#also Jim was supposed to fight to the death

[caught-in-the-infinite]

Death and Rebirth in OFMD

Four characters have symbolically died and then been brought back to life in OFMD.

Stede performed a fuckery to fake his own death and is coming into his own as a captain. Lucius was killed and forced to suffer before returning to the Revenge a more cynical man. Izzy shot himself and is now taking responsibiltiy and initiating covnersations with Stede. Ed tried desperately to get someone else to kill him, and if that failed then the strom would take care of the rest. How he has been changed by dying remains to be seen.

Unfortunately I don't have an essay to follow this up. Only to notice the parallel between these four characters and perhaps note that Stede had the most control over his "death" and Lucius the least. Izzy choosing to shoot himself vs Ed choosing actions that would get someone else to shoot him. Will be looking to see how this works into their S2 characterisations.

[ilsaafaust]

Dead Reckoning SPOILERS

Reasons why Ilsa Faust’s fate in DR is ridiculous and why there might be more to it: 

- McQ and Tom have always been so protective of Ilsa. They deleted the kiss in Fallout because they thought it made Ilsa weak at Ethan’s expense. That they’d fridge her is just soooo odd for them.

- Ilsa/Ethan first scene together is helping Ilsa fake her death and it is obvious to all of us and doesn’t really serve any purpose in the movie at all because she comes back immediately. I smell misdirection and foreshadowing. 

- They need to fool the entity. They know that the entity is trying to trap them, yet before the party, we never get to see them make an actual plan? We’re supposed to believe they just showed up at the party without a plan? Nope, there’s a reason why they didn’t show us any of that.

- Right before the party, Ethan says sth like “So we can’t trust anything outside this room.” helloo

- Ilsa’s smirking at the party? She knows something, she is up to something. 

- The entity thinks she’s dead at Gabriel’s hands and that means she is removed from the equation, basically making her a ghost and the perfect secret weapon to bring down the entity in part two.

- All the parallels to the first movie. Bringing back Kittridge. Remember how Jim Phelps “died” very similarly on a bridge in M:I 1? And what about the drug they use on Claire in that movie, making it seem like she’s dead?

- Ilsa is a very skilled fighter, she took down Vinter and Lane. She has a bloody sword while Gabriel has a knife and she doesn’t stab him from a safe distance? But keeps getting in way too close? The whole fight scene is stupid. And how did Grace manage to fight off Gabriel for so long but apparently Ilsa couldn’t? Something is so suspicious.  

- We never saw her die. Only her getting stabbed and her body. We know how easy it is to fake a death, once again, I’m mentioning that drug in M:I 1. And also, ahem Julia? Ethan knows how to fake a death.

- The reactions afterwards by the team are basically none and I refuse to believe that after RN and Fallout, they’d say sth about it for a minute and then never bring it up again.

 - Paris also got stabbed with one of Gabriel’s knives and Ethan thought she was dead but she wasn’t. 

- After writing Ilsa so bloody well in RN and Fallout, I refuse to believe they’d give her this shitty treatment and ending. 

-McQ said on threads that he won’t discuss certain plot choices until after part two.

[shortpplfedup]

Chapter 4: The Midnight of Lifetime

Oy what a mess. Alan fully enters the story in this ep and we start to understand exactly what the hell is going on there. Newsflash: it's as heartbreaking as everything else in this show. We're at the halfway mark now, all the pins have been set up and it's time to start knocking them down one by one, because now we're invested.

We still don't know the inciting incident for the cold war between Wen and Alan, nor why they're still sharing a life despite being very clearly over, but we can guess at some of it. Wen's talked about living paycheque to paycheque, so it's very likely when the relationship ended he couldn't afford to move out. Alan is still trying to save the relationship, so he probably hoped that by letting Wen stay, proximity would breed forgiveness for whatever transgression he committed. It seems like partly for the sake of appearances, and partly in the hope that Wen will relent, he's asked Wen to conceal their breakup as part of the deal. Wen meeting somebody new is the destruction of all of Alan's hopes of reconciliation. Of course he would freak the fuck out. The whole thing's rotten, as resentment is heaped atop resentment, misery atop misery.

Meeting Jim was clearly a catalysing event for Wen. It's like he was sleepwalking and that night with Jim was a bucket of cold water dashed into his face. And every day since, every day he watches Jim live his life trying to do the best he can by the people he loves, he craves more and more to be one of those people. A situation that was unpleasant yet manageable has now become untenable, because he's seen how things could be. I appreciate that he didn't want to bring his mess to Jim's door, especially because 'complicated' is his line in the sand, but by not telling him anything he let him get blindsided instead. Wen's dad and Gong both warned him not to cross the streams, but he couldn't stay away from Jim until he could get away from Alan, he just couldn't.

To be fair to Wen though, he's not the only one who complicated things. Jim did that when he hired Wen, when he brought him into his little family even as he knew how Wen felt about him. Jim's a bit unfair, he clearly wants Wen around, he wants him in his life, but only on his terms, where he never has to risk his own feelings. He's clearly traumatised by what happened with Beam, to the point that he can't even contemplate a relationship that is both familial and romantic with Wen. In his mind, he gets to have one or the other but never both. Alan showing up shatters the illusion of a neat and uncomplicated divide between Uncle Jim and Jim the man. Because he shouldn't care right, there isn't anything between him and Wen. But he does care, very much.

That divide between Uncle Jim and Jim the man is also at the crux of his ongoing battle with Li Ming. I wonder how long Li Ming has been living with Jim, and why he's there and not with his mom. Jim named him, and he would've been about twenty when he was born, old enough to have some hand in his early raising. It's clear Li Ming sees him as a father figure; as much as they fight and argue, when Jim lays down the law Li Ming is immediately contrite. He respects Jim, he knows Jim cares, he knows Jim is trying. But he also sees the ways in which Jim has given up on himself and it makes him angry, especially at the idea that Jim did that for him. Nobody wants to be thought of as someone's burden to bear. And Jim's so focused on Li Ming's future he's lost sight of the present, of what both he and Li Ming need now. I don't dream he told Wen, you think Li Ming can't see that? That he's given up Jim the man to be Uncle Jim? Think he doesn't internalise it, feel it, blame himself for it? Li Ming doesn't want to be the reason Jim works himself to death in that diner, living hand to mouth.

Li Ming's frustration with his uncle is in such clear contrast to the patience, the unending patience he has with Heart. In a way I suppose it's easier, because Heart doesn't ask anything of him, unlike the mountain of expectations from Jim. Them waking up together was so darling, the way they were just soft and silly with each other, how they're not too worried about defining what's happening between them, just understanding that they care deeply for each other and they're attracted to each other and they want to see each other happy. Heart pulling Li Ming out of his funk was so beautiful, because it reiterates that this isn't one-sided, Heart can do things for Li Ming too. I know Li Ming starting to sneak Heart out of the house is going to come back and bite them hard, but it made me cry that he took this risk to give Heart community, to give him people to talk to who could understand him. Because Li Ming gets that Heart needs more than just him. As much as he cares he can't translate the world for him. Heart needs to be able to be independent to be free, and Li Ming doesn't know anything about it, so he goes to people who do. And then he also asks what he needs to do for Heart as well as seeing what Heart needs to do for himself and...these two are breaking me, I'm telling you.

Side Dishes

I appreciate Gong being a Gym Gay, we don't get enough of those in BL.

I really like the energy and chemistry between Earth and Papang whenever we flash back to Jim and Beam's relationship.

The passage of time in this show is neatly marked by the holidays, and it is proceeding apace. This ep spans from the morning after Loy Krathong to Christmas Eve, almost 2 months!

Please don't let Saleng have pawned Praew's dowry...

Oh no it seems like Ms. Hong is sick...what is Gaipa going to do it if he loses his mom?

Has Li Ming asked Heart to go abroad with him? Is that why Heart has the flyer?

Next week it looks like all the bubbles everybody's been living in are going to start popping one by one. I have a knot in my stomach just thinking of the fallout from that motorcycle accident.

[justforbooks]

For most of his prolific, 40-year career, Percival Everett has been published by a non-profit imprint in Minneapolis, outside the traditional centre of US publishing in New York. In the UK, he was long out of print until being picked up by Influx Press, the small independent that in 2022 published his Booker-shortlisted The Trees. But after the success of that novel, major labels on both sides of the Atlantic came calling. Suddenly he’s hot property: his new book, James, arrives hard on the heels of the Oscar-winning film American Fiction, adapted from Everett’s 2001 novel Erasure, about a frustrated black novelist who decides to live down to stereotyped expectations of his work by producing a pseudonymous spoof titled My Pafology.

If you’ve read Erasure or seen American Fiction, you’ll be prepared for the central conceit of James, a reboot of Mark Twain’s 1884 novel Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, narrated by the enslaved Jim, one half of the book’s runaway odd couple rafting up the antebellum Mississippi. In Twain’s novel, the boy narrator, Huck, has fled home, only to encounter Jim, his guardian’s slave, also on the run because he’s about to be sold (“Ole missus... treats me pooty rough, but she awluz said she wouldn’ sell me down to Orleans”). In James, Jim’s speech, like that of every black character in the novel, is a calculated code-switching put-on: “White folks expect us to sound a certain way and it can only help if we don’t disappoint them... The better they feel, the safer we are”, or “Da mo’ betta dey feels, da mo’ safer we be”, in “the correct incorrect grammar” required by what Jim calls “situational translations”.

There’s no mistaking Everett’s glee in the steady comedy this generates throughout the book, but the language games have teeth, too, as a literal matter of life and death in a novel in which roleplay goes hand in hand with survival. Playing fast and loose with the original Twain throughout, the story unspools a series of last-gasp escapes that each usher in further jeopardy, as Jim is caught up in a money-making scam by vagrants posing as down-at-heel aristocrats or sold to a minstrel troupe, before pinning hopes of freeing his family on a hazardous disguise, only for a shipwreck to intervene.

James offers page-turning excitement but also off-kilter philosophical picaresque – Jim enters into dream dialogue with Enlightenment thinkers Voltaire and John Locke to coolly skewer their narrow view of human rights – before finally shifting gear into gun-toting revenge narrative when Jim’s view of white people as his “enemy” (not “oppressor”, which “supposes a victim”) sharpens with every atrocity witnessed en route. It’s American history as real-life dystopia, voiced by its casualties, but as you might guess from The Trees – a novel about lynching that won a prize for comic fiction – solemn it is not: “White people try to tell us that everything will be just fine when we go to heaven. My question is, Will they be there? If so, I might make other arrangements.”

The central dilemma of Twain’s novel, whose ironies have troubled readers differently down the decades, turns on Huck’s fear that it’s immoral to abet Jim’s flight, not least because Jim wants to free (or, in Huck’s word, “steal”) his family, a notion that leaves the boy aghast. Everett likewise deploys the duo’s misaligned perception for sardonic punch even as he treats their relationship tenderly. Witness the moment when Huck moots going to fight in the civil war:

“To fight in a war,” he said. “Can you imagine?” “Would that mean facing death every day and doing what other people tell you to do?” I asked. “I reckon.” “Yes, Huck, I can imagine.”

Gripping, painful, funny, horrifying, this is multi-level entertainment, a consummate performance to the last. Is there pause for thought when Jim says “white people love feeling guilty”, having told us on the first page that “it always pays to give white folks what they want”? Yes, after decades as a writer’s writer, Everett is finally hitting the big time, but somehow you doubt he’ll be giving anyone the chance to feel too cosy about that.

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at Just for Books…?

[ladyluscinia]

So I think I've settled on the first trend in meta I've clocked as weird coming out of S2. Namely that Edward will not apologize to anyone about anything on account of it's not that kind of show, and he shouldn't be expected to or criticized if he doesn't.

Mostly I've seen this backed up with the fact that OFMD is more about being your authentic self than being a good person, and that physical harm is brushed off or prioritized under emotional harm (and Edward was suffering maximum emotional harm). And I mean... Yeah, the show does care about emotional health, but I'm not seeing how that means expecting our protagonists to gain the faintest awareness of their social contract to others is absurd?

Edward and Stede are both wildly self-centered and morally bankrupt people, which is funny. I don't expect them to suddenly gain a respect for the lives of every random stranger they stumble into anymore than I would expect the house vampires from WWDITS to do the same. They aren't going to stop being pirates. And frankly, they don't even have to stop being mostly self-centered (I'm not even sure they could, tbh).

But unlike the house vampires, Edward and Stede have a lot more people in their lives who they are directly responsible for. And we like those people!

The show has not pulled its punches on how Edward and Stede and their relationship issues have hurt the crew. Edward tried to murder-suicide everyone with him after making them miserable! Stede has struggled to even care about their hurts even when Lucius is shouting them in his face! Found family? Where???

The crew is doing a great job of learning to support each other and the captains, but Stede and Edward do not reciprocate that support internally. (They sometimes do against outside threats.) And, yeah, even in my silly black comedy about murderers, I would like to see them say "sorry we used you as physical and emotional punching bags" and show a bit of awareness of their authority before the show sends them off on a happy ending with the crew presumably still working for them?!?

It's not weird to expect crumbs of character growth???

And like, crucially, this isn't even a new idea in the show! Mutual respect and support and trying not to harm each other is the beating heart of Stede's new pirate culture goal. It's fundamental to any social contract where everyone gets to "be themselves" because it's hard for Jim and Archie to do that when Edward decides in his true self / place of authority they actually need to fight to the death for his broken heart. And Stede starts off not doing this correctly because he doesn't instinctively know how to be kind or caring, but that's what character growth is for.

WWDITS has Guillermo as the one person all these terrible people are obligated to give consideration to in their social contract, and they have increasingly learned and shown that reciprocal support. Including apologies.

And I'm not even expecting anything huge. I don't see any reason they need to dwell on it. We don't need to decide which crew members would realistically deem them unforgivable. Edward doesn't have to grovel on his knees. Stede also needs to apologize. And they can both do it in the most awkward, stilted yet sincere way and then put most of their apology effort into changing behaviors, but I still think it should happen.

So I suppose they can have our main couple continue without acknowledging they fucked up with people besides themselves, but it would make them worse people than the WWDITS vampires and I expect the humor to adapt accordingly.

Final scene is them exchanging wedding vows while the crew pitches the anchor they are both tied to overboard?

[flora-builds-an-ocean]

Ok I'm gonna talk about this because it's important. Why on earth didn't Stede say anything to Ed about his raging abuse towards his crew? Ed literally tried to kill Lucius. And he shot Izzy. That's not something that should be excused. He literally traumatised the hell out of his entire crew, and Stede's main concern was how to get said crew to like him again???

Remember that scene where Ed sets the ship on fire, breaks the steering wheel and makes Archie and Jim fight to death??? And he enjoyed it???? Like at some point they weren't his crew anymore, they were his toys which he used to keep himself running as a pirate, and abused just for the sake of it. For his own entertainment. That's insane.

I'll be rewatching the season today so I'll probably say more about this (I'll also be watching the first 5 eps with subtitles for the first time which will definitely help me understand everything they're saying as English isn't my first language), but damn. When you think about it, Ed is a horrible person. He did some truly fucked up things and the only consequence he gets is wearing a bell for a couple of days.

