#But everyone else in his diorama does

[waggledoogledoggle]

Ok but just imagine for a sec;

Jed puts his hat on Octavius because he’s talking to Lancelot and Jed is still very protective/jealous abt that and in ACTUAL cowboy culture, putting your cowboy hat on someone essentially means that they’re yours. Not in an “i own you” way but in a “they’re mine/off limits” way. It means you mean a whole lot to them and also that everyone else needs to keep their hands off and their eyes away cause they are yours

like lowkey, its essentially claiming them as your spark publically, and is lowkey a pretty romantic thing to do especially if the recipient knowns the real meaning

however, internet culture only knows one of the very minor options of what it means (as in it rarely means this) which is the “save a horse, ride a cowboy” meaning

So Nicky sees Jed plop his hat on Octavius’s head and he is just flabbergasted

because holy shit Jed that is not appropriate

So Nick takes Jed aside and is like

“Dude you can’t do that”

“Do what?”

“Look, I know about the cowboy hat rule, and it’s cool if you wanna do that, but you can just say you want to go and do that in front of everybody like that, especially if Octavius is in mid-conversation”

And Jed just looks at Nick so confused because what the fuck is he talking about so eventually he winds up asking

“ok, Nick, wait a sec, …what do you think the cowboy hat rule is?”

“You know… ‘save a horse, ride a cowboy’…?”

“…EW NO NICK NO”

“No?”

“NO THAT AIN’T WHAT THAT MEANS AT ALL”

“Wait really?”

“YES! Ok, only on the rarest RAREST of occasions does it ever mean that! Where did you even learn that!?”

“The internet!- oh I see my mistake now.”

Idk that idea is just funny to me

[pepperonidk]

the kids are alright || l.c

pairing: dad!lee chan x mom!reader warnings: reader goes by mom word count: 1362 summary: parenthood is chaotic, but things will come out alright in the end

a/n: i’ve been binge watching modern family and i felt bad for my latest jihoon angst so i thought i’d offer some tooth rotting fluff as an olive branch

main masterlist || taglist

“Okay,” you let out a sigh as you plopped down on the sofa beside your husband who was slipping his socks on. “That’s all three ready for school.” 

“Really?” Chan looked down at his watch with an impressed look. “With 6 whole minutes to spare. That’s gotta be a record.” You rolled your eyes playfully at him.

Before you could bask in the glory of mastering your kids’ morning routine however, a shrill voice called your name from upstairs. “Mom, I can’t find my biology project.”

Chan sucked in a breath and shook his head. “Spoke too soon,” he teased. You playfully shoved him as you stood from the couch and headed towards the kitchen. You and Chan had spent the better part of last night helping your daughter Jia with a diorama for her biology class (read: you and Chan did all the work). 

“It’s in the kitchen,” you called back as she came down the stairs. “Do you have everything else?” 

“Yeah,” she replied, grabbing the project off the counter and rushing behind you to the fridge to grab a water bottle. “Oh, one of the gremlins said they need cash for something at school today though.”

“Honey,” you chastised. “Don’t call your siblings that, it’s not nice.” By the end of your warning, she was already in the living room asking her father for a ride to the mall after school. 

“She called us what?” Minjun, one of the twins, asked as he entered the room with his jacket halfway on and his lunch box halfway unzipped. You rushed over to help him, letting out a sigh.

“Nothing,” you answered him before calling on your husband when you realized one of your kids had yet to make it downstairs. “Chan can you grab Minji? She’s still in her room.” 

Chan quickly replied a quick “Sure,” before running up the stairs to grab the other twin. It wasn’t until you heard Minji squeal as he literally grabbed her and picked her up that you turned your attention back to Minjun.

“Jia said you and Minji needed money today?” You questioned him as you inspected him to make sure he didn’t forget anything else. 

“Yeah,” he replied, ruffling his hair. “We have a class trip next week that we’re supposed to pay for.”

“A class trip?” you echoed back. “I didn’t know you had a class trip.”

Minjun shrugged his shoulders in response. “Minji and I told dad about it last week,” he explained.

You looked up at your husband coming down the stairs with your daughter riding on his shoulders. “Chan?” you questioned with your hands on your hips.

“Right,” he responded sheepishly. “I think I have the permission slips in my briefcase.” He set Minji down and quickly went to his study to find the slips. He returned and handed one piece of paper to each twin, only for Minji to groan.

“Ugh, dad,” she complained. “You gave me Minjun’s.” She and her brother swapped papers before stuffing them in their backpacks without a care and you cringed at the sight of their papers crumpling in the mess.

“Whoops,” Chan ran a hand through his hair. “Does everyone have everything?”

“Yes,” all three called in response.

“Alright, team,” he clapped and began with a cheery voice. “Happy Monday.”

It wasn’t until the kids were all dropped off that you and Chan were able to actually have a minute to yourselves. It was a rare day that you were both off from work and an even rarer day that the kids weren’t home. Although you very much loved your kids, it wasn’t hard to admit that it was nice to have a break from them every once in a while.

You and Chan had taken separate cars to drop the kids off so you could stop by the grocery store to pick up some things you were low on and by the time you finally made it back home, Chan was curled up on the couch watching a kids’ cartoon. You smiled at the sight of him clad in his old pajamas and with Minjun’s Spider-Man blanket only covering a small portion of his body.

“Hey,” he greeted you quietly before sitting up. Once he noticed the grocery bags in your hands, he stood up to grab them from you before heading into the kitchen to help you put the groceries away.

“How was drop-off?” he asked you as he put the produce in the fridge.

“It wasn’t too bad today,” you shrugged. “I got to the twins’ school before the typical traffic jam, so you know… a happy Monday indeed.” You smirked at Chan, feeling proud of your small win for the day. “What about you?”

Chan let out a sigh, now folding up the emptied grocery bag. “Jia made me drive at like half the speed limit,” he glared at you as you laughed at his misery. “She said that her diorama was precious cargo and then went on a tangent about how her whole future is on the line and blah, blah–”

You swatted him playfully. “Honey, I’m pretty sure it’s illegal for us as parents to blah blah our kids,” you joked.

Chan simply scoffed. “Show me where in the parent rulebook it says that,” he replied as you rolled your eyes. “I did what she asked, anyway. Took us almost 30 minutes to get to the drop-off area, but I did it, because I’m an amazing father.” He leaned back against the counter while you finished putting away the last box of cereal.

“You definitely are,” you agreed with just a hint of sarcasm in your voice as you walked back to the living room with your husband hot on your heels.

“Hey,” he stuttered, and without even turning to look at him, you knew his lips were pushed into a pout. “I am an amazing father.”

You laughed as you plopped down onto the sofa where he was earlier and took the small blanket for yourself. “I never said you weren’t,” you replied impishly. “But remember that time when you forgot Jia–”

Chan cut you off by sitting down next to you and poking your side, eliciting a squeal from you. “I didn’t forget her,” he corrected. “I was teaching her a lesson about being independent. I only made it to the parking lot before I remembered.” The last part came out mumbled and you let out a laugh. 

“Well what about the time Minjun asked for ketchup on his fries and you accidentally put sriracha sauce on it instead?” Chan retorted.

“Hey,” you chided, poking him back on the side. “I was also teaching him a lesson.”

“Yeah?” Chan teased, grabbing your hands to stop you from retaliating. “What lesson were you teaching him? That sriracha is scary?”

“No,” you retorted. “That uh… that sometimes moms make mistakes.” You pouted at the end of your sentence and Chan chuckled before pulling you onto his lap.

“Aw, sweetheart,” he cooed and you buried your face into his neck. “At least it was a funny mistake.” You poked him in the rib one last time as he let out a pained chuckle. He tightened his hold around you and the two of you stayed quiet for a beat with only the sound of the cartoon playing in the background.

“Chan,” you called his name softly. “Do you think the kids are gonna be alright?”

He hummed thoughtfully before replying. “Of course,” he replied softly and with seriousness. “We’re good parents.”

“Even though I fed my 3 year old son sriracha?” you asked.

“Yes,” he answered. “And even though I almost forgot a 7 year old at the store.”

You laughed against his chest. “How do you know that?”

“Because they have parents who love them and will love them no matter what,” he pulled away from you to look into your eyes. “And even if we make mistakes along the way, we don’t stop trying to do better, and neither will they.”

