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alexstalkers · 8 months ago

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Here For You

in which you are the newest member of the bau and help reid with a problem that helps you get to know him better...

season 6 criminal minds

includes: black fem fbi agent, dr. spencer reid

The tension in the BAU had become almost unbearable. Since Emily’s “death,” everything felt off, broken, like a crucial piece of their family was missing. You’d noticed Spencer Reid taking it especially hard, and while everyone else was struggling, he seemed to be slowly unraveling. His usual sharp, articulate self had grown quieter, more withdrawn, the familiar spark in his eyes dulled.

One afternoon, as you stood in the kitchenette pouring coffee, you caught Reid sitting at his desk, fingers rubbing his temples. You’d noticed the small, subtle signs over the last few weeks—the pinched expression, the way his shoulders slumped a little more each day, his normally neat hair beginning to look a little disheveled. Something was wrong.

You approached, careful not to startle him. ��Hey, Reid,” you said softly, sitting down beside him. “You okay? You’ve seemed… off lately.”

He looked up at you, a faint hint of surprise crossing his face before he quickly masked it. “Just… headaches,” he muttered. “I’ve been getting them for a while.”

Your brow furrowed. “How long?”

He sighed, leaning back in his chair and adjusting his glasses. “Months. The only person I told was Prentiss. I didn’t want anyone else to… baby me.”

Your heart ached for him, knowing how close he and Emily had been. “I get it,” you said softly. “But you don’t have to deal with that alone. If you need anything, I’m here.”

Reid seemed to hesitate before nodding. “Thanks. I’ve just been trying to get through it.”

You smiled, trying to lighten the mood. “When I get headaches, I usually dim the lights, put on some instrumental music, and throw a warm towel over my forehead. It’s not a cure, but it helps.” You gave him a gentle nudge. “Try it and come back with results.”

The next day, Reid appeared at your desk, looking marginally better. “The music thing,” he started, looking slightly uncomfortable, “it worked for a while. But then I got another headache a few hours later.”

You frowned. “Okay, so we try something else.” Over the next few days, you worked with him, suggesting different methods—hydration, deep breathing exercises, even meditation. But nothing seemed to give him lasting relief.

“Maybe you should see a doctor,” you said one afternoon, concerned about the persistence of his symptoms. “Get some medication or—”

“No,” he interrupted quickly, his voice sharper than usual. He immediately looked away, shifting uncomfortably under your gaze.

You raised an eyebrow but decided not to push. “Okay,” you said carefully. “But if this keeps up, you really should consider it.”

A few days later, Reid approached you again, but this time he was wearing sunglasses inside, an obvious sign that his headaches were worsening. “I’m sorry about the weirdness the other day,” he said quietly. “I just… there’s something I haven’t told you.”

You tilted your head in curiosity, waiting for him to continue.

“A few years ago,” he began, hesitating as if the words were heavy on his tongue, “I had a problem. With pills. It started with the headaches, but it spiraled out of control. I don’t want to go through that again, especially now with… Emily.”

Understanding dawned on you, and your heart sank. You reached out, placing a hand on his arm gently. “I’m sorry, Reid. I didn’t know.” You paused, choosing your words carefully. “I didn’t mean to make things weird, I just… I care about you, and I don’t want to see you suffer. If there’s anything I can do to help, please, let me know. You can call me anytime.”

Reid gave a small, appreciative smile, and for the first time in weeks, you saw a flicker of warmth in his eyes. “Thanks. I mean it.”

“Anytime,” you repeated, giving his arm a reassuring squeeze before standing to grab some coffee. Things were heavy, but at least Reid knew he wasn’t alone. Maybe, just maybe, that would help him start to heal.

After your heart-to-heart with Reid, you couldn’t help but notice a shift in your dynamic. He sought you out more often, whether it was for help with his headaches or just to talk. You found yourselves lingering over conversations, sitting at the same table during team meals, and sometimes exchanging small, knowing glances during briefings. It was subtle at first, but undeniable.

One evening, after a particularly grueling case, the team had decided to head out for drinks, but Reid had declined, as he often did. You had stayed behind too, using the excuse of catching up on paperwork, but in truth, you found yourself wanting to spend more time with him.

As you filed away reports, Reid appeared at your desk. “Hey, you’re still here,” he said, sounding both surprised and slightly relieved.

You shrugged, glancing up with a small smile. “Yeah, thought I’d finish some paperwork. You okay?”

He looked down at the ground for a moment, then back up at you. “Actually… I was wondering if you wanted to come over. I know it’s late, but I’ve been trying to implement some of the things we talked about, and, well, maybe you could help me figure out what’s working?”

You could tell there was more to his invitation—an underlying need for company that wasn’t being voiced. “Sure, I’d love to.”

A couple of hours later, you were sitting on Reid’s couch, the lights dimmed as he set up his record player. Soft classical music filled the room, and a warm towel rested on his forehead, the makeshift remedy you’d suggested earlier. The space was small, cozy, filled with books and the odd pieces of evidence that told stories of who he was.

“Feeling any better?” you asked, leaning back against the cushions.

Reid adjusted his towel, nodding slightly. “Yeah, actually. The music helps calm my mind. And the dim lighting—it’s nice.”

You smiled softly. “I’m glad.”

There was a pause, the silence between you filled only by the sound of the record spinning in the background. Reid suddenly sat up, tossing the towel aside and facing you. His gaze lingered on you a little longer than usual.

“You know,” he said quietly, “I’ve been thinking a lot lately about… everything. About Emily, about the team, about you.”

Your breath hitched slightly. “Me?”

He nodded. “You’ve been there for me, more than anyone has. And it’s not just about the headaches. I don’t feel so… alone when I’m with you.”

His confession left you momentarily speechless, your heart beating faster as the weight of his words settled between you. You had always cared about Reid—his brilliant mind, his kind heart—but somewhere along the way, your feelings had shifted, deepened. And now, hearing that he felt something similar, it was hard to keep the emotions at bay.

“I feel the same,” you admitted, your voice soft. “It’s been good—spending time with you. I think… I think I needed it too.”

Reid’s eyes softened, and for a moment, it felt like the world outside his apartment disappeared. Slowly, almost hesitantly, he reached out, his fingers brushing against your hand. The gesture was small, but it sent a wave of warmth through you.

“I’m not sure what this is,” he murmured, his voice barely above a whisper, “but I don’t want to lose it.”

You squeezed his hand gently, meeting his gaze. “Neither do I.”

In that moment, the distance between you seemed to close on its own. Reid leaned in, his breath warm against your skin, and before you knew it, his lips were on yours, soft and tentative, as if he was still testing the waters. You responded in kind, the kiss deepening as the emotions you’d both kept at bay spilled over.

When you finally pulled away, breathless, Reid’s forehead rested against yours, his eyes closed as if savoring the moment.

“Sorry,” he whispered, though the smile on his face suggested he wasn’t sorry at all.

You laughed softly, brushing a strand of hair away from his face. “Don’t be.”

For the first time in weeks, Reid looked at peace, the weight of the world no longer visible in his tired eyes. And as you sat there together, the music still playing softly in the background, you realized just how much had changed between you—and how much more you were ready to embrace.

i hope you guys liked this one! it's been long overdue, I've had a lot going on lately, going to try and be consistent! Please request what you want to read, I am still currently only writing in the fanbases that I have posted for right now, but I am going to post more when I get the chance and get more consistent on the ones that I already have!

#fanfic #fanfic x reader #black reader #black tumblr #black women #spencer reid #doctor spencer reid #criminal minds #derek morgan #fan fiction #fanfiction #fandom

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brain-works · 2 months ago

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I present: a non-comprehensive compilation of the times that Lando Norris has praised his car/team this season.

I’d also like to mention that, in the process of collecting these, I realised that Lando isn’t as down on himself and lacking confidence as everyone is saying. these quotes don’t really do him justice (because they’re chopped up bits of full interviews), but in all the press conferences he was actually very fair about his performances (acknowledging his mistakes/shortcomings) and how good the car is, but I wouldn’t really describe his answers as doom and gloom.

I think he just says so much that it’s easy to chop into bits and paint a narrative that he’s lacking confidence when, honestly, from what I can see, that’s definitely not the case.

anyway, just gonna leave these here...

Bahrain:

“The car’s amazing. I have nothing to complain about. The car, the team are doing an amazing job, Oscar’s on pole by a good chunk. I’m thankful for the team, they’re doing an amazing job, just I’m letting them down.” [1]

"Oscar did a good job, so congrats to Oscar and the whole McLaren team. I’ll try to step it up for next weekend [in Saudi Arabia].” [2]

"I mean, the car's good. It won the race. So yeah, as happy as I can be...I had a good start, all those things. But I think P2 was the best we could have achieved today – so we should have achieved it. But we didn’t – and I didn’t, because of some mistakes. So, mixed feelings. I think the pace is good – the car is obviously mega, as Oscar showed, but yeah, just too many mistakes there." [3]

"I have no doubt about that – that I’m good enough, and all of those things. But something’s just not clicking with me and the car. I’m not able to do any of the laps like I was doing last season. Then, I knew every single corner, everything that was going to happen with the car – how it was going to happen. I felt on top of the car. This year, I could not have felt more opposite so far. Even in Australia, whether or not I won the race, I never felt comfortable, never felt confident. The car was just mega and that’s helping me get out of a lot of problems at the minute. But I’m just nowhere near the capability that I have – which hurts, hurts to say." [3]

"I think we knew coming into this season – us as a team knew it before the season – that we were going to have some close moments between us and some good fights. And I’m sure we’re going to have more later this year, which I think we’re both excited for. So we have to keep working hard as a team to keep ourselves ahead of the rest. Because I’m sure we both prefer if it’s just me and him – between us and no one else. As a team, we’d prefer that. It’d probably make our lives easier as a whole. So we’re not forgetting that the competition is close. Yes, we’ve got the best car on the grid and things like this, but one mistake – and I paid the price yesterday." [3]

Japan:

"I’m happy. Congrats to Max, he did a good job so hats off. You’ve got to credit something when it’s a lap that good that he must have done. I’m happy because I feel like I got everything out of the car today." [4]

"I've been feeling good, the car's been feeling good from the off as well. We've been chipping away. I think between both of us we've been quickest in every session bar this one, so it's the little frustrating one. The corners I still struggle with, the corners I'm still not happy with, are the corners I still just don't have the front end and I don't have the grip in the car when I need it from the front. It's clear what suits me and what doesn't, or just what allows me to be quick and what doesn't. China was one of those weaker tracks, and we come here and the car’s a lot more how I want it. Much better again." [5]

"So can't win them all and we take it on the chin. I think we've got areas to work on. High-speed we were very, very strong and I think definitely the strongest car out there." [6]

China:

“I think as a driver you’re always at the limit of your car and what your car can do, so you’re always trying to look at places to improve. I guess I’m trying to look at things I can do better. My start was good, but was it perfect? No, but it was clear where I lost on my performance in the launch. And then just from a car point of view, the car’s doing and performing well, but it’s still extremely difficult to drive." [7]

"I think in general some of the traits are the same [as last year’s car]. It still doesn’t suit at all my driving style. I’ve got to a point where I’ve just accepted that you can’t have a car that suits your driving style – maybe it does suit some people’s. I kind of got to a point where I stopped maybe asking so much for what I want and [I’m] more just willing to do whatever makes the car quicker. It is probably a tricky car to drive and put together laps, but clearly it’s taken a step forward to last year. It’s my job to drive whatever car I get given, at the end of the day – that’s why I’m here, that’s why McLaren want me because they believe I can drive it in a better way than others can." [7]

“It’s more me rather than the car. I can’t make the car perfect, but this was me just trying to push a bit too much. I just need to back off a little bit, not try and push so much. I think the car’s still good and in a good window, maybe not good enough for pole, but we can definitely go forward.” [8]

“I think we’ve got good pace in the car. We’ve clearly got a lot of competition this weekend – the Ferraris look pretty rapid so we’ve got to be on our best form.” [9]

“Just a couple of mistakes [on my side] again, it’s kind of been my case this weekend. The car was feeling a bit better. I felt a lot more comfortable with the car so [it was] a step in the right direction, especially from yesterday where I was struggling a lot and even this morning I was struggling a lot, so a much better direction that we’re going in. [I’m] not too disappointed...It’s still quick enough, we never doubted that it’s the quickest car, it can just be a little bit feisty at times. Today it’s not so much that, today was just mistakes from my side and that’s all.” [10]

"The car’s easily quick enough for pole, so I just did a terrible job yesterday." [11]

"That and just the car—the car is, I mean, we’ve said it many times, it's definitely the quickest car, but it's still tricky to drive. We can easily do good sectors every now and then, but putting a lap together—even like Oscar said, he was two-tenths down and then he's kind of going for it and it stuck. But it seems just tricky to understand how to do it consistently enough. When you do that kind of good job, then it can easily be the quickest car." [11]

"It doesn't matter. He deserved the win and he drove very well all weekend. So I'm happy with second. It's good points. It's great points for us as a team with a 1-2. So a big thanks to everyone in papaya and yeah, just how we wanted the race to go, so very happy, yeah." [12]

"So I think we're both still, as a team we’re still understanding this car and knowing its limitations, how to get the most out of it. But I feel like, especially for me, in the longer run stuff and even the short run stuff, I've not been anywhere near as confident as I would like to be, and I've not got the feeling from the car that I need in order to maximise the performance." [12]

Australia:

"To not make overly too many mistakes, to not have a mistake that cost me anything, I guess I can take a little bit of credit for that. A tough, challenging race but for McLaren, I need to give thanks because they have given me an amazing car.” [13]

(not really much of interest from this weekend tbh since it was a wet race + the first round)

yes, these are all from the f1 site, but I found that it was the easiest way to find his full answers to most questions. if you have any others that you'd like to include, please feel free!

