#almost all of them play a part

[i-cant-stop-fandoming-help]

Guilt

Sources for the quotes and scenes and shit; 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBHa7neJWfk&t=7s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wRMoYdcxAQ&t=22059s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlCcfNHF3JQ&t=516s

Most of the things from Rei’s perspective regarding Mikako’s death are just me writing in how I feel her emotions are.

This isn’t written as a Rei x Mikako fic- Rei x Mikako is a ship I don’t exactly care for, and it makes me somewhat uncomfy due to personal experiences. This is Rei’s perspective in chapter 6 of SDRA2, remembering what happened in chapters 5 and 6 of DRA.

based on a conversation with steamoctowrites, surrounding Rei’s character development and her emotions. (Thanks for getting my brain running! God I am half asleep but this was 3 pages long on google docs)

Spoilers for Chapters 5 and 6 of DRA, and chapter 6 of SDRA2. 

sorry if it ended abrubtly, I had no idea how to end it and didn’t want to put in the full trials.

Realization hit Rei, memories racing through her head.

Kokoro Kurokawa… Was she the mother of Mikako? Was Mikako the base of Mikado Sannoji’s alter ego?

Murmuring under her breath, barely paying attention to the AI as she remembered the feeling of warm blood soaking her clothes. “Kokoro Kurokawa…… could it be…… Mikako…… No way……”

“Fufu… Finally, a response. This must be a familiar name for Tsurugi and Rei here. As you might have expected… Yes, your classmate Kokoro is the mother of Mikako Kurokawa.” The glitched ego had a shit-eating grin on his face, red eyes staring directly at her and Tsurugi.

Bloodied beads rolled across the floor as a black mop of hair rested on her shoulder. 

“W-What!? Tsurugi, did you know anything about this!?” the ginger spat softly in shock- the surprised expression on the foundation leader’s face gave Rei her answer. “...... Is that a no?”

Tsurugi glared at a gray and greasy haired participant, eyes narrowed in restrained fury. “...... Oi, Syobai Hashimoto.”

The criminal lazily glanced back at him, annoyance in his gray eyes. “...What?”

Whispering in her ears- weak and sad. “..........Meka…….ru………”

“Why was I not informed? Giving me all the information was part of our contract. Did you hide this? Or just not know?” Venom laced Tsurugi’s voice, the python in human’s skin trying to bite Syobai.

Syobai reached and began to clean his ear with his pinky, ignoring everyone else’s wrinkled noses. “Director… I don’t even know everything about Mikado in the first place. I didn’t bother to find out anything that wasn’t related to our deal. I got no clue about that Kokoro girl’s past.”

Shaking. Rei Mekaru was shaking. “.......I have to…….. Tell you……. About it…….. The….. mastermind….. Has…… been….. With…. Us…… in……. All……our…. Events………. That’s…… they key….” Mikako’s final words echoed in Rei’s head. All this time, she thought Mikako was doing nothing. That Mikako was the mastermind. But Mikako knew more than any of them, and was dead because of it. 

Rei pushed herself to speak- she had let Mikako’s mother die, hadn’t she?. “Mikako’s mother…… was involved with Mikado Sannoji? It’s got to be a coincidence, right?”

Rei couldn’t move. Mikako’s corpse wasn’t heavy, but the guilt on Rei’s consciousness was.

“.....Mikako-chan….?” Akane spoke up, fear shadowed on her face.

Rei’s mouth moved on it’s own, the ginger almost unaware of her own words. “This girl……… has died.”

With the movement, Mikako’s empty corpse slipped off of Rei and onto the ground, lifeless black eyes staring up and accusingly at Rei. I died because of you.

Ah, that’s right. Rei was in… another trial. She had ignored what everyone else had said in her grief. 

Now, Akane Taira was speaking. “Wait, Mikado… experimental data on her daughter? Tell me more about that. It’s the first time I’ve heard anything about it.”