“The kids are lucky to have you,” you replied before leaning up to meet Chan in a soft kiss. “And so am I.”

taglist: @yksthings @iamxelia @coveyland @xuimhao @sana-is-ms-rmty @gummymintae

[littlestpersimmon]

Had this weird story idea about a big dragon with runes all over him, and he's like a paper accordion that could unwind for thousands of miles, and the only way you could defeat him was if you were able to read every single rune on the dragon's papery body, and discern the long riddle of the princess who turned her labyrinthine library into her living armor in the form of a colossal and endless dragon . So far every knight that tried to off the dragon with fire, rain, whatever, was met with *death by a thousand paper cuts*. But the dragon don't really kill them, bc dragon is actually squeamish Lol. But since the entire kingdom is enrobed by the pages of a large dragon, there are entire university branches dedicated to discerning the riddle of the princess, why, why did she turn into a dragon, why is this her curse. And their culture shifts around literature, books and academia being treated as the holiest, most venerable form of knowledge. But anyway a cringefail and autistic kitchen boy loves math. He had come from a long line of dedicated scholars of the book. Boring and trifling matters like arithmetic were considered ignoble when in comparison to the mystery of the paper dragon. And the boy disagreed, of course. He loved books and all but was easily frustrated by them, he cannot focus on it, he needs the abstract to become concrete in his mind, he is the kind of boy who looks at a bridge and marvels at the sheer architecture it took to build a bridge before he is astounded by the bas relief;

he loves the world as it is and wants to tease out the blueprints. Anyway, when he was a boy, his mama used to tell him the story of the paper dragon, with only the first two pages of the dragons body being successfully interpreted by scribes. It had been about a princess who loved looking towards the stars and recording the sun's positions through refracted telescopes. And how she had a library filled with endless knowledge.

And the boy read and read the two pages and was enchanted by the mystery of the princess' riddle. In his teenaged life the boy would see the dragon flying above him while he was climbing an almond tree, and he makes out one of the pages along its infinite body as having similar lyrics to the known pages.

And it bothers the boy, all day he'd think about it. And he thinks about the princess who locked herself in her tower, watching the sun through refracted telescopes, and made dedicated sketches and notes every day to discern where the sun had spots; and it sort of connects in his mind that those sunspot sketches helped form an image of the sun, in a way, so he does the same.

Every day he'd just watch the dragon, and waited for the repeating lyric, and noted it down, until he had a long and fucked up diorama of the dragon; It takes him 12 years to be able to reliably predict where on the dragon's body the lyric shows up again.

when folded a certain way, in accordance to where the lyric shows up, the dragon's papery accordion body, the dragon forms a star at its core.

written in a spiral, the story forms into an answer to the princess' riddle; "I want to be free, I want to be free, I want to be free, I want to be free,"

over and over and over. In all aspects the princess who was a prince all along had wanted to be free, and the only way he could think of escaping the confines of his life and the fear of misunderstanding, of everyone wanting to harm him or to treat him as unnuanced a person for wanting to be something else...... was to transform into a paper dragon, more unquestionable than a normal human boy who loved drawing pictures of the sun-

The boy who loved math looked at the folded piece of paper in his hands, now he held the answer to the riddle of the prince, and he'd look to the sky to see the dragon flying above him like an endless kite. And he'd smile up at the dragon, scrunching the paper star in his hands. And hed whisper, I love you, I know you. I see you .

And he could have sworn the dragon smiled back at him.

[carragayer]

headcanons of my ship obsessions based on my interactions with men

phoenix&miles

phoenix is the kind of guy to be so obvious about his big fat crush on (which is slowly [quickly] developing into being in love with) miles. knowing him, he would definitely try to text miles nonstop about every detail of his life, and he will think miles isn’t responding because he’s tired of his texts and hates him when really miles is just fucking busy😭 and of course miles loves him back, he just has a little (a lot of) internalized homophobia. he’ll come around eventually and kiss phoenix on the lips so hard that they both almost fall over while in his office.

outside the door, gumshoe will hand maya twenty bucks.

nick&jay

nick is the kind of guy who pretends he isn’t romantic as shit, but he is. so before he and jay even get together, he will call jordan, tell her to come over, and then rant about how beautiful jay is for around an hour. he will dwell on anything that is slightly romantic that jay does, and jordan will get so sick and fed up that she will tell jay to “get his ass over to this lovesick man’s cottage”. when jay walks in, he will hear nick say, “oh, jordan, it was just too much, he told me i was pretty.” and when jay appears in the doorway, nick will flush a horrific bright red and go dead silent. jay will kiss him, obviously.

it is so much worse for jordan when they are together.

jedediah&octavius

octavius is a complete and total idiot, and he will realize his feelings for jedediah after everyone else, including jedediah himself, does. will he do anything about it? no! but jed will do something about it, and octy will open his bedroom door in his giant ass diorama to a very distressed jed at two in the morning. and jed, being drunk, will confess his love to octy. and you know what octy will do? he will stand there very awkwardly until the dawn breaks and jed realizes where he is and starts apologizing profusely. and then octy will kiss him.

larry will tell teddy and ahk about it later, and they’ll laugh over it for a while.

[minaillus]

my headcanon on which students would be groupmates w each other in schoolworks(based off filipino schools cause i know nothing else) 

this is based of es(!) era!

warning! it’s really long ;w;

2A

trickstar gang (minus mao) 

anzu and makoto carry the entire group. they give subaru and hokuto fake tasks to make them feel like theyre doing something

natsume, adonis, souma

they always eat together at the back of the classroom so they end up being groupmates)(they do relatively well but natsume has to be the leader all the time or else it crumbles

2B

mao, ritsu, mika, naru 

mao carries 50% of the way cause he's only human. ritsu usually does the rest of the 50% in one night and always gets them amazing scores. he’s like a miracle worker

mika and naru hold up the manila paper or sets up the projector. 

mika always makes the presentations :3)

koga and yuzuru are left with each other since naru always insists her group to be 4 members.

 they get the best scores everyone else in class wants to be their groupmates)

3A

Chiaki, Kaoru, Sena 

they are the dumbass group. kaoru is basically a slacker and sena is an idiot. chiaki is only human so they get barely passing marks. 

no one else wants to join this group...

none of them get stressed over their grades... maybe chiaki a little

Shu and Madara

Shu absolutely REFUSES to be with Eichi. So he just works with Madara.

I think they get fairly good scores together and always pass on time.

People are a bit scared to join this group because of Shu but it’s better than previously mentioned trio

Eichi and Keito

everyone else wants to be in this group. it’s easy A because keito insists on doing it all himself.

eichi tries to help but keito really just wants to do it solo... (whats the point of group work if you dont work with each other keito ;w;)

3B

Kanata, Rei, Wataru, Leo

they have the capacity to get the highest scores in their class. they dont cause they are always absent.

during presentations the teacher just gives up when theyre not there

Nazuna, Kuro, Tsumugi

Nazuna would rather die than team up with the oddballs(and leo) so he groups with kuro and tsumugi.

Nazuna is always the group leader! This group always gets great scores! 

When it comes to like diorama based projects though nazuna insists that tsumugi does not help in carrying because he’s scared tsumugi will drop it

1A

midori and tetora

they do pretty well.

they fight a lot though because midori is always “ugh such a pain” and tetora wants to strangle him

hajime and tomoya

they do ok!

idk what else to say

Hinata

hinata jumps from either grouping with midori and tetora or hajime and tomoya depending on his mood.

1B

Yuuta, Shinobu, MItsuru

they work well together! though sometimes hinata tries to help yuuta out and yuuta gets a bit annoyed

shinobu works hard! he puts up all nighters making sure everything is good!

Tori, Tsukasa, Sora

Tsukasa absolutely HATES grouping with Tori but Tori insists to group together(to bring Kasa suffering)

Sora and Tsukasa work really well together !

This group gets the highest grades in their class

[alice-ness]

*holding my hands out aggressively*

GIVE ME THE HEADCANONS

Please I am so content starved it is not even funny, I want the hight school headcanons PLEASE

I love all of them but it I had to chose for only a few I would say gimme Chip and Leaf please

Also I like that one fic u have with Logainne, and Chip, and Leaf, it's really awesome, I'm that one person who commented begging you to please continue the fic and not drop it

K that's it, hope u have a good day byeeeeee

:p

hi!!! tysm for asking here's highschool headcanons for chip and leaf! ((and sorry it took a while) 🙏🙏 ALSO im so glad u like the fic i will try to finish it but it might be a little while #busybee

in this au they all are in similar grades bc i thought abt trying to make it work in canon but it just doesn't rip

chip tolentino

- goes to highschool with marcy, leaf, and marigold

- yes he is incredibly tortured by seeing her all the time lol

- in his freshman year he had a random slump and kind of just did nothing and sulked around all the time (post child boy scout burnout/gifted kid burnout)

- like his grades were... whatever but he didn't talk to anyone and didn't do any extra curriculars

- his parents got tired of him being so suddenly lethargic-teenager so they made him join track

- he's actually really good at it, and eventually (not freshman year but eventually) he's semipopular in an awkward way where people know him but he doesn't TALK to all those people

- does really embarrassing dares with his track teammates. He's not necessarily pressured so much as he gets really into it in the moment LOL

- i put this in the fic but he ran into leaf at a club fair and they hang out now lol

- and leaf hangs out with logainne so he started hanging out with logainne

- and he has some classes with marcy and they were both in a school-rut so they bonded

- wasn't for a while that leaf naturally got the whole spelling bee group hanging out together but that was incredibly weird for chip ... bc... it's kind of weird in general

- especially hanging with barfee but they make up and they're homies (who play argue and play brawl)

- had to do a creative writing unit and discovered he's really good at that too but he's kinda embarrassed about it

- he likes like typical story writing and also nostalgic poems but he's even more embarrassed about that

- he and olive once made eye contact at a creative writing contest he went to without telling anyone and now she wards his secret

- one summer marcy got really into skateboarding and chip tried it out too to be supportive but he ate shit every. Single. time.