#lando norris #mclaren #tired of the 'ungrateful' narrative #brain posts

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justalilpearlie · 1 year ago

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AITA for torturing my soulmate after he ditched me?

I know how the title sounds, but bare with me for a second.

So for context, a couple months ago I (27F) was put in a hunger games sort of death game with a couple friends where we'd have a random amouth of lives assigned to us and the last one standing would win. We could gift eachother lives or trade with them. To make it short, I got 6 lives, putting me in dark green, but my ally (28M), let's call him S, got 2, and was on his yellow life. So we partnered up and I ended up gifting him TWO of my lives this season, and we became best friends.

The problem started about a month ago, after he won last season and we moved into the next one, yet another death game, this time with only 3 lives each, however, there was a twist. Basicly we were all soulbounded to another person there, and when one took damage their soulmate did aswell.

Everyone went on their own separate ways, looking for resources to start off and testing if anyone they met along the way was their soulmate or not. I did this aswell! And ended up sticking around my friend M (33M). We separate for a little bit, and when I find him again M asks me if I wanna go to the NETHER with him. Worst. Mistake. Of. My. Life.

But I thought "Yeah, a quick trip to the Nether cant hurt, as long as we're careful, our soulmates wont mind!", thats where I was WRONG. Once we got back we called over everyone else in the server who hadn't found their soulmates yet, and two people quickly arrived, S and C (42F), both of which were my friends and allies from the first season! M made us play a little game called "Lost and Bound", or would've if we hadn't figured out early who my soulmate was, when a goat attacked S.

Turns out S was my soulbound and C was M's! And they weren't very happy about our little adventure. They called us cheaters, told us we abandoned them, said they'd be eachothers soulmates, and practically broke up with us… in a soulbound way? They also claimed to HATE us for just a small Nether trip. I was heartbroken I'm ngl. My two best friends and past allies, abandoned me just like that, and claimed I was the cheater!

Not only that, but M was quick to ditch me aswell! He even said he blamed me for it. After that I was left alone with my precious dog Tilly (??F), I built a tower alone since I had nobody left with me. But guess what? Everyone started calling me a WITCH and S stared acting like I was some sort of "crazy ex girlfriend".

This is where I feel like I might've been wrong with how I acted. So my other friend, lets call him R(41M), gave me the idea of taking small amounts of damage to "torture" S. I know its bad, but I was very angry at him for what he'd done and said at the time. So I took R up on it and accepted his powdered snow gift, I'd chill on it often to "tickle" S and scare him a little bit. I'd do this almost every day, sometimes standing next to a cactus aswell once I got one.

But in the end, M, C, S and I teamed up together until we all turned red. From then on I kind of went all in at C and might've sent my pack of dogs after her… and of course killed M in the process. Then S told me to meet him where it all started, before blowing himself up with tnt to let me take the win.

It's been a bit since that happened and we're probably gonna start another of these games soon. I've forgiven him for what he did, and it seems like he did aswell, but… I cant help but feel a bit guilty for all that pain I put him through. AITA?

Edit: I also forgot to mention how C tried to burn my dog?? So I was also very pissed at her about it.

#trafficaita #trafficblr #traffic smp #double life #pearlescentmoon #scott smajor #zombiecleo #inthelittlewood #am i the asshole #aita #life series #goodtimeswithscar

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ondeemand · 9 months ago

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Umbrella Academy Season 4 Review

I cannot understate how bad this season was, not just from a character writing angle, but from a world building one as well. Am I biased because Five is my favorite character and he, arguably, had the biggest character assassination this season? Maybe. But I'd still like to go over my analysis of the final season of Umbrella Academy despite the fact that I'm going to pretend it didn't happen.

Things that don't make sense with the logic they've established

Little to no explanation of the “upgrades” or changes in everyone’s powers. Only some got an actual upgrade (Allison, Klaus, Five, Viktor, and Lila), but Ben’s tentacles just changed positions with no explanation (likely so he didn’t have to wear that greenscreen torso setup), and Luther and Diego just stayed the same.

○ Why does Allison’s upgrade involve super strength and/or telekinesis? I could maybe see it working on people (a silent command for them to do physically impossible things like float), but why does her power make the lights flicker and furniture move? ○ Why does Lila have laser vision as her upgrade? Her power is to copy powers, no one here has laser eyes. If it’s meant to be an upgrade, why is her upgrade laser eyes of all things? You could have made it so she can use multiple powers at once instead. Not to mention that the laser vision played next to no important role in the entire show besides one attack in the final fight that Viktor could have done instead. ○ Luther mentioned in an episode that he’s been having problems with his powers? What problems? That was never shown and never elaborated on. Also, everyone has already mentioned this, but Luther getting his power back wouldn’t give him the ape DNA.

The show claims that Allison also lost her powers last season despite her not getting her Marigold taken out of her. This could have been a programming thing with Reginald’s universal reset, but it isn’t really established so we’re left to guess (or at least I am).

Why did the CIA hire an 18 year old (at most) looking boy and accept that his name is a number? Did they not question that he’s a Hargreeves and any relations he may have to Reginald? This could be explained that the CIA looked the other way because Five’s boss was a member of the Keepers and possibly knew he had something to do with the timeline being screwed up, but this isn’t ever confirmed.

I liked that Lila’s family was alive, but how? Why? How did they reconnect? Did Lila replace their daughter? Are everyone else’s parents alive? If so, why didn’t they go look for them (especially Klaus, who went out of his way to find his birth mother last season)? Are the other October 1st children alive in this universe? If so, why didn’t they look for Sloane, even if she’d have no memory of her time as a Sparrow? This plot point just creates so many questions that go unanswered.

Number inconsistency with the timeline (Five is 63 instead of 64 years old, saying they spent 5 years instead of 6, etc). The beginning of the show said it was a 6 year time-skip, but the end of the season said it was only about 5 1/2 years, which is likely what led to these inconsistencies. It’s a small detail, but all it would take to fix is to just say it was a 5 year time-skip from the start.

Ben on a subway train last season was seemingly not explained despite subway trains being a very important plot device this season. I get that they probably had to change the story because of Netflix canceling the show, but still.

What’s with the Jennifer portrait in Sparrow Ben’s room in season 3 if he’s never met her before? It was probably just meant to be a reference, but now it retroactively doesn’t make sense.

Why does Claire know that Klaus is immortal? Even if he told her, why would she believe him? They live in a world where they never had powers, and I don’t think anyone told her they got the powers back, let alone every detail of how Klaus’ work.

Five used the ability to go back in time in short bursts way back in season 2, why does he never use that power again? (The answer is that it was too convenient and could fix any plot point, but still)

No paradox psychosis symptoms in the deli full of Fives (because it’s in the subway? Unclear and unexplained).

Diego said that Lila hates bracelets and traded one that Diego got her, but she kept the one Diego made in the 1963 asylum and wore it for the rest of the season. It even made it to season 3 where Diego had kept it for most of the time, then returned it to Lila at the end. It’s such an important symbol of their relationship, but they just had to throw in a random reason that Diego would discover the affair that doesn’t even make logical sense.

Very small thing, but Viktor said he was going to pull out Ben’s Marigold but then they switched it to pulling out his/Jennifer’s Durango.

Klaus doesn’t have his Hello/Goodbye or cult tattoos but they do all have the umbrella tattoos? That doesn’t make sense.

Seeing all the kids being happy in the new timeline was nice, but I do have to point out that they wouldn’t exist if their parents didn’t, or it’d be incredibly unlikely that they’d turn out exactly the same and end up being all together.

Seeing Grace happy at the end was also really sweet, but it didn’t make logical sense because the real Grace is from Dallas in the 60s. She’d be old and/or dead by then, and if they showed her, why not also show Ray, Missy, and Harlan?

Things I just don't like about it

Where’s Ray? It was sad that he was so easily written out and delegated to just a few lines.

Klaus getting whored out is so uncomfortable. Thank god they cut away before it got too graphic, but it was still so bad.

Klaus overall was underutilized and given the short end of the stick this season. How it usually works is Five and Lila are the A Team, they have all the pieces put together and are making real progress. Everyone else is the B Team, they’re trying their best to solve the plot but sometimes make unnecessary moves because they don’t know everything. And then there’s Klaus on the C Team doing god knows what (and I love him for it). However, even if it’s silly, it always impacts the story in some sort of helpful way.

○ In season 1 he gets kidnapped and sent to Vietnam on his own side quest. The plot relevance is that now he learns more about Hazel and Cha Cha and learns how the briefcases work. This is also a somber character moment that forces him to mature through a traumatic event. More positively, it’s where he meets the love of his life that, in turn, has ties to season 2. ○ In season 2 he fucks off for 3 years to start a cult. This allows him time to really practice with his powers and has development for Ben, as well as getting him connections and experiences that help them later on. ○ In season 3, while the rest of the cast are dealing with the Sparrows, he and Five go on a road trip to Pennsylvania. This fun jaunt leads to the incredibly important revelation that their mothers died before they were born, and the discovery of the Kugelblitz. He later goes on another road trip side plot with Reginald where he actually trains his powers, which allows him to survive the Kugelblitz and reveal Reginald’s actions to everyone in the Hotel Oblivion. ○ In season 4, Klaus… gets kidnapped by a gang he owes money to and gets spiritually and physically whored out to people. He manages to escape by himself, is almost immediately found by the gang again, gets buried alive and left to die over and over again (incredibly similar trauma to the mausoleum that isn’t addressed), and is rescued by Allison and Claire. He gains nothing from this except for more trauma. It’s not plot relevant, he doesn’t learn anything or gain any new skills from it, and he doesn’t even get the money he dug up. It’s mind boggling how many plot irrelevant things got squeezed into the final season when the runtime was cut in half. I’d argue that maybe it would all be worth it if they included the cut scene where Klaus goes to an AA meeting.

Not the fault of the show, probably, but the captions weren’t always accurate.

Lila and Five romance which is gross both in-universe and between actors. Not to mention how allonormative it is that Five “had to have a love story,” because the show was already a familial love story. I really don't believe Five and Lila would get together, but even if they did, they would both drop it the moment they got back to their family.

○ I believe that they would grow very close, especially when they’re the only people together. It’s like a diet apocalypse (I’ll get back to this point later), so it makes sense that they’d grow closer on top of the relationship they had based on their established similar backstories and traumas. ○ Five would NEVER give up on finding his family. It’s his main motivation, the very core of his character. Would he want to take a break after 6 ½ years on top of his 45 previous years being stuck? Absolutely, that’s entirely plausible, but he’d want to leave the second he found the journal. ○ Five loves his family, full stop. He’d NEVER hate Diego for his reaction to getting cheated on, and he’d never want to “fucking kill him.” Have we forgotten how a young Five tried to shake Diego’s corpse awake when he first got to the apocalypse? ○ On top of it all, he would never just abandon everyone like that and fuck off to another timeline, and especially not because he got dumped.

I wish the show focused more on how visiting the apocalypse and getting stuck on in the subway would dredge up old memories for Five. He had a whole PTSD attack in season 1 and freaked out hard. I know it’s been a few years for him, but seeing any kind of reaction besides mild concern would have been nice. Same with Klaus and getting buried alive. I didn’t even know that he was dying over and over until I watched the cut AA scene. Robert Sheehan has so much range and I wish they let him shine in that more serious moment on top of how well he does the comedic stuff.

I get that Random Fire Boy from the Phoenix Academy timeline was likely just another one of the October 1st kids, but why create a whole new guy for just that scene? Why not use one of the other established Umbrellas or Sparrows to shoot an attack that took 2 seconds of screen time?

The CGI was bad ngl. I thought it looked worse than usual last season, but this was. Not good.

The final fight with the big glob monster felt kind of disjointed and awkward, both with the pacing, visuals, and dialogue.

Incredibly sad that Ben (and Jennifer, but we didn’t get enough time to really bond with her) died so horrifically. He died scared and alone, never having fully connected with the Umbrellas who only ever saw him as a replacement for their own dead brother.

The fact that there wasn’t a dance sequence this season is really telling. Someone online proposed the idea that they should have danced as they waited to die, and I think that would have been great. The soundtrack did use another version of “I Think We’re Alone Now” for the final scene, but I think this part would have benefited more. Five and Lila would get to join in, and it’d be nice because they weren’t alone anymore. Even if they were going to die, they’d be together. It would have added more sweetness to a bittersweet ending.

The Diego fat jokes weren’t funny. Fatphobia isn’t funny. He also isn’t fat??? He’s really fucking muscular as shown by him going shirtless in the CIA fight (the Marvel dehydrate+flex method strikes again). Maybe he gained some weight since previous seasons but not to an unhealthy degree. He’s a suburban father of 3 who sits in a van all day to deliver packages, of course he’s not as active as he used to be when he was a crime fighting vigilante.