Was Mikako experimented on, too? Surely she wasn’t. Surely it was a cruel joke- This must be a nightmare. Teruya was still alive, he must be. He must be holding her and-

She couldn’t push it away. Teruya was dead. Mikako was experimented on. 

Yoruko was speaking now, resting her cheek against a fist. “All Monocrow said was that she had a daughter and that she was missing. And about an experiment… What happened?”

Mikado was beginning to speak again, but Rei zoned out again.

“Eh? Of course, the culprit is Monokuma.” The way that Akane said that so matter-of-factly made Rei’s blood boil. Mikako had died for no reason? 

Monokuma killed Yamato Kisaragi, and then put on a class trial for no reason. Just so Mikako and Yamato would die. Akane Taira, Monokuma… Those bastards.

“...They were experiments on primitive emotions.” Mikado finished. Rei glanced up, looking for a hint of humor in the AI’s unfeeling eyes. None. 

Did Kokoro deserve her death? Would Mikako be happy with it? Ah- Rei’s thoughts were distracting her. Yuki Maeda had finished speaking, and now the Alter Ego was piping up again.

“She was pregnant with a girl, and immediately after it’s birth, locked her away and studied her emotions from her lab.” Mikado wore a serious look on his hideous face, and nearly everyone else clenched their jaws and widened their eyes in shock.

Mikako had gone through such a thing?

“.....W-Why would she…..?” Yoruko began, only to get interrupted by the artist.

“EHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!? Pregnancy!? Babies!? Experiments on children!? Is that legal!?” Iroha Nijue shouted, holding her sketchbook close to her chest.

Mikado’s face was blank, as if unphased by the sound. “During this, she connected an electrical device to the girl’s brain to obtain emotional details from it… However, her partner escaped and took their daughter called Mikako… And from that moment, until Mikako’s death, everything she experienced was stored on Kokoro’s computer.”

Mikako was taken in by the Kisaragi’s, wasn’t she? What happened to the parent who had freed her? 

Although she felt horrible at the thought, Rei would have to get hold of this data to fill in the gaps of her own memory, as well as update the sheet on Mikako. 

And make sure that she could properly apologize to her for letting her mother die.

[gobstoppr]

Tetris Fanart.

I've been playing tetris while listening to horror podcasts. and yeah

[lovesickeros]

☆ de fontaine

{☆} characters furina {☆} notes cult au, imposter au, drabble, gender neutral reader {☆} warnings angst, suicidal thoughts, hurt / no comfort {☆} word count 1.4k

This wasn't fair. This wasn't fair. This wasn't fair!

She thought, for one moment, she could put the mask down and breathe – for one moment of daydreaming, she thought she could just be Furina. She thought she would finally get to live the live she should've had in the first place, the life she threw away to play God to an audience who saw her as nothing but a circus animal, dancing to their whims. Furina just wanted to be selfish for one brief and fleeting moment..and it was gone before she could even grasp it in her hand. A comet soaring past far out of her reach.

She can barely keep her hands from violently shaking as she looks down at them – broken and bloody and more a corpse then a person – and she feels so numb she can't even feel the rain pelting against her back. None of this is fair, she wants to scream, why is it always me? But her voice is silent beneath the torrent of rain. She wonders if the ocean would take her if she sank into it's depths – just for a moment, she wonders how it would feel to finally be able to sleep at ease.

Furina is tired.

But Furina is nothing if not useful, isn't she?

So she forces her feet to move, dragging against the stone beneath her heels, and drags their bloodied body into the nearest empty building, letting the rain do the work of washing away the smeared blood following her path. The smell makes her feel sick, the feeling of it sticking to her hands and gloves makes her lightheaded, but she persists. Because Furina is useful, because Furina won't let them die out in the rain, because Furina won't stand by and just let them rot on the streets like some..pest.

Furina wants to go home. She wants to sleep and she isn't she if she wants to wake up, this time. But she keeps going anyway.

Because it's all she's ever done, and the habit sticks.