- chip learned to drive his junior year and really wanted a sports car but he got a shitty hand me down dad car

- one time marcy called him like "hey can you pick me up" nd he was like "from where" and she's like. "from san francisco?'

- bro how did u even get there

- he does it anyway tho

- they're like besties and they go on a lot of late night snack missions

- if they watch scary movies he will be screaming and crying and she'll be like "oh my god pay attention"

- has a crush on like every single girl he talks to

- sometimes they overlap with logainne's crushes and it's very awkward, especially bc he listens to her disaster lesbian rants at every sleepover

- he grows a really shitty puberty stache he's very proud of and EVERYONE (minus leaf who is unconditionally supportive) BEGS him to shave it

- his dad sits him down like Son. What are you doing.

- ramen and hotpockets diet (if he wanted to cook he'd be good at it tho)

- also this is just me projecting but he's filipino cuz i say so (and my word is law bc it's AAPI month /j)

- 5'5 forever... he constantly prays it'll change

- is really good at dioramas

- goes to school dances to complain in the corner the whole time about the music and the food

- could be misconstrued as mysterious but he's just awkward

- most indecisive person of all time and makes it everyone else's problem

leaf coneybear

- not ALL of his siblings made the switch to public school for high school but some did, including marigold (and pinecone who is older than them)

- it was a hard switch but it doesn't take long to find his crowd bc he's a naturally charismatic person

- his crowd is theater kids. he really loves improv and straight plays, he loves musicals too but he doesn't have great rhythm LOL

- he also LOVES helping make costumes, and in junior/senior year he's on the board

- still likes to make some of his own clothes

- was always tall for his age but had a growth spurt before freshman year and he's like. 6'1 LOL he's a stringbean

- sneaks both his cats and logainne into his school

- yes admin is tired but damn are his cats cute

- logainne is his best friend for literal life they are inseparable and will find any reason to hang out

- kind of an energy drink addict (they're not allowed in his house but he WILL drink too many anywhere else if u don't watch out and then crash and feel sick)

- (sidenote he HAS calmed down some but he can still be distractable and is still rlly high energy. Some days he takes to just completely slow down and veg out tho which is nice) (like pretty much he just won't stomp around and roar or whatever in the middle of sentences like in im not that smart 😭)

- on the complete opposite end of that he's also an organic fruit smoothie addict

- he also loves to bake and he's REALLY good at it but his younger siblings aren't allowed sugar so he will spontaneously get a bunch of ingredients and then show up at his friends' houses late at night to borrow their kitchen

- he tries to "spread the love" by doing this equally at all his friends places

- olive is his #1 baking buddy tho!

- also speaking of siblings he's the best older brother ever and he doesnt really like to be home but he'll spend time with his siblings

- .... his parents just keep havin babies

- anyway he's not as good at cooking bc it bores him so he'll get distracted and let things burn whoops

- tons of sleepovers at logainnes he's like a son to her dads

- gets a giant van to drive all his friends around in, it's decked out

- fixes holes in his friends clothes

- they all have a million friendship bracelets bc he just gets sappy and makes more or forgets he made one

- keeps everything ever given to him

- loves interactive science museums where u get to touch stuff more than ANYYYYTHIIIING. He will get lost in the dino bones

- and loves nature and hikes but mainly to look at bugs

- is the king of poster projects in class

- wasn't allowed to watch horror movies as a kid so logainne showed him some classic his freshman year and he literally couldn't sleep for a week but now he likes them, just mostly the campy stuff

- so stuff like little shop, rocky horror, r his the musicals bc it's cheesy campy horror AND theater!

- also first got social media like freshman/sophomore year and he just posts poorly taken pictures and occasionally answers his friends dms

- junior year on, a good amount of his theater peers develop like silly little crushes on him but he's completely oblivious and chip is just so jealous bc he gets no bitches

- he's the glue of the 25th annual kids bc he sort of just naturally started hanging out w them individually again and was like Oh shit why don't we all just hang out

- he is the only person marcy will cuddle

- (on that note he's the group teddy bear)

[thestrangestthing89]

Mike Character Analysis - Season 4

Season 1. Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

Season 2. Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5

Season 3. Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5

Part 1 (of 4):

I already wrote a few posts on a couple moments in season 4 so I won't repeat myself. There are plenty of other things to get into. A lot of this is going to include El and Will too because they are so closely tied together this season and it reveals a lot about Mike specifically. You can find them here:

Makeover's and Identity (El, Mike, and Will)

The painting reveal and why Byler makes sense pre-time jump

Conversations in Lenora

Mike and Will don't only talk about El

The first scene we see of Mike in season 4 says a lot. Let's start with his room, because this tells me about Mike and how he views himself (like everyone else's bedrooms/homes do). First of all, there is nothing of El's anywhere around the room. This is telling because when we see El's room she has Mike everywhere. There are pictures of him and a Valentines Day card from him. We know she's saving his letters and she spent time doing crafts and making a box? diorama? with Mike's picture and things he sent her. Most of this is typical teenage girlfriend stuff (though I will say the diorama is a bit much. Especially when you compare that with the fact that she's upset with him and knows something is wrong). She has other things in her room too that have nothing to do with Mike - which is good and healthy. Back to Mike's room. He doesn't have anything of El's but he does have a drawing of Will's on his bulletin board. Not surprising considering we have seen Will's drawings all over his house (and El's room, Jonathans room, the Byers fridge, and the party members have some too - Will draws/paints for the people he loves). It means something to Mike that Will gives him these drawings. We saw in season 1 that he saves them in a binder. They are special to him. We haven't seen Mike's room in a while (I think season 1 was the last time) and the last time we did he had bunk beds. Which was always stood out to me because no one shares his room. But now he has a double bed. He's getting older now. The party is in high school and 15 years old.

There are other indications that he's gotten older too. Because now he has a couple posters on his wall that are of shirtless, muscular men (I'm not sure what these are from-video games? movies?). Since he didn't just accidentally put random shit on his wall (because who does that?) we know this means something. Because people (especially teens) decorate their bedrooms with things they like. Things that represent them. Things that reflect their personalities. The thing that sticks out the most here is the One Way sign. I have so many questions about this sign. Mainly where he got it - did he commit a crime? Was a store randomly selling it? Did he find it on the ground outside and take it home? It's not a thing you see on the wall of someone's room. It's noticeable. They want you to see this sign. Because this sign is pointing toward his closet. And this didn't happen accidentally. Things don't magically appear on your wall without you thinking about it.

The scene where we are shown this sign has the closet door open. All of these things indicate to me that Mike has accepted his sexuality and is somewhat comfortable with it. At least within the confines of his own bedroom. Anyone can walk into his room and see this (and we see Nancy hovering in the doorway) so he's comfortable enough that he's not hiding it. Will's room on the other hand tells us something else. He has movie posters and artwork around and all of these things tell us something about his interests but he doesn't have posters like Mike. He's more contained. The audience knows that Will knows he's gay. He has internally accepted this part of his identity but he's still not comfortable with it. The only thing he has on his wall that maybe indicates he is gay is the Little Shop of Horrors poster but that isn't as directly a reference to his sexuality as Mike and his shirtless, muscular men.

There is another indication of Mike getting older and it's the fact that he's in his underwear in this scene. It's a little jarring at first just because we've seen these kids grow up. But I think what they are telling us here is that not only are they getting older but that all the themes of growing up are present here and they aren't shying away from it. It's a coming of age story. This scene isn't exploitative and it's not pointless. There is a reason they are showing him like this. And this combined with the posters and the sign are saying that Mike is getting more comfortable with his sexuality.

