#R.I.P. Out of Time

[cashmoneychiyo]

Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun Chapter 151 © Cash Money Chiyo (@grolia, jinky, @waxlightjohn, and our newest member satorii aka @morallygay!)

[currymanganese]

Matchmaker, Matchmaker,

make me a match!

Find me a find!

Catch me a catch!

@espumado 's fantastic meta on the influence of the horror/noir thriller classic film, The Night of the Hunter on The Bear Season 3 has been rattling around in my brain ever since she shared it; and it prompted me to watch the movie recently. I'd like to encourage folks to check out @espumado's post here if you haven't seen it.

Here are some thoughts I'd like to add concerning a potential parallel between two highlighted romantic relationships in The Night of the Hunter and The Bear thus far -

The marriage of Willa Harper and Harry Powell

And the relationship between Carmy and Claire

There are four features of the relationship between Willa and Harry that are mildly echoed in Carmy and Claire's relationship: external social pressure to accept a romantic partner that Willa and Carmy are not enthusiastic about initially; blatant tip-offs that Willa and Carmy receive that everything is not well in their relationships with the partners that they have been 'set up' with by their loved ones; post-tip-offs, Willa and Carmy's insistent denial of the fact that their partners are less than ideal; and Willa and Carmy's self-loathing and poor sense of self-worth that is reinforced by their larger-than-life familial figures.

External social pressure to accept an undesired partner:

In The Night of The Hunter, a newly widowed young woman, Willa Harper, is badgered repeatedly into marrying Harry Powell (a misogynistic, sociopathic serial killer-thief posing as an itinerant preacher) at the behest of Icey Spoon, a domineering older woman that is equal parts Willa's employer and her, and her children, John and Pearl's, mother and grandmother figure respectively.

Likewise, in The Bear Season 2, Carmy is bombastically pressured into being set up with Claire (whether for a casual fling or serious relationship is unclear) - a former childhood neighbour and acquaintance - by Mikey and Richie, his older brother and his surrogate cousin respectively.

Blatant tip-offs that the relationships are unhealthy:

After marrying Harry Powell, Harry instantly flips from being charming and ingratiating to Willa to being psychologically abusive and refuses to physically consummate the marriage. However, Willa is so cowed by Harry and the will of her mother figure, Icey, and the social approbation of her small, religiously conservative community, that she does nothing when she comes home from work one day and overhears her new 'husband' Harry being verbally, psychologically, emotionally, and physically abusive to her very young daughter, Pearl.

However, in a comparatively mundane indication that all is not well in Carmy's new relationship with Claire, Carmy appears to have his anxiety/panic triggered by being physically intimate with Claire, and/or due to the familial pressure he feels to be with her, which causes him to mentally associate Claire with his dysfunctional family.

Being in denial about their partners:

In a tragic and baffling development, after Willa overhears Harry abusing Pearl, Willa is so deep in denial about Harry's true nature that she meekly fixates on Harry's non-existent virtues even while he prepares to murder her. Harry kills Willa by slitting her throat with a knife, and dumps her body in a nearby river at night, leaving her 9 year old son, John, to fend for himself and his younger sister against their villainous step-father.

Despite showing signs of being anxious around Claire in Season 2 and 3 - his initial refusal to give Claire his number - his laboured breathing with her in his kitchen in Bolognese - his rapidly beating heart when cuddling with Claire in a Season 3 flashback; and Carmy's panic attack the morning after sleeping with Claire in Bolognese, and despite his mental preoccupation with Claire during Season 3, Carmy strangely asserts that Claire is not, "haunting him", as "that would be chaos, and Claire is peace...." Seemingly ignoring the negative emotions that their relationship triggered for him and the additional strain and complications that his time in his relationship with Claire brought to his relationship with Sydney, Richie, and his work-life.

Willa and Carmy's poor sense of self-worth reinforced by loved ones

Willa is an understandably subdued woman after the death of her first husband, Ben Harper, however (as encouraged by the psychologically manipulative Harry Powell) she also blames herself for Ben Harper's death. In her naivete, and self-recrimination over Ben's death, and because of her mother figure, Icey's, overbearing insistence that Willa is a silly woman that cannot take care of herself and her children, Willa rushes into a marriage with the evidently suspicious stranger, "Preacher" Harry Powell; who brainwashes her into believing that he is her path to salvation and redemption for her "misdeeds".

Carmy's monologues to Al-anon and to Tina/ himself in the walk-in - as overheard by Claire - reveal that Carmy is self-loathing and considers himself a: "psycho"; someone unworthy of love; a loner; a man of few to no true friends; and his dreams also expose that Carmy questions whether his brother/father-figure, Mikey ever really loved him or not, and that he also suffers from survivor's guilt. This poor sense of self-worth does not appear to have been helped by Mikey's refusal to let Carmy work with him, prior to his death, when Mikey was self-isolating and descending further into addiction; and Carmy's negative self-concept is further promoted due to his mother's abuse, and his family friends e.g. Tiff & Richie/brother's attestations that he is, "a mopey little fuck" and/or "weird", and like his mother, Donna.