They also never name Diego and Lila’s third child despite them being so important to Lila and why she chooses her family over her affair. Grace as their first daughter is sweet (Diego was a mama’s boy to the end), then Coco is nice (Spanish name like Diego’s), and then there’s Coco’s unnamed twin. It would have been nice to give them a more traditionally Punjabi name to even it out, or show interesting character psychology for Lila if they were named after someone like The Handler or AJ.

No Pogo except in a flashback? The gang that held Klaus hostage were the Mothers of Agony, so I thought he would be there and maybe help Klaus escape. I guess if Reginald had his wife and never made the Umbrella Academy, he wouldn’t have done the experiments that made Pogo into what he is? That either adds to how awful Reginald is, or it’s just another plot hole.

That whole vomit scene. Bad and Not Funny.

Baby shark was funny at first but got old and cringe incredibly fast.

Things I DO like about it because I want to stay at least a little positive

(It’s not in the show but conceptually, with Allison’s new powers, she could tell someone to kill themselves and they just would which is a funny visual)

The family photo was cute, I love looking at everyone’s individual reactions.

The episode 4 flashback sequence was great.

○ Good casting for the young versions of characters. ○ I love that it showed how close Viktor and Ben were as kids. It’s always been a strong headcanon within the fandom but I don’t know if it’s ever been established on screen before (besides Ben’s sacrifice in season 2). ○ POGO!!!!! ○ Ben said fuck!!!!! ○ Holy SHIT very good reveal of Ben’s death. It was super shocking and unexpected, and the fact that it was a big mystery for so long and ended up being something so simple really added to the tragedy.

Allison throwing a plate at Reggie lmao.

Viktor standing up to Reginald!!! Let it out king!!! And I love that his outburst shows even more how close he and Ben used to be.

Diego and Luther’s dumbassery, I love them so much. The two halves of a whole idiot are BACK. They’re besties and I love it.

Diego learned Punjabi for Lila and her family!!!!! That’s so fucking sweet of him!!!!!!

The soundtrack, as always, was a banger.

Most of the fight scenes are great, either hilarious or incredibly violent or a mix of both.

Hargreeves being an abusive father but not a transphobic one lmao.

I still love the umbrella shapes at the beginning of every episode, and the final one being inverted was sick.

I wasn’t sure about Gene and Jean at first but I love them. Great casting choices, great performances, they felt very reminiscent of the weird and unique aesthetic of season 1 that I’ve been missing.

Diego calling Five “Cinco” was so cute. Too bad this horrible version of Five didn’t deserve it.

I do like how Viktor and Reginald were paired up together when they had the most strained relationship at the start of the show. It felt like a sign that Viktor was stronger now and had been able to recover enough to do so.

○ I understand where people are coming from that it feels too much like forgiving Reginald and absolving him of all his abuse. But also, this is the show that forgets about all the bad things a character has done between seasons, let alone between several. Viktor slashed open Allison’s throat? Water under the bridge. Luther locked Viktor in the same chamber that Reginald did and gave him a mental breakdown? Forgiven and forgotten. Allison’s sexual assault on Luther? To them it’s been 5–6 years so he’s had time to process it but still, never brought up again. I’m not excusing these writing choices, just establishing that it’s been a pattern. At the very least, this one felt like there was closure because Viktor actually got to stand up for himself and his siblings.

They finally wrapped up the plot thread of Five creating the commission, even if it was just delegated to a throwaway line. The fact that they addressed it at all was satisfying enough to me, especially in comparison to everything else.

It’s a blink-and-you’ll- miss-it moment, but Five protected Luther’s head from bullets when the van was getting shot at. So funny that he keeps trying to use his small body to protect the actual tank that is Luther.

○ It’s similar to the scene in season 2 where Five (prepubescent body) pushes Luther (bulletproof ape body) out of the way of falling bricks and gets crushed. Luther is canonically bulletproof (maybe not in the head?) and Five KNOWS this because he saw him get shot by a tank in 1963. ○ Thank god at least SOME part of his love for his family and protective instincts survived this season’s character assassination.

I like that the final scene of them all in a circle kind of mimics the ending of season 1 (even if I wish it was a dance sequence instead).

I liked that the ending showed other characters getting to have normal lives (The Swedes, Hazel and Agnes, Grace (even though that doesn’t make sense), The Handler, Dot and Herb, etc). If it had to end in a bitter way, I like that we got even this small comfort.

TLDR

Overall, while the season wasn’t entirely unbearable to watch, the small, momentary Pros are heavily outweighed by the Cons that either break the show’s logic, assassinate the characters, or are storytelling choices that leave longtime fans like myself dissatisfied.

3.65/10

#is it my fault for having so much hope? no—it's Steve Blackman who is wrong #I'm not saying what it is—but the series finale being so bad is what finally pushed me to post a ua fanfic I'd had in my drafts for 2 years #it's so funny how many dormant fics have been updated because of this lmao #the umbrella academy #umbrella academy #tua #ua #umbrella academy season 4 #ua season 4 #luther hargreeves #diego hargreeves #allison hargreeves #klaus hargreeves #five hargreeves #ben hargreeves #viktor hargreeves #lila pitts #long post

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cattimeswithjellie · 1 year ago

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Liveblogging Doc Stream VOD, 6/8/24

(Just as an important contextual note for this stream, Doc is _always_ joking when he vows revenge or eternal hatred on somebody in these streams. He has assured everyone on a number of occasions that his petty rage is a bit and neither he nor the other Hermits ever take it seriously.)

Doc Stream, 6/8/24

9:20 Doc opens the stream by claiming that some crimes are so heinous that they require immediate retaliation. Someone has touched Doc’s redstone, and he is Not Amused. He tells chat that he was emotionally distressed to the point that he killed Cleo’s pig, but insists that the pig is really the victim of whoever touched the redstone. He offers a plea in the alternative that the pig was looking at him funny and it was really a case of self defense. Chat is divided on whether this is a compelling argument, but most of them are still busy saying hello.

10:38 Doc switches camera to Hermitcraft. He is in his base. He tells chat they will investigate swine crime later. He recaps last week’s stream where he broke 5k subscribers and says that his wife does not believe him about his number of subs. Today’s sub count is 4788 as a result of some gift subs lapsing. He needs to make it to 10k subs so he doesn’t notice as much if he loses a few. He thanks some subs and donos. Someone in chat mentions TCG and Doc is happy to be able to talk about it at last. He also admits that he has finally solved his considerable lag problem but is embarrassed about it.

14:50 Doc tells Chat that Beef has been working on TCG behind the scenes, and Joe Hills has been cultivating an IRL TCG community to play the game. The Hermits decided a TCG expansion is in order and artists have been hired for the new work. All the artists are under NDA, on pain of goat-slapping. Several of the DCP artists are part of the project. Doc was barraged with questions from his team on what sort of art he wanted, and insisted he wanted the artists to make the decisions. He was forced to join a Discord and actually talk to the artists, which is clearly terribly painful to him (in a clearly joking way.) He thanks more subs,.

17:55 Doc shows off the new smoothness of his improved FPS. He admits that for weeks he was whining and complaining about lag, but the solution was simple: a vacuum cleaner. When he finally cleaned the dust and yuck out of his computer, his overheating and lag problems were magically solved. He is embarrassed but pleased. He still has not set up his new PC.

20:45 A chatter asks how Doc’s day is going. He says it is brilliant, that he set up a tomato house and needs to end the stream on time because he has a delivery of garden equipment coming in. Home growing of cannabis is legal now in Germany and now it is quite difficult to find home gardening equipment at the shops. At the moment his plants are growing very well. He has 30-40 plants for sure this season. He is very excited about his tomatoes.

22:45 Time for work! The beacon is broken again. He thought he fixed it, but has a suspicion something else is broken. He needs to be on the server tomorrow at 6:55am to see what happens at that time. He talks about some redstone stuff involving the beacon that is beyond the ken of this livestreamer, but the upshot appears to be that the beacon is getting loaded and unloaded during server reset and that breaks it. There is supposed to be a workaround involving a hopper clock but it is not working. He wants to be online and watching what happens at the next reset. Doc thanks more donos and gets attacked by phantoms who shriek “Time to Shreep!” in Bdubs’ voice. He sleeps.

26:05 Doc’s job for today is to fill the machine he built last week to make armor trims. He will also investigate the heinous crime of redstone-touching. He gets a shulker box from his dispenser and begins filling it with the materials that can be used to decorate armor. Chat helps by reminding him of which materials he needs.

29:00 Doc makes the (possibly hubristic) claim that he is going to work today and no one will be able to stop him. He talks about the insanity of last week’s stream and how it was a once in a lifetime experience with the chat determined to get him to 5k subs. He is still not over it. He finishes gathering his materials then pauses to think. Chainmail armor cannot be used in the machine, but leather armor is possible. Doc asks how to farm leather. Chat suggests murdering horses and he calls them murderers. He raises the possibility of finding a hoglin farm or possibly bartering. He goes to the nether.

31:50 A chatter asks what is the weirdest fan-made thing that Doc has seen about himself. He says not to get him started. He begins to AFK the hoglin farm and demands chat do the math to determine how much leather will be needed. Chat doesn’t know, but is pretty sure it is more than 3. Doc settles on 96. He says a lot of fanart is pretty weird, especially the shipping fanart of him and Ren, though he has always said he doesn’t mind. He is not going to address the fanfiction but describes it as really far-out weird. Chat immediately calls him out (good-naturedly) for calling Ren his husband and then saying that ship art is weird. A chatter asks if Doc is using his new PC, he repeats his embarrassing vacuum-cleaner story. We get more details about the lengths Doc went to while chasing down his lag, including streaming to Cortex, maker of the Sodium-rendering mod Nvidium. Cortex apparently did suggest overheating might be the problem but Doc insisted with great fervor that his computer couldn’t possibly be overheating.

38:20 After recalling all of these computer misadventures, Doc decides that the story is too embarrassing to keep retelling. From this point onward in the stream, anyone who comments on the lack of lag will be told that Doc is actually using the new PC. Chat is not allowed to snitch.

40:00 Doc says that the new video got a small amount of static in the comments over the “wokeness” of putting up a rainbow beacon to celebrate his friends during Pride Month. Doc relates the arguments he has had there and on Twitter. LGBTQ issues are not a major issue in Doc’s life, as a cishet man, unless someone is going after his friends. (He makes a quick reference to the time he got in a fight at Disney because some people were hassling Bdubs, a story he has told before.) He very much disagrees with the argument that Pride is being shoved into people’s faces. He says people are just weird. He speculates that it may be a cultural thing as well, that in Germany nobody is really arguing about Pride month.

43:30 Doc arrives back at the shopping district. He says it is time to stop focusing on the complainers and get back to the really important issue, which is his redstone. A chatter points out that his mic is hot and he says he wants it that way, so that everyone can hear. He yells to the empty shopping district “YOU HEAR ME, HERMITS? A CRIME! HAS! HAPPENED!” He says he’s going to put up speakers all over the server to remind people. Someone asks if the crime was pig murder. He is not amused. He does not believe Scar or False were the culprit. At the suggestion of chat he does a quick check for snails in the machinery, saying that if he sees any, he will be getting out the strong pesticide. No snails are found. Doc says he wants to fix it very badly, but that would be tampering with evidence. He does some more shouting into the shopping district, then admits he doesn’t believe Xisuma or False, the only hermits online, had anything to do with it. False apparently is an angel, with no criminal energy inside her.

46:30 Time for work. Doc does not believe it was Cleo either, because when he killed her pig she got mad instead of confessing. He realizes that he forgot to bring the shulker box with him and it is back in the swamp. He blames chat.

47:30 Doc begins walking home, discussing potential suspects. The only Hermit he remembers tweaking lately is Scar, by laughing at the Death Scar prank and telling him he’s on Jevin’s side. He is sure it isn’t Scar, though, because Scar is a very bad liar and also would not have lied but would’ve doubled down and demanded to know what Doc was gonna do about it. He also doesn’t think it was Grian because he and Grian are cool right now and Grian hasn’t been around. He wonders if Joel might have done it just to be pesky. Chat suggests XB or Wels, and insists Joel would not mess with a build. Doc says XB is too nice. It definitely wasn’t Joe because Joe is Doc’s lawyer. He thinks Iskall is a possibility and decides to check his shop purchases. If Dark Oak has been purchased, the trail of evidence leads to Iskall. Doc declares that this is the biggest scandal on Hermitcraft since the tunnel bore incident. By now he has arrived home and collects up his shulker box and crafting table.

50:50 Back to the shopping district, as Chat continues naming basically ever Hermit as possible suspects. Doc thanks his “sugar mama” donos and does a little dance for them, then gets down into the guts of his redstone. He says that this is going to involve some brainwork. He swears incidentally, surprising some chatters, and explains that he does swear during stream. A chatter mentions that he is hotmiccing his swears into the shopping district, but Doc does not appear to notice.

55:15 A chatter says he is a fan of what Doc and the Hivemind are doing and encourages him to keep it up. Doc says his plans are to invent email on the server and maybe also do some drilling. He begins creating armor for the Tide armor trim, remembers that Tide is the name of a laundry detergent, then remembers the eating Tide Pods fad. He briefly despairs for humanity, then moves on to discussing how the armor pieces should be decorated. Chat helps Doc make various fashion choices.

59:45 A dono comes in labeled “from the ladies in the chat.” Doc says he knows 90% of his audience is ladies and that he is catering to the female audience, with his looks. Chat has many reactions to this information. Doc reiterates that he is the humble GOAT. He cannot say it with a straight face.

1:01:20 Another dono comes in claiming that a large percentage of his audience is nonbinary and should also be catered to. Doc assures them that he is also catering to the nonbinary audience, again with his looks. He cannot remember the phrase “gender goals,” but says he has been told that he is a gender role model for several fans who are transitioning. Chat assures Doc that he is indeed very gender. Doc says that he is catering to everyone with his looks. He does admit that it is hard to keep track of the often-complex array of identities and banners within the community, especially as someone who is outside of it, but reiterates that he loves all of Chat. He declares that the Jolly Roger is the flag usable by everyone, because being a pirate is the best thing you can be.

1:04:15 A chatter activates the auto text-to-speech function and makes it chant lyrics to “All The Single Ladies.” Doc is surprised, but does another little dance. He goes back to the topic and says that the most sexualization surrounding Pride comes from the people who are too preoccupied with disliking it. Back to the armor fashion discussion.

1:08:00 Doc responds to a hello message from an arriving chatter and advises the rest of the chat that if they want to be noticed by the streamer, they should use the color that this particular chatter has used, because it is very attention getting. (The chatter has chosen magenta as their username color.) A chatter asks if Doc is going to build one of every combination of armor and trim. Doc says no, that would be crazy. He is going to build a nice mix to showcase some possibilities. He replaces more armor pieces in the droppers and decides to use pink leather in place of chainmail, which does not work in the machine.

1:10:50 Doc heads for the dye shop to find pink dye. He examines Pearl’s Wordle build but finds that the dye is still in her truck shop. He accidentally visits the Purr-Purr shop before finding his way to the dye truck. Doc gets out his ender chest and realizes that he has no diamonds because he put all of them in the materials shulker box, which is back at the armor machine. He scolds chat for not reminding him to bring diamonds to the dye shop and bemoans their laziness in relying on their GOAT to remember everything. After a quick trip across the shopping district, he pays for his dye and dyes his leather armor pieces.

1:13:45 More armor fashion choices, this time for Coast trim. Doc is pleased that with the lag gone, he is getting so much done today. His anvil immediately breaks, but he has a spare.

1:15:55 Doc shows off the completed set of Coast trim armor, mostly in shades of pink and blue. He is pleased with it and wishes that he were allowed to dye his netherite armor different colors. He agrees with chat that the armor set gives a maid sort of vibe. He continues with more trims and more armor and trim color combinations, with occasional commentary. Vex trim looks a bit like a suit and tie outfit and a bit like a color-swapped version of Scar’s default skin.

1:23:14 A chatter asks if Doc would complain about sand less if it were easily renewable. Doc says of course, and that it _is_ easily renewable, you just have to make a sand duper. He begins working on the Sentry trim set, which confuses some chatters who think he is saying Sandtree. A chatter gifts a large number of subs. Doc threatens to name all the remaining armor pieces after the chatter. He is close to 5k subs again and encourages all viewers with Twitch Prime to sub now. A different chatter gifts a large number of subs. Doc insists that this gifting of subs cannot go on forever, but is clearly grateful for the generosity.

1:28:00 A chatter asks if the subscription price increase in July means a raise for the streamers. Doc says he does not know. He got an email from Twitch but hasn’t read it yet because most Twitch email is junk. He guesses that the split is usually based on percentage, so a higher sub price ought to mean more money for the streamer. He continues building armor pieces. He corrects a chatter’s misconception that partners get a 70/30 split, saying that 50/50 is the usual split.

1:31:50 A chatter says that Doc has no reading comprehension (Doc misread an earlier comment about bananas.) He says that he knows what the comment meant, but what he said was funnier. He deliberately bananifies a chatter’s name when thanking them for a dono. He talks some about how the grind on YouTube and Twitch is relentless, and that on Twitch, missing even one or two streams can cause a catastrophic drop in sub numbers. He puts together an armor set in the Silence trim, which most chatters seem to agree is the best. Doc agrees in part, but says the chestplate is too much. He does like the way the armor turned out, calling it “serious drip.” Chat suggests it looks like Optimus Prime.

1:36:50 A donor makes a donation and activates the auto text-to-speech. Doc comments that the “single ladies” (a holdover joke from last week) are generous today and says sometimes he feels like a stripper. Chat thinks this is very funny and he acknowledges that he says the weirdest things. Chat assures him that he can leave his hat on. They also attempt to summon Cub for horn acquisition. A chatter says they love Doc’s content but he should keep his clothes on because he’s got no curves. Doc takes great affront to this and assures chat that he has serious booty that he gets complimented on on a daily basis. He is favorably compared to many women’s husbands on the playground. He tells stories about this while chat loses their collective mind. Doc goes back to assembling armor pieces. He tells chat his current weight is 88kg, and that he used to weigh more when he played basketball but it’s been the same for about fifteen years.

((Liveblogger fast-forwarded through some conversation about weight loss and dieting at this point due to personal mental health concerns. Doc continues working on armor trims during this time.))

1:48:30 Doc says that he is almost done with the first half of stocking the machine. He has finished the trims up as far as the Rib trim. He begins working on the Ward trim. He says he may give Bdubs the chainmail he is taking out of the factory and that giving some gifts to the judge might come in handy. He clarifies to chat that he has all the respect in the world for single moms, having grown up as one. Chat queries him intensely on this, and he clarifies he grew up _with_ a single mom. Chat threatens Doc with more fanart.

1:51:55 Chat suggests conducting a poll on how many single ladies love Doc. Doc says they should definitely not do that, because Karin will not like knowing how many single ladies there are out there. (He is clearly joking.) He tells the single ladies to stay in the shadows, and that he knows they are there. He gives them a flirtatious waves and shushes them. He’s beginning the single ladies song again when suddenly interrupts himself with “I put it in the wrong hole again, goddammit.” Chat has the expected reaction to this turn of phrase. It takes Doc about thirty seconds to realize what he has said. He facepalms so hard he nearly falls out of range of the camera. Looking extremely pained, he tells Chat they have their mind in the gutter all day long. Chat has never been so desperately eager for Cub to make an appearance. Doc approves of the Ward armor trim samples and makes a noise similar enough to “uwu” to catch Chat’s attention again. He does not know what Uwu means, and Chat is only marginally helpful. Doc laments that life is hard for Boomers like him. Chat suggests that he should ask Gem but he refuses, saying she will just make fun of him.

1:55:00 With one side of the build completed, it is time for a short break. He wonders aloud if someone has been sneaking around inside his redstone. Chat suggests that maybe Doc is 77. Doc says that streaming is definitely not easy work, due to the CONSTANT INSULTS. Despite saying it is time for a break, Doc does not appear to be taking a break. He throws away some excess chainmail with the comment that Bdubs will not be happy about it. Almost instantly a zombie appears in full chainmail armor and tries to kill Doc, followed by another zombie with a chainmail helmet. Chat suspects this is revenge.

2:00:00 Dune trim construction. Doc sings a song about choosing armor trims. The trim comes out looking like tie dye and is declared a Renbob shirt. Doc says he is beginning to reach the unhinged portion of the stream. He sings a little more about what he is doing. Chat is unconvinced that the unhinged portion of the stream is only starting now.

2:03:10 A chatter called “Mistress of Torture” subscribes, Doc takes notice and jokes that this is one of the single moms, but a scary one. That chatter then goes on to make a large gift of subs Doc says “Thank you, Mistress” and laughs for awhile over that. Sub total is back over 5k. Doc thanks Chat as a whole for their great generosity in the last two streams. Someone in chat says they are all simps for Doc. Doc responds that just as there are Ethogirls, there are DocMILFs, which causes a substantial reaction in the chat.

2:06:40 A chatter subscribes and asks what they are signing themselves up for. Doc says they don’t want to know. A chatter suggests that now Chat knows what the M in DocM77 stands for. Doc says that his name came from his basketball friends. He could jump very high, so they said he could jump like Doctor J, but called him Doctor M because it is his last initial. He was also called Doc, he explains, because of his great understanding of and charisma with “the ladies,” who would often come to him with their problems. Doc assures Chat that he was never into chasing women, that his first long-term relationship was when he was 14, and that relationship lasted seven years. A short period of madness followed, and then he met Karin. Chat asks how he met Karin, and he says it was at a carnival party that he attended. It was a last-minute invite so he didn’t have a costume. He put a trash bag on and went as garbage. He saw Karin at the party and told his buddy that he just spotted his future wife. Despite the fact he was wearing a trash bag, he went up to her and they hit it off. Before the end of the party, he tore a heart-shaped piece of trashbag off his costume and wrote his phone number on it. She called him back. “Doctor Love strikes again, suckers,” he concludes. Karin still has the trash bag fragment.

2:11:00 Doc talks more about meeting Karin. He had been having fun as a basketball player, lots of cheerleaders, parties, etc, but he knew right away that she was different. Their friends didn’t initially believe it, but he always knew. He flies to the nether to gather more levels for trimming armor at his gold farm. Chat is disappointed that Doc did not visit Bop N Go. Chat asks for more tips about relationships, but he says there are no good general dating tips because everyone is so different. He says people enjoy the company of people who like themselves. Not narcissism, but knowing yourself and having self-confidence. Putting yourself out there to meet a potential new partner is scary, but the worst they can do is say no.

2:19:00 Doc has almost 30 levels but wants to gather a few more. Chat offers its own dating tips, including good hygiene, not being a dick, and talking to women like human beings. Doc tells chat that if you talk to women like a pickup artist or Andrew Tate, you’re not likely to get far. He offers more bits of relationship advice. A chatter asks how old Doc is, he tells them he is 19. Chat thinks that is very funny.

02:23:00 Doc leaves the gold farm. He is planning on rebuilding it bigger and better at some point, but not until after the next update. He is still being hounded by the forces that would suppress shadow poppy technology but he will never stop. He arrives back at the armor trim shop and tries to remember what trim is next. He talks with chat about the sub count and how many subs have been donated in the last two weeks. He still cannot get over last week’s stream.

02:27:10 A chatter asks if Cleo and Doc will be the first in the new courthouse. Doc says maybe, but what he is really interested in is catching the person who touched his redstone. He claims he would _never_ touch anyone else’s redstone. He believes capital punishment is the only acceptable consequence for such a crime. Doc says that stocking the armor shop machine is not the sort of chores he likes to do, but he is happier doing it on stream with chat to keep him company. He talks about a lumberjack-related television show from Canada that he he watches (Big Timber) and says he enjoys Canadian accents.

2:30:55 Doc sings again. He trims some more armor. A chatter compliments the Goatfather voice from Season 7 and Doc does a brief reprise. He shows off the pants with the Snout trim and declares the size of the belt buckle “sus.” Chat agrees that the pants belong to Texas. Doc has not been to Texas but he would like to go there and eat a gigantic T-Bone steak, drink Bud Light and talk about guns. Doc is not a gun advocate himself, he just wants to talk about them. A chatter says that Doc has Tweeted some strange stuff over the years, Doc scoffs at the possibilty of him saying anything weird.

2:34:00 Doc has been to New York before and has many basketball friends from there. He loves Brooklyn. He accidentally presses a button on the machine, which causes it to dispense an armor. He says that was not good, but the machine is not broken. He talks more about New York. He also talks about going up in the Sears Tower in Chicago and the Space Needle in Seattle. He likes anything you can climb. It has been about 10 years since Doc’s last trip to New York City, he’d like to go back and see how it has changed. He does more armor trims.

2:38 Doc talks more about changes in New York. He says the homeless situation was surprising to him when he visited, but it also happens in Germany and European cities. A chatter says it is unsafe to go to any major cities in the US, Doc scoffs at this idea and says the danger is very exaggerated. A chatter asks Doc to never say their name again because the first mention gave them a mini heart attack, Doc says it again and adds the headline “Twitch Streamer Kills Viewer.” He falls off his scaffolding several times and becomes frustrated. Doc talks about differences between Europe and the US regarding perceptions of race and interracial couples.

2:43:30 Doc thanks a new Twitch Prime subscribers, reminds other viewers with Prime subscriptions that they can subscribe for free. He pulls more armor out of the machine to trim. A chatter asks about Twitch Nitro, which reminds Doc that he wants to try running an ad. He has zero income from ads right now and wants to see what happens if he runs an ad. Chat points out that after the past two weeks, everyone in chat is subbed and will not see an ad. Doc says he needs a bathroom break but will hold it in because Chat demands it. (Chat is being fairly encouraging about running an ad.) Doc says if he pees his pants he will blame Chat.

2:47:30 A chatter asks what Doc will sell trim for. He says 6-7 shulkers of sand, to make the other Hermits regret their life choices. Chat says Scar is about to make bank, Doc agrees. ((Scar is selling sand for 15 diamonds per shulker as of Skizz’s latest stream, making the cost of a trim approximately 90 diamonds)). Doc admires his statue and its prominent booty. He says he debated with Jerome over the size of the statue’s booty, but Jerome assured him that the audience will love it. Chat generally agrees.

2:51:40 A chatter suggests using more iron armor instead of the gold and leather, Doc says iron does not show armor trims as well as other materials. Doc says he can’t pick a bad armor trim because it turns out that he likes them all. He notes a “battle of the MILFs” in the chat as two chatters make gifts of subs. Doc’s lead moderator claims victory as Chief MILF.

2:53:55 Ren signs onto the server, Doc calls him his husband. He explains that the community’s will is that he and Ren are some old married couple. Doc reaches the last set of armor trims. He asks Ren if he is streaming. Ren is not streaming, which is disappointing to Doc.

2:56:15 Doc shows off Shaper trim, the last set of trim, and reevaluates his stance that no trims are bad. He does not like Shaper because it is too generic. He accidentally hits another button. He replaces all the armor in the machine and the job is done. Returning to the surface, Doc hits some note blocks on purpose to run the machine. It produces a set of armor. Doc approves and says it looks like a superhero costume. He says the dispenser will probably need to be encased in glass because Hermits will definitely mess things up. He dismisses the armor. He talks about how to make a payment box, explaining he was deeply disappointed in Bdubs for not seeing the payment box in the wood shop. He expects Hermits to be breaking this machine for the rest of the season. The machine is taking a long time to reset.

3:00:00 Doc goes back into the redstone of the machine to troubleshoot. He figures out what happened and fishes out a chestplate that is lodged in a dropper. He’s not sure what went wrong and wishes he could replicate the error.

3:02:00 Doc returns to the surface and starts wrapping up. He is pleased with today’s progress. He tucks away his diamonds and says he is running low on loose diamonds. Returning to the studio view, he thanks the chat and the mods and looks for someone to raid to. He raids into FalseSymmetry and ends his stream.

#hermitcraft #docm77 #stream liveblogging #hermitcraft tcg #tall claims court

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ravemetrotron · 10 months ago

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Please tell me more about Zombie Optimus! :D

How long does it take the Team (Ratchet) to figure out what exactly is going?

How much does Miko freak out once she realises that Optimus is a Zombie now? I think her reaction would be similar to her reaction to Optiratch fighting Megatron‘s undead Cybertronians in one of the first episodes but even more intense.

How does the rest of the Team react? Is there someone who struggles to accept Optimus‘ new zombieness more than the others?

I personally think that Ultra Magnus would probably have a hard time with it. Although he only comes in later. Maybe June and/or Fowler?

Ratchet and Bee on the other hand, would probably accept it the fastest (after Miko) because they are already very devoted to Optimus.

When do Optiratch officially become an item? Does the rest of the team have to set them up or do they get there themselves?

Does it majorly affect any of the later events - i.e. Optimus sacrificing himself at the end of season 2: is that or more less dangerous for Zombie Optimus?

And literally anything else that comes to your mind. I find this idea super fascinating!

Sry, I hope this is not too much. ^^“

Hi!! And no this isn’t too much I LOVE yapping!

1st Q: as soon as Optimus sits up off the operation table and seems to have miraculously recovered, even as all his monitors flatlined, it was immediately obvious that something was wrong. Ratchet shunned everyone and did a full examination, discovering quite a lot. Not knowing how to how to handle this, he insists Optimus stay in quarantine, but part of the virus is increased energy and sense of ‘euphoria’ so he doesn’t stay put for long. All of them are quick to catch on that there’s something wrong. Though exactly WHAT takes until their next battle to figure out, as everything clicks when he cannibalizes a con-soldier.

2. Miko thinks it’s the COOLEST SHIT EVER. She’s disappointed she can’t witness some of the carnage herself though, Bulkhead is determined not to let her see something horrific.

3. Most of them are deeply unsettled and think that because his spark went out, he’s somehow not the same person any more. (Bee never doubted him for a second, it was more the others) It takes a full two episodes to completely reassure everybody that none of this means he’s gone, he’s still himself despite drastic personality/physical changes.

4. Ultra Magnus and Smokescreen have it harder. Ultra Magnus knew Optimus from before the war, so Prime feels pressured to try and feel recognizable to him. It fails miserably as he feels like he’s acting out a horrible parody of the person he once was. Smokescreen on the other hand is unfortunate to almost immediately witness his hero and idol tearing into the troops that came to retrieve his escape pod. He’s not even remotely as much a ‘compassionate wise and noble’ leader as he was told.

5. Ratchet is having problems with Prime’s condition for a multitude of reasons. He’s quicker to make decisions and resort to violence, he’s expressive, he’s more open about how he’s feeling and that unfortunately was something he was’nt ready for. They have a steady thing that never needed too many words, especially since it wasn’t important and even got in the way of war. Now he’s seemingly thrown caution to the wind and there’s emotional turmoil. Bulkhead is sort of pushing ratchet to try and do a little more reflection on his own feelings.

6. Yes this majorly effects the plot. One of the biggest characters effected is actually vehicons, now feeling more disposable than ever. Dying in battle is one thing, being eaten alive is another.

Dark energon can create its own class of zombies, but that’s all yesterday news to Megatron now, bearing witness to a FULLY SENTIENT zombie. Can you imagine what he’d do to get his hands on that kind of power?

Of cons to be infected, a single clone may have been the first but he’s not a big problem. When Soundwave is bitten in the fray of battle, he’s desperate to keep the problem to himself as not to affect their already panicked forces. However it is proving to be a problematic virus to keep a secret.

There’s quite a few side plots, it later derails some of the storylines. SoundWave undergoes devastating angst, the autobots have a way less depressing time, and have way more familial bonding WITHOUT a good portion of the souls crushing trauma.

#transformers #tfp #transformers prime #Optimus #optimus prime #team prime #zombie Optimus AU #soundwave tfp

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thecreatureslair · 3 months ago

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(Slight warning. This post is going to talk a bit about dysfunctional families and the effects it has on children growing up in one. If you feel uncomfortable with that, don't read.)

While watching Supernatural, I watched a video on childhood roles and thought of the archangels and how they fit into these roles quite a bit.

Now, when I say childhood roles, what do I mean?

Well, Hawkins and Hawkins, family therapists, said there are 4 roles children take while growing up, but they especially show up in dysfunctional families, or that are highly abusive or have substance abuse in it.

And I feel like we can agree that the archangels, as a family, are dysfunctional.

So, I'm going to put them in the roles that fit them the best. Granted this won't fit them 100%, but they do full under these roles a lot.

The first role: the hero.

The hero is the one who is self-sufficient and responsible, keeping things from falling apart. They are also very driven and successful, giving the family some status to it. They are often the one to take care of the family, and maybe become the parent to it.

This would be Michael.

Now, not putting too much attention on apocalypse!Michael, the Michael from the main world, he fills this role very well. He took charge of heaven after his father left; becoming the leader the angels needed. Was very headstrong about fighting his brother, without being in his 'perfect vessel'. Hell, the man was dead set on starting the apocalypse, just in the hopes that his success in it, would bring his father home. While it did end in vain, he did everything he could think of to be perfect. To be the hero in his father's eyes.

The next role up: the scapegoat.

We all know this role. The scapegoat is the one who gets blamed for everything wrong in the family. They act out, often at times, because they're angry and frustrated about what is going on in their home. But because of this, it takes focus from the real problems in the family and makes it about them.

This role goes to Lucifer.

While I don't think that Lucifer is that much a victim of this role, he still does fall under it. Heaven definitely blames him for a lot of shit that has happened. Hell! A lot of people on Earth blame the devil when things go wrong. When most of it is because Chuck and his way of running, or lack of running, of the world. While we know he could do some things from within the cage, mainly manipulation, I don't think he had that much power to do that much to really mess up the world (more than it already is). That was Chuck not really caring about anything or trying to make his story more interesting to him. Like I said, I don't think he falls under the scapegoat role, I do believe he gets blamed for things that he didn't do. (Also, remember how they treated Gadreel for just letting Lucifer into the garden? How they thought of Lucifer much have been way worse, but they couldn't do shit because well, you know, archangel.)

The third role: the lost child.

The lost child is the one is just, there. They are the one who fly underneath the radar, never makes waves in the family. They are the child who follows the rules, never asks for anything, and adjust themselves to everyone else. While this keeps them out of trouble, they end up being isolated and lonely.

Raphael would fall underneath this one.

Even though Raphael was the antagonist of season 6, we don't get much off his character, other than he's a cold asshole. Compared to his brothers, we don't know much about him. Maybe that's what it was like when they were all in heaven together, that he was just there. Never really did anything to stand out all that much. While we're told that him and Michael were running heaven after their dad left, I have a feeling it was Michael running it, while Raphael was just assisting him with it, fitting the role he needed to be in. He also seems to have lost in their father returning, from what he said to Cas and Dean. But I doubt he ever said anything to Michael about what he thought, knowing it would end with him in the cage with Lucifer. So, I guess he fits this role in a more self-preservation way, than a trying not to cause trouble way.

The last role: the mascot/class clown

The mascot is the funny one in the family, always cracking jokes or doing silly things, and being very outgoing. They're often the youngest of the family and the most liked out of it. With this role, they serve as a distraction to the family. But they do all this to cover up how they really feel. How much pain, low self-esteem, and no real sense to self they have.

And this is where Gabriel would fall under.

I mean, I don't think it that hard to see why he would go here. The man became a Trickster, a being whose whole purpose is to punish people in humorous and ironic ways. He definitely uses humor to cope with what happened to his family. And with that Trickster comment, he got that title from Loki, when Gabriel took his identity. And no one, not even Loki's family, figured out Gabriel wasn't him. Maybe he stayed away from them, but no other god knew the truth until God's Hammer. A person must be the world's greatest actor or have no real sense of self in order to pull something like that off.

And, that would be the roles the archangels would have.

#supernatural #spn michael #spn lucifer #spn raphael #spn gabriel

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maspers · 2 years ago

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Ranking the Miracucast by how they'd react to being chosen as the next holder of One For All

Marinette: She would scream and cry and do everything in her power to avoid becoming the next Symbol of Peace. She would then proceed to be one of the most beloved and powerful Heroes the world has ever seen. 9/10

Alya: Depends on when she gets the Quirk. Early Seasons Alya is all about fame and branding, and she'd be loved by the populace as a hero but make a decent amount of rookie mistakes. Late Seasons Alya would be way more competent as a One For All user, but she also knows how to keep things subtle. I can see her becoming an Underground Hero like Eraserhead. Either way, 7/10

Adrien: Yes. 10/10

Nino: He would be very confused as to why he's being chosen, but if his friends were in danger he'd do it. Would much prefer to focus on his music than hero work, and as such would be known for the former more than the latter. 3/10

Chloe: She would try so, so, so hard to be the ultimate superhero that everyone loves. Unfortunately we saw how that went down in canon. She has the potential to great things, but motives will always be a serious problem for her. 4/10

Sabrina: Getting One For All might be what it takes to get her out of her shell. She'd never reach the fame and reputation that All Might and Deku have, but she would treat her powers with utmost respect and very few people would have bad things to say about her as a hero. 7/10

Mylene: She would be very confused, and very scared, and honestly would probably reject the Quirk outright. If forced to take it she'd be great, but I just can't see her wanting to hold on to it. She prefers to change the world in other ways. 3/10

Ivan: Everyone would doubt him due to making assumptions, but he would surpass them all and come into his own as a beloved and respected hero, albeit one that's pretty intimidating. He wouldn't really focus on quirks other than the super strength, but hey, it worked for All Might! 8/10

Rose: Be afraid. Be very afraid. 6/10

Juleka: Guaranteed to be more of the Underground hero type. Possibly might go full vigilante. She would use the Quirks very differently than most would expect, so people won't make the connection to past One For All holders. She does not want to have a body count, but definitely has one. 6/10

Kim: Kim is a total doofus who would immediately gain a rep as a reckless hero who causes lots of collateral damage but makes up for it by just trying really hard. Deep down he will feel unworthy and self-conscious. Local Himbo has internal turmoil and Does Not Deserve It. 5/10

Max: Would reject the Quirk outright and only accept it in the most dire of circumstances. Max does not want a messy complicated Quirk like One For All. Max likes simple and efficient, stuff he can manipulate from the get go. One For All is not simple. Give it to someone else. 0/10

(side note: while Max does not want One For All, Markov absolutely does, and finding a way to give Markov One For All would make for an interesting challenge. But Max still isn't taking it.)

Alix: Would politely decline taking it. Because she's already received it (and passed it on after engaging in brief shenanigans with it) in the future, and knows it is not her battle to fight in the present. Alix/10

Nathaniel: Please let this poor boy have some sleep. He is very tired and very angry and accepted the Quirk on impulse and really doesn't want to do this. Eventually manages to figure out his niche being a artist/spraypaint hero (Alix helps), and may or may not accidentally trigger the downfall of a corrupt government. 7/10

Lila: She obtained it under false pretenses and we are all doomed. There's a slim chance she'll do some hero work for the sake of her image, but like. The cons will definitely outweigh the pros. This was a mistake. 1/10

Luka: Accepted One For All during a time of great need, and knew the moment he received it that it was something Important. He puts on a front of being chill, but treats his work as a Hero with the utmost of seriousness and will do what has to be done. Like his sister, he would actively strive to not have a body count, but definitely would have one. 9/10

Kagami: She's a superhero with a sword. Awesomeness is the default. She will have no idea what she is doing but like. She has a sword. Stuff is getting done. 7/10

Marc: Look, you know Worm? You know Legend? One For All Marc would be like Legend except less hunk and more bishonen. The fangirls and fanboys will rejoice. Marc does not want all the attention, but he has it anyway. 6/10

Ondine: Kim accepts his role as the ultimate trophy boyfriend. Ondine would be competent, but she would also create even more collateral damage. 5/10

Aurore (New!): If there's one thing she knows, it's branding. She may not be known as a particularly powerful hero, but her branding would be top notch. When people figure out she's the latest successor she will OWN it and turn it into more branding. 5/10

Felix: Was likely offered One For All by someone who thought he was Adrien, and accepted it under that pretense. Would do a good job as a hero (and would give Adrien the credit in the process) but would figure out how to use all the Quirks very quickly and have a gig as a vigilante going on under a different identity, using different quirks to keep people in the dark. Very sus, Felix. You can be better than this. 2/10

Zoe: Look the populace would pick up on the fact that she's blonde and associated with America and immediately assume she's related to All Might. That's just going to happen. All Might will basically have to end up adopting her, if he's still around. She does not like this, but makes it work. 6/10

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im-out-of-it · 6 months ago

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I know what I said but bonus part season 2, episode 6 continued RELATIONSHIPS TAKE EFFORT continued “iron sisters” continued (it’s continued obviously)

140. and yes, they have issues to get through but this was the cutest form of hey I really admire you and your past freaks me the fuck out but I want to stay and work through this and I don’t know shit about dating but I hear relationships take effort so let’s do this thing. so I’m just going to add all the ones I probably already did and forgot about (but wouldn’t you rather see more than less?)

141. READ THE FUCKING ROOM (THE WAY MAGS WAS HOLDING ONTO ALEC)

143. Magnus: BITCH LEAVE

144. the kiss but in black and white because you bet this date will come up in the next season

145. AND I LOVE HOW MAGNUS HAS HIS FINGER ON HIS LIPS AFTER KISSING ALEC

146. Alec: bro this is my boyfriends house. you can’t just invite yourself in

147. it makes me mad how jace walks in like he owns the place and is like got a spare room? Magnus is too nice to say no but Magnus didn’t have to do that. if I were Magnus and I saw how you had been treating my boyfriend, I’d put your worthless ass on the street

148. jace has a home but he has too much of a big ass ego to tolerate a demotion. Jace always has to be in the spotlight because how dare he pay for any of his actions

149. if someone just barged in with a bag, I’d say no like 1. you came unannounced and 2. I don’t like you

150. Maia and Simon have such a good friendship

151. Izzy is like I almost died and aldertree acting like he didn’t know yin fein has vampire properties lmao and even when clary still doesn’t share anything, Izzy still has her back IZZY IS TOO GOOD FOR CLARY

152. shit it beats me because I would’ve been like she did this and said that so just ship her ass to idris ITS WAY PASSED TIME lmao I don’t care if it’s petty. Izzy and Alec do everything for clary and jace and they both act like it’s never good enough. and they also treat everyone else as if they are superior because they have PuRe AnGeL bLoOd 🙄 and then they continue to lie and hide things from Alec and Izzy. and who is constantly solving your problems because it certainly isn’t themselves smh

wow so 152 was the number and yes I went overboard and no I don’t care just kidding I do care. so much Malec content in this episode!!!!!!! thank your for joining we love seeing show Malec enjoy each other as they date and holy fuck 17,000 is a fucking lot but so is 0 and ugh can clary just shut the fuck up now please discussion post

I seriously can’t wait until Izzy is like no I don’t want to be near you. yeah she’s reacting from the yin fein soon but Izzy has been way too fucking kind to clary. Jace and clary needed so many wake up calls and to be put in their place

also how dare jace take advantage of kind wonderful beloved Magnus. Alec should have properly went off. it’s even worse what he does when 1. Magnus plans a party for Alec and his family and 2. Jace is trying to compare him and clary to Malec. BRO IF YOU DONT FUCKING STOP

but I may try to start the next episode today maybe probably maybe not who knows but thank you anyone who has been reading and paying attention to me

#anti cassandra clare #anti cc #just my stupid opinions #alec lightwood #magnus bane #anti jace herondale #anti clary fray #shadowhunters tv #show alec is superior #show magnus is superior #show malec is superior #shadowhunter show is superior #putting anti cc on all show shadowhunter posts because i don’t want an pro book fans hating on my shit #clary and jace both needed to be told off so bad #no because literally everyone solves their problems and issues they themselves create #Alec and Izzy have too much fucking patience and so does Magnus #152 is the number #yes wow that was a lot #marking this as 2x06

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another-lost-mc · 1 year ago

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Hi, just want you to know I have Michael Brainrot bc of your works with him…. I’m not asking for more or anything, i love everything you do anyway….. but damn your Michael hits different….

Oh, thank you so much! I love Michael. Even in NB he still seems a bit underdeveloped and we don't even know what he looks like yet. (I've talked a lot about my personal headcanons about his appearance and at this point I stubbornly accept the likelihood that he's going to be a tall, long-haired and blue-eyed blonde instead. lol)

When I first started playing OG, he was one of my favourite characters even though we knew next to nothing about him. Some of my first fic ideas were about Michael, if you'd believe it. Maybe that's why I liked him so much? I treated him like an OC before Nightbringer came out because I took quite a few creative liberties exploring different versions of him.

I've mentioned before that I treat angels and demons in this game (and Father and the Demon King) as fantasy races rather than religious beings. To me, Michael is a leader - a flawed leader, sure - but he has so much personality and friendship and affection to give. He loves sweets and he's fashionable and even though his bond with Lucifer is undeniable, I think he genuinely cares about all his celestial brethren too.

Unfortunately for Michael, he seems like the type of angel that wants to be everyone's friend, but the problems arise when he has to stop being a friend and start being leader of the angels. We've seen him make difficult choices and we've seen evidence that he's struggled with the consequences of those choices. I think he has a lot of regret and unresolved trauma/guilt from things he's done, especially when it comes to Lucifer and his brothers.

I have no idea what the original plan for OG was after Season 4. My rough guess (or at least how I hoped it would play out) is that:

Season 5 would involve MC at least talking to Michael directly again (re: Simeon) and visiting the Celestial Realm on his behalf.

Season 6 would be the point when new angels visit the Devildom, including Michael (think of it as a diplomatic visit with higher-ranking angels making the CR's peace with the Devildom "official").

A lot of my Michael x MC/Reader stories assume that he and MC would've met in-person for the first time in Season 5. MC deserves a proper visit to the Celestial Realm (overnight, at least one week but preferably two or three) and a chance to meet Michael and the other important angels that help him run things. So many of my Michael blurbs are just him and MC interacting during that first meeting together because the first meeting trope is one of my favourites.

And as much as I love Michael, visiting the Celestial Realm wouldn't be complete with some more angels to liven things up. We have other established canon angels - Simeon, Luke and Raphael - but Uriel's been mentioned twice I believe, and I doubt he's the only other angel worth meeting. (OC Angels like Metatron and Gabriel help fill in the gaps so that my CR-based writing doesn't feel so empty.) We just need more angels in general - how else will a MC goes to the CR for the exchange program AU play out if there's only like, two angels there? >_>

Anyway. I try not to think about the implications of Michael's involvement in NIghtbringer since it took an odd turn with HM Lesson 20. I did outline some possible story ideas based on that particular plot point but I still prefer to write Michael in the OG setting for obvious reasons.

As a side note - I know I keep talking about it, but the OC story I've been working on features Michael as a major character in Part 1 that takes place in the Celestial Realm. We get to see him interacting with Lucifer (who is still an angel then) and other angels of various ranks, and the two main characters of course. We see Michael who tries to be a friend, who tries to be supportive and balance out Lucifer's different approach to handling things...and we also see Michael who abides by the rules angels are meant to live by and expects everyone else to do the same. I could've made him the "bad guy" in this, but I didn't. He has his good moments and his "omg you're such an asshole" moments, but no more or less than the other characters. It's very exciting.

......................yikes, that was a lot of words to say, "Thank you, fellow Michael fan! I also enjoy his character a lot."

#why didn't someone stop meeee wtf this is so long #jes.replies

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longbobmckenzie · 2 years ago

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Season 6 Volume XII Thoughts

Once again, Jamal getting salty was dumb. Stop it. It's OOC, he's not Hamish.

Who on earth wants to do a heartrate challenge FIRST THING IN THE MORNING?!?! This is one of the biggest problems with the season - they've packed so many challenges into it and so much random drama with Amelia/the LIs/Grace and Ozzy that they don't have any chill morning scenes. The morning episodes should be the ones where we get to know the other characters and have group chats, the afternoon should be challenges (other than heart rate), evenings should be recouplings and more group chats and sexy games. and going to bed with our LIs!!

How have I had more bedroom scenes with ELLIOT who I've never said BOO to than with Roberto?!

I couldn't let Elliot dance on me, sorry. I just am sick of having to turn him down

Okay, the heart rate challenge. THE WRITING WAS SO GOOD?!!! Like, this was the first few episodes all over again but make them spicy!! The characters had personality, bounced off each other, and the dances were so well written! AI doesn't do explicit stuff so they were forced to use a human writer and whaddaya know, you get one of the best episodes of the season

I will say though that I'm disappointed I couldn't dance on all the guys. The first dance was amazing, but almost everyone else danced on multiple people? And we had to use a gem scene? Which I used to dance on the same person again anyway and it wasn't even as good?

Also the dancing was spicier than the underwhelming sex scene after the recoupling, which cost 29 gems, was a little confusing, and was over in a couple lines. Make it make sense

Amelia and Toby are so fucking cringe and I cannot. Girl you just met him. You're Grace on day 1 all over again. He's not even that great

The pool scene with our LI after the challenge was very cute. Roberto talked about missing his family when he's away so much and how he wants to start one of his own 🥺

Also, the mental image of him mowing the lawn shirtless??? YES PLEASE!!

I think Roberto brought up the hot tub date on at least 3 separate occasions in this volume

It's disappointing (once again) that after almost a whole season, every chat with my LI is about the same stuff over and over again. The hot tub date. The Snog, Marry, Pie challenge. The heartrate challenge. C'mon, Fusebox. You can't really think we want this? I know you love your AI because it saves you money, but we shouldn't be able to tell. We want to learn new things about our LIs, get to actually know them, and instead every gem scene is almost a carbon copy of the last one

Happy for Ozzy girlies who finally get to couple with your man. And ripping Grace a new one was great too. I can't believe she picked him AGAIN though if MC doesn't?!?! Girl...

Roberto with a baby next week? Roberto with a baby next week. EEK!

#litg #litg s6 #litg s6 spoilers #litg spoilers #longbob has thoughts

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rebel-walnut · 2 years ago

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Let's Do The Time Warp Again

Steddie Season 3 time travel fic, Part 8

Ao3, Pt. 1, Pt.2, Pt.3, Pt.4, Pt.5, Pt.6, Pt.7

Eddie doesn't know if he's breathing or not. He doesn't think he is. Doesn't matter anyways, seeing as he's dead.

The super-kid's words are ringing through his ears and all he can hear is not supposed to be alive, not supposed to be alive, not supposed to be alive. He doesn't know what that means for getting back to '86, if he'll go through and die anyways, if they'll come back earlier, later, maybe they'll die in the process. As far as he's concerned, Supergirl just marked his time of death and stamped his forehead 'deceased.'

His breaths are short and shallow, a constant influx of oxygen he shouldn't be allowed to breathe. Taking up someone else's air, someone else's space- what even happened to this version of Eddie? Is Eddie from '85 back where he's currently supposed to be, drowning in a pool of his own blood that isn't really his? Does he just not exist anymore? If Eddie thinks much longer about the implications of interdimensional time travel and clone duplicates he's gonna throw up.

There's pressure on his wrist and the whirling of Eddie's vision subsides enough for him to see everyone staring at him expectantly. Steve has Eddie's right hand clasped between both of his own, and he's rubbing circles across the joint of Eddie's thumb while another finger rests across his pulse. He idly wishes Steve was holding his hand for a reason other than making sure Eddie isn't dead.

Eddie's laugh is cruel around the edges, sharp in a way that it only ever is when he's putting effort into it. The sound hurts his ears. "So this thing- Vecna, or the upside down, whatever- is trying to kill me. Correction- has killed me. Wants to do it again, but sooner," The smile on his face is foreign and forced, he recognizes it as a shadow of his father's own malicious sneer that only ever wreaked havoc. Eddie wants to claw it out of his skin.

Steve presses a touch harder into his pulse point and Eddie wants to scream along with his heart beat. "And! We don't even know if we can get back. Say we can. We get back to '86 where we left off. Then Stevie here," Eddie claps Steve on the chest with his free hand and ignores the vice grip that's somehow still gentle around his wrist, "gets to drag my lifeless, chew-toyed body back out of hell, because it turns out I'm dead anyway! Oh well, c'est la vie, at least I get to live out my last days trapped in a different timeline waiting for imminent death; likely in the form of crushing killer vines that'll pop the eyes out of my skull, creepy mind wizard torture, or more bats ripping tiny chunks of flesh out of my sides until I'm nothing but bone and eccentric fashion choices."

