#coast self-storage

[storiesbyrhi]

The Cabin in the Woods

Eddie Munson x Reader 11,339 words

Warnings: natural disasters, death/dying (no character death), medical gore, medicinal drug use, use of Y/N but VERY minimal, no beta.

Synopsis: Something is very wrong in Hawkins and Eddie isn’t answering the phone. A story featuring heavy metal concerts, medical attention, mutual pining, and a cabin in the woods.

Author's Note: Follows canon except they do defeat Vecna – whose final act is the ‘earthquake.’ Set primarily in Hopper’s cabin. I used this website as a floorplan reference. We're pretending it's not as trashed as it is in the show.

Part One: Chrissy Cunningham was Dead

Chrissy Cunningham was dead. She was beautiful, with slightly crooked teeth and sparkly eyes. Her face was all over the news on Saturday morning. A small town golden girl was murdered overnight. Eddie wasn’t answering the phone.

The next day the news came straight from Hawkins again. Fred Benson wore glasses and worked on the high school’s newspaper. He was the sole survivor of a tragic car wreck only to die at the hands of, what the reporter called, a serial killer. Eddie wasn’t answering the phone.

On Monday you went to work and listened to people filter through gossip. The girl died at a trailer park. Some drug dealer’s house. Eddie wasn’t answering the phone.

On Tuesday your mother came home and said, “Did you hear? Turns out they found the boy on the road right near that trailer park.” Eddie wasn’t answering the phone.

He wasn’t answering the goddamn phone for four days straight and there were two dead kids from his town, maybe from his trailer park. Eddie was entirely M.I.A. while Fred Benson and Chrissy Cunningham were dead.

Part Two: In a Fairer World

In a fairer world, you would have grown up in the same shitty small town as Eddie Munson. Alas, you were banished to your own equally shitty and small Indianan town. It meant you didn’t have Eddie to keep you company during lunch periods or ask you to the school dance. It meant you remained lonely for most of your teen years. It meant that the only time you got to spend with Eddie was when your paths crossed at metal shows in Indianapolis or Chicago.

It was in the depths of a cold 1984 winter that you and Eddie first officially met. You had seen each other around, noting the presence of another teen that had snuck into the show or club, but you hadn’t ever spoken. Then, on a particularly bitter night, you and Eddie found yourselves in the same hiding spot.

You’d clocked the bouncers of the venue doing periodical laps inside, spot checking IDs. They only bothered when the air was stale and frozen like it was then. Annoyed, you swiped an open jar of maraschino cherries from behind the bar and ducked your way into a small storage room, no bigger than a broom closet.

It was dark but warm. You were pleasantly buzzed and snacking away when the door opened and another body jumped in, bumping into you with a yelp.

“Fuck! Sorry!” Eddie said but made no move to leave the cramped space. You listened to him feel around the door and wall, then the space was illuminated. He turned to look at you.

“Huh,” was all you said at the revelation of there being a light in the room.

“They’re checking IDs,”

“Yeah,” you replied. “That’s… why I’m in ‘ere,”

“Yeah… Um. You want me to go… or…?”

You shook your head no. “How old are you?” you asked.

“Seventeen. Just,” he answered honestly. “You?”

“Sixteen.”

You swapped names and hometowns, then when the coast was clear went your separate ways.

Between ’84 and ’85 you and Eddie danced around each other. Polite nods and manic grins when you slammed into each other in mosh pits. By March of ’85, you became friends. When there was a show, you’d call each other beforehand to plan the night. City meet ups before and 24/7 diner fries after. Something shifted by the end of ’85.  

While you had graduated, Eddie was repeating again. He was still his usual self, but he had pulled away from you a little. It hurt, because you were desperate to see him. It was scary, finishing high school and tumbling into the adult world. You wanted the routine of Eddie and gigs. Also, somewhere along the line your feelings about Eddie had become different than platonic.

Between the hours of phone calls, the hand holding as you ran through crowds together, and the conversations had while sitting on the curb about all the things the future could hold, you fell in love.

You figured it was one sided. If Eddie loved you back, he would have kissed you. He would have said something, even by accident. He wouldn’t have pulled away at all.

By the spring of 1986 you hadn’t seen Eddie in a couple of months. In the rare phone call, he said he was trying his hardest to graduate. There was one class he had to get credits for, even a D would secure him the high school diploma that had alluded him. Like you always did, you offered to help with homework and edit essays and do anything for him, but like always he laughed the offer off, saying that the teachers would be able to tell his own scribblings from your intelligent words.

You hated when Eddie talked shit about himself. Luckily, it wasn’t too often; given his history and current status as his town’s resident freak, he did surprisingly well at the whole self-esteem thing. There were cracks in the facade though. Deep seated ideas about his worth. Self-deprecating jokes. It hurt to know things like that lived somewhere in him while he lived in a place determined to make his life shitty.

Despite knowing just how much Hawkins misunderstood Eddie, and despite hearing the rumours of a trailer park, you still couldn’t believe what you were seeing.

Hiding from parents who were asking when you were going to move out, you had been flicking through television channels on the couch in the basement. The couch was musty, with wet patches that never seemed to dry. The T.V. set was old and staticky. Still, it was better than being upstairs.

You stopped on the news to watch a segment on the violence in the Gulf of Sidra between the U.S. and Libya. There were no American casualties. While you were wondering if there were Libyan deaths, the news anchor was shuffling his papers.

“And now to local news. Small town Indiana has been rocked by another in a series of violent murders. Patrick McKinney brings the body count to three, and with rumours of Satanism, Hawkins, population 13,400, is once again in the spotlight.”

The story played out. A reporter in the field stood outside the boundary lines of Forest Hills Trailer Park. “This is a town all too familiar with murder and mystery,” she said. A photograph of a teenage girl named Barbara. Another of the missing child Will Byers. A mall fire. More deaths. More misery.

Frozen in place, your skin broke out in goosebumps and your mouth went dry. Tears pricked at the edges of your eyes and butterflies scraped their razorblade wings across the lining of your stomach.

“And now, three more deaths can be added to the tally, but what has profoundly shaken this quiet town is the thought of a murderer in their midst.”

It cut to a teenager in a green varsity jacket with a microphone held out to him. “We always knew he would do something like this. Guy’s a total freak,” the teen said.

“And the rumour of Satanism?” asked the reporter, aiming the mic back at the teen.

“Oh, yeah. He listens to that devil music and he’s the leader of a cult. They’re called Hellfire.”

Before your brain had a chance to connect the dots for itself, Eddie’s photo was on the screen. The reporter’s voice was steady and sure as she said, “Edward ‘Eddie’ Munson is a twenty-year-old who attends Hawkins High. He is law enforcement’s prime suspect. The first victim was located inside his residence here at Forest Hills Trailer Park, and a witness claims to have seen Munson in the vicinity of the third victim at the time of their death. Munson lives with his uncle, who has declined an interview.”

Wrapping your arms around yourself, you began to rock back and forth in an attempt to self-sooth. You didn’t register it, but you whimpered as you watched the closing of the news report.

“Are the people of Hawkins cursed? Has the occult been attracted to an already traumatised town? Or is this simply the work of a disturbed young man? Law enforcement is asking all residents of Hawkins and surrounding areas to remain vigilant. Do not approach any suspects. Call your local police department or Crime Stoppers with any information you may have. We will keep you updated on any developments.”

The screen cut back to the news anchor, who moved on to banter with the weatherman. It felt like all the air and sound in the basement had been sucked out in a vacuum. You couldn’t breathe. Your vision was blurry. You were going to puke.

Making it to your bedroom, you threw yourself into your small bathroom and curled up on the cool tiles. There were tears but you weren’t properly crying. Every tiny spark of energy in you was dedicated to figuring out what the absolute fuck you had just seen.

It wasn’t possible, you knew that. Eddie had been generous and sweet since you met him. He was respectful and got pissed when people didn’t observe metal gig etiquette. He pulled people out the mosh when they needed help. He’d bought you more bottles of water than you could count. Eddie was so deeply a lover, not a fighter.

So, no, there wasn’t even a split second where you thought he was guilty. It was simply instantaneous terror for where he was and what would happen once the pitchfork wielding townspeople or the trigger happy cops found him.

A knock on your bedroom door snapped you from your spiraling.

“What?” you yelled.

“What’s with all the door slamming?” your dad’s voice yelled back.

“Nothing. Sorry. Didn’t mean to.”

There was a pause. “You okay?”

You sat up and breathed out. “Yeah. Sorry,”

“Alright…”

It wasn’t until you heard his boots walk down the hall that you got up and moved to the telephone next to your bed. Eddie’s number was still connected, but it rang and rang like it had for days. You tried it all night, but there was no answer.

Sleep came in short restless bursts. The following day you got sent home from work early for crying in the bathroom. You apologised and made up a story about a death in the family, earning you a week off.

After another sleepless night, nobody picking up the phone, and all the catastrophising your brain could do, you thought it couldn’t get any worse.

When you emerged late in the morning for breakfast, you found your parents in the living room watching a breaking news story.

“There’s only twenty-two confirmed casualties so far but it’s… it’s bad here, John,” the corresponded said. They were crossing from what appeared to be some sort of natural disaster.

“Are we sure it was an earthquake?” John from the studio asked.

“That’s what the authorities are saying. Seismologists say 7.4. The townsfolk though, they seem to be asking questions.”

“What happened?” you asked your parents.

“Earthquake hit… Did you feel anything?” your mum replied.

“What do you mean?”

“It was here. Indiana.”

Somehow, you knew.

“I didn’t feel anything… Are we even on bloody tectonic plates?” your dad said.

“That poor town,”

“Something going on there, let me tell you. I was talking to Bill at work. He’s got a cousin out that way. Says the whole place has been swarming with feds, even before this,”

“Because of the murders?” she asked.

“That and everything else.”

The back and forth between your parents was making your blood run cold, you shushed them and turned up the television.

“We’re hearing now that a suspect is in custody for the recent string of murders, but it seems like Hawkins has bigger problems,”

“Yeah, John, the people are banding together to help neighbours out. We’ve seen federal support mobilise quickly. But nobody has forgotten about Eddie Munson and the occult murders,”

“He’s in custody?”

“We can’t confirm if it’s him, but we’ve been assured a suspect has been taken in,”

“Right, and the earthquake - what can people at home do to help?”

A phone number appeared on screen with a call to donate funds to help Hawkins rebuild. The sound of your parents discussing an appropriate amount to give, then finding their credit cards, then calling the number, then being annoyed at joining a queue, became white noise.

Whatever was happening in your brain was all happening on a subconscious level. You were standing still, not a single thought in your mind. Just a shell, waiting for something to come from deeper within yourself to move you.

Suddenly, “I… have to go. I have to go.”

Flying down the hall and into your bedroom, you were throwing random articles of clothing and toiletries into a bag while your parents were still on hold. When you ripped back through the house, your mum noticed the frenzy and started to trail you. Kitchen, fridge, apple, a couple of cans of Dr Pepper. Cupboard, chips. Hallway, keys. You only stopped when your mum yelled your name.

“What?!”

“What are you doing?!”

“I… I have a friend. In Hawkins. I have to go,”

“No, no you don’t. They’ve said not to go. It’s too dangerous. There’s a number you can call to find friends and family,”

“You don’t understand. I have to go. I have to.”

The expression on your mother’s face was fear. Your dad appeared and his was all confusion. For a second you considered saying that the friend was Eddie, but logic reasoned a second later.

“I’m going,” you asserted, holding the keys in your hand tighter and taking a step backwards toward the door. “I’m sorry.” And you bolted out the front door and into your car.

In a fairer world, you would have grown up in the same shitty town as Eddie. In a fairer world, whatever was haunting Hawkins would have never existed. In a fairer world, Eddie would have loved you like you loved him. Alas, the world was unfair in far more ways than you could have even begun to imagine.

Part Two: The Drive to Hawkins

The drive to Hawkins was long and lonely. The route bypassed Indianapolis and looped around to continue to the other side of the state. Despite the authority’s warning, it seemed like hundreds of people were lined up to get into the small town. The roads were at a standstill and you spent the night behind the wheel.

You caught a few hours of sleep before being woken by the horns of the cars behind you. That process repeated itself until almost midday the next day. By the time you hit Hawkins’ welcome sign, you were close to peeing yourself and exhausted beyond belief.

Parked at a playground and barbeque area, went to the toilet, and made an attempt to wash your face and armpits. It was when you were reading a tourist information board that it dawned on you that you had no idea where to start. Looking around, you felt like you were at the epicenter of chaos.

Smoke was still billowing in the sky on the horizon. The sound of sirens was constantly audible. There were cars and people everywhere. If you focused on the noise, you could hear crying. The news was right – Hawkins was a cursed place.

“Okay, okay,” you said to yourself. “Okay.”

If Eddie had been arrested, it was unlikely he would be allowed visitors. At the very least though, you may get some information. If he hadn’t been arrested, if justice had prevailed in the so-called-land of the free, then you could try Forest Hills after.

Normally, going anywhere near a cop shop was a hard no, but for Eddie, you’d do it.

When you got to the closest station, you realised how hard the task in front of you was going to be. You had to park blocks away, walking through crowds of people looking for missing loved ones, and past tents of what you feared were body bags.

“Sorry, excuse me?” you said to someone official-looking woman holding a clipboard. They were trying to answer multiple people’s questions. You waited patiently until it became clear that manners couldn’t co-exist with an environment like that. “I’m looking for someone,”

“Everyone is, honey. Check the board for names. Black one has photos of bodies. Red one is for missing people. You see someone you recognise, bring the photo to me. If they’re already on the red board, nothing more you can do.”

There was a third possibility that you legitimately hadn’t thought of, one worse than being wrongfully arrested. What if Eddie had died in the earthquake?

You started to cry, but you were just one person in a sea of misery. Nobody stopped to see if you were okay. Nobody looked at you like you were being weird in public. You were just another grief-stricken person.

After powerwalking back to your car and throwing yourself into the backseat to curl up, you sobbed for what felt like hours. When you calmed down and poke your head up, only minutes had been spent. Fifteen at most.

You climbed over the centre console to sit back in the driver’s seat. You wound your window down and rummaged through your bag for some tissues. Wetting some with the last of your bottled water, you washed your face.

There were still people everywhere, and you could make out a conversation happening close.

“What do we do now?” a small voice asked.

You glanced at your side mirror and watched as a man and woman embraced.

“I don’t know… They said search parties are being organised over at the school…” the man replied.

“I just want to find her,”

“I know… I know. Me too… Let’s just… Just go there. Heard it’s been set up with food and water too. You need to eat something,”

“I’m not hungry… I just want to find her.” The woman began to cry.

It felt wrong to be listening to their conversation, but there was nowhere to go. You saw the couple begin to walk. The woman seemed frail and the man had a scarf tied around his leg. Even through the mirror’s reflection you could tell he was injured.

“Excuse me!” you called after them, sticking half your body out the window. “Do you need a ride?”

Maybe manners couldn’t function, but humanity certainly could.

The man nodded and did not hesitate as he pulled the woman along and got her into the back seat. He slid in next to her.

“Thank you,”

“Yeah. No worries… Um, where do you need to go?” you asked, playing dumb.

The man directed you to the school. You dropped them off at the front door before driving back down the block in search of somewhere to park. The drive had been silent save for the directions. Every part of you was crying out to ask if they knew Eddie. Did they know where he was? Was he okay?

As you approached the school on foot, you read the signs someone had made out of pieces of plywood and a can of spray paint. Search parties and missing people information were inside the main building. First aid and immediate supplies were inside the gymnasium. Not knowing what to do, you flipped a coin in your head, and walked in the gym.

