#it happened with eddie gluskin

[anintroverteddarling]

Might be too busy to upload the video I mentioned so Imma yeet some doodles I made at school ... ... ... I can't believe this is what I do when bored:

These are very cursed Eddie doodles because why not?

[loveipromiseimnotinsane]

After playing some of outlast trials, I am begging on my knees for the eddie glusken and trager simps not to turn their gaze to evil cop and make him the new outlast sexy man

[foxieflower]

Bunny

[finalslay]

@pumpkinstabs / continued from here

there is no response from the one in front of him other than a glance in his direction. as a matter of fact, it's an almost painfully nonchalant reaction. still, eddie can work with this, he thinks, as the other continues to wander further into his domain. perhaps she's just the silent and mysterious type — perhaps she wants to make him work for it, perhaps she wants to play a little game of her own. she could have ran away — that's what most of the others try to do — but she is willingly walking down into the darkness. very interesting.

so, as the other continues along the path, eddie simply falls into step behind him. humming to himself, eddie's eyes never once leave the newcomer. he notices it, the bloodied trail left behind, the hospital gown. this one will need special attention, he's sure of it. thumb brushes along the handle of the knife tucked into his waistband ; it is there and ready for use at a moment's notice. he will play the gentleman, but like always, if things change ...

“ are you hurt, darling? i can help. ” a beat. “ someone as pretty as you should not be walking around in these conditions — it just isn't right. what kind of man would i be if i didn't offer to assist? ”

[heretyc]

[nsfw mentions ahead] these bots are ????

???? Eddie's a cuck. This is a canon event apparently

We're in the asylum, by the way. They just. constructed a fucking Hallmark bedroom out of NOTHING

[outlastrabbit]

May i request reader coaxing a crying Eddie from a nightmare? (Love ur writing c:)

Thank you!☺️💖

Reader Comforts Eddie Gluskin After a Nightmare

Eddie jolted awake from your bed. You stirred out of your slumber too, feeling his heavy, strong weight shifting quickly next to you.

“Eddie…?” You croaked, eyes cracking open groggily as you sat up.

Eddie was wide eyed and gasping for air. You stared at him worriedly in the dark, unsure of what to do. You wanted to touch and comfort him, but he was just too unpredictable. You didn’t want to accidentally set him off in his terrified state, making him hurt or scare you.

“Eddie, hey…” you spoke gently as he sat next to you with a fearful expression. “It’s alright, Eddie. I’m here. What’s wrong?” You asked quietly.

“Before I woke up… a dream…” Eddie stammered.

You hesitantly lifted a hand and gently placed it on his broad shoulder. You fought back the urge to flinch as his blue eyes snapped to it quickly, but he relaxed under your touch.

“You had a nightmare?”

Eddie’s gaze turned to your face in the dark as his expression grew gloomy. He offered the tiniest nod as tears threatened to spill. Judging by the horrified and panicked state of the large man, you had a pretty good idea of what the nightmare was about. Who it was about…

“It’s okay, Eddie. It was just a dream. It’s not real. Not anymore. Nothing’s gonna hurt you now.”

Eddie adverted his eyes as tears began to spill down his scarred cheeks. He didn’t want you to see him this way. You frowned and rubbed his shoulder tenderly.

“Oh, Eddie. Come here.”

You wrapped your arms around the man’s massive frame, gripping him tight and resting your chin on his shoulder. He clung to the back of your shirt desperately, although still trying to be as gentle as possible.

“It’s okay, Eddie. It’s okay.”

Eddie cried softly against you, and it made your heart break. It was a genuine, sad and soft cry. The kind you couldn’t believe actually came from such a man.

“It’s alright now, Eddie. I’m here. I’m not gonna let anything happen to you.”

[michaelawinter]

My genuine head canons about Eddie Gluskin that I wrote in my notes app:

I'd like to add a little disclaimer: these head canons involve some heavy topics, so, if you're not comfortable, you aren't obligated to stay.

Also, I do not support any of Eddie's actions..just to make it clear..

ANYWAYS I'VE ALWAYS WANTED TO DO THIS SO HERE WE GO

Like the idea of him being a tailor (if you don't know what that means it basically means a person whose occupation is making or altering suits, jackets, and dresses typically to fit a particular person.) He's so creative and almost patient enough to work with materials. I also like to think that's something he shares in common with his mother who must've taught him a good few things about creating and measurements..

He'll hum a little tune to himself as he's working, makes him concentrate more..

It's not always, though, sometimes he loses his patience if the sewing machine isn't cooperating like it should be..

Although his whole character is based on "love" and wanting to find a special bride who loves him just as much as he loves his bride, it's sad to say that his needs will never be fulfilled..

What I mean by this is that not only are his delusions serving him zero purpose but not only that, hurting anyone that comes across him cause he's so desperate to be loved. However, these delusions could be a result of a coping mechanism from all the trauma he went through.

It's like trying to break the generational trauma but instead making it far worse than you could imagine..

So, being severely damaged as he already is, he takes it upon himself to somehow create this little world where he has a family of his own, a beautiful wife and children.

I also like to think of him being trapped in his little cell where he has nothing but a bed and his own little imagination.., staring off into either the ceiling or some random thing and just sits there..,maybe even talking to himself or laughing..

- His mother's lack of acknowledgement for what had happened to him when he was small made him develop some sense of protective nature as a fully grown adult especially when he mentions the topic about having his own children..

- "He appears so charming and friendly" is what he wants some to believe, he cares about how he presents himself time to time..

He wants you to believe he can be good, a perfect groom, a perfect father he never had. He will show you this people pleasing, gentle, kind and loving personality before he completely switches up and becomes the opposite..

- So, about the love part. Some describe him as overly obsessive, which don't get me wrong, he is. Though, it might seem like this isn't much of a big deal to him cause he will show you every ounce of love he has and shower you with it, if you plan on giving yourself to him that is. You'd be his number one priority, you'll never feel like a choice, you are his everything.. It's always like living the dream from the very start, it'll feel like a movie in Hollywood but slowly yet surely this doesn't last how it should...

Imagine being taken care of by someone as charming and loving as he is, imagine him calling you loving words in his English accent and no I'm not just talking about "darling" , I'm talking about :

"Are you alright, my love?"

"Your virtues have so strangely taken up my thoughts.."

"I think you're stunning.."

"You look as pretty as always.."