And yes, Stede's in love, whatever, but he's also a captain and he's supposed to care for his crew. It's so wrong of him to accept what Ed did to them.

[firstofficerkittycat]

Can you talk/elaborate more about your McCoy headcanons... I like hearing you talk about him

sry this took so long!

i think he never really believed in what he was taught religiously as a kid like he asked too many questions and was not satisfied with the answers but the fear still got to him, he was always high strung and sensitive and was bullied rly badly for it, he mostly hung out with his gramma who was the only person in his family who was nice to him, she was a healer and taught him everything he knew about herbalism. the intrusive gore stuff started at like 8-10 and by 12 he was living every day feeling like he had no skin or bones and that someone could just reach inside him and pull something out. if anyone threw him a punch he'd just crumple up on the floor in a ball shaking cus he felt like he was bleeding to death. he started stealing his dad's tools and making armour to wear under his clothes so no one could get to his insides which like. burned the fuck out of him in the heat but honestly very practical for a queer kid in georgia and he was able to start fighting back

he didn't have the vocab to explain to anyone what he was experiencing, all anyone ever saw was him blacking out at the mention of body parts so he was just called squeamish and everyone moved on while he got worse. then one day his gramma was cooking and he saw her cutting up tomatoes and lookked at them a little too long and slammed his head thru the drywall, and his dad went to hit him and she was like no no stop and took him into her greenhouse sat him down and was like you're old enough to know now i think. and she told him he was getting visions from god of what hell looks like + that both of them were being called to service. so he went heavy into evangelism at that point and it lasted a couple years, all the time he was still studying medicine in school, and then he had a massive breakdown because why hasn't god made it stop I'm doing what I'm supposed to. and his family control him and would never let him go get seen in a million years so he stole chemistry supplies from school and started trying to cook his own antipsychotics with herbs in the greenhouse because the kid is a visionary. did not fuckin work he got really sick from it and just kept going and going cus he felt he was so close to getting it right + ended up getting arrested and charged in hospital at some point down the line

then the space program came to his town and he was like please yes get me the fuck off this planet, and he didn't have anything to show for how smart he was because he was too sick to finish, and they looked thru his criminal record (cus thats how they find their starfleet candidates be real) and they were like hey listen, from age 16 u were in ur room trying to make fucking quetiapine from scratch, starfleet needs a freak like you

he met jim in organic chemistry and they got together, he eventually told him he joined starfleet to run away from god and jim was damn that's crazy i joined to meet god and pry my life back from his cold dead hands. and they were both like wow haha. and then they met spock and had this same conversation at the bar one time and spock drunk on cocoa pops was like if we're speaking metaphorically i believe i joined to make out with god sloppy style

*also also when bones is in recovery he fine tunes the stuff he was working on with the plants and sends it to his gramma who would never take meds in a billion years but because he made it himself with the bush knowledge she taught him she was down with it n he gets her better and they repair their relationship

[damn-stark]

Chapter 4 One rule

Chapter 4 of Stargirl

A/N- Nancy brings out y/n’s mommy issues.

Warning- Swearing, ANGST, violence and blood, fluff! SLOWBURN, long chapter.

Pairing- Steve Harrington x fem!reader, male!oc x fem!reader

Episode- 2x08 and a part of 2x09

(Let me know if you want to be tagged)

————

He only gave you a few rules. Only a few. One which doesn’t matter—well it probably will after tonight, but the important rule was NOT to go to Hawkins Lab.

And what are you doing?

“I don’t see him,” Dustin comments as you come to a stop on top of a hill that overlooks the sleepy town.

Lucas pulls out his binoculars in some hope he’ll see the roaring monsters heard in the distance, but it’s dark now, there’s trees everywhere, he won’t see shit.

“It’s the lab,” Lucas interjects and lowers the binoculars. “They were going back home.”

They need you, so you’re going to Hawkins Lab. Even though there’s multiple of those monsters.

“We should go somewhere that’s not monster infested,” you try to suggest to the group. “We can go to my house, ask my dad for help. Ask my uncle Jim for help since he knows about this shit. We can’t—”

“Wait,” Dustin cuts you off while you continue to walk towards Hawkins Lab. “Wait, rewind. Your uncle Jim? Chief Jim Hopper?”

Both Lucas and Dustin look at you with shock, and you don’t know why they’re in disbelief.

“Yes,” you respond slowly. “Jim Hopper is my uncle.”

Dustin hums. “Hm, they don’t look like brothers,” he says.

You scoff and shoot him a pointed look. “Half brothers,” you clarify.

“Why didn’t you say?” Dustin query’s.

You shrug. “You didn’t ask. And why would I?”

“Because I was talking about him when I told you everything!” Dustin exclaims out of annoyance. “Because it’s important information.”

“To who?!” You yell back. “It’s not important I haven’t even seen the man in years! It doesn’t matter, what matters is what we’re doing! We can’t go to that lab with one gun, a flimsy wrist rocket and a bat with nails. We will die.”

“We’re just going to scope the place out,” Lucas interjects. “See what brought them all here. And if there’s some way to get rid of them, we will then call for support.”

You nod slowly. “Yeah, children and high school teenagers?” You quip. “What can possibly go wrong?”

Dustin nods as if nothing is wrong with what you just said. “Yes. But hey you can run home to your daddy if you’re scared.”

You scoff, and Steve cuts in now. “She has a gun. She leaves so does the gun. We need her. So stop fighting, you're all getting on my every last nerve.”

You let out an annoyed exhale and decide to walk ahead considering you’re the one with the gun. And you are one of the eldest.

“Hey,” Steve nudges you as he falls beside you. “You okay?”

You look down at your palm that’s not bleeding anymore and then look back at him and nod. “Yeah, children just drain my patience. It also doesn’t help that we are walking to death.”

Steve sighs and nods lightly. “Yeah that does it, but think about this. We’re helping something bigger than us.”

You let your gaze linger on him before you smile at the ground. “I suppose you’re right.”

“I almost ran too, you know? I was where you are now,” he adds, pulling your gaze back to him. “But—”

“It feels nice being needed?” You fill his sentence.

Steve draws out a deep breath and averts his gaze. “That’s not what I was gonna say, but,” he pauses and looks ahead. You watch him ponder before he nods. “It’s a part of it.”

You hum softly and follow his line of gaze. “Then why did you go back?” You probe.

Steve slides his eyes to the corner, and you slide your gaze to the corner to meet his.

“I was being stupid,” he mutters. “I couldn’t just leave her behind.”

You begin to smirk. “So you didn't pretend you didn’t care.” You nudge him. “And you got the girl.”

Steve scoffs as he rolls his eyes. “Yeah I suppose you’re right….thank you for being stupid earlier. Luring them with your blood saved my ass.”

Your smirk turns to a soft smile and your heart skips a beat. “I couldn’t just leave you behind.”

Steve’s eyes soften and a small smile tugs on his lips. You hold his gaze for a lingering moment, but you then look at the darkness ahead.

You still feel it. You shouldn’t, you really shouldn’t, but that pining is still there. It only burns hotter as you feel his gaze on you, as you feel how close he walks beside you. As you see how brave he is.

You could avoid him until all these feelings fade away, but you also don’t want to, you’ve dug into each other's souls too deeply to come out with nothing now. So you’ll just ignore these feelings, you will. You’ll even stop coming back to the same thoughts. Because it’s happening. You’ll walk the rest way towards Hawkins Lab in silence, focusing on the monsters.

The kids walking behind you threaten to break your silence and focus, but you manage to ignore them. You focus and manage to lose some of your fear as well.

However, just as you approach the end of the tree line a voice calls out in the distance.

Can it be that the monsters somehow learned to talk? Mimic voices?

“We’re going towards the voice?” You ask fearfully.

Dustin walks past you. “Yes, it can be help,” he mutters.

“What if the monsters learned to mimic voices,” you whisper sharply out of fear it’d hear you.

“You watch too many scary movies,” Steve comments back.

You scoff in protest, but pick up your pace to walk beside him with your gun pointed ahead.

“Who's there?!” The voice yells out again.

You narrow your eyes and notice…Nancy?

“Who’s there?!”

It’s Jonny too.

You lower your gun and when you walk out of the tree line they both come at full view. And they look just as shocked as all of you.

“Steve?!” They both call out.

You strap your shotgun around your shoulder and meet Nancy's bewildered look.

“Y/N?” She asks with confusion.

You offer her a tightlipped smile in response.

“Nancy?” Steve questions.

“Jonathan,” Dustin names.

That’s right Jonathan. Ha.

“What are you two doing here?” Nancy directs at Steve and you.

You part your lips to give a summary, but Steve interjects first. “What are you doing here?”

“We’re looking for Mike and Will,” Nancy responds.

Mike and Will? Mike and Will? They sound familiar…

Aha! Dustin’s friend, and the boy that disappeared but came back!

“They’re not in there, are they?” You point to the lab with your thumb.

“We’re not sure,” Nancy answers quieter.

“Why?” Jonathan asks.

And as if on cue the monsters screech out, making a chill crawl up your spine.

At least Nancy’s is here now. After trying to look for her she’s here where you least expected. Now you can all die together. Yay.

“Don’t you hear them?” Dustin asks and walks towards the closed front gate.

Nancy blinks in confusion and again as if on cue the monsters screech from inside, shooting terror in both Nancy and Jonathan that’s clear as day.

“Whatever we need to do,” you interject. “Let’s do it fast before they decide they want to come outside again.”

“Well the damn gate is closed,” Jonathan points out, drifting all of your eyes to the abandoned station. Which isn’t good, all your instincts are telling you to get out, that there’s more than meets the eye.

The lab isn’t abandoned, there should be guards. One at least. If not out here there should’ve been one already coming out to shoo you away.

But do they listen to you? No! They all want to be heroes, and you…are following them too…

“Well yeah the power is out,” Steve says as if seeing the lab basked in darkness doesn’t make that point obvious.

“Is this what you’ve been doing?” Nancy asks. “Chasing these things?”

“Yeah—”

You snort, causing Steve to stop and for all pair of eyes to fall on you in confusion. “What?” You quip. “We didn’t chase ‘em. We lured one and then got ambushed by multiple. We barely escaped with our lives. We wouldn’t have if it wasn’t for…” you trail off since you have no idea what called them away so suddenly.

“Something called them here, we don’t know what, or why, but they came here,” Dustin finishes for you. “That’s why we’re here. We’re following they’re trail.”

Steve hums in agreement, and Nancy's gaze still doesn’t leave you.

“I still don’t understand why you’re here y/n?” She asks for clarification.

You sigh. “They needed help and I had a gun. That’s literally how I got involved in all this.” That and you also are unofficially helping your father.

Nancy hums in comprehension and you catch the pointed glare she directs at Steve. What for? Getting you involved? Jealousy? Who knows. She did it and Steve just looks confused.

“Are the people you’re looking for really in there?” You ask her now.

Nancy and Jonathan share a worried look before Jonathan shrugs and answers. “That’s what we came to see. Will wasn’t home. Have you guys seen Will or Mike at all today?”

“We haven’t seen Will—”

“I haven’t seen him since…”

They all begin to talk over one another, making you sigh in annoyance. Luckily Nancy departs from the group and points something out. “The powers back.”

You break away from your spot by Steve and follow Nancy, noticing all the lights of the lab slowly turn on floor by floor until finally the entire area is lit again, and they’re hopes of getting in are rekindled.

Nevertheless, when Jonathan tries to open the gate the buttons still don’t seem to work.

“Let me try,” Dustin butts in and leaves your side to begin to argue with Jonathan inside the box.

“No—”

“Let me try, Jonathan!” You hear Dustin complain. When you look over you see him urgently press the same button, but to not avail.

“Does anyone know how to rewire wires?” You ask the group.

Max looks back at you and redirects your question. “Do you?”

You shake your head and lean back against the car. “No. I was just asking so we can find a way in.”

“Try talking to your dad again,” Steve says over his shoulder.

Let’s see if he answers this time.

You slide your backpack off your shoulder and twist back to reach for your walkie, however, as you do strain your hand a sharp pain hits you where you cut your palm. “Oh fuck!”

You’ve been so preoccupied that the pain doesn’t even register until now.

“You haven’t gotten that patched up?” Steve query’s and turns around completely to face you.

You cradle your wounded hand and shake your head. “I haven’t had the time. Can someone please reach in and grab my walkie?”

Steve moves to do what you asked, but Nancy is closer so she beats him to your aide. She ends up quickly finding the walkie, and places it on your waiting hand, but she cuts in too. “Turn around.”

You slowly do as she asks and see her holding a bandage and alcohol. “found this in your backpack. Let me help you.”

The corner of your lips pull to a smile and you don’t hesitate to give her your hand. Albeit before she can begin any progress the doors begin to open, pulling everyone’s attention to it.

“Hey!” Dustin chuckles. “I got it! I got it!”

Jonathan and him step out of the box and with not a second to spare Jonathan hurries to the parked car.

“Nancy get it, the rest of you wait here,” he throws out.

“I’ll help you after,” Nancy now directs at you and hands you your stuff back. “Can I borrow your gun?”

Your eyes widen. “My gun?” You ask nervously. “Do you know how to use it?”

From the corner of your eyes you see Steve shake his head before he interjects. “She has a thing about guns,” he talks about you.

You sigh as you hesitate, but you don’t want to go in and potentially fight more monsters so you pull your gun off your shoulder and hand it to Nancy.

“Hey!” Steve remarks.

“Don’t lose it,” you warn her and step away from the car as she hurries to the passenger seat. “Please.”

Nancy offers you a tightlipped smile and a quick assuring nod, which isn’t that assuring at all. None of her response is reassuring, but you watch as Jonathan drives away with her and your dads gun, leaving you once again before you can even talk.

“How come you let her use it?” Steve immediately complains.

You meet his gaze and shrug. “I mean when you asked for a gun, I thought all this was fake. I mean I heard about all this weird shit, but a part of me didn't want to believe it. Now that I’m here, after I fought a monster, I would have let you use it.”

Steve scoffs, and you shoot him a small smile before you hand him your first aid supplies Nancy got out. “Just help me please.”

Steve lets out a deep sigh, but he snatches your hand towards him and begins to wrap the bandage around your cut.

“Please disinfect first,” you interrupt his attempts.

Steve glares up at you, but he pulls the bandage off and hands it to you so he can rip open the alcohol wipe. You snicker and watch him carefully wipe it over your wound.

“Does it hurt?” He asks in a softer voice.

You feel the alcohol stinging your cut and wince before you can assure him with a lie. “Yeah,” you mumble.

Steve continues to wipe your cut softer this time.

“I thought of something,” you interject with a tiny smile. “A game of sorts.”

Steve briefly glances at you. “Okay,” he probes. “What is it?”

“We have to say a goal we want to accomplish after making it out of this,” you share happily. “One or two, how many you want. It just has to be a goal. Something you’ll commit to.”