The collective noises from the group could best be described, Eddie would say, as strangled, horrified, and wildly disgusted. Perhaps his monologuing skills leave much to be desired, but sue him. He just found out about his sealed fate, he's allowed to make it slightly funny despite the general aura of horror.

Steve has given up on being gentle it seems, his nails dig in slightly to Eddie's skin and his fingers are wrapped tight enough to block circulation. He's stopped tracing over Eddie's knuckles, opting instead to just hold Eddie's hand still in the tightest grip known to man. The various children keep staring at him with ranged looks of devastation; Supergirl looking concerned but still with the tight set to her jaw that tells him the next words out of her mouth will be a solution to his problem, Red with mostly shock stricken through her eyes but with an undertone of disinterest that he knows she wears for show, and Henderson doing nothing to hide his reaction of absolute guttural horror. Eddie feels a twinge of guilt for subjecting him to his monologue.

"Eddie-" Steve starts but cuts himself off just as fast. He gapes for a second as his eyes burrow into Eddie's, the shock still settling in the air. "We'll find a way. We always do, we're not gonna-"

"No, Harrington!" Eddie wrenches his hand out of Steve's suffocating grip and ignores the way his expression falls. "I know your band of misfits has been at this for a while, but face it. You've lost people. I know you have. None of you should have the far-away look of a veteran when you're all just kids. You've lost people, and I'm gonna be one of them, and there's nothing you can do to stop it. I'm already gone."

Eddie pointedly pushes back the hot prickling in his eyes and forces his way out of the living room, keeping his gaze turned to the floor. He hears deafening murmurs as he leaves, passing by the kitchen on the way to the sliding glass door at the back. He lets it glide shut behind him with a click, wishing Harrington didn't have those fancy spring loaded door stoppers so he could actually slam it. The pool is glinting in front of him, cover half off and folded at the deep end. There's a small collection of leaves circling the surface of the water, catching the glint of the setting sun on their waxy coating. Eddie throws a rock from the edge of the pool at one just to watch it sink.

He shuffles through the pockets of his sweats for a second before finding a crushed half empty pack of Pall Malls and a bic with a melted corner. He's grateful he remembered to grab them from his vest when he changed and managed to salvage what cigarettes he could from the water damage, but he grimaces at Eddie from July of '85's brand choice anyways. He knows he only bought it cause it's cheap, and lights up regardless of his brand prejudice. The cherry glows orange and he takes in almost a third of the cig in one drag, only sputtering a little on the way out. He finishes it in two more drags and lights up another after smashing the butt into the concrete pool lip to snuff it. He's halfway through the second one when he hears the smooth glide of the door open and click shut softly. Eddie doesn't bother looking to see who it is, he already knows it's Steve.

Steve pads up behind Eddie, giving him enough space that Steve's still out of sight. Steve clears his throat but Eddie doesn't turn, just flops down by the edge of the pool and watches the smoke curl around his fingers. The ash falls into the edge of the pool as Eddie flicks it, taking the last drag and letting the acrid buzz wash over him. It stings as it burns down to his fingertips around the filter, but he just watches as the flame trickles out.

The gravel crunches under Steve's shoes as he moves to gingerly sit next to Eddie, his gaze burning a hole into Eddie's cheek. Eddie watches him out of his periphery, Steve glancing between Eddie and the darkening sky with unhidden interest. Eddie fishes out another cigarette and lights it, wordlessly offering it to Steve after the first puff. Their fingers brush as Steve takes it and Eddie can't help but stare at Steve's relaxed posture betrayed by the tension in his shoulders as he takes a pull to rival Eddie's own first drag. He hands it back without looking, slowly releasing the smoke and letting it drift into the wind. Eddie can't help but think it's the sort of thing people write songs and make paintings about. They finish the dart in silence, stealing glances at each other and letting cheap nicotine steady their nerves. Steve clears his throat again quietly while Eddie stubbs the filter against the ground.

"I hate this pool," Eddie glances at him, but Steve's got a mile long stare trained on the surface of the water. "Back in '83-" He cuts himself off as he seems to so often do lately and drops his chin to his chest with a sharp exhale. Eddie brushes his fingers against the back of Steve's hand but doesn't break his silence when Steve meets his eyes. "Barbara Holland went missing from this pool. Died in the upside down because of it- because of me,"

"Steve-"

"No. It's true," Steve presses his hand against Eddie's fingers and he can feel it tremble as Steve looks back out to the water. "I was too preoccupied with trying to impress Nance, impress my friends, my parents. Which, not worth it. At all. Anyway, I was too focused on myself and we lost her, and I just- I didn't fucking care. I don't know if it was a defense mechanism or what, but I just tried not to think about it. Distracted myself with Nance, school, parties, anything to stay away from it. I just didn't want to admit it was my fault she died."

Steve's eyes are glistening a hazel gold in the sunset, a sheen of unshed tears catching the light. It's a melancholy stare, the look of grief and guilt and regret wrapped in one sun kissed gaze. Eddie doesn't know what to do except bump his shoulder against Steve's and hope the contact comforts him.

"And I'm trying to be better. Be the person who would never let that happen, or at least never let it be forgotten. But sometimes I just catch the water out of the window of my room and…" Steve slumps into the comfort of Eddie's arm, his hair tickling Eddie's cheek. His expression is the most broken Eddie's ever seen it, every piece of it shattered and irreplaceable. Each exhale sends a tremor through Steve's body, and Eddie slides the fingers still pressed against Steve's skin around his hand before wrapping his other hand around their tangled fingers and squeezing. Steve gives a half hearted squeeze back, and Eddie pulls Steve's hand to his chest and holds it tenderly between his own.

"All we can do is try," Eddie whispers against their hands, tracing circles across Steve's knuckles just as Steve had done for him. "You can't change your past. And yes, I realize the irony of that statement seeing as we're currently in the past, but," He halts his movements against Steve's hand to face him, Steve already staring when he goes to look. "As much as I hated to admit it before, and as much as it still surprises me now, you're good, Steve Harrington," A wounded noise breaks out of Steve and he leans a fraction closer towards Eddie as if trying to live off his words. "You're good. You're kind, and gentle, and you care about those kids more than anyone I've ever met. You couldn't have known what would happen with Barb. And you're living for her now, which is what matters," The tears brimming in Steve's eyes finally break free at the mention of Barb's name. Eddie lets his composure shatter at the sight, and presses a light kiss to Steve's knuckles.

"You live for her everyday through those kids, through everyone you're so desperate to protect from the things you've witnessed, the people you've lost. What happens- happened to me, it's not your fault. And it won't be again," Steve's shaking his head in little jerking motions that send waves of hair falling in front of his eyes. His hand squeezes between Eddie's and when Steve stops to look at him, the shattered expression is still there but this time it's sewed together with determination.

"You can't," Steve chokes, his grip strong with calloused grief. "We can't lose again, it can't happen. We can't lose you- it can't happen. Promise me it won't," Steve's pleading, their faces inches from each other and Steve's tears are catching on the ridges of his nose and the divot above his quivering lip. Eddie's own cheeks are wet with trails of salt water, and he can't help but clutch Steve's hand to his chest.

"Stevie," He starts, and instantly regrets his next words. "I can't. You know I can't, my fate is practically sealed," His words are hoarse as Steve falls somehow closer to him, their skin buzzing with the proximity and the mourning in Eddie's words. Steve chokes.

"Lie to me."

Eddie chokes. Grips Steve harder and squeezes his eyes shut.

"I promise."

It wrenches a sob from both of them, their foreheads falling together and their hands clutched between them as they suffocate on grief. It's strange to be mourning his own death with a man he didn't talk to a mere week ago, yet their lives have become so intertwined that Eddie can't imagine going through this with anyone else. It's a broken sort of bond that comes with loss, and it's a little surreal to have someone other than his Uncle or Hellfire care this much. Grieve this much.

They're clutching pieces of each other, Steve's hand still wrapped in Eddie's, Steve's other hand tangling in the hair at the nape of Eddie's neck, Eddie's other hand pulling at the collar of Steve's soft blue tee. Their tears cling to their jaws and fall in droplets of the worst kind of rain on the concrete, a few dropping over the edge to mix with the chlorine. Eddie feels the tremor of Steve's sobs all the way up his spine and into his skull, buzzing in his forehead where they're still connected. The ache in their lungs lasts both an eternity and a minute as the tremors and initial grief settles into something worse yet also softer in their bones. It's almost acceptance. But Eddie knows it isn't.

Eddie blinks a few times and waits for his vision to stop swimming, Steve's breath tickling his cheek on every exhale just as Eddie's sure he's doing the same to Steve. Their grasp on each other is heavy in a way that would take years to undo, and Eddie can't stop staring at the way Steve's cheeks are flushed from crying. They're tinged pink across the apples of his cheeks and the tip of his nose, and his lips are slick from tears. Another stray tear falls from Steve's eyelashes and Eddie gently raises the hand from his shirt to brush the tear away. Steve leans into the touch and blinks his eyes open, his gaze jumping between Eddie's eyes and back down.

Eddie wills his heart to slow. The edge of mourning is not an opportune time to notice the smoothness of Steve's skin or the flecks of green at the center of his eyes or the way his lips hang open just enough.

But.

Steve is staring at him like he's an answer to something. He's flitting his gaze across Eddie's face, bouncing from eye to eye and landing on his lips, and he's leaning into Eddie's hand still touching his cheek, his skin warm under the movement of Eddie's thumb. He's swaying into Eddie's space, all warmth and softness and presence, and when Steve tilts his head up just a little their noses brush. His lips are parted in a way that would fit the apple from the garden of Eden, ripe and red and tempting. And Eddie is starving.

"Steve," Eddie whispers, more air than voice. Steve doesn't look up from his lips, just tilts his head farther into Eddie's hand. He noses up the ridge of Eddie's nose, Steve's eyelashes brushing against his cheek as he leans a breath closer. Eddie wants to scream.

He thumbs Steve's cheek and pulls just soft enough to guide Steve closer, both basking in the warmth of the other's skin and touch. Steve puffs a breath over Eddie's lips, close enough to feel the sparks between their skin. It's electricity and kindness and grief, and Eddie wants nothing more than to take a bite out of the apple.

What was left of the space between them dissipates as Eddie leans in just enough to brush their lips together, their tear stained skin sticking to each other. It's more of a touch than a kiss; just enough to test the waters, to get a taste of temptation. It's featherlight and golden, a gentle brush of just their top lips. Just to feel. Enough to know that Eddie needs to swallow him whole.

Eddie slides the hand that was cupping Steve's cheek around to the back of neck and runs his fingers through the hair curling there, pulling ever so slightly closer. He's about to bridge the gap between an almost kiss and a real kiss -capture Steve's golden light and sinful lips- when Eddie's vision whites out with a crack of lightning and a shock that rips through his skin.

He lets out a cry and pulls away from Steve to claw at his forehead, frantically scratching and pulling at his skin. There's hornets stinging behind his eyes and biting at his skull, and all he can feel is pain and bright sharpness. It sends a ringing scream through his body that Eddie can barely hear over the pain, sucked into the shards of glass running up his veins and the feeling of acid biting at his skin. It's a sucking, endless feeling, like every bit of energy is being pulled from him and replaced with screeching tones and hot sand that's dissolving him bit by bit.

There's a pressure on his arm and through his staticky tunneled vision he sees Max pulling him up. He can't tell what she's saying, nor can he really see her face, can just make out the shape of fiery red hair. She pulls him up to a half-sitting-half-fetal position. She says something, but it may as well be in a different language. Eddie's being simultaneously cut open and burned from the inside out, his head is switched to ten different radio stations that just play static interluded with guest appearances from the depths of hell, and every inch of his skin is on fire.

Well, Eddie thinks, so much for that kiss. Which is honestly a ridiculous thing to think about when he's on the verge of death, but well, he's a little resigned to his fate. He doesn't want to go through another week or month or year of waiting for something to strike, having episodes of seizures brought on by dark dimensional wizards and whatever the fuck is happening right now. But still. It would've been nice.

His mind swims in an attempt to distract from the blades slicing through his brain, and Eddie thinks he's either become accustomed to it or he's actually dying this time. Again. His body is trembling from the pain and with the way his throat feels raw he thinks he's been screaming this whole time, and he just wants it to be over. Sorry Steve, he thinks. And then.

Fuck. Steve. Steve who is tied to the same freaky upside down shit Eddie is, who is probably about a foot away from him right now and going through something very similar if not the exact same thing.

Eddie pries his eyes a fraction of an inch open which forces out a guttural shriek at the burn raging in his skull, but can once again make out the vague shape of Max still holding him to her chest. There's two other figures of what Eddie assumes Steve and Dustin huddled together in front of him, someone's hand flexing and shaking over Eddie's leg. Another figure is crouched in front of them with one hand facing the pool and one hand towards all four of them. Supergirl.

Through shaking screams and burning skin, Eddie's eyes manage to clear a little despite the constant influx of tears overflowing to soothe the burn that doesn't seem to exist to anyone else. Supergirl is whipping her head between the group of them huddled on the ground and the edge of the pool, and with a scream she plunges one hand into the water and slaps the other on top of Steve's hand that's covering Eddie's shin.