An Archon she may not be, not anymore, but the expectations of five hundred years still linger like eyes on the inside of her skull. They watch her, pry and prod at her thoughts, mocking laughter and judging eyes following her as she forces herself to dance to the song they weave with glee. Furina never stepped off that stage – she's still there, she thinks, watching the crowd stare at her in disdain as the curtain call looms above her like a guillotine. She still hears Neuvillette deliver her damnation and salvation with a trembling voice, still feels her hair stand on end when electro crackled like the crack of the whip, Clorinde's blade aimed at her like a loaded gun.

She's trapped on that stage and she never left, not really.

She hates it. She thinks she hates them, but it's not their fault. They didn't ask for this, didn't ask for everyone to turn against them, didn't ask for her to save them. Neither did she..yet here they are, she thinks.

She tries to tell herself she's in control this time, though. She can stop performing her part in this horrible, bloody play any time she wants. It makes her feel better, just for a little while, if she convinces herself she's still Furina, painfully human.

And Furina has always been good at lying.

It's the believing that's the hard part.

There isn't time for her to wallow in her own self pity, though. They're still bleeding out onto the dusty, creaky floorboards of some random, broken down house and she's just standing there as the blood stains the wood. She can fix it – she's good at fixing things. She's done nothing but fix things – try to, anyway – for five hundred years. She can fix a little wound, how hard could it be? Her hands are clenched so tight they ache as she kneels down, wincing at the creak of the floorboards beneath her heels– she hesitates just long enough to wonder if she's making a mistake before she peels away just enough of the outer layer of their clothes to see the deep, bloody gash across their chest. She tries not to think about it – it's deep, too deep, and she feels dizzy just looking at it, but she's handled worse, right?

Furina can fix it. That's what she's good at.

She doesn't feel so confident when she tries to wrack her brain for..something. Five hundred years, and a little wound stumps her? No, she had to have learned something, right? She's decidedly not trying to buy time because she's panicking, parsing through hundreds of years of memories like flipping through a book. Furina isn't made for this, not really – she's running on nothing but adrenaline and she's really not sure what she's doing, but she's trying. And just like before, it won't be enough, will it?

She'll fall short again – she'll be too late to fix it before she's alone again.

Furina was an Archon..used to be. What use would she have for that sort of knowledge? Which makes her predicament all the more harrowing and bleak. What was she supposed to do?

Furina had heard it first hand, that vitriol in Neuvillette's voice. She isn't sure she's ever heard him that..angry before. She's not sure he would listen to her if she tried, either. And that scares her more then anything. All of Fontaine was up in arms about this..imposter, yet here she was, staring down at them bleeding out in front of her, and she was trying to save them.

Why? Why is she throwing away her only chance at normalcy for a fraud? Why didn't she just turn them in?

They were dying – that should've been a good thing, shouldn't it? So why didn't it feel like it?

"Why you?" Her voice breaks as she speaks in harsh tones, grabbing the front of their shirt in trembling, bloodied hands. "Why now?" She wants to scream, to demand answers they can't give, to claw back the reprieve she was promised after five hundred years of agony..and all she can do is sob into their chest, pleading for an answer that will not come. "Why me?"

Silence is their answer, and it hangs heavy on her trembling shoulders as she cries.

Of course they don't, she thinks bitterly, no one has ever answered her pleas spoken in hushed sobs. Not her other self and certainly not them.

Furina has always been alone. Furina will always be alone.

Because Furina never left that stage, never left that moment when she looked at herself in the mirror and took up a mantle too heavy for her to bear. She always finds her way back eventually. There's no one on the other side anymore – she stands alone on a stage, waiting for an inevitable end she isn't sure will come.

"Please," She pleads through tears and choked sobs, clinging to them like they are all that keeps her from sinking. "Please don't leave me, too." The words burn on her tongue – how pathetic is she that she craves companionship from the bloodied body of the imposter? Perhaps she's truly lost her mind after all these years..perhaps she's finally gone mad. She must have.

