#followed by going into a spiel about how important he was back then and how important he is to the overall story

[chirpsythismorning]

Whenever I see milkvans insist Will isn’t important to the story, I recall this mysterious interview with Finn saying exactly the opposite. Mysterious because I have no idea where this audio originally comes from (heard it used in an edit, but the editor didn’t respond to anyone asking about its source in the comments), but it is clearly Finn speaking and you can even hear Caleb in the background agreeing with him, confirming it is very much real… does anyone know where it’s from??? A podcast? An interview? Behind the scenes?

[butch-reidentified]

well my wife & I had literally just arrived downtown, were still walking down the sidewalk to the bar, when we run into this guy on the corner interacting aggressively with a very anxious-looking woman trying to lock a shop door and two young boys. my wife instantly steps in and firmly asks the man to step back a bit while I check in with the woman. he's obviously drunk and belligerent, and starts shouting at us. "I'm just talking to my son, I'm not allowed to talk to my son?"

she explains very straightforwardly that this is her restaurant she owns, and he's her abusive ex who's always hanging around her restaurant and trying to manipulate the kids by talking shit about her and giving her diabetic son candy. she tells us that the local police and "everyone" knows about this situation, that's she's tried twice to get a restraining order, he's stolen from her and her restaurant multiple times, etc.

he asks my wife and me with disgust if we're "girlfriends or something," to which I respond that it's absolutely none of his business. he asks us why we're in his business, then. She tells us he slapped her a few minutes prior, because of what she was wearing. He says it isn't fair that he "never got to see her like that" while they were dating because he "was always working in her restaurant." I ask him who the fuck told him seeing her ~like that~ was his right.

we ask her if she wants us to walk her to her car/home, and she says she lives a couple blocks away and that would be really good. as we walk away, he tells her "spirits" are going to come and get her tonight. so we walk with her and the kids, let her vent about him and everything she's tried to do to stop this without anything changing, how the police don't care and how they believed him that HER home and restaurant were his because he's a white man and she's a black woman, and they interrogated her while asking him nothing.

On the walk, he walks up behind us to a bit ahead of us to where the older boy is on his bicycle, and starts talking to the older boy again, but not before shouting to us that "men should be with women." She refuses to engage, and we follow her lead. I ask her some questions to get a feel for what she might have or need. We give her our phone numbers and a short spiel about available community resources and the importance of women looking out for other women. I tell her I can connect her with those resources and am happy to arrange help for her to complete the restraining order process, as the barriers preventing her previously have been things like being unable to arrange for childcare so she can go to court. She asks if she can give us hugs, and we say of course.

We stay while she and her piece of shit ex verbally battle for control of the older son. She's asking him to come up to their apartment. We can't hear what he's saying to the kid, but he keeps shifting position to block her from making eye contact with her son. She tells us he is teaching the kid to view and treat women like he does. She tells us the kid needs counseling and is struggling with depression.

We stay until the older son gets his father's permission to go upstairs with her. He approaches us on the corner as we wait to be able to cross, and asks us again about our relationship to each other. We tell him again it isn't his business. He asks why we get to ask for all of his information, then. My wife points out that we didn't even ask his name.

for several long and irritating minutes, he stands a foot away from us running his mouth while we wait to be able to cross. at a couple points, he borders on threatening, but never crosses the line. I keep my hand on my gun in my pocket regardless. I tell him I heard what he said about "spirits" and if anything happens to her tonight (or at all), we'll know who did it. he tells me I'm funny. my wife has already made a phone call, and we have three people on the way from our friend's bar (which is 1 store over from her restaurant). he hears her phone call and tells us that's a bad idea. I ask him if that's a threat. he stays silent as the light finally turns and we begin to cross.

he doesn't follow.

on the way home, we pass three separate police cars, and my blood is boiling hotter each time.

I really hope she's safe tonight. I really hope she reaches out and lets us help.

tonight was a stark reminder that all of our communities are rife with abusive men and abused women, all the time, and nobody is looking out for these women. know your community's needs and resources. any day or night could be the time you stumble across one of these situations. you'll be grateful you have that knowledge to share when you do.

[aloneinthehellfire]

Chapter Five: The Cabin

Gates Of Hell Masterlist

Word Count: 4982

Warnings: swearing, mentions of death, feeling abandoned, the usual bickering, mentions of absent fathers, some of this is almost sweet I'm surprised I could even write it

[A/N: this chapter isn't particularly exciting but definitely important. i know we're all here for the steve x reader moments so how could i disappoint?]

-

The Cabin

Plan A: Find Hopper at the cabin.

“I told you, we’re going the wrong way!”

“No, it’s literally this way! I’m not blind!”

“Are we sure?!”

You and Steve had been wondering around the woods ever since day leaked through the night. Not that it was easy to tell anymore; the dark clouds were consuming the sky almost entirely now, reminding you both that Hawkins was under attack.

And the entire time you had been in the woods, you and Steve couldn’t resist an argument. First it was because neither of you could ever be the follower, always attempting to take charge. The next it was a small comment on the state of his hair that led to his defensive spiel about care and treatment, remarking on your lack of. And soooooo many other little things that spiralled off into their own arguments until finally resting on Steve’s poor directional skills.

Steve simply pouted, shaking his head with a curse on his tongue. Of all the unbearable things about an apocalypse, you were the worst.

“How am I even meant to tell where we are by a few stupid trees? Trees are trees!” Steve rants, shaking his head as he followed his own footsteps.

As you bit your tongue, you glanced to the side before your feet faltered completely.

“Help me!”

A scream echoes out and you stumble, foot catching on a root as you fly forward into the dirt. The flashlight bounces from your hand, shining the light directly onto you. You immediately scramble towards it, reaching out.

Before a grey claw beat you to it, pulling the light back into the darkness with a sickening crunch...

“You good?” Steve asks, turning back once he notices the fallen crunches of footsteps. Once he sees your stare, his face drops. “Hey?”

Steve moves towards you and you snap back into focus, clearing your throat.

“Yeah. As I was saying, you’re leading us back to the school. We wanna go left.” You continue, as if nothing happened, pointing out the direction with a roll of your eyes.

Before he follows you, he cranes his neck to find what had you so entranced. His breath hitches.

Between the ash-gathered leaves, a ray of light beaming on it like an omen, stood a tree bearing three giant claw marks into its trunk.

He shudders at the sight, glancing back just one more time into the thick expanse of the woods surrounding him before taking off after you, praying it wasn’t foreshadowing his future.

It was only three more minutes until you’re jumping on the spot, a grin on your face.

“See? I told you!” You announce, pointing to the building in the distance.

“You want a medal?” Steve rolls his eyes and you smirk.

“I was thinking of you grovelling at my feet and pledging your undying allegiance.” You shrug, “But I’ll settle for a medal.”

Gritting his teeth as you laughed, he adjusted bat looped through his backpack and followed you towards the cabin. But, when your back was turned, he couldn’t help the hint of a smile creep onto his lips at your giggle.

As you were getting closer, you held your hand out to stop him. You make a gesture for him to look down.

“Trip wire.” You say, stepping over with him mimicking your movements.

Hopper had set up a security system around the cabin when you first moved there. It was when he first announced that El would be staying with you, not telling you any specifics other than ‘we need to keep her safe’. Just another part of his life he kept you far away from. You were struggling to decide if that was the right choice.

Leading Steve through Hopper’s intricate system of defences, the trees finally fell onto a path. It was funny to you now, knowing that just 24 hours ago you hated the idea of coming back here; now it was the only thing giving you hope. It was home, it was safety, it was-

Your stomach plummets to the ground as you freeze. Steve couldn’t believe his eyes.

The cabin was torn apart; windows smashed, boards missing from the walls. Something had gotten in there. Something big.

In a sudden movement, you start sprinting towards the house.

“Wait!” Steve yelled after you, pulling his bat into his grip and running after you.

You burst through the door, the first jolt of reality. Hopper never kept it unlocked.

“Hopper?” You shout, chest falling and rising heavily. “Hopper?!”

The living room was a mess, tables and chairs thrown about. The sofa looked like it was ripped to shreds, stuffing coating the floors like a crime scene. Books, vinyls, the things you grew up with, scattered around like tombstones of your memories.

The floor crunched beneath your feet, glass and ceramics breaking beneath the weight.

“Dad?” You desperately try, feeling the heat of the tears rolling down your cheeks.

You could sense Steve behind you, taking in the scene. You could practically hear the stream of pity ready to spur from his mouth.

“I-”

You walk away before he can speak, rushing to the bedrooms. You first open El’s room, expecting the little girl to be hiding somewhere. But the room was bare, and just as trashed as the living room. When you couldn’t bear to look at it anymore, you close the door behind you, biting your lip.

El was a surprise to your life. One day you’re sat at the trailer, the next you’re being dragged to the cabin, introduced to a girl you had never seen before. At first, you had been hesitant. And so had she, barely speaking five words. And you’d never admit it, but she grew on you. All of her little smiles, her wide innocent eyes staring up at you whenever she was unsure. Even the way she would giggle at your jokes. The thought of her being here when the cabin was… it was like losing your little sister all over again; her fighting for her life while you stood on the outside, unaware.

“Anything?” Steve’s quiet voice asks, stood at the end of the small hallway. You slowly shake your head, back still against the door.

You silently walk to the next door and this time, he follows you. It was that part of him that couldn’t leave someone alone in their internal crisis, knowing that he can’t live alone with his.

The door creaks open and your breath hitches.

Years of collections and comfort were fallen soldiers, your kingdom come undone. The roof had caved in, chippings and splinters lay across your bed like a blanket. Your shoes scuffed an object on the ground and it felt like kicking your own heart. You reach down and pick up the frame.

Glass slides away from it, angled to avoid cutting your fingers. The photo was now a crumpled mess, but you reach inside anyway and tentatively pull it out, dropping the frame back into the pile of despair.

Steve peers down at the image in your hands, your delicate need to brush out the rumples in the print. He could just make out Hopper, a clean-shaven version of him at least. He was crouched on the ground with two little girls. One looked a lot like you, the same mischievous smirk as you hug a smaller child in front of you. Steve didn’t recognise her. She bore blonde pigtails, younger than you were, with striking blue eyes.

Once you catch him looking, you clear your throat and fold the photo, depositing it in your jean pocket.

“No one’s here.” You say meekly, walking across your bedroom with little effort to avoid walking on your memories.

Steve watches as you fetch something from the mess, cradling it in your hands. He recognised the Walkman almost immediately; it was a dark red, courtesy of you painting it in shop class when you were meant to be making a birdhouse. He remembered how you’d slip the headphones on whenever he tried to talk, a small gesture that made him roll his eyes. Weirdly, the thought of you doing that never upset him until this very moment.

“Well.” You suddenly sigh, turning around with headphones dangling between your fingers. “That plan has officially humbled us.”

“They’re okay.�� Steve nods and you sent him a sad look of disbelief. “They have to be. Just… look around. There’s no sign of them being…”

“Dead.” You finish, taking a deep breath. “No, you’re right. They definitely got out.”

“I’m sorry this happened, though.” He says, looking around your room. “This is some pretty cool stuff.”

“Surprised you’re not judging my ABBA poster.” You raise a brow and he whistles lowly.

“Oh, I absolutely am.” He chuckles, “But only ‘cause I thought you were a metal fan or something like that.”

“Because of my usually chipper mood?” You ask, but the laughter was lost on your joke as everything began hitting you once again.

Hopper and El weren’t here. That hope you had of getting the hell out of Hawkins with your family was gone. Because they were probably halfway across Indiana now.

Yesterday morning, you had been stood in this very spot, yelling at Hopper. And now you could look back on it, you knew it had been irrational. You had caused an argument of epic proportions and then you had walked away from it, never resolving, never forgiving.

No wonder they left, you thought, you only ever make other people miserable.

“Where would they go?” Steve questions, expectant eyes finding yours. You start to walk out the room and Steve steps aside before following you.

“Away.” You respond simply, finding your bag on the ground and shoving the Walkman inside.

“What does that mean?” He frowns.

“It means they’re heading anywhere that isn’t here.” You explain as you secure the zipper, swinging the bag by the strap to loop your arm through. “Hopper isn’t sticking around when he has a 13 year old to take care of.”

“Why would he take off without you?”

You pause your movements. It was an innocent question, an expected one. Then why was it so painful?

“Sometimes fathers leave.” You answer under your breath, and when Steve opens his mouth to inevitably question your mutter, you clear your throat. “It doesn’t matter.”

“It kinda does.” Steve shakes his head, wondering why you seemed so calm, so normal about this.

Hopper was adamant to him, to Nancy, even Jonathan, that they were to keep you as far away from this mess as possible. Steve remembered how uncomfortable Hopper had looked when they were at the cabin trying to help Will, constantly checking the time and disappearing into a different room to answer a call. Hopper protected you. Steve couldn’t believe for one second that he’d leave you behind.

“You don’t get it.” You scoff, heading to the cupboards. Steve figured you were rooting for food, a smart plan if it weren’t for your dismissal of his worries.

“Then tell me.” Steve places his hands on his hip, but you bark out a laugh.

“Yeah, that’s gonna happen.” You reply, your back to him as you prop yourself up on your toes to reach the back of the cupboard.

“You’re impossible.” He groans.

“You’re annoying.”

You say just as you turn around, holding a box in your hands. Steve looks down before widening his eyes. Shotgun shells.

“Uh…” He wasn’t sure what to say. After all, he wasn’t expecting ammo to be placed among breakfast cereals.

“Speechless? Good.” You rattle the box and head further into the cabin, towards a blank wall.

Once there, you run your fingertips along an etched square, nails gripping onto the rough surface and tugging. The panel fell towards you, clattering to the ground as you threw it to the side. Steve’s jaw couldn’t be dropped lower.

You reach in and pull out a shotgun, turning to Steve.

“Here.”

You throw the box towards him and he’s grateful for his reflexes, encasing them in his hands.

“Okay, it looks like it’s already loaded.” You mumble to yourself, wiping off the dust that collected on the barrel. When you glance up, you notice Steve’s still staring. You cock your head. “I’m the Chief’s daughter, you think I don’t know where he hides his weapons?”

“Uh…” Steve tries again, before he shakes his head free of the distraction. “Wait, no. We can’t go back out there.”

“Why not?” You ask, securing the shotgun onto your body by tightening the strap at the front.

“Because we need to figure out where they are.”

“For the love of God, Steve, read the room.” You exasperate, flinging your arm out towards the mess. “They’re gone. They left me behind and they’re getting the hell out of this place before they’re ripped apart.”

“They can’t have just left you behind!” Steve’s blatant denial was obviously fuelled by something else. You had an idea of what that could be.

“Can we just drop it?” You beg, heading to the door before being blocked by Steve’s surprisingly built frame.

“Please.” He looks down at you, chest rising heavily. You stop, observing the gold flecks in his eyes that lay upon a scared expression. “Let’s just take a second, and try to figure this out.”

There wasn’t a part of you that wanted to barge past him, not when he was looking at you like you might be his last hope. You sigh, stepping back.

“Fine.” You hold out your hands in small surrender, “I yield.”