This combined with the fact that El has a Valentine's Day card from Mike that says "I like you" tells me that Mike is very conscious of the fact that he isn't in love with El. He wasn't writing that for a reason. Because how did he manage to find a store bought card that didn't have the word love on it. He had to have looked in multiple stores. He is trying very hard to make sure she doesn't think he loves her. Mike is staring very intently at the letter El wrote to him. He clearly read it several times. He looks like he's concentrating hard on something. El let slip a line about Will - that he's acting weird and painting something and won't let her see. She thinks it means he likes someone. Maybe a girl. It has to be this line that Mike is so focused on not only because there is nothing else of significance in this letter but because it's the only thing that explains Mike's behavior when he first gets to Lenora. Mike is jealous. He likes when Will's artwork is for him. And if Will has a girlfriend or likes someone than Will won't reciprocate his feelings. And Will only makes artwork for the people who are important to him. So it says something big if he made something for someone.

There has been about 5 months since the end of season 3 (that was October and now it's the end of March). I think with the way things ended in last season Mike spent this time thinking about his feelings. A much easier thing to do with El and Will both gone. I think it gave him a chance to clear his head and think about what they both mean to him and get more comfortable with himself. We see a different Mike in this first episode. He's confident in his nerdiness (at least until he gets around El). He's dressing differently and his hair is longer. He's playing D&D again and he's happy about it. He doesn't care if other people at school think he's lame for playing. He very excitedly goes around trying to recruit people to their game. He's explaining how cool he thinks dice with 20 sides are. He's not ashamed that he's a nerd and he no longer thinks playing games makes him childish. Part of this is because of Eddie. Seeing someone older play board games had to have helped Mike realize there is nothing childish about this. Part of this is because of Will and the fight they had in season 3 that first prompted him to get to this point. Because not only is Mike acting like himself again (at least somewhat - he's also acting like Eddie) but he's hanging out with Dustin. Will accused him of not caring about Dustin anymore during their fight. So he clearly spent time thinking about this. Something else that is different is that Lucas and Mike are no longer on the same page like they were in season 3. Lucas still doesn't want to play D&D. Which is fine, he could have grown out if it. It's ok if he has other interests that his friends don't share. But he clearly says he's doing this because he wants to fit in. Which is not necessarily a bad thing but it does indicate that Lucas is still on the same path he was last season and Mike isn't. Mike got tired of pretending to like or not like certain things. D&D is often used as metaphor for Mike and Will's relationship and here it's a little more direct. Mike isn't pretending to not like D&D (Will). He's accepting that he's a nerd (gay).

And then there is the fact that Mike is checking out the basketball team, and interrupting the wrestlers practicing (he is making different recruitment choices than Dustin), and clearly idolizes Eddie. Now it's possible he doesn't have a crush on Eddie. We don't see enough of those two together. But we do see that a lot of the changes in Mike -his clothes, hellfire, his hair, possibly the guitar that is in his room - are all influenced by Eddie. So he has a significant impact in Mike's perception of himself at this point. Now I don't believe anyone else knows Mike is gay. I doubt he's told anyone. But he's happier than we have seen him in a while when he's playing D&D.

The conversation Mike and Dustin have at the pep rally is about their girlfriends. It's clear Dustin brought this conversation up himself because he's telling Mike about his morning. And Mike responds with the thing he says a million times - El's a superhero! We could turn this into a drinking game at this point. I get the impression that Mike probably hasn't been talking about El too much, or at least not bringing her up himself. If he's more comfortable with his identity, it's probably a conversation he wants to avoid. And there is no indication from his friends that he talked about her.

Edit: I want to add something about Mike's room - it's messy. And this is out of the ordinary. We know this because we saw his room neater before and because Will looked worried when Nancy mentioned it. And like every other instance of Mike's behavior getting dismissed as him just being a teen, this is actually a mental health issue. While he is dealing with his feelings about his sexuality he is struggling with the supernatural stuff still - bad grades, sleeping in the basement, messy room (not all teens have a messy room and some adults do. It's not an age thing, it's personality. Or in this case trauma, because he can't find a reason to bother to clean it). It's no wonder he is still struggling with this because his emotional support - Will -isn't there and they aren't communicating. They've talked about this stuff before and aren't now. While Mike is a little more confident and comfortable with himself than in S3, he's still dealing with a lot of the things that have happened. It's not magically cured and we see that when he responds to El after the skating rink. It's a trauma response.

Part 2

[van-zieksy]

So much effort was put into designing Barok van Zieks to look like an aristocratic deathly demigod vampire villain, just for the player to find out that...

... he's concerned about his hair colour, so much that it takes precedent over being locked into a cell over murder charges.

...he's super fussy about his looks and style in general, having adorned the exact same hairstyle for over a decade, down to every single strand, and is wearing layers of layers of expensive, wrinkle-free silk and fabric. He must have developed a chemical that magically repels red wine from his gloves, ensuring they are a spotless white at all times.

...he collects expensive handmade hallowed chalices, crafted by the finest artisans, neatly arranged in his office and refuses to allow anyone else to touch them, which also means he must dust that part of his office himself. The oversized, gloomy looking "Reaper" using a feather duster.

...he builds miniature diorama of crime scenes. The mental image of this man with his oversized hands carefully glueing little pieces together.

... he keeps some of his wine barrels in his office and is so *meticulous* about arranging them that he does it all by himself. He may claim to not be a demigod, but knowing he does haul around 270kg/600lbs without breaking a sweat, it does make you wonder. He's a perfectionist who refuses to settle for mediocrity. He'll never find the perfect way to arrange them. His whole office is ostentatious and carefully arranged.

...he keeps a chess set in his office. We can assume that he plays by himself, as no one else dare set foot into the dungeon of the Reaper (oh wait...there is someone, and said person actually wanted to challenge the prosecutor to a duel of chess thinking it would end well for him).

...he doesn't mind that bats are living in his office. We can assume that he feeds them every day. They must feel some sort of attachment to Mr. wannabe vampire prosecutor.

...he refuses to use a stack of paper during a trial like a normal person and instead resorts to using a fancy paper scroll, probably made from the highest quality paper he could find. He dramatically pulls out said scroll to present his charges or to make a point. Unlike others, he doesn't need lots of notes; he memorises it all.

...he practiced using his leg from an early age. His lessons in ballet definitely came in handy, too. He was born with the urge to show off his leggy assets. When toddler Barok lifted his leg in his crib for the first time, everyone around him proclaimed, "He IS a Van Zieks, through and through."

...he insists on using swords/sabres for personal protection during an era where guns are commonplace, actually ending up losing the gun that was assigned to him. The hunting gear of his late brother is probably collecting dust somewhere in a dark corner of his manor.

... humour to him is carefully taking apart his opponents' arguments. When his opponents back themselves into a corner, it makes him giggle. His sense of humour is dry, witty, covert, and sometimes dark, all wrapped in an elegant, fussy package, using words most late Victorians have never heard of. Which brings us to...

...he talks like someone who may have lived in a different century. Flowery, somewhat outdated language is his trademark. Is he an immortal vampire after all or just extra?

...he can cite Shakespeare's works, down to the act and scene. Why not, it may come in handy...

...he put lots of thought into neatly placing the Van Zieks emblem all over his office. Nothing else would do. He needed to mark his territory.

...unlike other people, he actually doesn't mind waiting hours on hours on Lord Stronghart. This man has an abnormal amount of patience (which he also shows in the courtroom). You would think that only immortals can have so much patience.

And let's not even get into his chalice-crushing, chalice-smashing and bottle-throwing habits.

Despite some peculiarities, Lord Barok van Zieks aka "The Reaper of the Old Bailey" is just a human like you and me. Well, maybe not like you and me, but the point still stands.

The way people look can be misleading, folks.

[sennqu]

in the span of less than a week, i've gone from "oh nice they're finally making it overt that will's gay. sad his feelings won't be reciprocated though but oh well" to "if byler isn't endgame then what was the point".

i've been lurking the tags and some of the discussions on reddit and have some Thoughts:

(i'm not laying out the reasons and evidence of why i think byler is endgame because i think other fans have got that down. my contribution to the tag is why i think unrequited byler isn't possible as a satisying pay-off in the story from the POV of a Will Byers fan and a less involved ST fan who hasn't seen a lot of cast interviews/outside material.)

the biggest point that made me consider against will's feelings being reciprocated at first was that maybe his storyline was a continuation of S3 which posited that he was unable to "move on and grow up". a redditor brought up that maybe confessing his feelings and subsequently being rejected will help will finally move on from his "childhood" and grow up. This was a compelling argument to me at the time because 1. so far S4 does seem to retread character relationship beats from before (Lucas and Max, Mike and Eleven, Steve and Nancy) and 2. i didn't have faith in the duffers giving us a good and satisfying character arc for Will.