Steve lifts his head and drops the dirty wipe and slightly narrows his gaze out of curiosity. “Okay, I’ll play. You go first though.” He takes the bandage from you and once again begins to carefully wrap the bandage around your hand.

“Okay,” you laugh giddly. “I want to learn how to play the drums. My friend Eddie invited me to join his band, but I am musically untalented, so I want to learn to play the drums. Maybe join a band when I’m good. An all girl band,” you giggle. “That’d be cool.”

Steve hums and nods along with what you said. “Okay,” he mouths. “That’s cool. Good goal.”

You nod. “Yep. That is if I make it out.”

Steve meets your gaze. “You will, we all will,” he assures you. “Unless we suddenly get ambushed by those dogs.”

You frown in discontent and roll your eyes before you now press him. “It’s your turn. Go.”

Steve focuses on what he’s doing and ponders for a moment before he shares his goal. “Uh, graduate. I want to graduate.”

“Pft,” you blow out. “You are going to do that. It has to be something different.”

Steve finishes bandaging your hand and pats the back of it before letting it go. “I have shitty grades,” he mumbles at the ground. “I don’t know if I will. Might just disappoint my dad even more and have to repeat senior year.”

You frown a pity frown and tilt your head down to meet his upset gaze. “Tell you what,” you interject. “I will help you study and you can help me impress the guy I like.”

It will probably be weird since you do like him too, but you can’t just hold onto hope for him no matter how much you like him. You have to direct all your focus on Zion because he’s single and does like you. Or you hope so.

Regardless, Steve slowly lifts his eyes to meet yours while he lifts head, and you mirror his movement. “I have a study partner—but…” he sighs deeply and looks past your shoulder. “You know yeah, I think I can squeeze you in.”

You flash him a grin. “Good,” you say softly. “Will you help me? You are the love expert.” You tease him.

Steve scoffs in amusement while he rolls his eyes at your comment. “Yeah,” he gives in. “I'll help you too. But are you sure you’re, like, smart?”

You shoot him a pointed glare and mock him. “Are you sure you’re, like, smart?” You push him away and counter. “Duh, that’s why I’m offering my help.”

Steve chuckles lightly. “Got you.”

“Whatever,” you grumble and walk away to try and contact your dad. But no matter how much you try and try, nothing. There’s static and silence. So much for emergencies! You could probably be dead already!

You try again until you hear multiple gunshots that don’t come from your shotgun. Yet all you can do is wait now, there’s nothing you can do but that since you’re already worried.

Thankfully not so much time passes before headlights pop out from down the driveway, it’s Jonathan and Nancy! But they’re not alone, a bigger car follows behind them. When Jonathan and Nancy pass, the truck stops and you notice it’s a cop car.

“Let’s go!” The driver urges.

Since you were behind the group you can’t see who’s driving. You don’t see until the kids begin to climb in the truck.

“Holy shit,” you gasp with bewilderment. “Uncle Jim?!

Said man blinks repeatedly in confusion, he doesn’t seem to recognize you at first, not until you begin to approach the passenger side as Steve climbs in the back.

“Y/N?” Your uncle Jim muses and leans over.

You finally climb in the car and share a relieved but also nervous smile.

“What are you doing here?” Your uncle asks you.

You exhale with relief and then reply. “I’ll explain on the way. Let’s get out of here first.”

——

“Here.”

You turn around and see Nancy with your gun. After a lot of explaining to your uncle, after arriving to a house filled with a lot of colorful paper, after some introductions with Joyce Byers, and Nancy's brother, you finally find time to talk to her. Just like you wanted to do before.

“Thank you, I didn’t end up using it but still thanks.” She adds.

You take the gun and nod softly while you smile at her. “No problem.”

Nancy puts her hands in her pockets and looks at you with curisoty. “How are you holding up? All this…” she sighs. “Must be scary.”

You let out a breathless laugh and nod. “Yeah. Yeah. It’s fucking terrifying, I want to go home, but…I’m involved now. They need me so…fuck it, right?

Nancy laughs softly and nods.

“Are you okay?” You ask her.

Nancy blinks with surprise and takes a moment before nodding. “I’m fine. I think. It’s been a long week.”

You smile and nod. “Tell me about it. Is that hangover cured?” You tease her. “I tried talking to you after the party, but I never saw you or could actually get a hold of you.”

Nancy parts her lips, but remains speechless for a few seconds before she smiles softly at the floor. “It’s all cured. I’m sorry about that,” she groans and then meets your gaze. “I remember you helping me that night. Thank you for that. You didn’t have to, but you did. Thanks.”

You offer her an assuring smile, and let her continue.

“Uh, how about we make up that mall date we never got to? After this I think it’s overdue.”

Your smile begins to widen and you nod a bit too eagerly. “Yeah, yeah. That would be cool. It’d be nice to take my mind off everything.”

“Cool,” Nancy nods and begins to shuffle towards Jonathan talking to his unconscious brother on the couch. “We can agree on a date later.”

You nod in agreement and then turn around, and can’t help but grin happily. Finally!

“Hey, kid come call your dad for me,” your uncle Jim directs at you as he hangs the phone up.

You hurry to take the phone and quickly dial the house number. As it begins to ring you give your back to the kids as they begin to argue with your uncle.

“They didn’t believe you did they?” Dustin questions.

“We’ll see,” your uncle mutters.

“Come on answer,” you mumble the ringing phone. “Where the hell are you?”

“We’ll see,” Nancy's brother, Mike exclaims before he continues to yell at your uncle. You however don’t pay attention to them since you catch Steve staring at Nancy sadly, while she comforts Jonathan.

Did he catch something you don’t comprehend? They are just friends, no? Jonathan and Nancy.

Steve proceeds to turn around and sniffles, and before he can catch you staring you focus on the fact that your dad did not fucking answer.

“God—ugh,” you groan and then call again.

This time however, the phone gets snatched from your hand and your uncle pushes you out of the way.

“Hey!” You protest. “I'm calling him!”

Your uncle gives you his back, so you walk around him and wait with anticipation. But just like before, your fucking dad doesn’t answer.

“Look Rowan, it’s Jim. Your brother…we—your daughter needs your help, bring your guns, we need them all….” He follows by giving the curtain address before hanging up.

You try to question him but he just walks away.

“Rude,” you scoff.

Now what?

You wait, but for what? An army that didn’t even say they’d come, for a father that hasn’t answered the phone or walkie? For the monsters to attack?

You should go home now, go to sleep and wake up to just listen about the aftermath. But…no, you wait and let the silence slowly kill you. You can’t even talk to Steve, he…doesn’t seem like he wants to talk because besides the obvious exhaustion of today's events, there’s this solemn look he carries; he doesn’t try to talk to his girlfriend or comfort her. He stays away and lets her comfort Jonathan.

The same guy who took her home after the party…did they? Are they?

So many questions rise to mind but you don’t dare to ask any. Instead you lean back against the wall hoping the phone will ring, hoping your walkie will go off, but nothing.

“Did you guys know that Bob was the original founder of Hawkins AV?” Mike finally breaks the silence, but with a matter which doesn’t interest you, so you tune it out until Mike adds a daring comment. “We can’t let him die in vain.”

You slowly pick your eyes off the floor and look at Dustin as he exclaims.

“What do you want to do, Mike? The Chief’s right on this. We can’t stop those Demo-dogs on our own.”

Demo-dogs?

“Demo-dogs?” Max questions your exact same thought. Albeit she sounds a bit judgmental, you…think it’s pretty creative.

“Demogorgon dogs,” Dustin explains whilst he also explains with his hands. “Demo-dogs. It’s like a compound. It’s like a play on words—”

“Okay,” Max cuts him off.

You drop your head and snicker quietly.

“I mean, when it was just Dart, maybe,” Dustin continues to say.

“But there’s an army now,” Lucas adds for him.

Dustin nods. “Precisely.”

“His army,” Mike mutters, causing you to slowly lift your head as you grow confused and intrigued.

“What do you mean?” You probe.

“His army,” Mike repeats louder. “Maybe if we stop him, we can stop his army, too.”

You furrow your eyebrows in confusion, but before you can ask what he really means, Mike runs off. Lucas, Dustin and Max follow him, so Steve and you share a knowing look before you both follow them to a child’s room filled with the same posters.

“The shadow monster,” Dustin names the scary spider-like monster terrorizing over some drawn out woods.

It’s just a drawing but it doesn’t fail to cause you to grow scared.

“It got Will that day on the field,” Mike explains. “The doctor said it was like a virus, it infected him.”

You blink in disbelief while you take the drawing from Dustin to study it better.

“And so this virus,” Max says. “It’s connecting him to the tunnels?”

“To the tunnels, monsters, the Upside Down, everything,” Mike says rapidly.

“Whoa,” Steve cuts in. “Slow down. Slow down.”

You hand the drawing to Steve and pay closer attention to what this kid says.

“Okay, so, the shadow monsters inside everything. And if the vines feel something like pain, then so does Will.”

“And so does Dart,” Lucas says after Mike..

Mike nods. “Yeah. Like what Mr Clarke taught us. The hive mind.”

You’ve heard of that behavior. It’s an interesting behavior.

“Hive mind?” Steve questions.

You nod and look at him. “It’s a collective consciousness. It’s a super-organism,” you explain to him excitedly. “It’s seen in bees, ants, and birds. Of course none to that level where they share the same pain, but think of it like that. Just in a bigger scale!”

Steve doesn’t seem to understand, but Mike cuts in before you can explain it in simpler terms. “And this is the thing that controls everything. It’s the brain. Like the mind flayer.”

Lucas snaps his fingers, and you actually don’t understand that connection, so just like Steve and Max, you also utter the same word. “What?”

But once again they don’t explain it right away, they grab some game manual and then gather everyone around the table, except for the boy Will and his mother. Once everyone else is gathered though, Dustin begins to explain what was brought up.

“The Mind Flayer.”

“What the hell is that?” Your uncle questions.

“It’s a monster from an unknown dimension,” Dustin explains. “It’s so ancient that it doesn’t even know it’s true home. Okay, it enslaves races of other dimensions by taking over their brains using its highly-developed psionic powers.”

Not like a bee.

“Oh my god,” your uncle snaps. “None of this is real. This is a kids game.”

“No, it’s a manual,” Dustin quickly rebuttals. “And it’s not for kids. And unless you know something we don’t, this is the best metaphor—”

“Analogy,” Lucas corrects him, making you slowly look at him in annoyance.

“Analogy?” Dustin quips. “That’s what you’re worried about? Fine! An analogy for understanding whatever the hell this is,” Dustin shouts, making you back away from him.

“Okay,” Nancy interjects, “so this mind flamer thing—”

“Flayer,” Dustin corrects her. “Mind Flayer.”

Nancy sighs and then asks her question. “What does it want?”

“To conquer us, basically,” Dustin explains. “It believes it’s the master race.”

“Like the Germans?” Steve adds quite confidently.

He should’ve sticked to just listening.

“Uh, the Nazis?” Dustin asks.

Steve catches the judgment and just nods. “Yeah, yeah, yeah, the Nazis.”

Oh god he’s going to need a lot of help.

“Uh,” Dustin says. “If the Nazis were from another dimension, totally. Uh, it views other races, like us, as inferior to itself.”

“It wants to spread, take over other dimensions,” Mike now adds to the explanation. Which helps somewhat understand what they’re trying to get at.

“We are talking about the destruction of our world as we know it,” Lucas cuts in.

You sigh and feel your fear heighten.

“That’s great. That’s great,” Steve comments nervously. “That’s really great. Jesus!”

You swallow thickly and try to probe for more. “Okay, so if this thing is like a brain that’s controlling everything.” You approach the table and take the book to study the description. “Then if we kill it…theoretically, we kill everything it controls.”

“We win,” Dustin agrees.

You glance at him. “Theoretically?” You ask.

“Yes of course,” Lucas agrees.

You hum and watch your uncle take the book from you as he now also interjects. “Great. So how do you kill this thing? Shoot it with fireballs or something?”

Dustin chuckles and shakes his head. “No. No, no fire—no fireballs. Uh, you summon an undead army. Uh, because…because zombies, you know, they don’t have brains, and the mind Flayer, it…it…it likes brains…”

Oh.

“…it’s just a game. It’s a game.”

You sigh and rub the bridge of your nose.

“What the hell are we doing here?” Your uncle complains and throws the book down.

“I thought we were waiting for your military backup,” Dustin snaps.

“We are!”

“Even if they come how are they gonna stop this?” Mike also argues with even more anger.

Why is he so angry?

“You can’t just shoot this with guns.”

Hey, you did.

“You don’t know that!” Your uncle yells back. “We don’t know anything!”

You would say you killed one with a gun but you’re scared to get yelled at, so you just keep your mouth shut.

“We know it’s already killed everybody in that lab,” Mike adds.

“And we know the monsters are gonna molt again,” Lucas reminds the group.

“And we know that it’s only a matter of time before those tunnels reach this town,” Dustin adds to the argument.

“They’re right,” a new voice interjects, pulling your gaze to the kitchen entrance and spotting Joyce—“we have to kill it.” She nods. “I want to kill it.”

Your uncle breaks away from his spot and walks to her. “Me too, Joyce, okay?” He says. “But how do we do that? We don’t exactly know what we’re dealing with here.”

“No,” Mike cuts in. “But he does,” he refers to Will while he walks out of the kitchen. “If anyone knows how to destroy this thing, it’s Will. He’s connected to it. He'll know it’s weakness.”

Isn’t he the one that alerts the demo-dogs where he is?

“I thought we couldn’t trust him anymore,” Max says your thought outloud. That he’s a spy for the mind flayer now.”

“Yeah,” Mike agrees. “But he can’t spy if he doesn’t know where he is.”

And just like that everyone spreads out to find ways to cover the shed in the backyard. You help them to keep your mind off everything, to not just sit and wait for your dad to respond back. To not think of your fear mostly.

And it works for a while, whilst you help everyone cover the inside of the shed your mind gets distracted. But that doesn’t last long because once the inside of the shed is covered, Jonathan, his mother, Mike and your uncle interrogate Will. It seems a lot of today has been spent mostly just waiting for something to happen, for the Demo-dogs to take the bait, for Nancy and Jonathan to go to the lab in search of their family, wait for the army people to answer, wait for your own father, and even now you wait for answers.

Waiting should be boring, but it’s just stressful. Tension weighs your shoulders down. It probably ages you ten years too.

If you were home, living ignorantly—or just vicariously through your dad, you’d be out with Zion right now. At least that’s what you agreed to…He probably hates you now. You left him a voicemail since no one picked up at his house, but he still probably hates you for flaking. You’d hate yourself.

After today albeit, you wish you can live ignorantly. Pretend nothing happened and just go out on that date and not have to worry if you’ll get eaten. You even…and this is a pain to say…but you would even be down to watch one of your mothers movies. And that’s not said lightly.

Nevertheless, throughout all that thinking as you wait in the tense silence, you do end up nodding off on the couch. It felt like eternity, but you only wake up 30 minutes later because the house phone rings.

Albeit, Dustin quickly hangs it up.

“Oh it isn’t a dream,” you grumble as you rub your eyes. “Is it the army?” You ask groggily.