It felt calmer inside. Cots were set up for the injured. It seemed this was triage for the not mortally wounded. Nobody was screaming in agony. Volunteers were handing out cups of water and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Across the space more volunteers were sorting donations of blankets, toys, and other items. The room was lined with pinboards covered in missing people posters. There were people in fluorescent vests giving orders and answering questions. It had only been about 36-ish hours since the earthquake, but already the operation to help was well underway.

You made your way around to where the donations were being collated and organised. A girl looked up as you approached the table. “Hi! What do you need?” she asked. “We’ve got pillows and blankets. Jackets too?”

“Oh, ah, no. I’m okay… I was actually looking for a friend.” You saw her face drop and her mouth open as if she was trying to work out how to redirect you. Before she could, you said, “Not like, a missing friend. I don’t think he’s missing. I just, um, can’t get a hold of him… So, I was maybe looking for someone that knows him? Like a friend?”

“Oh… Well, it is a small town. Everyone knows everyone. What’s their name?”

You hated that you hesitated. “Eddie… Munson.”

The girl was startled at even his name. There were people around who looked over at the mention of Eddie too.

“Don’t you know what he did?”

“He didn’t hurt anyone,”

“That’s not what everyone says,” she replied, the earlier kindness in her voice entirely gone.

“They’re wrong.”

The girl’s expression fell neutral and she stared at you.

“Do you know where he is? Was he arrested?”

It was clear she was deciding if she wanted to give you the information or not. “No,” she eventually offered. “Everyone reckons he did some freak witchcraft shit to get out of it. Cops say they have the real killer and everything.”

You bit your tongue. Starting a fight in an earthquake crisis centre was not a good look. “Okay, so he should be at home?”

The girl shrugged. Despite her intentions, she had been helpful. You left her without a word more and headed for the exit.

You didn’t get far before someone was yelling after you. At first you didn’t respond, thinking they were calling for someone else. “Hey! Ah, hey, miss?!” But then they said, “You know Eddie?”

Spinning, you took a step towards the guy. He was around your age and had a pretty face. He wore a clean blue sweater and seemed relatively put together considering everything happening around him.

“Is he okay? Do you know where he is?”

The guy looked you up and down conspicuously. “Who are you?”

“Who are you?” you parroted immediately.

“Sorry… It’s just… There’s a lot of people looking for him… Not all, you know-” He shook his hands in a gesture that meant nothing to you. “Not all friendly,”

“Are you his friend? What’s your name,”

“Steve. I’m Steve… I guess, yeah… Yeah, I’d say we’re friends… New friends, but friends. Been through some… stuff together. Really bonds two guys. People! Two… People. Two separate people…”

“Steve? He’s never mentioned a Steve,”

“Yeah, ah, like I said – new friends,” Steve said tilting his head to the side. “You’re not from Hawkins, are you?”

You shook your head. “I see him in Indy. We go to shows together-”

“Oh! Yeah! No, he talked about you… Which, all things considered, it’s gotta mean something. Not a lot of casual conversation in the middle of all this,” he said, motioning to the surrounding chaos. Steve saw your sad eyes, the tiredness written all over your face. The pins on your jacket. The boots. He was sharper than people gave him credit for and was appropriately suspicious of things. There was a feeling though, a flutter of empathy. “Y/N, right?”

“Yes. Please. Is he okay? I need to see him.”

Steve folded his arms across his chest and nodded. “My shift here isn’t over, but I’ll call someone. They can take you to him,”

“Thank you. Yes. Thank you.” You jumped at Steve, holding him in a hug.

He was unprepared and slow to react. “Ah, yeah, yeah. You’re welcome. Just go sit over there somewhere.”

Saying nothing else, just nodding eagerly, you followed Steve’s instructions, walking down the sidewalk to sit near the school’s bike racks.

It took less than two minutes before the sounds of everything started to pin prick at your heart and lungs. Despair and desperation. You wished you had your headphones, a mixtape made by Eddie and sent through the mail to keep you company, but the batteries in your Walkman were long dead after the drive to Hawkins.

Part Three: “Are You Eddie’s Girlfriend?”

“Are you Eddie’s girlfriend?”

Dustin Henderson was exactly how Eddie described. You recognised the boy before he finished turning into the car park on his bike. Even under his Thinking Cap, his hair was trademark. He beamed at you as he came to a stop, asking the question like it wasn’t going to throw you into inner turmoil.

“Ah… We’re friends,”

“That’s what he says but…” He paused to wriggle his eyebrows.

You stood up and brushed grass off your pants. “Where is he?”

“You got a car? It’s too far to go with you on the handlebars.” Dustin smiled when you nodded. He got off his bike and took a long time trying to get it to fit in the back of your car.

As the kid directed you out of the heart of Hawkins, you were relieved that you didn’t have to think of things to say. Dustin had that covered. It started with a question, “So, earthquake, huh?” It was as if he was testing you.

“Yeah? I’m… uh, sorry? That how you hurt your leg? Is, is your house okay?” you replied.

“It wasn’t an earthquake…” He paused to gauge your reaction. You kept your eyes on the road and said nothing. “You know how people say Hawkins is cursed? They’re not entirely wrong.”

He told the story of three boys searching for their fourth. A story of monsters and heroes, love and hope.

“He was just with the wrong person at the wrong time,” Dustin told you, introducing Eddie into lore. “The first person that died, the one that started all this, was Chrissy. You probably saw her on the news. She went to Eddie’s to buy drugs and that’s when he got her.”

There was a foreignness in how Dustin said ‘buy drugs,’ and even with all he had been through, that alone was a reminder of the fact he was just a kid.

“He?”

“Vecna. The bad guy. He killed her and Eddie was there,”

“Right. And everyone thought he did it,”

“Yeah,” Dustin nodded. “Turn left up here. All of this, the ‘earthquake’ and everything, is Vecna.”

You took the left and slowed down, the road unpaved and winding into a wooded area. As Dustin continued to give you directions, adding more fantastical details about Hawkins and his friends, you began to worry more and more.

“Wait, wait. So, if Vecna is, like, dead or whatever… and Eddie has been cleared, why are we driving into the middle of a forest? Why’s Eddie hiding?”

For the first time in the conversation, Dustin seemed like he didn’t want to speak.

“Dustin?”

“Ah…”

“What’s wrong? What happened to him?”

“Can I just say that you’re handling all this very well,”

“Dustin!”

“I mean, it’s a lot,”

“Dustin. What happened to Eddie?”

Dustin sighed, looking out the window and spotting the end of the road up ahead. “He tried to be a hero.”

You glanced at the kid, then rolled to a stop.

“Maybe he should tell you this part,” Dustin said.

When you looked at each other, you could see the trauma Dustin hid behind a quick wit and years of living in flight or fight mode. He deserved a break; you nodded.

“Yeah, alright,”

“He’s pretty beat up. He’s gotta be in more pain than he’ll admit. Maybe… maybe you can help with that,”

“Should he be in a hospital?”

“Yeah, definitely. He made up some crap about how someone more in need deserved the bed.” Dustin frowned.

Cutting the engine, you got out of the car. The sound of Dustin pulling his bike out drew your attention.

“What now?”

“The path is pretty clear. Just follow it up,”

“You’re not coming?”

“Nah. If I’m gone long, Mom will freak out,”

“Can’t blame her… You sure you should ride that far? With your leg, I mean,”

“I’m fine. Stronger than I look, you know. We’ll bring supplies tomorrow morning. Everyone will wanna meet you too.”

Did Eddie really talk about you that much?

“Okay,”

“See ya, Y/N.”

Dustin rode off back the way you’d come. You stood watching until he was completely out of sight and sound. It was eerily quiet in the woods then.

The walk was only a few minutes. The path led to a small structure that didn’t look like a place for a hero at all.

As you climbed the steps to the cabin, you noted all the missing nails and rotten wood. At the door you held a hand up to knock, then hesitated.

Fuck.

You breathed in deeply then knocked, calling out, “Eddie?” in a weird sort of yell-whisper. The sound cut through the serenity of nature, making you cringe. With a shaking hand, you opened the door, pushing it inward, grateful it didn’t squeak with rust.

The place was small. Directly to your left was a bathroom and to your right a kitchenette. A small living room was ahead, with a door open wide on the opposite wall; you could see it was a bedroom, the bed made and most of the floor space taken up by boxes. The final door, adjacent to the kitchen, moved; you watched it open slowly.

From the darkness, Eddie emerged to lean his weight on the doorframe. His hair was tied in a messy bun, and he wore track pants and a long-sleeved flannel shirt that was at least three times too big for him. Part of his face was covered with bandages, and he had deep lines under his eyes that you’d never seen him with, not even when he was his most hungover.

“Y/N?” Eddie’s voice was croaky, his throat dry. He looked confused and dazed. You were the last person he expected to see.

You were across the room and reaching out for him before he could warn you. As soon as you grabbed him, he winced and made the same sound a puppy does when you accidentally step on his tail.

“Sorry! I’m sorry! Sorry. Fuck. Are you okay? Sorry.”

Eddie tried to control the pain, but it kept hold, forcing a contorted expression to linger on his face. You stepped away from him.

“Eddie- I’m- Oh my god,” you breathed out. “What’s happening? What happened? Are you- Fuck.” You didn’t know where to start or what to say. Suddenly, your mouth was moving before you had a chance to censor or edit yourself. “I saw the news. I tried to call but when I couldn’t get a hold of you, I… I freaked out,”

“How-” Eddie tried to ask, but the pain was rolling down his spine.

“Dustin,” you replied. “Um, I was…” Totally and utterly terrified for Eddie. Unable to go on with life without knowing he was safe. No, not just knowing. Seeing him for yourself. “I went to the school, ‘cause it’s all set up as a crisis centre or whatever. I asked someone about you, and a guy named Steve heard. He called Dustin for me. He showed me the way here.”

Eddie managed a small nod. “He outside?”

“No. He had his bike when we met up. We had it in my car and he rode it home. Just us… Should you sit? Back to bed?” you asked, trying to look behind him into the room he’d come from.

Carefully, he turned around and retreated. You followed along behind him, turning the light on as you entered the room. Eddie stood over the bed, and before you could work out how to help, he just let himself fall onto the mattress. He hissed and clenched his teeth, screwing his eyes shut so tightly that it made you shudder.

The single bed was old, low to the ground. You knelt and gently took one of Eddie’s hands. Looking around the room, you began to understand the gravity of the situation.

On the bedside table was a mountain of different medications – antibiotics and painkillers and other things you didn’t recognise. There were bottles of water next to the bed, empty ones thrown about the room. Some evidence of food, but mostly unfinished packets of chips and cookies. Sitting on a table against the opposite wall was a box of medical supplies, and next to that a pile of bloody and gore covered bandages and tissues. The final piece of the puzzle was a bucket under the bed that you couldn’t see into but you guessed was for pee.

“Eddie… When did you last take anything for the pain?”

You thought about what Dustin had said. If Eddie was in more pain than he let on, he probably wasn’t taking a reasonable amount of painkillers.

His eyes fluttered open, and he slowly turned his head to face you. When he glanced at the bedside table, he pulled a face. “Dunno.”

You were confident that it was a significant time ago. “Okay, well, we’re taking some now,”

“M’fine,”

“No. No, you’re not. You’re the least fine I have ever seen anybody in my life. Eddie, whatever happened, this is… insanely fucked. Please, just take some of this and-” A shaky breath in. “And you can tell me what the hell is happening.” 

You studied his face. The patch bandage on Eddie’s face wasn’t a clean white. You could see whatever wound was beneath it was still actively bleeding. He had dirt and grime around his hairline. His lips were chapped badly and now close to him, you could see knots in his hair were matted. Whatever happened forty-eight hours ago when the ‘earthquake’ happened, Eddie still wasn’t clean of it.

His big brown eyes met yours and he gave in, opening his mouth. You put two oxycodone tablets in his mouth. He swallowed them dry.

You sat with him, holding his hand for a little while longer. Eventually, when his breathing had settled into a healthier rhythm and it looked like he’d stopped clenching every muscle in his body, you said, “I’m going to, um, clean up a bit, then when those kick in I’m moving you to the couch out there, or the other bed. You need to get out of this room.”

Eddie made the smallest of nods, and you watched him close his eyes and zone out again.

Turning the light off and leaving the bedroom, you closed the door behind you and leaned your back against it, holding in a sob that was trying to claw its way out your chest. It hadn’t been the reunion you’d pictured. You had no idea what had happened to Eddie, or how hurt he was, but letting your mind try to fill in the blanks was a bad idea.

“Okay,” you said to yourself with a nod.

The cabin wasn’t as bad as you had initially thought. It was old and in need of updating and repairing, but it wasn’t leaking or covered in mould. Finding cleaning supplies under the kitchen sink, you wiped down surfaces and collected all the trash into a bag. It became clear that if Eddie was bedridden, other people were spending a lot of time there. The garbage, the blankets and pillows on the couches, and the dishes drying in a rack told you enough.

The sun was beginning to set as you cooked a vegetable stew. A lot of veggies were in their final days of edibleness, and that way you could put some in the freezer for easy meals later. Later? You caught yourself in the thought; how long did you think you were staying? Did Eddie even want you to be there at all?

You set a bowl of stew down on the old wooden chest that served as a coffee table in front of the couch.

“Eddie,” you called, going back into the bedroom. “I’m turning the light back on… Has the oxy kicked in?”

Eddie looked at you, more lucid than before. You could see his pupils were blown. He shrugged a little, trying to sit up.

“Okay. That’s better than no. Come on. Food’s ready.”

He looked at you like he wasn’t sure you were real. When you held your hands out to him, he took them and let you gently pull him up. He walked slowly, then sat on the couch at equal speed.

You moved the bowl from the table to his lap, checking it wasn’t hot to touch.

“You good?”

Eddie nodded as he looked at the stew, picking up the spoon.

The first thing you did in the bedroom was strip the bed. There was no washing machine in the cabin, so you balled all the linen up in another big garbage bag. Next went all the trash and the bucket under the bed. You swept the floor and wiped down the bedside table and the desk. All the medical supplies found new homes in the bathroom, and you went through the duffle bag of clothes to determine what needed washing and what could be folded neatly onto the desk.

The springtime air was crisp, but you opened the window anyway. With the room airing out, you closed the door to protect the rest of the cabin from the cold.

Eddie had eaten all the stew. It gave you an albeit small but no less real sense of peace. If he could eat, he’d be okay. As you took the bowl to fill again, you spoke.

“Dustin is exactly how you described him, by the way,”

“How was he?” Eddie asked.

“I mean, I don’t know him… but… he was weirdly… chipper? No boundaries? Inappropriate?”

“That’s him… He shouldn’t be riding his bike,”

“His leg?” you guessed.

Eddie nodded. “Yeah,”

“What happened?”

Eddie went quiet, took the second bowl of stew you handed him. He started to eat.

“He told me about everything. Well, not everything everything. Just everything before… Whatever happened to you… But about, um, Vecna? And the upside down. And Chrissy.”

Eddie’s eyes looked for anywhere that wasn’t where you were sat on the couch next to his.

When Eddie thought of you, he thought of heavy metal crowds and cheap beer and being the person he wanted to be. He thought of how you were escapism from the shitty life he had. How you thought he was cool and funny and good enough to be a friend. How you sounded over the phone late at night, all sleepy and cute. How you looked dressed for a gig. Eddie never wanted you to be in Hawkins. He never wanted you to see him in the context of his everyday life.