Her fingers dig into Eddie's shin and imprint Steve's palm into Eddie's skin where his sweats have ridden up, and the sensation shocks a cold into his skin that pulses up his body like menthol and chili, the sensation enough to make him convulse inward. The striking cold scrapes along his skull, and suddenly Eddie can see again. The vague figures of traumatized teenagers snap into view and the water in his eyes clears after a second, and Eddie can see the moment it happens for Steve too. The agony on Steve's face smoothes into concern as Dustin keeps yelling likely non-urgent questions at him and shakes at his shoulder. The pain under Eddie's skin is still there, but the burning fires of hell have extinguished into a more manageable stove top fire mishap. His head is fogged and achy, but the ringing and sharpened static in his ears has faded to a manageable level where he can make out at least fifty percent of the noise around him.

Max must notice the difference since she removes her vice grip from his shoulders and leans over to scan across his face. He can see her getting ready to ask if he's okay when Supergirl lets out a howling shriek and throws her head back, crumpling in on herself yet keeping her arms strong against their skin and the water. Steve scrambles up first to Supergirl's side, casting a quick glance into the pool before muttering a string of expletives under his breath and turning to Eddie.

"I need your lighter," He says, and Eddie guesses his voice is in the same commanding urgency he uses everytime the world ends. Eddie shakily reaches a hand across the concrete and fumbles with the lighter a little, giving it a trembling toss over to Steve. Eddie notices the shaking in Steve's hands too, the residual coals left burning under their skin. Steve wastes no time getting to his feet, his balance slightly off kilter but putting no damper on the speed at which he rushes to the door and throws it open, careening to the right and into the kitchen.

Supergirl lets out another cry that pulls Max away from Eddie's side, Dustin already there with her by the edge of the pool. Eddie's pulse is jumping again as he notices the tinge of black around her fingertips, the way it courses ever so slightly up her veins. Steve appears again through the glass doorway with a can of cooking spray in one hand, Eddie's melted lighter in the other. Steve throws out an arm to shove the kids away from the edge of the pool as he crumples to his knees, slamming the cap of the spray on the ground to knock it off and flicking the spark wheel before spraying directly into the flame and emitting a giant fireball that flushes Eddie's face with heat.

Steve aims another fireball into the pool as Eddie struggles to get himself fully upright, clawing his way over to the edge with the rest of them. Supergirl is still letting out shrieks here and there, both her palms flexed towards the water with Max and Dustin holding her steady on either side. Eddie gets to the lip of the pool and peers over the edge to see some sort of bubbling sludge that he loathes to recognize. It's forming from what looks like three points, the dark matter forming tendrils that climb towards the surface, towards them. Steve shoots another stream of fire across the water and Eddie watches as the tendrils recoil and hiss from the sensation.

Steve shoves the can and lighter into Eddie's hands and fixes him with an urgent stare. "Keep spraying," is all he says before disappearing back into the house with his usual grace of a reformed jock. Eddie spots other tendrils rising from the depths of the water to join the surface, and aims his half empty bottle of cooking spray at the largest section, frantically flicking the wheel to spark it. The lighter sputters with a small spark, but no flame.

He strikes the wheel again. Spark. Sputter. Nothing.

Strike. Spark. Nothing.

Strike-

"What the fuck is taking so long, Munson?" Max hollers from beside him, her arms wrapped protectively around Supergirl's shoulders. Supergirl shrieks and the sludge hisses, shrinking a little.

"I'm fucking trying, okay?! It's finicky-" Eddie sparks the lighter two more times still with no luck before Max reaches over and snatches both the lighter and the cooking spray out of his hand. She strikes it twice, the lighter coming to life with a bright orange flame and fanning over the pool with a whoosh as she lets out a stream of cooking spray. She doesn't stop after one stream of fire, instead endlessly holding down the nozzle of the spray and effectively flambéing the matter bubbling on the surface of the water.

"Useless goddamn-" Max mutters as a tendril shrinks in on itself and melts in tandem Supergirl's yell. "-Everything myself," Max drops to her knees and sprays directly at the lip of the pool, burning off a trail of sludge that was trying to slither over. Eddie is terrified of her.

Steve bolts back out of the door with what looks like 2 cans of women's hairspray and another lighter. He barely spares a confused glance between Max and Eddie, but shoves a can at him anyways and flicks the lighter to life between them. Supergirl and Dustin are still slightly farther back in the middle of the group, Dustin practically holding her up as she slowly shrinks back the growing mass of tendrils. Max has worked her way to the edge on the left now, maniacal and determined in a way that makes Eddie think maybe she should talk to somebody about it.

Eddie and Steve stay on the right, Steve holding the lighter between them as he shoots a stream of fire into the middle. Eddie decides to shoot at the edges by the lip of the pool, the sludge still creeping out despite its mandatory near constant regeneration from the combination of the fire and whatever the fuck sort of telekinesis Supergirl is pulling off.

"Is this even gonna work?" Eddie yells, struggling to spray his hairspray through the flame instead of beside it due to their shared custody of the lighter.

"Fire's their biggest weakness, it's all we got," Steve's voice is crackly but still carries the urgency from before as he shoots out towards a tendril rising out of the water, effectively burning it in half as it crumples back to the surface.

There's a clinking noise to his left, and then, "Fuck!" As Max chucks her can to the side and lets it rattle against the ground. "I'm empty," She says, her face fear stricken with only a small facade over it as she glances between Supergirl still shaking against Dustin and Eddie across from her. Eddie hucks his can over to her and hears the almost empty rattle of the can in the wind.

"I'm almost out, but there's still a bit left," Eddie says as he stares into the pool, the mass of sludge smaller than when they started, but not small enough to take out with two half-empty cans of hairspray. Steve's can starts to sputter a moment later, Max's new can likely soon to follow. Steve curses under his breath and aims the last consistent spurt of hairspray at the middle of the mass, left only to shoot small bursts of fire until the can's empty.

"Shit, this one's running low too," Max has given up her tactic of one steady stream of fire in favor of small bursts similar to Steve, both of them shaking the can in between sprays. Eddie hears Dustin gasp to his left and turns just in time to see Supergirl lurch away from him and plunge her hands into the slime. Her fingertips flex at the edge of the sludge and it lets out a withering hiss at the contact, Supergirl seeming to feel the same painful connection as her shoulders seize up and she tosses her neck back.

"El!" Dustin calls and grips onto her shoulders to keep her from tipping into the pool, Supergirl clawing her hands in farther anyways. It rips a scream from her and it rattles in Eddie's ears, echoing off his skull. Her shriek cuts off with a gasp as her head drops forward and her arms go limp, the rest of the fire being sucked from the cans and into the mass of tendrils the second she drops. The suction makes Eddie's ears pop and he watches as the rest of the tendrils collapse in on themselves in a matter of seconds, endlessly folding together in a sick slide of black and blue until nothing remains in the pool. The last thing to disappear is three heavy black drops of slime closest to the edge of the pool, the droplets imploding and ceasing to exist.

The moment it's over both Steve and Max collapse at Supergirl's feet, Steve doing the primary flitting and worrying. There's a stream of blood trailing from her nose down to her chin and it's left spattered drops on the pavement. Her eyes are closed and she's panting against the embrace of Dustin and Max, Steve staying in front of her and tilting her head side to side, checking her fingernails and her pulse. Eddie stays awkwardly off to the side, opting instead to sit a couple feet away and attempt to compartmentalize the past ten or so minutes.

His skin feels fuzzy again, but moreso in a familiar anxiety way than an interdimensional way. He feels lost in the staticy feeling running through his body, letting his vision cloud a little and get lost in the now normal ripples of the water. He thinks he's breathing again.

Steve enters his field of vision, hands up like he's approaching a wild animal and pace slow and intentional. "You feeling okay?" He asks and all Eddie can muster is a nod in return. He looks over at Supergirl.

"She gonna be okay?" Eddie asks and lets himself relax a little at Steve's contented nod.

"Exhausted, definitely, but El'll be fine. We should get her somewhere safe though, who knows what else is tied to this place," Eddie's previous stare into the pool is echoed in Steve's face, both of their expressions a blank sort of anxious.

Steve tears his gaze away from the pool and towards Eddie, extending a hand to help him up. Steve's hand is warm in Eddie's when he takes it and lets himself be pulled up and into Steve's space, relishing in the closeness for only a second before stepping away. Now is most certainly not the time. Not that it would've been before, either. Steve coughs as Eddie steps back and gestures behind him, returning to El who's looking slightly more alert in Dustin and Max's arms, eyelids still heavy though and head lolling onto Max's shoulder. Steve says something to the three of them in a gentle and hushed tone that Eddie doesn't quite catch before scooping El up and tucking her into his chest to bring her inside.

Max and Dustin watch them go, Max getting up first and turning to look at Eddie. She sees the concern on his face before Eddie even realizes it's there, fixing him with a glare and stuffing her shaky hands into the pockets of her shorts.

"I'm fine," She says with a sneer and Eddie puts his hands up in surrender, watching her turn heel to follow Steve and El inside. Dustin does less to hide the fact that he's shaken up, getting up slowly from the ground and shaking out his arms. His breaths are trembling at the end of his exhales, and Eddie just wants to whisk each of these kids away from a seemingly endless childhood of Eldritch trauma.

Eddie gently wraps an arm around Dustin's shoulder, simply quietly giving him support as he lets the kid breathe. Dustin melts into his side, Eddie in turn just melting in general, and rubs circles into his back.

"Wanna go sit inside?" Eddie asks as hushed as possible, leaning in just for Dustin to hear. Dustin heaves another breath with a weak nod of his head and pulls away from Eddie but not out of arm's reach. Eddie offers a weak smile and a squeeze on the shoulder as they join the other's in the living room.

El is laid out on the couch with Max sitting on the floor next to her and dabbing at the blood drying around her nose, both with easy fragile smiles and gentle touches. Eddie does not let Max see him looking. Dustin joins them at the foot of the couch and Eddie stands awkwardly in between for a second before spotting Steve around the corner at the phone.

"...For the most part, yeah. I just don't want anyone staying here… Yeah of course… And I know that we're- well, thank you… Yeah. In about ten. Thank you so much," Steve hangs up with a click as he puts the handheld back down, wringing out his hands and then running them through his hair. He scrubs his hands down his face and takes a moment to breathe a heavy sigh before Eddie sneaks out a bit more from behind the corner to make himself known. Steve catches Eddie out of the corner of his eye and startles anyway with a small jump and a hand to his throat like he's a '50's housewife clutching his pearls. The gesture is both endearing and oddly fitting.

"Fuckin' scared me, man," Steve says and swaps his startled expression for an easy smile that makes Eddie's heart jump. "Just got off the phone with Robin, she's very nicely gonna let us stay at her's for the night despite not really knowing me here. Said her parents are out for dinner with friends and will likely end up crashing at a friend's house," Steve laughs and cards his fingers through his hair again. "She says they're more like teenagers than she is," Eddie gives a half-hearted smile that he tries to pass off as normal, but Steve's brow furrows at it. "You okay?"

Eddie worries his lip between his teeth and pointedly does not notice Steve glance down for a second. "It's just- do you think it'll follow us there? Like, it's tied to this house and probably mine, but also us, right? Is switching locations gonna be enough?" Eddie's voice comes out raw and full of worry despite his best efforts to keep it even, Steve grimacing at him.

"I don't know. But what I do know is we can't get back without El, and she needs rest. Our best bet is getting away from any sort of previous gate or tie to the upside down, and I think Robin is it. She didn't get involved until this year, and it was only ever at Starcourt, nothing happened at her home. Plus, she's far enough from any of the gates that I think it's probably our safest choice," Steve shudders and stares at his feet for a second, then turning an intense gaze to Eddie. "I can't guarantee any sort of total safety. But anything will be better than here for them."

Eddie nods and breaks the eye contact, Steve still staring for a second before dropping his eyes. He fiddles with the drawstring of his sweatpants and toes at the panels of hardwood before narrowing a determined gaze back on Eddie.

"Also I-" Steve swallows and makes an aborted movement towards Eddie, Eddie still just stuck staring and praying he isn't about to have the conversation he thinks they're about to have. He's about to get rejected for his weird almost-kiss and have to play it off like it was just end of the world jitters.

What? Why would you think I wanted to kiss you, Harrington? That was just an accident. You know, how you accidentally share tender and gentle kisses with people you've known for about a week and then have to save the world with?

"I just wanted to- uh…" Steve starts again with no more luck finishing his sentence than last time, just looking semi-awkwardly into Eddie's eyes. Eddie shuffles his feet a little and waits in awkward straight-dude agony for this to be over.

"You just wanted to…?" Eddie tries to help, rip off the bandaid if he must, but Steve just shakes his head and hums.

"Just- wanted to tell you to grab any stuff you need for the night, I'll go tell the kids and I'll meet you at the car," Steve doesn't look at him as he finishes the sentence, practically bolts past Eddie with a clap on the shoulder and rounds the doorway into the living room. Eddie tries not to let it sting too much as he trudges upstairs to retrieve his still sopping clothes. Fucking awesome. He managed to make Armageddon awkward.

_______

This fic is almost done! If i write something this long again I won't be uploading chapters to tumblr, but I will post the Ao3 links so keep an eye out for that.

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#steddie #stranger things #steve harrington #eddie munson #steddie fanfic #steddie ficlet #steve x eddie #shovel writes

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