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ilirimaer · 5 years

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Animus Online (Chapter VII)

Summary: With the invention of a virtual reality device that allows you to explore an open-world MMORPG you are able to experience a brand new world like never before. Are the captivating members of the Bangtan Guild whom you meet during your adventures truly the strangers you expect they are?

Genre: Science Fantasy, Action/Adventure, Comedy, Friendship and Romance

Rating: T; Violence, some adult themes, and occasional foul language. Rating may increase in the future. A/N: Long wait, and I have no excuse other than life... but I sincerely hope you guys are satisfied with this chapter. I will definitely edit more later, but I wanted to get this out ASAP! Please let me know your thoughts. <3

Chapters: [ I ], [ II ], [ III ], [ IV ], [ V ], [VI], [VII]

Member outfits for the curious

Chapter VI: The Ranger

Word Count: 5,824

Chapter Playlist: (Charli XCX - Track10, BTS & Zara Larsson - A Brand New Day, Pentagon - Nothing)

You flinch as a small branch scratches your arm during your unsteady trek throughout the city trails. The path you are travelling through is unpaved, but manmade waste has found its way there anyway. You utter a disgruntled noise, rubbing the stinging line on your arm as you walk toward a pile of crushed soda cans lying on the grass.

You position your steel trash grabber over one of the cans to grasp the item, holding open trash a bag to deposit the can inside it. The stinging lessens into a dull pain as you take care of the rest of the aluminum cans.

Pausing for moment to yawn tiredly, you cover your mouth to preserve your dignity, despite being almost completely alone. Although you had accompanied the environmental science club on this clean-up project, you hardly knew anybody well enough to join their group.

As if on cue, raucous laughter interrupts your thoughts, making your chest tighten in an ugly way. You breathe out slowly and glance toward the source, watching Taehyung and Jimin attempting to prod each other with their trash grabbers. The rest of their fraternity brothers from Beta Theta Sigma gathered around them, cheering their antics on.

Sighing in exasperation, you place your trash grabber and modestly filled trash bag against a tree. If the BTS boys could catch a breather, then you suppose you could as well. You wander even farther from the paved trail and trudge toward the lake, twigs and dead leaves crunching under your feet none too quietly.

As you reach the edge of the lake, you back into a large tree and slump to the ground, resting your back against the rough bark. You gaze thoughtlessly at the glistening lake, admiring the illuminating blanket provided by the morning sun. The tension leaves your breath as you observe the minute ripples on the lake’s surface. Their concentric radiation lulls you into a calm hypnosis.

Closing your eyelids, you rest your head against the bark of your welcoming host. The cool warmth of its shade envelopes your body reassuringly. Seconds become drawn out as you surrender to the lulling calm of nature.

“[Y/N]? Is that you over here?” a deep voice calls out, breaking your hypnosis. You jerk upright, turning quickly to face the stranger. The sunlight obscures a majority of his features, but the curve of his lips seems familiar. The brightness makes the soft peach fuzz on his cheeks prominent and illuminates the glowing tawny hair on his head. His eyes squint as he examines you as well.

“What are you doing over here? The group was moving on, but we noticed you weren’t around,” he voices with concern, stepping closer to your shade.

Realizing the stranger is Taehyung, you can’t help but lower your eyes before shaking away the strange hollow feeling away.

Taehyung crouches down at your side. “Are you alright? You seem disoriented,” he murmurs softly, placing the back of his hand against your forehead.

You open your mouth to respond but are unable to think of any coherent responses before he moves on to scan the rest of your body.

He quickly grasps your elbow, pulling it up to examine your arm more closely. “You’re bleeding! Or you were… it seems dry now. What happened?”

Your eyes widen in surprise. Had the scratch really been that deep? You incline your head to examine the wound for yourself. An angry red gash surrounded by a dark red crust stares back at you accusingly.

“A tree back there scratched me. I hadn’t realized it was that bad. And I just needed a breather, I was a bit tired,” you mumble, dropping your gaze to your lap.

“You should be more careful, [Y/N],” Taehyung frowns, lowering your arm gently. “Nobody saw you leaving you either.”

You give him a weak smile. “Ah, I would have been fine.”

He drops his gaze to dig into his canvas shoulder bag and you look back down at your arm, absentmindedly brushing the dried blood crust from the wound. “Ah here it is!”

You look up, slightly startled, to see him holding up a small bottle of hand sanitizer and a band-aid. Your face breaks out into a smile you can’t help, ‘Of course he carries that kind of stuff around.’

“Let me clean that up for you!” Taehyung urges, leaning forward to grasp your arm again. You bite down on your lip silently, anticipating the sting before feeling it. He smiles at you apologetically as he unwraps the band-aid from its wrapper. Your heart flutters in a strange way as he carefully lies the bandage down to cover your wound.

“Looks like we’re going to need a few more,” he declares after examining that the lateral edges of the wound were still exposed. As he dips his hand back into his shoulder bag, you stare in amusement at the cartoon Pomeranians decorating the band-aid.

“Hey Taehyung, have you found her?” a low voice calls out, before a lanky figure comes barreling into your sight from the cover of the trees. You turn to see Namjoon bending over, his hands resting on his knees for a moment before he turns to face the two of you. His face appears to brighten when you make eye contact. “There you are, [Y/N].”

Your breath hitches at the sight of him and you turn away, raising your free hand to partially cover your mouth as you listen to loud footsteps and yelling signaling the arrival of the rest of their friends. ‘Had they sent a whole search party?’ you squirm uncomfortably as Taehyung lays down the last of the bandages.

Dead leaves crunch under Namjoon’s feet as he walks toward you with better composure. You lower your hand and reluctantly turn to look at him. When he reaches your side, he leans on his knee while extending his other hand for you. The sunlight reflects from his blond hair, framing his face like a delicate golden halo. With a dimpled smile, he encourages you, “Come on, [Y/N]. We’re all waiting for you.”

Normally you would snub his offering and rise on your own. You were tempted to but something about the several pairs of eyes around you, including Namjoon’s crescent moon eyes, forced you to grasp his hand reluctantly. His hand was uncharacteristically smooth as he pulled you up to your feet. You release his hand as soon as you’re steady on your feet, feeling uneasy about the physical contact with your one-sided arch-nemesis.

Much to your surprise, Taehyung easily loops his arm around yours, breaking the soon-to-be-awkward silence. “Come on, let’s go before they leave us behind!” he exclaims, pulling you toward the main trail, where the rest of the environmental science organization were located.

“Thank you, Taehyung,” you blurt out, suddenly remembering your manners.

“Don’t worry about it,” he flashes you a boxy smile, patting the uninjured part of your arm.

As you walk by his side, you turn to look at the rest of his six friends, who are laughing amongst each other, happily in their own bubbles of happiness. Your eyes leave their energetic forms to capture the sight of the form of Namjoon still standing beside the tree, his eyes turned toward the lake as he basks in the serene glow of the morning sun.

______________________________________________________

“Are we almost there yet?”

“V, we just left the city,” Jin exclaims with exasperation, his fist swinging and narrowly missing V’s shoulder when the younger boy side-steps the attack.

“Why are you grumpy, hyung? Who took away your dinner?” V protests indignantly.

“I’m grumpy because I had to wake up early on a Saturday because of you, you brat!” Jin yells as he aims a kick at the boy’s legs.

V jumps to narrowly avoid their impact. “It was for a good cause!”

“For the love of God, can both of you ever shut up during an excursion for once?” growls Suga, charging his staff with mana.

“Seriously, you guys keep scaring away all of the prey! How else am I supposed to collect hides for crafting?” Kookie interjects, swinging his Warhammer haphazardly around him.

You look on with amusement as the boys stop in their tracks and begin to argue about whether or not yelling actually scares away the creatures in the forest. A nudge at your side makes you turn to acknowledge Eunhye, who is glancing from you to the quarrelling boys repeatedly. “Are they always like this? And you say I’m exhausting,” she asks not so quietly.

“I heard that!” shout Jin and Kookie simultaneously.

“That’s it,” Suga cuts in, swinging his charged staff downward. Black and purple flames erupt in the middle of the forest clearing, clearing away to reveal a dread zombie with strips of flesh hanging from its leathery body. It emits a low moan as it staggers forward in the direction of Jimin and J-Hope.

J-Hope screams upon catching sight of the rotting corpse and deftly scales a tree to avoid it. Your mouth drops as his movement on the branches causes loose leaves to fall to the ground. It had never occurred to you that it was possible to climb trees in this game.

Before you can ask about it, Jimin breaks the silence while fidgeting with the pommel of his sword and backing away from the zombie nervously. “H-hyung, can you get rid of that?”

Suga rolls his eyes, holding his staff loosely in his grip as he crosses his arms. “We’ve been playing for how long and you guys still think that thing will attack you?”

“It’s ugly!” Jin interrupts indignantly, glaring at the aimlessly wandering creature, as though its very existence were an insult to him.

“Some may even say that about you, but we all still allow you to exist anyway,” Suga drawls, waving his hand to dispel the zombie in a short blaze of dark purple flames.

Jin sputters in response, reaching behind his shoulder to lift his lute, wielding it by its neck as if it were a sword, “How dare you! Take that back immediately, or I will bash you with this lute, even if it gets blood all over my clothes!”

Before Suga can turn and response, a loud explosion from a gunshot startles all of you except Namjoon, who stands calmly with a smoking gun pointed at the base of a tree ahead of your group. The splintering of bark surrounds the encased bullet and sawdust circles the impact area for a few seconds before dissipating.

“While this has been… amusing… we should really hurry to get to the next town,” Namjoon smiles slyly as he holsters his gun.

Before you can fully admire his effectiveness, your attention is diverted by the thud of J-Hope’s feet hitting the forest ground with a thud. “Seaside, here we come!” he declares happily and take off into a run toward your destination, the port town Ostia Antica. The rest of your group follows him with equal fervor.

______________________________________________________

After a long trek throughout the forest made short by the antics of Bangtan (Boy, do those guys love to trip each other, you thought with amusement), your party found itself on the shoreline of the Ostia Antica beach. Hardly a word was spoken before Kookie and J-Hope ran off into the water, their hands flashing in front of their bodies as they switched out their questing gear for swim trunks. The rest of the guys wander off in different directions.

“Did ancient Romans even have swim trunks?” you muse, eyes crinkling with a smile as you watch them splashing each other with water.

“Actually,” a deep baritone voice thrums beside you and you turn to see V leaning toward you. “Ancient Greeks and Romans preferred to swim in the nude,” he winks salaciously before running off toward an NPC. You gape after him, watching him kick up sand.

“I get why you’re stuck like glue to these guys,” Eunhye jabs your side with her elbow, voice laced with provocation. “They’re very fun.”

You snort in response, opening up your player menu to look for swimming gear. “You’re just happy you have new people to flirt with without the need for commitment.”

“Hey, a girl’s gotta eat somehow,” she murmurs with a smirk, finger jabbing into the air in front of her. Her heavy armor questing gear is instantly replaced with a low cut two-piece bikini.

You roll your eyes at her admission. “You do realize they could look like hideous trolls in real life, right?”

“Hey, we start off with a template that looks like us in real life, and guys are lazy,” Eunhye grins. She twirls ostentatiously, “I mean, my own body looks close to the real deal.”

You quickly scan her body and grin in agreement. “Whatever you say. Some of them are a handful, if you ask me.” With a quick flash, your questing gear changes into a one-piece bikini. You look down in interest at a body that’s not quite yours, the swell of your breasts peeking out from behind the bandeau.

Eunhye whistles. “Oh, I love that on you. Come on, let’s go tease them and see if they blush,” she whispers mischievously, wrapping her hand around your arm to tug you forward.

You match her pace toward the sea and turn to raise your eyebrow. “I thought we were here to do quests, but alright.”

She leans into you, “I already have a quest, and it has to do with that smoking gun over there.”

You follow her gaze to see RM strolling down the beach with a small pile of seashells in his hand, the warm glow of sunlight illuminating his form. Your gut wrenches inexplicably.

“O-oh yeah, he’s pretty attractive,” you admit, feigning a noncommittal tone.

You see Eunhye pause for a second, before leaning her head toward you. “[Y/N]? It’s okay, right? Or were you eyeing him already. I’ll back off,” she says with a serious expression. Her thumb grazes over your forearm soothingly.

“What?” you choke out. “N-no, don’t worry about it. Honestly, I don’t really have my eye on anyone. I just came here to escape from the world a bit, and I think they’re easy-going people,” you blurt out quickly.

Eunhye eyes you for a moment, looking hesitant. You squeeze her hand gently and she finally nods slowly. She grins widely, “Alright, then! What are we waiting for? Let’s go!”

As she tugs you hurriedly across the beach, you stifle an uncertain smile. You had barely spoken to RM, but something about the sight of him leisurely collecting seashells and admiring nature made you perk up with longing nostalgia. Still, it was no reason to bar your close friend from pursuing him. As you and Eunhye begin wading into the lively waves, you are smacked in the shoulder by a large object.