Of all the fucked up things that had happened over the past week, having that pure, beautiful, escapism taken away from him might be the worse.

“You don’t have to stay and… look after me or whatever,” Eddie said. Although there were some bitter tones in his voice, he mostly sounded sad.

He’d been in and out of consciousness for forty-eight hours. Things slipped from the dreaming into reality. Demobats in the corner of the bedroom. Lightning as the fridge opened. You, holding his hands and making him stew. But you were real, Eddie was only just fully becoming aware of it. He was confused by your presence, and ashamed of what you were seeing.

You were meant to know Eddie at his best and most beautiful. Not this. Not this broken and hollowed-out version.

“I know that… And, um, I know it’s kind of weird for me to just show up. Since we’re not like…”

Eddie looked up, afraid you were about to say that you weren’t friends at all. “It’s not weird.”

You smiled. “I’m just saying I know I don’t have to be here. I mean, we haven’t really talked heaps lately anyway.”

That was on Eddie. He didn’t know how to talk to someone he was falling in love with. Still didn’t.

“But I just… needed to know you were okay. And to tell you I know you’d never do the things the news said you did,” you continued.

He didn’t know what to say. “This is good,” he decided on, holding up the now-empty bowl.

“There’s more. You should let that settle though,”

“When did you get all…” He was going to say ‘parental’ or even ‘maternal’ but had enough cognitive energy to stop. “Uh, good at playing nurse.”

Last time Eddie had seen you, you were shotgunning a warm beer handed to you by the singer of a local metal band in Indi. She had pulled you on stage, impressed to see a girl handling herself amongst the big guys. You’d shotgunned the beer, sprayed half back over the crowd like a fountain, then jumped with reckless abandon onto the pit. It was a far cry from the stew-brewing, soft voiced girl he was looking at.

“If you wanna see nurse, I can do nurse. When did you last shower?”

 At the hospital, they gave him a sponge bath where it was necessary. Before that, well, Lovers Lake probably didn’t count. And after… Eddie had barely set foot in that bathroom. Bare fucking minimum. He picked at his nails, trying not to focus on the black underneath them.

 “Not meant to get the bandages wet,”

“Right… Well, speaking of the bandages. When were they last changed?”

Fuck, Eddie thought. He walked right into that one. “Nancy came yesterday,”

“Is Nancy an actual nurse?”

“No. She’s just, like, really smart. Like… really smart.”

You folded your arms across the chest. “Remember when you said you were fine after you accidentally headbutted the barrier at Sabbath? Then your nose started to bleed later? And it turned out you had a full on concussion?”

Eddie laughed at the memory, but as soon as his chest started to shake, the pain flooded his entire body. He hunched over, whining. He hadn’t laughed since the upside down. It was the most he’d demanded of his body, even if indirectly.

He was incoherent with pain. He couldn’t think straight, couldn’t make sense of his surroundings. Eddie didn’t register you rushing over to him and falling to your knees, hands framing him but not touching him.

“Eddie? Fuck, Eddie. What can I-”

His entire perception was clouded by agony. The tears streamed down his face and hit the wooden floor.

There was nothing you could do but wait. Carefully, you rested your hands on his knees and listened to him do his best to breathe through it.

“I’m going to get more oxy,” you said, standing.

“No!” His voice sounded desperate; desperate enough that you knelt back down. “Shit’s too addictive. I don’t wanna-”

“I know,” you interrupted. “I know. But there’s a big fucking difference between your asshole dad, and you needing to be able to function.”

Eddie tried to sit up straighter, but it hurt too much.

“Come on Teddy Bear.”

It worked. Eddie looked up at you through narrow eyes. Even in immense pain, he couldn’t let it slide. You grinned at him.

“Seriously though. Dustin said you should still be in the hospital. So… If that’s a no, then you’re stuck with me.”

You looked at each other for a moment. There was something in both your gazes that scared the other. Quickly, you moved to go get more painkillers. Eddie took what you gave him.

“So, are we gonna talk about why you won’t shower? ‘Cause you’re the cleanest metalhead I know. This isn’t very you.”

That’s the problem with you being there, Eddie thought. You knew him too well. His freshmen buddies only knew him as their over-the-top DM, a contextual friend. Nancy, Steve, and Robin, well they didn’t know him at all. He let all of them make assumptions to hide the truth. Maybe if Gareth, Jeff, or Gene were there, they’d see through it, but he’d been able to trick the rest of them.

“I… I tried… Soon as they left, soon as I was alone. All I fuckin’ wanted was a hot shower. But…” He took a shaky breath in and out. “Couldn’t stand for more than a minute without feeling like I was gonna pass out. And the water burns. I don’t know if it’s some fucking upside down bullshit magic that makes it hurt worse, but it’s not… not normal… And that fucking mirror. Not saying I was, you know, Adonis, but ah… The scars are gonna be… Gnarly.”

Trust Eddie to reference Greek mythology in the midst of a literal nightmare.

There was one other obvious option. “A bath then? Shallow? So the… ah, cuts? Whatever. So they aren’t submerged. Then a strategically placed washcloth?” It was more query than statement.

The image in his mind had Eddie sitting in the rusty old bathtub. The water would be lukewarm. His muscles wouldn’t let him maneuver enough to properly clean. He’d hardly be able to stretch his arms up to wash his hair.

“Eddie…”

He looked over at you. “Uh… I…”

“I’ll help,” you said then.

“I don’t-”

“You do. If you could do it yourself you would have… We can be adults about this.”

Eddie didn’t want to be an adult about this. He didn’t want to have to make decisions beyond what song to learn on guitar and how best to torture Hellfire Club. He was sick of life or death choices. Although letting you bathe him like a baby wasn’t really life or death, it kinda felt like it.

“Fine,” he resigned, leaning back on the couch and closing his eyes.

“Besides…” You stood up. “It’s not like I haven’t seen you naked before.”

God, he missed levity. You beamed when he grinned and snorted.

“That was this is? Miss me that much?” he joked.

A messy summer night in the city. Too many beers. Not enough weed to chill the buzz. The plan was to sleep in the back of the van, but it felt like an oven. Item by item, you ripped your clothes off in the darkness. It was entirely innocent and definitely because of the alcohol. When you woke up, you’d been only in underwear and Eddie was entirely naked. You couldn’t look each other in the eyes for an hour after.

The cabin’s bathroom was clean. You let the water go through the pipes and drain away for a couple of minutes. “Good enough,” you muttered to yourself when the water was mostly clear. There was no bubble bath or luxe body wash. You caught yourself looking before you realised it was a stupid act. There was a stack of washcloths, a bar of soap, and a bottle of 2-in-1 shampoo and conditioner. It was all brand new, still sealed, and sitting on the edge of the bath.

You frothed the soap under the running water, trying to create some modesty bubbles or milky-toned water. With only a little luck, you went back into the lounge.

“Do you want to wait for the pills to kick in?”

“Nah. They will. Let’s just get this done before Harrington or anyone shows up.”

Eddie took your held out hands and walked with you to the bathroom. He quickly sat on the toilet, not out of breath but something like that.

“Shirt,” you ordered.

The flannel was easy to unbutton. You were dismayed to find he was wearing a very fucking destroyed Hellfire shirt underneath.

When Eddie made a small yelping sound during his attempt to lift his arms. You stopped him.

“I’m just gonna cut it off,”

“No! Didn’t let Wheeler. Not letting you. Do you know how much these cost to print?!”

You huffed. “Who’s Wheeler?”

“Nancy,”

“New rule. Every time me and Nancy agree on something, it means it’s the right thing to do. Besides, it’s all ripped up and there’s blood and whatever fucking else on that. It’s never gonna be wearable,” you argued.

Eddie wasn’t sure why he was fighting so hard for the Hellfire shirt. Maybe something about surviving in it. Maybe something about trying desperately to claw a little of the past back.

“Fine,” he agreed through gritted teeth.

It took a little work with dull scissors, but you got there. Whatever you were expecting Eddie’s injuries to be, it wasn’t that. You were too slow to stop the gasp that escaped from you; Eddie looked up frowning.

“I’m sorry, I just… What the fuck happened?”

Like the patch on his face, the ones scattered across his torso were bleeding through. You sat on the edge of the bath and turned the water off, the bathroom suddenly quiet. Eddie said nothing. You nodded, accepting the silence.

“How’s the pain?” Your voice was barely above a whisper. “‘Cause I think it’s gonna hurt like a bitch to get these off. They look kinda melted to you,”

“Thanks,”

“Sorry! Fuck. Sorry. I just…”

“It’s fine,” Eddie said. “It’s bad. I know it’s bad. It’s whatever… Can you just… Don’t look at me like that?”

You knew what he meant. Eddie hated pity. He hated when people pitied him for his dead mother and shitty father. For living in a one bedroom trailer with his uncle. For repeating high school. For all the things that made the average folk feel awkward. Eddie fucking despised pity.

You nodded. “Yeah. I mean… I don’t feel bad for you at all. Like, Dustin said you tried to be a hero or something? Do some classic Edward Munson Dumb Shit and end up like this, yeah?”

Eddie smiled. “Something like that,”

“Exactly. See? No pity here. Toughen up, kid.”

God, he loved you.

The first bandage – the one across Eddie’s cheek and jaw – came off surprisingly well. You held your expression steady as you worked, absorbing the excess blood and fluid with cotton balls.

The second bandage was covering a neck wound. Your stomach flipped, sick with the thought that it could have killed him. A little deeper and Eddie would have died.

The third wound was collarbone based and the bandage was a lot harder to move. Eddie’s jaw clenched impossibly tight and he was holding his breath.

You remembered when he took you to get your first tattoo. “It helps if you have something to distract you. Music or talking to someone, you know?” Eddie had said.

“Are these… bites?” You’d been almost too afraid to ask, but your brain couldn’t come up with any alternative conversation topics.

“Yeah,” Eddie replied weakly.

Some of the bites were smaller, but most weren’t. Eddie’s chest was more broken skin than not. His left pec was destroyed, and all down his sides were eaten into. Across his stomach bloomed another wound. Even his arms and hands had not escaped the assault.

“Dustin said the plan was to distract the… bats?”

“Demobats,”

“Demobats,” you repeated, the word feeling alien on your tongue. “What went wrong?”

For a couple of seconds, you thought Eddie was going to stay silent, not answering the question. It would have been more than fair. But, he started to speak in a shaky voice.

“We… did… it… Did what we were meant to do, you know? The demobats were away from Creel House. We were on our way out of there. There were… just so many of them. Too many to distract. I went to climb… climb the rope… but…”

Even with a lot of the story filled in by Dustin, you didn’t quite understand the picture Eddie was painting. You had to assume a lot; the rope must have led out of danger? Out of the upside down? Creel House was where Vecna was? You didn’t stop Eddie to ask clarifying questions.

“I just kept seeing Chrissy. In my head. Nobody deserves what happened to her, but she… She came to me for help and I… I kept seeing her and I kept thinking that this was our one shot at killing Vecna. And what if my part was the part that fucked the plan… What if I could actually do more? So, I didn’t climb the rope.”

Eddie thought for a moment, deep in reflection. Had it been worth it?

“I… I went back out there. Figured I could distract them, the bats, some more. Kill some. And I did. Not enough… There was…” Eddie sharply took a gulp of air in. “There were more than before. They were everywhere. I couldn’t see anything, then I… I don’t know.”

He did know. Even running on adrenaline, he could feel each bite. Eddie had locked onto the memory now. It was so vivid in his mind still.

“All the things from there, from the upside down, they’ve got these teeth. Like, hundreds of them. Their faces aren’t faces, they’re just big mouths and the, the lips, or whatever, they open up in every direction, and there are just rows and rows of fucking teeth. Like… a black hole of teeth,”

“Like a lamprey?”

After one fishing trip, Wayne had come home and told Eddie about the ‘vampire tube’ fish – the lamprey. Eddie was obsessed with them for a while after that, finding a book in the school library with a photo, then telling you about them on the phone. Your own public library had the same book, and you could see why a weird little dude like Eddie was so into them.

Eddie looked at you. “Shit… Yeah… Fuck… That but like, a bat…”

“There were dog ones before, right? Dustin said a few years ago there were dog ones,”

“Apparently… and then the human one.”

You tried to imagine a human figure with no face, just flaps of flesh opening to reveal endless teeth. The imagination is powerful, but even yours couldn’t really conjure a picture. Maybe your brain was just trying to protect you from the pure nightmare fuel that description could produce.

“Then they got you?” you asked.

“They got me. But, ah, as they did, they all just fucking dropped from the sky. And it was so quiet until Henderson showed up. I told the little shit to stay where it was safe. But he was there… Did my whole goodbye speech to him, you know? I could… I could feel the blood pooling in all the wrong places. My lungs were swimming in it. I was coughing it up. No way was I gonna live.”

Eddie’s face was as animated as it always was. You weren’t used to it animating terror and agony though. This wasn’t the kind of story Eddie normally told you. Your eyes had welled up with tears and you’d stopped working on removing his bandages.

Eddie’s gaze was fixed on a spot on the bathroom floor. He stared as he spoke. “The others were still setting fire to Vecna. Dustin tried to get there, but he’d messed his leg up pretty good. They found him halfway there, carried him back. Dragged me back. Got me to a hospital,”

“Jesus, Eddie. Why aren’t you still there? It’s been what, a night? Two if you count that night?”

He nodded. “I woke up the next day. They’d given me blood and stitched up the worst of the bites.”

Everyone had tried to keep Eddie in the hospital, but he was refusing a lot of medical care. He hated the accusatory stares and whispers. He couldn’t stand the noise.

There was no point in asking why he wouldn’t stay there. No point in suggesting he went back. Eddie had looked up and seen both those thoughts cross your face.

“I’m fine,” he lied. “Just needed a little blood,”

“Aren’t there like, long-term effects? What about the blood in your lungs? And, like, did you actually die? What if you have brain damage?”

“Not like I was a genius with a 4.0,”

“Eddie,”

“Y/N.” It was quick. Snappy. Your name in a warning tone.

The remainder of the bandages came off, and you mopped up the carnage as best you could. When you were done, Eddie stood, empowered by the painkillers enough to take his own pants off. He stepped into the bath and lowered himself in. It was all somehow both benignly clinical and breathtakingly intimate.

The water came up to his waist, lapping at the lowest of the wounds. You waited until the waves had settled before speaking again.

“I’m gonna wash your hair first,” you told him. He nodded, seeming smaller in the bath. Childlike helplessness.

You left the bathroom briefly to look for tools. There wasn’t a single brush or comb to be found. Returning with only the largest cup you could find, you settled next to the tub.

Lathering Eddie’s hair with the 2-in-1, you tilted his head backwards and rinsed with the help of the cup. As the water ran down his back, Eddie shivered. You repeated the process two more times, the conversation pausing entirely.

When his wild mane is clean, you raked your fingers through it bit by bit, gently pulling knots out. It’s a somewhat successful method, although you’d have to go for rounds two and three when his hair was dry.

“Close your eyes,” you instructed. Eddie complied. “Keep them closed.”

A washcloth was soaked in slick soap and you covered Eddie’s face in the goo. With great delicateness, you cleaned his hair, face, ears, and neck. The soap didn’t burn the bites like you’d both expected, but the coarse washcloth wasn’t exactly pleasant either.

As you descended Eddie’s body, dirt and muck washing down and turning the bath water a hazy brown, you cleaned the wounds. They started to bleed again, not heavily, but enough that by the time you were at his waist, you needed to pull the plug out and re-fill the bath with clean water.