Howsmtever!! when i thought about it more, that kinda storyline for will didn't really make any sense. we see in S4 Vol. 1 that will has taken up painting. not pencil or crayon drawings like in past seasons but paints! He's broadening his art horizons, i.e he's already growing up and moving onto new things.

we see will (and the rest of the byers) has completely taken in El as part of the family. if will hasn't moved on, wouldn't his relationship with her be shown to have more friction? if he still thinks that she is the girl who stole his friend/childhood away. but we see in cali he comforts her after her diorama is stepped on, is mad alongside her when mike says the "she didn't look fine" line, and will subtly puts his arm in front of her as a shield when the police come to take el away, among other brotherly gestures of love. he's not loud with his affections and he's not the type to visibly stand up against bullies and the like but in his limited scenes with el, we do see that he fully treats and loves el as a member of the family.

so anyways, that's that on that. will's moved on and thriving as best he could post-S3 and before the plot of S4 throws everyone back into the fire.

to state, i am working off on the assumption that the text is telling us 2 things: 1. that will is gay, and 2. that he is in love with mike. So. What else could point towards Will's feelings not being returned as a satisfying part of his character arc if the "moving on and growing up" part isn't the point?

the other argument i've seen is that a rejection will lead to heartbreak will lead to Will either getting vecna'd and/or siding with the villain leading into S5. and while i would love to see Will just fucking shit up, what would be the point of this? will loves his friends and his family. why would he turn his back on them even if the love of his life rejected him? he even says outright in vol. 1 that it was "you guys" that saved him. there isn't conflict here. and sidenote, his fear of rejection is probably what'll put him in danger of vecna's curse and not actually getting rejected. and then what's the pay off going with this route.? that even if he's rejected, he'll realize he still has his friends? but he already learned this in S3 (see: "not possible" line). it's not the same with max because her issues were the direct fall-out of the S3 ending.

So let's back up and say maybe getting rejected isn't that big of a deal in the big picture. lots of guys irl and in the 80s have been rejected by their crushes before. this is just gonna be a blip in will's life (he'll confess, mike will be sorry, and then onto the next scene) and then we can move on to the "real" plot of the story and maybe learn will's connection to the Upside Down and shit. to which i ask: why bring up his crush if it's not gonna be important in the grand scheme of things?? in his character arc?? just to pander to the gays? just for representation? when there's an arguably larger faction of people who would love will's orientation to truly be up for interpretation or for him to just be a delayed straight guy?? that doesn't make sense. i truly believe that the writers think that him being gay and in love with his best friend is an important enough part of the story that shouldn't be set aside.

from this long-ass, rambly text post, I've laid out my points on why i think rejection is just not possible for will's story assuming the writers are half-way decent at their jobs. and they seem to be, forgetting will's canon birthday aside.

And just to add-on, non byler fans hoping that Will gets a boyfriend (in the form of an as-yet unnamed character so he can be happy) while in the same breath saying how hard it is for gay guys in the 80s to find love is HILARIOUS. both of these things can be solved if byler is endgame. and also the jokes(?) saying will deserves better than mike?? will doesn't want anyone BUT mike.

[joanielspeak]

Hey, friend! How ya been? 💕

(Your manips are amazing btw)

Hello there, tentorium!

I have been okay! 😀 Thank you for reaching out!

I took a good long time away from writing because I'd lost the spark entirely. Everything was reading like trite nonsense, so I shelved Unhitched for a while and wrote Charm City after a whirlwind affair with the Beat Gen. I remember rereading Unhitched again last year and falling back in love with the story ... until I reached the end and was staring all that future work right in the face.

I decided to do other arty things instead. I began building miniature dioramas of tiny mole houses, painting watercolor barn owls and sea turtles, reading my collection of neglected graphic novels, feng shui-ing my house, and growing plants. My mother convinced me to do The Artist's Way, so I'm in the middle of that right now too.

All the while, my WIPs collect virtual dust.

So I decided to fuck around with Midjourney for writing prompt inspiration and it truly lit a fire inside me. Between those experiments and a hard drive full of all my old Dancy/Mads manips, I made many new visuals from which to derive fresh inspiration and my gf suggested I share them on Tumblr for shits and giggles. The intention was to spread joy, or humor, or something, I guess.

So I did, and then I made new playlists to listen to when working on Unhitched, and generally have been slowly getting back into artistic endeavors. It helps to have my kids and all my partners still entrenched in their own artistic pursuits. My daughter's enrolled in all these really cool art camps this summer, from making recycled art to refurbishing furniture. My gf is still writing up a storm (crazy proud of everything she does), my husband started making chainmail and is designing and programming a really cute food-themed Kaiju video game, and my bf has jumpstarted his love of sci-fi model building. I hate being creatively blocked like this, if for no other reason than it makes me feel like a boring slug compared to everyone else.

So I returned to this hellsite. Not sure why, but hey, I'm here for now. I guess it's getting more traffic since Twitter apparently did a thing – I don't follow tech news. So this and a bubble level are the only apps on my phone now. Utter chaos.

BUT, I do have 20,000 more words for Unhitched in the queue. I hate every single one, but they do, in fact, exist, and that's more than half the battle.

Thanks for the hey, friend.

[blackestmist]

Every night you dream that you talk to a genie, when you wake up you can't remember what you wished for. One morning you wake up with a giant crab pincer replacing your right arm. What do you do?

Step.1 screaming

I can't imagine anything else coming to mind before this very crucial step. It's less so about the actual replacement and more about The how...

Step.2 call out of work

No, I'm not entirely sure what the rest of y'all do for your work but having a giant crab pincer as a right arm is not going to increase productivity by any stretch of the imagination, but seeing as tomorrow is Friday, I feel like I might have a little extra time to figure out why on this beautiful blue marble. I would voluntarily replace a perfectly good working human right arm with a monstrosity.

Step.3 pop culture references

Now that I've called out of work and I'm probably going to draw the ire of the manager, it's time to look deeply within my mind and figure out whether or not there is anything in the many, many years of watching too many movies, reading too many comic books and playing too many video games that might actually be useful in some way, shape or form.

Step.4 isolation

Without much else to lean on. The only way I can see at the moment to get any sort of normalcy back is maintaining distance from everyone else who would likely cause a great disturbance. Luckily, by this point in our world history, not only have I mapped my smartphone to react to my left hand thumbprint, but we also have such wonderful apps as Uber eats and DoorDash. Not only will I be able to eat and look claw won't be getting in the way of cooking, but I also get a chance to collect my thoughts without too many other distractions.

Step.5 from a hypothesis

Okay, so by this point I'm fairly certain that there is no other way to explain the sudden change from one day to a next, but through magic or some kind of reality warping space anomaly. Seeing as I haven't heard anything else, go wildly different from normalcy. I imagine the latter is the better explanation for my current predicament. The only step now is to find a way to dispel this magic before I make any more stupid mistakes.

Final Step. Go back to sleep

Whether or not it's a far-fetched idea. The only thing that I can firmly conclude is that ,however I ended up in this mess it has something to do with whatever! I ended up dreaming about the night before somehow. With this in mind, I decide to head to my bed and attempt to return to sleep.an ASMR video, White noise machines, CBD gummies, sleepy time tea, and a hot shower followed by a dehumidifier with relaxing scents later I'm more than likely fast asleep at this point.

Sleep being in place of imagination and memory and do my very best to try and conjure up whatever the last memory before my last dream ended might have been. My experience there's always been at least one, particularly poignant piece of a dream that sticks with me throughout the day. In this particular case, I imagine a man with blue skin with crossed arms seemingly hovering in midair with a self-satisfied look on his face. Without any memory of what transpired before this smug look of victory crossed his face. It does seem fairly difficult to figure out what in particular went wrong but it does seem like there is one particular character that might be responsible for the state of my right arm.

For all of the stress that this new appendage has brought me, it seems like possibly through the magic itself. I found my way back to what feels like the source of what ails me. As if by a bluish teal whisp of shimmering light made a path straight to whomever I have to think for this little adventure. Nonsense, cities and towns pass by as my mind apparently decides that it might be a good idea to wander down memory lane and recreate certain memories in the form of quick vignettes and dioramas of highly personal scenes of my life.

Like an indie museum of my greatest failures, Embarrassments, and intimate moments on display for me, currently playing an actor in some sort of supernatural being's Little play about a guy who wakes up with a crab arm and proceeds to be very confused and upset much to nobody's surprise.

As you might expect, I did my best to move quickly through what is undoubtedly the most awkward art gallery I have ever found myself walking through as of now. Before I knew it, I found myself standing before work could only be described as the most generic looking suburban home in the history of anything. Unshaken by the peculiarity of this seemingly mundane home. I make my way to the door and I raise my claw to knock...

[aquato-family-circus]

"What does Otto Mentallis' Brain look like?" "Yes!"