But their presence is like the first feeling of gentle warmth upon her skin as the sun crests the horizon, like the gentle lap of tides along her heels, the sway of branches and leaves as the wind blows through them like an instrument all it's own. They are the soothing sound of rain against the window as she watches the dreary skies in fond longing, the first bloom of spring as color blooms upon the landscape like paint had been spilled across the hills and valleys.

They are like the faint spark she carefully nurtures and stokes, so fragile even the smallest wind could blow it out like a candle. She cradles it within her palms, pleads with whoever will listen – prays that someone finally listens, because if not for her, then for them.

She's failed to protect too much already, let too many people with so much trust in her fall between the cracks of her fingers like grains of sand. She won't let them go – she can't.

If nothing else, if she couldn't be saved when she begged for salvation from that five hundred year long agony, even if she never got that chance..

Furina will make sure they do.

[itsmistyeyedbi]

The detectives love interest calming and comforting them does so much to my heart and the "I'm here for you" throughline is perfect, but the bff ones also do shit to my heart🥺

It's Morgan, Farah, Nate and Adam respectively and my little heart almost burst🥺

[vaguely-concerned]

the parallels between morrigan and the mage warden (especially one who snitched on jowan and so isn't automatically doomed if they stay in the circle) both being unceremoniously kicked out by their parental figures from the isolated nests they've been cooped up in all their lives and sent flailing out into the real world to test their wings. the love that you can read in between the lines there from irving, and even flemeth -- in both cases this is a cause of action taken partly to save their children (from the circle, from the blight, from the isolation and constriction they would be doomed to otherwise), and in both cases it also opens them up to a world of new dangers. (I wonder if irving knows how many grey warden recruits die right off the bat. from his general character I think he might take that chance even if he knew because otherwise the circle is all but inescapable, but from what he says to amell/surana at the time and how set duncan is to keep that particular detail on the down low I feel more on the side of him not being aware.)

irving at least is encouraging and explains the outlines of what he's thinking even in his hurry to get you out the door, flemeth takes the opportunity to get in a few more stabs of emotional abuse haha. but I think my amell looks at morrigan's shock and partial dismay to be sent away with them so abruptly (and despite everything, the sting of it being so easy to do on her mother's part, emotionally) and feels a sympathetic sinking in her stomach. because yeah she knows that feeling too

[doodlejoltik]

my favourite writing device is having an un-Rei-liable narrator

[gumdefense]

Because I have Gumshoe and Kay on the mind and I will always find an excuse to share stage play propaganda can we talk about how perfect their dynamic is in it

English subtitles by Rayne :D and Grace Rivalsforlife !

[dreamingaboutsakuratrees]

Dear God how I fucking hate when people dismiss s character's traits because "that's just a facade! you as the reader have to see underneath it!!" like yeah no fucking shit Sherlock, a well written character has more than one (1) defining trait but that doesn't mean their most prominent one or the one most recognized by fandom ISN'T there

yes this is about people thinking dick grayson isn't actually a ray of sunshine, that it's just a mask. he's much more than the happy one, of fucking course, all batfam members (when written well) are, but that doesn't mean that being happy and bright is not a crucial part of his personality. he brings light to people's lives, he's a beacon of hope, that's what Robin was born for, as a light to Batman's darkness. That's what Nightwing is. He can be serious, sure. He's smart, an amazing strategist, incredibly good at fighting, he can be manipulative and morally gray and sometimes an objectively bad person. But he's ALSO funny and quippy and bright and sunshine. BECAUSE HE'S WELL WRITTEN.

Like Jesus stop making him so sad and wrong all the time just because you want so bad to go against "fanon". It's not fanon if it's literally his core trait. It's not fanon if it's what the character was BORN AS. God.

[shushmal]

rating: G tags: established relationship, fluff, smooching prompt: Love is being late to work because you can’t ever say goodbye in a reasonable amount of time. @steddielovemonth

Eddie wakes up to a heavy weight flopping gently down on top of him. He comes to with a hum and a stretch that pops down his spine even as Steve wraps himself around Eddie, his face pressed into Eddie's neck.