_____________

This post is already stretching on to be rather long, and these similarities between the aforementioned relationships and Willa and Carmy's personalities and actions may be coincidental/ unintended, but I do find them interesting to note, and I would like to point out a few final thoughts concerning Harry and Claire's motivations for pursuing relationships with Willa and Carmy respectively, and their personalities:

It should be noted, that despite being an influential and now-much lauded classic film, as a modern viewer, The Night of The Hunter is aggressively misogynistic; the women and girls in the film are either depicted as: gossipy, simpering, naive, easily manipulated, or domineering or mean-spirited, and in the lone exception to this rule, a positive mother figure that takes in John and Pearl at the end of the movie still expositions that, "women are foolish." However, it must be said that the quality of character of the men in this movie doesn't fare much better in turn, and Harry Powell is a misogynistic menace of a man that paradoxically is implied to lust after the very women he hates, and who he projects onto and dismisses as, "wanton temptresses", yet, in a case of deeply entrenched sexual repression, he refuses sex and sexual contact with women despite being found desirable and attractive by them.

Having said all of this, I find it funny that Claire seems to be everything Harry Powell would hate in a woman; she is intelligent, a medical doctor; presumably financially secure under her own merits as a doctor; she is confident and sexually forward; she is the one that pursued her interest in Carmy and not the other way around, which flies in the face of parochial heteronormative traditions about M/F romantic relationships; Claire does not desire to become a doctor out of (a traditionally maternal and feminine instinct) to show care and concern, or to "fix things" so much as she becomes a doctor out of a fascination with the intricacies of pain / the workings of the human body, and is somewhat unaffected by her almost killing one of her patients in her care due to misreading her chart; and lastly Claire breaks things off with Carmy instead of, "standing by her man", after overhearing his meltdown in the walk-in.

However, inversely, it must also be said that while Harry Powell's motivations for pursuing marriage to Willa before killing her is as clear as day, he wanted to marry her and kill her because he learnt that her first husband stole and hid a large sum of money with Willa's children, and "Preacher" Powell coveted the stolen money for himself; yet Claire's motives for staunchly pursuing Carmy as a romantic partner - besides Mikey, Richie and the Fak's encouragement, and Carmy and Claire's alleged former childhood/adolescent crushes on each other, and sexual attraction - is a little more nebulous.

What does she see in him really?

And, unlike Harry Powell, based on the impact Claire has had on Carmy's life thus far, after pursuing him romantically with Neil Fak's help, is Claire an anti-villain?

Thank you for reading if you've read all this - and on a personal note, I will be on here less frequently for the foreseeable future as I will be heading off to film school to study film production soon.

If any of what I've written above catches your interest, please do feel free to check out the following observation posts - and the reblog add-ons too! if you haven't read them:

Why'd the crew at The Bear ignore Syd's question about Marcus, to talk about Claire? by @moodyeucalyptus

Sublimation and Intellectual Orgasms by @mitocamdria

The Bear - Sleight of Hand Movie Posters by @ago0112

The Bear Season 3 & Meta Filmmaking by @thoughtfulchaos773

Natalie and Night of the Hunter by @espumado

Carmy and Claire: Guilt by @brokenwinebox

Claire: Ominous or Naive by @brokenwinebox

Richie and the viewer by @whenmemorydies

Richie's Journey is not over by myself.

Fourth Wall being broken by @brokenwinebox

Claire and The Faks: A Lovable Alpha Bitch and her henchmen? by myself.

Claire and Sydney by @brokenwinebox

Mikey and Claire as a reverse engineered haunt - an add-on to @espumado's post on the fantastical elements of season 3 by @whenmemorydies and @thoughtfulchaos773

Scene Lighting, Blocking and Dialogue Callbacks between Claire and The Berzattos by myself

Crack theory but...Claire as Lilith, Carmy as Adam, and Sydney as Eve? or why I think Claire and the Faks could possibly shape up to be shocking, exciting, funny, and even wonderful characters by myself

Mikey and Sydney paper parallels: Sydney as the light of Carmy's life by @miredball

Sydney as Our Mother of Victory by @gongziyus

Moments on Fillm: Carmy's Vital Signs by @moments-on-film (you may want to pay particular attention to moment's amazing breakdown of JAW's physical acting in his scenes opposite Molly Gordon as Claire)

Sydcarmy and Amelie parallels by @gongziyus

Sydcarmy and breaking down walls by @bbythurs

Is the Claw Clip Carmy's Bear Claw? by @vacationship

Claire: Clear As Mud add-on to a post on the meaning of Claire's full name by @whenmemorydies

The Night of The Hunter movie details and trope breakdown on TV Tropes

also tagging @yannaryartside @tvfantic87 @angelica4equity @devisrina @ambeauty @bioloyg @post-woke @caiusmarciuscoriolanus @imliterallyjustablackgirl @pureseasalt @chansoooo1-blog @amieraisposting @outmakingmoonshine @anaustenheroine @augustmonsooning @mkayartist @hwere @gardenianoire @mod-doodles @myloveismineallmine @turbulenthandholding @anxietycroissant @inalltheirgorgeouscolors @laryssamedeirss @justabovewater20 @prowitchazel @unlikelyjapan @afrofairysblog in case you're interested!

[jenniesban]

Okay, season 3

I found it tiring and repetitive. didn't need 10 episodes. 8 was enough. just like previous seasons.  

Carmen in this maniac episode was almost insufferable to watch. Everybody on here was waiting for him to be down, but the writers could’ve done better, and Christopher Storer could’ve shown us better.