“Thank you.” Steve breathes, slumping his shoulders. “I’m sorry, I just… obviously I don’t know Hopper as well as you do. But… do you really think he’d just leave?”

“No.” You reply quietly. Hopper was never one to run from a fight, not really. And from what Steve had told you, he was protecting this town like an unsung hero.

You sit down on the couch, or what was left of it, perching on the comfortable seat that used to be the headrest. Steve joins you after a silent moment, avoiding the tear in the fabric, creating a distance unusual to you both, merely a few inches between.

“Wanna talk about it?” Steve asks and you turn your head to him in disbelief.

“What?”

“You know… about whatever the hell is making you so angry all the time.” He explains and you bite your cheek, turning away.

“Like I’m gonna confide in you.” You mutter and he slowly nods, pursing his lips. He didn’t expect anything less.

“We could make it fair.” Steve voices with determination, shifting to face you.

You raise a brow, intrigued by the offer. “I’m listening.”

“How about… question for a question?” He suggests and you scoff.

“Sure, wanna braid eachother’s hair later, get our nails done?”

He lets out a small huff, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Look, we’re gonna be stuck together whether we like it or not so keeping secrets isn’t gonna work.”

“God, you’re so nosy.”

“At least I’m not the one spacing out every five seconds when there are things out there trying to kill us!”

As much as you hated to admit it, he raised a valid point.

“We need to survive, Y/n.” Steve said sternly. “We both have people that need us.”

His voice gets quieter as he looks down at his hands, at the bag laying at his feet. He could practically feel the frequencies releasing from the radio hidden there, praying, hoping, that Dustin’s voice would find him again.

“Henderson?” You ask knowingly, and his eyes widen in surprise. “Please, that kid tells me everything.”

“You… what?”

“I used to babysit for the Wheelers.” You explain with a sigh, leaning back. “Dustin, Lucas, and Will were just added bonuses.”

“I can’t tell if you’re being sarcastic or not.” He raises a brow and you smile.

“No, I love those kids. They were pretty much the only people in this town that actually talked to me. They didn’t care who my dad was.”

“Believe me, they don’t care for any kind of authority.” Steve chuckled, cocking his head. “I never knew you babysat them. Henderson never told me that.”

“You probably never asked.” You shrug, “But I get it. I wanna know they’re okay, too.”

“Then can we please just… try to get along?” Steve offers, leaning forward.

Steve watches as your face twists with indecision, battling out voices in your mind that answered for you. He was almost taken aback at the effort of consideration you put into his proposal. And, with an aching heart, he had a feeling you had a very good reason for it. He just couldn’t remember what he did.

“Fine.” You finally agree, fiddling with the laces on the hoodie. His hoodie.

“Great.” He claps, sitting upright. “Okay, you go first.”

You blink at him as he looks at you expectantly. “I’ve completely forgotten this entire conversation.”

“Ask me a question.” He says softly, unusual to his routine remarks on your inability to listen.

“Okay…” You purse your lips, stretching them to the side as you thought. How do you even talk to him after years of trying to rip eachother’s throats out? “Uh… favourite colour?”

You wince and he starts laughing, the melody enticing you along with it.

“That was awful.” He remarks, looking away from you as he tries to compose himself.

“I’m trying, okay?” You giggle.

“Just…” He calms himself, shaking his head. “Something you want to know. Or, at least something more personal than what colour I like to wear.”

“Jeez, I didn’t realise there were so many rules to this.” You say, but your words are spoken in a joking manner. “Fine, I’ll try again.”

“Good.” He nods.

This time, you try and think back, rooting through your brain for the questions that have been plaguing you for years.

“Why did you choose Tommy?”

Steve wasn’t sure what he expected, but it took him by surprise. He frowns.

“To be friends with, I mean.” You explain quickly, staring down at your shoes.

“We…” He starts before frowning a little. “I don’t know.”

“There’s the scoop I’ve been looking for.” You smirk and he laughs nervously, lifting his head to meet your eyes.

“I just mean… I don’t remember. I don’t remember a lot, lately. Hit my head too many times, I think.”

You searched for the satire, but you knew he was truthful. “Wait, seriously?”

Steve absent-mindedly nods his head. “Yep. Doctors told me something about concussions and how too many can have serious effects or something like that.”

“I… I didn’t realise.” You frown, biting your lip.

“Yeah, I gotta work on the whole ‘avoiding fights’ thing.” He attempts a laugh, but it came out much sadder than intended.

“So… you don’t remember freshman year?”

“Bits and pieces. It’s not, like, totally gone. It’s all a bit blurry, I guess. I can remember the first game I played in, even right down to the final scores. But I couldn’t even tell you who I was playing with. Or if I even scored.”

“Three.” You say immediately, surprising yourself.

“Huh?”

“Um… three.” You shrug, fidgeting. “You scored three times. Or got a hoop? I’ll be honest, I have no idea how basketball works but you got the ball in the hoop three times.”

“How do you-”

“It was a school game, I had to watch it.” You explain defensively, shaking off the thought with the bat of your hand.

Steve bit the inside of his cheek, but not to resist a snarky remark. He was hoping the slight blush creeping up his neck wasn’t noticeable.

“Anyway,” He shakes his head, looking in a direction where he could focus. “If I knew how Tommy and I became friends, I’d tell you. Not like I haven’t been questioning that for a while now.”

“Why does he suddenly hate you?” You query and he opens his mouth to answer before closing it, sending you a smirk. “What?”

“I believe it’s my turn to ask a question.”

“Oh, God.” You groan, placing your head in your hands, hidden away from his victorious stare. “I don’t like where this is going.”

Steve looks at you trying to play it off, acting like you didn’t care. But he’d never seen you look more nervous. And that made him nervous. “You don’t have to answer.”

“Well, yeah. Technically you never answered my question.” You point out, laughing when he looks at you with annoyance. “Okay, okay. Fine. Ask away, Harrington.”

“I…” He begins, before he’s second guessing himself. Maybe he’s going about this all wrong. He’s playing a childish game just to get some information out of you, while you’re trying to hold on to those personal aspects of your life you don’t want to share. Did you even owe him that? “Never mind. Forget it.”

You send him a dubious look, “Seriously?”

“Yeah, it was stupid anyway.” He dismisses, stretching his arms. “Cool. We should start moving.”

“Harrington.” Your stern voice brought him back down as he tries to stand, biting his lip. “Don’t chicken out on me now.”

Steve sighs, running a hand down his face and you’re surprised at how quickly his demeanour had changed. He suddenly looked shy.

He tried to relocate his thoughts, change his course towards a question that felt easier, more normal considering the stance of your relationship. So, rather than ask that burning question, he redirected his determination to find out a little more of what you and he could share in common.

“Okay.” Steve nods, turning towards you. You’re sat patiently, awaiting his words. It was a new look, but he’d have to recoil at it later. “Henderson.”

“What about him?” You frown. This wasn’t where you were expecting this conversation to lead.

“I just… I wanna know how that friendship started.” He shrugs and you breathe out a laugh, eyes wide.

“I literally just told you five seconds ago, I babysat him.”

“Yeah, I know that.” He rolls his eyes, “I meant… why are you still so close now? What do- what do you guys even talk about?”

Steve hoped he wasn’t too obvious but the moment that iconic mischievous smirk lifted the corner of your lips, he regretted everything.

“Why?” You raise a brow, leaning closer. “You scared he’s spilled all your secrets?”

“Has he?” Steve asked, a little panicked.

“No.” You smile, leaning back. “No, we just… talk. He’s always at the arcade and I usually kill some time over there. When the Wheelers needed me, the kids were usually burrowed in that basement on whatever campaign they had created that week. Dustin was kind of the first one to even notice I was there. He’d always offer to help me in the kitchen with stuff, even if the others were in the middle of a war or something.”

“Sounds like a crush.” Steve comments and you chuckle.

“Whatever it was… he’s a good kid.” You nod, looking at him. “I was there when… when his dad left.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.” You bite your lip, furrowing your brows. “We kinda bonded over that, a little. He was having trouble processing it all, not sure what happened. I think Will was the only other one he could relate to, but Will was apparently too young to really remember anything. Dustin needed a shoulder, I guess. And since I have somewhat of an experience with his situation, I was there for him.”

“Can’t believe he never mentioned that.” He huffs, shaking his head. That asshole usually told him everything, especially stuff he didn’t want to know about. And you being a close friend suddenly didn't make the list?

“Please.” You laugh, and he looks at you. “Dustin knows we aren’t friends. Hell, I think he’s probably seen us fighting hundreds of times. I know the whole town has.”

“Still.” Steve sighs, leaning back. “Wouldn’t kill him to share.”

“He talks about you a lot.” You admit and Steve’s eyes flicker to yours in an instant.

“Really?” He sounds a little sceptic and you nod, unsure of why you felt like you had to tell him this. Part of you just felt like he needed to know.

“Nothing bad.” You insist, brushing away a stray hair that had fallen across your eye. “In fact, he talked about you like you were the second coming of Christ.”

“Really?” Steve was smiling now, ego surely fed.

“I think it took a piece of my soul away each day.” You decide, but Steve was still grinning at you. “Stop that. It’s creepy.”

“Can’t help that I’m an idol. A hero.” He looks off into the distance with his self-entitlement. “A god.”

“Fucking hell, forget I said anything.” You groan, grimacing at him.

“Nope.” Steve was going to milk this for as long as he could. He couldn’t resist the opportunity to annoy you. He stretches his legs, pushing off the couch into a stand. “You do realise you’re in the presence of someone important?”

“If by important, you mean idiotic? Then yes.” You remark, resting your chin in your palm. “You really are living in King Steve land. Sponsored by Farah Fawcett.”

“Well, it’s only-” Steve pauses his boasting, slowly turning to look at you. You’re wearing a sick grin on your face and he refuses to acknowledge it. “Okay. I’ll shut up.”

“Like music to my ears.” You sigh gratefully as he hesitantly sits back down, still glaring at you. “Oh, come on. Don’t blame Dustin, it just slipped out. He really does look up to you, even if I’ll never understand why.”

“Jesus, that kid…” He begins before his voice trails out, brows knitted together.

“I’m sorry he wasn’t here.” You say quietly. You had figured out the real reason Steve followed you here as soon as his face dropped walking into the chaos within the cabin. It was the same face you had worn knowing Hopper and El were nowhere in sight.

“Yeah, well… wishful thinking.” He dismisses, waving his hand. “He’s probably out there with the rest of the nerds, you know. Irritating someone else as he tries to explain every living thing he sees. Did you know he tried to keep one of those dog things as a pet?”

“What?” You laugh out of surprise and Steve quickly nods in exasperation.

“Yeah. Yeah, he named it and everything. Convinced he had some psychic connection with it or whatever. Oh, and his obsession with his walkies, man. If I don’t say ‘over’, he’ll give me a lecture on using the thing right for like ten minutes.”

“That does sound like him.” You smile. Steve was talking about the boy like he was the most annoying thing in the world, but there was such adoration in his eyes.

“I remember when we had to go down into those tunnels.” Steve continues, spiralling down Dustin lane. “I told him no but he just wouldn’t listen. Then when it was all over, he came with me to the hospital to get my head checked out and I don’t even remember what I said but suddenly he’s ranting on and on about gates and their electromagnetic field-”

“Wait.” You grab his arm and he raises a brow, surprised at the sudden contact. “The gate. You said- yeah, you said that Hopper and El had closed the gate, right?”

“Apparently not.” Steve comments, fiddling with the nailed bat between his legs.

“Exactly.” You point, standing up.

“I’m not following.” He frowns, watching as you pace back and forth.

“Of course you aren’t.”

“Rude.”

“If this is all happening because of a gate, then maybe Hopper would take El to close it. For good, this time.” You explain in a rush, Steve nodding along. “Where did you say it was, again?”

“The lab.” Steve replies, standing up to join you, “The abandoned one on Randolph? Turns out, not so abandoned. Hasn’t been for years.”

“They’ve gotta be there.” You insist, mostly to convince yourself. “Right?”

“Worth a shot.” Steve breathes out, nodding. “But it’s not gonna be fun getting there. If we’re right and that gate is spitting out monsters, it’s gonna be hell central.”

You thought it through. You’d both be ripped apart before you even got close. And there wasn’t a guarantee you’ll even get there fast enough.

“A car.” You blurt, looking up at him. “We’re gonna need a car.”

Steve’s eyes widen and he reaches into his back pocket, displaying a bunch of keys as they dangled from his fingers. “Thank god I always have these on me.”

You tilt your head, staring at them. “Wow. Are they gonna transform into your magical car, ‘cause I sure as hell don’t remember the lift over.”

“I know where it is.” Steve shook his head, pulling a face at your mockery.

“Where?”

His face freezes, eyes squinting. “Well...”

“Well?” You wave your hand about, becoming impatient.

“It’s in the parking lot. Back at the school.” He winces and you take a deep breath.

“Why didn’t you-” You begin before cutting yourself off, shaking your hands, “No. no, It’s fine. We’ll just go get it. As long as we’re quick and quiet, it’ll be fi-”

You’re unconvincing attempt to appear calm was interrupted by the sound of a loud roar, prickling your skin into a wave of goosebumps. It was a shock to the system that reminded you of the exact danger Steve was talking about, and you didn’t want to stick around to find out.

“Time to go.” You squeak, grabbing the shotgun as you and Steve share intimidated looks.

“This is gonna be fun.” Steve murmurs, following you out of the cabin and into the open, trying to ignore the signalling traps echoing around him.

Plan A: Find Hopper at the cabin.

Plan B: Grab the car without being mauled to death.

Chapter Six: Don't Trust The Voices ->

taglist: @manyfandomsfanvergent . @sheisjoeschateau . @kthomps914 . @curled-hair-red-lips . @nix-rose . @palmtreesx3 . @kryztalglear . @sattlersquarry . @hey-barnes-stole-a-jeep . @sadslasher13 . @80saestheticismyfav .

[runnning-outof-time]

Tommy blurb with “It’s __ in the morning. Why are you just coming home now?” pls?

Hi there! Thanks so much for sending this in! 🥰❤️

*I’m Celebrating 1K Followers...thanks for the love!

Where’ve You Been?

Warnings: smoking, mentions of weapons

It’s just after midnight and the Shelby family home on Watery Lane is quiet.

(Y/N) is surprised that the living room of her home is empty as she enters through the front door late at night. She also doesn’t hear any movement from over in the betting shop, and the doors that separate it from the living space are closed, so there’s no one over there either.

She slowly walks up the steps to the hallway of the second floor, and immediately sees a stream of light coming from underneath the door to the room that she shares with her fiancé, Tommy.

Without trying to make much noise, she walks down the hall and comes to a stop in front of the door. Instead of just barging in, she knocks softly on the door to alert him of her presence. She’s learned to do this the hard way after she immediately entered the room one day and was met with the firing end of his revolver. This greeting quickly taught her that the bedroom was Tommy’s safe place...at least from the real, outside world. He was still visited by terrible nightmares, but they weren’t as easy to get rid of.

