I've Been Thinking About Akutagawa's "Who Are You?" For HOURS And I'm Begging- Hands And Knees -for This

Y’all know those Extra gum ads? Where that dude is flirting with the girl through gum wrappers? So in the spirit of Hawwoween, what if the guy was a creepy ass stalker? Like, he draws her sleeping in her room and shit.

Poptart Thief

So, Nico Di Angelo’s fatal flaw is holding grudges and he WILL hold them till the end of time. So, like, imagine Will doing something so minor, but Nico won’t shut up about it because he’s bitter and petty.

Like, Will eats Nico’s Poptart and now this is their conversation:

Will: Hey, Nico?

Nico, reading a book: Yeah?

Will: Have you seen my shoes?

Nico, not looking up: I don’t know, have you seen my motherfucking Poptart?

Will: Are you actually-

Well, less than 6 hours until I find out if I've earned a little treat or not! Stay tuned! Or don't. I'm not your mother. Also, messed up for the episode that ruined the fast passers' lives to drop on my birthday- Happy birthday to me ig????

Literally my first post in the CB tag, so: hello, hi, nice to formally meet you all. I don't post but trust me I DO lurk in this tag. Doing this post so I can share my deteriorating thoughts but also so that in five weeks when I've forgotten everything I can see if I was right or not and whether I've earned a treat. Fair warning: I only know how to write essays. Big long theses. My bad. Whoops. All of this is PURE THEORIZING. I have no idea what truly happens, all information I gather is from the free episode(s) or what's posted here. I am simply taking shots in the dark for fun. Please don't yell at me. only saying this cause I normally post in communities where everyone has the same information but you all seem very nice so I'm not really worried about it :]

OKAY! SO! As a very normal human being with very normal interest in this silly comic, I scroll through the tag and see what you goobers post (because you're all very funny, talented, and entertaining) and I noticed that this week's fast pass episode has people in emotions. Very MUCH in emotions. I also noticed someone mention parallels to this week's free episode- which I spent way too long agonizing over but that's IRRELEVANT -and so my brain got to thinking. I could just satisfy my curiosity by using money but the way my anxiety will just beat me up for that is crazy. So, instead of that, I've decided that it's time to rabidly theorize about what happens for giggles. Basing my thoughts on the idea of this week's episodes having parallels, I have a few different thoughts.

All of my ideas are parallels of things that happened in the dungeon in the free episode since that has the most content to parallel and was the most prevalent part of the episode. With that in mind, here we go and apologies in advance.

Idea Number One: My first idea is that maybe there's a parallel to the scene where Buddy saves Chase from the creepy guard. Perhaps there's a similar situation to what happened in the free episode or- an idea I'm more partial to -within this book there's a person, place, or scene that reminds Buddy of Ex-Libris which causes him to have some sort of panic attack or a clearly afraid reaction. He's placed in a situation where he's reminded of something from EL that he is afraid of or has bad memories of. Something that Chase has to pull him away or calm him down from, but something that Chase has to save him from. Like how Buddy saved him this week.

Idea Number Two: This idea is based on the statement about ulterior motives and hiding things that Buddy made to Chase- who we all know is hiding something. In this idea, maybe Buddy finally finds out about Prunella and isn't pleased with Chase's lying to him and hiding things. They aren't besties but there's a thin line of trust between them that Chase potentially breaks by hiding Prunella. A person Buddy thought was honest and open suddenly hid something from him, so who's to say he's not hiding more? So, the actual IDEA is that maybe Buddy parallels the statement he makes, but this time in a more hurt tone or accusatory. Instead of apologizing and admitting "you can't have ulterior motives and you're pretty honest", he goes the opposite direction of "I was wrong, you're a liar and blah blah blah" (sorry didn't wanna write more lmao). Still, for a parallel, the statements would likely have to be similar in structure and in nature, and a line that has been living RENT-FREE in my head since this morning is: "I was too dumb to think you didn't have ulterior motives. Too dumb to see that you were hiding something." Or something to that effect. Paralleling that previous statement.