First of all, his relationship with Claire wasn't that deep. I know it's all in Carmy’s head, the way he visualizes her etc, and yes I have a high degree of myopia, but this was not shown in s2. It makes me mad watching this lack of commitment with his partner and sister in an opening business.

I care about Camy, and it’s so tragic that he can’t get out of this cycle of abuse. but I’m a human, and sometimes I really wanna beat him. I know he's trying, but this man needs to take his head off his ass asap. Showing his situation with one hundred flashbacks was monotonous to watch. 

About Sydney, I’m so mad how they wrote her this season. Are they gonna end this show without showing us a center episode of her??? this season was a perfect moment to develop ONE OF THE LEAD CHARACTER OF THE SHOW!!!

My girl was passing for so much and alone, but the writers were like, nah, let’s show bad comedy with the Faks instead. Put a woman to babysit Carmen and Richie, two grown-up men for the entire season, it’s insane. (she's so much better than me)

I love Sydney so much, and we know she would rather get a shot than talk about her private life with anyone, but I need her to fight. I need her to speak. The panic attack scene breaks my heart, I don't think is all carmy's fault. It was a mix of everything. Fear of the future, insecure about everything, thinking about her found family and the possibility of losing them, starting a new business all over again (when she spoke on s2 that she didn't have in her to try again), fear of failure again. But I wish they had shown it better from her pov. They should have improved this part. 

I ended this season with a bitter feeling. It’s not a good writing job to have ten episodes of preparation to be resolved in the future. 

(And since Christopher Storer likes Taylor Swift so much, he should take all this hate train and enter his reputation era, and give us a better script in s4. #i think the bear is gonna finish in s4, so lets be productive and finish the show in a good way. please, all this with Joana Calo by his side, let her write!)

I loved Tina’s episode (thank god Ayo directed the best one), ice chips were insanely good. Abby Elliott and Jaime Lee Curtis!!!!!111!1 and the first episode was so well edited and directed. i love those actors very much so, they are so talented.

[notshortatall12]

dream crochet :)

guess what i did..

[smol-tired-binch-blog]

Kazama please don't give this man his own family he looks like he's gonna cry at the thought of conning civilians

[asktherandomfam-archive]

Chomps - "Oh... What a shame... Well, looks like somebody's gonna die tonight. And this time, there's no kindhearted soul to save anyone from a relentless, revenge beating."

(@ask-the-royal-absol)

[imwritesometimes]

one day I'll be able to read anything at all about the upcoming Indy movie without literally bursting into tears and by "one day" I mean I'll be sitting in a seat at a theater vomiting into a popcorn bag overcome by the full spectrum of human emotion

[sheerioswifties]

I really want more of the rep merch back I will forever regret missing out on the white hoodie and also Jeanette stole my reversible rep snuggly sweater and I'm still really sad about it @taylornation pls bring back more rep also Meredith&Olivia merch!!! I want the damn pillows

[sqx7music]

Froggy waffle!!!

[inun4ki]

Bippity boppity boo bitch. I fucking love you and your ocs. You're so god damn creative, making whole universes spun up with just one brain cell thought. I can not tell you how happy i am we share this hobby my dear.

[boowhumps]

Whumptober 2023

Day 6

(@whumptober)

By - B.W

⚠TW⚠

~ Swearing

~ Mentions of Death

~ Mentions of Suicide

~ Mentions of Injury

Enjoy!

｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆

“..yes.. I understand..”

…

“..Thank you, keep us updated on his recovery.”

...

“Yes, thank you..”

Kaiden hangs up the phone, rubbing his eyes with a sigh. He walks to a closed door, and opens it a bit, peeking inside.

He smiles a bit seeing his daughter, Astrid, asleep and safe. He slowly closes the door as to not wake her, and walks towards his bedroom.

In the bedroom, Karyme sits on the edge of the bed, hands together in prayer. Her eyes are shut tightly together as she mumbles small prayers.

Kaiden walks into the bedroom, stopping at the doorway. Karyme looks over to him instantly.

“Any news.?” She mumbles.

“He’s okay right now, the surgery went fine.. but..” He says slowly.

“..but.?” She asks.

“..he isn’t waking up..” He replies.

Karyme drops her head, shaking.

“..they don’t know for sure if he’s.. in a coma.. they’ll run more tests tomorrow.” Kaiden mumbles, arms crossed.

Karyme does not respond. Her body shakes as she sits.

Kaiden approaches her, taking a seat next to her. He pulls her into a hug, sighing.

“Don’t say it.”

Karyme takes a quivering breath. “..but-..”

“No, don’t.” He replies. “Not now, not ever.”

Karyme shakes her head. “..I won’t..”

He squeezes her tightly. “I wont say it’ll be fine.. because frankly I don’t fucking know if it will.. but we’ll get through this..”

Karyme grips onto him. “..why him..? Why our son..?”

“I don’t know..” He mumbles back.

Karyme narrows her eyes. “..this won’t be left unsolved.”

Kaiden pulls away from her, looking into her eyes. “Karyme-“

“No, we have to find out who did this.” She says, standing up abruptly.

Kaiden stays sitting. “..Karyme.. whatever you’re implying.. stop. This won’t solve anything-“

“No, you don’t understand. Whoever is responsible for this will pay.” She says coldly.

Kaiden frowns. “Listen to me-“

“Elliot is assigned to the case. He’s helping me find data the police may have missed. I’ll find who did this, and when I get my hands on that person-“

“Karyme!” Kaiden shouts.