Steve is already dressed for the day, green vest and jeans, his hair a little crunchy with spray, his deodorant fresh and bright compared to the warm smell of sleep. Eddie has to wiggle a bit to get his arms from under the blanket to wrap around Steve's shoulders in return.

"Mmm, you're a jerk, waking me up so early," he whispers, even as he shifts them until he can hook a leg around Steve's hip, blanket and all.

"It's eleven, lazy bones," Steve whispers back. He lets Eddie move them more, until they're all tangled up again. Steve will have to fix his hair, but Eddie doesn't care. He should have thought of that before waking Eddie up.

Not that Eddie minds—would probably call Family Video as soon as the door closed behind Steve to make sure he wasn't mad at Eddie.

Eddie starts kissing a path from the top of Steve's forehead down to his lips, tasting toothpaste and mouthwash, and wondering if Steve's ever grossed out by Eddie's morning breath.

He must not be, because he returns Eddie's lazy kisses with a happy sigh, holding Eddie a little tighter. It drags on like that, and to Eddie it's timeless, too short and an eternity, bliss in just being able to kiss Steve like this, the smell of Steve in his sheets and his toothbrush in the bathroom, and his millions of hair supplies in a basket under the sink. Wayne's no doubt asleep in the front of the trailer, and Steve would have been as quiet as a mouse getting ready before he snuck back into Eddie's arms to say bye before leaving for work.

Eddie loves this. Says as much into Steve's mouth, swallowing it up when Steve says it back, whispers lost between them and the morning sun.

"Gonna be late for work," Eddie sighs, even though he doesn't move except to run a hand down Steve's back.

"Robin shift," Steve murmurs, moving in to kiss Eddie again, like he can't get enough of him, the same way Eddie can't get enough of Steve.

Laughing, Eddie kisses him more, addicted to the warmth, the wet slide of their lips, the heat of Steve's breath. "Gonna get fired one of these days," he says when Steve has to come up for air. Laughs again, when Steve just dips back in to start it all up again. "Steeeve."

"Don't wanna go," he whines.

"I know," Eddie says. This time, he shoves Steve onto his back to he can press him into the mattress, peppering his cheeks and nose with kisses. It's gotta be going on 11:30 by now, and Steve will be a whole hour late at this rate. "Just for now, baby, and I'll come visit you later."

"Promise?" Steve does this thing that he must have picked up from a girlfriend, where he looks up at Eddie with big eyes and pouts his lips and bats his lashes at him, and it shouldn't work. But it does. Every time.

"Promise," Eddie breathes, smiling, and leans down for another kiss. And another. And another, another. And Steve doesn't get to work until well past noon. When Eddie comes to visit around five, Robin chews him out too.

[firefl1ezz]

i just. hit s+ rank in splatoon and i never honestly thought this would happen?? am i cool now.. do i get to be a part of the s4? do i get to be watered down to my running joke all the time?

[tvxcue]

thinking abt chengqing and zuanli as like. inverses. like zuanli as a public engagement, a spectacle that anyone can comment on and they do, jin zixuan resenting jiang yanli bc their relationship was an obligation he never wanted and refusing to get to know her, jiang yanli fulfilling her familial obligation despite knowing this and how it turned into real love.

and chengqing as this secret admiration, jiang cheng's teenage crush that was doomed almost from the beginning, wen qing knowing this, both how he felt and that nothing could come of it but still helping him and feeling Something but never letting herself truly feel it, rejecting his offer to help, his feelings, whatever she felt, for the sake of her family. how whatever existed between them barely got a chance to breathe before it was gone.