After she knocks, she twists the handle and pushes the door open. She’s met with Tommy, who’s sitting on the edge of the bed with a cigarette between his fingers. He looks up from whatever he was staring at on the floor to meet her eyes when she turns after shutting the door behind her.

“Where’ve you been?” the words tumble off of his lips quickly, as it’s what he’s been thinking since he returned to an empty home more than two hours ago.

“I was at Cherry’s house,” (Y/N) replies simply, setting her purse down on the wooden chair in the corner of the room before she turns back to him, a small, brown bag still in her hands. “We got to talking and I didn’t realize what time it was,” she then tells him as she moves over to the bed so that she can sit in the little space that was left on its edge.

“You had me worried sick, love,” Tommy sighs when he hears what she’d been up to, dropping his head as he let a line of smoke out past his lips.

“I’m sorry, Tommy,” (Y/N) frowns, hating that she’d made him worry about her whereabouts. “I made this for you though,” she tells him then as she raises the bag that was in her hands slightly.

Tommy glances up at her as she says this, and he can’t help but chuckle slightly at the smile that’s on her face. He then looks at the bag for a moment before he takes it from her hands. (Y/N) watches, giddy with anticipation, as he slowly opens the bag and reaches into it.

“A cupcake?” his statement comes out more like a question as he holds the small dessert up to get a better look at it. It’s decorated rather simply, with a thin layer of plain, white icing on top of what seems to be vanilla cake.

“You didn’t think I’d forget your birthday, did you?” (Y/N) asks as she smiles over at him.

“You didn’t need to do anything for my birthday, love,” he says then as he moves his eyes from the dessert in his hand to her.

“Yes I did...it’s part of my job of being your fianceé,” she disputes his statement, her words making him smile softly.

Tommy takes a moment to decide whether he needs to go on with giving a spiel of how birthday’s really aren’t important and don’t necessarily need to be celebrated or not, and ultimately, he chooses not to. He doesn’t need to dull the kindness of the gesture she’d done for him. There is something on his mind though that he does feel the need to bring up.

“I really appreciate you doin’ this for me, (Y/N), but you can’t be bein’ out this late without me knowin’ where you’re at,” he says, the latter half of his statement coming out in more of a worried nature than anything else.

“I’m sorry for causing you worry, Tommy,” she responds, feeling the need to apologize to him again even though she’d already done it earlier. She then reaches over to rest her hand against the back of his neck. “You feel clammy, love...are you ok?” she asks as she notices the thin layer of sweat that’s covering his skin.

“That’s just from worryin’ ‘bout you. I was ready to send some men out to try and find where you were,” he tells her, making her sigh softly...she really did have him worked up over her absense.

“Next time I just won’t let Cherry get into all of her man troubles. She can go on all night with them if I let her,” she comments, a smile forming on her face as she thinks about the wild stories her friend had to share with her.

Tommy chuckles at her statement. “Not all men can be as easy going as I am,” he jokes lightheartedly, a smile on his face he looks over at the woman sitting next to him.

“Oh, yes because you live a life of simplicity, Thomas Shelby,” she grins as she teases him right back, the both of them laughing now.

“Yet you still want to marry me,” Tommy says when their laughter’s died down. His eyes match hers and she can’t help but smile at his words.

“I’d marry you regardless of what I’d be gettin’ myself into,” she tells him as she leans in slightly so that she’s able to brush her nose against his. “I love you, Tommy,” she whispers, watching as a smile forms on his face.

“I love you, darlin’,” he repeats the sentiment before leaning in to press his lips to hers.

(Y/N) holds the kiss for a few seconds before pulling away and glancing down at the cupcake that was still in his hand. “Are you going to have some of your cupcake?” she questions him, looking between his eyes and the dessert he is holding.

Tommy exhales a breath of a laugh before he takes one last drag from his cigarette. He stubs it out in the ashtray on the bedside table before he looks at the cupcake in his hand. “I think I’ll have it for breakfast,” he makes his decision after a short pause. (Y/N) nods and watches as he reaches over to set the cupcake on the bedside table. There’s a noticable grin on his face when he turns back to look at her, “I think I’ve got my eyes on something else at the moment,” he tells her, and in seconds, she’s wrapped up in his arms and being lowered onto the bed with his lips on hers.

———

I’m back to writing fluff fics after having my few moments of angst haha ... hope you enjoyed!! ☺️💕

[mable-stitchpunk]

Going Home in a Box: Chapter 81 (Teaser)

That’s why this night out was so important because he needed to let off some steam. Thankfully, Freddy was more than happy to welcome him.

“Foxy! Hello!” he called through the vent the moment Foxy came into sight.

“Ahoy, Freddy!” Foxy called back. He hurried through the rest of the vent and climbed out. “Ya seem to be in a chipper mood.”

“Of course! I am always in a good mood when my best friend comes on down for a visit.”

There was something so sincere in the way Freddy said that. So utterly corny and shmoozy, but completely sincere.

“Now don’t go gettin’ soft on me,” Foxy said with a warm chuckle.

“What, me? Never! I am made of too much metal to be soft,” Freddy joked back. He beckoned him with a hand. “Come with me to my green room and we can get this night started!” he chirped.

He began to eagerly lead the way down the hall. A little too eager to get going, which Foxy picked up on right away. Though instead of asking directly, he decided to test the waters.

“How’s Gregory?”

“He is doing great! Although he will be staying with Sunny and Jake tonight. Which is good! They are finally starting to get along.”

“Sounds like that whole joint custody thing’s workin’ out.”

Freddy chuckled happily. Foxy found his silence somehow telling.

It occurred to him then that Freddy was up to something, and it likely involved his bandmates since Gregory was out of the picture.

Which meant that the following walk to Freddy’s green room was especially tense. Foxy did his best not to show it- the moment Freddy asked about work he went right into a spiel about the business, about the new pizza, about a kid who managed to almost reach his Sit ‘n Survive high score, and virtually anything else that came to mind. It sounded like his usual friendly bragging but if he could’ve, he would’ve been sweating bullets right now.

He barely gave Freddy room to speak but Freddy wasn’t bothered. He saw Foxy’s chattiness as a sign that he was in a good mood, and thus his own second-thoughts were quickly dashed.

They soon arrived at Rockstar Row. The curtains to Freddy’s green room were drawn as they usually were, but Foxy found himself eyeing them carefully as he followed the bear up to his door. Freddy stopped just out of range so that the door wouldn’t automatically open and turned to look at Foxy.

“Would you like to go in first?” Freddy offered. His eyes nearly glowing with excitement.

That’s when it became a little too hard to ignore.

“Freddy,” Foxy flatly.

“Yes, Foxy?”

“Is yer band sittin’ in there?”

Freddy seemed startled at the question. His eyes darted between the pirate and the door. After a long pause his ears drooped, and he drooped, and he gave a defeated, “Yes.”

“…A’right.”

Foxy made a motion like taking a deep breath and after a long second of considering, he spun on his heel. But instead of bolting off- which was his natural reflex- he instead yanked his hoodie up and over his head and tossed it onto the red velour rope. He checked himself over with hand and hook before turning back to Freddy.

“How do I look?”

Freddy perked up instantly. “Excellent! Very cool!”

“Ya should’a warned me, Freddo. I woulda brought me good coat.”

Freddy’s eyes down casted apologetically. “I know, I was just… afraid that you would not come.”

“Do they at least know I’m comin’?”

“Of course! I wanted to make sure in advance that it would be a completely safe situation. I would never arrange a meeting between you and my bandmates unless I was absolutely certain that nobody would tell on you. They will not, they just want to meet you.”

“Chica included?”

“Chica especially! Now that she knows you and I are not… well… together.”

“We ain’t?! Freddy, I be shocked!” Foxy gasped.

“What?!” Freddy gasped.

“Freddy,” Foxy said flatly.

“Oh! Oh, hmm-hmm, my apologies,” Freddy warmly chuckled. He turned towards the door. “Now then, are you ready to meet the Glamrocks?”

“Ehhhhh.”

“I believe in you! Let us head in!”

[devoursbears]

So I go to a gay church in my area because I like the community and it is honestly incredible to see old queers every week. But I've been thinking recently about this particular dynamic in the bible study group.

in the group there is this gay catholic and and a nonbinary communist who are both retirement age and butt heads on every topic, with the Catholic very adamant in his positions and being sure of his being right about How To Christianity. Then the Communist who has studied other religions and is much more concerned with the Divinity found in humanity than some invisible Patriarch making all the rules. and it as me thinking about the Uber Right Wing politics of a buncha christians, and how 'traditional christianity' really does make sense with their political views (and lets be honest, it was designed that way)

because like, the Catholic. He means well, but basically always falls back to "Yeah God is easy. He is perfect and mysterious and we can't understand him but we have to follow his rules and those rules are the Bible and the Catholic Doctrine." Which. Every time I hear him talk I cant help but hear right wing rhetoric about not questioning established authority and how those in power got there in the first place.

For example, there was a discussion about Sin. and the Catholic goes on the expected spiel of "Sin is these actions as defined by bible and to be rid of sin you have to do the 3 step plan that the church made up which goes like admit guilt, apologize, then repent by not doing the thing again and also pray about it. Bam Done. Easy Peasy."

He kept repeating this line of reasoning even when this other guy, a New guy who specifically doesn't like Christianity because of people who prescribe how to think and act, as it is a trigger for New guy. But the Catholic couldn't tell that. His Catholic Programming wasn't able to compute any other way of a Correct Relationship with Religion. It felt incredibly reminiscent of something along the lines of "oh its easy to not get arrested, just don't to a crime sweaty :))))" type rhetoric.

and I don't have the writing skills to make extensive conclusions and tie all the strings together but I just wanted to share this pattern I see. where right wing Evangelical Christians have their view on life baked in in every aspect of their beliefs. and its frustrating!!! because religion even including Christianity can be a helpful tool for spirituality/hope in the world/ community for people but just like any system of power, it is important to question the structure, and who is in power and why. And like most power structures that want to maintain that structure, Christianity and Right Wing rhetoric often go hand in hand in their ability to drive any questioning out.

Anyhow, shoutout to Alien the 70ish year old nonbinary racing champ with an intersex cat they are my hero and I love them for having the energy to push back against the Catholic and his rigid power structures.

[logan-sanders-enthusiast]

electing strange perfections (in any stranger i choose) - Chapter 1/?

next | masterlist | AO3

Word count: 5117

Summary:

The fae world and the human world had always been mostly separate. Fae crossed between the two realms while humans remained oblivious to their very existence, and that was how it had been for centuries. But when the lines start to bleed, and humans start catching on, who's going to step in and put an end to the conflict that follows? Human or fae, fate does tend to fall into strange hands (aka, logince fae au)

((AN: this is like 60% based on an rp i did a while back on tumblr. I definitely strayed from the original storyline a lot but the idea and the characters are like… pretty similar i think. this is also incredibly self indulgent bc im a sucker for logince. enjoy :] ))

~ * ~

Humans liked to consider themselves to be intelligent. Masters of the world they lived in. They dug up coal to power their great machines, and cut down trees to put up the scaffolding for towering buildings. They sacrificed their share of the Earth for the wonders they saw fit to create, and they turned to each other with unsatisfied smiles, as if to say: ‘Look at that. Look at the greatness we have achieved’.

They never quite finished with their powerful innovations, there was always something more. Some turned to science, and quickly became bored, many claiming that we had already mastered the Earth, there was nothing more to learn. Yes, humans quickly convinced themselves that they understood most everything, and whatever they didn’t understand, well, they at least could pinpoint its existence, could say with confidence that it was infact real. Although this mindset has led to great discoveries, it is the hinderance of the most vital secrets that the Earth holds close to her chest.

Then again, perhaps it’s not always the important people making the important discoveries. After all, sometimes fate does tend to fall into strange hands.

~ * ~

Logan awoke just like he did every other morning, the smell of coffee drifting up the stairs, the sound of his mothers poorly singing along to some ABBA song, the summery morning air drifting in from his window that he always forgot to close, his homework still strewn across his desk from his late night study session. All was normal because that day was a normal day.

He got out of bed as usual, ten minutes before his alarm was supposed to go off, as he always tended to wake up earlier than he needed to. He blamed it on his circadian rhythm, and would usually bore his mothers to death with some scientific spiel whenever the topic came up, but if asked if he would set his alarm back ten minutes to compensate for it, he refused for whatever reason.

He put on his school clothes that he had laid out the night before, black jeans, a blue button up and a black tie, similar to what he always wore, formal and neat. He heard that type of clothing would get kids bullied in some schools, but he kept his head down, was quiet and polite, and his peers were always kind to him, even if he never found himself with many friends.

He brushed his hair, cleaned his teeth, made himself seem presentable, turned off his alarm once it went off, picked up his already packed schoolbag and slung it over his shoulder, before he went downstairs, everything going the way it always did. Today would be a normal day, why wouldn’t it be?

Logan’s feet had barely left the bottom step when one of his mothers swept into the hallway from around the corner. April was her name, named after the month she was born in. She often joked about her parents lack of creativity, and her surprise that her younger brother wasn’t named January. She was a shorter woman, with deep golden tan skin and kind eyes shining from behind a pair of round framed glasses. Her hair was long, dark, and curly, and her face was adorned with deep smile lines to compliment her dimples. Logan knew his mom had always been a beautiful woman, though he didn’t need to say it, his other mother, Natalie (named after nothing in particular, her parents simply adored the name), did her best to remind her wife every morning.

April walked to up to him with a skip in her step, going on her tip toes to run a hand through his hair “Oh Logan, look at you, always so professional looking. It’s high school, not a business conference you know?” she smiled fondly as she stepped back to admire her son.

“Mama, please, I have a reputation to uphold,” Logan replied, flattening down his hair. It was insatiably curly, and he always did his best to keep in neat. Just another trait he shared with his mama. People had always pointed out how similar he and April looked, ever since he was a child. April always tried to convince him that he had Natalie’s eyes, but he knew now that he was older that made no sense. Natalie, with her pale skin and pin straight brown hair, played about as much of a part in his genetic makeup as the anonymous man from the sperm bank played in his upbringing.

Logan’s almond skin, his poor eyesight, his curly, dark hair, all were traits he shared with his mama. He figured that the anonymous donor must have been tall though, as he was almost a head taller than both of his mothers, with a bit more room for maybe one more growth spurt.

“Oh please, all of your teachers already adore you” April hummed and tugged on Logan’s tie gently “At least lose the tie, it’s going to be hot today. Come on, breakfast is ready, we might even let you have two cups of coffee this morning if you promise to not stay up so late studying tonight” she said with a grin, walking out into the kitchen.

Logan followed behind her, the sounds of a familiar song filling his ears as he stepped into the kitchen alongside his mother.

‘-my destiny in quite a similar way. The history book on the shelf, is always repeating itself…’

“Waterloo? You couldn’t have picked a better song?” Logan teased lightly, immediately going to pour himself a cup of coffee.

Natalie turned her head around from where she was sitting at the kitchen bench “Excuse you young man, Waterloo is and always has been a hit” she argued back with a light-hearted tone, her voice still a bit rough from sleep..