I've been wanting to pay a little tribute to everyone else's very fun little Otto ideas, since a lot of them inspired my own take, so finally we are here. If yours isn't here, don't worry about it, just means I must've missed it! Mostly worked with ones that had visual refs or at least detailed descriptions~

I included everyone's usernames in the images themselves, and here's the direct links to where I got the refs for these concepts too, so you can show them some love:

@banjo-bugs [x] @britishsass [x] [x] (second link is a fanfic series, go read it) @jnixz [x] @razputin-archetype [x] @save-me-san-fran-psychonauts [x] @sunnievii [x] @vikviky [x]

All image descriptions under the cut:

General ID: 7 Images depecticting different people's interpretations of mental denizens who would occupy the head of Otto Mentallis. A majority of them are iterations on Otto's design, barring a few exceptions such as jnixz and britishsass' concepts. Each image is labeled with the text "Concept By -" followed by the respective person's tumblr username. End ID.

ID #1: Concept by Banjo-Bugs. A continuous line drawing of an abstracted Otto Mentallis looking angry as he balls his fist and points aggressively to the left. The linework of his outer limbs and body is teal, then it grows from yellow to red as the colors reach his face. His eyes are swirling and bright yellow. He's surrounded by particle effects in the same colors as his body, and the background is a solid dark blue with blotches of darker blue circles. End ID.

ID #2: Concept by Britishsass. Three mechanical figures stand beside each other, each on top of a colored circle that is connected to a line that travels across the background in an erratic pattern. From left to right, the figures are Win-0 on the blue line, Turing on the red line, and Lovelace on the green line. Win-0 is a humanoid robot with a bronze/copper like complexion and ball-jointed limbs. It's wearing brass goggles on top of their head, a blue neckerchief, a grey t-shirt and a dark grey pair of overalls with black shoes and a brown belt. Turing is a simplistic robot with a circular head, bright red eyes, and an oval body with a small brain decal on the chest, tube arms, claw hands, and a singular wheel instead of legs. They're wearing a tiny floating hat with a brain decal, as well as a big brown satchel slung over one of his arms. Lovelace is a semi-humanoid robot with long, flowing metal hair, a stark white face with eyes that resemble camera apertures, mitten-like hands, and an electrical ghost tail. She's wearing a flowing grey dress with long sleeves under a green cloak with a silver heart on top. It also has a big green bow on the top of their head. End ID.

ID #3: Concept by Jnixz. A small silhouette of Otto Mentallis is floating down a green murky area as a large monster glowers down at him with bright yellow eyes. The monster resembles the design for a nightmare from Psychonauts, but it is much larger than a typical nightmare, and its multiple arms are all individually representative of a member of the Psychic 7. The limbs are all slightly out of focus, making the focus of the piece the Nightmare's skull-like head. End ID.

ID #4: Concept by Razputin-Archetype. A version of Otto that is modeled after blocky toys or miniature figurines one would find in a diorama or museum display. He has a slight wood grain texture and his joints are connected by small metal chains. He has his hands behind his back and he's looking up wistfully as he stands in a diorama depicting the heptadome by using pictures of in-game screenshots, superimposed on each wall and the floor. End ID.

ID #5: Concept by Save-Me-San-Fran-Psychonauts. A small Otto that is made of bright teal linework on top of a pitch black background. He has fluffy hair, and he's wearing a college graduation hat and robe. He looks determined as he holds onto a rabbit drawn in the same style which has ears meant to resemble lightbulbs. He's surrounded by bright red shark fins that are circling around his feet. End ID.

ID #6: Concept by Sunnievii. Three robotic versions of Otto expressing the emotions of Love, Anger, and Sadness. The Lovestruck Otto is colored in a pink monochrome, and has a heart on his chest that is showing an electrocardiogram, also in the shape of hearts. The Angry Otto is red, has sharper features, and has one hand raised up in a fist. The Sad Otto is blue and has softer features. He is slumped over in a defeated posture, one of his eyes is broken like glass, and his chest has a lightbulb inside of it. The background is a solid yellow color with white lines radiating from the three Ottos, in the shape of hearts, electrical lines, and rain, respectively. End ID.

ID #7: Concept by Vikviky. Otto is standing up against a dilapidated wooden door covered in wooden boards nailed to it, rusty chains, and a yellow ribbon labeled "DANGER!". Otto looks frightened and has his arms up in a defensive posture. His hair and cloak are wavier than is normal, the cloak especially starts to curl off into whisps resembling smoke at the bottom. His Psychonauts dress is also longer, reaching the ground. His glasses are bright yellow and glowing, one obscures his eye while the other is broken, revealing that his visible eye is bloodshot. In the background there are scribbles of eyes starring down at Otto. End ID.

[ghosthunterbuck]

fundamental pieces

buddie (1.6k) (read it on AO3)

Eddie’s knees hit the ground with a dull thud that he doesn’t feel.

He doesn’t feel anything, actually. He can’t. Because if he feels something, he’s going to feel everything, and if he feels everything, he’s going to come apart at the seams.

He can’t look away from the smoldering pile of rubble in front of him. Dimly, he’s aware that there are other people around, people who could be hurt, people who might need his help. He’s frozen, though. Stuck on his knees, might as well be fossilized in amber.

Buck.

Buck is—

Fuck, Eddie can’t even bring himself to think it. The house was standing and now it’s not. The ground was stable and then it wasn’t. Buck was—

And now he’s not.

The flashing lights from the fire engine cast strange moving shadows across the debris. Eddie tracks each one of them, unable to stop himself. It can’t have been more than a minute — the dust from the collapse still lingers heavily in the air, and no one’s started shouting orders yet — but time is stretching and folding in on itself and Eddie’s pretty sure he’s going to be stuck in this moment for the rest of his life.

And then, his radio crackles to life.

“Buckley to 118, I could use a little help down here.”

Eddie can’t help the wounded noise that falls from his lips. His entire body sags, a marionette with strings cut.

He allows himself a count of three, then stumbles to his feet. Buck needs him. He shoves the past few minutes in a box he knows he’ll never want to open again. Buck needs him.

The next half hour is a blur filled with structural engineers and thermal cameras and half hearted jokes over the radio. Buck’s okay, just trapped in a pocket beneath one of the house’s sturdier beams.

It’s maddening, knowing that Buck is less than a hundred yards away and not being able to get to him. Eddie feels trapped in his own skin. He wants to say to hell with it and just start digging, but the engineers say that any wrong move could collapse the bubble that Buck’s in. So he clenches his jaw and waits.

His radio crackles again. “Hey Eddie?”

Eddie fumbles to press the button down so he can respond. “Buck? What’s wrong?” Eddie can hear the tension in his own voice, barely covering the panic that lies beneath.

“I’m fine,” Buck answers immediately. “I just… never mind. It’s stupid.”

“Tell me what it is,” Eddie says, as soft as he can manage right now.

There’s a long pause. “Can you talk to me?” Even over the radio, Buck’s voice sounds small.

Eddie lets out a breath. “Yeah, Buck, I can do that. What do you want to talk about?”

“What, uh, what’s Christopher doing at school this week?”

Eddie knows damn well Buck already knows the answer to that question, but he indulges it anyway, telling Buck about the history fair coming up and the diorama Chris wants to build.

“I’m pretty sure he’s going to conscript you for that one,” Eddie chuckles. It’s a little forced, but it’s the best he can do under the circumstances.

“Well someone’s got to help him with the papier-mâché, and we both know it’s not going to be you,” Buck says.

“Hey!” Eddie says, mock-affronted. “I helped on the last one! With the solar system?”

“Eds, you popped the balloon before the sun was dry. It looked like a weird yellow raisin.” The amusement in Buck’s voice is good to hear.

He’s about to defend himself when Bobby claps him on the shoulder. “We’re moving in,” he says. “Let Buck know.”

Eddie swallows. “Buck? Still there?” It’s a stupid question. Nothing’s changed in the last 30 seconds, but waiting for Buck’s response still feels like standing on a precipice.

“Nowhere else to go,” Buck confirms.

“We’re on our way to you,” Eddie says roughly.

“Roger,” Buck replies. “What do you need me to do?”

“Just hang tight and keep your helmet on straight,” Bobby says.

“You got it, Cap.”

—

Digging through the rubble is delicate, and frankly terrifying, work. They’ve got airbags holding up the points that the engineers identified as load bearing, but every time something in the structure shifts, Eddie’s breath catches. Eventually, though, they’ve got a path cleared right up to where Buck should be.

“Nash to Buckley,” Bobby says into his radio.

“I read you, Cap.”

“We’re right on top of you. Keep your face covered and don’t try to help.”

Eddie swears he can hear the cheeky smile Buck must be wearing when he says, “No help from me, got it.”

