#i'm very open to ideas/soundboarding for how to make this feel realistic

[xenon-demon]

also. tell me more about your Kas!Eddie please 🙏

ohhhhh Lui gravity is the AU that has just. grabbed me in its jaws and will not let go. I think about it CONSTANTLY and I don't think that will stop anytime soon. I've got a few asks about this one though so I'll START with talking about What's Going On In Hawkins circa the start of the fic. If you would like to know more about The Boy, Kas!Steve, then may I direct your attention to this post :D

So Eddie and Steve swap places right before the final fight, because Steve is injured at that point and Eddie isn't (and they figure staying at Eddie's trailer will be less dangerous that going to the Creel House). Everything else from that point proceeds as in canon; the bats get in, Steve dies, Max dies temporarily and the four gates connect and drive a massive rift through Hawkins.

From there, Hawkins basically descends into a semi-apocalyptic nightmare. The rift from the end of season 4 has caused major structural damage all over town, many buildings have been destroyed and lots of people have either evacuated or had to move into a local motel that's been converted into emergency housing for the people of Hawkins (that's where the Munsons are now staying). On top of that, the rift has basically destroyed the structural integrity between the Upside Down and our world; while the rift itself is not really a functional gate, there are a bunch of smaller gates randomly opening up around town now. More and more of them show up as time goes on. Some are small (think like the tree Nancy goes through in S1), some are much bigger (think bigger than Eddie's trailer roof gate), and most of them tend to fluctuate a bit in size/fade in and out of existence. This means that some creatures from the Upside Down are starting to bleed through these gates and end up in Hawkins looking for food.

The government, realizing everything went to shit the moment the rift opened up, rolls into Hawkins about 3-4 days after the "earthquake" saying they're here to "help with the relief efforts". (For those keeping score at home, yes this is after Team Russia & Team Cali have arrived back in Hawkins.) The official government cover story is along the lines of "hey, remember when HNL got shut down a few years back after that tragic chemical leak incident? Well, we've just discovered that a Rogue Individual (Brenner) was secretly dumping toxic chemicals and experimental materials into the local wilderness/burying them underground instead of disposing of them properly. This is the cause of the geological weirdness and mutated wildlife that some people are reporting. Everyone should leave Hawkins immediately if they can, and comply with any and all government orders if they can't". Not everyone believes this, of course, but the truth is so much more insane that most of town is at least willing to go along with it - and that's not counting the people who just up and leave because Hawkins is so super duper cursed at this point.

The main things the government is doing are:

regular patrols around the border of town and known gate hotspots, to catch and kill any UD creatures before they're spotted by civilians

nighttime curfew; you shouldn't be out after sundown unless you are going Directly from wherever you were during the day (i.e. your job) back to your home. you're not gonna get ARRESTED but the military will absolutely Escort You back to your house lmao

urging citizens to stay the fuck away from any weird sightings and report them to the armed forces as soon as possible, so the military can handle it

and yeah, they kind of are helping with the relief efforts in that they're making sure food and other important supplies are still getting into hawkins and making sure the recently-homeless have somewhere to stay, but they're doing the bare minimum really asfjknjvkdan

Essentially, as of the start of the fic (approx. a month after the rift opens up/the end of S4) the situation is this: Eleven and the Party know that in order to fix this, they have to defeat Vecna first and THEN close up any existing gates/the rift. (They also have a strong hunch that the Upside Down is Like That due to Vecna's influence.) The government officials in charge of the Hawkins occupation Do Not Believe That Is The Solution, and instead spend a lot of time wasting Eleven's time and energy by forcing her to close up gates as they appear. Between that and the fact the Party can't just storm into the Upside Down to get Vecna without a solid plan and probably armed back up, they're all feeling kind of hopeless about how to actually fix this. Especially since tensions are rising in Hawkins by the day, and the gate/monster sightings are only getting more and more frequent...

Send me an ask about my WIPs!

[jinstronaut]

do you sometimes think like... i don't know how to explain ;-; every day i think about my past and how i'm living right now, and it just gets clearer and clearer that i won't be proud of who i am today in the future, just as i'm ashamed and regretful of who i used to be. it feels like i'm getting much more far away from who i wanna become, not the opposite :( i see the boys' story and they were following their dreams at such a young age, all of them, even jin who's the oldest, they were always working hard. i know i shouldn't compare myself to them, i should use their support as a help for my own path, but i feel strenghtless. i ended high school at the beginning of this year and i haven't entered uni (i really have no idea of what i want), which means 2022 will be another year of studying hard for me, and honestly i don't think i will be able to survive this. i used to be good at studies when i was younger, but even this part of myself fade away. now this is the hardest thing to me. it's the first time in my whole life in which i can't see or believe in a future for me. .. you probably will desagree, but when i think rationally about this i feel very realist, not negative :( i wish i could find a job so i'd feel less like a burden and more like a person worth of something more, i guess. sorry, i've talked about this so many times with my closest friend and my cousin, but i feel like they're tired of this same thing over and over and i don't blame them. you seem like a cool person so i sent this, if you decide not to answer it, i'll understand ❤💓💓

hi sweetie nonnie 🥺 first of all thank you for trusting me with this and opening up to me!!! i hope i can be a good soundboard for you during what's obviously a rough time right now 😞

firstly, i want to make something really clear to you: you don't need to know what you want to do. there's always such a weird societal pressure that once you've graduated high school, you need to have your life figured out, and that's just not true!! i know it's a lot easier said than done, getting into that sort of mindset where you can just exist and be okay with that, but i really want you to know that it's okay that you're not sure what you want to do. if you want to go to university, then go for it! don't pressure yourself to fall into a certain routine -- the best part about college is the amount of classes you can take in a variety of different subjects. you could find something you really love to do, or you could realize that maybe it's not what you want it to be. both are super valid and it's a good reminder to keep in your back pocket when your brain tells you that you're not doing enough ♥

i also know it's really hard to not compare yourselves to others, especially success stories like bts. they're all incredible and work really hard for what they have and what they've gotten, but their path doesn't always equal your path, you know? you can still work hard and apply yourself to whatever you want in the moment and it'll be successful. it's not about measuring things in terms of huge achievements, sometimes it's about celebrating the little things you manage to do on a daily basis. like taking a shower, for instance, or getting out of bed a little earlier than usual, or applying to some jobs even if it's tough. take that into consideration, and truly give yourself some credit where it's due in terms of the things you do every single day -- it's not about being the best and being the biggest, it's just about being yourself!!

i also also think you need to give yourself a little bit of a break :( we've lost nearly two years to a worldwide pandemic that's certainly shaken the foundation of everyone's lives. the world was in lockdown for nearly a year, and some places are still in lockdown. some places are trying to pretend that covid doesn't even exist, and the state of the world has been incredibly volatile since march 2020, maybe even before that. it's all right that you haven't managed to do something like get a job -- the job market is really rough right now, considering how little people are willing to pay others to essentially risk their lives every day. it's all right to take a break and still try to ensure that your safety is coming first. being healthy is much more important than being put in an uncomfortable position by capitalism. one of the most important life lessons you can learn is putting your own self worth over a paycheck.

a little insight into me, for example: i'm the same age as jin, 29, and just recently do i feel like i'm finally on the right path. literally, this revelation started in may. may!!! that's only 3? 4? months of me feeling like maybe i have my life together, and i'm 29!! life is wild in the sense that things are always changing and moving and evolving. i've changed passions so many times, been at extremely low lows and incredibly high highs, but it's a constant work to feel like i'm a good version of myself, someone that past emmeline would be happy to know. if i can instill any wisdom into you from what i've learned over the past decade, it's that you don't always need to have all the answers. it's extremely valid to feel a little panicked and down -- like i said, the world is a hard place right now -- but what comes first is you.

maybe try some new hobbies! do something that you know you love a little more often every day, just to ensure that you're feeling happy. if your hobbies no longer excite you, don't be afraid to try something new! i know it's scary, but the first step is having the confidence to admit that you need help.

i hope this soothes you a little bit, nonnie :( i don't know if this makes sense in one whole go, but when i read your message i felt really touched, and i saw a lot of my younger self in your worries. i want to let you know how valid your feelings are, while reassuring you that things can change and get better when you least expect it. i'm here for you!!! and i'm sending you all the positivity that i can 💕💕💕