He is old fashioned, so he will eventually take it upon himself to act like a gentleman around you, he will make the first move, gets you flowers, he plans everything since he would love spend time with you.. It's all about getting to know eachother..

You'd never have to do such work, stay at home and he will do all the providing. 50/50 chance he comes back home with some nice flowers or small gifts..,like I said, old fashioned..

His thoughts would only be you. His number one priorit would always be you. But,... it's not you?..

You're you but also you're not?..

His mind creates this character of you, it's what he's expecting from you, how you act, how you talk, how you dress, how you walk..it's what he expects from you rather accepting you for who you are. This results to a lot of guilt tripping..

And I know, it sucks, but should've thought about it that before going for a psychopathic maniac that's in an asylum for a reason..

- It's quite easy to spot this one, but one of his most common triggers is when someone makes him think they're going to abandon him.

"I can't be alone!.."

By the way, his height and his strength is actually so scary that if you do eventually try to abandon him by walking away, he'll break the door down, he'll find you, he'll do unspeakable things to either you or the furniture that's in his way of trying to get close to you

(Speaking of which: I've noticed a lot of people using the term "Yandere" for an individual with mental illness. Please, stop that..)

Outside of the asylum I like to think his sense of fashion is probably top tier old money, just casual and nice..

Probably likes taking night walks with his nice coat on. That'll keep anyone from expecting him to be a psychopath..

Originally, the man ((((COULD)))) be from England, however, his parents decided to move countries from Europe to America cause they probably liked it more that way..

Eddie is definitely those kinds of people who have that one parent that's always been treating them like shit their entire childhood but still hold a special place in their heart for them cause they don't have anyone else.. That's Eddie towards his mother, I mean, he was her son...all he had was her and deep down he believes that, there was a point she wanted to help..(Even though her absence permanently damaged him)..

But somehow..that caring nature, that charming side of him, that right there, that came from her..

[charliedawn]

Hey! How would father!Michael Myers feel about Eddie Gluskin wanting Michael's 25 year old daughter who is also a patient in the asylum to be his wife?

How are you?

(I am fine. How about you ?)

It started the day when you were transferred from another asylum to St Louis. Female patients weren’t usually allowed, but you were made an exception because Michael wouldn’t go anywhere without his precious daughter. You had grown up surrounded by slashers and hence, not much scared you.

When Eddie Gluskin was admitted in St Louis, he wasn’t introduced to you because…well…Michael.

But one day, you happened to wake up before your father and come down for some breakfast when you accidentally met Eddie. You were both stunned. You had never met before and Eddie wasn’t even aware that there were any women around other than the nurses.

Your eyes met and once the shock over, he decided to pretend being too busy with his coffee to speak. You quickly realised it was best not to stare, so you decided to just go toast yourself some slices of bread for breakfast.

There was silence.

Eddie glanced a few times in your direction, but didn’t speak a word. Neither did you. Michael had taught you not to speak to strangers, so you didn’t. You hence didn’t speak until you were back upstairs and took a deep breath. He was…gorgeous. You decided not to speak to your father about that little episode.

He wouldn’t have understood and besides…you probably wouldn’t see him again.

…

But then, you started waking up early everyday to get breakfast and Eddie was there—like clockwork. You never spoke, but awkward silence turned to shy smiles and little glances here and there…until one day.

You were about to get back to your room when you stopped dead in your tracks and looked down at the pancakes in your plate…Surely, Michael would not mind being short of a few, right ? You took a deep breath and backtracked to sit down next to him. If he was surprised, he didn’t show it.

"…You like pancakes ?" You asked. He remained silent for a moment before looking at you. He stayed silent for a moment before he finally smiled.

"I do enjoy a good pancake. Would you care to share ?"

It was the first time you were hearing his voice. It sounded soft and a little hushed—as if he wasn’t used of using it all that much. You smiled back.

"Not at all." You then proceeded to serve him pancakes and Eddie smiled again before digging in.

"I’m Y/N Myers by the way." You introduced yourself and his pale blue eyes looked up at you.

"Eddie. Eddie Gluskin."

From that day onwards, you started spending time with Eddie.

You started watching him and tried to understand who he really was. Eddie was respectful and polite and seemed like the perfect gentleman. You didn’t know why a man like him would be admitted to a mental institution—especially since he seemed so clear-minded.

From what you had heard, he had just transferred from a place called Mount Massive asylum. He hadn’t brought it up though, so you guessed that it wasn’t a fond memory of his. You couldn’t have access to files, but you had heard nurses speak about a certain ‘Waylon Park’. Once you started your research, you were able to understand what his past was and why he was here.

But, you were not one to judge too quickly, especially being Michael’s daughter offered you perspective and that not everything was as it seemed.

The more you shared, the closer you got…until one day, Eddie was the one preparing breakfast and before you could protest, he had invited you to sit down and get a taste. You sat down and started eating with a grin on your face and Eddie seemed happy that you’d eat his food.

"Good, darling. Really good." He cooed and you smiled—completely oblivious…until your vision started faltering and you realised that Eddie had surely drugged you. In a matter of seconds, you were asleep. He then picked you up bridal style and smirked as he proceeded to carry you to his bedroom.

"Sleep soundly, my darling. Sweet dreams."

———————————————————————

After your ‘disappearance’, Michael was desperate and he knocked at every door, searched every dark spot in the entire asylum. He could not find you anywhere and finally called your name over and over again. He usually never used his voice, but this was an emergency. Finally…he got news.

Eddie came to him with a letter.

…

An invitation to your wedding.

"…"

Michael looked up at him in shock. He couldn’t believe it and before anyone could stop him, he had taken Eddie by the throat and threw him against a wall.

"You took her ?!"

He then proceeded to wrap his hand around Eddie’s throat and squeezed. But, Eddie wasn’t afraid. Eddie took a moment before standing back up and claiming:

"We are in love…"

Michael remained silent for a moment before bashing Eddie’s head against the wall.

"WHERE IS MY DAUGHTER ?!"

Suddenly, nurses and doctors and guards came in to stop the fight and some of them had to tackle down Michael to make him stop turning Eddie’s head into mush. Michael’s knuckles had turned red by the time he was dragged out of the room.

Fortunately, you were found in Eddie’s room…in a closet. He had tied you up and drugged you. Fortunately, no harm was done to you and you were brought back to Michael safe and sound.

But you could not help yourself to ask why.

Why had he done this ?

So, you went to his cell.

"…Eddie ?" There was no movement for a couple of minutes before Eddie slowly turned his head towards you and smiled.

