Arayashikiii - Opus

Oh…! I didn't expect to receive a reply from you! Actually, I have been contemplating whether to share this information for a very long time before finally deciding to mention it. (If you felt it was a sudden mention, I apologize.) From what I have observed, there have been instances where "Nioi" was translated literally as "smell" in various languages, while in other cases, it was often rendered as "atmosphere" or "air". In our position, where we need to infer the "hidden context" from the canon, I believe that whichever interpretation you choose, it can be an appealing interpretation!🥰

+)I cannot express how much I empathized with your post. It's such a joyous occasion to discover that there are people in the world who share the same thoughts...

Grunge

I hate saying stuff, because I always regret it in the end. But once in a blue moon my desire to say something grows so strong that I crawl from under my rock and make some sort of a statement somewhere. It's that time now.

I've already talked my friend's ear off with this crap, but it's still not enough. It also drives me up the wall that I don't see this stuff being said all the time, or at least some of the time. I guess I don't see it being said at all. So I guess I have to say it myself. 

I'm talking about this huge thing Runge canonically has for Grimmer. Not even in the romantic sense... Let me explain. In the crudest of terms, too.

By the time Runge makes it to Ruhenheim, he is already not quite the same as he was at the start. His path to Ruhenheim was the most tedious, and yet he still got there before everyone else. And Grimmer definitely catches his eye when they intersect. Again, not in the romantic sense. They just go around the town, exploring the surroundings and kinda watching each other. And they both know. They know what's going on, they know who the other person is, but they just waltz around it for quite some time. Until they finally have a proper conversation in that desolate place. And that conversation, man...

They understood each other with half-word, literally skipping a good portion of talking, because that would just be redundant. Runge is absolutely chill with the idea that Grimmer might be a murderer. The guy has a nice smile, so who cares, right? Grimmer states that Runge "smells like a detective". Is it just me, or does that sound, uhhh... extremely weird? Almost in a flirty sort of way. Because you gotta get pretty close to someone to take a good whiff of them. And hearing something like that being said about yourself, it must be pretty embarrassing, or confusing, or thrilling. What does that even mean, by the way? I thought so hard about it, and I still can't tell for sure. What do detectives smell like? Gunpowder, paperwork and cold, hard determination? Do they reek of sweat, or some special kind of cologne? I have no idea. But I guess Grimmer has, and Runge, he just stands there, looking at him like it's a given.

And after that, they just click. "Oh, hey, we're on the same page, we're after the same thing". And without any negotiation, they simply decide that they work together now. I am fully convinced that at this very moment Runge went, "This one". No context, just – "This one", about Grimmer. 

He then proceeded to entrust Grimmer with his most important evidence, the very one that led him to Ruhenheim. And then, at Versteck... Man. His "I'll buy you a beer" says so many things, just because it came from Runge. He doesn't have any friends. He doesn't even communicate with his colleagues properly. But, somehow, he is still willing to bond with Grimmer. I guess it's a "we're the same, so let's be alone together" thing. At the same time, he's just heard Grimmer stating that he cannot enjoy simple pleasures in life. That means, he wouldn't be able to enjoy this suggested after-work-beer either, right? So Runge's invitation serves as a double promise: that they'll get the job done and make it out of Ruhenheim alive, and that Grimmer will be fixed enough to finally enjoy that beer with him. 

Needless to say, Runge really, really wanted to keep Grimmer alive. And he doesn't cope with Grimmer's death well. Say what you will, but visiting someone's grave with a beer after A YEAR that they've passed, lamenting how you wish you would have known them, is pretty damn strange. And I suppose Runge might've visited Grimmer's grave prior, too, with some periodicity. The card, the plans, the beer, the hinted promise – he really wanted Grimmer to become his friend. And just because it's Runge, who refused to even engage in a casual talk with his peers and barely cared that his wife and daughter abandoned him, this thing he has for Grimmer seems to be especially large, unalloyed and special.

MONSTER EDIT

Which one of us the unwanted one?

Grunge

There is one thing that surprises me whenever I think of Grimmer and Lunge. Both share the same problem of a lack of humanity (especially emotion). However, the way in which these two people are free from problems is completely opposite.

To put it simply, Grimmer should be remembered, but Lunge should be forgotten. I believe that true growth for Lunge starts with stopping the compulsive hoarding of data.

If Grimmer had survived, he would have sincerely told Lunge that he didn't have to remember so obsessively and desperately. And that would have been the first piece of advice that Lunge heard about his own way of remembering.

Grimmer would have been genuinely concerned about him and perhaps stopped his typing-obsessed fingers.

(We already know that Gillen pointed out Lunge's memory method. However, this is close to a strategic attack on Lunge's blind spots.)

Original poster↓

MONSTER EDIT

Chapter 72 Man Without A Name (Evangelion trailer-style)

I love ur aesthetic and I appreciate that u like inspector (or is it detective? yeah prob) hwhehehe (I dunno his name dont ask me)

Thank you! I think I'll love him for at least another 10 years.

Oh my gosh…I've been eagerly waiting for your art…and the moment I saw it, all the tiredness just vanished…Thank you so much…Your works always feeds me…

I was tired and devastated, and it was okay, but then I have accidentally rekindled that flame and, well, I guess it's time to drop more driftwood into this river. Figuratively speaking.