“No, it was a hit in 1974. The Winner Takes it All is objectively a much better song, if we’re talking ABBA” Logan pointed out. Their musical debates were common in the mornings. It was all routine, his mothers put on a song, Logan came downstairs and critiqued it over coffee, rinse and repeat.

“Sorry honey but I have to agree with Nat on this one” April chimed in, sitting next to her wife “I mean, you can’t win Eurovision with a mediocre song. Besides, The Winner Takes it All doesn’t fit the morning vibe”

Natalie nodded to what her wife said, a tiny strand of her hair falling out of the tight bun it was held in “Very true. And really if we’re going to talk better ABBA songs, I’d consider Hole in Your Soul over any other song any day”

April put a hand over her heart in a dramatic fashion “Whoa hold on a second, you’re taking Hole in Your Soul over The Visitors? Now that’s crazy...”

‘-couldn't escape if I wanted to, Waterloo, knowing my fate is to be with you…’

Logan smiled a little to himself as his mothers continued to playfully bicker over ABBA. He took a sip of his coffee, drinking slowly so he didn’t burn his tongue.

His mothers had known each other for years, but for all Logan knew they could have known each other forever. He had never met two people who were closer than they were. They met in their sophomore year of high school, and Natalie proposed when they were both twenty-two, back in 1999. Of course, they couldn’t actually get married until about sixteen years later, for obvious reasons. Logan was ten at the time, he still remembered the wedding, and how much his mothers had smiled all throughout the ceremony. He was sure if he dug around in his closet a bit he could find the little black suit and tie he had worn, all dusty and stiff with seven years of no wear.

Logan eventually finished his coffee and put it down on the bench, filling his cup up again, slowly and carefully so as to not spill a single drop. Natalie looked over at Logan, not mentioning the second cup as it was merely routine for all of them by now “What’s on the agenda today Lo?”

Logan hummed, taking a sip of his coffee before speaking “I have a science project to wrap up, and then I might stay late to finish up my English essay in the common area”

“Why don’t you just come home and finish it?” April asked, tilting her head to the side.

“If I come straight home you’ll spend all the time I spend on work trying to pull me away from it, and I can’t risk that sort of distraction,” Logan answered.

April scoffed “Oh please, it’s probably not due for another month, you’re far too organised”

Natalie nodded in agreement “Yeah, you certainly didn’t inherit either of your mothers’ tendencies for procrastination”

“Well inherited procrastination or not, I’ll stay late today. What time should I be home by?” Logan asked, grabbing an apple out of the fruit bowl next to him on the counter, intending on taking it for breakfast even though he knew the chances of being able to leave the house without first eating a proper meal were slim.

“Hmm how about you be home by… now. And ditch school. And we can do something fun as a family and have a together day” April suggested, tilting her head to the side with a crooked smile.

“As tempting as that sounds-“ Logan began in a way that sounded like he wasn’t tempted in the slightest “I have a perfect attendance to uphold, and besides, I promised Virgil that I’d meet up with him to help proof read a paper for him”

Natalie sighed heavily, her shoulders slouching in an melodramatic disappointment “Oh dearest Logan, always working, never enough time for his boring old mothers”

Logan rolled his eyes in amusement, tucking the apple away in his bag to save for his walk to school “Look, tomorrow’s Saturday, we’re all free all day so we can have a together day then; we’ll do whatever you want. How does that sound?”

“I thought you had to tutor on Saturdays?” April pointed out.

“The student cancelled, they came down with the flu, or they were out of town, I can’t really remember. Either way, I don’t have to tutor them tomorrow so I’m free” Logan explained.

Both April and Natalie smiled “Well that’s wonderful! Yes, tomorrow it is, and you better not cancel otherwise you will never live it down” April warned.

“Yes mama, I know” Logan said with a fond smile, about to turn to head out the door when Natalie picked up a brown paper bag off of the counter and tossed it to him.

“Breakfast” She said simply “Eat it or I’ll come down to the school and tell them you have a doctors appointment and-“ she gasped dramatically for effect” “-force you to skip school!”

“Yes ma” Logan said, his tone exasperated but downplayed by his smile. “Love you Lo, have a good day” “You too ma” “And me?” “Yes mama, and you” “Bye Lo, have fun at school, do not work too hard today” “Goodbye”

And with that, Logan was out the door. The walk to school wasn’t a long one, and though Logan was perfectly capable of just driving to school, he enjoyed going by foot. It was good exercise and he lived on the brink between suburb and nature, so it was nice to hear the birds and see the green of his surroundings in the mornings, it helped to wake him up.

His actual school was a lot less lively than its surroundings, but that didn’t bother Logan all that much. He enjoyed school, which some people found strange, but didn’t everyone enjoy the things that they excelled at?

He walked into first period with his arms heavy with books and his bag heavy with homework, either to be handed in early or to bring up questions about some aspect of the assignment. First period English went smoothly, he handed in his annotation homework, made good progress on analysing the text they were studying (which they weren’t due to start analysing until next week, Logan just liked to get a head start), and engaged in a friendly debate about the textual meaning behind the piece they were studying, which always brought his mood up, especially considering he always had a tendency to win said debates.

Second period algebra was just as simple for him, writing examples on the board, getting extension work halfway through the class once he had finished all the other material, making notes and areas for improvement. He studied in the library during his morning break and then went straight back in for a physics class in third period.

Everything went pretty well, until fourth period biology, where he hit a small bump in the road.

The first half of the period went well, with Logan handing in one of his projects a week early, as he usually did. Although just as he was packing up to leave, his biology teacher called him up to the front, his project folder open on his desk, “All of your work is exceptional, as always Mr Sanders, however you seem to have missed a small part of the assignment”

Logan was immensely proud of his project. They had been tasked with identifying one common plant that grew in the area, and giving a detailed description on its properties, environment, cellular makeup, evolution over its existence and the like. Logan had taken great care to include every detail, so what could he possibly have missed? “Oh, my apologies sir, I wasn’t aware. I had checked and double checked my project against the instruction guide last night and found no issue, so I am curious, what did I miss?”

Logan’s biology teacher shook his head “It’s nothing major, and I won’t mark you down for it if you don’t want to go and add that now that you’ve already submitted. I’ll admit, it’s only a small detail. In the instruction guide, at the top of the page, students were asked to include either a picture or a physical example of the plant that they had selected” his teacher said, pulling out the guide and sliding it over to Logan, pointing out the part that had instructed that, “It’s easy to miss, don’t stress about it. Now, I can see that you have chosen stinging nettle, so of course I don’t expect you to go out and pick any-“

“I’ll do it” Logan said abruptly, “My apologies sir, I didn’t know that I had missed something so simple. If it’s alright, I will unsubmit my project now and I’ll bring the completed version with me tomorrow”

“Oh, you really don’t have to-“

“Nonsense, I wouldn’t want my work to be of a substandard quality. I assure you, I will have it done properly by tomorrow. Good afternoon sir” Logan said, quick to pick up his project off of the teachers desk and whisk himself out of the classroom without another word. How on Earth could he have missed something so small? He supposed he would have to put off finishing his essay that the afternoon, opting instead to take the walk into the woods at the edge of town to collect some nettle. It was fine, the essay wasn’t due for another month anyways.

When Logan sat down in the library at lunch, he was thoroughly disturbed. He still could hardly believe that he had missed something so simple, so easy. Completing the task would have taken him five minutes, and not only had he not done it, he had completely skimmed over actually doing it, he didn’t even forget, he just didn’t process the instruction.

Logan barely noticed someone sliding into the seat next to him until they cleared their throat to get his attention.

“You good there bud?” Virgil asked, seeing Logan stare off into the distance with that look in his eyes that he only got when he was overthinking something sparking a bit of concern in the older boy. “Hm? Oh, hello Virgil, yes I am perfectly adequate” Logan replied with a small nod towards his friend.

Virgil and Logan had known each other for twelve years. Twelve long years of what started out as enduring each other’s presence, to accepting it, to enjoying it. They had met in kindergarten when they were put in the same class, and forced to sit together after an argument broke out about who owned which pencil when their stationary got mixed up during arts and craft. It was some tactic to get them to get along, and for a while it didn’t work; arguments broke out every day, and many pencils were snapped in half in the process, but by the end of the year, they had begrudgingly accepted each other as acquaintances rather than enemies, and now, years down the line, that bond had only strengthened.

Virgil and Logan wouldn’t quite consider the other the only friend they had, but they would be stupid to not consider each other best friends.

Which was why Logan’s inner turmoil was more than obvious to Virgil.

“Come on, spit it out, what happened” Virgil said, dropping his bag on the floor next to him with a thud.

“It’s nothing, no time for distractions, we need to proofread your paper” Logan said, trying to grab the essay out of Virgil’s hands, not before Virgil had lifted it up and out of Logan’s reach.

“Nuh uh, nice try. You’re not getting this until you tell me what’s wrong” Virgil said, waving the paper around above Logan’s head, making the shorter boy frown at the thought of the creases the taller would be making to the paper. Much to Logan’s dismay, Virgil had always been freakishly tall, standing at almost 6’4”, towering above Logan who stood at about 5’10”. They had been the same height for most of their earlier school years, but as soon as Virgil hit the seventh grade he shot up, and ever since then he had often used his height to his advantage, and seemed to take much enjoyment out of holding things just out of Logan’s reach.

Logan sighed in annoyance and conceded “Fine. I handed in my biology project early and my professor informed me at the end of class that I had missed an instruction so it was unfinished”

Virgil blinked “And?”

“That’s all” Logan replied simply.

“That’s all?” Virgil echoed, biting back a laugh “Lo that’s no big deal, don’t worry about it. You handed it in early too so it doesn’t matter. You can just unsubmit it and bring the completed one in when it’s ready”

“I know I know, it’s just… I never miss details like that. It was such a small thing, a physical example or a picture, that was all I was missing, and the instruction was right at the top of the page and I just… missed it” Logan said, his tone suggesting that it was some crucial thing that he had skimmed over and not just a small part of his project.

“Y’know what I think Lo? I think you’re overworking yourself” Virgil said, resting his chin in his hands, keeping his paper pinned under his elbow on the table so Logan still couldn’t get to it “You need to take a break, step away from schoolwork for a bit. You’re already like months ahead of everyone else on classwork. It couldn’t hurt to stop for just a little while, clear your head. I mean, no one in a right state of mind freaks out about missing a simple part of their project, do they?”

Logan sighed heavily, wanting to argue but figuring that it was no use, Virgil had always been the stubborn type, and in some way he was correct. “I suppose you’re right, maybe I am in over my head. I’ll try to step back a bit” Virgil smiled, pleased “Good, you need it specs”

“If you say so. Now, you wanted me to proofread your paper?” Virgil raised an eyebrow amusedly and shook his head, to which Logan huffed in annoyance “Certainly your work doesn’t count as my work, I’m simply going to proofread it-“

“Nope, you’re taking a well-deserved break and that includes all forms of work including proofreading. It’s in the fine print of our agreement, and I would recommend you read it but I’m sure that counts as some kind of proofreading so no, don’t do that” Virgil said, snickering at his own joke.

Logan just rolled his eyes “You are incorrigible”

“You’re very welcome L”

The two boys sat like that for a while, engaging in a bit of friendly back and forth. It was all familiar for them, after all it wasn’t the first time that Virgil had insisted Logan took a break. He always found some way to overwork himself, through school, personal projects, or anything else that required his attention for extend periods of time. Of course, it’s not as bad as it used to be. Virgil remembered the times when he wouldn’t see Logan at all outside of classrooms for days, or sometimes weeks on end, always too busy studying at the library or finishing the mountains of extra work he had asked for in each subject. He remembered how irritable he always was, how tired he always looked. Over time, things changed, and it was better now, but it always felt like Logan was at risk of falling back into that spiral, constantly teetering on the edge. Virgil wished that Logan could eventually find some way to just step back from reality, even just for a little while, not get so caught up in school.

By the time they were supposed to head off to their last class of the day, both of the boys were in good spirits. A lively conversation mixed with a casual debate usually did wonders to lift their moods, so they both parted ways to their classes with smiles and promises to organise plans together soon.

Logan was feeling better, that little weight on his shoulders felt smaller, everything felt more manageable now that he was no longer so worked up over something so unimportant. He walked into his ancient history class with a lighter feeling in his chest, ready to get the class done and be finished for the day. He sat down in his usual seat, pulled out his notebook and pens, and started taking notes as the class began, writing down the work and answering any questions that the teacher asked. It was all normal and completely usual once more.

Logan often had a habit of getting too into his own head about minor things, especially when it came to matters of academics, something that he took very seriously. What had started out with him doing accelerated math and advanced reading in elementary school had led to him being the top of his year, winning awards for essays he submitted to competitions, and having several, rather persistent college scouts trying to persuade him into submitting an application. Even though he was at a point in his senior year where potential colleges was something that students were beginning to think over, Logan had already planned out his course and top picks for colleges, all of which he was certain he would be accepted to, and his mind was rarely changed. He liked to have things planned out in advance after all. At the very least, he was modest about it. In fact, his mothers seemed to brag more than he did about his numerous achievements. He would always claimed to be embarrassed whenever they started to boast about him, but in reality, he didn’t mind too much; it was nice to be recognized. The end of class rolled around quicker than Logan had expected, the teacher signing off with giving them a hefty homework task to complete over the weekend, leaving students groaning and mumbling in discontent while Logan just jotted it down in his notebook.

After placing his things neatly in his bag and staying back to ask his teacher one question about the homework, he left the classroom, heading towards the school gates. On a normal day he would walk home with Virgil, since he only lived about a five minute walk away from his home, however Virgil was not waiting for him at the gate today. He had messaged him a little while ago, letting him know that he was going to stay back in the library to proofread his paper that they didn’t get to read at lunch with some of the student volunteers there. Logan was very tempted to join him in the library, but he knew Virgil wouldn’t let him stay and would bring up the whole ‘overworking’ thing again, so he kept on walking, past the school gates, onto the street.

At about fifteen minutes into his walk, the lack of the usual conversation he would be having with Virgil began making things a little dull, leaving the occupation of his mind to his thoughts. At any one time Logan was thinking of many things, and this was no exception. He was thinking about how best to start his ancient history homework, if his mothers had brainstormed any weekend plans, what his grade would be on their recent math quiz, a rather tricky chemistry question that had puzzled him for quite some time, and unsurprisingly, his biology project. Even though he tried to ignore it, he couldn’t help that prickly feeling under his skin when he thought about it being handed in incomplete.

Logan stopped in the middle of the path and looked around. A decent distance from him, yet well within his line of sight, he could see the tree line that separated the suburbs from the woods that all the infrastructure was built around. Logan had heard about developers fighting over the woods for a long time, wanting to build apartment blocks, but the land was protected by the government under an environmental act; Logan was pretty sure it was a national park, or at least something of the sort.

He stayed looking at the tree line for a few moment, hesitating on a decision. He knew that Virgil warned him against worrying over the project too much but surely it couldn’t hurt. It shouldn’t take long to find a sample anyways, stinging nettle was rather common around these parts, and taking a short detour was surely better than leaving his biology project unfinished. Without another thought, Logan diverted from the sidewalk and started heading towards the woods. It was a short walk, mostly downhill, so it didn’t take long, and once he passed the tree line, the shade provided by the canopy was a welcome protection from the warm afternoon sun.