[pisshandkerchief]

watching the wrigley field fall out boy show this morning at breakfast (because I'm normal) and this is the first time I'm seeing it all the way through and I am still SO obsessed with the visual effects I'm such a slut for lighting and stage design

[brooklynisher]

It feels weird to say because it's such a popular song and it was also a big meme song back in the Vine days, but I think Mad World is very Commander Cosmo-coded

Specifically the Pentatonix version because I don't associate it with the meme and also it sounds a lot more intense compared to the original which sounds very soft. I feel Commander Cosmo is more intense than he is soft. Also, I just like their version more

[s-c-l-n]

post retirement sakuatsu where sakusa becomes some rich science guy and atsumu does local volleyball rec leagues/summer camps and will on occasion coach at some local schools

[chirpsythismorning]

Personal opinion; I think the Duffers are doing a mistake by not promoting Byler as a possibility at all. I know some people are gonna say that it is because they are trying to keep Byler as a plot twist, but still, they can promote the idea of it without going too far.

We like to say that how the 'ElMikeWill' love triangle is not acknowledged as a love triangle by the GA, Melvins or other fans, but honestly? It is not that it is not acknowledged as a 'love triangle' by non-Bylers, it is that it is not acknowledged as a love triangle by the show, creators or writers. It is not promoted like how Stancy versus Jancy thing is promoted. Mike’s not conditioned as having to choose between El and Will. Honestly, If I were to make my audience get warm for the idea of Byler potentially happening, i would put content regarding it, would try to portray the situation as a love triangle, like ‘Which person Mike is going to choose?’ questions would be on media outlets. Remember that the Duffers still refer to Stancy versus Jancy thing as a love triangle, they portray it as a situation where Nancy has to choose someone, media outlets talk about the love triangle aspect. Whereas for Mike and El and Will, there isn’t something like that. Mike’s not conditioned as being in a love triangle where he has to choose. Will’s situation only gets referred to as relatable and him getting acceptance. They portray Mike and El as a legitimate couple without any question, etc. That’s not exactly portraying as ‘love triangle’ situation here.

Take this as a criticism towards how they're approaching the situation, I guess. Now, I do not know what they're going to do once the trailers or filming or promoting whatever start in a couple of months. But so far, I think they just... are doing nothing and it is not good, imho.

This is all fair!

I do believe that they're going to have no choice but to be more obvious about byler endgame in promo for s5. And so I agree that in large part how I feel about their approach thus far does rely on what is still yet to come.

Personally, I think it's going to be impossible to throw in happy couple milkvan moments, seeing as there wont be any scenes like that. Not saying they wouldn't trick fans with simple fast shots of them side by side dispersed throughout a teaser or something, I just don't think they're going to go all out with trying to convince the audience that Mike and El are romantic in official s5 promo.

S5 is going to be a point when baiting milkvan romantically would be an odd choice if they want people to fully accept byler romantically. So, I do sense that a shift will happen as s5 gets closer and when promo really starts ramping up.

We already technically saw that with s4, where they didn't really prioritize Mike/El in official posters, like at all? We got couple posters for Netflix covers with Jopper/Lumax/Byler, while the one featuring El was her on her own? Then there's the Cali poster with Mike looking at Will, his feet pointing towards him, literally detouring in Will's direction like that meme... Them willing to be that obvious for s4 posters tells me that the s5 posters are going to be even more obvious. If you think about it, it honestly would have been weird to have no byler in s4 posters, same with no byler in s5 posters, only for them to end up together? Thus far that has not been the case tho bc s4 was unhinged as hell, and so it's likely s5 is going to be the same and then some.

That's the other thing about promo with like official posters and trailers, in that they hold a lot more weight to representing the deeper message of the story, especially when the show is complete with all five parts making it like a whole experience. The posters for every season will be highly regarded as holding the truth to what was truly going on. While I do get being frustrated that they don't post enough about it casually on social media, it's just that, tbh no ones going to be using simple social media posts as hard evidence from way back in the day at the end of all this (it's more just a fun addition to the real shit). They're going to be looking at official promotion that was very intricately planned out with easter eggs and very specific foreshadowing in mind, ie. official posters, teasers, and trailers.