She turns to him, eyes widened.

He takes a deep breath and stands up. “Fuck.. I don’t mean to yell.. but I need you to listen to me.” He says, grabbing Karyme by the shoulders.

“But first, breathe. You’re tense.”

Karyme takes a deep breath, leaning into him. “..sorry..”

Kaiden sighs. “I know.. you’re grieving, I don’t blame you.”

She shakes her head. “Why can’t I be calm like you..”

“I’m not calm right now..” Kaiden responds. “I’m breaking, Karyme. The difference between you and me is I don’t act on those negative emotions.”

Karyme looks away in shame.

“Believe me, if I saw who did that to Ashton.. I would do as much as you.. but that won’t make our son better..” He says.

Karyme looks at the floor. “I’m fucking losing it.. I can’t be strong right now..”

Kaiden holds her close. “..I’m not asking you to be.. just don’t do something you’ll regret.”

“I’ll fucking die if Ashton dies..” Karyme whispers.

Kaiden shakes his head. “Don’t say things like that.. you won’t..”

There’s a silence as Karyme composes herself.

Karyme sighs deeply. “..What about Astrid..?”

Kaiden raises an eyebrow. ‘What about her.?”

“How are we gonna keep her safe..?” Karyme asks.

“Hun, she’s fine-“

“We thought Ashton was too..”

“..what are you thinking.?”

“She needs to stay home, until we find out who did that to Ashton..”

“Karyme, that’s drastic, we can’t keep her here locked up all day-“

“How else will we make sure she doesn’t end up with a bullet through her head like her brother!?” Karyme shouts.

Kaiden shushes her. “You’ll wake her up.”

Karyme takes a deep breath. “I’m scared, Kaiden. I failed once already, and I’ll be damned if I let the same happen to Astrid.”

Kaiden crosses his arms. “I know you mean well, but she has school, friends, a life. I don’t want to take that away from her.”

“Either we take her life temporarily, or someone else will take her life, permanently.” Karyme replies.

“Ashton isn’t dead-“

“He’s damn close to it, isn’t he?”

Kaiden shakes his head. “Look, we can’t come to any conclusions now, like this. We can discuss more in the morning, when we’re all more calm-“

“Dad.?”

Both Karyme and Kaiden turn their heads to the doorway where their daughter, Astrid, stands.

“Astri, sweetie, what are you doing up.?” Kaiden asks, suddenly changing his tone.

“I heard yelling..” She mumbles, arms crossed.

Karyme sighs. “..we didn’t mean to wake you, Astrid-“

“You guys were fighting..” Astrid says softly.

Both Karyme and Kaiden shake their heads.

“We weren’t fighting-“ Kaiden starts.

“You’re fighting over me and Ash.. right.?”

Karyme frowns. “..It’s nothing, we just had a disagreement..”

Astrid frowns. “..it didn’t sound like that..”

Karyme sighs. “Me and your father don’t always see eye to eye, Astrid. We aren’t mad at each other, we just have different ways of thinking.”

Astrid looks back and forth between her parents. “You guys never yell though..”

“Come here, Astri.” Kaiden says.

She walks into the room, and Kaiden pulls her into a hug.

“We’re sorry for waking you, sweetie. I promise, no more yelling, okay?” He tells her.

Astrid nods slowly. “Okay..”

Karyme feels guilty as she watches Kaiden take Astrid back to her room. She sits on the side of the bed again, fighting back tears. The last thing she wanted was to fight with Kaiden, but she was breaking inside..

She doesn’t look up, even when Kaiden walks in again. He doesn’t say anything, just walks up to her.

“Hun..” He starts. “Look at me..”

Karyme shakes her head.

He lifts her head up. “C’mon, we’re fine, yeah? No more fighting.”

Karyme holds back a sob. “Kaiden..”

She hugs him tightly, catching him by surprise. He doesn’t waste time and holds her, his head resting on hers.

“Let it out." He says. “I know you’re hurting, just cry, yeah?”

Karyme holds back from making noise, only letting tears fall.

He sighs. “There you go.. easy now.. we’ll get through this, just like we’ve gotten through everything else..”

Karyme takes a quivering breath. “..together.?”

Kaiden smiles.

“Exactly, together.”

｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆

[backwardhatmatt]

↳ R.I.P. (Rest In Pussy)

˚ · . basically just a pussydrunk!chris blurb

One moment we were innocently curled up underneath the blankets together, just watching a movie.

The next moment, Chris’s fingers were tracing their way along the lace of my pink panties. He brings his fingers down lower, rubbing teasing strokes on my cunt through my panties. I could already feel myself getting worked up.

“Already wet from this?” He asks, grinning slyly as he continues his teasing touch.

“Oh shut up. You’re the one always touchin’ me.” I reply, trying to act a little bothered even though I love it.

“You know I can’t help myself. You’ve got such a pretty pussy…” He moves his fingers back up to the top of my panties, and I let out a low whine, barely loud enough to hear.

He curls a finger into the waistband of my underwear, then letting go to snap it against my skin. I already know what he wants.

“Go ahead Chris,”

He immediately moves to situate himself in between my legs, using one of his hands to push my knees apart and the other to pull down my panties. I can see the darkening look in his eyes when he sees me spread out for him now.

He leans his head down, placing a soft kiss on my plump clit. I grab onto his hair lightly for now, just wanting to keep him there. He uses his tongue to swirl small circles before eating me out more roughly.