The air was cool and damp from the recent summer rains, and the leaf litter crunched softly under his feet as he walked further in, his path illuminated by the few rays of afternoon sun that snuck in through the canopy. Logan took a short moment just to look around and appreciate it all. He had always had a soft spot for nature, ever since he was a small child. His mothers were obsessed with showing him environment documentaries and watching how excited he would get over the pretty plants and cool fauna. Eventually, as he got older, that excitement turned into a genuine passion and curiosity. The natural world was certainly considered to be one of his personal interests.

He was interrupted from his thoughts by a sudden strange feeling that burrowed it’s way into his chest. He didn’t know where it had come from or what exactly the feeling was, all he knew was that suddenly, his body felt a little lighter, and he felt the sudden urge to keep walking forward. For a moment he thought it was like he was being beckoned, but that was an illogical thought, it was just some strange instinct. All thoughts of the strange feeling were forgotten when he finally stumbled upon what he had been looking for; a patch of stinging nettle, well he supposed it could hardly be considered a ‘patch’, as it was arranged in a rather strange manner, growing in a perfectly neat circle on the ground in front of him, with little white flowers blossoming below each leaf. In the middle of the circle sat a smooth stone, with little tufts of moss growing off it. Logan admired it for a few moments, almost like he couldn’t quite take his eyes off of it. The feeling in his chest ached softly, he ignored it.

He thought it was strange, for the nettle to be growing in such a perfect circle like it was. Perhaps someone had come along and planted it like this, or maybe it was some wonderful coincidence. He wasn’t entirely sure, but for some reason it captivated him.

After a minute or two he caught himself getting distracted by his thoughts and snapped himself out of it. He knew collecting a sample of this stuff would be tricky, he didn’t want to get stung, and he didn’t really have the right equipment for the job. He considered turning back and waiting for another day to return when he had something safer to carry the plant with, but quickly dismissed that thought, he was here now, he might as well get it done. Besides, he had told his teacher that it would be completed by tomorrow, and he intended to live up to that claim.

Crouching down, Logan put his hand in the hem at the bottom of his shirt and used it to safely pick a piece of nettle, tearing off a few leaves near the bottom so he could let go of his shirt and hold it by the stem. He observed the piece he had taken, it was adequate, but the leaves were small and the flowers were a little wilted, not the most pristine specimen. With a slight frown, Logan looked back at the circle, and a stem of nettle across from him on the other side of the circle caught his eye; large green leaves, a tall stem, numerous little white flowers, it would do perfectly.

The young man gingerly stepped into the circle, careful not to tread on any of the other bits of nettle, and crouched down inside of it, reaching out to pick the nettle from the base of the stem to avoid getting stung. He smiled a bit, admiring it once it was in his hand as he felt that strange feeling in his chest soar. It would work perfectly, he was sure to get a good mark on his biology project, now that everything was accounted for.

Logan had time for only one more thought, that being that he was suddenly feeling a bit lightheaded, before everything suddenly went dark.

[speccyfilmnerd]

Richard Elfman’s ‘Forbidden Zone’...

An Unknown, Absurdist, Avant-Garde Cult-Classic.

23.12.23

Overview

Forbidden Zone is what I, and many others, would consider a true hidden gem. Born from the underground alternative film scene of late 70s LA, the viewer is taken on a visual rollercoaster through the un-methodological madness of creator, director and producer Richard Elfman's mind, creating an experience unlike any other.

I highly recommend that you, if you haven't already, watch this movie. And you do it in a way that would support the people behind it. This is especially important to do for Forbidden Zone and films like it, for reasons I'll get into later… I'm aware that in the current and extremely annoying space of streaming it's tempting to delve into piracy but I'd advise against it. trust me it's worth it.

The Film Itself

The movie follows a french girl named ‘Frenchy’ (played by Marie-Pascale Elfman, the director's wife at the time) falling through a door in her basement into the sixth dimension. A place that is, for a lack of a better term, very horny. The hedonistic landscape consumes her and through a series of musical numbers she finds love and evil is conquered.

(Susan Tyrrell as Queen Doris)

This ‘evil’ is the scene stealing (reason I'm gay) Queen Doris, portrayed by the incredible Susan Tyrrell. Susan's performance is, in my opinion, the reason this film has had such an impact on me. Forbidden Zone is the reason I started taking film making seriously, not just as a hobby but as a career, and Queen Doris is the reason I love this movie. Her main musical number ‘witches egg’ is a charming and memorable scene (and I'm still upset it got taken off Spotify.) Her eye-catching appearance embodies the word camp. She's truly an incredible actress playing a delightful character that is a joy to see on the screen. I could turn this whole essay into a fan-girl spiel just about her, I adore her.

It would be impossible to brush over Hervé Villechaize’s Character, King Fausto. Although Fausto doesn't sing or dance, he does do something no other character does… he's the most annoying not-an-antagonist the entire realm has to offer. I mean, maybe I feel this way cuz I've got a massive crush on Doris and he doesn't realize how lucky he is- actually it is that. it's totally that. THE CHEATING SCUM!!!

(Danny Elfman as Satan with the Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo)

Something I've mentioned already is the music. Forbidden Zone features music written and performed by the Mystic Knight of the Oingo Boingo, more specifically it's leader Danny Elfman, the directors brother, and his right hand man Steve Bartek. The Knights also have an appearance in the film, Danny plays a Cab Calloway style interpretation of Satan while Steve and the other Knights dance behind him, dressed in long black cloaks and painted head to toe in gray makeup. And yes I see you, reader at the back scratching his head, it's that Danny Elfman.

Frenchy herself is another joy to watch, her sweet voice and ditsy personality are just another layer of charm for the viewer to lap up. Along with playing the lead, Marie was also the production designer. The film had a low budget (less than $90,000) and she did an exceptional job using what she had to create the stylised world of the sixth dimension. The overall visual look of the film is that of a live-action cartoon. Along with animated segments by John Muto which tie a lovely bow over the whole thing.

Production

It's no surprise that a film with such a low budget and small cast and crew would go through a lot before release. Richard Elfman himself recalls losing his house often in interviews, along with the finished film entirely. After several decades it was rightfully returned to him. Most of the cast and crew were paid very little or nothing at all, surprisingly I found a video of DEVO’s Gerald Casale saying he and his bandmates originally approached to do the film's music, but they refused after finding out how little money was in it.

Along with the film's actual composer, Danny and his band with Marie being actors, writer Mathew Bright and other crew members played characters on screen, even Richard has a small scene. This leads me to say how the film has a passion running through it. Unlike many other movies we see more and more of, Forbidden Zone was truly a creative adventure for all involved with no intention of making the most money possible. 

Richard, in 2019 said: "Doing anything original is taking a chance. Financially it bankrupted me and we lost our house. But I'm still glad I did it. 

Conclusion

Forbidden Zone is one of my favorite movies of all time, and I've seen a lot of movies. Once again, I recommend taking a look for yourself and supporting the artists behind it.

Interviews referenced/sources used:

Richard Elfman talking about the film in 2019:

rolling stone:

[nrrrdgrrrl2002]

Alright! 👏🏻 time to ramble about Fractured Glass!

Tw for guns, gun injuries, blood, body horror and angst

So it starts with the team stopping some of viziozos mobsters from murdering a mutant.

Mikey and middy get split up from everyone else and take care of the mobsters they followed.

They think the mobsters are knocked out only for one on the ground to grab a gun…..

And Mikey gets shot right in front of middy.

Middy gets Mikey out of there, but not before throwing a shurikan through the mobsters hand (listen. She has a no killing rule. Not a no permanent injury rule)

At the lair, Donnie has to cut off a piece of Mikey’s plastron to remove the bullet. Luckily, the bullet didn’t hit anything important, but Mikeys still unconscious from blood loss and shock for a bit.

Leo gets a bit blamey in his panic, and says something he REALLY shouldn’t have to middy. She decides she doesn’t wanna deal with this, knowing Leo doesn’t really mean it, but raph gets super pissed that Leo’s blaming his girlfriend for this.

Raph and Leo are about to fight, but Casey and april break them up and reminds them they’re little brother is injured and will be upset seeing them like this when he wakes up.

Leo ends up leaving despite Casey and april telling him not to, and raph checks up on middy to make sure she’s actually ok.

During raph and middys discussion, the fact that middy was in the hospital for a concussion during the events of owari and before the main 6 left to get payback on shredder, they tried to visit middy but Leo insisted on him being the only one to check up on her to decrease suspicion, only to NOT tell her that splinters dead and they’re going after shredder, leaving middy to find this out AFTER it happened gets brought up (middy told raph about this a while ago but insisted on no one else knowing)

Meanwhile Mikey wakes up not really remembering what happened so Casey, april and Donnie have to explain it to him and explain where Leo, raph and middy are.

Middy and raph come to see him after their discussion and raph DEFINITELY gives Mikey a hug despite Donnie practically yelling at him not to so he doesn’t open up the stitches.

MEANWHILE meanwhile. Leo, in his vision quest outfit, decides he’s gonna take care of the rest of the mobsters, only to get outnumbered and nearly killed until…

A 9 foot mutant woman with a militia brutally kills a couple of the gangsters and has her soldiers shoot down the rest.

The lady introduces herself as Null and offers to take Leo to her base.

Leo, despite knowing he probably shouldn’t, takes the woman up on her offer and they go to a building the woman owns and Null takes him to her office.

Null goes on a magnetoesque spiel about how “humans are the enemy. They’ll always hunt us mutants down like dogs” and “if everyone’s a freak, then no one is” and offers Leo a mutagen bomb. What for? She knows the mobsters base of operations location. What better revenge against them than to turn them into what they despise? But how would Leo avoid getting caught in the blast if he sets it? Null has teleporters (yknow. The ones from newtralized?) all Leo has to do is get in there, set the bomb, teleport out and see his masterpiece.

Leo legitimately debates this. “Maybe he should ask the others? But they’ll just say no without thinking about it. He’s the leader for a reason. These men could’ve killed his baby brother. What kind of brother, sensei, father would Leo be if he didn’t try to keep his family safe?” Null and a “ghost” (read:hallucination) of splinter talks him into it (through singing candy store/j)

Before Leo goes, he notices his white hood and wrappings have turned slightly grey from dirt….

Back at the lair, after seeing on the news a bunch of the mobsters they fought earlier have been shot down, the team becomes worried about Leo being gone so long and decide to track his T phone to find him.

But Mikey can’t go and they don’t want him left alone this early into his injury so they call up Karai and shini to hang out with him. Karai decides she’s gonna teach Mikey how to do makeup like a goth (cause screw the show for never giving us big sister Karai)

So the rest of the team go to find Leo, tracking him to a warehouse.

Leo is sneaking through the mobsters base, finding a pillar on the roof that’ll be a perfect spot to hide the bomb and set it off.

The team didn’t realize there were mobsters in the warehouse so now they got a fight on their hands.

Donnie notices Leo on the roof pillars and raph, Donnie and Middy go up to see what he’s doing (Casey and april said they could handle the mobsters and they were correct. Casey april team up fight!)

Leo turns on the bomb and is about to teleport out when he hears the fight. As he’s trying to see what’s going on, he’s confronted by middy, raph and Donnie.

Leo’s panicked and asking what they’re doing here. They’re asking what he’s doing. He’s about to turn off the bomb when his teleporter turns on by itself and takes raph, Donnie and middy with him as he teleports back to Nulls building. For some reason, middy, raph and Donnie are teleported somewhere completely different from Leo, fairly far from the warehouse.

Unfortunately, april and Casey are still in the warehouse as the bombs ticking down….

Donnie tries to call april to figure out if they’re ok, but Aprils busy, well, fighting.

Raph, Donnie and middy try to run back to the warehouse despite being pretty far from it when….

Middy checks her phone and finds news that a gas bomb went off in that district, and she realizes what Leo was doing….

Casey and april notice the bomb too late and Casey tried to shield april (cause he’s Casey) only for both of them to breathe in greenish blue gas.

The mobsters around them are screaming and yelling as their body’s contort and change into monstrous forms.

April has a bout of lightheadedness before it passes. Whilst the bomb didn’t affect her as severely, it did cause side effects.

It ends up bringing out some of her repressed kraang dna, causing her skin to become pinkish, her freckles to turn a bioluminescent turquoise, her retinas to turn a star shape as her sclera becomes a glowy blue green and she develops 4 kraang tentacles protruding from the back of her neck and antennas from her head that can fold back. Her mind is fine and the process didn’t hurt. She didn’t even realize what happened to her until much later.

Casey’s not so lucky..

He can feel the mutation affecting his body and mind. He’s trying his damndest to fight the mutation ( no one knows how it’s possible for him to fight a mutation but he is) as him and april try to get out of the building, only to find the gas spread throughout the entire district, a far bigger range than Null led Leo to believe.

Raph, Donnie and middy try to get into the area, only to find the epf blocking off the area. Whilst raph and Donnie try to talk to bishop to let them through (bishop refuses to tell them a mutagen gas bomb is what went off), middy tells them she’s gonna go find Leo and try to figure out what he did and why. Raph tells her they’ll folllow her once they get april and Casey out of the area.

Luckily, Leo isn’t far and april manages to get through enough guards to find him.

Leo found out about the bombs far bigger range and knows april and Casey got caught up in the blast and is having a MAJOR guilt trip before he can confront Null about this.

Middy finds him and confronts him. Leo tries to justify his actions but they both end up getting very angry and it devolves into arguing that turns into a full fight when middy right hooks Leo and Leo pulls out a sword and cuts her cheek in retaliation.

They end up running around the place fighting each other whilst Nulls soldiers are trying to kill middy for being an intruder.

The fight gets pretty severe when Leo knocks middys swords out of her hands and she pulls out her hidden blades to continue the fight. When Leo tries to kick her, she tries to defend herself….

Only to accidentally stab Leo’s left eye…

Leo, in shock and anger, cuts off middys right arm….

Middy is horrified at her own actions and Leo’s and decides to retreat, running out of the place as she’s bleeding.

She sets off an emergency alarm on her T phone that raph sees. Raph leaves to make sure she’s ok as Donnie continues to try to get info from bishop.

Middy finds herself falling down, close to passing out once she manages to get out of the building. Raph finds her and Carrie’s her away from the danger zone as Nulls soldiers try to kill them.

April and Casey after having to dodge and fight feral mutants as Casey finds himself losing it to the mutation, manage to get to where the epf are blocking off the area. Donnie sees them and attempts to call for them, informing bishop that that’s april and Casey. But before bishop can tell the men don’t shoot, one manages to get a laser shot at Casey before april could shield them.

This causes Casey to start to really lose it, attacking the soldiers as his mutation starts to worsen. April tries her damndest to stop him, managing to save most of the soldiers from Casey as she tries to calm him down.

Donnie manages to get past in the confusion and tries to help april calm Casey down. Bishop tries to get april and Donnie away before they get hurt. Donnie and april are starting to get through to Casey, only for bishop to step in and try to knock Casey out. Bishop gets very wrecked and Casey completely loses it. Donnie tries to go up to Casey to talk through to him, only to get whacked across the street and knocked into a building hard enough to put a huge crack in Donnies shell.

Whilst there is blood coming from the crack, the shell is thick enough that it doesn’t destroy Donnie’s spine (donnie DOES develop back problems after this, though) april goes to donnie to make sure he’s ok, letting a now fully mutant Casey to get away, angering the epf.

The epf knock out april and takes her and donnie to an unknown location

Meanwhile, Leo’s completely losing it. As Nulls people are patching up his eye and replacing his wrappings and hood, Leo’s thinking about what he’s done and how his family will feel about this and all the damage that’ll be brought. But, after a chat with null, he basically decides “I’m already starting a villain arc, let’s go all the way with it”.

His white wrappings and hood are replaced with dark grey ones as he decides to fully team up with Null. Null offers to use a special mutagen she’s created to fully heal Mikey and Leo decides to take up the offer, telling them the pairs location so they can get Mikey….

Idk where things will go from here, but here’s a rundown of my ideas so far! 😋

I’m open to questions and I’ll answer to the best of what I got so far!

[alarajrogers]

upcoming WIP

This is the first part of the next 52 Story and I wanted to share it with you guys because I cannot think of another place where this would be as profoundly relatable.

This isn't autobiographical at all. I don't even use Slack. :-)

The following is a description of ADHD hell (not literally hell, this guy is supposed to be alive) and may be triggering to, well, probably all of us.

***

Jason had promised his boss he’d have a debugged version of the code checked in by morning.

He’d been tracking down a bug when he’d gotten sidetracked reading Stack Overflow. Dammit. He’d just lost an hour, and he still had no idea why his code wasn’t working the way it was supposed to, and it was 10 pm. Teresa was expecting a new version to be checked in by 9 am and she was expecting that it would run.

This was a job for more Coca-Cola. Jason got up, went downstairs and got himself a slice of pizza and a cold Coke.

His mom, also burning the late night oil at the kitchen table, hunched over her laptop, said, “How is it going? You think you’ll have what your boss is expecting by tomorrow?”

No. “Yes,” Jason said. “I just need a few more hours to track this down.”

“Well, you’re running out of them. You’d be better off getting a good night’s sleep, then waking up fresh in the morning early enough to work on it then.”

Mom was 57 and had apparently forgotten everything she had ever known about how night owls worked, despite having spent her younger years routinely staying up until 2 am. “Is that what you’re doing?” Jason couldn’t help saying.

“I’ve got a house showing tomorrow, I just have to make sure that I have my talking points memorized.”

“Why? Does the house really suck?”

“It doesn’t really suck. It’s a good house, really. Great bones, a nice big yard. But I’m gonna have to redirect the prospective owner’s attention away from how ugly the carpet is and things like that, because the seller? Whoo-ee. There’s people who have no taste, and there’s people who never fix anything, and there’s people who own dogs, and then there’s my seller, who is all three.” She sighed. “I tried to get them to rip the carpet out and install hardwood flooring before putting the house on the market, but the market is hot right now; I don’t blame them for wanting to charge forward. I just think they’d get more if their house didn’t smell like dog and look like water damage had a horrible transporter accident with the 1970’s.”

“That bad, huh?” He leaned up against the fridge, sipping his Coke. “You wanna go over your spiel with me, Mom? Some late night practice before you go to bed?”

“Yeah, actually, that sounds good.”

So Mom talked enthusiastically, if hoarsely, about the four bedrooms and the two and a half bathrooms and the recently modernized kitchen and how great the neighborhood was, and Jason listened, because he wasn’t contributing nearly as much to the mortgage as his mom was and she was also paying most of the utilities, so her career was important, not to mention what stress did to her heart.

When he got back to his computer it was 11:30 and he’d finished his Coke and pizza. He thought about getting ice cream, but best not to do that until Mom went to bed, if he didn’t want to get sucked into another conversation. Not that conversations with Mom were bad; they were much more entertaining than debugging code, which was the problem.

He opened up his coding window, stared at it for thirty seconds while doing nothing, and then convinced himself that maybe Reddit would have an answer to his question.

It didn’t. It did have answers to how to solve a particularly difficult problem in his current favorite game, a number of people who wanted to know if they were the asshole, some great reviews of movies on streaming that he hadn’t had a chance to watch yet, political rants, and some really entertainingly stupid coding mistakes that people had posted.

It was 12:30 am. Teresa was expecting this at 9 and she was expecting it to work.

His eyes glazed. The act of reviewing the code for the tenth time, looking for the bug he hadn’t yet been able to find despite knowing the general area it had to be in, was almost physically painful. He checked his brackets, again. The error didn’t look like a missing close bracket, but that didn’t mean anything. If he had a dollar for every time the error didn’t look like a missing close bracket but turned out to be one, he’d have maybe twenty dollars, which wasn’t a lot in terms of actual money but was a lot of times for the same stupid thing to happen in his code.

The software was supposed to warn him when there was an unclosed bracket, but half the time, if the code was particularly complex, it didn’t. It just re-interpreted the bracket locations and then his code broke.

One more time. Stepping through. Why the fuck was it stopping there? There was nothing there that could account for the error.

Time to go get ice cream. Maybe some sugar would help him stay awake and focused enough to get this done. Another Coke, possibly, too.

When he sat back down, he had Discord messages, so he needed to check them. And messages on Slack, which he could be checking in the morning, and probably should be, but maybe one of his co-workers had found an answer to his problem. They hadn’t, but Priyal had a different question and that one, he thought he could quickly get an answer to, so he fired up Google, dug in, and got her answer for her, which he sent. She’d have it in the morning. Unlike Teresa, who probably would not have what she was expecting.

It was 2 am. Stupid of him to get sidetracked with Priyal’s problem when he was having such difficulty with his own. He flicked over to Reddit again because this was unbearably boring and if he didn’t give himself a break from it, he’d fall asleep.

But he had to go back to debugging the code. Or to sleep. He could handle Teresa being pissed off in the morning a lot better if he got some sleep.

Third page of the subreddit he was on. Four. Man, he needed to keep up with this stuff, there was so much here he hadn’t read yet.

Fifth page of the subreddit. He really, really needed to get back to work. It was 2:30.

A screenshot of something really stupid from Cicada. Damn, someone actually posted something that stupid? Over to Cicada to see if there was context that explained it. There wasn’t, but there was a lengthy thread of people absolutely shredding the OP. Including someone he followed, and he should probably catch up with that.

No, he should get off Cicada and go back to coding. Or bed. His eyes were burning. Bed was probably a better idea. Give up on finishing the debug, tell Teresa he hadn’t found it yet and would need another day.

That was an interesting news article, though. He had to check that out.

No, he didn’t. He needed to go to bed.

Jason’s mouse clicked the link to the article. His eyes read the page, despite burning with exhaustion. Some frantic voice in his head was yelling, screaming, get up, put the computer down, you need to be awake to deal with Teresa in the morning, it’s late, you’re doing nothing useful, get up.

Back to Reddit.

Stop this. Get up. Go to bed. You need to go to bed.

3:30 am. He could barely keep his eyes open, but they were still riveted to the computer, his butt still glued to his chair.

Get up get up get up and go to bed, go to bed, turn the monitor off, you need to go to sleep so you can deal with Teresa tomorrow, get up, go to bed, go to bed

4 am. Look, there was his Firefox home tab, with articles from Pocket. A few of those looked interesting.

Don’t read them, you need to sleep, you need to sleep

Right, right, he didn’t have time to read them right now. He just needed to open them all so they would be there for him tomorrow. If he didn’t do that, Pocket would refresh and he’d lose all of them.

Wow, did they really find carbon deposits on the moon? He had to check that out.

Stop it, stop it, you have to stop it, you need to sleep, stop it

5 am. There was no way he’d be up at 9 to deal with Teresa.

Email. “Hey, I’ve been up all night bashing my head against this thing and I’ve made progress—” This was a lie. “—but it’s still not running. I’m gonna have to look at it with fresh eyes tomorrow. I’ll be logging in around 11 am.” This was also a lie, it would probably be closer to noon. But since he worked from home, all he needed to do was drag ass out of bed around 10:30 to send everyone a status update, tell them he was diving into the code and probably wouldn’t see incoming notifications until he came up for air, and then dive back into his bed instead.

Set an alarm for 9:30 am. Set an alarm for 10 am. He’d blow through them both, of course, but they’d wake him up enough to actually wake up when the 10:30 alarm went off, and then he’d convince himself to get up and send the status message by promising himself he’d return to bed.

Check out that article about a different way to manage your ADHD?

No. Go to sleep. Off the computer. Sleep.

Right, but obviously, he needed to put on his Spotify for music to fall asleep to, and adjust the volume because he couldn’t let it be too loud or it would wake Mom up, calm and peaceful or not.

Pop over to Reddit one last time.

5:30 am. Sleep!

The panic finally overwhelmed the inertia and he managed to drag himself off his chair, turn the monitor off, and stumble to bed. Now to get some sleep.

Oh, except now, he couldn’t sleep because he was overwhelmed by his anxiety and fear about not getting enough sleep to deal with Teresa even if he slept until noon because she was going to be seriously pissed off with him because this was the third time he’d blown the deadline.

It was another hour before exhaustion finally claimed him, and he knew that because the sun had risen.

***

He’d never set the 10:30 alarm.

He’d never set the 10:30 alarm, he’d blown through 9:30 and 10 just like he’d planned, but he’d never turned on the 10:30 alarm, so it was half past noon and he’d never sent that status message, so everyone would know he overslept way past the point Teresa would be okay with after an all nighter, and there was a meeting at 1 pm and he had to shower and shave because it was going to be a meeting with video so he couldn’t look like he’d just dragged himself out of bed.

Or maybe he could. He sent Teresa a message on Slack. I think I’m sick. My throat’s sore, and I’ve got a migraine. And I don’t have the program working anyway, so there’s really nothing to show anyone. Can we postpone until tomorrow?

The response was almost immediate. You need to figure out how to manage your time better. You’re sick because you stayed up all night.

Yeah, but I was trying to solve the bug.

If you can’t get something fixed by 11 pm, it’s not going to get fixed. You should have gone to bed.

I know, but I wanted to try. I was getting close. This was a lie. I thought I could get it done before morning.

Yes, and instead you made yourself sick and the program still doesn’t work. ☹ I’ll postpone the meeting this time, Jason, but we need results before tomorrow. Sorry that you’re sick but you know as well as I do it’s because you didn’t get any sleep.

Yeah, I know. I’ll pull myself together, have some coffee, and get back to work. I’ll try to have it done before 5. This was a lie. He knew perfectly well he wasn’t going to get it done by 5, not when he was this tired.

Do you want me to have Jorge review it? Maybe he can see something you missed?

No, that would be the worst possible thing, because then Jorge would know that he’d made basically no progress last night. I don’t want to add to his workload, but if I’m running into trouble later today I’ll pass it over to him, see if adding some eyeballs might help.

All right, I’ll let him know.

And now Jason was awake, the imminent terror of Jorge finding out that he had done basically nothing last night flooding him with enough adrenaline that he could focus enough to turn on his monitor and get back to work.

[noirineverysense]

Trio of idiots arc

She checks her phone and notices a few missed calls and some text messages. Unsurprisingly it's all from the same person, Zak, with a text from Ash buried in them to pick up some groceries on the way back. She blinks, thinking whether she should open this can of worms now or during her lunch break. It could just be Zak excited about the bot fight again, or something more serious. She checks the text messages.

it's another! she's another! a mutant like us!

The grammar is horrible, and Zak uses way too many exclamation marks. He does that when he's in his nervous but excited moods, though the next messages tell her he's learning more on the former.

she just yelled it in the lunch hall people heard her is she insane i can't deal with this alone you have to help me

It doesn't occur to Zak to use commas. It never does. She should make him use commas. It's an important skill.

She supposes she's fussing about Zak's grammar to allay her own worries. This could get messy, and she didn't want to involve the others in another mess, the ACP seemed to be settling down into its quiet inordinaries, not to mention the three of them still had moving boxes to unpack.

She squints at the texts, it also didn't occur to Zak to tell her who this person even was. She supposed she'll find out soon enough.

Listen, tell me about it when we get home. Bring her too if she wants. And make sure to keep her from telling anyone else.

She puts down her phone and looks back at her computer screen. The same blank Excel sheet open. She didn't particularly like this admin job, but it was at a media company and they said she could work her way up. She would end up with her job soon, she just had to be patient.

She was good at being patient.

Her phone lights up and its Zak with another spiel of nervousness but she gets the general idea that he'd bring her over so she texts Ash in case he decides he's having one of his shirtless days. She didn't particularly mind those days and Zak definitely didn't, but their guest might.

"You look busy."

She jolts, her head spins to her manager with an unamused look on her face.

"Sorry, Ma'am, I'll get right on it."

Funny how she escaped years of captivity to find herself working hours a day under an uncompromising superior for little pay. She supposed it was a little better, after all it was a 9-5 rather than a 24/7 torture experience.

Her manager lets out a huff, then says in a rather reluctant tone, "The boss wants to see you."

She nods and gets up to walk towards the office of the company boss. There's a horrible sense of familar dread rising in her.

"The worst he can do is fire you. The worst he can do is fire you."

Great, now she's mumbling to herself like a maniac.

She takes a breath and opens the office door. Her boss, which she would describe in an article as a stout man of a cheery disposition, brightens as she enters.

"Ms. Reyes! Please come in."

She winces at the name as she follows the instruction. It's common enough to not arouse suspicion and Arthur was kind enough to give it to her. But it doesn't really sound like her name. She doesn't want Zak's though and she'd die before becoming a Vittal.

"I've an opportunity for you!"

She blinks, "What do you mean?"

Please say it, please say it.

"I want you to cover a story. I thought you deserved the chance."

"Oh, thank you! I won't let you down." This is great. She didn't expect this so soon.

"Of course not. Though I'll warn you, you were only given this because the others didn't want to deal with the person I'm asking you to interview without a bonus."

So she's been given the dirty work. Fine, she can take on anyone. No one could be worse than -

"Kamal Vittal, the new CEO of the international wholesaler, Metals, Molecules & More, is known for his unsavoury personality. Perhaps you could go down that angle, would people really want to follow a man who some might describe as off-putting? Well, whatever your approach, I'm sure you're ready to jump right on the job."

The world starts to spin in a way that she's worried it'll all go dark. She thinks she's about to jump out of the window instead.

[kah-ocs]

A Question of Trust (4/4)

“I was briefed about the case. Missing people and the search party didn’t return yet right?” -Miller asked the officer keeping watch over the place.

“Yes, we lost contact with them for a while”

“Can you send me a list of the members of the search party and their photos? It will come in handy”

“Here it is”

“Thanks”. Miller nodded after she received the data on her cellphone. “Leave everything to me and have ambulances on standy by because I suspect we might need them”.

“What are your instructions Miller?” Hunter asked.

