#jun 4 2022

[larrytimelines]

Louis, Matt and his fiance, Isaac, Zak, and the rest of his band and security in San Jose, Costa Rica, when they crashed the wedding party at their hotel - June 4 2022

EDIT: this is allegedly at a club after the wedding crashing. They allegedly only stayed at the wedding for a few minutes.

[abybweisse]

What do you think about undertaker's thought on rciel telling tanaka to burn all the bitterbunny samples?

Burn the samples?

Is that a fan translation, or are you just misremembering? Here's the licensed English translation:

In ch151, Tanaka brings prototypes of new Funtom toys for real Ciel's inspection, and he says to "dispose of them as you see fit". I hope that Tanaka just uses his own judgment to make decisions on the products and tells the factories to keep going.

Undertaker's reaction? Good question. On the one hand, he might not fully understand how important the toy and confectionery company is to the prosperity of the Phantomhives at this point. But! Undertaker knows that toys like this are a joy to the people who buy/play with them. Since he's such a fan of laughter, I should think he would be saddened at the prospect of children not getting to play with these new products.

So, if Tanaka takes matters into his own hands and keeps production running, Undertaker might find out and secretly approve of it.

[dailyscottficrec]

Jun 4, 2022

Today's fic comes with a caution- there is no overt noncon but the fic does deal with very dark themes and there is some implied noncon.

The Last Part of Me by Escalus

Author summary:

Scott has been with the Alpha Pack for three years, even though he still holds himself apart from them. While he tries to thwart the Demon Wolf’s plans when he can, he has failed repeatedly. He’s emotionally exhausted and close to either pushing Deucalion into killing him or giving into the urge to be part of the pack for real.

However, things change when an old friend arrives, but they don't change for the better.

Reasons to love the fic: Any fic that explores the idea that Scott went with the alpha pack is like crack to me, to begin with. This is another fic that explores the effects of isolation on Scott's depression and how his relationship with Stiles can change that. This is a much darker variation and so fun. I especially love the Scott and Deucalion parts and the Stiles parts. The sciles of it all is so central to this story, too. And the scene with Melissa and Scott moved me to tears.

Be sure to let the author know if you enjoyed the fic!

[abybweisse]

If this is too much ignore this, but just who do you think betrayed Undertaker and why? (Referring back to that phrase he said on the Campania) Personally think it could have been Claudia especially if Undertaker was disappointed by her dedication to the Queen as the Watch Dog. Being a Phantomhive woman and probably proud of inheriting her family legacy she probably wouldn't appreciate his attitude to Victoria. Maybe she found out what he was maybe both? If the parallel to Ivanhoe hold true (would be neat to see Yana's twist on this) he was likely betrayed as a human too? Then we all know he clearly didn't like something that the Reaper higher-ups were doing...

Who betrayed Undertaker?

That's one of those million dollar questions. Because it seems pretty likely someone (and/or an entire institution) did.

Here are some scenarios for different possibilities:

If he was betrayed as a human, it might have been someone he loved, or it might have been someone in a position of authority. I say this because those are the most-likely scenarios now, as a reaper, and I have a sneaking suspicion that most reapers deal with similar situations to the ones they dealt with as humans, and part of their punishment is not being able to end their own suffering so easily. I imagine that a reaper who takes their own life (by death scythe or something) will wind up as reapers again. Sascha is the only one I've seen who seems to think being a reaper is their "calling". Ludger hears that and thinks it's a ludicrous idea.

As a reaper, he might have been betrayed by Cloudia/Claudia, as you say. Maybe because of her loyalty to the queen? Or perhaps she got pregnant and didn't even tell him? Or... maybe she got pregnant and said she would keep her children from following in her footsteps (as watchdog, etc), but then he found out she was training them to take over for her, just as she had taken over for her own father.

Similarly, he might have felt betrayed by Vincent at some point, which would be the biggest parallel to Ivanhoe. His loyalty to the queen would be the closest parallel. His choice of Rachel for a wife would be another parallel, since Wilfred of Ivanhoe wanted to marry Rowena, and Cedric initially forbade it. Previously I'd mentioned the possibility that Vincent and Undertaker had an argument and Undertaker went away, and while Undertaker was away, the attack happened. It would help explain why it took a while for word to reach him or for him to get to the crime scene.

The last main scenario I can think of is, of course, where the reaper organization lies to reapers about their punishment -- that chance of salvation -- and undertaker finds out.

Oh! ETA: and, as I've also mentioned before, the entire purpose of collecting souls could have a lie in it... or an omission of some very important fact. Is it entertainment... an experiment... a food source for angels and/or the god of their world?

Truth is, Undertaker might feel betrayed in multiple ways by multiple people.

[abybweisse]

Crack theory: Sins of the dead

@stainedglass-wings had some late night thoughts and shared them on another post, and it got me to thinking. I still think the last initials of the lockets could represent musical notes, and the order could represent a leitmotif.

However, this new idea would shed light on the motives for their deaths, since I think we can probably all agree they didn't die simply from natural causes. And then Yana-san had to choose specific words for these things, so that the initials could still represent musical notes and not repeat each other (wouldn't be confused which locket was for which thing).

But what do I mean by "things"? Sins. Cardinal or deadly sins. This would be another parallel to s1's Ash Landers' obsession with purging the world of "impure" humans. And it would work very well, if John Brown turns out to be an angel or something bent on a deranged version of divine justice.

