or some kind of watch with him to keep track of time. Because he knows if he didn’t, after he finished a book or solved a case, he wouldn’t know if 20 minutes or 20 years had passed.

The memories were fuzzy for the longest that when Edwin finally felt safe, felt adored and appreciated and loved and cared for, THAT’S when the memories starting becoming clearer. And trust, it was not pretty in the slightest. Like Charles could do something or say something so small and it’d make Edwin freeze up for a good ten minutes. Like not blinking, an entirely unresponsive demeanor and it’d make Charles panic and when Edwin snapped out of it, he wouldn’t have a single clue what actually caused it. It could’ve been a smell, it could’ve been a doll head, it could’ve been a certain screech from a monster, he wouldn’t know. He never really knows.

I wish we would talk more about how 70 years in Hell would’ve fucked Edwin up so much because ghosts appear to have a subconscious, and if you have a subconscious, you have a psyche. And 70 years in HELL would’ve caused permanent damage to just about ANYONE’S psyche.

Thank you for attending by Ted Talk. Feel free to grab a pamphlet on your way out.

[incorrect-deadboy-quotes]

[after Edwin overworks himself] Niko: You're grounded! I'm grounding you. No books. Edwin: But I need books for research! Niko: Fine. Then, no writing. Edwin: But how am I going to finish cases? Niko: Then... No Charles. Charles: [stepping forward] What? No Charles?! Niko: No Charles!

[kwadlayns]

Off on a case! ✨

[fallingforyouforeverr]

this is so beautiful!!!

[yorhaw]

[not-the-living-ghost]

if it means anything…

[yol0y0shii]

[mountainsoftreatos]

Found this banger of an idea buried in my notes app. I have no memory of writing this -

[bitterdesert]

part 12

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

[remyjay17]

It's been established that Charles can make pretty good logical leaps. The first example that comes to mind is when Edwin is attempting to confess his feelings, pre-Hell. Edwin gets as far as coming out, so to speak, and that's the last piece of the puzzle Charles needs to figure out what's going on with the Cat King. He literally goes from "You could have told me you liked him [Monty]. Doesn't matter to me one bit" to "This is why you've been acting so cagey about the Cat King!" I think intuition is one of Charles' strengths, and it gets overlooked a bit.

But that's not the point of this post.

The point is that Charles makes the exact same leap in logic when talking to Edwin about Crystal in episode 1. Edwin brings up the Puppy Debacle of '94, which I've always interpreted as referring to a living puppy, since Edwin's biggest problem with Crystal in this scene is ostensibly that she's living. But that's all Charles needs, and instead of easing any of the worries Edwin has expressed (living girl, Puppy Debacle, Death having been in their office), he says, "Oh, I get it. You're jealous there's someone else here." And he's right. (Even if Edwin won't admit it.)

Which brings me to my conclusion: I don't think the central problem of the Puppy Debacle of '94 was that two teenage ghosts couldn't take care of a living puppy (though I'm sure that was part of it.) No, I think the biggest issue was that Edwin was jealous of a puppy for stealing all of Charles' attention.

[sthilarions]

A lot of the time when people say a character is a golden retriever I’m like “that breed does not mean what you think it means” but you know what? Charles is a golden retriever

He’s affectionate and friendly and energetic and smiles all of the time always, you kick him and he’ll still smile and run right back to you after

But also Goldens are typically ranked as the fourth most intelligent dog breed, after only Border Collies, Poodles, and German Shepherds, but everyone always reaches for them as a metaphor for “no thoughts head empty just fluff and love”

And that’s Charles too. He announces Edwin as the brains and keeps his smile on and bounces around and is so casually sweet everyone figures he must be running on vibes alone and actually when they’re back in the office he’s the one doing the more visibly nerdy magic, the stuff you’d normally assign to your autistic-coded Q-archetype basement-recluse wizard, he’s creating complex enchanted items and writing runes and mentally managing hundreds to thousands of items in his bag. And he’s just as much a detective as Edwin is.

He just also grins and jumps and projects friendliness like his life depends on it, and people assume.

[sixbynine-da]

What I love about the infamous puppy debacle of 94 is the implication that within five years of immediately partnering up, living together and starting the agency Charles (bc ofc it was Charles) was like 'we should start a family'

[kira-kiar]

who ordered guard dog?

This is a messy painting because i’m trying to get the hang of clip studio paint lol. Hyperfixation so bad it pulled you out of both art block and writer’s block.

Totally didn’t base the idea on these two posts:

and ofc the scene where Charles was covered in blood

[madnessiseverything]

[ooooooh]

Crystal assumed that Edwin was just having a bad run of it in Port Townsend. But now she’s been working with the agency in London for a year, and Edwin is averaging a hostage situation per month.

She wishes there really was ghost Xanax, none of this can be good for Charles’ nerves.

[art-res]

Human Anatomy for Artist Unofficial Search Helper

They also have an animal one that I linked a whole back on the same site !

[krowfaced]

For all my art friends out there!