Eddie was acquiescent. The drugs had well and truly kicked in, building on the mild buzz of the first you’d made him take. Even with the washcloth pain, the experience wasn’t as horrific as it could have been, he decided.

When he was finally clean, you sat on the ground next to the tub. The water had a pink hue from the blood, but he’d stopped bleeding.

“You look like you now,”

“Who’d I look like before?” Eddie replied.

“I don’t know. You from a different dimension. A really, really fucking bad one,”

“Guess I kind of am now.”

You said nothing to that. Maybe he was. Maybe you wouldn’t know this Eddie like you knew yours.

Eddie looked down at his chest, then his legs beneath the water. They ached, despite being unharmed by the demobats. He thought about Dustin and his leg. How he jumped through the gate with such disregard for himself, to try to stop Eddie. Save Eddie. Dustin fucking Henderson, man. Suddenly, a new thought-

“What you said about Dustin. Inappropriate or whatever. Did he say something?”

“He said a lot,” you replied.

“But, ah, what exactly was it that-”

A small laugh escaped you, and Eddie’s sentence stopped dead in its tracks. He looked at you.

 “You seem nervous,” you teased. “The kid know one too many secrets or something?” Eddie’s face was expressionless but you could see his mind working overtime to think of something to say. You put him out of his misery with, “He didn’t say anything. He asked something. Like, straight away. Before a ‘hello’ even,”

“Am I gonna have to give him the world’s worst wedgie?”

“I guess it depends on how embarrassed by the question you are.”

Eddie broke eye contact, looked back down at his body. The entire situation was radically out of his control. Might as well add more spice. “What’d he ask?”

“Kid rolls up. Toothy grin. Busted leg. Happy as fucking Larry. First thing out of his mouth – ‘Are you Eddie’s girlfriend?’”

Part Four: The Cabin in the Woods

The cabin in the woods held warmth better than you would have guessed. After letting the bathwater drain yet again, you left Eddie to sit in hot clean water for the third time, then started the fire in the corner of the living room.

“Whose cabin is this?” you called out.

The bathroom had no door, just a curtain to pull across the open frame. Eddie could hear you just fine.

“Hopper’s,”

“That’s… the Chief of Police, right? The one everyone thought was dead? But was in Russia or something?”

“Dustin really gave you the whole story, huh?”

“Kind of. Don’t know how or why he was there… But isn’t he meant to be dead? Nobody’s meant to know about him?”

It was the first time Eddie realised that you might now be in danger. Although not being privy to the truth about Hawkins wasn’t necessarily a guarantee of safety, being included in its secrets definitely bumped up the ‘likely to die a horrible death’ stats. At the very least, you’d be on someone’s watch list now.

“Yeah. He was gonna stay here, but too many people know about it.”

Made sense, you thought. “So, why are you here? The cops aren’t after you anymore. Don’t you want to be with your uncle? Or your friends?”

The small fire was burning bright and the flames licked around the chunk of wood. You stood up, satisfied with your work.

Eddie hadn’t answered, so you walked back to him.

“Think I should get out now,” he said when you appeared. “S’cold,”

“Yeah. Okay. Here.”

Like he had before, Eddie winced as he moved. He stood and helped you wrap a towel around his waist. You draped another over his head. With his fingers threaded through yours, you guided him out of the bath and back onto the couch.

“I’ll do the bandages before you get dressed,” you told him, going to retrieve what you needed.

Before you sat back down, you ruffled his hair in the towel, making sure it was dry enough not to drip everywhere. Taking parts of his hair in the towel and scrunching them, you worked like you’d done it all before.

Next, you coated cotton balls in antiseptic balm and dabbed at each of the wounds, and checked all the stitches. The bites had stopped freely bleeding, with only dots of red and some evidence of gooey serosanguinous drainage. After each was disinfected, you blew gently on the raw skin to cool it down. Goosebumps iced their way across Eddie’s body.

When the fresh bandages were applied, Eddie leaned back into the couch and closed his eyes.

“How do you feel?” you asked.

His immediate reaction was to be sarcastic. It was a defense mechanism, but Eddie reminded himself he didn’t need to defend against anything when he was with you. “Not… good… but, ah, a lot better than before,”

“I’ll take that… I’ll get some clean clothes.”

Eddie pulled on clean boxer shorts and sweatpants while you binned all the old bandages left in the bathroom. Once everything was clean, you returned to the couch. You helped him pull a t-shirt over his head, then sank down next to each other.

The soundscape consisted of the fire and the odd bird call coming from the woods outside. It was late, maybe even close to midnight. Not too far away, the rest of Hawkins was still assessing the damage and counting the dead. But there, in an off-the-grid cabin, the rest of Hawkins didn’t exist.

Eddie reached over and placed his hand palm-up on your leg. You took it and held it tight. All the emotion you’d swallowed since seeing him barely alive bubbled up your throat and out of your mouth in a small sob. Eddie rolled his head to look at you, expression sad.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered.

You choked out a laugh. “What are you sorry for?”

“I dunno. Making you worry.”

When you tried to let go of Eddie’s hand to clear your face of tears, he wouldn’t budge. You used your free hand, attempting to not let the soft crying turn into anything more.

“I was so worried.”

Eddie nodded. “Yeah… I’m…” As he searched for the words that felt right, his eyes stayed glued to your face. “I’m sorry about… not calling in a while. Not returning your calls,”

“S’okay. You’ve been busy with school and-”

“Nah. Well, yeah. Yeah… But, I…” Fuck it, Eddie thought. He still felt so close to death. He was scared it was something he’d never be able to shake. What did he possibly have to lose? “I got scared. About… you know… You. Like, how I feel about you. Just seemed easier to ignore it than have to… do anything about it… When I say it out loud, it sounds so fucking stupid but… Losing you ‘cause we lost touch would hurt less than if I lost you ‘cause I ruined it by… having a dumb crush or whatever.”

Dumb crush.

A portal between your world and another? Yeah, sure. A girl with superpowers? Yep. Demogorgons and secret armies and lifesaving songs and everything else that had been handed to you that day? Uh-huh, okay. Eddie having a crush on you? Liking you like you liked him? Well, that sounded impossible.

 Unless… it didn’t. Unless it made total sense. Unless it explained so much. Unless it was one small thing the world could give you and Eddie to help balance the scales.

With those big brown eyes, Eddie was finally able to look at you with all the love he had. Warmth spread across his body and he took one step towards peace.

“It…” You shook your head. “It wouldn’t have ruined anything,”

“No?”

“No… ‘Cause…” Poetic was the aim, but exhaustion had steeped your brain in stupid juice. “I’ve got a dumb crush on you too.”

Eddie smiled, soft and kind, only a hint of mischief. “Cool,”

“Cool,”

“So, how much time have we wasted? Being dumb?” he asked.

“Um… Years, probably,”

“Well, fuck.”

You laughed together and sat watching the fire for a long time.

Eddie told you about how he was afraid to be in Hawkins. He was afraid that Wayne’s mates would treat him like the uncle of a killer. Afraid his friends would be hurt, like Gareth had been. Afraid that it wasn’t really, truly over.

You listened, letting him speak and not undermining the feelings with logic or counterarguments. When he was done, you said you understood.

“Can you stay? In Hawkins, I mean. When do you have to go back?” Eddie asked.

“Never, if I don’t want to. Mom and dad want me out. And, it’s not like I’m working a dream job. I could stay… If you wanted me to. To help. Or not. It’s, like… Totally fine-”

“Yes. Stay.”

Another step towards peace.

Maybe, in an unfair and cruel world, where Chrissy Cunningham was dead and you and Eddie had lived miles apart and the drive to Hawkins was long and solitary pain was all Eddie thought he deserved, maybe this – this mutual love, was what you got to make up for it. It wasn’t enough. Of course, it wasn’t. Chrissy and Fred and Patrick deserved to be alive. Steve shouldn’t have had to feel phantom vines around his neck for the rest of his life. Dustin was owed a childhood. Eddie should never have been witch hunted. But, if it had to be like that, then yeah… Maybe you could be Eddie’s girlfriend.

After creating a nest of pillows and blankets in front of the fire, you and Eddie laid down and curled your bodies around each other. He kissed you on the temple, and you listened to his steady heartbeat. For a few perfect hours, everything else faded away while you slept soundly in an ex-cop’s secret little cabin in the woods.  

End Note: I hope you liked this little fix-it fic. Please, let me know what you think! Reblogs are especially appreciated.

All Eddie Taglist: @solomons-finest-rum @ruinedbythehobbit @munsonlives @sweetpeapod @depressooo-expressooo-blog @thorfemmes @hawkins-high @corrodedhawkins @grungegrrrl @lilzabob @mymoonisalways-in-scorpio @averagemisfit03 @ches-86 @ilovecupcakesandtea @onehotgreasymechanic @hazydespair @lacrymosa-24 @mel-the-fangirl

[melancholicstation]

The Socially Active Secretary: Chapter One

authors note: this is more of establishing of context around our main secretary girl!! our favourite pathetic catholic men (the kennedys) will come very soon i promise, all in due time. 🍺 please leave comments of any questions/likes/dislikes/all around opinions so i know if your interested!!!

pairing: robert francis kennedy female ❤︎ original character charlotte agapov (secretary!reader)

synopsis: charlotte agapov, a divorcee whom recently moved back to the states after a disastrous lovers quarrel, assumes the secretarial position to the most important man in America, but it is not he who has captured her attention, no. instead, it's his meek younger brother, the runt of the kennedy pack, bobby francis kennedy.

[1403 words]

taglist: @kennediva @absurdlyvintage

masterlist charlotte moodboard rfk moodboard

(border from jenny holzer truisms 2018)

Chapter One

May 1st , 1961

There Charlotte stood, rolling on the balls of her feet, observing the woman before her in the mirror, finding her increasingly difficult to place her as recognisable. She had all the features that Charlotte understood to be her own, but she felt like nothing of the sort. Swathed in wool, to accommodate for the seemingly perpetuate damp state of Massachusetts in the month of May, and encompassed by a calf-length dress fit with double-faced cashmere in a mousey grey. Due to her contentious divorce with the English baron Hugo Cornwall, he had ordered for all her typical clothes to be held in a storage facility in Kent instead of its original location: Brookline Massachusetts. He knew how important those items were to Charlotte, and he used them as nothing more as a bargaining chip.

As a result of the divorce Charlotte had been tabloid-manhandled out of Britain and promptly returned to her mother country, the United States, and backed right into perusing the job boards in the Cape Cod Times by her alimony-avoiding, hector of an ex-husband. Hugo, at 40, knew of nothing but a life of bone china plates and private charter jets, getting by in this world from a combination of generational handouts from his godmother's situated in a nondescript European country off the coast and the humiliatingly tacky private tours he host every Saturday evening of the inherited estates cashing in a small fortune. And yet, he avoids the alimony checkers in a not so dissimilar fashion to that of his shunned family embarrassment of an uncle, who was, as of last month, avoiding taxes of in sunny Monte Carlo.

Once it became incredibly clear that Hugo was never going to cough up, and that her mother's invitation of staying at her summer house in Martha's Vineyard had a fast approaching expiry date Charlotte started to look for her next move.

Just when she had nearly exhausted all her mother's country club friends who, in a tone that could only be translated as deeply patronising stated that,

"Unemployment for such a young, american divorcee was 'in' for 1962" and that they would "call back in April to work something out"

However, April came and went, and still nothing. During the 16-month stint since Charlotte's divorce of 1961, Charlotte felt very sorry for herself and--well that's about all she did really.

Not only did getting married at 20, and it's later disillusion 8 years later, create an abstract wreckage sculpture out of her self-esteem and physical health, it stripped all prior job experience that a girl her age should've been building. After all, she could still feel her mother's fingertips ushering an 20 year old Charlotte's hands away from a flyer, held by a piece of battered painter's tape on a lamppost advertising a law school in the area,

"Oh for christ sake what are staring at now Charlotte?, you know we have caroline's recital across town, and I swear if I have to hear your aunts nasally whine one more time so help me God I will--"

Charlotte abandons her post of intense eye contact with the poster fluttering by the winds will almost instantly and returns through a soft tone "I-I'm coming now, it just captured my eye that's all."

The rest of the walk was blanketed in a soft wool of repression and thoughts better left unspoken until her mother turned on her heal, the gravel exclaiming a pleasant crunch in response,

"Don't you dare think I didn't see what you were looking at Charlotte, these are not the aspirations expected of a future baroness, you won't have any need for these silly machinations once you're tending to your husband and your home together. I understand that your nervous but think of how happy you'll be in a short few months with Hugo."

Her mother assured her in such a cadence, with such wistful hope, not meaning to make Charlotte's stomach drop but it did all the same.

"You know, I got nervous too, when I was engaged to your father. I thought about leaving more times than Sinatra's gets played on the radio at Green's pharmacy, but I stuck it out. And I got rewarded a great deal for that, for that bravery, and you will too. Far more than I ever did, I mean you're marrying a Baron who is infatuated with you for Pete's sake!"

Charlotte thinks to scoff at the notion that Hugo is at all capable of the feeling of infatuation but halts when she observes the expression of sheer elation on her mother's face.

"Everything will run as it's meant to if you do what's best, I promise",

and with that a kiss is pressed to Charlotte's forehead, and the conversation is recklessly abandoned by both parties.

Charlotte had stayed in that marriage for 8 years and what did she have to show for it? Surely not anything tangentially useful. Sure, now she knew the intricacies of English etiquette and the British aversion to hugs but that's nothing to be put on a resume. However, one worthy advantage that came out of the grotesque misalignment that was their marriage was that around the 4th year mark Charlotte had managed to secure an English degree from the University of London. Now that was certainly something to put on her resume.

Still the world seemed to completely turn its back on Charlotte, though only on a strictly employment basis, she still attended mass each Sunday and caught up with her still married, though not happily, socialite friends but it was hard to find common ground anymore. Before she could feasibly pass as one of them, now even if they didn't explicitly state it, Charlotte was now regarded as persona no grata for the entirety of the high society scene of London. She was left with a bunch empty friends, and an, as if increasing by the day, empty purse strings.

That was until a job ad in The Boston Globe caught the baby blue shadowed eye of Charlotte during her quite lonely solo escapade to the local sandwich bar across the street from her flat.

It read, in a thick professional font:

'Exciting Secretary Position Available at political epicentre of Washington D.C!

Are you a talented and organised individual seeking a rewarding career in a fast-paced office environment? Our office is looking for a professional Secretary to join our team and contribute to our continued success.

Position: Secretary Location: Top Secret [Call to confirm details] Salary: Competitive, with excellent benefits

Responsibilities:

managing and prioritising daily office tasks with efficiency

coordinating appointments and travel

managing diaries

support senior executives

having a pleasant demeanour when interacting with important officials

Qualifications:

High School Diploma or equivalent

Apply today to be part of a supportive and thriving workplace!

Phone: *** *** ***''

Now sure, the vague nature of who exactly the job would have Charlotte working for was strange and a little more than unnerving but realistically Charlotte, a 29 year old women with the same employment history as a 18 year old fresh out of high school, was going to take whatever she could get at this point.

The girl took the changing of the sky from bright periwinkle to a dim earl grey, as a sign to head back to her place in order to escape the fast approaching storm, the newspaper resting comparably rolled up in the crook of her arm.

Prior to returning to her apartment Charlotte had come to forget about the job as she had ran a few errands after the sandwich bar, that was until her feet met the door mat of her apartment. It was no longer clean as she had left it prior it now had, scrawled in big black letters, 'warning of eviction if payment is not obtained by next month'.