Ok, so here are the lockets again, with their order:

Emile C. -- Lust. The "C" could stand for "cravings". Lust is sometimes thought of as a type of gluttony, and "cravings" (as well as "appetite") can describe aspects of one's libido just as well as one's desire for food. So, this Emile fellow (if Yana-san isn't playing with name genders again) could have been killed for the sin of lust. And considering I've long thought the "C" might be for the name Chambers (the Viscount of Druitt's family name), this would make sense. The Chambers line could have a particular penchant for the more lustful or hedonistic pursuits.

Oliver A. -- Avarice. That's an extreme form of Greed. I have no idea what last name this would be or where they might fall into place within the narrative, but this Oliver dude might have been seen as far too greedy for his own good.

Alex B. -- Blasphemy. It's not what's typically listed as one of the "seven deadly sins", but it's considered one of the unforgivable ones. I came to this one because I couldn't think of a "b" word for Wrath. However, when our earl watched his older twin being stabbed to death, his unbridled anger led to him making a blasphemous statement. That blasphemy is apparently what really interested the demon that was summoned.

So, Alex could have been blasphemous and/or wrathful. Again, I don't know what last name the "B" might be.

Cloudia/Claudia P. -- Pride. We know the Phantomhives can be a prideful lot, and Vincent says the Phantomhive women tend to be particularly strong-willed. Apparently, Undertaker repeatedly warns them about it, too... saying they keep losing touch with the fact their power comes from support they receive from others, and how they will fall if they lose that support. Our earl wearing that ring like a collar around his neck by his own volition also seems to be a matter of pride, and Undertaker warns it could end up "choking" him someday. So, perhaps our earl's grandmother was a particularly prideful sort of person. Vincent might have been, too. Francis/Frances sure seems to be....

Molly/Mally G. -- Gluttony. No idea who she is, but she's the one who died first, among the people represented by lockets. I'm reminded by some old research I did on Queen Victoria and her early scandals, back when she was new to the throne. She ascended the throne in 1837 (coronated in 1838), and an early scandal involved a female servant whom Victoria accused of getting pregnant out of wedlock. Her belly was so swollen that she looked pregnant, but it turned out to be a horribly large tumor in her abdomen. I had once wondered if Molly/Mally was a Kuroverse version of that unfortunate woman. The possible "sin of gluttony" reminded me of that swollen belly mistaken for pregnancy. And pregnant people are said to be "eating for two".... 🤔 It's a long-shot, but she could have been a royal servant repeatedly caught stealing food, or something? Accusations against her could have been some huge misunderstanding, too, particularly if Victoria acted against her before John Brown was by her side... or if he was there and knew the truth but did the queen's bidding anyway. It seems like a weak motive to kill someone, but the queen might not see it that way. Not if she truly believes the person is committing a deadly or unforgivable sin.

Gilbert D. -- Dejection. That's the term sometimes used by the orthodoxy instead of Sloth. Gilbert could have been someone who was too overcome by depression or even just apathy. If we are talking about someone who specifically pissed off the queen, it could be that he neglected to follow her orders. I used to think the "D" could stand for Dalles/Durless, which is apparently Madam Red's married name. If the death was in 1885, it could have been Madam Red's husband, supposedly killed in that carriage accident, but I don't think the accident was really an accident. He was the Baron of Burnett, and he showed deep affection for his wife and unborn child, despite the fact Madam Red was still in love with Vincent. If it was him (another long-shot), then he could have been killed for not giving a toss about the queen's intentions or goals. If the death was in 1862, as one image of the locket shows, then who knows. March 1, 1862 was a few months after Prince Albert died, so it could have something to do with Albert's death. Like a physician whom the queen blames for not doing enough to save her beloved Albert's life. This is me using a lot of words to say idk who Gilbert is.

Harry E. -- Envy. How Harry's envy leads to him being targeted for death, idk. I also have no clue who he might be. Perhaps he was envious of the queen herself. There were many attempts on her life, especially early in her reign. I found a total of 8 known attempts on her life, committed by 7 different people (one failed twice), but none of them happened in 1851. However, Vincent was born in 1851. Harry could have been involved in some plot to kill or overthrow the queen. Otherwise, I got nothin'.

Well, I don't know if any of this will pan out, but it sure is an interesting idea! Also, it doesn't take anything away from my leitmotif theory, so I kind of like it. We all want to know why and how these people died, right? Deeply hidden clues about their "sins" is a cool concept, and I think it's still worth pursuing, even if their last initials don't end up being that clue.

[abybweisse]

Phantomhi7e

Thanks to @stainedglass-wings' suggestion the seven lockets represent people who were killed based on the seven deadly sins, I can't get this image out of my head, so I had to make a 💩post about it....

I know the movie image doesn't follow the idea exactly, since we need our seven to already be dead, but once an idea is stuck in your head, you know... you just have to get it out.

[abybweisse]

Working on an ask that's about the timeline for Black Butler, and I just realized it's been a very long time since I read the play-through of Mother3, and I'm being reminded of so many details regarding the timeline and all the little actions characters take. It's so much information that my head is swimming.

And now I need to rest.

[larrytimelines]

Louis, Matt and his fiance, with the bride and groom in San Jose, Costa Rica, when they crashed the wedding party at their hotel - June 4 2022