When it comes to the whole love triangle thing, with byler paralleling to jancy and milkvan paralleling to stancy, I think there are a couple reasons why they themselves can't acknowledge those parallels.

While I recognize those parallels, and I do agree on a basic level it's all intentionally paralleled deliberately in certain aspects, I still don't necessarily think these love triangles are intended to be seen as identical situations. They have different stakes and completely different circumstances, beyond the most basic similarities between them in that we're also dealing with 2 sets of siblings that are quite similar in character and so no duh they parallel each other.

The main thing that I think gets overlooked is that byler is meant to be a sort of callback to all of the queer-baiting in media that has led us to this point. The only reason they made the choice to go about byler this way, was to subvert a very deep rooted expectation that a boy and boy ending up together on a mainstream show cannot happen. They are feeding this expectation to an audience that is happy to abide by this norm, which is what is going to make the surprise of the boy and boy ending up together, and the fact that this time the gays were actually right instead of wrong for the #1,239 time, just makes it all the more epic.

While they are attempting to follow that same pattern of every other show on the surface, they are hiding the truth in the details. This means that they can get away with quote--unquote 'queer-baiting' within the show itself by making it arguably obvious Mike returns Will's feelings, but because they never acknowledge that it's happening at all outside of the show blatantly, they're technically not queer-baiting.

Them not outright acknowledging the love triangle going on, outside of the subtext on the show itself, works in their favor in fandom spaces as well, where it's super easy for fans to stay in denial because of all of these different things at play, most of all ensuring they can fall back on the safety-net that queer-baiting will always be the norm. The Duffers are nurturing that assumption, while also trying as hard as they can to hint to the audience in the details how close minded that assumption truly is.

They're setting the audience up basically. Those that aren't willing to consider byler even when presented with hard evidence, wont. And those that are willing to consider byler when presented with hard evidence, will. Both sides are able to be somewhat comfortable in their assumptions, bc the side that is unwilling to consider it has history on their side, whereas the side willing to consider it knows that the evidence is too astronomical to not be entirely intentional.

That's the whole reason they did the monologue with Mike saying I love you 9 times... because it allowed that sector of the fandom to be comfortable in their assumptions based on what was being superficially told to them, despite everything being shown to them surrounding that event outright contradicting those assumptions.

It's all very, very intricate, as they are making decisions with the audience's reactions in mind.

I am glad you brought up the love triangle parallels, bc this concept was eating my brain the other day. Though, I was more so hung up on the fact that them not acknowledging those parallels also could in and of itself mean that the rules don't necessarily apply identically to these love triangles?

Arguably, fans are still going to ship Mike and El just like fans are still going to ship Nancy and Steve post s5 regardless of them not being endgame. But, is that what they want at the end of all of this? I think with Nancy and Steve the stakes are nowhere near as high as the sort of build up and tearing down of Milkvan, in that, by not at all acknowledging Will's role in these events like they do with Jonathan, they are saying that it isn't as simple as Mike just falling out of love with El like it was for Nancy with Steve, only to realize her feelings for Jonathan.

If it was that simple, they wouldn't have needed to carry out this fandom wide misinterpretation of Mike not saying I love you over the course of 2 seasons and STILL at the end of all that, have that audience completely in the dark about Will's role in that conflict, unless the truth is way more complex here than it was for Jancy/Stancy.

I mean you could obviously make the argument that from the beginning the Duffers framed Stancy very negatively, so maybe at the end of all of this, they do want to make it obvious that they never wanted us to ship either of them in the first place? HOWEVER them holding off on this concept outright with byler is why I think it would make sense for it to be this big thing, bc otherwise why save it for the last season? It would feel sort of anti-climactic if they treated it just like the other love triangle's situation bc of the confusion they have caused? This is no doubt going to be fucking breaking news to the majority. They're gonna need a recap and context of everything that was left out or intentionally kept from them, otherwise they're not going to be able to subscribe properly to what happens in s5.