Everyone’s tense?

“What’s—” you get cut off by the sound of the phone ringing again.

This time as Dustin is going to hang it up Nancy yanks it off the wall and throws it to the ground.

“Do you think he heard that?” Max asks.

Oh right! That. Will can’t know, right, right.

You get off the couch and approach the kitchen.

“It’s just a phone,” Steve comments. “It could be anywhere. Right?”

You swallow thickly and at that moment catch a paper with dashes, dots and the word “Close gate” on it.

“Is that the solution?” You ask and turn the paper to stare at it.

“We hope,” Nancy says.

You sigh and then glance at the door out of fear. There’s a possibility that Will wouldn’t figure it out, but considering this is his house, he’s in his own shed, he probably has some idea of where he is. He just needed a last hint.

And of course the phone ringing was his push to figure it all out because not so long later growls echo in the distance.

“Shit,” you mumble and face the front window. “That’s not good.” You maneuver past the kids watching the window and pick your gun off the floor.

Jonathan, Joyce, Mike then rush inside with a now unconscious Will. And while joyce lays Will down somewhere your uncle marches inside soon after that.

“Hey, hey, get away from the windows!” He orders.

You cock your shotgun and stand guard in front of the window.

“Do you know how to use this?” Your uncle directs at Jonathan.

“What?” He asks.

You peer back and notice his confusion.

“Can you use this?!”

“I can,” Nancy steps up, making you smirk.

“To being stupid teenagers?” Steve whispers to you as he falls beside you.

You slowly look over at him and nod stiffly. “To being stupid teenagers,” you repeat.

Steve sighs and then looks ahead, you follow his line of gaze and point your gun out at the window. The demo-dogs sound closer now, you can hear them rustling, screeching louder.

“Where are they?” Max asks impatiently.

You clench your jaw and exhale shakily. The monsters growl, and you can’t help but tighten your grip around your gun.

A loud thud then hits something outside, making you and everyone else turn to face it and be ready. Yet none of them show up at the window or try to take the door down. They just seem to stay outside.

“What are they doing?” Nancy asks shakily.

Leaves rustles as they pass, but still nothing.

“Are they messing with us?” You question their tactics.

Before anyone can answer though, a snarl sounds outside the window, causing you all to turn again. But still nothing, one actually seems to screech in pain, and more make the same noises, but then out of nowhere one hurls through the window.

You yell along with everyone else and point your gun at it to get ready to shoot, but it doesn’t move! It’s…dead.

“Holy…shit,” Dustin muses.

Your uncle slowly approaches the dead demo-dog, and you slowly lower your gun.

“Is It dead?” Max asks.

You nod slowly. “Seems so.”

When your uncle Jim reaches the demo-dog he moves it with his foot, and it continues not to react. However, wood then creaks from the outside.

The monsters don’t make a sound anymore, so what is it?

The lock then turns and your heart begins to pound harder.

They can’t do that can they? What the fuck!

The chain lock gets pulled off like something from a horror movie, and the doorknob slowly turns before the door begins to open.

However, when the door gets pushed open, it isn’t some demo-dog standing outside menacingly. It’s a girl with gelled back hair and a bleeding nose. Everyone seems to be unthreatened by her, so you lower your gun and lean towards Steve. “Who is that?” You ask.

Steve leans over and responds quietly. “Eleven, the girl Dustin told you about….”

The girl your dad is looking for. Holy shit. The girl that can lift shit with her fucking mind!

“Eleven,” Mike mumbles as they close the gap left between each other with a hug.

“Mike,” Eleven gasps.

You brush your hand over your walkie and step back.

She’s the one who can end this all? The one that started it…or at least that’s what Dustin said.

Hm. Interesting.

Now since you don’t know her and she doesn’t know you, you walk to the kitchen as they reunite with her, as your uncle talks to Mike privately.

Your dad said he wanted to end this. All of this terror that haunts this town. You haven’t seen a fraction of what the others have, but from what you’ve lived through today that’s enough terror for you. Enough terror for them. So if she’s the part that’s needed to ending it…shouldn’t you help your dad?

End it and you also get to finally settle down and live.

Besides, even after all that’s happened, this little town is a good place. You already have friends, a home, you don’t need to go back to Washington DC, you can stay here. And the only way is to get rid of all of it. Your dad can’t do that if he doesn’t know where she is though.

However, before that can happen you need to know something else, so you wait. And as predicted Joyce brings her to the kitchen to speak about the answer Will gave.

“You opened this gate before, right?” Joyce asks Eleven.

“Yes,” Eleven mutters.

You fold your arms over the table and watch her cautiously.

“Do you think if we got you back there, that you could close it?” Joyce continues to question her.

Eleven glances at her and then looks ahead, she agrees quietly, but this time your uncle argues against her. “It’s not like it was before, it’s grown. A lot. And I mean, that’s considering we can get in there. That place is crawling with those dogs. ”

He’s protecting her…

This may be a problem.

“Demo-dogs,” Dustin corrects him.

Your uncle sighs. “I’m sorry, what?”

“I said, uh, Demo-dogs? Like Demogorgan and dogs.”

He’s at it again.

“Like, you put them together, it sound pretty badass—”

“How is this important right now?” Your uncle cuts him off.

Dustin looks away and retorts. “It’s not. I’m sorry.”

You sit up and look back at your uncle. “I can help. I killed one with my shotgun,” you let him know with a smirk.

Your uncle shoots you a pointed look and shakes his head.

“It’s true, Uncle Jim” you exclaim. “I killed one!”

“Uncle?” You hear the girl, Eleven, question your comment.

“No,” he spats. “You’re not helping. Your dad hates me enough. I’m not putting you in harm's way.”

“I can do it,” Eleven then cuts in, turning your attention back to her.

“You’re not hearing me.”

Eleven nods. “I’m hearing you. I can do it.”

“Even if El can, there’s still a problem,” Mike interjects. “If the brain dies, the body dies.”

You blink in confusion and question that. “I thought that was the whole point?”

“It is,” Mike agrees. “But if we’re really right about this…I mean, if El closes the gate and kills the mind flayers army…”

“Will’s a part of that army,” Lucas finishes for Mike.

“Closing the gate will kill him.”

You look down and share something that’s been itching your brain. “Not exactly. You said it was a virus. It’s not a part of him. He’s just like a…voice, that’s putting it simple. A puppet. Right? You just have to cut its string. Or in this case make the host inhabitable.”

All eyes fall on you, no one adds anything as they all think, Joyce gasps though out of a sudden and then walks away. Before you can follow Steve puts his hand out.

“Nice,” he compliments you.

You high five him and shoot him a smile. “Thanks. That’s what homeschooling gets you.” You get off your chair and follow him after the others.

“Whatever.”

“He likes it cold,” you hear Joyce mutter inside the room.

“What?” Your uncle asks.

“It’s what Will kept saying to me. He likes it cold.”

You peek inside and watch Joyce close the window. “We keep giving it what it wants,” she says.

“It’s just like y/n said,” Nancy interjects. “We have to make the host uninhabitable. So if he likes it cold…”

“We need to burn it out of him,” Joyce adds.

“We have to do it somewhere he doesn’t know this time,” Mike shares his thoughts.

Dustin nods, “yeah, somewhere far away.”

And just like that your uncle suggests his cabin, or his grandfather's cabin. All things get set in motion now, Jonathan and his mother will take Will, your uncle will take Eleven, and you will lead your father to her.

So while Steve and Nancy search for heaters out in the junk thrown out from the shed, and while the kids fare Eleven good luck, you go to the bathroom and try your dad one more time.

“Dad,” you let the button go and wait. You watch it as if that would do anything.

And this time rather than static and nothing, your dads voice responds. “Y/N? Baby, where have you been?”

You sigh with relief and quickly respond, but not in English, you can’t risk letting anyone hear, so you speak to him in Mandarin. “<I will explain it all later, swear. That girl you’re looking for, the anomaly. She’s going to the lab with uncle Jim. Now. You promised we’d find a home after right? Well this is your chance. I want to stay here.>” You let go of the button and wait.

Your dad takes a moment but he then makes sure you hear him sigh before he responds. “<I have so many questions, but I’ll get those later. Thank you.>”

You smile softly and then quickly make sure to add a short warning. “<Before you leave just know that when you get there monsters are going to be there. You have to wait until the girl closes a gate inside the lab, okay? That’s how we get rid of them. Make sure to wait until after that gate is closed! Understand?>”

Once again your dad sighs, but he doesn’t question you. “<Fine. I understand. Go home. Don’t wait up. Just know when you wake up breakfast will be ready.>”

You laugh softly and nod even if he can’t see, even if you don’t plan to go home yet. You just don’t want to argue with him. “<Be careful.>”

“<I will. I love you, baby.>”

Before every mission he never failed to say that. And everytime he said it genuinely and with no struggle.

It’s you who felt embarrassed.

“I love you,” he repeats with amusement. “Copy?”

“Copy,” you giggle.

“Say it.”

You roll your eyes. “I…love you,” you say back. “Be careful.”

“I will. Over and out.”

You sigh. “Over and out.”

Yeah, you’re going to the lab too. He hasn’t faced those monsters, you have, he’ll need your help. But your uncle will never let you ride with him, so you’ll wait. Act normal.

You walk out of the bathroom and catch the man you were just thinking of. He seemed to be walking out, but when he catches you walking to the living room he turns and stops at the end of the hall.

“You,” he points at you. “You stay here. Got it? Stay out of trouble. If your dad decides to answer, tell him where I am. Or to pick you up. Understand?”

You nod in agreement. “Yep. Be careful.”

Your uncle nods stiffly and walks out. When he’s out the door you sit on the couch and watch the window until both cars can’t be seen anymore. You continue to wait though, Mrs Byers car is outside so you’ll use that to get there. You just can’t catch up to your uncle so you'll wait a few minutes.

After a few moments pass of everyone doing their own thing, the silence finally breaks. “Mike, would you just stop already?” You hear Lucas complain.

Said boy stops pacing and faces his friend. “You weren’t in there, okay, Lucas?” Mike rebuttals. “That lab is swarming with hundreds of those dogs.”

“Demo-dogs,” you mouth. And just as you predicted, Dustin corrects him like he corrects everyone else who hasn’t said it.

“Demo-dogs!”

“The Chief will take care of her,” Lucas tries to assure Mike.

“Like she needs protection,” Max comments.

“Plus,” you add so later you won’t sound suspicious. “My dad is going to help. I managed to get ahold of him.”

Mike drags his gaze to you and counters sassily. “And what does your dad do?”

You smirk. “He was a CIA agent. He’s skilled enough.”

Mike rolls his eyes like if he doesn’t believe you, but doesn’t say anything, letting Steve cut in.

“Listen, dude, a coach calls a play in a game, bottom line, you execute it. All right?”

You snort at his comment before you pick at it. “First of all, this isn’t a sports game, and second we’re not even in the game. We’re on the bench man.”

Steve holds your gaze and nods slowly before he begins to stammer. “Right, so my point is—”

You lean forward from where you sit and quirk your brow.

“Right,” Steve agrees. “Yeah, we’re on the bench, so, uh, there’s nothing we can do.” He puts a towel cloth over his shoulder and sighs in defeat.

However, Dustin interjects now. “That’s not entirely true. I mean, these Demo-dogs, they have a hive-mind. When they ran away from the bus, they were called away.”

“So if we get their attention,” Lucas cuts in, and Max follows by adding to the plan.

“Maybe we can draw them from the lab.”

“And clear a path to the gate,” Mike says.

“Yeah,” Steve cuts in. “And then we all die.”

“That’s one point of view,” you counter.

Steve shoots you a pointed glare and shakes his head. “No that’s not a point of view. That’s a fact. Weren’t you just scared of them?”

You nod but shrug him off instead.

“I got it!” Mike exclaims and walks past Dustin and Steve, you get off the couch and follow him along with the others—”this is where the chief dug his hole,” Mike points to a spot on one of the colorful papers. “This is our way into the tunnel. So…” he trails off and walks to another spot.

“Here,” he points out. “Right here. This is like a hub. So you get all the tunnels feeding in here.” He crouches and continues to explain. “Maybe if we set this on fire…”

“Oh, no yeah? That’s a no.” The kids ignore Steve though.

“The mind flayer would call away his army,” Dustin shares his theory.

“They’d all come to stop us,” Lucas adds.

“Then we circle back to the exit,” Mike continues. “By the time they realize we’re gone—”

“El would be at the gate,” Max says excitedly.

“Hey,” Steve exclaims, finally catching everyone’s attention. “Hey! Hey! This is not happening.”

“But—”

“No, no, no buts,” he interrupts Mike. “I promised I’d keep you shitheads safe and that’s exactly what I plan on doing. We’re staying here. On the bench. And we’re waiting for the starting team to do their job. Does everyone understand that?”

You nod. You’re the only one who does.

“This isn’t a stupid sports game,” Mike argues with annoyance.

“I said, does everybody understand that?” Steve presses. “I need a yes.”

Before anyone can answer though, an engine revs outside, stealing everyone’s attention to the window. But only Max and Lucas run over to get a better view through the wicked

“It’s my brother,” Max announces, piquing your curiosity. “He can’t know I’m here. He’ll kill me. He’ll kill us.”

You take a step forward and probe. “Who’s your brother?”

Max looks back at you with worry. “Billy Hargrove.”

Oh, that guy?

“Stay here,” Steve orders suddenly before he walks out of the house before anyone can argue.

You join the kids by the window and watch Billy climb out of his car and meet Steve half way. And since you can’t hear the interaction since they’re speaking too low to hear them clearly, you watch them confront each other.

They remain calm for a moment. Only for a moment before Billy points at all of you in the window.

“Fuck,” you mumble and slide down along with the kids.

“Shit, did he see us?” Dustin asks panicked.

You nod. “Yeah, he saw us.” You get up and point your head to the kitchen. “Go.”

The kids run after you, but the door then gets slammed opened as Billy storms in.

“Well, well, well,” he greets everyone and slams the door shut.

Where’s Steve?

“Lucas Sinclair,” Billy just names him and ignores his sister and the rest of you. “What a surprise.” As he approaches him he glares at his sister. “I thought I told you to stay away from him, Max.”

“Billy, go away,” she mutters.

“You disobeyed me,” Billy says quietly. “And you know what happens when you disobey me.”

“Billy…”

“I break things,” he says and then suddenly grabs Lucas by the collar and drags him away to slam him against a cabinet in the kitchen.

“Hey!” You exclaim and chase after him without helping Steve. “Stop! Leave him alone!”

“Billy stop! Billy!” Max yells out.

“Get off of me, you—”

“Since Maxine won’t listen to me, maybe you will.” Billy sneers at the boy. “You stay away from her. Stay away from her! You hear me?”

You have enough and manage to shove Billy to the wall beside him. “Leave the boy alone, asshole.”

Billy stares at you with surprise at first, letting you pull Lucas behind you so he can sneak away back to his friends.

“It’s you,” Billy chuckles.

You scoff smugly. “It’s me.”

Billy proceeds to push you, making Max react.

“Leave her alone Billy.”