It’s another agonizing ten minutes, then finally, finally, Eddie’s got one of Buck’s hands clasped in his, and he’s pulling him from the house’s crumbled remains.

“Shit,” Buck says, surveying the damage. “You must’ve thought—“

Eddie unintentionally tightens his grip on Buck’s hand. It’s the opposite of what he should be doing, but he can’t let go. Buck squeezes back.

“I’m fine, Eds,” he says softly.

And Eddie knows, he does, but he’s not going to believe it until he’s checked every inch of him over himself.

—

“Thank you,” Buck says, out of the blue.

It’s a few hours later, and they’re back at the station. As intense as the call had been, Buck had gotten out of it without a scrape, so they’re all still on duty.

“For what?” Eddie asks.

Everyone else is asleep, so it’s just the two of them sprawled out on the loft’s couch. There’s some nature documentary playing on the TV, but Eddie’s fairly certain neither of them is watching it.

“For distracting me. Earlier, I mean. I, uh. It helped.”

Eddie gives up his pretense of paying attention to the hyenas on the screen and turns to look at Buck.

“I’m just glad you’re okay,” he whispers. It gives away far too much, but he’s so far past the point of worrying about that.

Buck swallows heavily, like he’s heard everything that Eddie didn’t mean to reveal with those five words. He shifts until he’s pressed against Eddie, ankle to shoulder.

“I was scared,” Buck admits, toying with the sleeve of the LAFD hoodie he’s wearing. Eddie wants to take his hand all over again.

“I thought—“ Eddie can’t bring himself to finish the sentence. “I was scared, too,” he says instead.

Buck looks at him. He bites his lower lip and frowns. “I just kept thinking that I didn’t want to tell you over the radio,” he sighs finally.

“Tell me what?” Eddie asks.

Buck looks away again. He’s starting to hunch in on himself the way he does when he’s feeling vulnerable. Eddie gives into his earlier urge and takes Buck’s hand in his own.

“Whatever it is,” Eddie says softly, “you can tell me. I promise.”

Buck’s eyes shoot back up to Eddie’s, searching. Whatever he’s looking for, he must find.

“I love you,” he says simply.

He can’t mean it the way Eddie wants him to. The way Eddie’s wanted him to for months, years probably. He squeezes Buck’s hand tighter for want of words.

“I’m in love with you,” Buck clarifies. “I just… couldn’t not tell you.” His expression is almost resigned.

Eddie’s frozen all over again, but this time he let’s himself feel it all. Because Buck’s okay. Buck’s sitting right in front of him. Buck loves him.

“Evan,” Eddie breathes, unable to keep the name from slipping between his lips.

The resignation on Buck’s face shifts to hope, and he holds Eddie’s gaze. Lit by the blue glow of the television, he’s never looked more beautiful.

Eddie can’t wait another second. He ducks forward and brushes a feather light kiss across Buck’s lips. His intention is to lean back, to assess Buck’s reaction, but then Buck makes a strangled noise and surges forward, capturing Eddie’s mouth with his own.

The hand that isn’t otherwise occupied lifts of its own accord to cup Buck’s jaw. Buck’s free hand fists in the material of Eddie’s uniform. It’s like no kiss Eddie’s experienced before, fire and passion underlined by aching tenderness, and over all too soon.

Eddie leans his forehead against Buck’s breathing harshly.

“Fuck, you have no idea how long I’ve wanted to do that,” Buck pants.

“I think I might,” Eddie says.

Buck pulls back, just far enough to look Eddie in the eye. “You…”

Eddie wants to laugh. Even after that, of course Buck’s still not sure. Eddie’s not one for speeches, but Buck… Buck deserves to know exactly what he means to him. “Earlier, when I thought… it was like the whole world stopped. And I didn’t want it to start again, because I was terrified it’d be starting without you. I can’t do any of this without you. I don’t want to. I’ve been in love with you for so long it’s a fundamental part of who I am.”

It’s Buck’s turn to freeze.

“I love you,” Eddie says. He squeezes Buck’s hand.

The soft pressure must break him out of his stupor, because he lunges at Eddie again, this time throwing his arms around Eddie’s neck and burying his face in his shoulder. Eddie wraps his arms around Buck’s waist and buries his nose in Buck’s hair.

“I love you,” he whispers again, just because he can.

—

Bobby finds them the next morning, tangled together on the couch and snoring softly. He smiles, and resolves to make breakfast quietly.

[sparktls]

Rhapsody of the Greenhouse of Smiles and Sunset ~Eastern Country & Central Country~ 5 | Event Story Translation

Translation under the cut!

All the wizards’ expressions turned grave. Heathcliff looked especially grim.

Arthur: We must act quickly.

Arthur: Whatever the cause may be, we must save Shino first.

Nero: The current question is how we’re gonna get him out of there.

Riquet: This black-haired figure is Shino, yes? Then if we take him out of the diorama, won’t he be fine?

Cain: Wouldn’t ripping it out be a little careless? How about we break the wall of the diorama instead?

Nero: That also sounds plenty careless to me...

Akira: (How to safely save Shino...)

In an attempt to try to get some kind of help, I eyed Oz, who was standing silently.

Akira: Um, Oz...

Oz: .........

Oz was staring straight at Heathcliff.

Oz: Heathcliff. I feel some of your presence in the diorama.

Oz: Did you not curse Shino?

Heathcliff: ...Huh...?

Everyone fell silent for a moment.

Cain: Hey, what are you talking about all of a sudden?

Riquet: Heathcliff and Shino are friends. He would never do such a thing.

Oz: It may not have been deliberate. There can be many different outcomes when different emotions build up over a long time.

Arthur opened his mouth to respond to Oz’s words. Oz looked away and continued.

Oz: If Heathcliff were to unconsciously wish to connect and keep connected Shino and this diorama, then that in time would form a curse.

Almost like he had taken a good punch to the face, Heathcliff remained in shock.

Heathcliff: ...I...? I cursed Shino...?

His face paled with fear.

Akira: Heath...!

Nero: You alright? Hang on there.

Cain: Oz. How likely is that to be true?

Oz: It’s merely a possibility. I’m not sure of it.

Oz: If it is true, however, depending on how we try to remove the curse, we could potentially harm Heathcliff.

Oz: When a curse is undone, it’ll bounce back and afflict the one who originally cast it. If you were the one who cast it and we destroyed the diorama, you’d experience the consequences.

Cain & Arthur & Nero: ..........

Akira: (It can’t be...)

I was at a loss for words. Worry and anxiety threatened to overtake me.

Thick clouds emerged outside, and the sky began to darken.

Riquet: What are we supposed to do? If we don’t act soon, Shino will...

Faust: ...The safest way of going about this is to have Heathcliff undo the curse.

Faust spoke quietly, as if pushing open a heavy door.

Faust: If Heathcliff was the one that cast the curse, then having somebody else undo it poses a threat to him.

Faust: But if he undoes the curse himself, then the curse won’t bounce back and affect him. Even if it does, it won’t do too much harm.

Faust: To undo the curse, you’ll have to connect your consciousness with the diorama using magic, but...

After exchanging glances with Faust, Heathcliff nodded. His face was still unhealthily pale.

Heathcliff: ...I’ll do it. I’ll save Shino.

Heathcliff: Master Faust, please teach me how.

Faust: First, place the diorama on your hand... Then chant your spell while thinking about sending your consciousness into it.

Heathcliff: Understood.

Heathcliff chanted his spell, just as Faust told him to.

Heathcliff: Repsev Aivulp Sunos...!

...But nothing happened to the diorama.

Heathcliff: I can’t use magic...? Even though I chanted my spell...

Faust: Don’t worry. Take a deep breath and try again.

Heathcliff: O-okay...

Heathcliff: Repsev Aivulp Sunos...!

Heathcliff: ...It’s not working.

After that, Heathcliff repeated his spell dozens upon dozens of times.

However, his magic didn’t work - not even once.

Heathcliff: Why is this happening...

A heavy silence fell upon the room.

Outside, it had started raining.

———————————–

Everyone had agreed that Heathcliff needed some time to calm down and collect his thoughts, and so he went to rest in his room.

After some time, Faust, who went with him, returned.

Arthur: Faust, is Heathcliff...

Faust: He’s still in a state of shock. He needs some more time.

Nero: Oh... He was looking green around the gills, after all.

Akira: ...Excuse me. Was the magic Heath was trying to do a difficult type of magic?

Faust: It requires attention to detail and precision, but Heathcliff normally wouldn’t have too much trouble with it. In fact, it’s the type of magic he’s skilled at.

Faust: But he’s currently not the right mental state to use magic - that must be why it failed. Wizards use magic with their hearts, after all.