“Hey!” you blurt out, indignantly rubbing your shoulder even though the sensation faded away quickly. You see a red beach ball floating on the water and quickly pick it up before it can be carried away by the waves. Then, you look toward the source of the throw, seeing the remaining members of the Bangtan Guild laughing. You quickly scan their faces and find the odd one out, V, looking sheepish and rubbing the back of his neck guiltily.

“Let’s destroy them,” Eunhye whispers maliciously, eyeing the ball in your grasp with a covetous gaze.

You bite your lip, holding back a smirk as her energy sways you. Taking a second to morph your expression into a vulnerable pout, you turn to look at V. “I’m so sorry, [Y/N], rea-“ his panicked apology is cut off by the slap of rubber against into his bare chest. With an exaggerated flail of his arms, he falls over backward into the water with a big splash.

If the boys were laughing before, they were absolutely howling now. “He absolutely deserved that,” Hoseok asserted between fits of laughter. “He’s been initiating us all into this game by hitting us with that ball.”

You and Eunhye exchange amused looks and nod, deciding to wade closer to the group of guys. "You guys are going down!"

______________________________________________________

Eunhye manages to knock V into the water for the fifth time, much to the delight of the rest of Bangtan. You watch in amusement as V resurfaces and spits out water before launching into yet another tirade about feeling targeted.

“Hey everyone,” a deep baritone voice calls out enthusiastically from the shore. You tune out V's rant and turn around to see Namjoon wading in slowly, holding up a perfectly formed sand dollar. A huge grin is plastered on his face, highlighting his deep dimples. “I just found a bunch of these and an NPC paid me quite a pretty penny for them. Kind of wanted to keep one though, since they look so nice. You guys are such a sight, causing all this ruckus.”

Your heart clenched in a strange way at his casual admission of sentimentality. Before you can think of replying to the silver-haired leader with anything, Eunhye boldly swims up to him.

“Took you long enough! Say, do you want partner up for a chicken fight?” Eunhye asks in a coquettish tone, tucking her hair slowly behind her ears so that her breasts rise above water ostentatiously. RM notices the effect of her movement and you notice his ears quickly turning red.

“O-oh, I don’t know,” RM stutters out, his eyes snapping back up to her face quickly. “I’m not that strong, maybe you should ask Kookie.”

“Ahh… you should go ahead, RM-hyung,” Jungkook gives him a sheepish smile, flashing his bunny teeth. “I have absolute confidence in you.”

RM’s eyes flash with a dark look at the maknae before he quickly shakes it off, turning to give Eunhye a polite smile. “Alright, I’ll try my best.”

Eunhye’s expression morphs into that resembling the cat that swallowed the canary. RM seems to notice her smugness and seems to shrink back hesitantly, swallowing nervously. If Eunhye notices, it only emboldens her further. She turns to face you. “[Y/N]! Pick a victim! I’m challenging you!”

“Victim? Yeah right,” Suga scoffs.

“I heard that!” RM grumbles, crossing his arms defensively. He turns to look at you, likely determined to look at Eunhye as less as possible.

You feel like shrinking back at the sudden attention for some reason, your arms crossing over your chest in a similar gesture. “I, uh,” you mutter with uncertainty, biting your lip.

You turn to scan the faces of the guys, who are displaying varying degrees of enthusiasm. You notice Kookie shrinks back behind his older friends, despite his apparent superiority at the game. J-Hope looks at you with an eager and friendly smile. Jin wears a pleasant, confident grin as he watches you. Suga looks between the three of you with a neutral expression. Jimin and V step forward, both looking eager to jump into the fray. Between the two of them, you decide V intimidates you the least.

“I want V,” you blurt out, catching the surprise of everyone else. As the guys turn to comment to each other, you feel like burying your face in your palms from your unfortunate wording.

“No fair, why reward him for hitting you with the ball?” Jimin grumbles as V walks past him with a smug smile.

“Don’t mind his jealousy, [Y/N]. I’m perfectly capable of leading us to victory, even if I’m not a strength-focused player,” V asserts confidently. “I’ll make up for earlier, too.”

You smile hesitantly at your first friend from Bangtan Guild as he flashes you with a familiar boxy smile. You turn to gauge the reactions of Eunhye and RM. A speculative look crosses RM’s face before it is replaced with a flustered expression as Eunhye narrows the distance between them even more.

“Let’s go, then! Winners treat the losers with sweets at tomorrow’s opening festival!” Eunhye exclaims, bouncing on her toes impatiently.

“You heard her,” V grins, patting his shoulder. “Come on, get behind me and I’ll squat so you can climb on.”

“W-wait!” you interrupt in a panic, making no move toward him. “I’ll be the bottom!”

“Uh, are you sure?” he asks in confusion. “I’m sure I’m heavier than you.” “Y-yes! Girls can take that role, too!” you assert with sudden boldness, puffing your chest up in challenge.

V backs down, waving his hands in jovial surrender. “Okay, just making sure it’s what you want!”

You nod insistently and turn your body with your back facing him. He approaches and places his palms on your bare shoulders. You note that the sensation is dulled, unlike that which you would experience in real life. When you crouch down into the water, the pressure of V’s hands on your shoulders increases as he leaps in the water to wrap his legs around your neck. Once you feel that he has stabilized himself on your shoulders, you turn to face Eunhye and RM, pointedly ignoring the jeering catcalls from the rest of the guild. He is heavy, but surprisingly lighter than you had expected, although this was likely due to the game.

You turn around with V in tow, immediately catching sight of the reddening face of the group leader, who is trying his hardest to ignore the fact that Eunhye has been leaning forward, letting her breasts rest against his head. He shoots a nasty glare at the rest of the guys, who have been snickering at his predicament with no ounce of subtlety.

"Eunhye, go easy," you call out warningly, with double meaning. Your best friend pouts for a second before straightening her posture to relieve RM of his humiliation. You shoot RM an encouraging smile, which he reciprocates sheepishly.

You approach the pair until there is only a foot between you.

"Ready? On three," Jimin calls out, stepping forward to moderate. Your grip on V's legs tightens as you stare at Eunhye's feral grin. V ruffles your hair gently. "One, two… THREE!"

There's a flash of limbs above you as both Eunhye and V lunge to grab each other. As the two wrestle you struggle under the constant pushing, swaying your own body in an attempt to keep V on your shoulders. You hear an outcry of pain from RM as Eunhye hooks her thigh across his neck to stabilize herself and uses the other leg to wrap it around V's waist. Her action causes you and RM to stumble forward until your faces meet close enough for you to feel his breath on your face.

Your rowdy friend begins to tickle V under his armpits, causing him to flail uncontrollably with laughter. "V! Get yourself together!" you scream as his movements force your face to smash against RM's.

Your left hand releases V's leg so you can push against RM to keep his face from yours, but this proves to be a mistake when Eunhye suddenly shoves V backward. As you begin to tip over, you grab onto the nearest object for stability, which happens to be RM's T-shirt. As a result, both he and Eunhye fall forward into the water with you.

As a large body slams into you, you feel a hard kick to your head from V as he flails in the water. The force of the kick knocks your head into the other person's, and you groan pitifully, feeling a stream of bubbles escaping from your mouth. You blink past the subsiding pain while reaching to rest your hands on the body in front you to push them away.

As your vision begins to clear under the water, you feel a pair of hands over your chest. Your eyes widen in bewilderment to find that it's none other than RM, whose eyes are still screwed tightly shut from the blow. With little forethought your hands begin to charge with ice magic. His eyes open to meet yours in response to the cold for a split second before he is launched backward out of the water with an icicle impaled through his chest.

Without the extra weight, you are finally able to swim to the surface. You take a breath before the game can start to deduct health points from you for being underwater for too long. As you relax and float in the water, you take in the raucous scene before you.

"I can't believe you just got speared in the chest!" J-Hope was shouting, clutching his chest as he doubled over in laughter. The rest of the guys and Eunhye were crowding around a disgruntled RM, whose chest was still impaled by an glassy ice spear.

As you swim toward the group, you notice the health bar above his head had barely decreased. You note with disappointment that there was no continuous damage, at least that you could notice from his health bar. Unable to help yourself, you complain, "Hey, that icicle should have been way more effective!"

RM's eyes widen and meet yours as he sputters indignantly, "Are you kidding? Is that all you have to say?" The rest of the group burst into even louder laughter.

"O-oh, right! I'm sorry!" you exclaim, face flushing with warmth and you reach above water to tuck in your hair.

RM paddles forward aggressively. " 'Sorry'?! You attacked me and launched me right out of the water for no reason!" He exclaims with a beet-red face as Jin places a hand on his shoulder in warning.

You visibly deflate under his accusation. It figures that you would somehow get under the skin of the gentle, rational leader.

"Hyung! Please don't be mad at her," V calls out, deflecting everyone's attention from your vulnerable figure. "It was my fault that everyone fell over and I think I also kicked her head on the way down."

You nod weakly in response. "I-I felt hands on my chest and I was so disoriented that I just acted. I'm sorry!"

A chorus of 'Ooh's breaks out and now it is RM's turn to become flustered. His stance loses its aggression and he seems to shrink within himself. "I-I thought I felt something s-" he pauses midsentence, before shaking his head vigorously. "I apologize deeply for touching you that way. It was a complete accident, I'm so sorry!" he bows as deeply as he can, his face nearly sinking fully into the water.

"A-ah, don't worry! Let's just forget all of it and put it behind us," you stutter out nervously, wringing your fingers through your wet hair strands. As RM straightens up from his bow, you notice his flustered grimace. He nods slowly.

You smile weakly in a pathetic attempt to re-establish rapport with the silver-haired gunman. His face twists into a pained smile that doesn't quite reach his eyes.

The awkward exchange is interrupted by V swimming forward toward you. "Now that that's out of the way, do you want to go see to that thing I promised to show you?" he asks you with an easygoing smile. Your eyebrows furrow in brief confusion. Your eyes glance from his friendly smile to the awkward smiles of the rest of the group. V leans forward, his eyebrows twitching upward as if signaling something.

"O-oh yeah! That thing! I remember. Let's go!" you exclaim as you realize his intentions. You reach forward to grab his arm and pull him away from the group before remembering your manners. You turn quickly toward the guys and Eunhye, "We'll be back in a little bit, see you guys!"

As you turn back around and swim away with V, he leans over and whispers into your ear. "You could really work on that subtlety, [Y/N]."

You flush under his words. "I don't really function normally under weird social situations."

He laughs gently in response, ruffling your hair again. "Neither does RM, despite how cool and collected he usually seems. Once a pretty girl enters the picture, he doesn't really know how to behave," he says, glancing at you slyly.

"Oh my god, stop it," you exhale through an awkward smile, turning away from him. He laughs in response and smacks your shoulder.

"Come on! I need to go show you how to shoot!" he insists, repeatedly splashing the water in front of him.

When you process his words, you turn around to face him in confusion. "Umm," you murmur, "V, I don't know if you've realized this but we're in the middle of an ocean and pretty far from the shore."

"Perfect time to learn how to use a bow, I'd say," he asserts cheerfully. As he waves his hand to summon his menu, you stare at him.

"Are we going to shoot the arrows into the ocean?" you ask and look down in to the water, trying to see if there are any fish below you.

V snorts beside you as a bow materializes into his hand, as well as his quiver containing his arrows. A player menu appears in your vision prompting you that he is requesting a trade. You hesitantly press on "ACCEPT". An additional screen appears listing a bow and set of arrows. You glance at V questioningly before dipping into your inventory to slip a cookie into your offer and quickly concluding the trade.

He whistles excitedly. "Sweet! I was about to say that you could just accept without offering anything, but no take-backs now!"

You roll your eyes before allowing a smile to slip onto your face. V was so uncomplicated even when he was being confusing, and it was something you appreciated deeply.

"Go on," he encouraged while munching on his cookie, "equip them."

Your hands wave across you as you quickly equip the weapon. You had no idea what this guy was up to, but he seemed to have an idea of what he was going to show you, so you were happy to allow him the reigns. He had equipped a bow on himself and was now nocking an arrow, scanning the air carefully.

"Normally," he starts as his arrow scans the sky, "I would have problems with hunting animals. But since this is just a game, I can dissociate from the idea."

Your eyes widen as you consider his words. It was true that it was much easier to dissociate from many of the things that would normally bother you if they were to happen in real life. It was much easier to let go of your shy nature and embarrassment of being in the spotlight for the wrong reasons. You could impale people you didn't know well with an icicle spear without worrying about it really affecting your relationship. Not that it would ever happen in real life in the first place, but it was an amusing thought.

"Ah!" V interrupts your thoughts with a loud whisper. "Watch this." You take a glance at his target, a soaring seagull with blue feathers. Not a second later, his arrow shoots into the sky. Its path takes a slight arc before it makes contact with the bird's body, halting its flight. The creature pivots downward, creating a small splash as its body lands in the ocean.

"Let me guess," you interject after a brief moment of silence, "a piece of cake, right?"

He brightens at your words, either not recognizing your sarcasm or not acknowledging it. "You've got the right idea! Go ahead then."

Smiling wryly, you lift the weapon into a similar position as his. Hesitantly, you reach toward your quiver to retrieve an arrow.

"Wait a second," V stops you, swimming closer. You look down as you feel the warmth of his hands adjusting your shoulder and arm placement. "Now you can shoot. Wait for the seagull to land on the water, though."

After watching him retreat with a smile, your gaze returns to the sky. Spotting another seagull, you chuckle. "I guess the realism doesn't extend far enough to make them fearful of us even when we hunt their friends down right in front of them," you explain after V utters a small noise of confusion. He giggles and you smile at the sound’s baritone quality.

It takes another few moments for the seagull to land in the water for rest. Nocking your arrow, you aim at the creature and look toward V for approval. He scans your posture quickly and nods silently. You look back toward your target, taking a moment to adjust your aim to account for the arcing caused by gravity. After a few beats, you release the arrow. It whizzes over the bird's head, frightening it into taking flight.

You sigh, relaxing your arms. "Don't worry, that was great! Most newbies would forget to account for gravity, so their arrows would end up in the ocean before even reaching the bird. So it's good that you have the right idea before having me tell you," V assures you with a lilt of excitement in his voice.

You brighten considerably upon hearing you had passed an unspoken test by the archer. "You mean I can quit my day job soon?" you ask with an exaggerated smirk.

"You bet! Just an hour, and a class change may be in order, all thanks to the great tutelage of V," he smirks back.

You roll your eyes with a playful smile before turning back toward the sky. Several attempts and only one stricken bird later, you are preening over your kill regardless. V manages to shoot down a handful of seagulls, collecting several blue feathers that you knew would be useful for alchemy.

The two of you call it a day, unequipping your weapons and beginning the swim back to the shore. As you pad alongside him, you take a second to look at his side profile, illuminated with the luminous flow of the sun.

"You know," you muse out loud, surprising yourself momentarily before deciding to continue. "You really are a good tutor. Thank you."

V's eyes widen slightly as he turns to face you. He seems to scan your face for a second with a thoughtful expression on his face before grinning. "I may or may not be one, you know?" he offers teasingly, before turning back to face the nearing shore.

Your eyes become fixated on the back of his head, a strange tug of familiarity overcoming you as you examine the chestnut locks subtly streaked with green. A moment later, noticing that the distance between you was increasing, you shake away the thought before increasing your pace, your toes finally grazing against soft sand.

#bts fanfic #bts fanfiction #bts #bts au #bts x reader #animus online

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briangroth27 · 7 years

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Stranger Things 2 Review

Stranger Things’ second season went up on Netflix last weekend and I loved it! Every episode felt full, many supporting characters from Season 1 got a turn in the spotlight, and the tone recaptured the first season’s perfect blend of dread and comedic moments that endeared me to the realistically-drawn characters. This was the television season I was looking forward to most this fall, and it did not disappoint!

Full Spoilers…

I really liked that Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo), Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin), and especially Will (Noah Schnapp) got to take center stage among the kids; it was smart to flesh out the rest of the central ensemble and it feels like we’ll be going into Season 3 with everyone on relatively equal footing development-wise. In particular, Will being absent for much of Season 1 made his time in the spotlight a crucial gamble that paid off in spades: Schnapp is just as great an actor as the rest of the show’s cast! That said, I missed Mike (Finn Wolfhard), Nancy (Natalia Dyer), and Jonathan (Charlie Heaton), who all felt like they had less screentime this year than last. While the latter two weren’t doing nothing—they had a crucial subplot that felt like the natural outgrowth of how the people of Hawkins ignored Barb’s (Shannon Purser) death—it didn’t require them to do much that we needed to see onscreen, so it felt like they vanished a bit. Perhaps Wolfhard, Dyer, and Heaton had other commitments while Season 2 was in production, but if that’s the case, I wish their plots had been more economical to cover more ground in the same amount of screentime.

Season 2 definitely felt like the natural continuation of Season 1’s events; branding this as Stranger Things 2 instead of Stranger Things Season 2 gives the impression that it’s a sequel instead of the next season in a TV series, and it definitely feels like it. I’ve seen some criticisms that said the joy of discovery wasn’t present this year like last season, but I’m willing to part with it in favor of reuniting with familiar friends on a new adventure. I like sequels and I’m always game for more time with characters I like. Though the threads may not have been as balanced as they could’ve been, I liked that everyone got to go off on their own adventures before reuniting in the climax. Mixing up the character interactions and moving new people into the spotlight provided some great fresh pairings, like Lucas/Max (Sadie Sink), Dustin/Steve (Joe Keery), Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown)/Hopper (David Harbour), and Will/Joyce (Winona Ryder)/Bob (Sean Astin). As nice as it was to see familiar locations like the junkyard come into play again, it’s time to flesh out more of Hawkins’ geography, as it’s starting to feel a little claustrophobic. New locations like the arcade definitely help, though. I loved that the Upside Down was creeping into Hawkins at an accelerated rate, creating some great imagery with the rotted pumpkin patches, decaying forests, and vine-covered tunnels just beneath its surface. Hawkins looks like the quintessential 1980s Hometown, USA, so corrupting it like this is great symbolism. However, I would’ve liked a greater exploration of the townspeople’s inhumanity and grime just below the veneer of wholesomeness the town projects. So much of Stranger Things is inspired by Stephen King as it is—the Duffer Brothers originally wanted to do IT, but couldn’t—so translating the brilliant parallel between societal evils and supernatural ones in IT’s Derry to Hawkins would’ve been a smart way to give the Upside Down’s corruption a little more weight by contrasting its evil with the evils of the real world. By no means does the Upside Down have to control the citizens to make them evil—that would be a copout—but seeing that some of the people are horrible in their own way would bring an added layer of dread to the town and further cut off our heroes’ sources of help. Billy (Dacre Montgomery) and his father (Will Chase) are a good start, but surely they aren’t the only bad people in town.

I loved how communicating through lights evolved into the map of tunnels beneath Hawkins and hope that distinctive Stranger Things aspect continues to develop in the years to come. Joyce seeing the Mind Flayer in a VHS tape’s distortion was very cool too. The CGI was excellent throughout the season, particularly when it came to the Demodogs. There wasn’t a moment as creepy as Hopper cutting open the Will dummy and pulling out cotton in Season 1, but then there wasn’t any moment in Season 1 that matched that high point of weirdness either. Even so, the horror aspect was great here! It felt like several supporting and even a few main characters—including Hopper and Steve—could die at several points. I wonder if the season-ending Snow Ball was supposed to represent that the heroes don’t have a snowball’s chance in Hell of escaping the evil pervading their town (or maybe that’s just my love of puns). I wasn’t a fan of the year-and-a-half wait for this season and don’t look forward to another long hiatus, but if Stranger Things becomes an annual Halloween tradition for the next 2-3 years, I’m definitely on board. I was impressed that the trailers didn’t show much from the latter half of the season; that was a nice surprise!

I loved all the 80s references this year, with things like the Aliens movement detector sound effect being incorporated into the score during some of Dr. Owens’ (Paul Reiser) scenes and a riff that sounded like Gremlins’ theme song while the kids were chasing Dart in the school. The kid-friendly Halloween songs they used while trick-or-treating, like “The Monster Mash,” “Ghostbusters,” and “Spooky Movies,” made me think of Halloween when I was a kid (it’s a shame they couldn’t use “Thriller” in more than one excellent trailer, though!). The Police’s “Every Step You Take” was the perfect note to end on, given the government watching everyone all season, the Mind Flayer watching the Snow Ball, and how creepy that song actually is. The show’s orchestral score once again conveyed the feeling that this was a lost miniseries from the 80s perfectly. The fashion in Eleven’s Chicago adventure made me think of the 80s X-men/New Mutants comics, which was a cool peek at 80s punk style completely removed from Hawkins’ small-town world. The kids’ homemade Ghostbusters costumes were awesome, as were Max’s Michael Myers costume and Steve & Nancy’s Tom Cruise & Rebecca De Mornay (from Risky Business) outfits. While the characters played out scenes adapted from Gremlins, ET, Stand By Me, and even Jurassic Park, it never felt like nostalgia for nostalgia’s sake or inorganic to what the show is. The Goonies reference in Bob’s guess about what Will’s map led to was fun too. As pointed out in the behind-the-scenes series Beyond Stranger Things, having the kids play Dragon’s Lair and Dig Dug were cool hints at the direction of the season, since Eleven would go up against a “fiery” monster in the gate room/its “lair” and several characters ventured into the tunnels under the town. The kids’ science class learning about Phineas Gage was also a cool way to foreshadow what happens to Will, since Gage’s personality changed after his brain-damaging accident. I’m looking forward to the Back to the Future references next season, since it’ll be 1985. With the Upside Down monsters being so plant-like, maybe we’ll get Little Shop of Horrors references in Season 4/1986?

Possibly the largest controversy of the season dealt with Eleven’s solo trip to Chicago in episode 7. I liked the episode, but it shouldn’t have aired in the middle of a cliffhanger: it disrupted the flow too much. Without Eleven in the preceding episode at all, they could’ve split “The Lost Sister” up and cut back and forth between Chicago and Hawkins in both “The Spy” and the reconfigured Episode 7, just like the earlier legs of Eleven’s journey were interspersed with the events in Hawkins. If the contrast between Chicago’s punk scene and Hawkins’ wholesome appearance were too extreme to cut back and forth, “Lost Sister” could have been placed before “The Spy.” I agree with a comment I saw on IGN’s “Lost Sister” review, which pointed out watching it first would show Mike and Hopper in danger before we knew what was happening (Mike screaming “it’s a trap” would spoil the twist, so just show him struggling with the guards and not saying that line), which would be a cool teaser. Either of those solutions would’ve been better than the jarring—but still engaging—side trip to Chicago taking up an entire episode in the middle of a Demodog swarm.

Eleven/Jane Ives Though she was sequestered from the rest of the main cast for most of the season, I liked a lot of what they did with Eleven/Jane this year. I loved the secret family she and Hopper built. Their conversation about being “halfway happy” in compromise was bittersweet and I liked seeing how they figured each other out, both in real time and in flashbacks to the start of their hidden family. Moments like their father/daughter arguments were relatable, things like Eleven wanting to go trick-or-treating as a ghost and awkwardly laughing at Hopper trying to dance were fun, and her psychic temper tantrum felt both realistic and worked as a reminder that she is definitely dangerous. Regarding those fights, it was smart to allow Hopper and Eleven to be angry with each other, but never to let them get to the point where they truly hated each other. That made them coming together again in the end believable instead of a last minute moment of civility that was supposed to make up for nine hours of hatred.

Eleven being instantly jealous about Max and Mike seemingly having fun together didn’t work as well and annoyed me a bit—especially since she knew he’d been calling her every day for nearly a year—but she’s a kid who’s been locked up and abused for a long time and you don’t have to look past her time with Hopper to see she isn’t perfect or eternally understanding, especially when it comes to seeing beyond appearances. Meeting her birth mother (Aimee Mullins) and learning as much as she could about her was emotionally satisfying and it was cool to see Terry Ives was as much a fighter in the end as her daughter. I felt Eleven’s side story in Chicago was a worthy use of her time that brought her to a place where her vengeance and feelings weren’t as important as those of people she didn’t know—she discovered empathy for strangers when she considered orphaning Ray’s (Pruitt Taylor Vince) kids—and that was a great development for her character. I just wish she hadn’t continued to shun Max once she got back to Hawkins; the two of them having a talk would’ve been better, because shutting down Max’s attempt at being friends undercuts much of the understanding she found in Chicago (not to mention at that point, she was yet another person shutting Max out, which had become repetitive). Along with bonding with Max in Season 3, I’d love to see Eleven and Will finally get to interact and become friends (and maybe even step-siblings?) when he isn’t trapped or possessed. Developing a friendship between the two would be a smart outgrowth of the many parallels between them—Eleven was even mistaken for Will at several points in Season 1—and I’m sure their connection to the Upside Down would be a powerful bonding factor. I loved that she got to shut down this year’s invasion by finally closing the gate she’d opened in the first place; the Mind Flayer will definitely remember both her and Will, so perhaps they’ll face its early attacks together.

Mike Wheeler At first it seemed like Mike wasn’t given much to do this year beyond being angry/depressed about Eleven vanishing and concerned about Will. I understand the reasoning for both—I think he actually was experiencing the “anniversary effect” of PTSD Dr. Owens thought Will was going through—but I would’ve liked to see more variety to the writing in his scenes. Then I watched Beyond Stranger Things and realized Wolfhard’s understanding of Mike this season is brilliant: he can’t impress his friends by constructing D&D maps and running campaigns since everyone’s into video games now, he can’t lead a quest to save Will (until Byers’ major episode at Halloween, though even then, Joyce leads that charge), and he can’t even find Eleven, much less help her or have her as his secret friend. I love that this builds him missing Eleven into a larger problem of him losing his place as leader of the team. Matarazzo also pointed out that while the kids struggled to find someone to talk to about what they’d been through with the threat of the government hanging over them, Mike was the sorest about being the leader who’d saved the day and couldn’t talk about it with anyone. With this in mind, the entire season focusing more on Will, Dustin, and Lucas becomes something of Mike’s view of his friends after losing his place in the group. I agree with a comment I saw elsewhere that wished Mike had gone off to find Eleven on his own, meeting up in Chicago; as impractical as that might’ve been for a kid in real life (but not in a movie), it would’ve given his feeling of being out of place a direction instead of watching as Joyce, Hopper, and Bob worked out how to help Will. That said, I absolutely loved how angry Mike got about Steve telling the kids they were on the bench during the climax, as that’s exactly what his dad (Joe Chrest) had been saying in lectures earlier in the season. That was a moment where his need to have a place and function in the group coalesced with the plot perfectly, since he (and the other kids) had literally been left out of the plan to defeat the Mind Flayer.

Still, Mike wasn’t one-note in his struggle to belong this year and Wolfhard played all the sides Mike showed very well. Mike essentially eulogizing Bob by knowing he helped found the AV Club was a glimpse at a distinct texture to a relationship we didn’t see onscreen, though I assume Mike and Bob interacted at least a little while Mike was hanging out with Will. I liked the brief scene of Mike almost having fun with Max in the gym, even if otherwise constantly shutting her out wasn’t a good look at all. He doesn’t have to be perfect, but I would’ve liked more reason to not let her in than what I took from it: a girl in the group reminded him too much of Eleven. Perhaps she represented too much change happening to the party in general: if she joined, he thought she’d be another person moving him out of relevance within the group (particularly considering how invested in her Dustin and Lucas were). I liked Mike reclaiming his position a bit with Will, comforting him after his Halloween episode and propping up his courage as their spy; those felt like great moments of their friendship we didn’t get to see much of last year since Will was missing. I’m sure they felt like old times for Mike as well: finally he got to be the old Mike, at least to an extent. Mike screaming at Hopper and even attacking him for hiding Eleven for nearly a year was another great scene. I didn’t see that reaction coming and both actors delivered powerful performances. Mike’s dedication to calling Eleven every day was touching and, as pointed out on Beyond Stranger Things, I liked that they got to be reunited in two very different contexts at both the besieged Byers house and the Snow Ball. Unlike Nancy and Jonathan, this may imply Mike and Eleven’s friendship/relationship is stronger than just being pulled together in times of tragedy and high drama (not to say a middle school dance is without drama!).

Dustin Henderson Not only did Dustin have a love triangle to contend with this year, but he also found a pet from the Upside Down and discovered an excellent, unlikely surrogate brother in Steve. It was also great to get a glimpse of his home life and I hope we see more of his relationship with his mom (Catherine Curtin) next year. I liked Dustin’s friendship with baby Demodog D’Artagnan—and that it had a payoff in the end—but he shouldn’t have lied about his cat’s death to his mom. Allowing her to go on searching for it when she clearly loved it so much was a little cruel and the exact thing Nancy and Jonathan spent the season fighting. Watering down the truth would’ve worked here; he could’ve just said a wild animal got it. Dustin comparing lying about keeping a dangerous animal to Lucas bringing Max in on the Eleven secret didn’t seem equivalent at first, but then I remembered that anyone else finding out could lead to everyone’s death by cover-up. I liked Dustin’s resigned position that he’d accept being removed from the party for his disloyalty especially after he was the one to enforce the rules of reconciliation when Mike and Lucas had their falling out in Season 1. I also appreciated him accepting Lucas and Max getting together instead of flying into a jealous rage, which wouldn’t have been in-character or fitting at all. Matarazzo’s explanation that Dustin thought discovering a new species of slimy lizard would impress Max because his mom laughs off the things that excite him—so he thinks that’s what all girls like—was a cool example of Dustin’s inability to see what’s in front of his face when he’s overcome with excitement, much like he doesn’t consider the somewhat obvious truth about Dart’s origins. That Dustin got a heroic moment at the end by standing up to Dart so the others could flee was great; that made up for the danger he put them in earlier.

I loved Dustin’s brotherly bond with Steve and this was my favorite new bit of chemistry of the season. Pairing Dustin with Steve while they were both heartbroken and on the same ends of love triangles worked well to bond them. I’m also glad the series’ format allowed for leisurely scenes like Dustin and Steve strolling down some railroad tracks discussing hair products. Character bits like that go a long way to not only endear the characters to the audience, but they also show us what they’re like in (relatively) normal circumstances. I want more of these moments for every character in the coming seasons. I liked Steve trying to give Dustin advice about girls, even if he was wrong that acting like you don’t care about women makes them like you (Nancy moving on after Jonathan didn’t make a move for a month proves this). On the other hand, he was right about reading the electricity between you and someone you like, and trying to explain that to Dustin was a funny moment. Steve driving Dustin to the Snow Ball and giving him some parting courage was a perfect culmination of their brotherly arc. I loved Dustin’s “Steve” hairdo and while his walk around the dance continually getting shot down was sad, Matarazzo acted it so well! I also love that Dustin’s reaction to being shot down wasn’t played as though Steve was wrong about being confident, but (according to Matarazzo) that he’s not Steve Harrington. That’s not only more tragic, but it perfectly references Dustin’s insecurities about not being Mike’s best friend like Will and Lucas are because he only met the guys in fourth grade. I hope Season 3 has Dustin finding the confidence to live up to his own potential, rather than just being the best person he can in relation to someone else’s standard. If he’s infected with the spores from the tunnels and they corrupt him in some fashion, that may be the perfect vehicle to force that confrontation on him.

Lucas Sinclair Like Dustin, I enjoyed getting to see Lucas’ home life a lot. Lucas’ sister Erica (Priah Ferguson) was an especially hilarious addition to the cast and her attitude played off Lucas’ perfectly; here’s hoping she returns in a major way next year! His parents’ (Karen Ceesay, Arnell Powell) advice about women was humorous as well. I thought it was funny that the most nuclear families, the Sinclairs and Wheelers, feature parents who don’t seem particularly involved in their kids’ lives at all, though I was happy to see the Sinclairs seemed much happier together than Mike and Nancy’s parents. Lucas navigating how to handle his crush on Max was a fun plot that added depth to him and their banter was a lot of fun as well. He also proved Steve’s advice wrong by giving Max what she wanted and showing her he cared about her. I liked their bonding moments, particularly on top of the bus in the junkyard. Watching Lucas practice lines in the mirror before the dance was also great! His argument with Mike about the coolness of Winston from Ghostbusters was good, and I totally missed that Winston has the “Judgment Day” speech in the film and Lucas gets to call the climax of the season Judgment Day.

I like that Lucas is constantly the most grounded and practical of the kids (like Winston is among the Ghostbusters, now that I think about it); McLaughlin even said that if Lucas had found Dart instead of Dustin, there wouldn’t have been a second episode with the lizard in it. That characteristic plays well off of what the rest of the kids bring to the group, particularly Dustin, and McLaughlin performed it excellently, never coming off as a jerk, even when he was trying to be the voice of reason. One thing I would’ve liked to see more of from Lucas, however, is a reaction to Billy’s racism. It felt like he understood why Max wouldn’t let her brother see him (even if he didn’t vocalize it) and it was terrifying when Billy attacked him in the season finale, but I wanted them to dig into it more. Watching Lucas process and deal with any of the “there’s a certain kind of people you don’t hang around” talk from Billy would’ve added a great deal to his outlook and character. The Sinclairs seem to be one of the few African-American families in town, so is this relatively normal for him, or is having it thrown in his face something new? If he and Max had a real, out-in-the-open conversation about her brother, how would that have gone? He doesn’t seem to have any misgivings about pursing an interracial relationship—he might be too young (and too wrapped up in his crush on Max) to consider the ramifications yet—but would his family? Would the rest of the town? This is an area where the Duffer Brothers could absolutely have taken a page from Stephen King and drawn real-world horrors—particularly in a small, Midwestern town—as parallels to the rot of the Upside Down. The Ghostbusters costume argument brought up the assumption that Lucas was “supposed” to be Winston (and Mike couldn’t) because he’s Black and briefly touched on the issue of race, but the kids sidestepped it for the most part. Billy’s villainy would’ve resonated more if Lucas had scenes dealing with what he represented, and even moreso if it turned out Billy hadn’t just brought racism to Hawkins, but it had always been there.

Will Byers Some reviews have said Will’s plot felt too similar to his predicament last year—communicating through lights/crayons, being captured by the monster, etc.—but I liked the variations on the theme this year. The map of corruption in the town was both a cool visual aspect and a great expression of Will’s own infection, as the Mind Flayer had also wormed its smoky tendrils into his body. I loved that his connection to the Mind Flayer was a double-edged sword that rarely actually helped the heroes, unlike his Christmas lights last year. I totally expected Will to be a conscious solider against the Upside Down this year—particularly with Eleven absent from much of the action—so twisting it to make him the spy for the monsters and leading several soldiers to their deaths was brilliant! This was an especially cool reversal of how honest we know Will to be, even to the point of telling Mike the truth about what he rolled against the Demogorgon in the first episode when he didn’t have to. Making Will the Mind Flayer’s eyes also created a cool obstacle for the heroes: they had no safe haven unless he didn’t know where he was. No conversation about Will this year would be complete without pointing out that Schnapp is a fantastic actor: he did an excellent job of playing his attempts to be a normal kid with his friends, the loneliness of his post-Upside Down captivity, the pure terror/sadness of what was happening to him, the Mind Flayer’s pawn, and even the villain. His reaction to the soldiers burning the vines in the tunnels, the interrogation scene in the shed where he’d first disappeared (nice callback!), and his exorcism scene were particular standout moments for Schnapp (and all the actors involved). Mike, Jonathan, and Joyce sharing their memories with Will to bring him back to the surface was a powerful, incredible sequence! I’m glad the Duffers didn’t go with their initial idea of making Will slip into “evil Will” flashes where the Mind Flayer took over his body—and even killed Bob!—as that would’ve taken his possession a little too far.

All that said, the girl asking Will to dance at the Snow Ball by calling him “Zombie Boy” didn’t work for me, particularly as we were told he was very sensitive about that term. It would’ve helped if they’d established that Will was interested in any of the girls before having one ask him to dance just so he could be partnered up. The first season hinted that he might be gay—Joyce evaded Hopper’s question about whether bullies’ taunts about him being homosexual had any basis in fact—and making Will deal with that bigotry next year would be another way to bring real-life horror into Hawkins, especially in the mid-80s. Will being stunned at the girl’s proposition was cute—and it was probably just a throwaway moment to get Mike alone for Eleven’s entrance—but they could’ve had Will just be content with the normalcy of a dance instead (which would’ve contrasted Dustin’s lap around the gym nicely). Who Will is in normal life when he’s not being directly tormented by demons is definitely something I hope we get next year, since we haven’t gotten to see much of him being himself. I’m also eager to see what he brings to monster-hunting without the benefit of a connection to the Upside Down. Maybe if someone else is the Upside Down’s target, Will can step up as the person with experience and guidance in surviving it. It’ll be interesting to see how Will grows after having survived such an intense connection to the Mind Flayer as well, and how that shapes his outlook on the real world. Maybe surviving that horror could actually help him cope with any anti-gay hatred he faces, if the Duffers choose to reintroduce and expand on that aspect.

Max Hargrove Max was a great addition and I hope she returns next season! Sadie Sink held her own with the rest of the cast, bringing an equally natural feel to her character and a fresh attitude to the gang. It’s good to have more women in the cast and it’s neat that she, not one of the guys, is traditionally the “coolest” of the kids. I liked the guys being bewildered at the “wonder” of a girl liking video games and skateboarding (even if they forgot Nancy was willing to dress up as an elf with them just five years earlier), but I was also glad Max never acknowledged any strangeness about her liking genre stuff: of course girls have always liked it too! Max being genre savvy was a cool way to incorporate a few criticisms about certain nostalgia aspects of the first season when Lucas told her the truth about Eleven and the Upside Down. However, I hope that’s where the meta commentary ends. A little bit goes a long way for me, so Max writing Lucas’ tale off as a derivative story worked as an in-joke while also making sense given the context of what she’d seen, but I don’t think I need any further commentary from the fans voiced on the show. Max’s arc this year mainly focused on wanting to be accepted as part of the party and it worked well without needing to make her the audience’s eyes too much: the show didn’t assume you hadn’t watched the first season (we didn’t even hear Lucas tell her the truth). At the same time, she was thankfully never presented as an annoying girl trying to worm her way into their secret club. We can all relate to feeling like we don’t belong and wanting to fit in, so it felt original that Max had to struggle even to be accepted by the “nerds” of the school. These aren’t bad kids—and of course there are extenuating circumstances with the government threat—but it was a nice change of pace from the popular kids being the ones to exclude everyone. That she’s a girl trying to hang out with a bunch of guys also felt like a timely reference to the fact that she is a girl who likes nerdy things and there’s a lot of absurd pushback (to put it lightly) facing vocal female fans nowadays. Once she was in with the party, I loved that Max was totally in; these are her friends and it was clear she’d do anything to help them.

Next year I hope Max and Eleven bond as friends. Their spat this year shouldn’t have lasted to the end of the season as it was and I hope Eleven comes around between this season and next. I also hope Max finds a family among the party, particularly as she has it much tougher than anyone else in terms of her home life; maybe coping with and surviving that abuse is something that can bond her and Jane. The clear abuse she’s suffered at Billy’s “overprotective” hands was scary and portrayed well without being too graphic. I loved that she stood up to her brother to save Steve and Lucas in the end, and that Billy’s a little afraid of her now. I’m interested to see how their relationship develops because they’re good together (though the story told on Beyond Stranger Things about the origin of their kiss—that it wasn’t in the script until Ross Duffer realized the idea of a kiss freaked Sadie Sink out and its addition led to her having even more anxiety about it (and McLaughlin felt weird about it too)—is troubling, so I hope there was more conversation about the kiss’ addition than we heard and that this is the last time something like that ever happens). If she and Lucas are still together by the time Season 3 starts—and hopefully they are; they have great chemistry—I’d like to see how she deals with a small town’s prejudices about interracial dating as well. That prejudice could also be an obstacle unique to the two of them that the Duffers could play up. Max and Erica seems like it’d be an amazing pairing as well, so hopefully we get to see them interact! We got a lot of older brother/younger brother interactions over the past two years, so getting to see Nancy taking on an older sister role with both Eleven and Max (and Erica; why not?) would be great too.

Eight/Kali Prasad Eight (Linnea Berthelsen) and her crew of misfits and castoffs (Kai Greene, James Landry Herbert, Anna Jacoby-Heron, and Gabrielle Maiden) had an 80s X-men/New Mutants vibe that I liked a lot, particularly once Eight took on the Professor X role and trained Eleven. I thought their sisterly relationship was well-written and acted, and I liked that Eight was such a contrast not only to the rest of Eleven’s found family, but to everything she knew from the lab and Hawkins. Eight’s quest to kill all the former employees of the Hawkins facility, regardless of the effects on their families, has been criticized by some as one-note, but I think it makes her a great parallel to Eleven. I loved that Kali is the person Eleven could’ve become had she not met her friends or spent so much time with Hopper. I really liked her point about allowing Eleven not to take revenge on the people who hurt her, but warning Jane never to take her choice away. I feel like that’s the nuance other reviews are asking for. Eight is driven to violence by revenge, but she does care about her crew, did care about Eleven, and respected her enough to allow her “sister” to make her own choices. It’s only when Eleven stops her from carrying out her own wishes that they have a problem from Eight’s point of view.

The degree to which Eight has been changed by meeting Eleven was left as an open-ended question in Season 2, so seeing how she reflects on Eleven choosing not to kill will be very interesting. Were her eyes opened by Jane’s empathy epiphany, or will she see Eleven as a weak victim who can’t do what’s necessary to prevent others from being hurt? There could be no redemption for the lab workers in Kali’s eyes, but I wonder if we’re being set up for a redemption arc for her. I fully expect her to track Eleven down next year, causing problems for Jane’s new lease on life in Hawkins. Just as Eleven is allowed to reenter society around Halloween 1985, Eight finally finds her and upends her peaceful life? Sounds about right. I also wonder if Kali will locate the other test subjects and continue building the X-men vibe by recruiting them to her cause. If a portion of Season 3 were Kali and her Brotherhood coming to town and the heroes there having to deal with them instead of the Upside Down, I’d be all for it. I’m glad Eight has an entirely different set of powers and I wonder what abilities the others might have (given the Stephen King inspiration, one is totally a pyrokinetic). On the other hand, as much as I’d like to meet those other kids, I feel like it would shift the show too far away from the established cast to bring on a nearly equal number of new characters…unless Netflix wants to make the seasons longer from here on out, of course. I’d have no problem with that! Perhaps a standalone miniseries about her recruiting them could work between seasons as well. Kali’s illusion-casting was cool, especially the electric butterfly and bringing Brenner (Matthew Modine) “back” to manipulate Eleven. I wonder how that could be used to illuminate the other characters’ inner thoughts and fears if it were used against them.

Steve Harrington I loved that the hints of the good guy Steve is from Season 1 were vindicated here; he was only the jock asshole on the surface/to impress his friends last year and he does have a heart…and really does love Nancy. I thought it was a nice twist that he was genuinely hurt not because she didn’t want to party and act like teenagers with him (and even that suggestion was his attempt to do whatever he could to make her feel better), but because she said their love was bullshit. I also like that despite his clear sadness, he put Nancy and her needs first by driving away from the Snow Ball at the end of the season (unless he’s just acting like he doesn’t care…I hope not, though). Nancy being supportive of Steve taking care of the kids along with his lack of drama about her and Jonathan makes me think that they can develop a friendship next season and I hope that’s the case. I definitely agree with Keery that there’s no need for a physical confrontation between Jonathan and Steve over Nancy; if anything, the three of them just need to discuss where they all are. I love that this is a second love triangle that didn’t explode into angst or fighting, but mature acceptance.

I knew Steve was a good guy despite his mistakes back in Season 1, but I had no idea he’d be such a surprisingly great scene partner for the kids, especially Dustin! Keery seemed to have a blast with the kids and played the big brother role perfectly. His and Dustin’s brotherly relationship developed excellently—even if it started because Steve just happened to show up at the Wheelers’ when Dustin was there and was totally a last resort—and I hope it continues into the coming years. Hopefully even though Dustin failed to be Steve Harrington at the dance, Steve will be there to console him and help him out in the future (even if not all his advice is spot-on). As I’ve seen elsewhere, Steve having no qualms or embarrassment about being a babysitter was cool of him and totally unexpected. There wasn’t even a second thought to him protecting the kids, like when he got Max out of the way to fend off the Demodog while they were trapped in the old bus. Waking up after being beaten by Billy and thinking Mike was Nancy was a totally surprising—and hilarious—moment. I hope there are many more humorous moments like that as we get to see him interact with the kids more. It was also neat to see Steve totally over his position as “king of the school,” much less concerned with being cool than the guy who bent to his friends’ peer pressure was. I wonder if that maturity will take him to college next season, or if he’ll hang around town. I hope it’s the former; he could always just come home from school when things start happening again. Being away and coming back home will provoke more change in him than sticking around town treading water, so I hope that’s what they do with him. It’d definitely be good to see what he wants out of life too.

Nancy Wheeler Nancy’s one of my favorite characters and while I liked her hunting human monsters this time—and outsmarting the government by intentionally getting herself and Jonathan captured so they could get a confession on tape—I wish we’d seen more of her this year. Though Nancy getting to shut down the government project for Barb was cool, I do wonder if her and Jonathan’s quest was a little undercut both by saying all the agents who were around when Barb died and Will disappeared are gone (if that’s true) and then most of the current staff getting killed by Demodogs. It’s true the government got a public black eye and the project has been permanently shut down through Nancy and Jonathan’s efforts (and Eleven shutting the gate), though. I wouldn’t mind a Season 3 that had no military component and just had those in the know in Hawkins against the Mind Flayer as it tries to return. Maybe it would’ve been better to shut down the lab at midseason to free up Nancy and Jonathan for more interaction with the growing Upside Down threat. Specifically, I wish she’d been around to help Steve and the kids hunt Demodogs; Nancy would’ve been useful in the junkyard, the tunnels, or as backup for Eleven and Hopper (though I get the narrative and emotional reasons you’d sequester those two one final time). That said, Dyer was great with what she got, be it romantic comedy with Jonathan, her turmoil over what Barb’s parents (Cynthia Barrett, Aaron Munoz) had been put through for a year, or helping to drive the infection out of Will at the end. Nancy thinking she and Steve were at fault for Barb’s death was a great, tragic bit of self-inflicted guilt, no matter how wrong she was: it was Barb choosing to wait around after Nancy told her to go home that got her killed, not Nancy and Steve sleeping together. I loved that Nancy accepted the rifle from Hopper when they were being swarmed by Demodogs, she was the one who used a hot poker on Will, and that Jonathan turned away from his hurting brother to find comfort in her arms, rather than the other way around. The show is very good about crafting strong female characters and I loved that they subverted gender norms by making Nancy and Joyce the ones willing to do whatever it took to save Will, while Jonathan couldn’t.

Dancing with Dustin and giving him a pep talk at the Snow Ball was a sweet, perfect moment. What a great nod to Dustin’s crush on her in Season 1, back when he offered her their last slice of pizza and argued that she “used to be cool” (even if his then-current assessment had been that “something was wrong” with her). I like that she also tried to get Jonathan to socialize more, snagging him an invite to the Halloween party and even suggesting he might meet someone there. I wish we’d seen more moments of friendship between the two of them to further develop their romantic bond, but the fact that they’d grown apart over the past year worked too. I’ve certainly had life get in the way of keeping in touch with friends, so that felt realistic (particularly in an era without social media). The Snow Ball left things a little unresolved as to whether Nancy and Jonathan were together-together, and I’m game whether the show wants to explore that relationship or not. Perhaps Nancy, Jonathan, and Steve need to find themselves separately a bit more before any pairing can healthily take off. I’m very interested to see where Nancy goes now that Barb has justice and she can finally move on. What are her interests and goals in life? We know she doesn’t want to repeat her mother’s decision to settle for a perfect nuclear family, so what does she want? The similarity between Murray (Brett Gelman) and Nancy—their need to “pull back curtains”—would be an interesting direction to explore in the future. I don’t want her to go full-on conspiracy theorist like he is, but perhaps she’ll become a reporter. Whatever direction she takes, I’m excited to see her journey towards becoming more self-aware continue.

Jonathan Byers It felt like Jonathan got the least to do out of anyone—his incorporation into Nancy’s quest to help Barb’s parents felt more tangential since Will did come back, for example—though I did get the impression that he’s grown a lot since Season 1. I think this year’s Jonathan is in a much better place to be in a relationship, unlike last year when ending up with Nancy would’ve felt like the clichéd loner “good guy” (with a stalker streak that was never a good look) “deserved” to get the girl at the end of the horror movie just by virtue of not being a jerk. This season, he seemed more settled in his home life and comfortable with how things had been going; Jonathan generally felt healthier this year, since he didn’t have to be the guy looking after his family to as great a degree. Heaton was good at showing us lighter shades of Jonathan like that. Jonathan and Nancy’s earlier monster hunting connection and mutual impulse to watch each other’s backs as they got justice worked to play up their connection and stir the tension between them. While I still would’ve liked more development in their romantic relationship, the moment where he and Nancy compared scars and talked about their friendship vanishing was a fun bit of reconnection. I also liked that at every turn, Jonathan was right there with Nancy insisting they weren’t together and looking for ways not to share a bed with her; it would’ve been cheaper if the hotel only had a single room available or for him not to offer to sleep on Murray’s couch. I liked the Temple of Doom homage with Nancy and Jonathan (unsuccessfully) fighting the urge to sleep together; that was fun! I’ve seen this pointed out elsewhere, but if they are together at the end of the season, then I wonder if their relationship really can survive normalcy and times when the world isn’t ending. Whether they can or not, that would be something interesting to explore.

While I liked Jonathan’s reaction to Will’s predicament once he got back into town and his attempts to help his brother were great, I would’ve liked to see him react more to not being there for Will and Joyce. That was such a drive for him in Season 1 that removing him from the equation could’ve yielded a bigger reaction once he realized what he’d been missing. That said, I wonder if the fact that everyone survived without him—and were more capable of doing what needed to be done than he was—will lead him down a path where he doesn’t feel as needed for his family’s survival anymore. We started to see this in Season 2, when he trusted Will to take care of himself while trick-or-treating and Jonathan let himself go to a party. Where will Jonathan go if he doesn’t feel like he has to be the one to care for his whole family? I don’t want him to feel guilty (and especially not emasculated) that he couldn’t face Will’s pain or turn up the heat, but I’d like to see what he wants to do with a clean slate and the ability to move forward, trusting Joyce to handle things and Will to fend for himself.

Billy Hargrove Billy was the final form of every 80s movie bully (and everything Steve seemed to be on the surface last year) and while Dacre Montgomery did a great job making him a constant predatory threat, there didn’t seem to be much complexity to him in the writing. Just like Henry Bowers in IT, Billy made for an intimidating human villain, but while one scene showing us a glimpse of the parental abuse that drove him to be so psychotic is appreciated, it’s too little too late. In a movie that’s more forgivable, but with nine hours to tell the story it doesn’t quite fly. I’m also glad the Duffers don’t think Billy’s abuse at the hands of his father excuses his actions, but only shows where he learned that hate. I liked Billy crying and then suppressing it after his dad left his room—Montgomery’s acting was very good in that scene—but none of this redeemed him for me and honestly, I don’t need to see him redeemed. I also don't think his reaction to being drugged and threatened by Max is equivalent to Jonathan knocking sense into Steve in Season 1. Steve realized what he did to Nancy was wrong and took steps to change right away. He even showed up at the Byers house at the end of the season to apologize to Jonathan, not to find Nancy to win her back. Billy’s violence-induced "respect" for Max is not at all the same thing as the violent moment that made Steve reevaluate his life.

Making Billy a racist on top of everything else would’ve worked better if they’d given Lucas a moment to reflect on why he couldn’t hang out with Max, if Max had a realization about why Billy acted the way he did, or if anyone had confronted Billy about it, forcing him to try to justify himself (not that there’s justification for that). As it was, he was terrifying both whenever he’d threaten Max and when he came after Lucas, but it seemed like there could’ve been more explored with him and the racist angle felt like just one more horrible thing about him. It’s possible Billy’s anger also comes from repressing his own homosexuality, given his reaction to what his father called him and the vibe he gave off when confronting Steve at the end of the season. If Billy is gay, then 80s-era prejudices against both he and his step-sister’s burgeoning interracial relationship could work to bring them closer together (if he can work through his anger issue and develop real respect for her; there’s no excuse for the way he acts). Dacre Montgomery doesn’t think Billy is racist or homophobic, but while he may not be playing either of those aspects and I could be misreading Billy—Montgomery definitely knows his character better than I do—the script left it too open-ended to dismiss as a possibility. I’m not sure his interpretation lines up with what we saw of him “protecting” Max either; if he were so concerned about her and who she hung out with, it wouldn’t have taken his father threatening him to get him to go hunt Max down. Whatever is driving Billy’s anger, we also should’ve seen a happy moment between Max and Billy to show us why her being a “constant” in his life was a good thing in his mind. I do agree with Montgomery that Billy’s insane amount of insecurity about being a man (and the man) is probably a large part of what’s feeding into his anger and lashing out; his early insults and attacks on Steve over no longer being the “king of the school” and getting dumped by Nancy definitely speak to that. As uncomfortable as the scene where he flirts with Mrs. Wheeler (Cara Buono) was, I liked the scene immediately after where Montgomery’s expression revealed it was all an act. That was the one bit of trope subversion his character got this year that reminded me of the undercurrents Steve got last year. Either way, I’m definitely interested to find out what “sinister” plans Montgomery and the Duffers have for Billy next year; how much worse can he get?

Barbara Holland I always thought Barb was fine; neither dull nor the perfect, slighted best friend some parts of the internet made her out to be, but analysis like this (and check out great analysis of all the characters here and here) and a rewatch of Season 1 left me seeing her as a judgey, jealous friend who couldn’t handle Nancy starting to pull away. She may have had good intentions in being protective of Nancy, but when it came time to face Nancy’s decisions, she couldn’t deal with what Lucas and Dustin overcame with Mike and Eleven (and because of her death, she never got the chance to learn from and grow out of her mistakes like everyone else did). That said, it did bother me that no one in town cared she’d gone missing except Nancy and her parents, so tying up that loose end here felt appropriate. It was sad her parents spent a year thinking she’d just run away or something, and moreso that they were spending all their money—even having to sell the house—in the search. I was satisfied with the justice Barb got here.

Joyce Byers Winona Ryder was great once again and I’m glad her efforts to save Will were listened to this year. There was a definite sense that she had more control and influence over things and, as I’ve seen pointed out elsewhere, it was great to see her take charge of getting answers about Will’s health rather than having to force Hopper to investigate or needing to justify her methods (like when she bought so many boxes of Christmas lights). Like Nancy, I’m glad Joyce was the one willing and able to do anything to save Will from the Mind Flayer’s influence, even though it hurt him. It was also cool that Ryder got to explore a healthier Joyce this year; she was understandably pushed to the limits of her sanity last year, so seeing her as a veteran of the Upside Down and its attacks on her family was a great bit of development. Moments like her concern for Will when dropping him off at the arcade felt relatable as well; even if he hadn’t been abducted by monsters from another dimension, her concern for his medical condition felt like something any mother would express (and his exasperated desire for her to see him as a capable person rather than a kid needing protection was spot-on too). The one area that felt a little lacking with Joyce’s portrayal this year was that she didn’t seem to even notice Jonathan was gone. Of course she was consumed with worry for Will, but an acknowledgment that Jonathan was missing would’ve been nice and some reaction to what he’d done with Nancy would’ve been better, since taking on the government could’ve had direct and deadly results for their whole family.

I liked her relationship with Bob; it brought out a new, almost carefree side to Joyce that we hadn’t seen in her interactions with Hopper, which are almost always fraught with tension over supernatural goings-on. At least at first, it felt like her relationship with Bob was a window into who she possibly used to be. David Harbour’s assessment that Joyce had a relationship with Bob because he seemed to be the safe, dorky father figure is probably accurate, but I would’ve liked to hear what Ryder’s thoughts on it were. The Duffers saying she would’ve left town with Bob had he lived gave his death a bigger tragedy, but I feel like she has a stronger connection to Hopper so I’m more invested in seeing where that goes. I’d also like to see Joyce interact with the other parents more; does she have friends anymore? It would help if she could talk to them about what happened, so perhaps the government facility shutting down will give her at least some ability to discuss a watered-down version of what she’s been going through. It’d also be cool to see what Joyce’s dreams are and what she hoped her life would turn out like. That could bond her with not only the younger kids in the face of so much danger, but the teens as they’re about to go off to college and forge lives for themselves. An attempt to build her life beyond her job at the store and as Will and Jonathan’s mom would also definitely be welcome.

Jim Hopper The change in Hopper from the start of Season 1 to the beginning of 2 (to say nothing of his journey through the rest of the season) was immense, going from a man barely holding it together and caught up in the memories of his dead daughter to a far healthier man building a life for his new surrogate child. Hopper and Eleven’s familial connection was an excellent aspect of Season 2 and one I never thought I’d love so much. Like Joyce being concerned about Will even during a benign trip to the arcade, Hopper and Eleven shared a lot of realistic parent/child moments that grounded the supernatural strangeness of their lives. Glimpses of their happier moments were excellent and, as Harbour pointed out on Beyond Stranger Things, very “dad” things like Hopper trying to guilt Eleven into coming out of her room to share overdue Halloween candy were played perfectly. Life lessons like the fact that even well-meaning parents can let their kids down worked very well too. Eleven’s psychic tantrum felt like a real argument between a parent and a child—even if amped up by her powers—and the push and pull between what was best for her development and what was safest for her created an excellent tension for Hopper to deal with; Harbour played it perfectly. His apology to an empty cabin was excellent and their reconciliation in the truck on the way to the facility was outstanding too. They need each other to build a new family out of their fractured lives and I can’t wait to see how that develops (particularly now that she’ll be able to leave the cabin safely within a year); I was very happy to see that she’s now legally his daughter. I absolutely loved his “You did so good, kid,” moment after she closed the gate and Hopper carrying her out of the gate room was a brilliant connection to Brenner carrying her out of the tank after her early tests with the Upside Down (that was a callback I completely missed!).

I’m glad Hopper didn’t go full-on nefarious Men in Black like the end of last season implied, instead just helping to cover up things in town without any qualms about setting the government straight the moment he realized they weren’t living up to their side of the “keep the Upside Down sealed” bargain. I like that his maybe-relationship with Joyce is seemingly back on track by the end of this year and I wonder if they’ll actually get together next season (or between seasons). If they were to get married, Eleven and Will as step-siblings would work really well given their shared traumas with the Upside Down. Hopper being absolutely done with the kids’ D&D allusions was perfect, so putting as many kids around him as possible would be hilarious! Has Joyce been taking Mike and Will up to have playdates with Eleven? Do all the kids regularly trek up to Hopper’s cabin to hang out with Eleven on weekends and play D&D? Did someone get an NES? I would love it if Hopper and Joyce actually enjoyed playing it just as much as the kids will (I remember my parents playing my Sega Genesis X-men game by themselves often, so the adults being into a video game or two isn’t outside the bounds of reality). I’d also be interested to see if sheriff is the end of Hopper’s career path or if he wants more out of his work. Could he be recruited into further government projects into the supernatural, or will he do something smaller, like running for Mayor of Hawkins? I hope the spores in the tunnels didn’t do anything to him, but I can’t see the Duffers letting that go so easily, especially since he’ll be directly in Eleven’s (and possibly Will’s) orbit. Perhaps that experience with the supernatural will be a way to bond him and Eleven even closer and give her a chance to directly rescue him.

Bob Newby His name literally being “newbie” may have been on the nose, but I liked Bob and the distinct flavor he brought to the character mix. His innocence and sense of discovery created fun clashes with the other characters’ temperaments, like when he was decoding Will’s map. He almost felt like a glimpse into what any of the kids could’ve become had they not had these run-ins with the supernatural. His tech and puzzle-solving knowledge were fresh skills some shows would’ve just randomly given to Mike or the other kids simply because they’re nerds—as if that means they know everything about all nerdy things—so I was glad the Duffers gave them to a new character. Those skills made him invaluable and allowed for a very tense escape from the government facility. I felt he truly cared about Joyce and her boys, which was refreshing to see, and he bonded well with Will. I liked the tragedy that his well-meaning advice about facing your fears was the absolute worst thing he could’ve told Will, and that Will trusted him enough to listen. Bob’s suggestion to move the family to Maine was a cool, sly Stephen King reference; they probably wouldn’t be any safer there! I was sorry he died, but I wish they hadn’t shot it with such a tell; instead of Bob and Joyce having a moment of relief that he’d escaped, having Bob continue running for his life and getting snagged by the Demodogs anyway would’ve been a bigger shock.

Allies I was shocked Dr. Owens turned out to not only not be morally gray or outright evil, but genuinely cared about Will, Eleven, and the others. That was a great change of pace from the stock government scientist and a clever subversion of Reiser’s character in Aliens. I believe he truly did believe doing whatever was necessary to stop the spread of the Upside Down was the best course of action, but once it came to harming kids, he was done. I respected that. I expected him to die, so his survival was a surprise and I hope he continues to be an ally in Season 3 and beyond. The government trying to burn away the infectious Upside Down infestation was a great way to make them problematic in that they were still running tests, while proving they weren’t completely oblivious to how dangerous it was (even if they had no idea how far it had spread). That was a cool split between their deal with Hopper and their own interests. I’d like to see what the larger government wants with the Upside Down testing, though. Are they thinking it could be used as a way to “teleport” behind enemy lines? If an army battalion (or just one operative with a nuclear weapon) entered the Upside Down in Hawkins and punched their way out in Moscow, for example, that would be a powerful military advantage that could clinch the Cold War for the US. Eleven and Eight’s powers both seem to be in the same vein as Cold War psychic experiments (and it all started as part of Project MKUltra), so elaboration on specific goals there would be cool too. Maybe some of the test subjects didn’t escape and are government-backed child soldiers now. If Jane being number eleven means she’s the latest and youngest, there’s no telling how old the earlier subjects are now.

It’s always good to see Mr. Clarke (Randy Havens), the kids’ science teacher. He didn’t have as big a role to play as the kids’ source of science this year, but all his scenes were great. I love that he’s so into science and always seizes the opportunity to pass on that love and curiosity to the kids. I’m not sure if I want him to learn about the Upside Down or not, because the kids’ flimsy excuses are entertaining. He’d have his mind blown by what they’ve seen, however, and that could be fun in and of itself. I also wonder just how much the kids are overlooking due to not having a background in science that could be useful to fighting the Upside Down. Officers Powell (Rob Morgan) and Callahan (John Reynolds) gave welcome returns as possibly the least effective cops (Callahan far moreso than Powell) on TV. I love how small-town they are in their all-too human reactions to things, even if they’re rarely helpful as law enforcement. As fun as they are, I wonder if there’s a way to preserve that quality while subverting the trope of the bumbling detectives. Ted Wheeler is still totally useless, but while I can almost see why Karen would be attracted to Billy after knowing him on his best behavior for two minutes, I wish we’d gotten more depth to her than a joke about bored housewives. Both of her children were gone from the house for days and she barely seemed to care (even if they did give flimsy sleepover excuses). I’d like to see her build a friendship with Joyce instead of continuing to just be an oblivious parent; there were hints that there was more to her in Season 1 and I hope there’s a return to that in Season 3. Digging into the Karen she wanted to be instead of the one who chose the safe life could be a revelation to Nancy—and Nancy venturing into a role in a male-dominated field like investigative reporter a boon to Karen—and I’d love to dig deeper into those dynamics.

Conspiracy theorist Murray Bauman was a nice nod to the fact that other people are taking note of the strange things going on in Hawkins. I liked his rundown of the myth Eleven accidentally created about herself and his complete misreading of Hopper’s dismissal as naiveté, not being in on the conspiracy. Other shows might have had him be so keyed into the mysteries that he’d suspect Hopper’s smokescreen right away, so his total obliviousness in that area felt fresh. His stunned reaction to what was really happening—much bigger than anything he’d imagined—was great too. His plan to water down the truth about the lab was cool as well; a clever way of holding off on letting everyone know about the Upside Down while still being rooted in human behavior. It didn’t feel like the plot was forcing them to keep their mouths shut about monsters just because doing so would change the whole show’s status quo, but like there was a real reason to. Explaining it like this was also easier to swallow than revealing the truth and then having people go back to disbelieving once the government said it was a lie, in an odd way. Even with the explanation that Murray has an obsessive need to expose secrets and illuminate the truth, his investment in the love lives of two teens he’d just met was a little unnerving. He didn’t come off as creepy, I guess, but just weird. I don’t need to see him return—with the government shutting down the facility, he’s served his purpose—but becoming something of a journalistic mentor for Nancy, if they go that route with her, could be cool.

I wasn’t too enamored with the members of Kali’s crew. They were fine foils for Eleven’s friends and definitely brought a distinct flavor to the show, but nothing Kali couldn’t bring by herself. With so little screentime to split among so many new characters, they didn’t feel as fully-formed as they could’ve been. I might’ve cut a few of them or combined their traits into fewer characters. Still, it’s good that they were so diverse; that was a realistic contrast to life in Hawkins. I definitely appreciate that there was an even gender split in the crew too. Perhaps given more time with these characters, I’d like them better.

Enemies I really, really hope Brenner isn’t still alive. He doesn’t need to be. Now that Eleven has discovered and come to terms with as much of her past as possible, bringing him back would feel like a step backwards. Through her interactions with Eight—who acted the way Brenner wanted his subjects to, even if she aimed herself at him instead of the government’s enemies—and Hopper, it feels like Jane’s already defeated the ghost of Brenner’s influence and his physical return wouldn’t be much of a fight for her soul. Now, if Eight shows up in Hawkins and uses an illusion of him to manipulate/terrorize Eleven, that could work. Then again, Millie Bobby Brown’s reading of Eleven’s relationship with her Papa as a warm one—because he was the first person to hold her and she felt there was care there, despite the abuse he inflicted on her and her mother—adds so many layers to the conflict that I hadn’t considered before. Her assertion that she wouldn’t channel her anger or fight as much without Brenner having been in her life is also a fascinating look at Eleven’s survival skills and her ability to make a positive out of the abuse she suffered. I’d like to see Eleven deal with that, but I wouldn’t want them to take her will to fight out of her hands or give him too much credit; I believe she’d be a fighter with or without Brenner in her life, since her mother certainly was in the end and would’ve taught Jane that instinct had she been there to raise her. Brown’s interpretations of their relationship almost make me hope he is alive. Almost.

The Mind Flayer was an imposing step up from the Demogorgon (just for fun, check out this incredible cosplay!) and the Demodogs were cool underlings. What’s going to happen with the Demodog Dustin and Steve put in the Byers’ fridge? It seemed dead, but they do like the cold… At any rate, I love the mythology of a being that’s so ancient even it doesn’t know where it came from, like Dustin theorizes the Mind Flayer is. The show is digging into Lovecraftian themes and I love it! Of course, if they’re going full-Lovecraft, it may also mean the Mind Flayer isn't necessarily evil, just that it’s a force of nature that wants to survive. That’s more interesting. Dustin assumes it wants to control everything because that’s what the D&D character wants, but nothing says he has to be right. Or maybe controlling everything is how it survives, so it needs to continue corrupting everything to perpetuate its existence. If all the beings it’s controlling die, how can this psychic monstrosity continue to inhabit any world?

I hope the Mind Flayer is defeated in Season 3, opening up 4 and 5 for new, even more terrifying threats. I feel like the next step beyond infiltrating the town is burrowing into the people (particularly as we know psychic interaction is possible through Eleven’s watery middle-ground void; that’s where she first met the Demogorgon), which could be cool. Though again, I don’t want the Upside Down to be the source of evil people in Hawkins. Perhaps the Mind Flayer already has a foothold here through the smoky portion of itself that was possessing Will. I wonder where it fled to… If Upside Down beings start taking over Hawkins citizens—or even just altering their perceptions to harm our heroes—that could be the perfect time to bring back the similarly-powered Eight.

Though I would’ve liked to see more from Mike, Nancy, and Jonathan this year, I thought the writers did a great job of fleshing out the rest of the cast and expanding the story from where they left it in Season 1. They didn’t lock themselves into cliffhangers or open-ended scenes in the season finale this time, so they can do pretty much anything they want. I’m definitely optimistic about where things could go in Season 3 and beyond! We need to see these characters in their status quo so we can see how it changes when the supernatural elements return, so I do hope we get a little more of their normal lives next time; maybe a more expanded season would help. What are the characters’ lives and relationships going to look like in a year? What have the Mind Flayer and the other denizens of the Upside Down been planning? It feels like the stage has been set for a huge showdown and I can’t wait!

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betta-resplendent · 7 years

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Warning; Needles, blood. No pics it’s k

i have a super tender bruise on my hand :C

TL;DR: Had MRI. Needed contrast. Was stuck 4 times. Once in the hand. Vein blew. Needed a goddamn ultrasound to the arm to even find a good vein.

Super long post but I tried to make it at least a little humorous for anybody who actually wanted to read it. I kept blood to a minimum. :c

I had to have my MRI rescheduled from Tuesday; I ended up having it on FRIDAY of this week (yesterday), and because I’d already had spine surgery in 2012 they wanted to do contrast. Which means IV.

Now, I don’t know if it’s because of my weight, or I have naturally deep veins, or a combo of both but I have ALWAYS been a hard stick. I usually don’t leave hospitals without at least two bandages where they tried to poke me and failed to get anything. It once took two nurses at a MedPoint to stick me because they can only have 3 attempts before they have to find somebody else to do it. I have scarring on the inside of my left elbow from the amount of times I’ve been poked and prodded. You’d think, after all of this AND two steroid injections in my back (THAT SUCKED OH MY GOD I NEVER WANT TO DO THAT AGAIN), I’d be used to this. However I still have a horrid fear of needles, to the point where usually I have to look away and squeeze something, whether it’s somebody’s hand or the damn chair I’m in (or in this case, the blanket they wrapped around me)

But yesterday was the absolute worst it’s been since the steroid injections. Now, to give the nurses credit they were super nice and clearly felt bad for all the prodding. They kept me calm, even got me multiple warm blankets because between the anxiety and the room being cold AF, I was shaking so bad I could barely speak. I hadn’t slept at all that day, and the appointment was at 8:30. I was exhausted, so I think that amplified the pain by quite a bit. I laid down, the nurse explained what they needed (again), and they started. I gave them a warning that my veins were hard to pin down even with tons of water. I’d even been rubbing the insides of my arm to try and get one to work. The nurse said “Oh that’s alright, we’ll get it.”

Oh boy.

So she wraps the tourniquet on my arm, I pump my fist for a moment and then hold. I’ve done this shit before man. I got dis on lock. She feels around, pressing and rubbing at the skin. Already, she’s getting perplexed. A few soft ‘hrm’s’ here and there as she searched all up and down my arm. I tried to make small talk but I was already trembling like a goddamn baby in a snowstorm, so that wasn’t working out too well. Not to mention I already had the earplugs in so it was hard to hear anything.

She asked about hobbies. I mentioned gardening. She says she has a flowerbed overtaken by weeds. I laughed and said ‘Same.’ We mentioned creeping charlie. I told her about my mint plants. I told her about the dogs. Shit, I even mentioned using fish water for the herbs and talked about Bailey.

Through all of that, she’d gotten increasingly concerned. I think the moment she started smacking at the veins to find something was when she realized ‘this is going to suck’.

She thinks she found one. “Do you want me to warn you?”

“I don’t like surprises when it comes to needles. Yes, please.”

She cleans off the area. She presses again to make absolutely sure she has it. She preps the needle. “Okay, you’ll feel a pinch.”

In it goes. Fucking ow. Anybody who’s had their blood drawn, or gotten an IV, or...dealt with needles at all really (no judgement <3) knows that when you or somebody else misses the fucking vein and start to dig for it, it is the weirdest feeling in the fucking world and it hurts. It starts small, sort of uncomfortable, after the initial stick. The longer it goes, the more it grows. It radiates almost like an itch through the arm. I felt it down in my goddamn fingers at one point because I’m too much of a coward to say ‘enough, try somewhere else’. This goes on for what seems like five minutes (tho i’m sure it was only like, one or two at MOST, probably not even that), before she sighs, “Well, I can’t seem to find it.”

“That’s okay.” She pulls out the needle, wipes away any blood, keeps searching. Keep in mind, I refuse to move my head to look at anything she’s doing. By now another nurse came out and brought a heated blanket to me to help stop the shaking. It helps a little, enough to let them work.

Nurse count: two.

She searches around my elbow. I visibly tense up when she starts searching my hand. I’ve gotten my blood drawn from the hand before and lemme tell you that shit hurts. A friend of mine claims that hurts less than the elbow and man do I envy that because that is not the case for me at all.

I think she noticed it, because she didn’t dwell long on the hand before moving on to my left arm.

Tally: Right arm, 1 attempt.

She starts the process again on my left arm. Prodding at the skin, rubbing, turns into slapping at different points hoping for something to come up. I’m now looking to my right, staring at my glasses and the locker key containing my bag and my cane. I counted the damn cabinets, tried to guess what was inside. Anything to keep my mind off of it.

She’s reaching back onto the little caddy she’s got with all the supplies. I prepare myself for another stick. She cleans, she pokes some more, slaps again, cleans one more time.

“Okay. A pinch.”

Here we go again. She misses. More digging. I’m staring up at the ceiling at a dim, horizontal (vertical, from my position, perpendicular to me) image of a sky. I’m assuming that if I’d been put into the machine feet first, perhaps the image would have been turned on to give me something to look at. Maybe it would have moved? I’ll never know. I don’t even know if my head would stick out of the machine. I didn’t even know you could go feet-first. That was news to me.

She digs for another minute. My fingers start to hurt. That weird radiating numb-pain is going to my shoulder and fingers from the crook of my elbow and god damn I wish it would stop. She lets out another sigh, shakes her head. “Okay. Well. We’re just gonna go ahead and do the first set of images, and we’ll pull you out, try again, and do the last 3 with contrast.”

“okiedokie”

In I went. They were nice enough to provide a cloth to cover my eyes, the ‘emergency escape ball’, as I call it, and put me in. I stayed as still as possible. I shit you not, I was more relaxed in that loud ass machine than I was outside of it. It was also so warm in there omg. I fell asleep in the damn thing. Granted it was more of a cat-nap that I woke myself up from by grunting (whoops), but it’s still astounding I managed to sleep while the machine was screaming at me and taking pictures.

After the last picture of the first round was done they pulled me out. The two nurses and another nurse was there to prep me for another run to poke at me. I felt like a science experiment.

Nurse count: Three.

They spoke pretty quietly. I don’t know what they said really. Their tone was more confused or concerned than anything. With the ear plugs I couldn’t really hear them and you can bet your ass I wasn’t gonna look at ‘em either. They tried my right arm again, poking at it. They could find nothing. The first nurse asked, “Has anybody gotten you here before?” while running her fingers over my elbow. I told her no, not to my knowledge, as a bit of a joke. I don’t think it was appreciated but she gave me a polite chuckle anyway. The heat from the blanket was gone so I was back to trembling again. The third nurse left, came back with a second blanket, and layered it underneath the first to keep in heat. Thank the Gods for nurses.

The first nurse moved to my left arm again, poked some more. She pressed against the spot she’d gotten previously and sighed, “You’ve definitely got some scarring there.”

“Yeah? I’m not surprised.” Only I was shaking so it was more like ‘Y-yeah? m’n-not s-s-surprised’. Fuck, I felt dumb.

She keeps looking. Eventually she focuses on the hand. Ah, shit. I tensed up again and she says, “Sorry.”

“It’s okay. Do what you gotta do.” Because who am I to argue with a nurse? At this point I just wanna fuckin go home and sleep. And eat because man I hadn’t eaten for ~24 hours and i was hungry af.

She pokes at the hand, finds one. Slaps at it a little, pokes it again, nods. All three nurses are around me, one next to the nurse poking at me, and the other watching from the far end by the window in case assistance was needed. The humming from the machine was getting obnoxious, the lights were too bright, I was too tired and I just wanted to go.

“Warning?”

“Yes please.”

She preps the needle. I try to relax, stare back up at the ceiling again. The cloud looks like a bunny.

“Okay. Pinch.”

Oh. My. God.

I could have started crying. Well, I did, but not much. The pain was immediate and instead of dulling for a few before radiating it started at 10 and just went from there. She dug for a few minutes, inhaled sharply. Exhaled just as sharply.

“Well,” and I looked at her, focused on her face instead of her hands. “I found one.”

“Yeah?”

“It blew.”

Fuck me running. All I could manage was “well that’s unfortunate” because oh my god what the fuck am I supposed to say to that? Tbh it didn’t really hurt, though now I’m wondering if the pain was that bad because it blew or if the vein deciding ‘fuck it’ and going out like an abandoned mine shaft was really painless. It was at this point that the third nurse left the room.

Nurse count: Two. The second nurse left.

Nurse count: one.

She stepped back from me and apologized. I, of course, said it wasn’t a big deal. I mean jesus, I did warn you, I kind of expect some difficulty but jesus christ not this much. A few more minutes pass. The two nurses that left return, followed by another nurse, somebody that puts IV’s in frequently.

Nurse count: Four.

So, now it’s his turn. He starts poking, prodding, rubbing, tapping. His hands are far rougher but he’s nice enough, I figure he’s gotta be kinda rough with it if he has any hope of fuckin’ finding anything in the Girl Who Had No Veins.

He lets out a sigh and another ‘hrm’. I smile a bit weakly, “how long do i got” which earns a couple wry laughs. That’s all I got at this point, don’t judge me.