Idea Number Three: This idea I'm less sold on but screw it, throwing it in for giggles because I can and that's one more idea I have lying around. This one is based more on the situation between Chase and Buddy (Buddy being like "wow! thanks for not hiding things" to Chase "definitely hiding a whole ass child" Hollow). A simple switch of roles is what my third thought is. Chase takes Buddy's role of "Wow, so honest" and Buddy takes Chase's role of "Hiding things". The reason I don't like this one as much and I'm not as convinced is because for it to have as much emotion as the Fast Pass episode clearly had, there has to be some sort of emotional investment to whatever the thing was. And for there to be emotional investment, we would likely have to know what exactly Buddy would be hiding from Chase in this potential scenario. As of right now, we have nothing of the sort since getting that kind of information would require a Buddy POV episode which I don't think we're getting any time super soon? So, unless we suddenly find out things in the next four weeks, I doubt it's going to be something like this.

OKAY, I'M DONE NOW I SWEAR! I am so sorry for how long and unnecessary this post was (whoops) but I need to scream somewhere! I'll revisit this in five weeks I suppose to see if I'm right or not and if I've earned my little treat (reward yourselves for things man. self-love). I'll still be lurking, as always, but I guess I'll see y'all formally once again in like five weeks. Have a lovely day! :]

The Hollow and Castle Carcolh

OKAY, SO

I was re-watching the season 2 trailer for The Hollow, right? Except, this time I was watching it on a better screen, which means, I noticed some things I hadn’t before. One of these things was this sign by the weird haunted mansion place:

Clearly, that is the name of this building, right? So, I did some did some DIGGIN’ on the interwebs. First off, the not shocking bit is that  chateau means “Castle” in French. However, it’s the SECOND word I was really interested in. I tried a lot of languages, but I couldn’t find anything. So, I ended up just putting up putting Carcolh into the search bar alone and I MADE A BREAKTHROUGH. The Carcolh is actually a creature from Gascon folklore, also called, the Lou Carcolh. Gascony is a small province in France and they believe the Carcolh to be a serpent-mollusk like monster. So, I went into images and I was VERY INTERESTED by what I saw.

This is an interpretation of what the Lou Carcolh looked like, and some of the others weren’t much different. I was sitting there and I was like “That looks kinda familiar... but where have I seen this before?” Then, it hit me

Lads, lasses, and enby masses. I give you this image from the season two trailer:

That my friends, I present the snail monster from the trailer, who I am betting is actually the Lou Carcolh and the name of that spooky Castle. I’m not quite sure how it all fits together yet, but I’m sure it’ll all make sense in ten days.

So, I looked a little more into the lore of the Carcolh to see if anything could give  us a better idea of how this all fits together. Apparently, it has slimy tendril like appendages that surround it’s mouth and stretch for miles, with made think of ANOTHER SCENE from the trailer.

Remember the quick scene with Mira fighting that tentacle looking thing? I’m betting that this is their fight with the Carcolh and that’s one of it’s tendrils Mira’s currently battling off. The monster is believed to live underground in caverns in Southwest France. It would drag anything that was caught in it’s tendrils back to its’ cave and then would swallow whatever it caught whole with it’s huge mouth. The nickname The Carcolh was given to the city of Hastingues, in the French department of Landes since their place of settlement was on a rounded hill. As a last little fact, the men of Hastingues would tell women they deemed young and pretty, “The carcolh will catch you!” as a warning. I, however, know not why.

So, I have no clue how this will play into Season 2 or if it will at all, but I hope this gets you’re mental gears turning!

Well.

I'm unsure if I should be happy that I earned a treat or focus on being emotionally distraught after what I just read.