But Miller didn’t reply, her expression was grave, the most serious he ever saw her be.

He kept waiting for her to speak, but she only uttered a word again when they met with Johannes, Miller’s second in command in their unit.

When Miller had to pass her orders around she usually left this task to Johannes because people respected him for being serious, reliable and more approachable than her.

Johannes also respected Miller the most out of everyone.

Which while it made his distate towards him not come off as a surprise Hunter felt that strangely enough it got worse after he stopped being at odds with Miller.

“Tell everyone to stay, I have to go alone”. She instructed after finishing briefing the situation with her second in command.

“Are you NUTS Miller?! Even an entire search party went missing and you want to go ALONE?!” Hunter grabbed her shoulder. “You are not making any sense and are not even explaining what’s going on and you expect us to follow such ludicrous orders?!”

Miller slapped his hand away.

“Stay.” Her voices goes deathly cold, giving no room to be argued against. “That’s an ORDER Hunter”

He flinches.

“Johannes, if he tries anything stop him”. Miller nods to Johannes and then walks away, not sparing even a glance at him.

That was a shock. 

Because that was the first time he was treated with such coldness from her and because it was the first time she ever used her authority to order him around.

“Oh yeah that’s the first time you see this right? The first time she did that I was also surprised”. Johannes speaks casually as if what happened was nothing unusual. “ That said, she didn’t need to put a babysitter on me when that happened”.

Hunter raises his eyebrow at what Johannes told him.

This strange behavior wasn’t something new?

“I can understand your shock. For a moment I almost wondered if she would make an exception and bring you along”. His voice reeks of smugness and mockery.

“...Miller ordered us to stay”. Hunter replies.

“Hah! That’s funny coming from you of all people”. Johannes snorts. ““Weren’t you the one constantly spouting that you wouldn’t let her get away if she did anything suspicious? You were all talk huh?”

“Johannes what are you trying to pull?” Hunter frowns. “You are her second in command right? She trusted you with this order”

“Ah yeah, second in command?”. Johannes’s voice is dripping with sarcasm. “Honestly couldn’t tell that when everyone thinks YOU are her right hand man”

“...I’m not trying to steal your position”.

“You know, I would once have cared about that. Back when I was an ambitious person that wasn’t given an opportunity to show what I could do until Miller recognized me and gave me all the space to show my worth when others tried to stiffle it.” Johannes muses. “Like a benevolent Goddess that you just want to worship”

“...”

“At first she was a means to an end. I knew about her shady past but thought it didn’t matter what kind of crappy person she was as long as she could open the doors for me to rise in the ranks”. Johannes kept going. “But then I started to think more and more that she, in truth, was the most worthy person I would ever meet and I stopped caring about seeking a higher position. Her praise and attention became the only important thing to me and I was willing to turn a blind eye to things or sacrifice anything if it meant I could keep working with her.”

“Beneath her”.

Johannes stops his spiel to look condescendingly at Hunter.

“You know, seeing how pathetic you were for that woman was a wake up call to me. How I was wasting my time, becoming so pitiful for such a WORHTLESS PERSON”.

“What did you say?” Hunter spat, furious.

“She trained us really well”. Johannes was unfazed. “Did you know that she never writes any reports when she goes solo and that all victims she rescued are not willing to talk about what happened? I never cared before because whenever she did that it happened in small, isolated incidents with nothing to write home about but maybe she was training us to not find it suspicious for when an opportunity like this arose?”

“...What do you mean by that?” Hunter narrowed his eyes.

“Well, no matter what she tries to pull she can’t erase her past” Johannes references the incident. “But if, say, she got all the credit for saving everyone when not even an entire team could do it then wouldn’t you think that public opinion of her would change for the better?”

“She’s...!”

...Not like that.

But the words couldn’t leave his lips once again.

Could he really say that? Did he even knew Miller well enough to affirm something like that?

His grip loosens and he let Johannes go.

“...Well, I’m done wasting myself away for her sake so I am going inside.” He adjusts his coat. “I sure as hell won’t let her take all the credit to herself”

He can only stand there in silence, trying to process his chaotic emotions and thoughts.

What Johannes said did make sense, maybe she was up to no good, but...

“Excuse me, Mr.Hunter?”

“Huh?”

“Do you know where Johannes is? He still didn’t reported back to the rest of us so we were wondering what were our orders”.

“...Johannes went after Miler”

“Oh, so should we follow them?”

“No” Hunter speaks firmly. “Miller ordered us to stay”

“Huh? But Johannes...”

“JOHANNES DISOBEYED HER ORDERS” He spat. “The orders were for us all to stay”

He decided he would wait.

His old self would surely chide him for his course of action but he couldn’t care less. There was something far more important occupying his mind at that moment.

It took some hours but Miller appeared again, followed by a group of people in bad shape, some with injuries so nasty that they had to be carried by others.

He went to greet her, and she noded in acknowledgement until she noticed the lack of Johannes’ presence, looking at him with confusion.

She expected him to disobey her orders but not Johannes huh?

He tells her what happened.

“I’m going back to look for him”, she didn’t hesitate, worry clouding her features.

Hunter would never forget about that moment.

About the way he wondered why she wasn’t angry, why she was showing such concern for someone that clearly didn’t deserve her consideration and what happened when she returned.

How distraught and in anguish she was when she returned with Johannes’ dismembered corpse.

After Johanne’s funeral ended he found Miller sitting alone in a far away bench.

He was trying to decide if he should or not call for her or leave her alone but Miller seemed to notice his presence.

“Why all of this happened?.” Miller spoke out loud. “The day before that I was just talking with him about how I finally got a chance to get him promoted but he refused, saying that he wished to stay. This isn’t making any sense”

“...He was hurt and trying to put an act of hating you to fool himself”

“What?”

“He thought the world about you but felt hurt because he thought you never cared back”. Hunter explained. “He probably saw you accomodating someone like me that has been nothing but a nuisance as a sign that you didn’t want to bother to do the same for him”.

“...I hate myself”. Miller spat, her nails draggin through her scalp in anger and self hatred. “When he said he wanted to stay I told him that he shouldn’t hold himself back because of me. I thought I didn’t want to step on his dreams but I guess I completely disregarded his feelings”

He’s such a fool.

Hunter mused.

How could Johannes ever think for a moment that she never cared? When she was suffering this much, when she cried so loudly for him?

“...I must apologize to you too Hunter”

“...?”

“You understood his feelings because you were probably hurt the same way”. Miller smiled bitterly. “You are a right, I’m the worst. It wouldn’t be unexpected if you also wished to hate me”.

“I don’t hate you”. He promptly says. “ ...And any hurt I felt was an unearned feeling”

“It’s not like I gave you many reasons to feel otherwise Hunter”

“And I didn’t give you ANY reason to trust me”. He replied back. “I... Both Johannes and I were such selfish hypocrites. Just because you didn’t do things our way we were conceited enough to ignore everything you did for us".

He felt disgusted at himself. He was so focused about appeasing his stupid ego,  stubborly focusing on things of the past that he completely disregarded every single proof she showed him of who she was.

To him, everything was “not enough”.

Not even the day she was at her most vulnerable, when she didn’t have to share anything with him and he didn’t deserve it but she still did it anyway. 

...And he was still callous enough to think of that as “not enough”.

“... I heard that after Johannes left you were the one to tell everyone to stay”. Miller bumped shoulders with him, sitting closer. “Thank you”

She smiled. It was as warm as the body next to his.

“Would you mind telling me the reason to why you did so?”

No suspicious of his intentions, not thinking the worst of him, she wanted to listen to him as a show of trust.

“...I had a lot going on my mind at that moment, it was very confusing and I wasn’t sure of what to think anymore, but when I was asked what should be done something became very clear to me”.

He cleared his throat, it was embarrassing to say it out loud but he had to suck it up and tell her that, she deserved it.

“You would be hurt if we disobeyed your pleas and I didn’t want that. I didn’t want to hurt you”

“You are seriously too much of a good person Hunter”, Miller chuckled. “But... Is that ok? Johannes must have told you more things that doesn’t paint a good picture of me right?”

“...I decided that I don’t care about that anymore” He was seriously going to combust at any moment now.”I think that what you showed me is... Enough. I believe in you”

Miller was going to say something, but Hunter stopped her with a gesture.

Ok, he was nearly dying inside but he had to say that before he lost his nerve.

“The next time, if you need something you can just ask. I am willing to listen to you”

“... I seriously don’t deserve you. Thanks.”

“You think too highly of me Miller”

“Yes I do”.

“...IThinkHighlyOfYouToo”

“What was that?”

“Nothing”.

[eddsworld-enchanted-era]

~A long-forgotten memory...~

(i keep writing too much aaaaaa, anyhow, base is here, done by EddsWorld-Base, their stuff's fantastic!)

Red Leader is rummaging around a drawer, pulling out an old photographs.

He looks over it, a memory flicking into his mind.

"Heh, I remember this one." he smiles gently. Almost sadly.

"It was almost spring - April 9th, to be more specific," he begins to reminisce, "My little brother Edd had just bought us all a new house, and after getting all our stuff inside, we'd taken this picture to celebrate."

"But... time passes, and things change. A couple of years later, I moved out."

"I gave them the spiel about following my dreams, making it big... all a lie, of course. I'd come to visit for weeks at a time, so they wouldn't worry."

"Or, well, I told them it was so they wouldn't worry - spun some tale about how great my life was out there, how fun city life was, how I was really gaining a following."

"That... wasn't completely false. I had been gaining followers, just... not the kind who were there for any creative ventures. No, this was the beginning. Sowing the seeds of my political ideology."

"I'd needed people to help out, after all."

"And of course, the visits weren't at all for them, rather, it was for that stupid robot."

He sighs, "That thing was more trouble than it was worth, for something that went down in one shot."

"Maybe someday, I'll try it again. With modifications, obviously."

"But for now? I think just sending swaths of troops out to the surrounding countries and conquering them by force, merging their militaries into my own works fine." he ends his little monologue, still thinking himself to be alone.

He didn't even notice that anyone had come in, until...

"Red Leader? Who are you talking to?"

He jolts.

"Ah, no one, it isn't important! Now, what are you here for, soldier?"

"I just wanted to check in on the status of those forms you needed to-"

"Oh gods, the Danish." he mumbles, before taking his voice back to a standard volume, interrupting Patryck, "Yeah, yeah, I've been getting to it. Now go away."

Patryck just rolls his eyes and exits Red Leader's office, as Red puts the photograph back and sighs again.

[lettuce-prays]

Chapter 1: A New Legacy

         On a warm summer day, a young man named Keys sat on the grass, back against the wall of the lab. He was on the ground writing his findings after watching 2 trainers battle nearby. So, while a Nidoking may have a type disadvantage against a Poliwrath, it can learn Thunderbolt which is surprisingly effective when Poliwrath misses its Hydro Pump. Ever since the Unified Rules for Battling passed in the Indigo League 2 Years ago, Keys had been studying under Professor Oak in trying to become a Master Trainer like his father before him. He had notes about just about every Pokemon he could find in the Kanto region.

Unfortunately for him, it’s hard to study strong Pokemon in Pallet Town. It’s great for starting trainers, who don’t know how to battle. The Pokemon around are generally pretty weak, but the most frustrating thing Keys has seen is new trainers getting frustrated dealing with the Occasional Metapod or Kakuna that they encounter. You can only learn so much from that, and Keys needs more knowledge if he wants to become a master. It’s been nice studying the occasional Gym Challenger who comes by Pallet Town on their way to Cinnabar Island, but Keys wants more than just staring at the Pokedex and watching broadcasted battles from the Pokemon League.

“Were you waiting for me?” Rang a voice that can only be described as ‘Grandpa.’

Professor Oak stood in front of Keys, his white lab coat showing the signs of recently being repair after their trip studying a flock of Spearow went awry. The sunlight bouncing off his grey hair letting everyone know that he knows more and has seen more than just about anyone else. He is flanked by a young woman, her face showing a clear youth and inexperience, nervousness mixed with excitement. She’s wearing a T-Shirt and Jeans. Her hair a mix between curl and wave, she looked to be about the same age as Keys.

“Well Professor, if you weren’t half an hour late, I wouldn’t have been.” Keys snarkily responded. That’s how his relationship with the Professor had always been. One of sarcastic questions with snarky retorts.

“My apologies my dear pupil, I just had to run and grab our new friend here,” The Professor said. His hand reached out to pull Keys up from the grass he had placed himself in before gesturing to the young woman beside him. “This is Alice, she is just beginning her Pokemon Journey today.”

“It’s so wonderful to meet you!” Alice’s voice shot up. She definitely didn’t seem like she was used to meeting new people, especially on a day which is going to be nerve-wracking to begin with.

“Likewise. Keys is the name, studying battles is my game.” He reached out his hand, now free from The Professors, to shake her hand.

“Keys here has been studying with me for quite some time,” The Professor remarked. “He has been instrumental in helping me understand how some Pokemon’s capabilities influences the environments they live in.”

“That’s a fancy way of saying I understand Pokemon Types and Battling Capabilities.” Keys interjected. He’d been through this spiel enough times by this point. If he had a coin for every time the professor talked about how important his assistant was in his research, he could buy TM48 Hyper Beam from the Celadon Department Store.

“Yes, Keys has been quite engaged in his studies and I couldn’t imagine where my research would be without him.” The Professor was speaking honestly. Keys could remember him being confused as to why a wild Pidgey was unable to attack a Haunter with Tackle. “In any case, its about time that we get going with today. We have a lot to do.”

The Professor pulled his keys out to open the Laboratory. Keys put his Journal back in his bag and slung the gray satchel over his shoulder. As the Professor opened the Lab and turned on the lights, Alice followed him close by with Keys in tow. The lab had multiple tables with a variety of papers strewn about. One table specifically was covered with Oak’s findings on Pidgey migration patterns, where he noticed that wherever Spearow were more common Pidgey seemed to be less frequent. Only Professor Oak would be willing or more importantly able to figure that out. The back wall is covered with multiple bookshelves worth of journals and books of Professor Oak’s research. Keys remembered his first assignment being to sort all the books and journals in alphabetical order which took him 3 weeks to complete. Next to the bookshelves is a computer where the Professor spent his time organizing the Pokedex so that Keys could prepare it to be given to all the new trainers.

“So, Alice,” The Professor Began. “As you know, the way that people come into owning their first Pokemon varies from person to person. Some people receive theirs by their parents sponsoring them when they are 10, Some people receive one from graduating from Pokemon School, Some receive them as a gift, Some others buy Pokeballs and throw them until they catch a Pokemon, And some others bond with a wild Pokemon before eventually catching them as their partner.” The Professor then began walking towards a table.

Keys had heard this speech time and time again. He’s seen a variety of people come to the lab to receive a partner. Some of those people were as young as 10, the oldest he’d seen was 22. Regardless, he was familiar with all this. To the point he knew that he was to walk to the corner of the lab, so he was in position for the spectacle he was about to be a part of.

“You however are a special case. On very rare occasions, I sponsor some people their first Pokemon.” The Professor continued. “It is my personal belief that all people should be exposed to the wonderful creatures we call Pokemon, and the best way is by having them as partners. Therefore, it is my pleasure to give you the option to pick between the following Pokemon to be your very first partner.”