Charlotte's shaking hands move to pick up the yellow slip, and as she makes her way through her apartment, periodically leaving her jacket on the armrest of her laughably small settee in her stress-filled haze, she then starts to remember the job offer from the afternoon.

Sure the ad's ambiguity was a bit strange, but truly who was she to judge? It's not like the job offers were exactly rolling in at the moment.

'Oh what the hell, she might as well give it a go!' Charlotte thought, as she hesitantly dialled up the rotary.

[magentagalaxies]

Kids in the Archive: Episode 1

as most of you know, recently bruce mcculloch let me help organize some kids in the hall related artifacts that had been sitting in his storage for the past 30 years. i was even able to keep a few original scripts from kith projects, including iconic sketches, unaired sketches, and an original script for "brain candy" then titled the drug.

i've decided to start a little series going through some of these scripts and sharing the biggest changes between script and screen. today's sketch we're looking at is Armada's Future from S5E21, aka the Armada finale sketch

while "armada" wasn't my favorite recurring bit on my first watch of the show, i've come to really appreciate these sketches, especially as i've become privy to the interpersonal and creative dynamics of the troupe in real life. bruce himself has said armada was often a way for them to satirize their own creative process dealing with each other's egos (and the fact that some people would never "arrive having eaten"), and while these dynamics have certainly evolved over the years, there is something almost prophetic about this final armada sketch, which i will get into more later. but for now, let's get comparing.

The Opening

For the most part, this sketch's opening is the same, though the video version's dialogue is a bit more streamlined. In this version of the sketch, prior to the angel reveal the band is playing "trampoline girl," but otherwise the beats are the same.

The Angel

As this stage direction states, Chris Robinson would be nice - and that's exactly who they got! For more information on how he found his way to playing the rock and roll angel, see bruce's youtube video above.

the angel segment is largely similar, but with a missing beat. in this version of the script, we never cut back to the band in their 60s again, and as a result never seen bruce's character's heart attack and several iconic lines are lost because of that.

The Ending

this script includes an extra ending beat where the previous events are all revealed to be a daydream of young-kevin in 1994

overall, this script has the characters much more self aware of their own faults, so it's clear why these changes were made in the final version. there's doubt in their convictions here, versus the trademark "but do we make it?" optimistic in its pure obliviousness. i prefer the ending they went with on the show. even though by all accounts armada is not going to make it, the characters' refusal to believe that is infectious. ending on the question "but do we make it?" somehow leaves you asking it as well, even with all the evidence presented.

what i love about this sketch is that all these years later, that's a question still being asked by the kids in the hall. while all 5 have gone on to have very successful and creatively fulfilling careers, there's still a sense that every new thing the troupe has done from this point forward, whether it's brain candy or death comes to town or the amazon revival, has still been a question of do we make it? while most mainstream comedy icons can coast on their star power to shield them from these creative risks, the kids in the hall embrace that idea of breaking new ground in everything they do even if it's not always successful. this question of "do we make it?" is a force of creativity, and even when the answer is clearly no, sometimes the question itself is enough to drive you forward.

[thebibliomancer]

Essential Avengers: Avengers West Coast #62: the Witching Hour!

September, 1990

In final battle against IMMORTUS

Oh, comics, you silly. Always labeling things final when you know that they're just going to happen again.

Wonder Man isn't looking well. I think he forgot to eat his Wheaties.

Anyway. Immortus. What gives?

Last times on Avengers West Coast: a lot of things have happened. But apparently it was all Immortus' fault, manipulating Scarlet Witch from early in her career to make her fall for Vision so she would later have fake kids with him an have a mental breakdown over losing them. All so Immortus could use her powers, which he jacked up, to take control of time. For reasons. He's also been winnowing down the infinite divergent timelines to just one. Also for reasons.

Honestly, who cares? Let's just get this over with so we can hopefully move onto stories that aren't about torturing Wanda Maximoff.

The Avengers West Coast and Quicksilver are hesitant to attack Immortus as long as he has a catatonic Scarlet Witch as a hostage but he scoffs. He's not going to hurt her! She's so very essential to his plan!

Through her power, he'll safeguard whatever future he decided is the only correct future! You could say, that as a hero, this is what Wanda should be doing to serve the entire multiverse!

The Avengers and Quicksilver tell Immortus that he's dumb and these answers in no way satisfy them.

I'd also like to add that the team recovering between issues from their hard fought victories or near-defeats makes most of the last issue completely pointless.

I love a good Legion of the Unliving, I do, but it was all time wasting.

Anyway, hearing that Immortus needs Wanda for his plans, the Avengers and Quicksilver all charge in to kick Immortus' head in.

He tells them to knock it off because they might rouse Wanda from her trance.

Protip: Telling a hero team that the thing they're doing will thwart you will make them want to do it more.

So Immortus summons more assistance. Which he wouldn't have needed to do if he hadn't gotten rid of the Legion of the Unliving, for some reason.

Although in this case, the assistance is a big white dude named Tempus, the guardian of Castle Limbo. Which explains why he's never showed up any other time the Avengers have been here.

He can age anyone he touches, I guess. Which is a cool power to have in a world that is explicitly timeless.

Back at the Avengers West Coast Compound on Earth, Agatha Harkness yells at the afterimage of Immortus for his evil plans.

Agatha Harkness: "I know what you're planning, Immortus -- and you're a fiend! But -- why am I wasting my time shouting at a transparent doppleganger like you?" Afterimage Immortus: "I am sure I have no idea, Agatha Harkness."

What a weird series of writing decisions led us to this point.

Agatha realizes that she needs to get to Limbo to help Wanda but the only way to get there is for her to astral project her ethereal self out of her body and dive into Afterimage Immortus. Because of reasons, this sends her to Limbo.

Where the Avengers are getting their various asses kicked by Tempus, guardian of Limbo Castle.

Tempus smacks Old Man Wonder Man with his big club, knocking the aged hero at US Agent who catches him. And then passes the fuck out from the impact.

Hawkeye is surprised US Agent would be a team player - although he also calls him John Walters instead of John Walker.

Quicksilver watches Tempus no-sell attacks from Hank Pym, Hawkeye, and Iron Man and wonders whether even his superspeed will be able to help.

But seeing Trance Wanda inspires Quicksilver.

Quicksilver: "Wanda -- can you hear me behind that shield? We have been through so much, together and apart. For you to become, now, nothing but a human storage battery for Immortus to draw on -- no matter how noble or vital he claims his purpose is -- ! NO! In the name of Heaven itself -- no good was ever born -- out of something so clearly evil!"

Then he runs really fast and bonks Tempus with a club-shaped piece of rock.

Which doesn't knock Tempus down but at least gets him to react like he's been hit.

Iron Man and Hawkeye speculate whether it was because Quicksilver hit Tempus with a piece of the castle he's the guardian of. Hawkeye wondering whether he could make arrows out of it.

Tempus gets right pissed and decides to hit the Avengers and Quicksilver with... TIMESTORM!

Everyone of them is forced to relive their own "most fearful, most deeply buried memories!"

Which. I dunno.

That's not what I'd call a timestorm. Trip during memory lane. But not a timestorm.

And I dunno.

Quicksilver sees himself and Wanda fleeing one of the angry mobs that are ever-present in Eastern Europe and America in comics. I think, specifically, the ones that led to them being discovered by Magneto.

Hawkeye sees the moment of broken pedestal when he discovered his idol mentor Swordsman was stealing from the circus.

Wonder Man re-experiences that time he died. Again.

Hank Pym re-lives when he had to identify his first wife's dead body.

Iron Man gets that shrapnel to the heart moment. Oddly, not anything related to his alcoholism or Armor Wars.

Wasp sees when her dad was killed by an alien, all the way back in her first appearance.

And US Agent sees when his mom and dad were killed in front of his eyes by the far-right Watchdogs group.

All very emotionally devastating to have to go through again but I don't know if all of these would qualify as most fearful or most emotionally devastating. And the point is to confront the heroes with "the foe which, above all others, you can not hope to defeat."

But.

Everyone here has lived through these memories already. They've continued on. Coming to terms with what happened or not but still able to keep going.

Like, Wonder Man has coped with dying. So. MANY. TIMES.

This is called a timestorm so you'd think it'd be horrible, character-specific What-Ifs! Although, that wouldn't work with Immortus hating branching timelines. But still! Seems like a more interesting idea.

Whatever. Either way, these bad memories are enough to floor the Avengers and Quicksilver and leave them quivering helpless.

Agatha Harkness has basically just watched all this happen, sure she could do nothing to influence events.

But then she thinks 'what if yes can influence?'

And since Immortus is really distracted by watching the Avengers quiver, Agatha uses her mystic rapport with Wanda to try to contact her mind.

Agatha begs Wanda to give up the extra power that Immortus has been jamming into her. That if she gives up the ability to "alter the probabilities of cosmic timelines", then Immortus won't have a use for her.

But Wanda doesn't react.

Meanwhile, Immortus is wondering whether he needs to kill the Avengers or not. He should would hate to fit into the villain niche they're trying to jam him into but on the other hand he also hates that they might keep getting in the way so, yeah, sure, go ahead and kill them Tempus.

Agatha is able to get the faintest of brief reactions from Wanda when she begs her to fight against Immortus' control for the sake of her robot husband and for the sake of her imaginary kids who aren't real.

Okay, Agatha doesn't put it that way but the reality of Vision being an emotionless machine now and the kids being totally fake not real causes the ploy to not work.

So Agatha instead tries pleading for the Avengers' lives. Surely the Avengers hold a place in her heart? Her brother? Her friends?

Agatha runs out of time because Immortus can "feel their presence -- within my brain!"

While he blasts Agatha with PSYCHIC ENERGY, he orders Tempus to finish off the Avengers.

As Agatha fades she pleads for Wanda to "Reject those extra powers you never wanted -- for the sake of those who love you -- reject them also for the sake of those you love -- Reject the powers, Wanda! Reject themmmmm"

Wanda does awake. And she does reject the powers. And she basically declares "No more this arc."

And expelling the energy apparently somehow creates new timelines diverging from the most fearful, most deeply buried memories that were tormenting the Avengers.

Wanda and Pietro get burned at the stake instead of being rescued by Magneto. Grim.

Hawkeye scolds Swordsman into not doing crime.

Tony Stark dies of the shrapnel.

Wonder Man's death triggers a burst of radiation which kills all the Avengers except Thor.

Janet van Dyne is killed by the alien that killed her dad.

Maria Pym just... stops being dead on the morgue slab. Didn't even try to come up with a reasonable divergence on that one.

And the spray of bullets that would have killed Mr and Mrs Walker instead miraculously miss them.

These changes jar the Avengers from their bad memories floor quivering and also alarm Immortus who shouts that AGATHA HARKNESS HAS DOOMED THE VERY MULTIVERSE.

So dramatic.

Not Evil Anymore Wanda wonders if her blasting out all that energy is what will doom existence and thinks maybe she can just slurp it back up.

But then the Time Keepers show up and tell her not to bother.

Immortus is again alarmed. These are his boss mentors and them showing up is like they don't think he can do his job without intervention.

Time Keepers: "Immortus... be still. Long ago, we appointed you custodian of the segment of time between 3000 B.C. and 4000 A.D. Your duties required little more than the eventual transmutation of a particular nexus being into a source of power. You were to use that power over probabilities to safeguard key events which must occur in various timelines, in order to assure a certain future in which we have a vested interest... but even that simple assignment seems to have proven too difficult for you to fulfill."

Okay, so these are the dicks that told Immortus to go after Wanda?

Wellll, no. They gave him a list and he chose Wanda off of it. But choosing Wanda and then letting the Avengers and Agatha Harkness meddle caused such temporal chaos that it puts all futures in jeopardy and risks the Time Keepers never existing.

And what a big loss that would be.

Look. Immortus is a sometimes food. Too much of any Kang or Kang derivative is too much. But the Time Keepers kind of take away the only kinda cool thing Immortus had going for him. He's just middle management now.

Also, the Time Keepers are introducing so many words words words to this ending.

Wanda doesn't really care about all the words words words. She just points a finger at Immortus for fucking up her life. Immortus can only weakly claim he was just doing his job.

And then the Time Keepers jump in to remind him that he was shit at his job. And apparently, Immortus was trying to get control over all of time instead of the seven millennia they promised him?

I really can't care at this point.

The Avengers are all standing around commenting on this but it's just prolonging things.

US Agent yells at the Time Keepers that he wants to arrest Immortus and take him to trial by the US Government. The Time Keepers blah blah blah our actions are ineffable our deeds for the greater good. Also, we're cosmically powerful and you're a guy with a metal disc.

Hawkeye and US Agent can't take the Time Keepers' cockiness and both try to attack them. The Keepers just crank the velocity on the arrow and the shield way down and then commentate on which one would reach them first, ie which Avenger launched a faster attack.

Apparently Hawkeye wins but by so little it's hardly worth doing this sequence.

US Agent concedes that messing with Galactus-tier dudes is annoying and asks Hawkeye what they do now.

Hawkeye: "Not much... unless you've got a deck of cards up your sleeve."

Hah. I think he's suggesting they just play poker until all the exposition finishes.

Despite having fumbled the ball, Immortus demands his prize anyway. Because dammit, he worked really hard! And just as a reminder, that prize was rule over the stretch of time from when he was Pharaoh Rama-Tut to the time he spent as Kang conquering the year 4000.

Not that Immortus was ever that cool but he seems so much less cool when he's whining about 7000 years versus when he surveyed all time and had grown out of a desire to rule.

You suck, this new Immortus.

And apparently the Time Keepers agree.

They gather all the energy Wanda expelled and shove it into Immortus.

He at first crows at how much more powerful he's growing and then, like Wanda, he becomes catatonic.

Now, he will remain unmoving in Limbo, the power of probabilities residing in him to ensure that the correct future happens, or whatever.

This story is suck.

Despite everything, Wanda just feels sorry for Immortus. Sure, he was going to do the same thing to her but it is a truly horrible fate and she is not a jerk anymore because I guess she expelled the racism goo traces.

(Something that Hank mentions too, although more in the general sense that if she's feeling pity for Immortus, she must be on the road to recovery)

Actually, Wanda tries to claim that Immortus was "noble, in his own way."

Oh, Wanda, no. You don't have to big him up. He sucks.

Then, the Time Keepers decide they're tired of looking at the Avengers' dumb faces and just instantly scene transition them back to the compound.

Convenient.

Agatha Harkness claims that Actually, she didn't carry the team. Truly, this was an Avengers victory because they did a really good distracting Immortus by getting their asses soundly beaten by Tempus.

She phrased it nicer than I did but that is the gist.

Hawkeye just instantly passes out as soon as the plot is over. But Hank is left to worry about the dangling subplots of Tigra being tiny and feral and the Human Torch being broken.

Also, hey hey, Living Lightning's first appearance! I remember him fondly from the two things I've ever seen him in! The Great Lakes Avengers Misassembled mini and Avengers No Surrender!

Of course, next week next time, we're back over to the Avengers and the Crossing Line arc. Eh.

Follow @essential-avengers. Like, reblog, or comment. I'm hangry for feedback.

[sailor-toni]

Danny Fenton Football Captain and the East Coast Vampire

Epilogue

You can also read this on A03, FF.net, and Wattpad

The Amity Park airport was small, it only had eight gates and one lonely Mcdonalds stand that waited for its passengers behind the TSA checkpoint. At the checkpoint stood an overweight and shabby TSA guard. He stood there watching the Fenton family as he picked a booger out of his nose, before he flicked it to the side. Jazz looked sick and tried not to gag.

    Meanwhile the whole situation made Danny want to vomit. He had only been out of the hospital for a day and his parents were already dragging him to see him . Vlad Masters stood a foot smaller than his father but his ego was larger than the empire state building. He wore a pitch black casual suit, with a gold handle umbrella in his right hand. In his left Desiree was wrapped around his arm, her long black hair had been moved to hide her black eye. She gave Danny a kind motherly smile. Danny just rolled his eyes, shifting his weight to a leg that wasn’t currently hurting. 

“Well V-man! It was nice to see you again,” Jack said.

“Yes, it was a pleasure to see the both of you again. Hopefully we can meet again soon,” Vlad replied. 

“Of course, and hopefully there won’t be another fire alarm prank next time. Maybe we can spend a nice night together. You know just the four of us?” Maddie said. 

“Yes! We will have to goona double date next time. Won’t that be fun Vlad?” Desiree said. “Maybe next time you can visit us and we can take you to that restaurant we liked. The one with the deconstructed sushi with the gold flakes?” 

“That sounds amazing! Isn't it Jack?” Maddie said.

“What the heck is deconstructed sushi?” Jack stated. 

“Oh Jack, I’ll have to show you. It has to be one of the best things I have had in a while,” Vlad smoothed the mood over. “It was also nice to finally meet your children.” 

“Yes. It was great to get some advice for college and meet someone like Mr. Masters” Jazz said. 

“You don’t need to call me Mr. Masters, you can just call me uncle Vlad,” Vlad said. 

“Maybe someday Mr. Masters,” Jazz gracefully put it. 

“That is okay. Take your time,” Vlad then turned to Danny. 

Danny sighed “It was nice to meet you sir,” 

“It was nice to meet you to Daniel, I hope we can meet again soon. I see bright things in your future,” Vlad said. 

    His parents kept the conversation up with him before he was forced to go to his private Jet. Right before Vlad turned the corner to his gate, Danny could see his blood red eyes. 

. . . 

It was a few days before Danny could go back to school. The teachers and students had created a get better soon card for him and several students bombarded him with questions and well wishes, making it difficult for him to traverse the hallways. During Mr. Lancer's class he was handed another note, this time with a sticker of a bat pushed on it as a sort of seal. It had in it very set instructions to meet Sam in the library classroom. 

The library classroom was used for computer storage nowadays and was rarely used, but rumor had it that one could book the room. And for Sam it seemed it was possible. In the room were old mac desktops and boxes of floppy disks, all shoved in the corners collecting dust. The wallpaper here looked the same poisonous one, as the rest of the first floor. 

Tucker and Star were on a modern gaming laptop. He was clicking through documents showing her something. Danny assumed it had to be nerdy stuff that he wouldn’t understand. Across the room Sam was teaching Kwan self defense. She was holding a mat and having Kwan kick it at different heights. 

“Hey guys,” Danny said. 

“Danny!” Star rushed over and hugged him. “How are you feeling?”

“Ah, a little pain. The doctors say I can’t play a game for a month, but I should be back by the end of the season,” Danny closed the door behind him. 

“That’s good! At least you’re not dead,” Tucker said, still at his laptop. 

“So Danny,” Sam began, “Can you tell us what happened between you and Vlad?”

“Yeah, but it’s gonna be a long story so sit down.” 

. . .

    The school day came with a chaotic close with half the school body asking about Danny’s health and football ability. He was only able to get away by phasing through the boys bathroom and walking around the school. At the end of the sidewalk Paulina stood there with a sour look on her face. 

“Hey Paulina,” Danny said. He opened up to say something else but Paulina shaved a card into his chest. 

“I’m sorry!” Paulina said. 

“What?”

“I’m sorry for causing drama. I wanted you to ask me out and I got pissy when you asked Valerie out and I took my anger on you. I also didn’t mean to spill the punch. That was an accident!” The words spilled out of her mouth like a stream. 

“Woah, woah, woah. Paulina it’s okay,” Danny said. 

“No, I want to make sure I make it up to you. While you were in the hospital Dash and I talked and I don’t want to lose any of you as friends. So I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay Paulina. I forgive you. Really I was never really mad at you.” 

“Really?” 

“Yeah.”

“Oh thank god.”

    A silence fell between them but not a heavy silence. It was one of understanding and forgiveness.  “Hey Danny, do you want to go to Nasty Burger with me? I’ll buy you an apology burger,” Paulina said. 

“Thank you, but I’ll have to take you up on that later. Right now I’m running late to see someone else,” Danny hopped on his bike. 

“Okay. Call me later?”

“Yeah! See ya later Paulina!” They waved goodbye to each other as he rode down the street. 

. . .

    Danny biked up the park path, his wheels crushing all the dead leaves below him. The brown and black leaves littered the ground like a thin blanket, tucking the earth in for a long sleep. Above him the trees were barren without a soul in sight. The songs of birds that he had heard only a month ago were replaced by the distance cries of crows. 

    He rode past the playground, the yellow caution tape now broken and flying in the wind and saw a small patch of sunlight on top of a hill. Valerie sat on a pale knitted blanket, her body covered in heavy coats and thick leggings. A bright red scarf hung around her neck like a medal. Her bright smile made a fire light up in his chest. She had gotten them some containers of soup and grilled cheese, each of the items fogging up their closed take out containers.  

    He huddled close to her taking in the scent of her sweet perfume and the warmth of her body as they watched the last autumn sunset fall below the city lights.

[owlbearwrites]

Rowan worldbuilding (dealer's choice) for WIP Wednesday

My previous worldbuilding post was stuffed chock full of space and body horror.

Jack has a robot horse called Buttercup!

This piece of lore is silly, completely self-indulgent, and serves absolutely zero plot purpose. And I love it dearly.

And would you believe it, there is not one, but two sources of inspiration for Buttercup Howard.

One of the major inspirations for the character of Jack Howard is Handsome Jack from the Borderlands game series, who is a proud owner of a diamond horse by the name of Butt Stallion. (Okay, he says she’s a pony, but visually, she’s a binicorn, and she is glorious.)

Furthermore, in the world of Fallout, which is a key inspiration for the story’s setting, there exist commercially produced robot ponies. The product is called Giddyup Buttercup, ‘the ultimate in equestrian robotics’. (They may or may not also be part of an alien conspiracy, but that’s besides the point.)

With these two glorious creations in my arsenal, there was simply no way I would deny Mr. Jack Howard a full-size robot horse.

Some facts about Buttercup:

She has her own stable attached to Jack’s country house

She loves solving mechanical puzzles that Jack puts together for her in his tinkering workshop

Jack can’t ride her, or any other horse, but Rowan can, and she allows him

Jack’s old friend Nadia, who owns a ranch with actual biological horses out on the West coast, is very skeptical of Buttercup and confused by her very existence; which is why she doesn’t get to ride

After the initial nuclear apocalypse, Jack is stuck in the city for a while, and doesn’t get to go to his country house for almost a year. During that time, Buttercup roams the grounds and viciously attacks anyone who dares to try and scavenge the place, earning Jack’s old place in the country quite a reputation. When he finally makes it out there, she is very happy to see him. He gives her a good clean and tune-up, and then puts her into storage in power-saving mode. At that time during his post-apocalyptic adventures, he’s about to leave the Boston area with a group of new acquaintances, and even though a robot mount would be extremely useful on the long-distance trip, he worries it might give away his identity (reception for former billionaires is… mixed in the current state of the world).

He has a plan to, eventually, take Buttercup on a journey out West, to see what became of Nadia’s ranch and of his old employer and mentor Edward Castle. Sadly, Jack doesn’t get to do that: first, life gets in the way, and then, death. But Buttercup stays safe and sound in storage, and WILL be reunited with her two favorite people after they find each other again in the future.

[sidewalkscienceguy]

SCIENCE EDUCATION NONPROFIT FUNDRAISER POST

DONATE HERE

Hey everyone, I run a science education nonprofit in Florida called Sidewalk Science Center. I created SSC back in July 2018, and to this day, host FREE sessions of science experiments, telescoping, and other forms of science outreach 3-4 days per week. We do this at playgrounds, parks, beaches, outdoor malls, and other public spaces.

The mission of SSC is to provide regular and reliable access to educational tools and resources in public spaces. As of this writing, I have personally hosted free sessions of SSC a total of 390 times, as well as more than five dozen private events for families, the Girl Scouts, schools, and other organizations. In mid-November, I saw my 50,000th visitor!

We're in the middle of our end-of-year fundraising campaign. We have a goal to raise $5,500 by December 31, 2022. These funds will cover all of our expected business operation costs for 2023. As of this writing, we have raised $1,932.54, which is 35% of our goal. This amount alone covers all of our website, email, insurance, printing, and data storage costs for 2023, plus some of our physical and online marketing costs for the upcoming year.

One of our larger purposes for doing this is to increase scientific visibility, literacy, and overall engagement. Science is often relegated to schools and museums, but where else do we encounter it on a day-to-day basis, actively thinking about and practicing it? By placing SSC in spaces where people already visit and congregate, we hope to help improve the interest, support, and ability in science literacy throughout all levels of society.

In 2023 we will also start gathering volunteer educators to operate standard SSC sessions. We will also offer paid positions through our volunteer base, as a significant source of our revenue comes from paid private events. All educators will take our self-designed training courses that cover performing public science outreach, public science communication, and how to navigate and maintain civil discourse with pseudoscientists and misinformation in public spaces.

Going forward, we want to open regular SSC locations around the state of Florida, the US at large, and eventually, the world. Creating these spaces has been an incredible experience that truly impacts the communities we serve, and levels the playing field for underprivileged communities, allowing everyone to use resources and have experiences they otherwise might not have access to at home or even school.

Please consider making a donation to help cover these 2023 expenses (viewable on the donation page). A minimum of $5.00 is required using the DonorBox.org form, but you can also support us on Patreon for any amount.

Disclaimer: while recognized as a nonprofit in the state of Florida, Sidewalk Science Center is not yet federally recognized as a 501(c)(3) corporation. We are actively working to achieve this designation. As such, any contribution you provide is NOT tax deductible at this time.

Website: www.sidewalksciencecenter.org

FEIN # 92-0360191

Facebook | Instagram

Thank you for your support. One day, you might come across a Sidewalk Science Center in your own town! Right now we are headquartered in Bradenton & Sarasota, Florida. We are in the works to create a west coast tour in October of 2023, with plans to go through Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego during our trip to watch the October 14th Annular Eclipse at Crater Lake. Maybe we'll see you there!

DONATE HERE

We have a future to create.

[freedomsolarbatteriesau]

Solar Batteries and the Grid: Integration and Benefits

As global energy consumption continues to rise, the need for sustainable and renewable energy sources becomes increasingly urgent. Solar power, which harnesses the sun’s energy to generate electricity, has become a cornerstone of this shift towards greener energy solutions. However, the inherent variability of solar energy production—dependent on the availability of sunlight—poses challenges to its reliability as a sole power source. This is where solar batteries Central Coast, and their seamless integration with the electrical grid, emerge as critical components in the energy landscape, offering significant benefits for both individual users and the broader energy system. 

The Role of Solar Batteries in Energy Storage

Solar batteries, also known as solar energy storage systems, are designed to store the excess energy generated by solar panels during periods of high sunlight. Instead of sending surplus energy directly back to the grid or letting it go to waste, solar batteries store this energy for use when it is needed most—during the night, on cloudy days, or during periods of peak demand when the cost of electricity from the grid is higher.

These batteries can range from small-scale units for residential use to large-scale industrial systems capable of storing megawatts of electricity. The stored energy can be used to power homes, businesses, and even entire communities, providing a continuous and reliable power supply irrespective of weather conditions or time of day.

Integration with the Grid: How It Works

When solar batteries are integrated with the electrical grid, they create a two-way relationship between the user’s solar energy system and the grid. This integration allows for the exchange of energy in both directions—energy can be drawn from the grid when needed, and surplus energy stored in the battery can be fed back into the grid when it is not required by the user. This exchange is managed by sophisticated energy management systems that monitor energy production, consumption, and storage in real time.

Grid-Tied Solar Systems: A grid-tied solar system with battery storage connects solar panels and batteries to the grid. During daylight hours, solar panels generate electricity, and any excess power is stored in the batteries. When the solar panels are not producing enough energy (such as at night), the batteries can supply the home or business with power. If the batteries are depleted, the system automatically draws electricity from the grid. Conversely, when the batteries are fully charged and there is still excess solar energy, this energy can be exported back to the grid, often resulting in credits or financial incentives for the user.

Hybrid Solar Systems: Hybrid systems combine the benefits of grid-tied systems with the capability to operate independently of the grid when necessary. In the event of a grid failure or power outage, the system can switch to battery power, ensuring that critical appliances and systems remain operational. This feature is particularly valuable in areas prone to natural disasters or unreliable grid infrastructure.

Off-Grid Solar Systems: While off-grid systems operate independently from the grid, solar batteries are essential for storing energy to ensure a continuous power supply. Although these systems are not connected to the grid, advancements in battery technology and energy management have made them increasingly viable for remote or self-sufficient living.

Benefits of Solar Battery and Grid Integration

The integration of solar batteries with the grid offers a multitude of benefits, both for individual users and the broader energy system. These benefits extend beyond simple energy storage, contributing to a more resilient, efficient, and sustainable energy infrastructure.

Economic Benefits: Cost Savings and Financial Incentives

Solar batteries enable users to optimise their energy consumption by storing low-cost solar energy for use during peak demand periods when electricity prices are higher. This practice, known as peak shaving, can result in significant cost savings on energy bills. Additionally, in regions with net metering or feed-in tariffs, users can receive financial compensation for the excess energy they export back to the grid, further enhancing the economic appeal of solar battery systems.

Energy Independence and Security

By integrating solar batteries with the grid, users gain a level of energy independence that is particularly valuable during power outages or grid failures. In such events, the stored energy in the batteries can be used to maintain essential services, such as lighting, refrigeration, and communication systems, ensuring that homes and businesses remain operational even when the grid is down. This resilience is especially critical in regions susceptible to extreme weather conditions, where power outages can last for days or even weeks.

Environmental Impact: Reducing Carbon Footprints

Solar batteries contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by enabling the broader adoption of solar energy and reducing reliance on fossil fuel-based power generation. By storing excess solar energy and using it during times when solar generation is low, users can significantly reduce their carbon footprint. Furthermore, by exporting surplus energy back to the grid, they support the overall reduction of fossil fuel consumption, contributing to national and global efforts to combat climate change.

Grid Stability and Resilience

One of the most significant benefits of integrating solar batteries with the grid is their ability to enhance grid stability. The electricity grid operates on a delicate balance between supply and demand. Solar batteries help maintain this balance by storing excess energy during periods of low demand and releasing it during peak demand. This load balancing reduces the strain on the grid, minimises the need for additional power generation capacity, and helps prevent grid overloads and blackouts.

Moreover, solar batteries can provide ancillary services to the grid, such as frequency regulation and voltage support, further enhancing grid stability. These services are essential for maintaining the reliability and efficiency of the grid, especially as the penetration of renewable energy sources continues to increase.

Supporting Renewable Energy Integration

As the world transitions to a renewable energy future, the integration of solar batteries with the grid plays a crucial role in accommodating the increasing share of variable renewable energy sources like solar and wind. By storing and managing the intermittent output of these energy sources, solar batteries enable a smoother integration into the grid, reducing the need for backup fossil fuel power plants and facilitating a more sustainable energy mix.

Empowering Communities: Microgrids and Decentralised Energy

The rise of solar batteries is also driving the development of microgrids—localised energy systems that can operate independently of the main grid. Microgrids, powered by solar energy and supported by battery storage, can serve remote communities, critical infrastructure, or urban areas during emergencies. These systems offer a decentralised approach to energy generation and distribution, enhancing local energy security, and empowering communities to take control of their energy future.

Challenges and Considerations

While the benefits of solar batteries and grid integration are substantial, there are challenges and considerations that must be addressed to fully realise their potential.

Cost and Affordability

Despite the declining costs of solar batteries, the initial investment can still be significant, particularly for large-scale systems. However, as technology continues to advance and economies of scale are realised, prices are expected to decrease further. Government incentives, rebates, and financing options are also helping to make solar battery systems more accessible to a wider range of users.

Regulatory and Policy Frameworks

The integration of solar batteries with the grid requires supportive regulatory and policy frameworks. This includes policies that incentivize battery storage, provide fair compensation for exported energy, and encourage the development of smart grids and energy management systems. Policymakers play a crucial role in shaping the future of solar battery integration by creating an environment that fosters innovation, investment, and widespread adoption.

Technical Integration and Grid Compatibility

Ensuring that solar batteries are compatible with existing grid infrastructure is a technical challenge that requires collaboration between manufacturers, utilities, and grid operators. As more solar batteries are integrated with the grid, there is a need for advanced energy management systems, smart metres, and grid modernization efforts to optimise the flow of energy and maintain grid reliability.

Lifespan and Sustainability

The lifespan of solar batteries, typically ranging from 10 to 15 years, is a factor that users must consider when investing in these systems. Additionally, the sustainability of battery materials, recycling options, and end-of-life management are important considerations as the adoption of solar batteries increases. Continued research and development in battery technology are expected to address these challenges, leading to longer-lasting and more environmentally friendly solutions.

The Future of Solar Batteries and Grid Integration

The future of solar batteries and their integration with the grid is bright, driven by ongoing technological advancements, increasing environmental awareness, and supportive policies. As battery efficiency improves, costs decrease, and grid infrastructure modernises, solar batteries will become an integral part of the global energy landscape.

Innovations such as solid-state batteries, which promise higher energy density and longer lifespans, and advancements in smart grid technology, which enable more precise energy management, will further enhance the benefits of solar battery integration. Additionally, the growing trend of electrification in sectors such as transportation and heating will increase the demand for solar energy and battery storage, driving further adoption.

Governments, utilities, and private sector stakeholders must continue to collaborate to overcome challenges and unlock the full potential of solar batteries and grid integration. By doing so, they will pave the way for a more sustainable, resilient, and equitable energy future.

Solar batteries and their integration with the grid represent a transformative shift in the way we generate, store, and consume energy. By addressing the intermittency of solar power, enhancing grid stability, and providing economic and environmental benefits, solar batteries are key to unlocking the full potential of renewable energy. As the world continues to move towards a cleaner and more sustainable energy future, the role of solar batteries will only grow in importance, shaping the energy systems of tomorrow.

[jakeconnor]

Self Storage Rutherford Price

For over 25 years Safe ‘n’ Sound Self Storage has been the leading provider of self storage units in Newcastle, Central Coast, Hunter Valley and the Mid North Coast. Our secure storage facilities offer a wide variety of storage options for private individuals and businesses that need to keep their possessions secure. This includes boat and vehicle storage and secure document storage. Whether you need a temporary space to keep belongings during a relocation or a more permanent option, we have affordable storage solutions to meet all needs and timeframes.

Visit: https://www.safensound.net.au/location/rutherford/

[hairlossprp]

The Future of Hair Restoration: Latest Innovations in Gold Coast Hair Transplants for 2024

Hair loss has been a significant concern for many individuals, impacting self-esteem and confidence. As we move into 2024, the field of hair restoration continues to evolve, bringing forward innovative techniques and technologies that promise more natural, effective, and less invasive solutions. For those considering hair transplants on the Gold Coast, staying updated with the latest advancements is crucial. This blog post explores the cutting-edge developments in hair restoration that are shaping the future of treatments in this vibrant coastal region.

1. Advanced Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE) Techniques

Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE) has long been a popular method for hair transplants due to its minimally invasive nature and natural-looking results. However, recent innovations have taken FUE to the next level:

Robotic-Assisted FUE: The integration of robotics in FUE procedures enhances precision and efficiency. Robotic systems like ARTAS® utilize advanced algorithms and imaging to identify and extract the healthiest hair follicles with minimal damage. This results in higher graft survival rates and faster recovery times.

NeoGraft® System: Another breakthrough in FUE is the NeoGraft® system, which automates the extraction process and reduces human error. This technology ensures consistent graft quality and can significantly shorten procedure time while minimizing patient discomfort.

2. Stem Cell Hair Restoration

Stem cell technology is revolutionizing various fields of medicine, and hair restoration is no exception. Stem cell hair restoration leverages the regenerative capabilities of stem cells to stimulate hair growth:

Platelet-Rich Plasma (PRP) Therapy: PRP involves extracting and concentrating platelets from the patient’s blood and injecting them into the scalp. The growth factors in PRP can enhance the effectiveness of hair transplants by promoting follicle health and accelerating recovery.

Stem Cell Therapy: Advanced research is exploring the use of stem cells to regenerate hair follicles. By isolating and cultivating stem cells from the patient’s own tissues, researchers hope to create new, viable hair follicles that can integrate seamlessly with existing ones.

3. Robotic Hair Transplantation

Robotic hair transplantation is gaining traction as it combines automation with precision. Robotic systems not only assist in the extraction of hair follicles but also in their implantation:

ARTAS® Robotic System: This system enhances the accuracy of follicle extraction and placement. It can analyze follicle characteristics and make real-time adjustments to ensure optimal results, reducing the likelihood of complications and improving overall outcomes.

4. Advanced Graft Preservation Techniques

Graft preservation is critical to the success of hair transplants. New techniques in this area focus on improving the survival and effectiveness of transplanted follicles:

Hypothermic Storage Solutions: Advances in storage solutions now allow grafts to be preserved at optimal temperatures, ensuring their viability during transplantation. This innovation reduces the risk of graft failure and enhances overall results.

Bioengineered Scaffolds: Researchers are developing bioengineered scaffolds that mimic the natural environment of hair follicles. These scaffolds provide a supportive framework for transplanted follicles, promoting better integration and growth.

5. Hair Cloning and Bioengineering

One of the most exciting frontiers in hair restoration is hair cloning and bioengineering:

Hair Cloning: This technique involves creating new hair follicles from existing ones. Researchers are working on methods to clone hair follicles in the lab and then transplant them into the scalp. Although still in experimental stages, hair cloning holds the potential to revolutionize the field by offering an unlimited supply of hair follicles.

Bioengineered Hair Follicles: Scientists are exploring ways to create hair follicles from stem cells or other bioengineered materials. These artificial follicles could eventually be used to treat hair loss, especially in cases where traditional methods fall short.

6. Personalized Hair Restoration Plans

The future of hair restoration on the Gold Coast is not just about new technologies but also about personalized approaches:

Customized Treatment Plans: Advances in genetic testing and scalp analysis enable practitioners to tailor hair restoration plans to individual needs. By understanding each patient’s unique genetic and biological factors, treatment plans can be optimized for better results.

AI-Driven Diagnostics: Artificial intelligence is being integrated into diagnostic tools to provide more accurate assessments of hair loss patterns and treatment efficacy. AI can analyze vast amounts of data to predict how patients will respond to different treatments, leading to more personalized and effective care.

Conclusion

As we look ahead to 2024 and beyond, the future of hair restoration on the Gold Coast is incredibly promising. With advancements in FUE techniques, stem cell therapy, robotic systems, graft preservation, hair cloning, and personalized treatment plans, patients have more options than ever to address hair loss effectively. Staying informed about these innovations allows individuals to make well-informed decisions about their hair restoration journey.

If you’re considering a hair transplant, consulting with a knowledgeable specialist who stays up-to-date with these advancements is crucial. By leveraging the latest technologies and techniques, you can achieve natural, long-lasting results and restore your confidence.

[southgatetravels]

Exploring Cochin with Hassle-Free Car Rentals

Introduction

Cochin, also known as Kochi, is a vibrant and bustling city on the southwest coast of India. Known for its rich history, cultural heritage, and scenic beauty, Cochin offers a unique blend of traditional and modern experiences. To fully explore this diverse city, renting a car is the ideal choice. Cochin Car Rental provide the freedom and flexibility to navigate the city at your own pace, ensuring a comfortable and convenient travel experience.

Why Choose Car Rentals in Cochin?

Freedom and Flexibility Renting a car gives you the freedom to explore Cochin on your own terms. Whether you want to visit popular tourist spots or discover hidden gems, having your own vehicle allows you to create a personalized itinerary.

Convenience With a rental car, you can avoid the hassles of public transportation. You can travel directly to your destination without worrying about schedules or waiting times, making your trip more efficient and enjoyable.

Comfort Car rentals offer a comfortable mode of transportation, especially during long journeys or when traveling with family and friends. Modern rental cars come equipped with amenities like air conditioning, GPS, and spacious interiors, ensuring a pleasant travel experience.

Cost-Effective Renting a car can be more cost-effective than other forms of transportation, especially if you plan to visit multiple locations. It can also save you money on taxi fares and reduce the need for multiple rides.

Safety Reputable car rental services maintain their vehicles regularly, ensuring they are in excellent condition. This provides a safe and reliable mode of transportation, giving you peace of mind while exploring the city.

Popular Car Rental Options in Cochin

Economy Cars

Ideal for: Solo travelers or couples on a budget.

Features: Fuel efficiency, compact size, and easy maneuverability.

Examples: Maruti Swift, Hyundai i10, Tata Tiago.

Sedans

Ideal for: Families or small groups seeking comfort and space.

Features: Spacious interiors, comfortable seating, and advanced features.

Examples: Honda City, Toyota Corolla, Hyundai Verna.

SUVs

Ideal for: Larger groups or those planning to explore rugged terrains.

Features: High ground clearance, ample storage, and robust performance.

Examples: Mahindra Scorpio, Toyota Fortuner, Ford Endeavour.

Luxury Cars

Ideal for: Special occasions or those who prefer premium travel.

Features: High-end amenities, superior comfort, and stylish design.

Examples: Mercedes-Benz E-Class, BMW 5 Series, Audi A6.

Self-Drive Cars

Ideal for: Independent travelers who prefer to drive themselves.

Features: Freedom to plan your route and schedule.

Examples: Various models available in economy, sedan, SUV, and luxury categories.

Top Destinations to Visit with a Rental Car in Cochin

Fort Kochi Explore the historic streets of Fort Kochi, known for its colonial architecture, vibrant art scene, and cultural attractions like the Chinese Fishing Nets and St. Francis Church.

Mattancherry Palace Also known as the Dutch Palace, this historical building showcases stunning murals depicting scenes from the Ramayana and Mahabharata.

Marine Drive A picturesque promenade along the backwaters of Cochin, perfect for a leisurely drive or a relaxing stroll with beautiful views of the sunset.

Jew Town Discover the rich Jewish heritage of Cochin by visiting Jew Town, home to the Paradesi Synagogue, antique shops, and spice markets.

Cherai Beach Drive to Cherai Beach for a day of sun, sand, and sea. It’s an ideal spot for picnics, water sports, and dolphin spotting.

Athirappilly Waterfalls Take a scenic drive to Athirappilly Waterfalls, often referred to as the "Niagara of India." It’s a great spot for nature lovers and photography enthusiasts.

Tips for Renting a Car in Cochin

Book in Advance To ensure availability and get the best rates, book your rental car in advance, especially during peak tourist seasons.

Choose the Right Vehicle Select a car that suits your travel needs and group size. Consider factors like fuel efficiency, comfort, and storage space.

Check the Rental Agreement Carefully read the rental agreement, including terms and conditions, insurance coverage, and additional charges, before signing.

Inspect the Car Before driving off, inspect the car for any pre-existing damage and ensure all features and controls are working properly. Report any issues to the rental company.

Drive Safely Familiarize yourself with local traffic rules and drive safely. Use GPS or navigation apps to plan your routes and avoid getting lost.

Why Choose Southgate Travels for Car Rentals in Cochin?

1. Wide Range of Vehicles Southgate Travels offers a diverse fleet of vehicles to cater to different needs and preferences, ensuring you find the perfect car for your trip.

2. Competitive Pricing We provide transparent and competitive pricing with no hidden charges, offering excellent value for money.

3. Quality and Reliability Our vehicles are well-maintained and regularly serviced, ensuring a safe and reliable travel experience.

4. Excellent Customer Service Our dedicated customer service team is always ready to assist you, from booking to returning the car.

5. Flexible Rental Plans We offer flexible rental plans to suit your schedule, whether you need a car for a few hours, a day, or an extended period.

Conclusion

Renting a car in Cochin is the perfect way to explore the city and its surroundings at your own pace. With the freedom, comfort, and convenience it offers, you can make the most of your trip and create unforgettable memories.

Choose Southgate Travels for your car rental needs and enjoy a seamless and enjoyable travel experience in Cochin.

Southgate Travels - Your Trusted Partner for Car Rentals in Cochin

For more information, visit our website at [Southgate Travels Website] or contact our customer service team at [Contact Information]. Follow us on [Social Media Links] for the latest updates and offers.

[jasperstella]

Pylontech Solar Storage Battery

For over 25 years Safe ‘n’ Sound Self Storage has been the leading provider of self storage units in Newcastle, Central Coast, Hunter Valley and the Mid North Coast. Our secure storage facilities offer a wide variety of storage options for private individuals and businesses that need to keep their possessions secure. This includes boat and vehicle storage and secure document storage. Whether you need a temporary space to keep belongings during a relocation or a more permanent option, we have affordable storage solutions to meet all needs and timeframes.

Visit https://sol-distribution.com.au/brand/pylontech/

[ashpdigitalcharacterdesign]

Amethyst Questionnaire PT.3

12. Describe your character’s world

Answer

Beach City is the primary location in the Steven Universe franchise. It is situated in

Beach County[1] in the fictional state of Delmarva, in the 443 area code, on the East

Coast of the United States.The Crystal Gems have resided in Beach City before Bill

Dewey's great-great-great-great-grandfather, Captain William Dewey, founded Beach City nearly 200 years ago. After many months out at sea, the Crystal Gems, as messengers of Rose Quartz, came across William Dewey's ship and warned the captain and crew to turn back, as the land that would soon be known as Beach City was dangerous and not safe for humans. William Dewey, after an incident with the mast of his ship, drifted across the sea until he and his crew encountered a massive storm and a giant Gem Monster. The ship was saved from being sunk after a Crystal Gem fusion (Obsidian)[2] saved William Dewey and the ship. She brought Dewey and the ship to shore and told the captain not to reside on the land. William Dewey chose to stay on the land, and the Fusion accepted William's decision and informed him that she would most likely interfere again.[3] The Crystal Gems continue to reside in Beach City where they watch over and protect its inhabitants from danger and evil.

13. What are your character’s goals in life?

Protect and defend the Earth from threats. Defeat Jasper (formerly). 14. What stops your character getting towards their goals?

She struggles to accept the burden of responsibility and overcoming her poor self-image arising from her smaller stature and "defective" creation, and takes her anger out by picking fights. She is rebellious and stubborn and does not listen to others easily. 15. What personality flaws does your character have and how do they manage them?

Carefree to a fault

Pearl and Steven help her become more aware of her responsibilities/ she matures throughout the show.