I can only moan out loudly and hold his hair tighter, while we wraps his arms around my thighs and lifts them onto his shoulders, pulling my throbbing cunt closer to his mouth.

“Doin’ so good f’me…” he mumbles against my clit, the air leaving his mouth and the vibrations only adding onto my pleasure. I feel that all to familar knot begin to form in my stomach. Chris only continues eating my pussy as if he’s a man starved.

“I’m gonna cum..! Chris!” I yelp out, and he flicks his eyes up to mine for a second before continuing and pressing his nose to my clit, adding onto the sensations.

That’s what caused the knot in my stomach to finally snap.

I yell out a string of curses as I come on his face, and he just keeps going for a few more moments before lifting his face up, slick dripping down his chin.

He licks his lips before massaging my clit with his thumb gently. I’m still sensitive so I let out a small hiss through gritted teeth.

“You did so good. You got one more? I know you do.” he teases his middle finger around my entrance. I can only nod and take a deep shaky breath as he inserts a finger into me.

“Good girl.”

He starts off slow, pumping his middle finger lightly, eliciting quiet moans from me before he adds another finger, his ring finger. He pumps them a lot quicker and I feel my legs getting wobbly. My walls clench around him and he grunts at the feeling.

He starts to curl them as well, hitting that sensitive spot, which causes me to let out an almost pornographic moan. I can already feel my orgasm coming fast, and he begins to kiss my puffy clit.

That’s all it takes for me to cum again, this time all over his fingers.

He grins, continuing his pace to prolong my pleasure for as long as possible. Moments later, he pulls his fingers out, dragging his tongue up them.

“Tastes s’good…” he mumbles before burying his face back inbetween my shaking legs, peppering light kisses all around my still soaked cunt.

I attempt to push his head away by tugging on his hair slightly, as I’m still sensitive, but he only moves deeper.

“This pussy’s mine.. made f’me..” he spoke quietly, the air blowing out of his mouth onto my clit causing me to shiver.

He wasn’t gonna stop after two orgasms, and I fucking love all of it.

[doyoulikethissong-poll]

Amy Winehouse - Back to Black 2007

"Back to Black" is a song by English singer-songwriter Amy Winehouse, released on 26 April 2007 as the third single from her second and final studio album of the same name (2006). The song was written by Winehouse and Mark Ronson, and produced by the latter. "Back to Black" was inspired by her relationship with Blake Fielder-Civil. He had left Winehouse for an ex-girlfriend, leaving her going to "black," which the listener may take to be drinking and depression. "Black" has sometimes been considered as a reference to heroin, but this is inaccurate as Winehouse's heroin use did not begin until after her later marriage to Fielder-Civil (May 2007), as confirmed in the Asif Kapadia documentary.

"Back to Black" received universal acclaim by music critics, who generally praised its throwback sound to girl groups from the 1960s. It was included on several compiled year and decade-end lists of the best in music and was further considered to be one of Winehouse's signature songs. The single peaked at number eight on the UK Singles Chart in the UK and is Winehouse's third best-selling single in that country. Many artists recorded covers of the song; most notably, Beyoncé and André 3000 covered it for the soundtrack of the 2013 film adaptation of the novel The Great Gatsby.

The music video was directed by Phil Griffin and features a funeral procession in which Winehouse mourns over a grave that reads "R.I.P. the Heart of Amy Winehouse". The shot of the headstone was edited out after the singer's death in 2011.

"Back to Black" received a total of 86,6% yes votes!

[sexhaver]

Facebook Messenger loves to remove features at random with no announcement or rationale and while this has claimed a lot of victims over the years (R.I.P. to the secret :putnam:, :gta_sanandreas:, and (^^^) emotes), by far the worst losses were the basketball and soccer minigames you could play by sending their respective emojis and then tapping them in chat. they were pretty fun and tracked high scores across the chat, but that's not what i miss them for. they had two other properties:

whenever you exited the minigame, it would publish your highest score in that session to the chat in the same tiny font used to announce theme/emoji/nickname changes rather than a full speech bubble

you didn't need to send the emoji every time you wanted to play the game, you could scroll back up to the last time someone sent it and play from there

these combined to form a technique i referred to as the "dunk react", wherein i would reply to awkward messages by scrolling back up to the latest basketball emoji, playing the game just long enough to score 1 point, and then closing it. this would "respond" to the message with "Harrison scored 1 point playing basketball" in a super tiny font. the best use i ever got out of this technique was when i dumped my ex for cheating on me twice and she was sending me walls of text rationalizing her behavior and half-apologizing and mentioning suicide and i just responded to every single one of them by silently shooting a hoop

[thundergrace]

Erica Ash died from cancer today. It really is a shame she never got her big break in Hollywood. But that isn't to say she didn't make an impression.

I knew her from The Big Gay Sketch Show. Then she was on the last season of MADtv. The next really notable thing I watched her on was Survivor's Remorse (M-Chuck, one of few Black lesbian characters ever, still). She was also hilarious on The Real Husbands of Hollywood. Speaking of which, she produced tumblr's favorite meme on that show:

I think the very last thing I saw her on was Legacies. She played MG's mom, and she was so good. That was the first time I'd seen her play a dramatic role.

Ah wait no she was in Horror Noire, that's right! I recommended that to you guys! It is so good!

Seems the last thing she was in was a family horror film with Anthony Mackie, David Harbour, and Jennifer Coolidge called, 'We Have a Ghost' last year. So I'll be checking that out soon!

R.I.P Erica 😔

[wheneverfeasible]

Confession

wc: 3k || rating: T+ || AO3 || cw: referenced homophobia, homophobic language || summary: Eddie comes out to Wayne

Eddie Munson was bi.

Bisexual, meaning liking boys and girls and anything in-between.

What. The. Fuck.

It was all stupid Harrington’s fault. Steve. God, why did it have to be a preppy jock? There were plenty of other guys that could have snapped that realization on him, but no, he had to watch Steve Harrington spit out demobat blood (if it could be called that) after ripping its fucking spine out that made Eddie realize ‘huh, I think I like guys.’

It wasn’t like Steve was the only guy he was attracted to, he was shocked to realize. No, now that he knew that it was a possibility, his obsession with some of the musicians of bands whose music he wasn’t even that fond of started making a lot more sense, as well as how he’d reacted to some of the guys he’d gone to school with, or who had bought from him, and Jesus H. Christ, that guy at The Hideout had been hitting on him, hadn’t he?

So yeah, Eddie was dealing with a little bit of shock at his attraction to his friend, as well as the fact that that attraction was also apparently becoming a legitimate crush. Because that was healthy and safe to do. Especially when last he knew, Steve was still hung up on Nancy. And in a weird codependent relationship with Robin. Seriously, if he had to listen to Dustin complaining about why Steve wouldn’t just date Robin one more time, he was going to pull his hair out.

But so Eddie was bisexual. That was fine. Once he’d had his little crisis—and he’d been given plenty of time to think about it while recovering from being the main course at the all-you-can-eat Eddie Munson buffet—he’d done a little bit of research into the topic. Which was how he’d discovered that he had unintentionally been telling every gay man (if he came across any) that he apparently liked to top and was into inflicting pain with his sexual partners (suddenly the guy at The Hideout made more sense).

And…okay, maybe Eddie left the bandana there. He didn’t know, but the idea of it wasn’t too bad. Maybe. Maybe he should look into getting other bandana colors too, just in case.

It didn’t matter. He was still inexperienced, had only been with chicks before, and even then there had only been three of them. Two of them had only slept with him for the story, and the third one…well, everyone needed a little heartbreak in their life he supposed. Maybe he and Steve could compare notes.

The idea of sleeping with a guy, however, was not…unpleasant. It took him by surprise, sure, but he thought he could be down to trying some things out.

That wasn’t the issue on hand, however. It wasn’t what was eating him up inside, making him nauseous as he gnawed at his cuticles, pacing back and forth in the new double wide trailer the government had bought for them after Forest Hills was repaired. (R.I.P. to his uncle’s mug and hat collection.)

And there it was. The issue. His uncle.

Eddie could keep it a secret, sure. Could stay firmly inside the closet he hadn’t even known he’d been in, sitting safe and secret. But…that went against Eddie stood for. Sure, he knew he couldn’t shout it from the rooftop that he maybe sometimes thought about what it would feel like to have one of his best friends’ dicks in his mouth, but this was his uncle, man. This was Wayne.

Christ, he wished he had Ronnie, his former best friend, here to talk with her about all this. (He had also discovered another identity he hadn’t known about, asexuality, which he thought was right up Ronnie’s alley and wished he could tell her, but that was impossible now. She’d left Hawkins behind for a fresh start and he couldn’t blame her.)

But that meant that he was all alone. He loved the new friends he had, loved his band, but…well, this was something a little more complicated. And he wanted to tell his uncle. But…

Eddie gulped, every crunch of gravel outside the trailer sending an electric current through him as his anxiety spiked. His uncle should be home from work soon. Eddie paced a small circuit, knowing he needed a cigarette but also not wanting to go outside. His uncle had declared the new trailer a smoke-free zone. He doubted it would remain that way after this conversation.

He’d like to think his uncle would be supportive. After all, this was Wayne. His uncle loved him, had been there for him even when his own father hadn’t, and had stood by his side even when the whole town thought he was some psycho satanic serial killer. Hell, Wayne had walked in to Chrissy’s mangled corpse in his trailer and hadn’t once suspected Eddie of being guilty.

But having a queer for a nephew?

His uncle was progressive, but that didn’t mean he’d feel as complacent about his nephew being…what he was. His uncle had taken him in after he’d already grown and never expected him to help with the rent money, though Eddie did anyways with the money he got from dealing. But so Eddie was an adult, had a GED to his name, and didn’t need his uncle’s charity anymore.

Gravel crunched outside, the familiar sound of a truck engine rumbling along, and Eddie knew his uncle was home. Fuck. He hoped he didn’t leave this encounter with a black eye. Or worse. Hell, there were some people in this town that if he told this secret to, he wouldn’t leave the encounter at all. Not alive at least.

He knows his uncle isn’t like they though. He knows. Still, the fear persists. He’d always known he’d be too much for his uncle eventually. Would this be the final straw?

Wayne’s footsteps sounded on the porch.

Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck!

Eddie had, in case he had to leave quickly, already packed a duffel. He wanted to trust his uncle, and he did, really, but…but there was that sickness going around, and Reagan, and Hawkins was such a conservative town, and Eddie just couldn’t know, not for certain. Not with something like this.