Keys flipped a switch and the lights dimmed on the half of the lab they were in. Except for 3 spotlights which now shone onto the table. Professor Oak pulled the sheet off the table revealing the 3 Pokeballs standing on the table. The Professor had given out so many of these Pokemon that Keys was so familiar with the plaques in front of each Pokeball, a brief descriptor of each Pokemon.

Bulbasaur the Seed Pokemon. A Grass and Poison Type. The easiest of the 3 starters to train, the plant on its back sprouts and grows with this Pokemon. It evolves into the Grass and Poison Type Venusaur.

Charmander the Lizard Pokemon. A Fire Type. The most challenging of the three to raise, From the time it is born, a flame burns at the tip of its tail. Its life would end if the flame were to go out. It evolves into the Fire and Flying Type Charizard.

Squirtle the Tiny Turtle Pokemon. A Water Type. An intermediately challenging Pokemon to raise, It shelters itself in its shell then strikes back with spouts of water at every opportunity. It evolves into the Water type Blastoise.

“Professor,” Alice stood, her jaw about ready to hit the floor. “Thank you so much for this wonderful opportunity. This might just go down as the best day in my life. I’ve thought about it for a while now, but I think the partner that I will choose has to be, Squirtle.” Alice began to walk towards the Pokeball holding the Squirtle. Before she even touched the Pokeball the excited Pokemon popped out of the Pokeball on its own power. Alice stood shocked before moving towards the Pokemon picking it up into her arms.

The Professor then turned to Keys. “Well?”

“Well what?” Keys asked.

“It’s your turn.”

[ashthehermit]

Legends of Tomorrow: A Retrospective 1.2

In my last post I kept mentioning Moon Knight. It isn't too weird to compare two shows that exist within the same, fairly narrow, genre. But there are a weird number of parallels between phase four Marvel content and Legends of Tomorrow stories. My theory? Legends was being weird before anyone else allowed themselves to be that weird. Loki had the same general premise as Legends season two (replace variants with time aberrations, TVA with Time Masters). The TVA had the feel of the Time Bureau from later seasons, complete with the animations for the time doors they used to travel. Legends even had its Wandavision moment in the episode where all the legends are trapped on television.

Anyway.

PILOT PART TWO

This episode begins with the classic we-can't-change-events-in-our-own-timeline spiel that everyone needs in their time travel show. Legends never had particularly clear rules of time travel, but this was pretty straightforward. Soon Legends will make the meaning of the phrase 'wibbly wobbly timey wimey stuff'.

This time, it's the bad guys' moment to shine. Their talents get the legends into an arms sale, where Savage is hanging out. It's unclear what his game is. Apparently he creates chaos and world wars because the more the world fights, the less they notice an immortal living among them. This seems counter intuitive. Surely all that trouble would draw attention to him? Oh look, Damien Darhk!

It all erupts into a fight rather quickly. Who knew that illegal arms deals were so violent? This is all an opportunity for the legends to show off some standard heroism. They're even alright at working as a team, even if it goes south. They bicker about it later, regardless.

'I doubt you can apprehend me, AND stop a nuclear explosion!'

The plot of the episode takes a moment to kick in, but it is the plot of every Legends episode that will follow. The team attempts to fix history, and in doing so they mess it up even worse. In this instance, they lose part of the futuristic tech Ray has in his suit. It is also the debut of the phrase 'time is like cement', and the assertion that time takes a minute to settle once changes have been made. It is a concept this show uses liberally to avoid the nasty time paradoxes that destroyed the Umbrella Academy. Who knew it could be that easy for Five?

In later seasons, the terrible future that the Legends have to avoid will be more silly, or goofy in some way. Like Beebo day replacing Christmas. Here, it's a dire, nuclear wasteland. The end of the world has been predicted quite a few times already. It is like I am watching the Umbrella Academy.

This is also the debut of the Legends commitment to goofy fashion in the past. It is very important Sara wears gogo boots in the 70s. This is not a show known for accuracy, but I do appreciate the fun of it all. The hawks stay on the ship to do something mystical to do with a knife. Snart, Rory and Ray go to do more crime. Sara and Firestorm go looking for young Stein, which I do enjoy. There's a good character moment here. Present Stein is stuffy and judgemental. Past Stein is more laid back. He flirts with Sara. He smokes weed. He's cool. The question is - how did he become who he is today? He's a bit of an asshole too, prompting Stein to reflect more on himself.

'We wouldn't want my former self tempted by a sexy assassin from the future!'

Sara knocks out past Stein with a bong, and present Stein sets an alarm clock so he can make sure to meet his future wife. It's a little cheekier than the previous episode. There's a lingering shot where we see Sara stealing young Stein's joints. I also like Carter's admission that he and Kendra aren't necessarily destined to be together. I remain unconvinced about this pairing, but there was a very wonky power dynamic between them that this admission dispels a little. Kendra is already being pursued by creep Vandal Savage, Carter doesn't need to come off this way too.

Why does Rip have a telescope in his parlour? Does he take it out to watch the stars? Adorable.

Stein comes to the conclusion that he hasn't really changed at all. He is still arrogant. It's a character moment. Self-reflection and all that. Jax gets to talk him up. It's effective. Young Stein earns his keep, and it's good that he makes so many recurring appearances.

Kendra stands there while Carter is murdered. It's a bit of an awkward scene, as you can see her just standing in the back. Savage gets away because apparently Kendra needs to use the knife he used instead of him. I don't know why. The mystical elements of this show are really mixed up with the sci fi elements. The same was true for Arrow, but it's particularly glaring here. The plot rests on Kendra killing Savage, but there's no clear reason why.

Rip makes sure that Stein meets his future wife. This is because he has a soft spot when it comes to wives. He's warming. Soon, he will indeed be the team dad.

The team becomes bonded over the death of Carter, who they knew for about two minutes. They renew their dedication to the team, and the story begins proper. This episode charmed me more than the first. There's a hint there of the tone that Legends will settle into, once they really decide what kind of show they want to make. It is more focused than the first, having the characters in separate locations somehow made for a more streamlined story.

[uselessboss]

A Question of Trust (4/4)

“I was briefed about the case. Missing people and the search party didn’t return yet right?” -Miller asked the officer keeping watch over the place.

“Yes, we lost contact with them for a while”

“Can you send me a list of the members of the search party and their photos? It will come in handy”

“Here it is”

“Thanks”. Miller nodded after she received the data on her cellphone. “Leave everything to me and have ambulances on standy by because I suspect we might need them”.

“What are your instructions Miller?” Hunter asked.

But Miller didn’t reply, her expression was grave, the most serious he ever saw her be.

He kept waiting for her to speak, but she only uttered a word again when they met with Johannes, Miller’s second in command in their unit.

When Miller had to pass her orders around she usually left this task to Johannes because people respected him for being serious, reliable and more approachable than her.

Johannes also respected Miller the most out of everyone.

Which while it made his distate towards him not come off as a surprise Hunter felt that strangely enough it got worse after he stopped being at odds with Miller.

“Tell everyone to stay, I have to go alone”. She instructed after finishing briefing the situation with her second in command.

“Are you NUTS Miller?! Even an entire search party went missing and you want to go ALONE?!” Hunter grabbed her shoulder. “You are not making any sense and are not even explaining what’s going on and you expect us to follow such ludicrous orders?!”

Miller slapped his hand away.

“Stay.” Her voices goes deathly cold, giving no room to be argued against. “That’s an ORDER Hunter”

He flinches.

“Johannes, if he tries anything stop him”. Miller nods to Johannes and then walks away, not sparing even a glance at him.

That was a shock.

Because that was the first time he was treated with such coldness from her and because it was the first time she ever used her authority to order him around.

“Oh yeah that’s the first time you see this right? The first time she did that I was also surprised”. Johannes speaks casually as if what happened was nothing unusual. “ That said, she didn’t need to put a babysitter on me when that happened”.

Hunter raises his eyebrow at what Johannes told him.

This strange behavior wasn’t something new?

“I can understand your shock. For a moment I almost wondered if she would make an exception and bring you along”. His voice reeks of smugness and mockery.

“...Miller ordered us to stay”. Hunter replies.

“Hah! That’s funny coming from you of all people”. Johannes snorts. ““Weren’t you the one constantly spouting that you wouldn’t let her get away if she did anything suspicious? You were all talk huh?”

“Johannes what are you trying to pull?” Hunter frowns. “You are her second in command right? She trusted you with this order”

“Ah yeah, second in command?”. Johannes’s voice is dripping with sarcasm. “Honestly couldn’t tell that when everyone thinks YOU are her right hand man”

“...I’m not trying to steal your position”.

“You know, I would once have cared about that. Back when I was an ambitious person that wasn’t given an opportunity to show what I could do until Miller recognized me and gave me all the space to show my worth when others tried to stiffle it.” Johannes muses. “Like a benevolent Goddess that you just want to worship”

“...”

“At first she was a means to an end. I knew about her shady past but thought it didn’t matter what kind of crappy person she was as long as she could open the doors for me to rise in the ranks”. Johannes kept going. “But then I started to think more and more that she, in truth, was the most worthy person I would ever meet and I stopped caring about seeking a higher position. Her praise and attention became the only important thing to me and I was willing to turn a blind eye to things or sacrifice anything if it meant I could keep working with her.”

“Beneath her”.

Johannes stops his spiel to look condescendingly at Hunter.

“You know, seeing how pathetic you were for that woman was a wake up call to me. How I was wasting my time, becoming so pitiful for such a WORHTLESS PERSON”.

“What did you say?” Hunter spat, furious.

“She trained us really well”. Johannes was unfazed. “Did you know that she never writes any reports when she goes solo and that all victims she rescued are not willing to talk about what happened? I never cared before because whenever she did that it happened in small, isolated incidents with nothing to write home about but maybe she was training us to not find it suspicious for when an opportunity like this arose?”

“...What do you mean by that?” Hunter narrowed his eyes.

“Well, no matter what she tries to pull she can’t erase her past” Johannes references the incident. “But if, say, she got all the credit for saving everyone when not even an entire team could do it then wouldn’t you think that public opinion of her would change for the better?”

“She’s...!”

...Not like that.

But the words couldn’t leave his lips once again.

Could he really say that? Did he even knew Miller well enough to affirm something like that?

His grip loosens and he let Johannes go.

“...Well, I’m done wasting myself away for her sake so I am going inside.” He adjusts his coat. “I sure as hell won’t let her take all the credit to herself”

He can only stand there in silence, trying to process his chaotic emotions and thoughts.

What Johannes said did make sense, maybe she was up to no good, but...

“Excuse me, Mr.Hunter?”

“Huh?”

“Do you know where Johannes is? He still didn’t reported back to the rest of us so we were wondering what were our orders”.

“...Johannes went after Miler”

“Oh, so should we follow them?”

“No” Hunter speaks firmly. “Miller ordered us to stay”

“Huh? But Johannes...”

“JOHANNES DISOBEYED HER ORDERS” He spat. “The orders were for us all to stay”

He decided he would wait.

His old self would surely chide him for his course of action but he couldn’t care less. There was something far more important occupying his mind at that moment.

It took some hours but Miller appeared again, followed by a group of people in bad shape, some with injuries so nasty that they had to be carried by others.

He went to greet her, and she noded in acknowledgement until she noticed the lack of Johannes’ presence, looking at him with confusion.

She expected him to disobey her orders but not Johannes huh?

He tells her what happened.

“I’m going back to look for him”, she didn’t hesitate, worry clouding her features.

Hunter would never forget about that moment.

About the way he wondered why she wasn’t angry, why she was showing such concern for someone that clearly didn’t deserve her consideration and what happened when she returned.

How distraught and in anguish she was when she returned with Johannes’ dismembered corpse.

After Johanne’s funeral ended he found Miller sitting alone in a far away bench.

He was trying to decide if he should or not call for her or leave her alone but Miller seemed to notice his presence.

“Why all of this happened?.” Miller spoke out loud. “The day before that I was just talking with him about how I finally got a chance to get him promoted but he refused, saying that he wished to stay. This isn’t making any sense”

“...He was hurt and trying to put an act of hating you to fool himself”

“What?”

“He thought the world about you but felt hurt because he thought you never cared back”. Hunter explained. “He probably saw you accomodating someone like me that has been nothing but a nuisance as a sign that you didn’t want to bother to do the same for him”.

“...I hate myself”. Miller spat, her nails draggin through her scalp in anger and self hatred. “When he said he wanted to stay I told him that he shouldn’t hold himself back because of me. I thought I didn’t want to step on his dreams but I guess I completely disregarded his feelings”

He’s such a fool.

Hunter mused.

How could Johannes ever think for a moment that she never cared? When she was suffering this much, when she cried so loudly for him?

“...I must apologize to you too Hunter”

“...?”

“You understood his feelings because you were probably hurt the same way”. Miller smiled bitterly. “You are a right, I’m the worst. It wouldn’t be unexpected if you also wished to hate me”.

“I don’t hate you”. He promptly says. “ ...And any hurt I felt was an unearned feeling”

“It’s not like I gave you many reasons to feel otherwise Hunter”

“And I didn’t give you ANY reason to trust me”. He replied back. “I... Both Johannes and I were such selfish hypocrites. Just because you didn’t do things our way we were conceited enough to ignore everything you did for us".

He felt disgusted at himself. He was so focused about appeasing his stupid ego,  stubborly focusing on things of the past that he completely disregarded every single proof she showed him of who she was.

To him, everything was “not enough”.

Not even the day she was at her most vulnerable, when she didn’t have to share anything with him and he didn’t deserve it but she still did it anyway.

...And he was still callous enough to think of that as “not enough”.

“... I heard that after Johannes left you were the one to tell everyone to stay”. Miller bumped shoulders with him, sitting closer. “Thank you”

She smiled. It was as warm as the body next to his.

“Would you mind telling me the reason to why you did so?”

No suspicious of his intentions, not thinking the worst of him, she wanted to listen to him as a show of trust.

“...I had a lot going on my mind at that moment, it was very confusing and I wasn’t sure of what to think anymore, but when I was asked what should be done something became very clear to me”.

He cleared his throat, it was embarrassing to say it out loud but he had to suck it up and tell her that, she deserved it.

“You would be hurt if we disobeyed your pleas and I didn’t want that. I didn’t want to hurt you”

“You are seriously too much of a good person Hunter”, Miller chuckled. “But... Is that ok? Johannes must have told you more things that doesn’t paint a good picture of me right?”

“...I decided that I don’t care about that anymore” He was seriously going to combust at any moment now.”I think that what you showed me is... Enough. I believe in you”

Miller was going to say something, but Hunter stopped her with a gesture.

Ok, he was nearly dying inside but he had to say that before he lost his nerve.

“The next time, if you need something you can just ask. I am willing to listen to you”

“... I seriously don’t deserve you. Thanks.”

“You think too highly of me Miller”

“Yes I do”.

“...IThinkHighlyOfYouToo”

“What was that?”

“Nothing”.