Literally my first post in the CB tag, so: hello, hi, nice to formally meet you all. I don't post but trust me I DO lurk in this tag. Doing this post so I can share my deteriorating thoughts but also so that in five weeks when I've forgotten everything I can see if I was right or not and whether I've earned a treat. Fair warning: I only know how to write essays. Big long theses. My bad. Whoops. All of this is PURE THEORIZING. I have no idea what truly happens, all information I gather is from the free episode(s) or what's posted here. I am simply taking shots in the dark for fun. Please don't yell at me. only saying this cause I normally post in communities where everyone has the same information but you all seem very nice so I'm not really worried about it :]

OKAY! SO! As a very normal human being with very normal interest in this silly comic, I scroll through the tag and see what you goobers post (because you're all very funny, talented, and entertaining) and I noticed that this week's fast pass episode has people in emotions. Very MUCH in emotions. I also noticed someone mention parallels to this week's free episode- which I spent way too long agonizing over but that's IRRELEVANT -and so my brain got to thinking. I could just satisfy my curiosity by using money but the way my anxiety will just beat me up for that is crazy. So, instead of that, I've decided that it's time to rabidly theorize about what happens for giggles. Basing my thoughts on the idea of this week's episodes having parallels, I have a few different thoughts.

All of my ideas are parallels of things that happened in the dungeon in the free episode since that has the most content to parallel and was the most prevalent part of the episode. With that in mind, here we go and apologies in advance.

Idea Number One: My first idea is that maybe there's a parallel to the scene where Buddy saves Chase from the creepy guard. Perhaps there's a similar situation to what happened in the free episode or- an idea I'm more partial to -within this book there's a person, place, or scene that reminds Buddy of Ex-Libris which causes him to have some sort of panic attack or a clearly afraid reaction. He's placed in a situation where he's reminded of something from EL that he is afraid of or has bad memories of. Something that Chase has to pull him away or calm him down from, but something that Chase has to save him from. Like how Buddy saved him this week.

Idea Number Two: This idea is based on the statement about ulterior motives and hiding things that Buddy made to Chase- who we all know is hiding something. In this idea, maybe Buddy finally finds out about Prunella and isn't pleased with Chase's lying to him and hiding things. They aren't besties but there's a thin line of trust between them that Chase potentially breaks by hiding Prunella. A person Buddy thought was honest and open suddenly hid something from him, so who's to say he's not hiding more? So, the actual IDEA is that maybe Buddy parallels the statement he makes, but this time in a more hurt tone or accusatory. Instead of apologizing and admitting "you can't have ulterior motives and you're pretty honest", he goes the opposite direction of "I was wrong, you're a liar and blah blah blah" (sorry didn't wanna write more lmao). Still, for a parallel, the statements would likely have to be similar in structure and in nature, and a line that has been living RENT-FREE in my head since this morning is: "I was too dumb to think you didn't have ulterior motives. Too dumb to see that you were hiding something." Or something to that effect. Paralleling that previous statement.

Idea Number Three: This idea I'm less sold on but screw it, throwing it in for giggles because I can and that's one more idea I have lying around. This one is based more on the situation between Chase and Buddy (Buddy being like "wow! thanks for not hiding things" to Chase "definitely hiding a whole ass child" Hollow). A simple switch of roles is what my third thought is. Chase takes Buddy's role of "Wow, so honest" and Buddy takes Chase's role of "Hiding things". The reason I don't like this one as much and I'm not as convinced is because for it to have as much emotion as the Fast Pass episode clearly had, there has to be some sort of emotional investment to whatever the thing was. And for there to be emotional investment, we would likely have to know what exactly Buddy would be hiding from Chase in this potential scenario. As of right now, we have nothing of the sort since getting that kind of information would require a Buddy POV episode which I don't think we're getting any time super soon? So, unless we suddenly find out things in the next four weeks, I doubt it's going to be something like this.

OKAY, I'M DONE NOW I SWEAR! I am so sorry for how long and unnecessary this post was (whoops) but I need to scream somewhere! I'll revisit this in five weeks I suppose to see if I'm right or not and if I've earned my little treat (reward yourselves for things man. self-love). I'll still be lurking, as always, but I guess I'll see y'all formally once again in like five weeks. Have a lovely day! :]

Head Empty, Only Bumpy.

I’m late to the party because I’ve been meaning to write this post but also I am very lazy. 

ANYWAY. As you may know, I make it my life to lurk on the Camp Cretaceous tag on tumblr for the tea. When the trailer dropped, I saw many posts panicking about Bumpy and I would like to discuss that today.