And then there's a whole other layer of familial implications we're dealing with. Like with Jonathan and Steve, they don't have to deal with the complexity of being siblings like Will and El do. Will and Mike ending up together means that El and Mike will literally be ending the show in a sibling dynamic. And so, I do think it makes more sense for them to really want to separate the viewer from being able to ship Mike and El together, especially when they're already a little nervous fans will be too homophobic to accept byler as it is. This would make a lot of the familial references with Mike/El in earlier seasons hit a lot harder too, assuming rewatch value with byler endgame was on their minds.

So, I guess I will say I would agree fully with all of your points if this was an average love triangle, but that's not the case here. We're dealing with a bizarre love triangle by definition and I think there's different stakes that make their approach to this valid. When it's all said and done, it will make a lot of sense even if it doesn't right now.

Though, if i'm being completely honest, I think what plays the biggest role in their reasoning is hiatus. Like it truly comes down to the audience having almost 2+ years to ruminate over what happened in s4 and sort of work through that and drive themselves crazy.

If they had treated byler as an equal option to milkvan blatantly in casual promo for s4, while still attempting to make it seem like milkvan was endgame, it would have been dubbed queer-bait irrefutably. Or worse, most fans would have figured out byler was likely to happen, making the 2 year wait and the hype of s5 promo sort of fall flat bc everyone saw it coming.

Instead, a lot of people are fully confident it cannot and will not happen. Like they are 100% convinced. And we still have at least a year for them to work through that assumption...

Something to also keep in mind, is how they've dealt with leaks worse and worse over the years. And so a lot of these really exciting surprises they have, get discovered before they get the chance to reveal them. But bc so many people are homophobic, they can have a lot of evidence for byler and still manage to make this a surprise to those people. That's what makes this revelation so fun to them. Because it's soooo obvious in their eyes and yet most of their audience doesn't want to see it. Like that's gotta be very satisfying for them in a big way. I can't even imagine.

How I see it going down, or at least how I think it would make sense for it to go down, is while hiatus is still going strong, they want to keep both sides fairly confident, but especially milkvans side because that is eventually going to disappear at the end of all of this. The clock is ticking. When it's over it will be over forever. And so I understand why they're trying to hold onto giving those fans hope that milkvan will happen bc they only have so much longer for that to even be an assumption before the truth is eventually revealed.

And yet still, there will be a point when they want the audience to like s5 and accept it as the best ending, and that will mean that s5 promo will present a major shift in terms of them sort of agknowleding that the fans who have been paying attention know that the writers care about the details. That people who say the deatils don't matter are not going to be ready for what is to come. That is going to very likely be the wake up call to those that have been using stuff like them forgetting Will's birthday means that they forget things and therefore nothing can be that deep. It will no doubt be a punch in the gut for sure to those that have been in denial about that, but it's going to happen and it's probably going to happen within less than a year before the premiere.

6 months is another time frame that I could see them getting more brave.

3 months is when it's going to start getting real.

1 month and weeks, days before, it's going to be crunch time. They're going to be very heavily encouraging rewatching the show. They're going to be getting defensive arguably to prepare themselves for the inevitable backlash.

But they also know that it doesn't matter because at the end of the day, the truth was hiding in the details all along. It didn't come out of nowhere. It was right there. I think they feel comfort in that no matter what, bc anyone claiming it came out of nowhere at the end of all this, is gonna look stupid when the creators themselves are saying that is the opposite of the truth.

And then when s5 finally does come out, likely in 2 volumes to hold onto the hype as long as they possibly can, before it ends forever, that's when it will really set in that they're not going to hold back anymore and this is officially canon now. That's when the cast will fully agknoweldge it and talk about it and how they dealt with keeping it in the dark for so long and why felt the need to do it this way. And that's when hopefully you and all of us will get the closure we need.

The idea is that the satisfaction of being the first ones right ever in the history of mainstream television, is going to be immensely satisfying. Arguably, seeing those who vehemently denied it happening's reactions to it happening, will make all of the doubt along the way worth it.