You however, don’t let him push you around, you close your hand to a fist and then without warning hit him with an upper cut.

Billy groans and stumbles back since you catch him off guard. You don’t stop there though, you see his threatening stance, you saw him with Lucas, and predict what he did to Steve, so you throw a right hook too.

“Nice,” you hear Dustin say.

You proceed to knee Billy in the balls. “Don’t touch me,” you warn him. “Or them ever again.”

Billy groans and holds his crotch, but rather than writhing in his pain, he begins to laugh, making you step back and watch him in confusion

“You’re so dead, bitch.” He hisses.

You swallow thickly out of fear, but stand your ground.

Albeit, Steve then pushes you away and takes your place in front of Billy. “No,” Steve says. “You are.” And before anything else can be said or done, Steve throws Billy a strong right hook that makes him stumble.

Steve then grabs Billy by the collar and turns him to throw him back against the table. And like before Billy begins to laugh.

“Steve,” you try to warn him.

Said man meets your gaze and points his eyes to the side, letting you understand that he wants you to get out of the way.

“Looks like you got some fire in you after all, huh?” Billy laughs. “I’ve been waiting to meet this King Steve everybody’s been telling me so much about!”

“Get out,” Steve warns Billy as he pushes him back.

Nevertheless, Billy throws a punch. Steve luckily ducks it and also throws a punch that lands on Billys face.

“Yes! Kick his ass, Steve!” Dustin exclaims with excitement.

There’s no point yelling. Its either get beat up, or beat him up. You don’t want Steve to lose, so you let him fight Billy.

“Murder that son of a bitch!” Dustin shouts as Steve hits Billy again and again, and again until Billy is against the sink laughing like a maniac.

“Get that shithead!” Mike yells too.

“Kill the son of a bitch!” Dustin cheers Steve on. But as he does Billy slams a plate against Steve’s head.

“Steve!” You cry out and try to approach him, but Steve puts his hand out to stop you.

You don’t listen and meet him halfway as he stumbles away from Billy. Steve grabs your arms as you secure your hold around him.

However, you miss Billy storming over and don’t catch him until he kicks Steve out of your arms.

“Hey!” You bellow and try to shove him back, but this time he’s more aware of you. Before you can touch him he swings his hand back and slaps you harshly with the back of his hand.

“Fuck,” you hiss and hold a part of your face that begins to sting.

“Y/N,” Lucas calls out and approaches you with the other kids in tow.

You shake your head and face them to assure them. “I’m okay. I’m okay.” You nod and then drift your attention to the men, catching how Billy picks Steve up by the collar.

“No one tells me what to do!” Billy spats and then slams his head against Steve, making him fall back. “Whoo!”

“Stop!” You cry out. “You’re gonna kill him! Leave him alone, you made your point!”

Billy climbs over Steve and begins to punch him repeatdly. Your mind threatens to keep you there, but you snap out of your stupor and run to grab your gun from the corner of the wall you kept it against.

You don’t plan to shoot Billy, you just need to scare him by shooting beside him or something.

Nevertheless, just as you face Billy, Max beats you to it and stabs a needle in the side of his neck, causing him to finally stop hitting your friend, and shut the boys up.

Billy follows by getting up though to face his sister with disbelief, letting you drop your gun and fall on your knees by Steve.

“Oh god,” you mumble shakily as you see the blood all over his face. “It’s okay, you’ll be okay.” You press your ear against his lips and hear him breathing. He’s just unconscious. “You’ll be okay.” You whisper to his unconscious body.

A body thumps against the floor, so you look over, and catch Billy falling unconscious himself. He makes sure to laugh first though.

Creep.

Max picks up Steve’s nail bat and lifts it up to warn Billy. “From here on out, you leave me and my friends alone. Do you understand?”

“Screw you,” Billy mutters, making Max swing the bat down between his legs.

“Say you understand!” Max yells back angrily. “Say it! Say it!”

You look over at Billy and see him lick his lips before responding. “I understand,” Billy whispers.

“What?” Max asks.

“I understand,” Billy repeats before falling unconscious.

Max doesn’t wait to drop the bat and take the keys out of her brother's pocket. “Let’s get out of here,” she tells the boys.

About that.

It’s later than you wanted, but its okay.

“I’m going to Hawkins lab,” you let the kids know as you get up and walk to the kitchen to get a cloth to clean Steve’s face. “I’m using Mrs Byers car and meeting my dad there.”

“What?” Dustin asks as he follows after you while you get other things to clean Steve’s cuts. “But—”

“My dad doesn’t know about these things, not enough anyway. He…he’s going to help my uncle,” you lie. “But he’s going to get caught up in the mess, I need to help him. He’s the only family I have, I can’t let him die.”

Dustin parts his lips to argue, but he doesn’t say anything.

“Good,” you say and peer over your shoulder. “You guys need a ride first?”

“No!” Max exclaims. “I got it! You go, help your dad.”

You turn and face her as she also follows after you. “You drive?”

Max hesitates but then nods. “Yeah, my mom taught me.”

She’s too young for that, but you only have your dad, he’s what matters most in this world, so you take her word.

So now after you clean and bandage all of Steve’s cuts, after you wipe all the blood off his face, you get in Mrs Byers car and head to Hawkins lab. Your dad might not even need you for what he needs to do, but you were serious. He’s all you have. Your mother is a deadbeat, so you can’t lose your dad, you love him too much to lose him. So you go to him even with your fear of these Demo-dogs, even if it might mean having to harm that girl.

But if she’s the means to an end then…is it not worth it?

.

.

.

.

.

Tagged- @middle-of-the-earth @x-theolivia @redskull199987 @lilyhw1

[batmanisagatewaydrug]

gotham time feat. special guest Phoebe

what's up everybody, time for a special liveblog featuring the cat who I'm currently babysitting and subjecting to my awful taste in television!

last time I was babysitting Phoebe and made her watch Gotham with me she tried to smother herself to death in the couch, so I really can't wait to see what she thinks of season 5.

Gotham 5x07

I am actually going to stay mad about how stupid it is that Barbara somehow knows she's pregnant like a week, tops, after she and Jim had sex

the passage of time in this season is in shambles. like it's never been a particularly solid timeline, we are infamously NOT running a tight ship over here on Gotham, but come on

whatever compliment sandwich: sweet young David Mazouz really mastered the Bruce Wayne tendency to stand hunched over a series of maps looking stoic and haunted in a black turtleneck

this episode just casually drops that Bruce's parents were murdered on June 27th and I'm so glad that I'm watching this episode today (June 24th) instead of three days from now because I probably would have been so unnerved seeing the real date reflected back at me from this show that I'd like. I don't know. start believing in angel numbers and crystal healing or something.

Barbara asking Lee to be her obstetrician is actually like. insane 4d chess flirting. yes I still think they should hook up I don't care they've both done worse (Jim)

is Lee even qualified to be an obstetrician.

anyway I don't believe for a second Barbara wouldn't abort that thang for the love of god the city is a smoking crater

this is what happened when Oswald hoards all the Plan B (a joke exclusively for @dykerory and I)

Cameron Monaghan's Jeremiah look is so fugly but that purple (???) lip is kind of cunt cunt serve

once again begging for literally any information on how old the Valeska twins are supposed to be as Jeremiah becomes more and more of a yandere to our little teen Bruce. for those of you just joining us Jeremiah is played by a mid-twenties Monaghan but is old enough to have had a very successful career in architecture prior to becoming basically the Joker, so. truly anyone's guess.

in conclusion: why is he obsessed with this teenager.

sorry maybe I should clarify that the main Bruce plot of this episode is tht Jeremiah has kidnapped and brainwashed a.) Alfred and b.) two randos who have been given plastic surgery to look like Thomas and Martha so that he can force Bruce to relive the night they were murdered BUT with Jeremiah there this time because he's upset that he wasn't there for one of the most important nights of Bruce's life. they're currently having dinner in the Wayne Manor kitchen while Jeremiah breathes heavily at Bruce about how intimate this is.

what I'm saying is that this would all be deeply and upsettingly erotic were one participant not almost certainly too young to vote

like I said the timeline is SO funky and they're so careful to never tell you how old Bruce and Selina are but David Mazouz is 22 RIGHT NOW four years after the series ended. so.

"I've realized if we can't be friends then we can be connected in... other ways" Jeremiah I'm calling the cops

JERVIS IS ALIVE ???

how were the first six episodes so nothing and then this episode has literally everything happening all at the same time

okay so Wayne Manor just got blown to kingdom come

they literally have Ecco zipping around fighting on roller skates... you wanna be Harley soooo bad

honestly love to see the #growth of Oswald not immediately offering to suck off anyone who helps him anymore. Alfred just saved this little bitch's life and Oswald promptly told him to go fuck himself, which rules extra hard because you all know I hate Alfred

man this part in the movie theater is like that part of Joker War in the movie theater if Joker War didn't fucking suck

wanting to kill Bruce's father figure and going after Jim instead of Alfred is so disrespectful jesus christ

also god there's never been a Leslie Thompkins who is LESS of a mother to Bruce get out of here

wait oh my god Selina had a whole thing last episode about how much she hates herself for being too selfish to help when she (at 12 years old) saw Bruce's parents get murdered but she's going to come in now to help him stop Jeremiah from recreating that night with Jim and Lee... I see the vision I GET IT

this is like a freshman level plot to thread the needle on but that's really impressive for Gotham

oh my god Jeremiah fell in a vat at Ace Chemicals that's crazy. I'm sure that'll stick he's definitely dead.

they even managed to cram the Riddler in this episode jesus christ. pengriddler are fighting about Oswald homosexually naming his dog after Ed if you were curious. Oswald would like it to be noted that this was a compliment because he's VERY fond of that dog.

left off on Pengriddler deciding to make nice again and then promptly cuts to Oswald leading Ed into his house... this close to inventing m/m sex in the Gotham universe if Barbara hadn't interrupted

the Riddler has like 9263 unpleasant and unnerving traits but being able to look at a woman who's three days pregnant and instantly clock that she's expecting just rocketed to the top of the list

honestly. honestly. Emmy for Cory Michael Smith's delivery of "it's a submarine ¯\_(ツ)_/¯."

Barbara can't... kill people anymore... because she's pregnant... okay...

if we don't get the rogues throwing a baby shower literally what's the point of anything. this will all be for nothing.

genuinely thank god I'm only doing the one episode tonight this is SO LONG

[katieskarlette]

Reactions to spoilery cutscenes

Curiosity got the better of me, and I watched all the cutscenes that WoWhead posted from 11.0.

Spoilers and rambling below.

[Disclaimer: These are just my poorly-organized thoughts after watching cutscenes online without much context. Take them with a grain of salt.]

First, the prematurely-gray elephant in the room: Khadgar. I really enjoyed him as a character and I will miss him. Was it a fitting sendoff for such a huge lore figure? Not in my opinion. It was basically copying Rhonin's death (although at least this was in game and not in a novel). And Atiesh got broken, too. As a mage main, that made me cringe, and the destruction of my home city didn't feel good, either. The visual effects of it blowing up in a void explosion were impressive, at least.

Moving on... From what I've seen, I like what they're doing with Moira and her son, and their dynamic with Magni. Talk about a redemption arc, going from the Worst Father of the Year to doting grand'da. Aww. I'm not sorry to see the diamond shell go away. It was stingy of Azeroth not to give him any armor to keep, though. Harumph.

As for the new short folk...I love their blue gryphons, but otherwise they're not my cup o' tea, aesthetically, and I feel like the mechanical motif should stay with the gnomes and mechagnomes. Also, dwarves without Scottish accents seem so wrong. I know that's a ridiculous thing to say because why the hell did that get to be a thing anyway, but it's what we're used to. (Incidentally, exposure to WoW dwarves helped me do a killer Scottish accent when I want to. My best friend does a great Irish accent, so sometimes we'll greet each other in our respective fake accents. Maybe you have to be there, but it amuses us.)

ANYWAY...

Warcraft has always had a vaguely cartoony style. In the last several years the quality of the character models has improved noticeably. I feel like Blizzard is struggling to find a happy medium wherein it still has that signature Warcraft vibe while taking advantage of the improved graphics. Which is a long winded way to say that I find Anduin's detailed eyelashes and the M.C. Escheresque intricacies of Alleria's hair distracting. Anduin's facial structure, stubble, and the under layer of his hair look somewhat realistic, but the top layer of his hair and his vividly blue eyes look like they're from a different universe.

Speaking of Alleria, I don't understand the need to completely redesign her character. Funky winged eyeliner and an asymmetric cape, a totally different color palette, her hair all over the place...it's like she's a completely different character. Sure, a real person can have a major makeover and that's totally fine, but when you're dealing with a fictional character who has a distinct "look" to them, you should have a very, very good reason to throw away the familiarity/recognition you've already established. I felt a little bit that way when Jaina got her makeover for BFA, but since she's by far the most prominent human woman in the franchise it was easier to adjust. We have how many rail-thin high/blood/void elven women now? A lot. They could have done some cool, subtle things with slowly changing her Legion-era outfit to be more void-themed over time, but I suppose that would require extra modeling work that would deprive the playerbase of a raid tier...

I have no idea who Aelric Leid is, but I'd know Jim Pirri's voice anywhere. I'm glad he's still around the franchise after Nathanos was sent off to live happily ever after in a quiet corner of Ardenweald with his true love after she rescued him from the maw and you can pry that headcanon from my cold, not-undead hands killed off.

So we have a Wrynn not climbing about the fleeing ship with his allies but instead jumping down to fight the thing trying to destroy said ship, even knowing it will probably lead to his death. GEE, WHERE HAVE I SEEN THAT BEFORE?! Okay, I have to admit that did give me some feels. There's a fine line between poignant, thematically significant callbacks and gratuitously echoing past imagery while screaming, "Look! It's the thing! You remember the thing, right? Here it is again! Isn't that cool?" I'm looking at you, tons of Arthas parallels they pushed on Anduin in BFA and Shadowlands. Ahem. So yeah, I see what you did there, Blizzard, and I don't hate it. Let me conjure you a mana cookie.

Ansurek looked SO much cooler before her void power-up. She looks creepy af with all those red eyes and the stuff on her head, yet she's got a normal human mouth and a cutesy nose. WTF? Come on, let the creepy spider queen be monstrous! Trust me, people will still want to fuck her. Source: I've been on the internet.

"With our renewed strength, our kingdom shall be reborn." Zzzzzzz... Huh? Wha'? Oh. I'm sorry, I could have sworn I've heard this schtick about 874 times already.

Is Alleria really stupid enough to think she can kill (the equivalent of?) an Old God with an arrow? There's no way a shapeshifting being of the void could possibly put up an illusion or teleport away at the last second! /facepalm (Although soon after she was able to gut-punch Xal'atath to make her back up, so maybe it wasn't such a dumb strategy... I dunno. I'm just judging a bunch of short cutscenes out of context.)

A Windrunner sister gripping her bow so tightly we hear the leather squeak. Never seen that before, either.