First, calm down everyone. I’m sure she’s fine and hanging out on the island with other dinos right now. My reasoning being the fact that the raft scene we see in the trailer is most likely either episode one or two but most likely episode one. We can infer this from a couple things. First, the weather. It’s fair and moderate, meaning this happens either before or after the events of the tropical storm mentioned in the synopsis. What makes me think it’s before the tropical storm is the raft. If trapped on an island, wouldn’t your first escape idea be a raft? It’s basic. Still, it’s possible I’m wrong because if we look at the fun little chalkboard Brooklyn’s drawing on, we see them looking at getaway vehicles on the island, all of which are crossed out either on fire or something. But it’s hard to tell. So, maybe a raft might not be their first idea, but I’m going to run with it for now. So, make fun of me later, okay?

Now, theorizing that this is most likely the first episode of the season, it would explain as to why Bumpy doesn’t appear to be there. She’s too big and too heavy for any raft they build to support her. Not to mention the amount supplies they’d need just to care for her. Plus, they know she can’t come to the mainland with them and that she has to stay on the island. So, the chances are that before leaving, the fam said their goodbyes to Bumpy and got on the raft. Not to mention, they also likely looked for an ankylosaurus herd to put her into so they can be sure she’d be taken care of after they left since they didn’t expect for their plan to fail. This would explain why Bumpy isn’t around for the season. Still, I don’t think it’s the last we’ll see of our favorite emotional support dinosaur. She’ll return when we need her most. But that’s all just a theory... A DINOSAUR THEORY! i know I’m not funny sorry, I’ll just go now-

Imagine you are Atsushi. You think you know a man. You think you see him for who he is- bleeding claws and all. You think that you are sure in his character and in his entirety. You think that after so many battles and so much death, there is nothing else for you to know.

You are wrong.

You think the two of you could not be more different or distant if you tried. You think that despite any change you may have brought, he is still someone you could never understand. You've come to terms with the idea that you both are simply two sides of the same coin.

You are wrong.

And it takes an unfeeling blade for you to finally learn how much so.

You learn that you only vaguely knew him- a shadow blurred across your vision. You learn his claws are not simply bloodied from pain caused but from pain given- from climbing a mountain insurmountable even to one as strong as him. You learn that you knew his surface but not his core- something no battle had ever taught you. There is so much you have yet to know.

So, you follow.

You learn the two of you are not so very different, the distance no more than a few steps. You learn that any change you brought in him was because, unknowingly, you were speaking a language that you didn't know he spoke right back. You learn that the hate that he held for you was born of a desire just as your own.

So, you follow.

And you learn that there was never a coin at all, just a mirror- a thing made of broken edges, bruised bones, and hateful words. And you learn there were never two sides, simply two caged and cornered animals staring back at the other- hearts bleeding and hands grasping.

Grasping for acknowledgment, for acceptance, for a reason, for permission, for someone to tell them they were finally enough.

You stare at the man in the mirror, a dark anger of a person- all sharp points and serrated defenses- and can see yourself in his eyes. Eyes that don't look at you the same way they used to.

You wonder: when he looks in this mirror, does he see the same?

You will simply have to ask him once you return.

Imagine you are Atsushi. You have seen the heart of a man. A man with whom you cannot accurately describe your relationship- no word seems precise enough nor powerful enough. You still don't fully understand him. He still confuses you, annoys you, and causes an itch you cannot seem to scratch.

But none of that matters because you have already decided he is worth sacrificing for. Because he is Ryuunosuke Akutagawa.

You have already made it to the door that- if done right -will guide you back to him, aided by the ghosts of his past and yours.

And so, you place your hands upon the entrance and push.

So, for my birthday weekend, my best friend came up and we watched the hit movie Akira for the first time (something we'd been planning for a while) and holy shit oh my god.

The way I have to sit at work like I didn't just watch Akira and like I'm not making notes for two separate analysis essays I'm hoping a professor assigns someday is not funny.

Trying not to think about how the central theme and throughline of Requiem is trust and how this whole arc is making me extremely unwell because I know everything is going to come crashing down in the next few weeks. I feel it in my bones and tinfoil hat.