Amethyst is easily amused and very impulsive. She is bad-mannered, untidy, and a bit lazy; much to Pearl's detriment, but still means well. Her unwillingness to let others throw out the junk in her room marks her as somewhat of a hoarder. These tendencies surface in "Maximum Capacity", where she is unwilling to let Greg throw anything away in his storage unit. This is not managed?

Amethyst has an admittedly low opinion of herself and a strong self-loathing that she usually keeps buried under her boisterousness. When her self-doubt takes effect, it makes her act cold, reckless, stubborn, and starts looking for a fight. She meets Amethysts that are from Earth and that they remember her as 8XM, befriending her and making pranks at her side. In "Tiger Philanthropist", she is now comfortable with her self-esteem and no longer needs wrestling as an output of dominance and power.

Obsession with finding and beating Jasper which leads her to recklessly challenge her alone, all the while denying her friends' help and encouragement. "Earthlings" shows Amethyst come to terms with herself due to Steven's encouragement, comfort, and stating that they are the same, leading them to fuse into Smoky Quartz. 16. What special talents does your character have – were they innate or did they develop them, or discover them – if the latter, then how did this happen over time?

Amethyst’s powers develop stronger as she becomes more confident. Her lack of confidence inhibits powers in gems.

Developed:

Flail/Whip Proficiency: Amethyst is very skilled with her whip, which mixes very well with her immense physical prowess. She can throw her whip to entangle or bind her target from afar.

Martial Arts: Amethyst is the Crystal Gem least likely to rely on her weapon in combat, relying instead on her martial arts skills and enhanced physical powers to deal with minor threats. She also is a skilled wrestler

Natural Abilities:

Enhanced Regeneration:

Amethyst can normally regenerate very quickly and with great variation, but this has been shown to backfire, as regenerating so quickly can make her new body extremely unstable. Strength:

Amethyst, being a Quartz soldier, has amazing physical strength, she is capable of jumping immense heights and can easily lift giant objects using her whip. In "Crack the Whip", she was able to poof Biggs Jasper by twisting her with her whip and strength. In "Steven vs. Amethyst", Amethyst destroyed a large portion of the ground as she pulled Steven.

Enhanced Durability:

Amethyst has also a great durability, in "Laser Light Cannon", Amethyst readily volunteered to get thrown at the Red Eye by Garnet in order to punch or body slam into it as an attempt to destroy it, persevering long after it was already proved to be a futile act. In "Crack the Whip", she was able to withstand a beating from Jasper, poofing only when Jasper attacked with her helmet.

Shapeshifting:

While most Gems are capable of shapeshifting, Amethyst is particularly skilled at it, specializing in transformations. She may use this skill to enhance her unarmed fighting or take on more bizarre forms depending on the task at hand. Some of her forms include several random to lethal animals, a fully-functional helicopter to transport others, her wrestling alter-ego, the Purple Puma, etc. However, Amethyst cannot shapeshift when she is under a lot of pressure, as revealed in "Secret Team".[2] There is also a limit on the amount of time she can stay shifted before having to revert.

Photokinesis:

Amethyst is shown using her gemstone to project a purple light, like a flashlight.

Bubbling:

Amethyst is able to bubble objects. Her bubbles are purple and are sent to the Burning Room inside the Temple. After Peridot poofs Jasper Amethyst bubbles her gemstone.

Unique Abilities:

Spin Dash: Amethyst can rapidly roll into a ball-like shape to attack enemies. While powerful, it is smaller than Jasper’s version,

Homing Attack: Amethyst can home in on nearby enemies while spin dashing

Whiplash Spin Dash: Amethyst can summon both of her whips, ignite them with violet fiery energy and then spin dash on top of them, giving a violet aura to her spin dash. When she makes contact with something, it causes a big violet explosion.

Hair-Blade: Amethyst can use her hair to slash at an enemy with such potency it severs others. This includes the claw of Bixbite.

Enhanced Digestion: Amethyst can eat materials (including glass, plastic, paper, etc.) and can digest it without getting sick or disgusted. However, she was food poisoned by a burrito in "So Many Birthdays".

○   Fire burp: Amethyst can burp fire after drinking cooking oil, as revealed in ○      the episode "Gem Harvest".

Clandestine Abilities:

Levitation: While controlled by White Diamond, Amethyst has the ability to indirectly suspend her body in midair.

White Burst: While controlled by White Diamond, Amethyst is capable of shooting a white energy beam from her eyes equivalent to White Diamond's aura, in which it can also mind control the affected gems. 17. Is your character a loner or gregarious – or something more complicated (if so, describe)

Amethyst has many friends, however she feels secretly inferior to them due to her being a “defective” gem. She has a hard time letting people in and ends up taking her anger out on them. However, as she befriends others and grows she feels more secure in her friendships and personality, becoming less impulsive and explosive and becoming confident in her identity.

Your additional questions 18. What are Amethyst's favorite things?

She likes to eat crazy concoctions of ingredients, including things that might not actually be edible, and play video games. 19. Why does Amethyst feel inferior?

A large part of Amethyst is how guilty and inadequate she feels for things that she has no control over, and no one helped her for years. Her problems originate with being a gem that isn’t properly formed and being a byproduct of the homeworld invasion. Another factor is Pearl and Garnet don’t always act the most supportive, often driving her to act out.

She knew she was part of the pain on earth and struggled to understand her place, making her deeply insecure and confused. After meeting Peridot and Jasper she becomes more confused knowing she is a malformed Gem. She does enjoy Peridot's company a lot though and helps her be able to adjust to life on earth, they still run into some problems with communication and world view but end up being good together. Jasper is someone Amethyst wants to beat to prove she is good enough but also wants to consider family even calling her Sis.

20. Who are people that make Amethyst feel inferior?

Sardonyx

Amethyst seems to show jealousy towards Sardonyx as she made Amethyst feel weak and reckless after Sugilite went berserk in "Coach Steven". This is most likely because of her wanting to be stronger and be noticed by Garnet

Jasper

Jasper and Amethyst are both Quartz soldiers made on Earth, but Jasper sees

Amethyst as nothing more than a joke and a failure for being 'overcooked'. Jasper told Steven (whom she mistook for Rose) that she must have been desperate to enlist the help of a "runt" like Amethyst. At the end of the events of "Crack the Whip", Amethyst feels inadequate because Stevonnie took down Jasper without her help, making Jasper's words feel true.

[normeacottremovals]

12 Downsizing Tips from Seasoned Removalists

Moving to a new home can mark the beginning of an exciting chapter in your life, but it can also be accompanied by the daunting task of downsizing. Whether you're transitioning to a smaller space or simply aiming to declutter, mastering the art of downsizing is crucial for a smooth and stress-free move. Who better to offer expert guidance on this topic than seasoned removalist Central Coast? 

These professionals have accumulated a wealth of knowledge through their experiences, perfecting strategies that can make your downsizing process efficient and effective. Here, we present 12 invaluable tips from these experts to help you navigate the downsizing journey with ease: 

Start Early

Commence the downsizing process well in advance of your move. Procrastination only adds unnecessary stress. Give yourself ample time to sort through your belongings thoughtfully, ensuring you make informed decisions about what to keep and what to let go of.

Assess Your Needs

Begin by assessing your needs and lifestyle. Determine what items are essential for your daily life and what you can live without. Be honest with yourself about what you truly need versus what you simply want to hold onto for sentimental reasons.

Declutter Ruthlessly

Embrace a ruthless approach to decluttering. If you haven't used or appreciated an item in the past year, consider letting it go. Be decisive and unapologetic about parting with possessions that no longer serve a purpose in your life.

Sort Methodically

Organise your belongings methodically into designated piles or categories: keep, donate, sell, and discard. This systematic approach streamlines the downsizing process and helps you maintain clarity and focus amidst the chaos of packing and purging.

Maximise Space

Explore creative ways to maximise space in your new home. Invest in space-saving solutions such as vacuum storage bags, under-bed storage containers, and multi-functional furniture. Utilise every inch of available space efficiently to minimise clutter and optimise functionality.

Digitise Documents and Photos

Reduce paper clutter by digitising important documents and photographs. Invest in a high-quality scanner and software to create digital copies of your files, which can be stored securely in the cloud or on an external hard drive for easy access and peace of mind.

Measure Furniture

Before moving, take accurate measurements of your furniture and compare them to the dimensions of your new space. This proactive approach ensures that your furniture fits seamlessly into your new home, eliminating the need to transport oversized or unnecessary pieces.

Utilise Self-Storage

Consider renting a self-storage unit for items you're not ready to part with but don't have room for in your new home. Self-storage provides a temporary solution for storing belongings, offering flexibility and peace of mind during the downsizing process.

Seek Professional Advice

Don't hesitate to seek advice from removalists or professional organisers who specialise in downsizing. These experts can offer valuable insights and strategies based on their experience, helping you navigate the downsizing process with confidence and efficiency.

Enlist Help

Don't attempt to tackle downsizing alone. Enlist the help of friends, family members, or professional movers to assist with heavy lifting, emotional support, and decision-making. Collaborating with others not only lightens the workload but also provides invaluable support and encouragement.

Stay Positive

Maintain a positive mindset throughout the downsizing process. While it can be emotionally challenging to part with possessions, focus on the benefits of simplifying your life and creating a more manageable living space. Embrace the opportunity for growth and renewal that downsizing affords.

Celebrate Progress

Celebrate each milestone achieved during the downsizing journey. Whether it's decluttering a room, successfully packing boxes, or saying goodbye to items that no longer serve you, acknowledge your accomplishments and reward yourself for your hard work and perseverance.

By incorporating these expert downsizing tips into your moving strategy, you can navigate the downsizing process with confidence, efficiency, and grace. Remember, downsizing is not just about letting go of possessions; it's about creating space for the things that truly matter in life: experiences, relationships, and personal growth. Embrace the opportunity to declutter your physical space and cultivate a more meaningful and fulfilling life.

[energythatmoves]

Empowering Sustainability: Solar Batteries in Central Coast with Energy That Moves

In the heart of Central Coast, a quiet revolution is taking place. Amidst the serene landscape, Energy That Moves emerges as a beacon of sustainability, offering innovative solutions that redefine the way we harness and utilize energy. At the forefront of this movement is their pioneering approach to solar batteries, empowering residents and businesses alike to embrace a greener, more efficient future.

Harnessing Solar Power, Unleashing Potential

As the sun bathes the Central Coast in its warm embrace, Energy That Moves harnesses its power through cutting-edge solar panel installations. But their commitment to sustainability extends beyond mere generation; it encompasses storage and utilization too. Solar batteries represent the next frontier in this journey, offering a means to capture, store, and utilize solar energy on-demand.

Uninterrupted Power, Unmatched Freedom

Imagine a world where power outages are a thing of the past, where homes and businesses remain seamlessly connected to clean, renewable energy sources even when the grid falters. This is the promise of solar batteries from Energy That Moves. By storing excess solar energy during the day, these batteries ensure a steady supply of power, day or night, rain or shine. It's a game-changer for Central Coast residents, providing unparalleled peace of mind and independence.

Efficiency Redefined, Costs Slashed

With traditional energy costs on the rise, Central Coast residents are seeking alternatives that not only reduce their carbon footprint but also save them money in the long run. Solar batteries offer the perfect solution. By maximizing self-consumption of solar energy and minimizing reliance on the grid, they significantly reduce electricity bills while simultaneously reducing strain on the environment. It's a win-win scenario that's transforming the way we think about energy consumption.

Sustainable Living, Elevated

At Energy That Moves, sustainability isn't just a buzzword; it's a way of life. By embracing solar batteries, Central Coast residents join a global movement towards a more sustainable future. It's about more than just saving money on electricity bills; it's about taking control of our energy destiny, reducing our reliance on fossil fuels, and preserving the planet for future generations.

A Partner You Can Trust

With Energy That Moves, Central Coast residents aren't just purchasing solar batteries; they're investing in a partnership built on trust, expertise, and unparalleled service. From initial consultation to installation and beyond, their team of experts guides clients every step of the way, ensuring a seamless transition to clean, sustainable energy. And with a commitment to quality and customer satisfaction, Energy That Moves stands behind every installation, delivering peace of mind and exceptional results.

Embrace the Future Today

As Central Coast residents look towards a brighter, more sustainable future, Energy That Moves stands ready to help them realize their vision. With solar batteries that empower, inspire, and elevate, they're leading the charge towards a world where clean, renewable energy is not just a dream but a reality. Join the movement today and experience the power of solar batteries with Energy That Moves.

[solarinstallersperth]

Going Beyond: The Integration of Battery Storage in Perth Solar Systems

In the ever-evolving landscape of renewable energy, Perth stands out as a beacon of innovation and sustainability. With solar power systems becoming increasingly prevalent, the integration of battery storage technology takes solar energy utilisation to new heights. In this article, we explore the advantages and significance of integrating battery storage in Perth solar systems, brought to you by West Coast Solar.

1. The Rise of Solar Power Systems in Perth

Embracing Solar Energy

Perth, renowned for its sunny climate, has seen a surge in the adoption of solar power systems. Residents are harnessing the abundant sunlight to power their homes and businesses, contributing to a greener and more sustainable future.

Addressing Energy Needs

With rising electricity costs and growing concerns about environmental sustainability, Perth residents are turning to solar power as a reliable and cost-effective alternative to traditional grid-based electricity.

2. The Role of Battery Storage in Perth Solar Systems

Enhancing Energy Independence

Battery storage technology allows Perth residents to store excess energy generated by their solar panels for use during periods of low sunlight or high energy demand. This enhances energy independence and reduces reliance on the grid.

Mitigating Grid Instability

By storing energy locally, battery storage systems help mitigate grid instability issues, such as voltage fluctuations and power outages. This contributes to a more reliable and resilient energy infrastructure in Perth.

3. Advantages of Solar Panels with Battery Storage

Maximising Self-Consumption

Solar panels with battery storage enable Perth residents to maximise self-consumption of the energy they generate, reducing reliance on grid-supplied electricity and further lowering energy costs.

Supporting Sustainable Practices

By integrating battery storage with their solar systems, Perth residents can further support sustainable practices by reducing their carbon footprint and reliance on fossil fuels for electricity generation.

Conclusion

The integration of battery storage technology in Perth solar systems represents a significant step forward in the transition towards a sustainable and resilient energy future. With the expertise and support of West Coast Solar, Perth residents can unlock the full potential of solar energy and enjoy greater energy independence, reliability, and cost savings. Embrace the future of energy with solar panels and battery storage integration from West Coast Solar.

FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)

1: How Does Battery Storage Benefit Perth Solar Systems?

Battery storage enhances the functionality of Perth solar systems by allowing residents to store excess energy for later use, increasing energy independence, and reducing reliance on the grid during peak demand periods or power outages.

2: Are Solar Panels with Battery Storage Cost-Effective for Perth Residents?

Yes, solar panels with battery storage offer long-term cost savings for Perth residents by reducing energy bills, increasing self-consumption of solar energy, and potentially providing revenue through feed-in tariffs or grid services.

3: What Size Battery Storage System Do I Need for My Perth Home?

The size of the battery storage system needed for a Perth home depends on factors such as energy consumption, solar system size, and desired level of energy independence. A reputable solar provider like West Coast Solar can assess your needs and recommend the appropriate battery size for your home.

4: How Long Do Battery Storage Systems Last in Perth?

Battery storage systems typically have a lifespan of 10 to 15 years, depending on factors such as usage patterns, maintenance, and environmental conditions. With proper care and maintenance, Perth residents can expect reliable performance from their battery storage systems for many years.