I do like Xal'atath so far. She's got the sultry voice of Azshara, the (over)confidence of Lich King Arthas, and the creepy wrongness of her Old God pals. Voice aside, she's not as sexualized as a lot of her predecessors in the franchise, which is a relief. (I love Azshara to bits but she must have used massive amounts of double-sided tape and/or powerful magic to keep her boobs in that dress back in her pre-naga days.)

So yeah. I watched the in-game cinematics. There was some good, some bad, and some stuff I like to clown on but wasn't actually that awful. I can't say that it made me reconsider my decision not to play the expansion, but I'm glad I know a little bit more about what's going on.

Now, since they so rudely destroyed Dalaran, I'll have to picture my mage curling up in the library in Stormwind Keep, instead. Because that's what I imagine she does when I'm not playing the game. ;)

[thegeminisage]

the tholian web episode rewrite

this post is an episode rewrite of the tholian web, an episode about jim kirk being declared prematurely dead and the enterprise, particularly spock and bones, falling to pieces until his miraculous return as a weird space ghost. i thought this ep was very very very VERY good, it's one of my all-time favs, but the end was really jumbled and didn't quite give me the payoff i wanted, so a summary of the original (which you can skip if you've seen it) plus my suggested fixes are below.

the original

the enterprise, searching for the a missing starship called the defiant, finds it in a weird area of space that is "breaking up." when jim, spock, bones, and chekov beam aboard (in space suits) they find the ship dark and full of the corpses of its crew, who all killed each other in fits of insanity, and the ship threatening to disintegrate with them on it

unfortunately, they can't all be beamed back at the same time, and jim of course insists on being last, so when the ship does disintegrate ("interphases" into another dimension), it takes him with it - with only 4 hours of air left in his space suit

because scifi, spock works out that they can get jim back if they hold perfectly still until the dimensions interphase again. but this is an episode where every possible thing goes wrong - the area of space is slowly driving the crew insane and hostile, and titular tholians show up to fire on the enterprise for being in their space past the time they said they needed initially for their rescue of kirk

spock fires back, hoping to preserve what little chance they have of saving jim, but the battle not only damages the enterprise, it also (somehow) damages the area of space they were supposed to rescue jim from, which means they have no choice to declare him dead, AND the tholians come back to start weaving some kind of forcefield (the titular web) to prevent the enterprise from leaving

btw: bones HATES this. he thinks staying to fight was stupid because they'd already lost jim and now they're going to make his death meaningless because the rest of the crew will die too. he thinks spock not emoting is heartless, and asking him to find a cure for something that isn't a disease is unreasonable. he accuses spock of being a selfish short-sighted gloryhound, etc

after kirk's funeral (baller scene; it is interrupted by yet another person erupting in screaming), bones INSISTS on watching kirk's "last orders," a tape he made prior to his death meant to be played only in the event of his passing. once bones gets spock alone, he demands to know why spock stayed and fought instead of getting jim's crew to safety like he would have wanted. spock sort of gives a nonanswer and they start fighting again, but they get interrupted by kirk's tape, which basically urges them to get along - for bones to respect spock's ability to captain and for spock to trust bones's human intuition. after the tape finishes, there's a long silence, and bones apologizes

meanwhile, uhura has seen a ghostly image of captain kirk appear in her mirror. she runs out of the room yelling for spock, but finds bones instead, who chalks it up to the space sickness having gotten her. but more and more people report seeing kirk, until finally bones and spock start arguing about it - bones even spins spock around in his captain's chair to face him when he feels spock isn't taking his concerns seriously, and then has to apologize - spock replies, "i'm sure the captain would have said, 'forget it, bones.'"

at this point kirk finally appears on the bridge. spock tries to touch him but can't, though you can see kirk mouth "spock, hurry!" 

things finally start going right: bones develops a cure for the insanity and the engines are repaired. they manage to get away from the tholian web and bring jim along with them. 

at the end of the episode jim asks if they watched his last orders. at a single exchanged glance bones and spock decide to lie about it, and promise him they behaved perfectly well in his absence 

but in MY version...

the problems

again, this ep is one of my all-time favs, but it's full and jumbled near the end. the setup was excellent, and the payoff was REALLY good, but it could have been even better.

the biggest issue was the stakes. tos loooves fake time limits and other arbitrary problems to up the stakes, but this is going way overboard. jim has 4 hours of air left in his suit AND the engines are busted from the fight AND the space is making the ship act weird AND the tholians are closing their web AND interphase only happens at random intervals AND the crew might not even be able to drive the damn ship because they're going nuts...there's so many stakes you kind of forget what you're supposed to be worried about

secondary issue was the spock and bones plot. i think they were fighting just for the sake of fighting, without any real reasons, and so their reconciliation felt a little hollow

not NEARLY enough kirk in this episode, particular cool space ghost kirk. ik it was a limitation of the sfx, but still. also, no spirk reunion. kirk deserved to see them both when he got back!!

the changes

the plot

firstly, i think interphase was explained a bit poorly, which feeds into some of the ??? near the end of the episode. i think what they wanted to convey was that some wall between dimensions was weak in this particular area, causing both the madness and the phasing in and out of reality, and these two dimensions crossed at random. i think it would have been better if there had been a predictable cycle (say, the two hour mark, an even number into kirk's 4-hour time limit), and i was never quite sure why they needed to hold perfectly still anyway

next we've got to work with the stakes. definitely keep: jim needing the 4 hours of air in his suit. the tholian web, since it is after all titular (sorry for using the word titular again) - though if it weren't, i'd be tempted to chop it too. the crew going bananas, since it is both wonderfully terrifying and can act as a "can we even drive this ship" question. however the damaged engines, and also the initial tholian wait time can def go. the "this space is making the ship itself act weird" too - perhaps the reason jim was beamed back last has something to do with the suits only being able to go one at a time, or him dropping his communicator and them not being able to lock on, idk.

so to recap: keep the scene where they beam aboard and jim has to be beamed out last, but the ship vanishes before the beaming is done. i like when jim sacrifices himself in an understated calm sort of way but i'd add just a LITTLE more rising dread here on his/the music's part because the scene is already very spooky and since i knew what was gonna happen going in i was nail-biting the entire time, and would looove to transfer some of that energy to our hypothetical new and improved episode

upon disappearance of the defiant, some scifi technobabble happens and spock figures out they'll have another chance to get jim back. unfortunately, bones doesn't buy that one bit. he and the rest of the crew (to legitimize his position and keep his accusations from seeming baseless) all think there's no possible way jim could have survived, that it's dangerous to stay where they are, and that spock should get them the hell out of dodge immediately

but spock's the captain and he says logic dictates jim might still be alive so long as there's air in the suit, so they stay. IMPORTANT: there needs to be a little bit of an argument here, involving spock saying something like "starfleet would totally agree with me and in fact if i don't fuck it up i'd be given a commendation" or something to that effect. he's not saying it because he WANTS a commendation, he's actually struggling to validate his decision to bones while also hiding the fact that he's extremely upset, but it's important. we'll get back to it later

the tholians show up. i think it would be better if the battle happened immediately to cut any confusing wait time, and this is what damages the enterprise. spock is successful in scaring the tholians off temporarily, but his ship is fucked and now they CAN'T leave, and to make it worse the tholians come back and start weaving their web. this leads us to...

spock & bones

NOW spock and bones have something concrete to fight about, instead of just bickering for the sake of bickering. bones thinks spock should have ran, but spock wanted to stay

i think a good twist for this argument in the episode that we have is that bones was under the impression spock wanted to stay for self-serving reasons (not normally an assumption he'd make about spock, but he's grieving too), and all along the reason spock wanted to stay was an emotional one. unfortunately in canon his accusations of gloryhounding came out of fucking nowhere, so we need a scene to seed in that subplot

logically speaking, the first thing that has to happen after jim's death is his funeral, which i'm saving for something else, so this scene would need to be BEFORE all that, perhaps during a pre-funeral moment of chaos where the crew are dropping like flies and the screaming arrivals are flying into sickbay. bones wouldn't be the only one bitter about spock's decision to stay behind, and someone, a fellow sickbay worker or some yeoman, makes a comment about they can't believe spock did this to them just so he can be captain, and bones is like girl WHAT and they're like yeah i totally caught him looking at transfer orders the other day

of course, spock doesn't really want to transfer off the enterprise. it's obviously a misunderstanding. i'm not totally sure why he has the paperwork...the best i can come up with is some starfleet official wanted there to be a token vulcan captain for some wack reason or another, because in tos whenever they have problems they can't logistically justify they always blame it on some backward starfleet official, so i don't see why i can't do the same

anyway, this is why we needed that argument earlier - when bones thinks back on it, spock's remark about the commendation all but confirms this new theory of his, when really had spock been on his game and not grieving he probably wouldn't have attempted to validate himself to bones at all

so this is the real conflict between them - bones think spock has gambled the lives of everyone on this ship because he thought he could outsmart the tholians, exploited jim's DEATH for his own selfish gain, and has hardened his heart against the palpable grief and loss that everyone else is displaying. none of that is true, of course, but spock would prefer to let people believe he doesn't have emotions and he has no idea anyone knows about the very irritating starfleet officials trying to poach him for another ship, so HE thinks bones is being extra irrational because of his grief (which is only a little true), right when they all need to be at their best. they will yell at each other about this for the rest of the episode.

anyway, bones is good and mad. you see the steam coming out of his ears all through kirk's funeral, which, again, is interrupted by someone starting to scream as the madness takes them. at the end of the funeral everyone is dismissed and starts to file out of the room and bones immediately jumps on spock about 1. going to see the tape and 2. his bad and selfish decisions

HOWEVER, i'd like to combine this scene with the scene of uhura spotting kirk's ghost. while people are still hurriedly leaving (mom and dad are fighting again, awkwaaard), uhura cries out that she's seen captain kirk and everyone turns to see...nothing there. bones shakes his head sadly and declares her the latest casualty of the crazy and he and spock personally take her to sickbay, barely restraining themselves from continuing their argument...

but the camera stays on the room after they leave, which slowly darkens and changes slightly in color, and the camera pans to...

a ghostly captain kirk, watching all of this with the quiet horror of a doomed man

space ghost kirk

my biggest problem with this ep was that i wanted it to be 2.01 my time of dying from s*pernatural, and it wasn't because the 60s have limits on their sfx abilities. in this fantasy world, though, i can do WHATEVERRR i want

CAPTAIN'S LOG, SUPPLEMENTAL: here kirk outlines what really happened to him, which is that he escaped the defiant during the attempted beaming but found himself floating in the enterprise in an alternate dimension - it's dark, like the defiant, and maybe green or something to visually denote the difference between kirk's dimension and ours. he can see and hear what's happening but no one, except uhura just now, can see him. he can't touch or affect anything. he is powerless. all he can do is try and figure out some sort of solution while he watches his ship falling apart - this time from kirk's pov, with lots of FUNNN spooky ambience - and, of course, spock and bones being extremely angry with one another, like fighting in sickbay after they've seen to uhura (when it's clear to jim and us that they're angry BECAUSE they're grieving)

then we get to kirk's last orders. spock tries to put bones off about this because seeing jim's face right now would kill him on the spot but bones wants to get him alone in order to violate the hippocratic oath by shaking him like a dog with a squirrel. finally spock reluctantly agrees is metaphorically dragged away to the woodshed 

more arguing but this time with kirk as a third unseen participant. bones makes an accusation and he chimes in with "spock tell him it's not true!" spock implies something about bones's abilities being compromised when he's so emotional and kirk goes "mister spock you're out of line!" spock fields the accusations of wanting a captaincy by explaining the truth about the wack starfleet officials, but bones doesn't believe him at ALL. "if you didn't want a captaincy, why did you stay and fight!?" he's sure he's got spock cornered; now he'll have to admit the truth. 

perfect time for the tape to come on. this is the same as it is in the episode, and when it stops and kirk's smiling face remains frozen onscreen, spock explains haltingly that he stayed because he wasn't sure jim was dead and couldn't bear the thought of leaving him behind. there: an emotion. he prepares for the inevitable vivisection.

instead bones apologizes, like he does in canon. i liked the line "it does hurt, doesn't it?" unlike spock, bones shows his emotions outwardly. as in canon, they get called away by plot stuff. bones leaves first. spock stays behind, looking at the screen, and reaches out almost as if to touch it. there's a moment where you think he'll break - then he puts it all away, turns on his heel and goes, and the camera pans back to kirk, speechless.

kirk notices that as time goes on and they get closer to that next interphase, he becomes visible more and more often. perhaps when he talks into the radio in his suit it could come over the intercoms or something. people start hearing him and then dismissing it. someone sights him in the engine room. spock and bones think the whole ship is going nuts, but kirk can't seem to get through to the two people who need to see him most. 

so they have to do it on their own: reconcile. develop an antidote. a toast to their departed captain with scotty, where bones finally addresses spock as captain. then, with interphase growing closer, and the tholian web coming to a close, spock and bones are on the bridge when kirk appears in front of EVERYONE

(i liked bones spinning spock's chair around and then swooning into his arms and of course the "forget it bones" is CRUCIAL, so maybe the toast/drinking the antidote takes place on the bridge, and this happens just before bones drinks his share)

anyway, this time spock reaches for him, like he does in canon, instead of aborting the motion like he did in kirk's quarters when he nearly touched the computer. but kirk vanishes again, and spock's hand closes on nothing

the ending

now that they KNOW kirk is back, everyone has to rush to beat the clock in order to both escape the tholian web and bring their captain with them

everything goes well just like it does in the episode, with the small change of: as soon as spock has directed the ship out of the web, he gives the bridge to sulu and books it to the transporter room. he arrives just in time to see jim materialize on the plate alongside bones, and he probably stands at parade rest while bones welcomes jim home like he does in the episode proper, but there's enough eye contact happening between the three of them we know spock is just as relieved as the rest of them

NOW the scene at the end, where kirk talks about how empty that universe was and how he likes a crowded one much better. i have two versions of an ending in mind and can't decide which is more fun so i'm doing them both

#1: someone, spock or bones or one of the other bridge crew members, asks jim if it was totally awful being able to see the ship in such distress and not being able to help and he dodges the question by saying he couldn't see much anyway or some stupid bullshit. then HE asks spock and bones about his last orders and they also lie. and you get the idea from their various face journeys they all know each other is lying but they're going to pretend in order to remain professional and buttoned up - and then someone says something that gets them started again. bones exasperated, spock deadpan - but it has a totally different tone from the vicious fights from earlier and it cuts the tension easily. it's an all's well that ends well moment, because you can see jim is enjoying the nice version of their bickering again.

#2: kirk asks about the last orders, spock and bones lie, and kirk calls them out on it by reminding them he could see and hear everything. this is followed with the sort of gentle and loving admonishment that kirk is capable of when he's touched which basically amounts to: thank you for continuing to be excellent and professional to my ship while privately falling apart, but if i die again, please be better to EACH OTHER so i can go to my death knowing the two of you at least have one another. spock and bones, mildly abashed, agree - and then again, someone says something to start the friendly bickering and cut the tension before the credits roll

DONE. this CONCLUDES my episode edit of the tholian web, which again is really very very good already. we love a good character death fakeout and we also love SPONES. look for more overthought episode edits someday in the future

[adzeisval]

You weren't meant to be there

Wee John goes shopping even when Izzy is warning him not to go. Major character death again. Also on AO3.