“Heya kid,” Wayne said with a gruffness to his voice that spoke of long hours at the plant, though there was the small relieved smile that curled his lips when he got home and saw Eddie there. Like Eddie’s presence was a reassurance now. Eddie hated that he was about to ruin that all.

Because sure, there was a possibility that Wayne would accept him, or at least not kick him out, but Eddie had seen too much shit to think that things would ever be easy for him. It was the Munson Curse.

“Hey Uncle Wayne,” Eddie said, and maybe it was the title, maybe it was the way his words warbled in his throat, but Wayne immediately stopped from where he was moving to pour the morning’s coffee into a generic mug and turned to face Eddie with a furrowed expression.

“Everything all right, Eds?” he asked quietly, hesitantly, and took a large stride over to where Eddie was hovering by the coffee table. He froze, however, eyes widening, when Eddie flinched. Wayne swallowed, his gaze darting over Eddie as though looking for an injury. “Eddie?”

He could do this. His uncle deserved to know he had a fucking fairy living under his roof. Maybe he wouldn’t care, or maybe he’d be fine with it as long as Eddie never acted on it, or maybe…maybe…

Eddie thickly swallowed against the rising burn of bile in the back of his throat. He wanted his uncle to know because this was a part of who he was and it was important to be honest with himself and with his only family member still alive that genuinely loved him, just…he hoped he didn’t lose that love with his confession. But he wanted Wayne to know. Even if it hurt.

“U-Uncle…” Eddie wrapped his arms tightly around himself, his tone almost pleading. He blinked back the burn behind his eyes next, willing the words to come out of his mouth. As soon as he’d fully realized the truth, fully known what it meant, he knew that he’d tell Wayne. No matter what, he wanted his uncle to know this about him.

Wayne’s face grew slightly panicked at Eddie’s response, the way he held himself, the tone of his voice, and Eddie could tell the older man wanted to reach out for him but was taken aback by Eddie’s earlier flinch. Christ, would Wayne still want to hug him after this? Touch him? Be in the same room as him? Breathe the same air?

Would he tell Eddie that Alan Munson had been right all these years when he’d continually abandoned Eddie because he’d somehow known his own son wasn’t worth sticking around for?

Wayne took another step closer and Eddie panicked.

“I’m bi!” he exclaimed suddenly, wincing as he withdrew into himself, squeezing his eyes shut as he subconsciously braced for some sort of physical attack. “I’m bisexual,” he whispered, his words shaking.

There was silence, stillness.

Eddie drew in a shaky breath and risked opening his eyes to look at Wayne, expecting disgust, revulsion, perhaps even anger. Instead, all he got was…confusion?

“What?” Wayne asked, his expression full of his lack of understanding what Eddie had just said.

Eddie swallowed again. “I…I’m bi? I like…both girls and boys,” he clarified carefully, though there was a touch of confusion in his own words, his brows furrowing as they only seemed to stump Wayne further. Eddie frowned, figuring he was as clear as could be.

“Did…” Wayne began frowning a little himself, still looking confused. “Okay? But you’re lookin’ like you wanted t’ tell me somethin’.”

Eddie blinked.

“I’m bi,” he repeated pointedly, his arms dropping to his side.

Wayne rolled his eyes to look at the ceiling for a moment in mild exasperation before looking at Eddie again. “Son, did someone say somethin’ ‘bout it?” His lips twisted into a small scowl. “Did that Harrington boy say anything?”

“What? Jesus, no!” Eddie exclaimed, because why the hell was his uncle bringing up Steve when he’d just come out to him? His insides still warmed at being called ‘son,’ however. “Wayne I’m…I…” The panic started up again despite everything and he swallowed nervously. “I like boys, Wayne. I’m a queer.”

Wayne just blinked at him, his scowl turning once more into a confused frown. “Why do you keep saying that?”

“Because it’s the truth!” Eddie exploded, not having expected his uncle to think he was making it up or lying. Jesus, and what a thing to lie about.

“Obviously,” Wayne snorted in answer, crossing his arms over his chest as he let his gaze roam over Eddie as if looking for an answer. “But I need to know what this prelude is for.”

Eddie felt lost. He stared at his uncle in confusion, his earlier fear and anxiety slowly draining away as he tried to make sense of what was happening. His uncle sounded…sounded like he already…

“You knew?” he asked, voice soft and fragile.

Wayne’s brows lowered, and Eddie felt a little offended that Wayne was looking at him like he was an idiot. “Eddie…I’ve known since you were twelve years old and told me you thought Big Bill Broonzy was pretty after lookin’ through your mom’s old records with the biggest blush on your face.”

Eddie gaped. He vaguely recalled something like that, but that wasn’t…he hadn’t…Jesus fucking H. Christ.

“And you didn’t tell me?” Eddie huffed in sudden annoyance.

“I thought you knew!” Wayne protested, throwing his hands up and looking like he was losing what this conversation was even about. “Wait, you mean to tell me that you’ve been makin’ moonin’ eyes at the Harrington boy and you didn’t even know you liked him?”

Eddie’s blush now could rival any he made when he was twelve. He stuttered, gaped, and dragged a whole handful of hair to cover his face in his embarrassment. “I know that,” he whined. “God, have I have been that obvious?”

Wayne snorted, rolling his eyes as he moved to finish pouring himself that cup of coffee. “Had me worried he finally said somethin’,” he muttered to himself. He turned to point the plain white mug at Eddie. “If he or any of the others do, you let me know, Edster, you got that?”

Eddie softly groaned, burying his face in his hands next as he stumbled back to drop onto the sofa. No wonder Robin had started giving him those looks. He gulped. And…and Steve. Steve had been smiling at him more often, was…was lightly touching him with lingering fingers, had even used that voice on him that he’d use on the pretty girls that stopped by Family Video…

Steve hadn’t been using that voice on any pretty girls that stopped by Family Video recently.

Gulping, realizing that that was not something he had the ability to think about right now, he focused on the truly important thing. He lifted his head to stare at his uncle with wide, shining eyes, his heart fluttering so madly in his ribcage he’d almost thought he’d trapped a bird in there. He licked his lips, eyeing his uncle with wary hope.

“You…you don’t mind?” he asked, needing to clarify, needing to know. “You don’t mind I like boys too?”

Wayne snorted, reaching for another mug and pouring it half full, leaving enough space for him to pour a godawful amount of sugar and a splash of milk in it, just like his nephew liked it, before taking it over to Eddie. He sat down on the sofa next to him, hanging it over. Eddie was grateful for it, even if it was room temperature now.

“Son, I know you ain’t lived here with me long, and I know your father…well, Al’s always had his faults. But we’re family, kid. I’ve loved you since the moment Elizabeth told me she was pregnant with you. Nothing is ever gonna change that, you hear?” He sniffed, taking a sip of his coffee. “‘Sides, ain’t nothin’ wrong with love. You just got lucky, and your chances for love have doubled now.”

Eddie glanced over at his uncle with a shy smile, relief and affection for the older man coursing through him. He cradled his own mug between his hands, drawing in a shaky breath. Wayne knew. Wayne knew and he still loved him. A small, tearful chuckle escaped him and he hastily wiped away one of the tears that fell down his cheek.

“Eddie…” Wayne sighed, sounding regretful as he set his mug on the coffee table and turned to properly face his nephew. “I am deeply sorry if I have ever made you feel like I wouldn’t accept you, like my love for you was conditional.”

Eddie hastily shook his head, setting his own mug down to mirror Wayne’s position, curling one knee halfway on the couch. “You didn’t,” he reassured. “You didn’t, I just…I…” He felt bad now for doubting Wayne. For packing a bag like he was going to get tossed out at any moment. For thinking even just for a second that his uncle would ever hit him.

Wayne studied Eddie’s face before letting out a soft sigh and a small nod. “I understand. It’s not safe out there right now, especially not with everything.” And Wayne didn’t even know everything. He couldn’t, not with all the papers Eddie’d been forced to sign while being patched up after everything. But he knew that he didn’t know, so there was at least that.

“I shouldn’t have doubted you,” Eddie murmured. “I trust you, Wayne. That’s why I wanted you to know. As soon as I was sure, I wanted you to know.” He huffed. “Meanwhile, you knew before even I did.”

Wayne grinned then, reaching out to clap Eddie on the shoulder, making the younger man grin back. “Here I thought it was just some unspoken understanding between us. Guess I know why you always seemed confused when I bought more mugs with rainbows on them.”

“Oh my god,” Eddie moaned, slapping a hand to his face. “I am such an idiot.”

Throwing his head back with a laugh, Wayne relaxed against the sofa, making Eddie chuckle and do the same. “Don’t be so hard on yourself, boy. Just know that you’re safe here, and so is whoever you bring around.” He huffed. “Even if it is the Harrington boy.”

Eddie quickly shook his head again, his hair fanning around him at the force of it, a nervous laugh escaping him. “Oh no, Wayne. Absolutely not. Steve is as straight as they come.” He smiled a little ruefully at that, and though Steve had been smiling at him like that, it was just because they were friends. Expecting anything else would just lead to more heartbreak.

Wayne gave him a disbelieving quirk of his brows. “Whatever you say, kid.”

Eddie rolled his eyes in response. “You thought he had said something homophobic earlier.”

Reaching for his mug, Wayne gave a one shouldered shrug. “Wouldn’t be the first time someone projected anger at themselves outwards.” He eyed Eddie. “They good to you though? Your friends. You feel…safe with them?”

Eddie thought about that. He trusted them, with his life actually, and not just in the figurative way. They’d proven that they’d save him, time and again. He even had his very own brand new walkie-talkie and call sign to show for it. He was part of something bigger now, something real, which was just what he had always wanted. Even if it was all over, their little group was a forever sort of thing.

Smiling, Eddie nodded. “Yeah, I think so.” He glanced over at Wayne with a soft look. “But no matter what, I know have you to back me up so…yeah, I feel safe because I know at the end of the day, I won’t be alone.” He had needed to tell Wayne first, but maybe…maybe he could tell the others too. Eventually.

Wayne gave a short nod. He seemed content with that answer. “Just remember to use protection when you bring your boy over.”

“Wayne!” Eddie screeched scandalized, but his uncle only laughed.

Of course, it still took several months to get there, but when Wayne came home early one day to find Eddie and Steve shirtless and making out on the sofa, all Eddie could do was give his uncle a sheepish smile.

When the next day Wayne came home and chucked a new pack of condoms at his head, Eddie just gave another scandalized screech while Steve, once again next to him, flushed a bright cherry tomato red.

They’d use them, of course, but it was the principle of the matter.