Like, most of this arc has been about Buddy opening up and TRUSTING CHASE. The entirety of episode 53??? The thorns????? The rose??? The conversation between Deacon and Buddy right after??? You want me to believe that making Dracifer's intervention about TRUST ISSUES was a coincidence? That Buddy's (kind of) acknowledgement that he trusts Chase and the mention of trust issues wasn't supposed to make me think of that one conversation in Beach Boys? I mean, yeah, sure maybe. But since I'm awake before I want to be or should be and start finals soon, I've decided that it's not and this was meant to ruin me personally.

Like we've finally gotten to a point where Buddy feels comfortable with Chase. He feels bad for hurting him even a little bit (shout-out to when he was talking about how he has accidents a lot- specifically in reference to hurting Chase -and I know he was thinking about Beach Boys- like I am). And this chapter really drove that home. We're there. Which is why I know something AWFUL is going to happen. We've had it a little too good too long (as evidenced by the fast passers slowly withering away from whatever Still Waters is doing to them which is honestly frightening). As of right now, the only thing I can think of is Buddy finding out about Prunella- Chase and Deacon's big secret, something Buddy was so sure they (Chase, specifically) didn't have. They hid another key and keyholder from him. Not to mention a whole damn child. Seems like a breach of trust to me. And after all this? That would probably make Buddy a little hurt. More than just a little.

Am I hallucinating? Am I overthinking things and finding meaning where there is none. Perhaps. Mayhaps, even. But, what else am I supposed to do? Be normal about my interests? Behave like an upstanding member of society and pretend like I don't think about these idiots all the time? Please. If I simply prepare for the worst case scenario than the outcome can't hurt me. I will simply be invulnerable to the pain whenever I get to whatever hellish visions the fast passers are seeing.

Anyway, the bones are done cooking and I need a nap. Apologies for another rambling and if you see any grammar issues, no you did not and I definitely proofread this. Have a lovely day.

Yet Another Hollow Theory

Hi, yes, hello. I’m back on my dumbness today folks. ANOTHER HOLLOW THEORY BECAUSE SEASON 2 IS RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER AND I’M LOSING MY MARBLES!

SO, this is a theory I DID NOT come up with on my own, I had the help of the lovely @lunaria-gryfe​ to assist me with this. This theory is based on how they got back into the game this season.

Originally, we’d been thinking tournament style or it’s the “next level”, however, it’s referenced a few times in the trailer than something wasn’t right and that they felt they were  supposed to be there. So, this lead to a 6 hour long discussion (with some unplanned intermissions and tangents) about different theories. I started off with the idea that the code got to them and that they never actually woke up, that the ending was just the corrupted code messing with them. This was a maybe, so we explored how this was possible and discussed the way of how they entered the game.

They entered the game through those chairs or machines or whatever and it was making sense until Luna reminded me that Weirdy, whom we now call Chad because someone on Tumblr named him that and we loved it, didn’t use the chair thing. Which means, if he was getting in one way, they had to be getting in the same or a similar way. Which made my brain connect two things, the blue glowing screens that the kids look at, the ones they used to choose powers, and Chad’s (Weirdy’s) glasses. He never takes them off, which would make it easy for him to pop in and out of the game at his convenience. However, we didn’t think it was just the screens that was allowing them in, Luna and I thought, “Well, what about their memories and projecting their consciousness,” and some other things I can’t quite remember.

This lead to the theory of brain implants. Yes, I know I sound deranged and it makes no sense, but like, stick with me on this. If they’d gotten implants, it would make sense how the program was able to erase their memories and other things. Not to mention, that these implants most likely had some sort of access to their their nervous system, which would explain how they felt pain, heat, cold, and other sensations while being in a digital world, though these feelings were very much dulled down. Not to mention, the glitch in Vanessa’s eye could have been her implant. I guess you may be wondering, why’d it glitch? We’ll get to that in a moment.

The question is, how this comes into play with season two? A faulty implant. A broken one. Luna and I believe that something went wrong with one of the players implants and it affected everyone else while they were in the game. Which would be why Vanessa’s eye glitched. It was her implant becoming or being corrupted by the faulty one.