Wee John wondered if he should go to town by himself or not. It was just to the other side of the island to get some supplies for Lucius’ birthday but it was quite the trek and he was getting old. 

Lately there always seemed to be some young pirate trying to get in with the whole Revenge crew or start a bar fight. 

“You’re sure you want to go alone?” Jim asked.��

“I’ll be fine,” John said. Though…he had been having some odd trepidations but he pushed past them; he was probably just imagining things. He was going to be fine going to get a few supplies. It might take him all day to get there and back but he’d do it. 

Wee John made his way around the ocean path, his back was aching a little and his joints were bothering him but he wanted to be able to do the shopping by himself. And it was fun to be out in nature now and then and away from the rest of the crew. As much as he loved them all it was good to get away now and then. 

But…some things were a bit odd. 

He could have sworn several rocks moved on their own and birds spooked way too easily. It was like a ghost was following him. 

“Ah fuck. Izzy?” 

Wee John waited for an answer but there was none. 

“Izzy how dangerous could going to town be, really I’m going to be fine.” 

Wee John felt fine, well he felt fucking old, but he could still handle himself. He would be fine. But Izzy kept trying to make him turn back. Wee John was almost to town though so he would just keep going. He didn’t want to go back when he was almost there and he knew to be on the lookout when he was in town especially with Izzy acting weird.

Wee John spent some time at the edge of town looking around for anything odd. Nothing caught his eye, it was just the usual people milling about and the usual shops open. There were no soldiers of any type and looking in to the harbor there was no sign of anything strange. 

“I’m going in Izzy,” Wee John said. 

He was the only one in the shop and the shopkeep, Mr. Wilson waved at him and went back to his whittling. John was looking for something different to give to Lucius for his birthday. He wanted it to be special. Lucius was having a tough time with Pete getting so old and all his health issues. Wee John was surprised that he himself didn’t have more issues considering how wonky his back had been most of his life.

John had just picked out a fabric he thought might make a nice shirt when the ground started to shake. 

“Oh fuck…” John sat the fabric down and headed for the door, but everything went black. 

When John came to it was dark and he felt like there was an entire building on his chest. 

“Am I dead?” 

“Not just yet,” Izzy said. 

“Shit.” 

“You weren’t meant to be there, you were supposed to be at home,” Izzy said. 

“I’m sorry Izzy, just didn’t think there would be trouble,” John said, “The crew?” 

“Everyone at the Inn is alright.” 

Wee John wondered how long he was going to have to wait to be rescued. He didn’t know how many other people were trapped and how many people were unhurt and able to help. He could wait a while thought the longer he was aware the more aware of pain he was. 

His back felt horrible and his chest was tight and…he couldn’t feel his legs. It was also kinda hard to breathe…

“Izzy? Am I dying?” 

“I’m sorry John, I’m here to take you.” 

“Fuck. Is this going to take long?” 

“I don’t think so,” Izzy said. 

“Should have listened,” Wee John said. 

“I’m sorry,” Izzy said. 

John felt a little stupid over insisting on coming to town especially when Izzy was giving hints that something was going to happen. 

Something shifted in the ruined building and the weight on his chest increased and it was almost impossible to breathe. He groaned and struggled against the weight. His chest was aching for air but he could not get it in and he wouldn’t…he was…

“I’m here John, almost there.” 

Tears streamed down John’s face, he wasn’t supposed to be there and yet there he was just because he was stubborn and wanted to go anyway. He could see Izzy there with him and then things went black then came into focus. 

“There we are,” Izzy said. 

“Fuck, damn it,” Wee John said. 

“I know.” 

“Well let’s go,” Wee John said. It wasn’t the way he imagined going out but at least it didn’t take too long, “And you’re sure the others are alright?”

“They are, and I’ll let them know I was here with you,” Izzy said. 

“Thanks,” John said and followed Izzy.

[comas-are-for-sleeping]

Over this past summer I scoured the internet for transmasculine Latine people. I spent hours late into the night going through Pinterest for Latino boys wearing makeup — just to feel like I wasn’t alone. Of course, all that really came up were white boys with fluffy hair and hints of eyeliner which left me feeling wrong. Were they all people wanted? Where were the people who looked like me?

There haven’t been zero people, though. I can probably count them all on one hand, but they do exist. Finding the show “Los Espookys” was perhaps one of the greatest moments in my life. The show’s cast is mainly queer and all Latino. One of the actors, River Ramirez, plays a woman in the show, but is nonbinary themselves. In “Our Flag Means Death,” Jim was definitely the star of the show for the transgender people I know who’ve also seen it. They are nonbinary in the show, as is the actor who plays them. Their name is Vico Ortiz. Having these sources of representation in media has been extremely validating.

There’s still not a lot though. Outside of television, there are maybe two other Latine trans people I know of. One, Angel Flores, was featured on Queer Eye and is a heavyweight lifter. The other, Ezra Michel, is a social media influencer who has really helped me with exploring the feminine side of my gender.

As I slowly reach adulthood, I realize that I may be one of the few people out there who is willing and able to speak up about my experience. It’s definitely something that I want to do; it’s not a matter of feeling forced to do so in the slightest.

However, it does feel like a bit of an obligation. There is not even a thought in my mind of just sitting back and living my life. I have to speak out because there’s not a lot of us out there. It is a great service to my community, but I also don’t really have anyone’s shoulders to lean on. Not many, at least, that are fighting the same fight I am.

One topic that I feel obligated to bring up because of my unique position is the term Latinx. I think that if people want to use it, they should go ahead and use it. It’s not really translatable — or even pronounceable, really — to the rest of Spanish. In 2019, students in Argentina protested over the supposedly gender neutral suffix “o” in the language, saying that it could instead be with an “e” (like the word interesante). So, Latino or Latinx would be replaced with Latine when talking about a group of mixed gendered people.

This feels more true to Spanish. Latinx always rang a sort of “white people imposing supposed wokeness on a whole language” to me. Yes, there should be more gender neutral versions of words, but it can’t be immediately changed by people who don’t even speak the language.

While maybe Latinx or even Latine isn’t a perfect solution right now, there could very well be in the future. Language evolves and we have to let it. It’s not that Spanish deals with gender in an awkward way — English is very similar in many respects — it was just built differently. And the building is not over; we can’t let it be over.

[dancing-to-architecture]

10 of 1001

Today's album: Meatloaf - Bat Out of Hell (1977)

The Loaf arrives!

Now, here is an album cover that I've always thought looked cool as hell since i first saw it in my dad's milk crate full of LPs, but i never got around to actually listening to it (mostly because i was really into the Beatles at that point in time, specifically Sgt. Pepper, incidentally another one of the album covers of all time, and not long after my Beatles phase came the phase i call "the total collapse of my parents' marriage" which led to a distinct and immediate lack of access to any part of my dad's record collection from then on).

Okay, unnecessary family history corner is now over, time to start Loafing.

Right off the bat, before I've even hit play, i have to notice: 7 songs, 46+ minute runtime, which means that the average song length is over 6 minutes. Now, something like this can be as much a positive thing for me as a negative thing.

On the one hand, there's been The Doors' tiresome meandering and King Crimson's acid jazz (in that 'it's about the notes you don't play', and no notes were played for like 3 minutes), but on the other hand I'm also fairly into post-rock and i have, on multiple occasions, referred to a 20+ minute long song by Godspeed You! Black Emperor as "a banger". (Rockets Fall on Rocket Falls is a killer, fight me.) Then i remembered that this is Meatloaf, the King of the Power Ballad, and also that Paradise by the Dashboard Light is roughly 174 minutes long.

Bat Out of Hell-

This intro fucking rules! Goddamn, that piano player should be chained to a wall somewhere for pounding on those keys that hard.

Some really great lines here "nothing ever grows in this rotting old hole/

And everything is stunted and lost/

And nothing really rocks and nothing really rolls

And nothing's ever worth the cost." PREACH.

Man, so much happens in this one song. It's a love song, it's a one night stand song, it's got the sudden and violent death of the narrator/pov character in the opening song of what i was led to believe was a three-album rock opera-lite... Hell, I've written legitimate short stories where less plot happens than within this song.

You Took The Words Right Out Of My Mouth (Hot Summer Night)-

To know me is to know that I've offered my throat to much more dangerous things than the wolf with the red roses.

Kind of a repetitive chorus, but it's only 5 minutes long, how is *anybody* supposed to tell a story in that short of an amount of time? :V

Heaven Can Wait-

So i was *almost* in this play in high school and- oh, this is a different thing.

"And all i got is time until the end of time" is a great line.

Okay, for real, who was the pianist on this album? (Aside: Bat Out of Hell was composed by Jim Steinman, who has *one hell* of a Wikipedia page, and the piano played by Roy Bitten of the goddamned E STREET BAND. Wait, also mixed by Todd Rundgren? Hot damn, no wonder this is like the 6th best-selling album of all time.)

All Revved Up with No Place to Go-

Well that's some Springsteeny as FUCK horns there, huh?

And to be honest with you, Mr. Loaf? No, i don't really know what that's like. Most of the time I'm put into situations with little to no revving whatsoever, and it's infrequent that i really desire a place to go, especially if I'm already home.

The middle breakdown about drawing first blood just feels strange and kinda out of place to me, but i am Not a person who wrote three albums with combined 100 million units sold, so my opinion is just that.

The faster end right after that kicks some ass, though.

Two out of Three Ain't Bad-

Well the title is regarding what might be the most depressing sentiment i can think of.

And then the second verse starts and it stays sad, just in a dramatically different way. Sad in a "okay, yeesh, get over your old flame already, dude, you said it yourself, it's been YEARS" kind of way.

Like Stephen Stills said (7 years before this album came out): "if you can't be with the one you love, honey, love the one you're with", because this? just ain't it. Open up your heart a bit.

Paradise By the Dashboard Light- I've heard this song a number of times throughout my life, and i don't think i ever clocked just how insanely horny it is.

I guess i never really thought too hard about the lyrics, mostly because the last time i heard this song it was on the radio and i was still a kid. The baseball announcer part is kinda clever about it at least.

Ellen Foley CRUSHES her part of the duet. It's like the power-belting is a competition between her and Loaf, and she's gonna get that fuckin gold, come hell or high water.

Also just saying, ladies, if you ask someone if they love you, and they say "uhh, get back to me on that one, i gotta sleep on it"? They don't, and they won't. Don't waste your time.

But that last line is still pretty hilarious, all said and done.

For Crying Out Loud-

Okay, if this album and the two after, the trinity of bats into and out of hell, are all supposed to be like one continuous story throughout, then this song's placement right after Paradise is incredibly darkly funny.

Also, do we really need the image of meatloaf's turgid hog ripping through his jeans, twice? in one song?

(It's not so explicit, but you tell me what "can't you see my faded Levi's bursting apart?" is regarding, because while Meatloaf was a bigger dude, i really don't think he's talking about splitting the seam on the ass, and there are definitely other rhymes for "heart".)

Also, another false ending with 3 minutes left in the song. These songs wouldn't be so long if you stopped *trying* to end them and just ended them, man. (I'm being facetious here, but only kinda.)

Overall, a really good album. I can easily see why it sold so many copies, but i was honestly expecting it to be a bit heavier, given how hard that cover art goes.

Favorite Track: Bat Out of Hell! That intro, the economy of storytelling within (it's. so. much. plot!), the piano is on fire, all in all just one (bat out of) hell of an opening song.

Least Favorite Track: initially, i was gonna say You Took the Words, mostly for the repetition at the close of it, but actually sitting down and reading the lyrics to Two Out of Three Ain't Bad REALLY killed that song for me. It is bad, and you should feel shame.

[lenievi]

I decided to ramble about McCoy and stuff as I watched the Tholian Web because it sometimes helps me... but I still can’t wrap my head around it lol even thought at the beginning I thought I finally found a reading that works, it still broke during the conversation in Kirk’s quarters… but anyway, you can watch me trying to explain stuff to myself lol 

If you love this episode, you should probably skip it idk

MCCOY: Are you satisfied? Spock, why did you do it? SPOCK: The decision to fight was logical. Lack of time prevented any other course of action. The Tholian ship had to be disabled. MCCOY: You should've known what could've happened and done everything in your power to safeguard your crew. That is the mark of a starship Captain, like Jim.

McCoy admires Jim. There’s no one like Jim in his eyes. And Jim’s primary focus is always the crew, always the ship. And Spock failed to adhere to that, and therefore in McCoy’s eyes, in this moment, he failed as a starship captain. And every single exchange between Spock and McCoy after this point is coloured by this – Spock isn’t worth it and doesn’t deserve the position as the Captain of the Enterprise, since he failed the most important thing – to safeguard the crew.

MCCOY: Why? Are you afraid it'll change your present status? SPOCK: The mental and physical state of this crew are your responsibility, Doctor. At the moment, they are your top priority. MCCOY: The Captain's last order is top priority, and you will honour that order before you take over.

“Before you take over, before you become the “captain”, the real Captain’s last order is the top priority. And you will honour it.”

MCCOY: He was a hero in every sense of the word, yet his life was sacrificed for nothing. The one thing that would have given his death meaning is the safety of the Enterprise. Now you've made that impossible, Mister Spock.

Up to this point, I thought it all worked pretty well. The following dialogue though is just... it’s honestly hard to wrap my head around it because McCoy is ??? (in regards to the whole show, but also the episode itself). The problem is that the writers decided at the beginning of the episode that McCoy wouldn’t show any visible worry about Jim, wouldn’t pester Spock to save Jim at all, that he would immediately decide that Jim died.

MCCOY: Spock, are you sure that Jim is still alive?

And it’s really hard to wrap my head around the fact that McCoy would just immediately decide that Jim was dead, which is why it’s so hard for me to accept this episode as “good” or even see it as a “spones episode” because I just don’t like how the relationship is portrayed. I’m not saying it isn’t possible, I’m not saying that he couldn’t just lock it deep down and focus on the crew that was in danger to honour Jim, that he might rather think that Jim was dead rather than stuck somewhere, but it deviates from the norm and more importantly, makes McCoy feel like almost a different character, and also makes McCoy and Spock’s interactions almost unrecognizable, not fitting season 3.

But with this in mind, him believing that Jim was completely lost and dead, the dialogue might make some little sense. Because if he thinks that Jim is dead, Spock’s actions seem confusing. Because what would Spock gain? What would he want to achieve when there was no “crew member” to save, but there was a ship full of people that needed Spock’s focus. 