When Heathcliff left the room with Faust, he seemed weak to the point where he could collapse at any second.

Cain: ...We don’t even know if the entire curse thing is true or not.

Cain: But being told that it’s a possibility and seeing Shino’s current state - it’s no wonder Heath ended up like that.

Cain: To Heath, Shino was always someone he could rely on - someone confident, someone strong.

Cain: If Shino was conscious, even if he had lost a limb, he would never fall in front of his master.

Cain: It’s to maintain his pride as one that serves the Blanchett family. So Heath may have never seen Shino like this before.

Faust & Nero: .........

Everyone looked at Shino. The only sound we could hear from him were quiet inhales and exhales.

Oh, how we would be saved if he opened his eyes right now.

Arthur: ...Master Oz. Is there nothing we can do?

Oz: There isn’t.

Riquet: There isn’t anything?

Oz: There is nothing.

Faust: It’s a shame, but it’s exactly as he says. In order to heal his heart, Heath has to come to terms with himself.

Riquet: It can’t be...

Riquets’ shoulders drooped dejectedly, and Nero gave him a pat on the head.

Nero: I know you want to help, but we have to be patient. And I’m sure one going through the most right now is Heathcliff.

Nero: Even though he’s the only one that can save his friend, the more he struggles, the more he’s unable to do it. He must be blaming himself right now.

Nero: So how about you go watch over him, to make sure he doesn’t?

Arthur: I see... It’s exactly as you say, Nero.

Cain: Heath is waiting for himself to calm down.

Cain: So let’s wait for him too.

Riquet: Okay...

Faust: ..........

[shcherbatskya]

samael!! since you’re my official natm mutual, i’m so compelled to ask: do you have a natm oc/character [or multiple!] and if so….if you have any descriptions of them, I’d love that <3

SO sorry this took me a minute omg. went through a moment where i thought i was really cringe (im over it now <3) but yeah i have a few!!! im going to pick my favorites and tell you their descriptions. some of these are from my own planning notes so apologies if they’re a little incomprehensible 💙🦋🌀🪁

Natanaël Auclair: he’s from the french revolution diorama and is named because I'm obsessed with the ae sound AND I love a good accent mark. He was an orator who wrote pamphlets in his real history life. He comes from an upper-middle-class area, so he’s pretty well educated. sort of obsessed with the classics both as a life model and a political model. almost Voltaire-esque because I want him to be sort of a philosophy guy too. In addition to the overall crisis of his situation, you could throw a weird relationship with religion in there too. make him more fucked up. He’s quite taken with the meditations of Marcus Aurelius as well as the works of Spinoza. He comes off as stuck up to almost everyone he meets, but this is just passion for what he does that comes off as condescending. Almost ADHD core in that regard. Gay? I think so. He’s like the Sartre of the French Revolution. (lie.) MAKES HIM A DETERMINIST THEN DIES OF HAVING TO THINK ABOUT DETERMINISM.

Octavia Antonina: This is Octavius’s daughter I can’t imagine she’s more than in her early 20s to late teens, her depiction probably comes from like a few years after Octavius’s, assuming the history is coming from the same texts. Tacitus’s the life of Agricola situation if you will. She probably died relatively young or not long after her figure is set. I’d give it another 5-10 years. Probably of consumption, Antonine plague, tuberculosis, etc, etc. from experience, I’d say she has every right to be pissed out of her mind. First, she’s willed to be conscious in this wacko land about 2000 years from when she was alive, THEN she has to reconcile with her absent father who is now THEE number one person in charge so there’s not anyone else you can go to. She's sort of normal at first (angry in her own right but whatever) but as she starts remembering specific events that happened while she was alive, I imagine she becomes more insane mental. By the end, she’s settled and gotten used to the whole thing, but it’s a journey, not a sprint, so she’s still dealing with everything. She’s grappling if you will.

Christine “Lottie'' Madden: a woman from the progressive era area who is like. super outspoken in her opinions, she’s probably not necessarily well-liked by the majority of people around her. she’s probably one of the first people Octavius meets from outside of his area, she’s gay, also. she’s stuck the neighborhood of stuck up rich people in this life at least for the time being. she’s not afraid to say exactly what she thinks and this gets her almost banned from all social events going onward, she’s not, on the condition of they’re going to be there forever and ever and it sort of adds drama. oh, the queer history of the woman’s suffrage movement is sooo interesting okay. MAYBE I set her up with the lady from the French revolution area. I think that would be fun. I also think she’s pissed off all the time and is constantly internally judging people.

Inès Descombs: She’s also from the French Revolution area! I named her because I'm obsessed with Inez from No Exit so I’m making her existentialism core because of this. Henceforth she does NOT agree with Natanaël on the subject of free will, she’ll go to her grave defending it. she’s not As educated as Natanaël, but she was still taught philosophy and literature by her father, since she also grew up relatively well off. maybe she writes a pamphlet or two under a pen name. I'd LOVE to set her with Lottie from the other area, like two revolutionary women, who aren’t taken as seriously as their male counterparts but are still fighting for what they believe in regardless. lesbianism omg. She’s a fiery spirit who has overcome being belittled by being openly intellectual and not attempting to mask her opinions. She doesn’t idolize classical society like Natanaël, but she is familiar with the history. I think she was part of the Women’s March on Versailles.

[infinitelytheheartexpands]

Traversing the Verdi Canon #8: Alzira

I did it! I have officially watched every single Verdi opera at least once!

Production: Lima 2018. Warning that there is some implied offstage sexual assault and at one point one character partially undresses another character in a way that implies attempted sexual assault.

Experience: yup, this is the last of the 26 Canonical Verdi Operas I have seen.

Alzira joins a small group of Verdi operas that also includes works such as Nabucco, Attila, and Stiffelio, where it’s not really a comedy in that it’s not packed with humor and levity but it’s not really a tragedy either because the only person who dies is the biggest dick in the cast and pretty much everything else works itself out (or, more accurately, there’s hope that everything else can work itself out).

The plot, which is still in many ways Very Relevant: it’s Lima in the 1500s, at the height of the conquistador period. Alzira (soprano) is an Incan princess in love with fellow Incan Zamoro (tenor), who saved the aging Governor of Peru Alvaro (bass, presumably no relation to the Forza character of the same name) from execution...for Plot Reasons, I guess. Alvaro’s son Gusmano (baritone) gets the governorship because his dad is like “I’m tired of this and also don’t wanna get executed”. He is also Very Into Alzira. Meanwhile, Alzira’s father Ataliba (bass) wants his daughter to marry Gusmano to Avoid Further Conflict (understandable, i guess). However, Alzira is having exactly none of this, especially because she and Zamoro have recently reunited. Gusmano decides that the best way to go about this is to have Zamoro executed but Alvaro (who is altogether the only decent Spanish character in the opera) stops him, so instead Zamoro and Gusmano face each other on the battlefield (sadly not onstage). When the former gets captured, Gusmano forces Alzira to agree to marry him in exchange for Zamoro’s freedom. Zamoro is Not Having This, disguises himself, crashes the wedding, and murders Gusmano in front of everyone (FUCK YEAH). Then Gusmano, realizing that perhaps he shouldn’t have been such a colonialist motherfucking asshole, tries to make amends and dies. The end.

First things first: this opera is SHORT. I think it’s the shortest opera Verdi ever wrote (it comes in at just over 90 minutes), and this is great because a lot of the pace is breakneck. This works splendidly, while more reflective moments get their due. I wish we got to know the characters more, though.

Re: the music, it does take some time for this score to really get off the ground, but starting at Act I, Scene 2 (Alzira’s aria), it becomes really, really lovely and maintains that high standard. I literally gasped when that string prelude started; it’s so shimmery and gorgeous. The ensemble that ends Act I is also particularly effective. Also, I just love Zamoro calling Gusmano out on his BS; I literally clapped when Zamoro cried “Carnefice!” (”Butcherer!”) and then spit in Gusmano’s face. And then clapped again in Act II when Zamoro shot Gusmano. The finale was more musically lovely than Gusmano deserved.

 Also, hey, look at Verdi and Solera Knowing What’s Up.

This production has quite a nice cast (I particularly liked the Alzira and Alvaro) and related musical forces. Aesthetically the production is a bit weird (and it would probably be a nightmare in house for people sensitive to fluorescent lighting), as the look veers between “museum diorama” and “vaguely futuristic”, but it tells the story as effectively and efficiently as the opera itself. As I mentioned earlier, some uncomfy elements (aside from the implied SA, Gusmano also forcibly baptizes Alzira at one point, which I don’t think is in the original), but they’re handled pretty well, I’d say, much better than many other opera productions, and they work for the story.

anyway, not the greatest but still a lot better than popular opinion, and y’all don’t be racist and colonialist, you hear?