Whose implant, you may ask? Easy, it was Adams’. The reason I say this is Adam has definitely been a little more tired and unsteady than the other two. When he woke up, there was a high pitched sound and he seemed to have a headache. Nothing serious, right? Maybe, but the fact that the other two didn’t react the same way, just might say something about that. Luna then informed me of something I’d forgotten. During the Minotaur's labyrinth, Adam crashes into Mira and then struggles to get back up, dizzy and disoriented, but Mira’s just fine. Granted, this might be nothing, but it’s still something to consider.

Now, a big thing that’s been going around the fandom for a while now, a big question that’s been unanswered. Why was Dave so scared of Adam? His implant. Adam’s corrupted implant. Dave might have been able to sense it when he touched Adam or at least sense something was dreadfully wrong. Now, not to mention it was after that, that things started glitching out, after Dave touched Adam. Possibly that corrupted implant is was caused the code to go wacky and eat itself, because part of the game allowed the implant contact. Also, if it IS Adam’s implant that’s corrupted, that could possibly be another reason his reflection was reversed. Also, if his implant was corrupted, that might mean it wasn’t working correctly and which is why Adam put everything together so easily after seeing Dave glitch, because it was in the very back of his mind.That or he’s as smart as we think is, maybe both. This might also explain why Chad (Weirdy), was kicked out of the game and not the kids. Since he’s not always in the game or there as long as they were, the his implant might not have been affected, which is why he was forced out. 

Back to how this connects to season two. The kids are very confused and believe this isn’t supposed to be happening. They’re right, it isn’t. Adam’s implant most likely affected everyone else, causing them to become corrupted as well. Throughout the first season we see that the game has a pretty impressive AI, allowing the characters that were created have their own personalities and respond with ease, unlike an NPC. This means the game can almost run itself, meaning it could easily take over the implants in the players brains, causing them to go right back to The Hollow. This also explains the new worlds, the way Luna phrased is was, “Yeah and I think things keep breaking because of the implant. If it's only purpose is to react with The Hollow, then it would explain why things are happening. But it seems The Hollow has taken preventive measures in order to keep the game from crumbling. Instead it looks as if the game is creating more so it can't be destroyed” Now, my first thought was that was why the game chose to send them “home”, so they’d be comfortable and safe, however Luna made yet another wonderful point. “That's giving the game a lot of credit. If anything the programmers & artists make the settings and the game randomizes it.” This means that the game is just rolling along a course it’s planned, but now it’s trying to save itself at the same time. Also, if these kids did have implants, that would make the adults, especially their parents, not knowing about the Hollow even weirder. First off, the game took 5 hours, meaning the parents would have had to known where their children were for that whole time. However, we know that they’re all under the age of 18, meaning they’re all minors, which means that if they were to do this game and get these implants, they most likely needed parent permission. Which means, these parents had to have signed these forms for the kids to have participated, meaning they had to know about this.

Since this post is getting pretty long, I’ll try to make this last bit short and sweet. The last few things we need to tie up here and for this theory to possibly make sense. What about the two other teams? How come Chad (Weirdy) is in the game? What about the fears? Are you off your ROCKER, Space? The answers to these questions are ones Luna and I think make sense, but one we’re not so sure about.

The two other teams. My theory was that these kids either were playing a different game at the same time and somehow got corrupted too or played after the others and THEN got corrupted, Luna’s theory, which probably is better, is that these two new teams were about to play new game and our Season 1 buddies just got thrown in because of their implants. How is Weirdy in the game? Well, seeing as he most likely has an implant as well, that allows him to pop in and out of the game at will, he probably had it altered or hacked so not only could he get in, but use his powers to help the kids as much as he could. This would also explain his line at the end of the trailer. The fears also have two theories, but I’ll only use one because the others a stretch and this post is long enough. The main one we have is that the kids took a “survey” allowing the producers to know certain things so they could create task and challenges. The computer decided to use this in the game as a challenge or task. As for that last bit about me being crazy? Yes. I am and honestly, this post killed my last two braincells.

So, I’ll leave this post at that and I think I got all of our thoughts down. Feel free to leave your thoughts and criticisms for Luna and I! We’d love to see it, but try to keep it constructive, thanks!