"Darling."

You sighed before asking him.

"Why ? Why did you do this ? I thought we were friends."

Eddie clicked his tongue.

"Please, darling. Do not insult me. You knew what I wanted. I am a patient, just as much as you. I would assume you already knew about me and the reasons that brought me here, no ?"

You shuddered at the look he gave you.

"…You knew I liked you. You could have waited." You told him with a sad smile and Eddie laughed.

"Oh my sweet sweet darling." He suddenly grabbed your arm and pulled you closer. "I have WAITED my entire existence to find my perfect wife. And now that I have finally found you…my ALMOST perfect wife…You expect me to wait some more ?"

He smirked and your heart paced rapidly in your chest. He released you and you took a few steps back.

"A-Almost ?" You asked and he chuckled.

"Yes. Almost. You will be my wife. But first, we have got to get rid of your FATHER, darling."

Your eyes widened in shock and you shook your head. He tilted his head and his smirk softened as his eyes bored into yours.

"Don’t you worry, my love. I will be the one taking care of everything for you…We will soon be together. As it was intended. You and I. Me and my sweet wife…Just wait for me, as I have waited for you."

[youre-gonna-see-a-lot-of-me]

That's so fucked up that people are romantizing Franco, because even Red Barrels are showing him as a total creep and disgusting person. In Outlast Tag I have a feeling that some artists are making him completly different character, making him charming/safe/lovely. I even have seen some people who were drawing him with normal face (without big forehead) and you couldn't tell them that it's the right character design! I feel like Franco enjoyers are more agressive than fans of other Outlast character. Even with Coyle/Eddie simps they seem to understand that they are evil and they murder others, but with Franco I feel like they can take it when someone tell them that he's grown up, murder people in very brutal way and his voice lines are just disgusting... it really seems that people are getting agressive only because someone tell some shit about 🎀✨️Franco🎀✨️. I know his fans isn't the only one that have stick in their ass (cause I seen a lot of shit bout Coyle/Big Grunts/Easterman etc.) but yall need to understand that FRANCO IS A GROWN ASS MAN and you would run for your life if you'd meet someone in irl as 1% fucked up as he is. Saying that he's just a Baby and he made nothing wrong is just 🤮 and problem is in yall if you justificate him and things he made.

idk how to tell you this ,,,, but this game is fictional. The characters are fictional. You're free to feel however you want about them, just like I and anyone else is.

I partially agree with the part about changing his appearance to make him look more "normal" or whatever, but at the same time people are allowed to interpret their favs however they want to. They can draw / write for him however they want to. I don't like "fixing" his face, just because it (personally) feels like saying "he's too ugly", but again, that's just me. As an artist, I know that people are going to have different interpretations of a character I like. It's just part of other people existing in the world. Not everyone thinks like you do, and that's okay.

Do you know how many posts I saw (and STILL see) about Eddie Gluskin, doing essentially the same thing as what you said people do with Franco?? That man would cut you open to "make a baby in you" no hesitation and people still ""romanticize"" him (me fuckin included I LOVE YOU EDDIE). Its just part of liking fucked up characters, some people are going to want to make them more "normal".

Personally, I see the normalization as more like wanting to give him some normalcy in his life, because of his past / lore. I love the idea of letting Franco have a normal life, be a normal person. A life where he never had to deal with the stupid Mafia stuff, had a decent father and never ran into Murkoff, having a normal, happy life. But, I also seriously adore his original, fucked up character.

Honestly, who actually cares if people are "justifying" his actions??? None of them are real. He is not real. I have never understood the sentiment that you have to make sure people know you don't justify a fictional characters actions... they are not real. It's not a real person. None of the things he did happened.

Maybe it's just me, but I would not run from someone like him. That's not some edge lord "im so evil and dark" bs but because of my real life experiences. Been with and around people in my life / family who are quite like him and I didn't run.

I imagine some of us are using it as a sort of coping mechanism, because (at least for me) some of us dealt with people who treated us like he would. Though, that's getting into personal territory, and I won't try and speak for others.

All I can really say is either learn that not everybody's going to have the same ideas as you or block the tag. Sorry if that's too harsh a response, but life is too short to really give that much of a fuck about someone /something other people like.

And I've said this before but this is literally Outlast, all of the characters are this fucked up, it's not just him.

Like does no one remember Outlast 2??? Does no one remember the pile of dead burnt babies, or the hundreds of other fucked up things in that game?? I really feel like Franco does not compare.

So, can we please just be over with this now? I mean, drama is totally fun and I love it, but I can imagine others don't.

[bigboipyromaniac]

hey idk if you’re taking requests but could you do something with Eddie gluskin? Like, maybe the reader could be one of the doctors in mount massive, and after all the inmates break out he goes looking for them? It doesn’t have to be nsfw, I’m mostly just curious how you would write him. Thank you for your hard work!

YES SIRR TIME FOR A SILLY STORYYY

Ok its not that silly but still

You were the one unfortunate soul who worked at Mount Massive during the outbreak, i mean the place wasn’t too bad, you got to work with patients,that would sometimes eat your arm… but that’s ok! You were mostly called if a patient was injured.

Which was most of the time.

Despite this place being an absolute chaos, you did find those places that were always nice to hang around, yours being the sewing room! It was always empty and rarely people would come in, it was mostly use to keep inmates clothes and to fix clothes if someone was being rough with it. But for you it was your little lunch break room.

It was one of those days that you just want to sit back and relax while the other doctors had to deal with the inmate fighting with each other. Before you had taken a bite out of your lunch, you can hear in the distance loud screams, you had assume that one of the inmates had escaped and fought with one of the doctors, but.. no thats too many screams for it to be just one person.

You quickly ran back to your assigned station hoping nothing had happened to your patients.

It was a mess…blood was spread all over the walls, the smell was horrible, how can this all happened in just a few minutes? You had to contact someone about this! The manager? Bodyguards? God this feels like the military needs to get involved. You quickly ran to your office to grab the phone, the office was also a mess but manageable.

Heading to the line-phone that was hanging on the wall, before you can manage to dial anyone, you heard some footsteps and a voice near you. Turing around you found on of you patient on the floor with what seems like a screwdriver, where did he manage to find one? Who knows! He had gotten up from his spot and started saying words you couldn’t understand well.

He was walking towards you with that screwdriver “Hey man, put that down! Im not trying to harm you!” But your words fell on deaf ears as he went for the attack.you quickly closed your eyes and held your arm up and waited to feel a sharp pain in your arms or anywhere in you body

But nothing?

You felt water land on your body but no pain at all. Opening your eyes, you see your patient has a knife through his stomach and someone was holding the arm that held the screwdriver, the water that you felt was blood pouring from his body. You froze, you had just survived a attempted murder and also witnessed a murder.

After a few minutes which felt like eternity, the person had removed the knife from his body and the man had fell to the floor, “Darling!” That voice, oh no. Before you can get another thought in Eddie had grabbed you into a hug, lifting you up from the floor. “Oh i was so worried that someone else got to you before me!” You couldn’t tell if he meant it as you getting murdered or getting married to someone else.

You could really form words after that, so… you just awkwardly pat his back, almost like a thank you for saving me. “We should leave honey, this is no place for our wedding!” Wedding!?! When did you agree to get married? He grabbed you leg and headed out from the office, completely forgetting what you were there for. “H-hold on! Where are we going!!” Eddie looked at you with a look that says ‘are you dumb? You should know.’ “To get ready for our wedding! You cant be wearing that darling.” He gave you a small kiss on the forehead and walked his way to the sewing room.

Congratulations on getting married!

[paganminiskirt]

haii gooseberry number one fan here. whats yr thoughts on phylis ... i lov lov lov yr posts abt picking apart coyles character and lore hehe

“You're too delicate! You're too precious! You can't go!”

Well first of all, I love that she’s fat, in part because you can bet your ass that if she wasn’t, she’d be overeroticized and made the object of those shallow copy-pasted “awoooooooga step on me mommy” screeds that fandom regurgitates to avoid having to put coherent thought into female characters. Much like queerness and the role it plays in Coyle’s storyline, fat characters that are conceptualized to act as fonts of horror have traditionally reinforced fatphobic social norms. And because of the gory, grotesque conventions of horror as a genre, these cases are often distinctly more damaging and offensive than, say, a fatphobic character in a sitcom. (You can read more about this topic here and here.)

The voice acting carries all of her appearances, too. Her now infamous cocaine song is the first example to come to mind; that overwrought, wavering tone she adopts makes it sound like she’s always on the brink of breaking down entirely. The sustained anxiety created a harsh juxtaposition between her tone and the lewd lines share’s parroting (“fucking and fighting.”) The quote that I highlighted at the top of the post also shines. Gooseberry’s great vocal performance is cool not least of all because the last major fat antagonist in the series, Chris Walker, didn’t get a lot of lines. I’m midway through replaying the first Outlast, and I think the game treats Chris Walker with a lot more pathos and significance than many games treat fat characters of his kind, although that assessment falls apart once you get to The Murkoff Account.

Chris is the main villain of Outlast. He’s portrayed as brutal but also competent and deliberately ruthless, which implies that he’s capable of complex thought in spite of the dehumanization he endured as a variant. The contradiction there underscores the game’s main theme & the overarching tragedy and atrocity of Mount Massive. In the end, Chris is brutally murdered on screen, and you could argue that the imagery incorporated in his death scene - that of expanding and blowing up - has fatphobic undertones. But unlike Rick Traeger and Eddie Gluskin, who meet similarly grizzly fates, the audience surrogate Miles directly suggests that the viewer should sympathize with Chris after his death. Somehow, Chris emerges as the least monstrous of the three, no matter how much abuse was piled onto his body and mind, and no matter what crimes he committed under that duress. Overall, Outlast presents him as a relevant, memorable, and fully autonomous character. Not bad, for a game that came out while The Biggest Loser was still airing on NBC.

But the comics have a lot less time to develop Chris than the game did. In The Murkoff Account, his main purpose is to act as a human example of broader institutional cruelty, much like Billy Hope did in Outlast. That position naturally invites the audience to view Chris as victimized and, to an extent, sympathetic, but his only notable characteristic outside of that victimization is a childish inability to control his aggression or prevent himself from being bullied. Those two details seem to form a paradox, right? Chris is a former military police officer, he brags about knowing judo, he should be able to get his coworkers to shut up and stop making fun of him. But he lacks the drive, conviction and strength of will necessary to do that. He’s basically a big baby, characterization which is reinforced by the comics’ art style.

Compared to the thin characters, Chris isn’t allowed to act with nearly as much autonomy as he did in the game. What happens to him in the comics could happen to anyone, and the only distinctions relevant to him as a person are crass stereotypes revolving around his body. The cost of expanding on the game’s lore was that the main villain got whittled down to the latent antifat tropes which had always lingered just below the surface - Chris doesn’t get to be a mad doctor like Trager or an abhorrent admirer like Gluskin. Instead, he’s the stout strength trope, he’s the fat idiot trope, and he expands on the pig imagery. Not great times.

And Gooseberry was probably influenced by Chris. Dhe’s fat, she’s strong, she’s associated with an animal, and to an extent, she’s infantile! Although I think that her characterization as hysterical and not fully in control of herself is less a manifestation of fatphobia, as it was with Chris, and more a direct allusion to antiquated perceptions of mentally ill women. “Goose” is itself old-world slang for a silly or witless person. If one thing has emerged from my thoughts on Coyle, it would be that the writers of Trials are a lot more conscientious of social perceptions and stereotyping than the writers of Outlast were. It’s natural for a series that’s been going on for this long to begin to develop redundancy, but Trials’ 1950s setting and new game mechanics help gloss over that. Phyllis’ asserted sexual relationships with in-game characters struck me as unnecessary, but fat women (like dark skin women) are often depicted as masculine and drained of eroticism, so. You win some, you lose some.

You can read Gooseberry as a sort of a combination between Chris and Eddie, with her body and maturity interconnected to present her as disturbingly naive and immature in contrast with the great violence she enacts. This is a concept also explored with Eddie Gluskin: his hand-wringing need to preserve his would-be victim’s “chastity” becomes bizarre and unsettling when pushed up against the graphic, vindictive misogyny. Similarly, one reason the chases with Chris are so unbearably scary is because the sound of his clinking chains gets louder and louder as he gains on you, but he also does this laborious breathing when he runs which emphasizes his weight. When Phyllis chases you, you hear Futterman’s drill and the sound of her mindless shrieking - it’s terrifying in a way that doesn’t incorporate her fatness into the fear factor. Love that. The same unfortunately can’t be said for her implied DID, a demonization which is unfortunately very common, very old and very damaging all at once. (You can read more about that here, and in tons of other places.)

Michel Foucault used a two-pronged framework to examine popular narratives about The Plague and pandemics in general. Within this framework, there is one “political” story model which is defined by a controlling environment and another “literary” dimension which is defined by a collectivized, frenzied environment was first conceived. Perhaps because Outlast: Trials was developed amidst a pandemic, I think Foucault’s framework translates nicely to examining Trials’ narrative about the cold war and the red scare. Some common themes include mass hysteria, xenophobia, heightened interpersonal suspicion and a seemingly unprecedented increase in government control.

On the surface, Coyle would represent the “political” dimension of Trials’ horror, acting as an exaggerated, kinda ridiculous extension of the extreme social control that white supremacy & patriarchy enforce. Within this dichotomy, Gooseberry would represent the “literary” dimension of the game’s horror, acting as a chaotic dissolver of all social barriers rather than an enforcer of them and creating a frenzied, carnival-like effect within anyone who comes under her spell. The children who watched her old show and took to violence and drug consumption come to mind; regardless of background, parenting or culture, Phyllis changed them. She didn’t even have to see them in person. She did it over the TV.

Gooseberry [hosted] a children's variety show known as 'The Mother Gooseberry Hour” [produced by Futterland Studios] which started airing in 1951. Following Dr. Futterman's death, the cause of which is still unknown, she had a hysterical episode and began experiencing dissociation. The tone of the Mother Gooseberry Hour shifted accordingly. Throughout her tenure on the show, she used her television platform and mail-order "dental drops" business to get children addicted to narcotics, violence, theft, and possibly murder. Over the years, the children watching her show became cult-like, engaging in immoral behavior, drug use, and other shenanigans, leading to larceny and assault. In 1955, Futterland Studios was raided by the police, after which she was charged with racketeering, kidnapping, and conspiracy to commit murder. The raid left two police officers dead and five others injured, as she escaped into the tunnels beneath the set to attack them with drills. It is unclear exactly what was inside Futterland Studios, but police captain Stanley Hoad described the contents of the studios as "The most grotesque architectural perversion since H.H. Holmes’ Chicago Murder Castle.”

Trials is the first Outlast game to allow us to have character customization, and unlike the previous protagonists (who both get stand out from the other characters by being in some way Special within the setting,) the Reagents are intended to act as an endless supply of nameless, faceless grunts, the vast majority of which will die gruesome deaths during the guinea pig stage. In this game, we play as the people who would’ve been those nameless, faceless heads we see on the shelves in Outlast, or hanging from a tree branch in Outlast 2. The game’s customization elements are justified in-universe by the notion that they’re so addled that they can’t even establish a stable perception of their own features: an example of the collectivizing, depersonalizing nature of the literary dimension if I’ve ever seen one. As the popularity of the customizable character feature ebbs and flows, other franchises pull it out just out of laziness in the creative department. With that in mind, I’m really glad Trials did something cool and innovative with the concept instead of just dumping in RPG elements for no reason.

Phyllis’ multiple personas mimic the changeable qualities of the Reagents themselves, though they’re grounded in her stated backstory: there is the doll, the dead abuser, and there is her, the child-turned-woman reenacting that trauma seemingly without fully grasping what’s doing. We’re left with this character who’s genuineness we’re always unsure about, in hard contrast to Coyle’s blunt, undisguised self-servingness and complete lack of conscious guile or shame. The first time the player gets up close with Phyllis will be in the kill animation, where she nods at the puppet she thinks is her father before slaughtering you unceremoniously. Who can say for sure, if Phyllis is more malicious or misguided? Not us, not the other Reagents, not Murkoff, and least of all herself. I’m glad she was included.

[wallflowers-in-the-wind]

I hate the fact I even have to address this but here we go.

People’s favorite characters does not mean they agree or condone the actions of those characters. A persons favorite character can be because of a variety of things from the design, personality, story line, etc.

The argument that your favorite character means you are ok with their actions happening to real people keeps getting thrown around. And it’s ridiculous! Fictional character ARE NOT a representation of YOUR values.

Because by that logic people who like the Joker from DC comics think that people who try to replicate his crimes are ok. Or that beating the one they see as their Harley Quinn every time something goes wrong is fine.

That same logic would be applied to Rhysand fans who all now magically believe a partner who commits SA, lies to everyone around them, threatens to murder your family, have a body count in the thousands, and hides important medical facts is ok.

And Tamlin fans now believe locking people up for their protection and allowing their trauma and paranoia to take over to the point where they sacrifice everything for the wrong person is fine.

Or Eddie Gluskin fans now believe real men who mutilate other men (because no women are around) to turn them into ‘brides’ is a-okay.

A favorite character is not a representation of YOU and does not represent what YOU believe should happen to real people. If you believe that you have to condone everything a character does and that it’s an all or nothing mentality then please do some reevaluating. Because that is a negative mindset to have and if you take that logic outside of ranting from a screen or go off on the wrong person you are in for a rude awakening.

[cellarspider]

20/30 Special delivery

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We return to a movie that has never been to medical school, Prometheus. 

Here it is. The scene that everybody remembers because it gave a fair few people the screaming heebies. This is the movie's take on the chestburster scene–except for the less impactful, more literal version of the chestburster scene we’ll get later, I mean. This one, though, this one, they got it right.

Content warnings for gore, nudity, nude gore, exhaustive discussions of the place of chestbursting in franchise history.

But first! I saw a tag with a desire to see the scene with David and the star map. To spare everyone from watching the rest of the movie to get there, here it is!

[See previous post for lengthy description of the events. I didn’t talk about the music in this before though! It really adds to the sense of wonder in this scene. It reminds me of Daft Punk’s Overture to Tron Legacy (2010), another beautiful and flawed movie. Given the modern use of temporary music in editing that definitely sneaks into what directors demand of scores, there’s a chance this was a direct influence. In terms of the “oh wow, space!” feeling it gives me, I’d also mention the Star Trek TNG opening theme.]

Anyway! On with the horror.

In Alien, the creature’s life cycle was developed by writer Dan O'Bannon, who had two major ideas for its early appearances: sexual, reproductive threat directed at a male character, and Crohn’s disease. O’Bannon had Crohn’s, and he said that inspired the idea of a critter chewing its way out of a man’s guts. 

That personal connection has been lost through subsequent media, in part because the series has continued to use the same creature and the same method of killing, minor deviations like in Covenant and tasteless ones like AvP Requiem notwithstanding. The chestburster is a thing that can only ever really work once in a movie. The first time is relatively drawn out, made a setpiece of the movie, and is a horrifying plot twist for anyone who goes in blind. After that? Drawing it out may risk becoming meaningless gore or boring, so most movies have chosen to just have the little bugger pop out within seconds. It’s the sideshow before you get to the main event, despite being the iconic scene of Alien.

Prometheus’ equivalent scene wins back a fair amount of tension by altering the details of the event, if not the general arc of it. It certainly hammers on the reproductive horror aspect, but loses the original subversion of targeting a male character. Which is a shame, because male-targeted reproductive horror is still boundary-pushing. From the world of horror gaming, Outlast: Whistleblower produced some notably panicked reactions from male players when they encountered the emasculating, specifically reproductive threat of Eddie Gluskin. (Content warning for gore, death, forced feminization, misogynistic language, censored nudity.)

Regardless, we have The Chestburster Scene again, but now it’s in the back half of the movie, and happens to the main human protagonist.

I find it very odd that this movie is so self-consciously iterating over things that were first done in Alien. It’s like watching a devout Catholic pray at the Stations of the Cross.

Speaking of crosses

Before we get to the main event, there’s the first actual attempt at character work between David and Shaw in the movie, as we’re in the final act. David confiscates Shaw’s cross as she wakes up from her post-boyfriend-barbeque faint. “It may be contaminated,” he says.

Shaw’s christianity is one of the few character traits in the film that ties into one of the themes, and has its own arc. She’s giving up her cross to the person who killed her partner, a metaphor for a crisis of faith which is so blatant as to barely be a metaphor at all. And, given the general arc of how these things go, means she’s going to get it back at some point. The context for it is going to be confusing and disappointing, frankly.

And it’s especially weird given the other metaphor going on simultaneously: David runs some scans on her, and declares she’s three months pregnant. This is a non-virgin virgin pregnancy. She is Alien Mary. This, then, is the narrative reason why Shaw is infertile–so that she could be the Mary figure, and, more practically for the plot, have foreknowledge that something was wrong. 

Except it really didn’t have to be that way to make this work. While christian allegory and the creation of life are themes in this movie, Shaw’s infertility was handled with zero grace. And honestly, the movie could work without it–Shaw and Holloway did not have romantic chemistry, as far as I could tell. Lean into that! Just say they haven’t had sex in ages. This scene would actually flow better, because Shaw explicitly objects that she only had sex with Holloway “ten hours ago. There's no bloody way I'm three months pregnant.”

Which again hammers in how stupid fast this movie has been racing its characters toward their doom, but I’m immediately distracted by David pronouncing “it's not exactly a traditional fetus.”

It certainly isn’t. It’s an alien squid, placed there by the holy spirit of black goo. She’s all set to give birth to Squesus. 

I think that’s the only worse way he possibly could’ve said it.

David, frankly, gets some of his worst dialog of the movie here, because he is infected by The Plot for a bit. “It must feel like your God has abandoned you,” he says, after sedating her, “to loose Dr. Holloway after your father died under such similar circumstances.” Which leaves one momentarily with the wild mental image of Dad Shaw sacrificing himself to a flamethrower-welding corpo, but no, David means ebola. David found this out via that dream-watching tech that exists solely to be a mildly unnecessary plot point. Blessedly, this is the last time we see any mention of it.

It’s very strange, how the movie is stuffed full of plot and edited so tightly around the plot that characters barely have room to breathe, yet what it prioritizes as plot-relevant is so scattershot. This failing is also inflicted upon the part of the otherwise very effective Chestburster: The Prequel scene.

Shaw attacks the people who come to take her away to cryo, running in her underwear to the PAULING MED-POD the movie very loudly announced earlier, so that you wouldn’t forget it exists. She tells the PAULING MED-POD that she needs an emergency caesarian. The PLOTPOINT MED-POD informs her that it’s only formatted for male patients.

I’ve seen many people complain this makes no sense. It’s in Vickers’ quarters,  why would she have an expensive medical device that she can’t fully use? Others counter that no, it makes sense, because the med-pod was actually installed for Peter Weyland, thus justifying its male specificity. He’s a selfish bastard, he got it for himself, plot hole avoided.

…Except that doesn’t address the more fundamental problem: What does this add to this scene, to balance out the fact that the audience is now distracted by this information? It slows Shaw down a bit as she figures out how to cue up a foreign body extraction from the abdominal cavity, adding to the tension. But you don’t need that to be what draws out the scene. Maybe the PAULING MED-POD has a slow boot-up sequence. Maybe someone follows her there, and she has to fight them off, possibly killing them in her panic. A dead body in the room would solve an actual logical problem with a later scene.

It’s frustrating, because the pacing of this scene is actually excellent, as is its premise. Shaw has to forego anesthesia and make do with self-administered local painkillers, because the prosthetics and CG teams have done a bang-up job making her stomach writhe unpleasantly, making it very clear that whatever’s in there is mobile enough to be a danger to her, even if it’s removed. 

The pods instruments are mostly CG, but its combination of unhurried routine and abrupt, industrial roboticism adds to the uncomfortable nature of the scene. Sound design is also important here, with all sound effects well-chosen, and mixed to imply claustrophobic closeness and how trapped Shaw is.

The creature itself? Eh. It’s a slightly phallic squid, and squids were already slightly phallic to begin with. They added on a slightly vaginal mouth, which is also a lateral move--squid mouths already look quite a lot like an unworksafe orifice with a beak tucked away in it. Unless you're looking at Promachoteuthis sulcus, whose inner lip structures fold into patterns that look distressingly like human teeth.

Honestly, this is freakier than the actual prop. Good job, Promachoteuthis sulcus. You're only 25 mm long, and a delightful tiny terror.

...But the fact that Shaw’s stuck in the pod with her flailing squid-child is what actually adds another minute of fear and wince-worthy pain, as the almost comically brutal medical staple gun closes her incision and the pod slowly opens up.

She tries to kill it with what appears to be a soothing mist of decontamination spray. This is the one other stumble of the scene, because it’s just… I mean, look at it.

It’s just been spritzed with Febreze. There’s nothing that leaves you wondering if the thing’s still alive for later, you know it’s still alive.