But the fact that McCoy would never even think that 1. Jim could be alive 2. Spock wanted to save him is ???? But also like “you could assure yourself of a captaincy” followed by “i can’t believe you would want to be a captain. they will give you the command of the enterprise” - it doesn’t even make sense. He’s just contradicting himself at this point and idk if it’s supposed to be on purpose to show how his grief is affecting him, how stressed he is, how he just cannot deal, how he just wants to attack Spock with irrational and illogical claims (that make no sense) so Spock actually shows just a sliver of some emotion, or if it’s just weird writing

or if it’s supposed to be caused by the space anomaly... but that really isn’t made clear in the episode, so it’s all just maybe? what if? might be? how can we be sure? does that mean that a few nice words from Kirk can mitigate the effects? But most importantly, was McCoy affected ever since Chekov, but he’s just better at handing anger and rage? And that’s what caused him to decide that Jim was dead?

The problem with McCoy being affected all the time, what did Spock and McCoy learn then, if McCoy’s behaviour was just an effect of an “influence”? 

(I also, I guess, have problem with the role reversal. Sure, I’d love to see an episode where Spock chooses his friendship with Kirk over the good of many and his duty, but not at the cost of butchering McCoy’s character so much. Especially when then this episode is everyone’s go to “McCoy and Spock would never be able to work together without Kirk”) 

Anyway

they listen to Kirk’s message, and McCoy apologizes for how he behaved before they heard the recording. Seeing Jim and hearing Jim managed to calm him down a bit, and he realized that it wasn’t just him who lost Jim. Which okay, I can buy. 

MCCOY: If Scotty goes under, that's the finish of whatever chance we have of getting the Enterprise out of here. SPOCK: Please leave that to me, Doctor McCoy. I realise that the crew are your prime concern. You can best serve them in your laboratory. I urge you to confine yourself to it until a remedy has been found.

which again makes McCoy angry because Spock literally didn’t change his attitude at all

MCCOY: Spock! Must be this space is getting to me too. I know it's nothing you've done, Spock. I, I'm sorry.

but he catches himself in time, probably because he actually truly gets angry, and he apologizes for that because he knows his anger isn’t directed at Spock. It wasn’t caused by Spock. It could be the space, or it could be his own grief and his own inability to do anything right - Jim is dead, the ship is trapped, everyone is dying, he can’t find the cure. And Spock is the easy target. But also, imho, this also isn’t an apology for everything he said before. It’s only an apology for lashing out this time.

To which Spock answers: “I understand, Doctor. I'm sure the Captain would simply have said forget it, Bones.”

And Spock finally acknowledges that he did hear what Kirk said in his message. But in a true Spock fashion, he evokes Kirk himself, quoting him, using the nickname “Bones” that only Kirk is using, no one else. He’s telling him that he understands, and he’s using Kirk’s words to truly get it across (because in some way, neither of them really listened to each other in this episode). Plus, it’s easier to use someone else’s words rather than his own.

And then, as I said in this post (which still tracks for me), McCoy responds back: “That’s a medical order… Captain.”

but not only is it “I respect you”, it’s also an apology for everything he’s done and said. 

At this point, everything is back to “normal” for McCoy. Jim is alive, he found a cure. Everything was looking up.

---

This episode could be so good (and it’s not that it’s bad, it’s still one of the better ones in s3) if they only didn’t make McCoy act out of character or if they made it clear that he was influenced, but there really isn’t a definite answer for that imho (I respect if you don’t think McCoy is out of character, but I also know a lot of people think the same way as I do, so it’s just a matter of perspective)

And it’s not that I don’t enjoy this episode, I just really dislike the way McCoy and Spock interact in this episode. And not just from McCoy’s side, but even from Spock’s (and I hate that Spock told him he wasn’t needed at the memorial or whatever that was).

I know that many people enjoy and love this episode, but I can only enjoy it if I see it outside of any continuity, because the episode stands on Spock-McCoy conflict, but that conflict is exaggerated and doesn’t ring true. Even though TOS is an episodic show, the characters tend to have a relatively consistent traits, and McCoy’s were stripped in this episode. I did try mental gymnastics, and sure, I can come up with reasons, but I shouldn’t really think so hard about a TV episode to understand a character’s actions. Spock’s behaviour is clear, McCoy’s like WTF man, and it makes me sad that McCoy’s character in this episode was sacrificed just so Spock could be the one to worry about “the one” for a change

anyway, so these are my reasons for not having this episode nowhere near my fave “spones” episodes lol even though parts are cool, it really is mostly just the dialogue in Kirk’s quarters before they listen to the recording but it always sours the episode for me. Plus, McCoy’s atypical reaction to “Jim is in danger”

tl;dr i’m just sad that i can’t enjoy this episode as much as a lot of people do because i can’t accept how mccoy is written. what’s new though lol

[sonofcoulson]

1944 Captain America: The Invaders

We should learn more about Hydra and how they operate. Introduces the Invaders team.

Build up the relationship between Cap and Stark, as well as Cap and Peggy and Cap and Bucky. Also Cap and the Howling commandos.

Peggy should get to kick butt in this movie.

This takes place after D-Day. The allies are beginning to turn the tide of the war. Our heroes, however, are fighting a different battle.

Now that Red Skull has shown his true colours, his experiments are becoming less tolerable to the Third Reich. Hydra is a massive threat to the whole world and so Cap and the others are engaged in a somewhat secret battle in France.

Because of where we ended the IAC version of First Avenger, Cap and Peggy are still estranged. The last time she saw him she shot at him!

We open on the scene where Peggy sees that Cap has a picture of her in his compass from the propaganda film, but now from her point of view. This could be proceeded by an actual newsreel on D-Day.

Peggy: Where was that video taken?

Howard: Somewhere in the French countryside I think.

Peggy: Let's find an assignment in France, shall we?

We see Cap, Bucky and the Howling Commandos (HC) following a lead to a small Hydra factory, manufacturing one type of component. This is not the first one they have discovered.

They destroy the factory, wondering what Hydra are building. It is obviously some kind of weapon, but it is hard to tell what kind from the limited number of factories and components they have found.

Meanwhile Namor and his Tri Team have been pursuing Merrano and destroying experimental tesseract powered U-boats and other Hydra naval forces along the way.

Jim Hammond (The Human Torch) has been after Master Man. He has been destroying experimental tesseract powered air support and other Hydra air and ground forces along the way.

Peggy and Howard are now in the countryside, investigating whole squads, allied and German, that seem to have been beaten to death. They find one survivor who is embarrassed to tell them that it was a woman.

They surmise that it was Julia Koenig and that she must have gained her powers from the phase 2 super soldier serum in the lab accident from the Human Torch movie.

In the debris of another battle they fine no survivors at all. Allied and Nazi soldiers bodies alike, in no fit state to send home to their mothers, as Howard puts it. There is earth overturned and scorch marks everywhere, huge tank tracks in the ground...

They wonder if Red Skull has outgrown the Nazis. They follow the trail.

Namor's team pursue Merrano to a river based field laboratory where Cap's team have also traced their next components to.

Namor: The famous Captain America. I believe our meeting is long overdue. Now we shall see if you are as great a warrior as they say.

Steve: Pleasure to meet you Prince Namor. Please, call me Steve.

(Namor proceeds to call him Captain for the rest of the movie)

After a big laboratory fight including brainwashed Talokanil and experimental tesseract weapons the heroes triumph. Namor's team captures Merrano and rescues his people and Cap's team has their new component and new leads. They destroy the factory.

Namora and Attuma head home with Merrano and the freed Talokanil. Namor joins Cap to track down the next component.

In the countryside Master Man is supposed to be marrying Warrior Woman. A propaganda wedding to please the Führer. Master Man (aka Willie Lohmer) is quite excited about it, Warrior Woman…is not. Peggy and Howard arrive at the church in disguise as guests. Peggy, of course, speaks flawless German. She has told Howard to keep his mouth shut.

They manage to overhear that not only does Julia not want to go through with the wedding (not into arranged marriages or Willie) but her powers are on the fritz. Her super strength and agility come and go as a result of getting her powers in an accident, though she keeps her enhanced physique.

All very useful until Howard forgets himself, opens his mouth and soon they are running across the countryside with shots fired after them from Hydra and the Nazis present. Howard gets caught by Master Man but then The Human Torch shows up and challenges him to a fight. Willie can't back down in front of Julia. Jim keeps him busy and then Colonel Phillips and his troops arrive. They engage the enemy and Howard is freed. Cap, Bucky and the HC arrive (they were in the area obvs) and mop up the remnants. The whole wedding party (excluding Julia) is captured. Cap and Peggy are reunited.

The prisoners are relocated to their European base. One, Lotus Newmark, appeals to Howard. She says she started working for Hydra because they could get her family out of their detention centre in New York. Two years later, the centres are still intact and her parents still interred. If they can get them released, she will take them to where Schmidt's super weapon, Panzer Max ('Panzer Max? Sounds a little patriotic for Schmidt…'), is being built. She doesn't know what it is exactly, but it is meant to end the war. It sounds like the kind of machine that could cause the horrific scene that Peggy and Howard found in France.

Howard falls for it, no mind control necessary, and gets the crew together. They all head out to this rather large but otherwise unassuming factory back in the French countryside.

When they arrive the factory is empty save for something big covered in canvases up the back and a series of workrooms and offices behind that. They smell a rat, but Lotus is gone. From a safe distance, she mind controls them to fight eachother. It is clear she is toying with them, she could have them kill each other. Cap does get shot but it is fairly superficial.

Steve and Namor are able to resist due to their powers, Jim is unaffected as he is synthetic. They are surrounded by their friends and allies. Namor is happy to kill them all but Cap and Jim won't let him. They prepare to fight.

Lotus releases them and (psychically) tells them that her part is done, and that the allies are a-holes for the way they treated their own citizens.

Then, as everyone is recovering, Panzer Max rises from the canvases. At full height it nearly reaches the ceiling. It is ridiculously decked out with minigun hands and missiles on it's shoulders. Oh and a tesseract powered laser.

Zola, Warrior Woman, Hydra goons and the Red Skull are piloting. This is the second field test, the first was unsatisfactory as it only contained two opposing military companies and some light artillery. Red Skull is disappointed that Herr Rogers didn't bring more firepower. Panzer starts to lay into our heroes. They warm up the laser.

Dugan says reinforcements are ten minutes out. Cap says they have to hold out till then.

They assault Panzer from different angles to make themselves difficult to target. Cap, Bucky and the commandos try to damage the tank treads. Namor and Jim take to the air and try to break into the cockpit.

It appears to be impervious to conventional weapons, even Cap's shield. They have also made it fireproof and waterproof to combat Namor. Peggy and Howard hit it with rocket/grenade launchers from cover (crates or something? idk), the plating holds.

The laser finally fires and hits close to the crates. Peggy and Howard go flying but survive with minor injuries.

Red Skull is disappointed as it takes the laser a long time to charge. He shoots the goon operating and takes his seat. He asks for time to get it warmed up again.

Namor gets his spear to make a dent but it gets jammed in the plating. He gets hit with a flame thrower taking him out. The group are tiring and the blasts/bullets are getting closer.

Morita gets the call on the radio, reinforcements are here, open a wall and clear a blast zone. The Torch makes the hole and the others get clear. Cap helps Namor.

Panzer takes a volley from missiles, tank shells and mortars. It is unscathed.

The laser is ready. Red Skull retaliates and takes out a tank division with the laser and some missiles.

RS: See? It's not so hard to shoot a laser.

Dying goon: '…'

Then the mini guns go on the advancing infantry. Things are not going well for the heroes. But the distraction for Red Skull gives them a chance to regroup.

Howard and Peggy have some ideas. Howard thinks that the vibranium in Cap's shield could redirect the laser to the shoulder missiles causing them to explode. Peggy didn't like that one as it puts Steve in danger. She reasoned that the operators need to breathe so their must be an intake or exhaust somewhere and they have a powerful and sentient flamethrower.

Steve says they should do both to maximise their chances. Peggy and Howard get Namor to a workroom at the back of the factory.

Surviving reinforcements start arriving at the factory and immediately start getting picked off.  Steve makes his presence known and goads Red Skull into concentrating fire on him. He has a hard time avoiding the miniguns but his agility just keeps him from any serious harm.

Jim quietly searches behind it for an intake or exhaust. 

The laser warms up, the miniguns fall quiet and Cap stands his ground. Taking up his shield at the strategic moment, he redirects the laser. It is difficult, and the heat is almost unbearable but he manages to get it back to the rockets before Schmidt manages to shut it off.

BOOM!

An entire minigun arm comes off.

Meanwhile the Torch has found an opening and concentrates his flame in there. As the operators frantically try to assess the damage from Rogers' strike, the fierce flames disable the operating system and spread to the cockpit.

Realising the experiment has failed Zola suggests they are now outnumbered and should retreat. The Red Skull says he will deal with Zola's design failure later and they exit with 49 Hydra goons as cover. They head for the back rooms!

As the allies head for the back rooms, Panzer explodes and Jim is caught in the blast. He is thrown into the brickwork and gets buried in rubble.

Cap, Bucky and the commandos pursue Schmidt's party to an underground tunnel. The commandos engage Schmidt's personal goons while Cap and Bucky take on Red Skull.

Zola has quietly made his way to the tesseract powered high speed underground rail transport and is frantically trying to get it started.

Schmidt manages to grab Bucky and puts him between him and Cap. This gives him an opportunity to get on board the transport but with Cap in hot pursuit. Cap manages to get Bucky clear. Schmidt uses that distraction to force Steve off as well and the transport disappears into the distance.

Meanwhile, Julia discovers Peggy and Howard protecting Namor from some goons. She goes for Peggy and Howard tries to be all manly and get in the way. She says she never got the chance to thank him properly for ruining her wedding and she means it. But then she starts to strangle him. Peggy tries to intervene but Julia easily sends her flying. Peggy picks up a wrench and knocks down the goons and stands with it. Julia derisorily asks what she means to do with it.

With a wry smile she knocks a nearby water pipe open and it floods the room. Julia realises what this means too late and is soon in a pitched battle with a revived Namor. The goons recover and keep coming for him until Julia gets the upper hand. Peggy goes to intervene again and Julia hits her but it only lands as a normal punch.

Peggy: What's the matter? Powers on the fritz? 

Peggy decks her and, being in a weakened state, she is knocked out. Namor bests the goons. He is impressed with Peggy. Probably tries to flirt with her because…Namor.

Then a debrief back at their European base. Colonel Phillips congratulates the allies for ensuring that Hydra didn't turn the D-Day invasion into a failure.

Howard has charmed some Locals into giving a crate of champagne. He starts passing out glasses and bottles as Phillips speaks. When he finishes, Howard proposes a toast to his favourite Invaders (too on the nose?).

Cap should have a moment with Peggy and with Bucky while Jim is welcomed to the gang by the Howling commandos. They ask where Namor has gone. Jim says he went home to have a party of his own.

Cut to Namor having a lavish ceremony to celebrate the capture of the traitor Merrano and the return of the kidnapped Talokanil. Big celebrations!

Then we track down to the prison where Merrano can hear the celebrations. But instead of being sad, he is SMILING…

Post credits:- Lady Lotus complains to the Red Skull that her parents haven't been released yet…"You said you would free them all, raze the internment camp to the ground".

Schmidt has realised that if Steve Rogers can resist her then he can too and he needed some insurance that she would stay and carry out the next part of the plan. He will need her talents very soon…

Panzer Max idea inspired by this article: