What If Kayne Didn’t Take Another Piece Of Kiy, But Split John In Half. Gave Em The Old STOS Narratively

“…who?”

GOT ‘IM. ABSOLUTELY DESTROYED.

Old favorite character divorced, new favorite character acquired.

you guys are all for arthur and john going on a date until they get to the bar and it’s just arthur (never danced before) trying to dance ‘alone’ while people awkwardly watch and there’s just second hand embarrassment everywhere. what then. john wouldn’t even be having a good time he’d be bitching about the whole thing

sitting on the floor staring at the ceiling do you think John would like the violin. Do you think John would play the violin. Do you think John and Arthur could duet.

Fandom: Malevolent (Podcast) Rating: Mature Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: John & Arthur Lester Characters: Arthur Lester, John (Malevolent) Additional Tags: Canon Compliant, Post-episode 25, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Arguing, Crying, Panic Attacks, Trauma, But Also!, Communication, and additionally:, Hopeful Ending, Queerplatonic Relationships, Minor Character Death, intricate discussions of the nature of humanity, Fix-It of Sorts, (as in now at least they’re talking) Content Warnings: minor character death, knife violence, blood, arguments, minor suicidal ideation, minor religious guilt, minor suicidal ideation, dissociation; mentions of minor character death, child death, cannibalism, ritual sacrifice, eye trauma, suicide attempt, minor child abuse, period-typical gender roles, body decomposition Summary:

Arthur grits his teeth and fumbles around for the soap. It’s a small bar, but it will have to do. “Look. I get that you’re angry, but this really isn’t the time for—”

“I’m not angry.”

Arthur scoffs. “No?”

“No. I’m … let’s call it grieving.”

.

After killing Larson, Arthur and John leave Addison. They end up in a motel for the night, and when Arthur’s emotions and traumas from the past few months bubble over into an inevitable breakdown, he finally communicates with John just what has happened the past few days and why Larson’s blood has ended up on his hands.

.

There’s blood on Arthur’s hand. He can feel it between his fingers, tacky and warm, sticking his skin to the handle of the dagger.

But he’s had blood on his hands since the day he cradled his daughter’s dead body in his arms. At least now, the literal matches the metaphorical.

He forces his fingers to uncurl from around the dagger. It clatters to the floor, loud in the silence that has overtaken the room. The echo of it is long, but Arthur thinks he imagines it longer. The room is large, the ceilings of the front hall of the manor vaulted and glittering with an intricate glass chandelier. The sound pings from surface to surface until it fades beyond human perception. (Inhuman perception as well, he supposes. Monstrous perception.)

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Big chonky malevolent spoilers:

Sooo Arthur is getting more homicidal, and it has been days since he last ate, and he probably hasn’t eaten anything but human flesh for months. I’m… im a little concerned

Fun fact: Arthur hasn’t eaten since that leg in the pit.

No little german boy, don’t open that eldritch tome!

“Mein Gott, es gibt ein schmexy Dämon in mein Kopf!”

Ok, bestie is a little gullible. A lot gullible. We will have to work on that.

“…who?”

GOT ‘IM. ABSOLUTELY DESTROYED.

Old favorite character divorced, new favorite character acquired.

Do you ever think about how unsettling Arthur must look at this point? He’s this pale, emaciated, grimy(he splashed around in dirty bath water *once* in 5 months) guy in ill fitting clothes who looks like he took a spin in a rock tumbler. One of his hands looks diseased and the tip of the pinky is just blackened bone. Worst of all, there’s something wrong with his eyes but you can’t put your finger on what.

I relistened to episode 27 earlier, and now that I've had time to actually process it, I want to examine that final desicion in a bit more detail.

Let's start with some facts about the monster:

It is intelligent ("It's not a mindless being like the one we fought in the Dreamlands, John, it's intelligent.")

It knows that its victims can free themselves using obsidian ("to know when to be silent, to guard obsidan so more of its meals won't leave.")

It knows where the only source of obsidian is

It knows John and Arthur have returned to the mines ("It senses you.")

It knows that they're in contact with the person they met in the shack, who I'm going to nickname Cave Buddy (CB).

We can safely assume that the monster has drawn the following conclusions: John and Arthur would only return to the mines to rescue the others, and that CB, having already freed themself, can tell them how to do that. Meaning that the monster knows that John and Arthur will be heading to the lair to retrieve the obsidian. So its most obvious course of action is to go there and wait, which is exactly what it fucking did.

Now some facts about the Cave Buddy:

They have survived down here for a long, long time ("They look pained as thay talk, as if they haven't spoken in a long time."), and have managed to evade the monster for that entire time

At one point the monster got close enough to attach a tendril, and CB still managed to get free ("Cut it out"). So it's been demonstrated that they are not completely helpless

They are small enough to fit through narrow passages and nimble enough to climb into the rafters, and they can do both of those things too quietly for John and Arthur to hear. They are highly mobile and stealthy

They have willingly stayed in the mines for a long time, at great risk to their own safety, because they want to free the others ("You haven't left because you want to help them.")

Their tendril has already been cut free, and presumably another one cannot be attached. Meaning that the monster won't bother trying to subdue them and will simply kill them on sight (which it did.) CB knows this.

It can be assumed that any decision CB makes takes all of this into account.

Everything I've listed is information that CB, the monster, John, and Arthur all either already know or have the capacity to deduce. And they're aware that the others know it, too.

So in light of all that, walking into the monster's lair without someone drawing it out first is effectively suicide. John and Arthur should have know damn well that the thing was gaurenteed to be in there because, as Arthur said, it knows to guard obsidian. Someone needed to distract it, and CB's superior mobility meant that they had a way better shot than John and Arthur.

Having CB serve as a distraction is not only the logical choice but also the compassionate one, because it gives them the best chance at achieving a goal they've had for a long, long time. It's dangerous, yes, but their continued presence in the mines and the fact that they literally fucking offered to do it proves that they are just damn fine with that risk.

Basically, CB was not a child or a pet in need of protection, they were a rational being who was trying to achieve a goal and who knew full well what they were getting into. Choosing not to have them provide a distraction was a poor decision.