But overall, a well-done scene. The standout horror scene of the movie, which is light on scares. That sparsity wouldn’t even be worth mentioning if the movie were going for slow tension, but with its strange blend of existential quandaries and unremarkable horror tropes, it takes a very strong, singular scene to feel like the tension has actually paid off. I don’t think it completely balances out the deficits of the rest of the horror, but it very nearly manages it, and does manage to be memorable.

Next time: An entirely underwhelming horror scene, and the movie takes another swing at having themes.

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Citations for alt-text rambles:

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/aug/30/memory-the-origins-of-alien-review-francis-bacon-greek-myth-dan-o-bannon-sci-fi-classic-film 

https://www.stanwinstonschool.com/blog/aliens-chestburster-mechanism-behind-the-scenes 

https://avp.fandom.com/wiki/Seegson 

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/3314219/how-do-u-v-coordinates-work 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surgical_staple (medical gore cw)

https://sites.uw.edu/pauling2020/ 

https://www.paulinamarket.com/

Overflow Ramble #1

A shot of the screen on Chekhov’s g–I mean the PAULING MED-POD, showing the text “EMERGENCY PROCEDURE”, and that it is “AWT VERBAL CMD”. The med-pod turns out to be a Weyland product, because all corporations in Alien movies are either Weyland, Yutani, or Seegson, if you’re particularly unlucky (cite 3). 

They made the mistake of putting more actual words on here, and so I’m squinting at the top right corner at “CARDIAC STRESS TEST”, “ELECTROCARDIOGRAPHY” AND “MECH ALGN TCH”, which means the pod appears to think she needs to have her heart checked or her wheels aligned.

But what I find funniest is that there’s coordinate sliders in the center bottom: X/Y/Z and U/W. You know where I recognize that from? 3D modeling. U/V/W are used as an alternate coordinate system in that context (cite 4). Somebody was designing this, thinking “well, we need more buttons. Where can I get more buttons?” and then looked at the horrid mass of options and sliders in their modeling software and realized they had the answer.

Overflow Ramble #2

A close-up of David’s hands, holding a sample container and placing Shaw’s necklace inside. Two details, one of them insane, the other just plain funny: First of all, this is a different set of hands than the one when David was messing with the black goo–there was a small but notable blemish on the fingerprint that wasn’t there, proving once again that hand and arm doubles are one of the odder things you don’t think about in film production.

Second: The container is turned so that the label on it is facing away. This allows you to see the necklace, but it also highlights a completely flat Braille label, reading “PN#ZTZouSthe#Z”, which is obviously very informative.

But the real reason why the label is facing away is because it almost hides the fact that the label says “PRODUCT CODE” on it, which means he may have just put Shaw’s necklace in an empty peanut butter jar.

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[simp-shmuck]

I need your help finding a fan fiction tumblr, please bro

It’s an Outlast: Whistleblower fanfic about Eddie Gluskin and Waylon Park. Basically, they escape Mount Massive and get to another facility where they are hiding from Murkoff right? Herman Carter and Sally Whatever-the-fuck are like the doctors there. Something happens and Eddie and Waylon have to run away from the facility and hide in a cabin owned by Herman Carter in the woods for a long time together right? And they like slower become more comfortable with each other as they heal from the trauma they endured while in Mount Massive right? I’ve been trying to find this bomb ass fanfic for the longest time. I read it in like 2020-2022ish on ao3 and I’ve been meaning to reread it but now I can’t find it. Please internet, do your thing and bring that wonderful fanfic back into my life!

[justanotheroutlastfanblog]

The Outlast College AU: the cast

Eddie Gluskin:

Eddie Gluskin (also known as "Ed" or "the groom" in a mocking way) is a failed pre-med student who switched over to fashion design and merchandising and is known for his "retro" style of dress along with his misogynistic behavior. He is a social outcast due to how he acts so despite his good looks and "charming" personality, he seldom ever gets dates or even respect from his other peers (functionally making him an incel). He is "friends" with Frank (although this is mostly just because Frank also happens to live with him) and that is really about it. And despite his bizarre standards for women and beliefs surrounding sexuality: he is dating Val who is the polar opposite of all of what he holds dear.

Frank Manera:

Frank Manera is Eddie's weed-smoking, whisky-drinking, grunge music-loving culinary school dropout roommate. Unlike Eddie, he is a social outcast by choice and actively chooses not to socially engage with other people or things. Frank is probably the most easy-going person you might meet partly due to the fact he is high all the time but also due to his "I really do not give a shit" attitude he has about practically everything. If it is not about his pickup truck, guns, food, weed, or the bands he likes he could care less. Frank is also occasionally seen at Crust-punk bars and other hole-in-the-wall places around MMU despite not being a student.

Val:

Val is a former member of the hyper-religious cult Temple Gate who once held the role of being the "mother" of all of the bastard children of its leader, Knoth, along with the orphans. She was unable to biologically produce children (functionally be a broodmare) so she took on the role of raising them instead. Val escaped the cult when she was 17 and attempted to bring others with her but was unable to. After her escape, she began to hyper-indulge in sex, drugs, body mods, and all of the other things she was never allowed to even talk about while living on the commune. She never got an education and instead opted to continue partying while also taking a job at a Spencers near MMU. She is dating Eddie Gluskin for reasons not fully understood. And despite her new life of freedom and indulgence, she is still on the run from the cult who does periodically attempt to drag her back. She still misses some members of the cult, specifically the children she cared for and wanted to take with her, but also deeply fears being dragged back too much to do anything.

Miles Upshur:

Miles is a journalism student at MMU who also works at the Spencers with Val. He is yet another stoner similar to the likes of Frank only with a significantly more conspiratorial slant. He is best friends with Waylon Park and frequently pulls him into his strange schemes and ventures (like when he goes ghost hunting in abandoned asylums or attempts to prove aliens exist). And much to his friend's horror: he overall lacks a sense of self-preservation and self-control which frequently results in him getting into a lot of dangerous situations.

Waylon Park:

Waylon Park is a computer science major at MMU and the unwitting best friend/accomplice of Miles. He is a lot more timid than his best friend and spends most of his time locked in his apartment streaming video games or working on various coding projects and actively avoids danger/confrontation. He is dating Lisa, a literature major, and is in a pretty steady relationship with her. Due to his more ambiguous appearance, he was mistaken for a woman and thus pursued by Eddie but that was quickly shut down when the truth was revealed and a restraining order was filed.

Rick Trager:

Rick Trager is an extremely shifty business professor teaching at MMU who may or may not be addicted to cocaine. The only reason he has not been fired is due to his tenure at the university.

Jermey Blaire:

Trager's equally as shifty/douchy TA who practically models himself after Patrick bateman.

Chris Walker:

Chris Walker is a former combat veteran going back to school after his time in the service. His exact major is unclear as it has changed several times. But due to his emence size and overall strength he is also a coveted member of the MMU football team. Chris does not have a particularly close relationship with anybody and only happens to know Miles because he had a class with him once (and in turn grew to dislike him as he came off extremely annoying).

Blake Langermann:

Blake is a fellow jornalisim major along with Miles and is a catholic school survivee. Blake is only mildly acquainted with the likes of Miles and Waylon and instead focuses a majority of his time on working on projects with his girlfriend Lynn who is also a journalism major. These projects are usually Exposes regarding local controversies or drama going on (along with the periodic serious human rights/civil rights violation). However, he will join Waylon and Miles on their bullshit adventures from time to time.

Father Martin:

He is the weird guy standing outside of MMU with a large sign only instead of telling people they are going to hell, he warns of the end times and weird ghost demons coming but it is unclear if he is for or against them.

Sullivan Knoth:

Is the leader of the Cult Val escaped from and one of the main antagonists in Val's life. He is functionally the same compared to how he is in the game minus the radio tower frequencies: he is just crazy naturally.

Marta:

Is funtionally the "Sister Cindy" of MMU. She, unlike Father Martin, does accuse all of the students of being whores and tells them they will burn in hell if they don't repent (and do so to Knoth's teachings). She is also the closest immediate threat to Val's freedom and safety outside of the cult given she is still actively looking for her (dubbing her "the Heretic").

Ethan:

The only person from the cult Val is still somewhat in contact with. He is too attempting to escape given his fading faith had the fact Knoth sexually assaulted his daughter and is denying his wife the ability to get cancer treatments as "only god can decide if she lives". He tried to leave with Val initially but had to stay behind in order to at least allow Val to escape and to protect his family.

Billy Hope:

Billy is a highschooler who has functionally adopted by the MMU football team and is "enrolled" at the school a year early so he can play football. His mother, Tiffany, more or less signed off on it due to the hefty sum of money she was offered to allow her son to play.

"The Twins":

Really creepy townies everybody avoids and can usually be spotted with Martin

Pauline Glick:

The asshole president of MMU who may or may not be taking bribes and doing a bunch of illegal shit along with Blaire and Trager

"Mother Gooseberry (Phyllis Futterman)":

Is a washed-up former children's TV host who later became an art teacher at MMU. She teaches several of the more "technical" arts classes such as sewing and technical drawing. However, she also teaches dental classes at MMU although not that many. It is unclear when or if she even got a degree in dental medicine. But given she is only teaching more "anatomy" based lessons and is not actually practicing medicine: it is looked over by MMU administration.

Leland Coyle:

The campus cop who is activly on a power trip, all of the time.

"The Pusher":

The guy who sells literally everybody drugs. Weed, coke, you name it, he has it.

[deadqueenz]

Immortal Eddie Gluskin x Reader: All For You

(Part One. Might Continue)

Where and how to begin? He adored you, the moment he first saw you. After escaping from the asylum, he made sure to keep his head low and not stay in one place for too long. But that changed when he saw you, and your dull eyes.

You looked so bored of everything, so uninterested. And yet, Eddie knew instantly there was something more to you. He couldn't stop himself from following you, trying to figure out what it is about you that made him find you interesting.

But perhaps he was too interested. His tongue felt heavy, mouth dry. Brain stuffed with cotton and cobwebs. No, no, no, no! His eyes snap open wide, sitting up on the hospital bed expecting to find himself trapped back in that damned facility.

But there weren't any tubes down his throat, he didn't see 'the walrider', no strange voices or visions...hallucinations. The room he was in was dark, cold. Goosebumps form over his arms and legs. Squinting in the darkness, he could feel someone watching him.

It's when his eyes finally adjust to the darkness when he notices you. Standing in the corner of the room, the outline of your features, your eyes... Oh how the way you looked at him, examining him.

"You're awake..."

Walking out from the dark corner, you push a tray with scaples, filled syringes, and other medical tools. Eddie's eyes following your every move, his mouth slightly agape in awe as he took you in. Not paying attention as you listed off his vitals, and other things. He will praise the ground you walk on, never let your feet touch the filthy ground again if you so command him to.

Just keep your eyes on him, no one else. You are the one he's been looking for, his love. His wife, the mother to his children, his darling. Oh so precious darling that could do no wrong. Just don't be a whore, please don't be like those other whores, and he will be yours.

"Darling."

He breathes, his body trembling on the hospital bed, not from the cold but from excitement. And when you stop talking to glare at him, by the damnation of the Walrider, he could finish right then and there.

"Patient seems overwhelmed by something. Heart rate is tachycardia, BP is climbing...Giving beta blockers to slow his heart to normal rhythm, now."

You state with a sigh, wanting to get started sooner than later. But these things happen, at least this lab rat wasn't fighting back for now. Grabbing one of the filled syringes, you firmly grasp Eddie's arm. His eyes widening, body growing rigid as he remembers how he was forcibly pinned down, given injections and tests he didn't consent to. How he begged to be helped, to be saved from that hell.

He pulls away, feeling violently sick to his stomach and cold. Sweat beading across his forehead. You stare at him, placing the syringe down before taking hold of his hand as his breathing becomes ragged. The other rubbing soothing circles into his skin.

"Breathe, it's okay. You're safe here."

As safe as one could be with a Doctor slash Scientist who tests on humans rather than rats or animals. Eddie squeezes your hand, and with a blank expression, you squeezed his back. This was common with your test subjects, at first you never cared if they were terrified or furious, spatting curses.

But you came to realize, you get more flies with honey than with vinegar. Comfort them, and they will trust you more. Seems like you'd have to gain Eddie's trust before you can move forward.

"Rest..."

You say, pulling your gloved hand free as Eddie nodded, yet his blue eyes follow you as you leave, stopping to turn on a small lantern giving the room a soft yellow glow. Eddie lays back down on the hospital bed, pulling the thin sheet up to his chest.

He feels as if he's embarrassed himself in front of you, he wasn't being a man at all. Nightmares and trauma plagues him. And yet, you comforted him. He turns on his side, placing the hand that you held to his lips, feeling your lingering warmth. It calms him, eases him. He drifts off into a dreamless sleep...