They step away to talk for a few minutes. I’m back staring up at the ceiling. The other cloud looks like a fucked up potato with a stick attached to it.

The first nurse comes back. “He’s going to prep an ultrasound to see if we can’t find something.”

Oh my god. This is new. A goddamn ultrasound. Tf. Again, I can’t argue I’m in a damn flat ‘bed’ attached to a giant machine and walk with a cane. I have no leverage and no escape.

They detach me from the machine and roll me into the room on the other side of the machine. It’s dark as hell, but that’s okay. Several people are in the room and start standing around me to watch and/or assist.

Nurse count: Fucking six. Why are there so many people back there is that normal or did I become a sideshow somehow?

He gets the machine prepped, uses that nasty gel stuff, and starts pushing against my arm. It takes maybe two minutes to finally find one he’s satisfied with. He presses his goddamn nail against the area for a solid 30 seconds while the other nurses get the saline and contrast fluid. I looked up at him like ‘tf?’ and he just gave a weak smile, “Marking it so we don’t lose it again.”

Fffffair enough. Mark away.

The nurses get back, he does the injection, they push through the saline, then the contrast. “You’ll taste or smell something funky.”

Gross. They were right and I hate it. I don’t even know how to describe it.

The contrast was put in, she told me it would feel ‘cool in temperature’ which...it really didn’t. I didn’t feel a damn thing. They finished that up, I was wheeled back into the room with the machine, realigned, and we finished the last 3 pictures. They removed the IV when I got out, and I swear I could not have hobbled out of there fast enough. I bought a sandwich at the hospital cafe and ate it the moment we got home, chatted with my girlfriend a bit, and went tf to sleep.

I dislike hospitals. Greatly. I don’t blame anybody really, it was all one big clusterfuck and they were nice, but damn.

/story.

#not fish #medical #tw:blood #tw:needles #MRI #hospitals #blood #needles #personal #kinda funny maybe hopefully?

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littlebitoffanfic · 7 years

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Accepted

Fandom: Texas Chainsaw Massacre Characters: Thomas Hewitt/leatherface, luda mae, monty Charlie/hoyt Relationship: Thomas/reader request: Can you do one where the reader was leatherfaces only friend and she got taken away by abusive parents. But she comes back as an adult and sees everyone one again but they are scared she will run because they eat human but shes a assassin or something so shes cool with it. AN: Kathy is the tea lady. I gave her this name as it is the actresses name who played her in the 2003 remake. And I called the baby Lily because I cant remember the babys name ever being mentioned. You drove along the dusty old road, the music blaring as you tried to stop smiling. It had been years since you had been back here to this side of texas. After the town started to fail, your parents had forced you to move away from the town. From him. Ever since you had been a child, you had been his only friend. The only one who would speak to him, to play with him. His family adored you for this reason and it hit them hard when your abusive parents pulled you away from them. The Hewitts. Even now, you could remember their faces clear as day. Luda Mae was stone-faced to anyone who wasn’t her family or you. But she was dotting and caring. Charlie was rather mean spirited but there was a fathering side to him, so when you walked in with scuffed knees or nasty bruises from your parents, he would take care of you. Monty seemed so laid back and calm about most things. He was the voice of reason when Luda Mae and Charlie would argue. And then there was Thomas. In your mind, you couldn’t quite picture him. You had only been 11 years old when you last seen him and he had been 12, so he would have grown. You remembered how caring he was, how sweet and soft he was with you. You helped him more than anyone else. You were the one who taught him to read and write. You stood up for him to everyone which had cost you a fair amount of beatings but you didn’t care. You smiled as you drove down the familiar roads, hoping they were still here. When you saw the small gas station, you turned down your music and pulled in. Hopping out the car, you fixed your hat slightly to hid your face and signature hair as you headed in. You remembered Luda Mae used to own the gas station but you weren’t sure if it was still hers. But the second you stepped inside, you saw her. Luda was leaning on the counter, a magazine open in front of her. She was slightly chubbier than you remembered her but that was a good thing. It meant she had been eating well for a while. She looked older but healthier. You kept glancing at her as you looked around the shop. “You looking for something, love?” She called out, making you smile. You walked over to her, keeping your face ducked under your hat. “Actually, im looking for some old friends who used to live here.” You answered her, hiding your smile. “Good luck. No one been around here for years apart from me and my family. And I dont suppose you have much use for us.” She said, shaking her head and looking back to her magazine. You leaned on the counter, reached up and pulled off your hat. Bright red, curly locks fell from under your hat, reaching down just past your elbows. Her eyes were drawn up by the movement as you saw them widen as they fell on your hair. She then looked up at your face. You saw the flash of disbelief as she pushed her self up off the counter. “Well, I’ll be damned.” She mumbled. “Hi, Luda.” You smiled. She half ran around the counter to throw her arms around you, bubbling a little. You wrapped your arms around her and held her tight. “Oh, dear. Its been so long, I never thought Id see you again.” She pulled away. She was still a little taller than you so she cupped your cheeks and made you look up at her. “Look how beautiful you’ve become.” She mumbled as she ran her thumbs over your cheeks. “Are you saying I was an ugly child?” You chuckled, pouting slightly. “No, no of course not. You were such a cute little girl but now you’re a woman.” She pulled back, holding you at arms length to look you over. You smiled. She seemed so thrilled to see you. You parents never treated you like that. When you went to the Hewitts, they treated you like you were one of their own, like they loved you. The day you had been forced to leave, you had ran to theirs. Thomas had been sitting outside on the porch when he saw you running to him with tears in your eyes. Your body collided with his as you wrapped your arms around him. Your parents had to drag you away. Tears formed in your eyes as you thought back to him. The way he had grasped at your hands for dear life. “sorry.” You chuckled through the tears as you pulled away and wiping your tears on your sleeves. “Oh, shh, don’t cry. Its fine. Ive got you.” She hushed as she wrapped her arms around you again. you stayed with Luda till she closed up shop. “Do you have anywhere to stay?” She asked, but you knew she knew the answer. “No, I was kinda hoping a could crash on your couch.” You looked at her with an apologetic look but she laughed. “No you wont. You can have your old room.” She chuckled. You smiled as you remembered the old room. Your parents used to lock you out quite a lot or you would run away so the Hewitt had a room just for you. “Still got some of your clothes there. But I don’t think they’ll fit anymore.” Luda laughed as she cashed up the till. “Luda, how are the others?” You had been avoiding the question for the last hour or so. “Oh, they are fine. Gonna be over the moon to see you though. My boy never forgot yah.” She smiled as she came back and cupped your face. You couldn’t help but smile. Thomas was fine. “The only thing is…” Luda trailed off, looking away, worry flashing across her face. “What is it?” You asked, taking her hands in yours. You dreaded to think what it could be. Had someone died? You couldn’t imagine Charlie or Monty not being around. And then there was the extended family. Henrietta was older than you and Thomas, as was Kathy. But they were still young. “well, things have been hard these last 10 years. With the Thomas losing his job at the meat factory and things got nasty one night. He called my boy a stupid animal. And Thomas… well…. He…” She trailed off, unable to find the words. You bit your bottom lip. You knew the secret. In fact, you had only found out because of your job. “He killed him.” You finished off for her. She jumped and looked at you with wide eyes. You gave her a small, apologetic smile. “I know. And I think I know about how you survive.” You gently rubbed small circles on her hands to sooth her. “How?” She asked, completely confused. “It’s kinda a long story. But when I turned 18, I ran away from my parents. I joined this… group of people who took on jobs for clients. Anyway, the boss from the factory had angered a lot of people in his time. He had a bounty on his head. I took that job. But I suppose Thomas must have beat me to it. I was going to come back to you then, but someone ratted our group out and we had to run. I didn’t want to bring the police to your front door so I kept moving around till it was safe.” You told her, keeping your voice hushed since there was still bikers outside. “And Ive been trying to keep tabs on you for a while. Ive become very good at hacking into police systems so when they get too close to you, I corrupt a file or add some wrong information.” You told her, unsure of how she would react. You watched her closely as she processed the new information. You were basically telling someone you used to consider a mother you were a killer. But so was she. “oh, dear, you are an angle.” She bursh out, wrapping her arms around you and pulling you close. “Hoyts going to be so proud.” She pulled back and you frowned. “Hoyt?” You asked. “Wasn’t that the name of the… ‘old’ police officer?” You phrased your question carefully. “oh, sorry. Charlie wants us to call him Hoyt. Started just after Thomas… you know.” She smiled. You nodded, showing you understood. “So, shall we go back?” She smiled as she closed the shop. You nodded and unlocked your car. She hopped into the passenger side and you started the car. ---------------time skip ---------------- You pulled up to the old house. Apart from the slightly faded white paint, it didn’t look like it had changed a bit. Luda bubbled all the way, excited about you being here. She asked more about your job and then about where you’d been. But she fell quiet when you turned off the car. You were the first to get out the car and close the door, Luda then mirrored your actions. “Come inside but be quiet.” She motioned and the two of you walked up the front steps and in to the house. She signalled to you to stay in the hallway as she walked into the kitchen where voices were coming from. You looked around the hallway and your eyes fell on the only thing that seemed to have change. A large, metal door now stood at the end of the hallway. You remembered how it used to be the door to the basement. Before you could dwell on what now lay behind that door, Luda reappeared, smiling at you. “Damn it woman, what now?” Charlies voice grumbled as he came into view behind her. At his side was Monty, but in a wheelchair and missing his legs. Charlie froze when he saw you. “Well, I’ll be damned.” He mumbled before a smile broke across his face. Of the three of them, he seemed to have aged a bit more. “Hi.” You waved, smiled back at him. Charlie strode across the hallway and wrapped his arms around your shoulders, pulling against his chest. “We thought you were dead, girl.” He mumbled as he held you like a father holding he daughter. You chuckled, relived they recognised you. As he pulled away, you heard a squeezing noise and looked behind him to see Monty rolling himself forward in his wheelchair. You ducked down and hugged him, not wanting to ask about his legs just yet. “Good to have you back.” He mumbled, patting your back. “Just wait till Thommy get a look at yah.” Charlie said as you stood up. “You think he’ll recognise me?” You asked, looking to Luda may. It would break your heart if he didn’t know who you were. “Oh, im sure he will.” Luda gave you a reassuring smile as she turned and walked over to the metal door. She raised her fist and banged on the door. “Thomas! Come up here for a moment! Theres a surprise here!” She called through the door. You heard heavy footsteps from below as someone began to climb stairs. Your heart was beating hard in your chest. Every step seemed to flip your stomach until you heard the sound of a lock turning and the metal door was pulled back. Then he stepped out. You almost couldn’t believe it was him. The man was well over 6 foot tall, big but muscular. He wore a shirt with a black tie and an brown apron over the top which had speck o dirt and blood on it. His hair had grown out and was longer than you remembered, curling slightly towards the ends. But you didn’t know if it was him. This man wore a mask. It looked like it was a leathery material and covered from just above the nose down where as his hair covered his forehead. All you could see was his eyes. Which were staring at you. He took a hesitant step forward and you mirrored him but took 3 steps, walking past the others and closer to him, tilting your head to the side. You were right in front of him now and he towered over you. Once you were close enough to look into his eyes, you knew it was him. Those brown eyes that filled with so many emotions. The ones that recognised you instantly when you didn’t complete know him. Thomas reached out a hand, his fingers settling on your cheek, as if he were making sure you were real. You couldn’t help but smile and lean into his touch. “Hey, Thomas.” You smiled up at him. This seemed to break him. His large arms engulfed you in a second as he hunch over to rest his forehead on your shoulder. You returned the hug like yu did the others but this one was different. It felt like he needed you and could never let you go. You closed your eyes to hold back the tears as you hugged your lost friend. “I missed you so much.” You half whispered to him, squeezing him as you did. You felt him nod, silently saying he felt the same. You had to pry yourself away from him as you smiled up at him. You remembered his skin condition and knew it had probably gotten worse over the years but you didn’t care. It felt so right to be in his arms that you couldn’t care less. “Is that the girl in the picture under tommys pillow?” A young voice called out and you turned around to see a small boy, only about 9 years old, standing the door. “Yes, Jedidiah. This is [y/n].” You felt Thomas stiffen but you couldn’t help but smile. Did he really have photo of you, after all this time? Luda pulled the boy over to meet you. “[y/n], this is Jedidiah, hes my son like Thomas.” Luda introduced you to him and you instantly he knew the boy was adopted. “Nice to meet you.” You held out your hand and he shook it, looking up at you with wide eyes. “You’re real pretty.” He mumbled, making you and everyone laugh. “Thank you. You’re rather handsome too.” You giggled, pretending to pinch his cheek. His cheeks glowed red and he darted out the hallways and into a room, much to the amusement of Monty and Charlie. “Oh, I have to take you to see Henrietta and Kathy!” Luda jumped, taking you by the writs and started to lead you out the house but someone grabbed your other wrist. You turned to see Thomas was holding onto. When Luda felt you weren’t coming, she looked back. “You have work to do. Anyways, she staying tonight so you’ll get to see her then.” Luda half scolded Thomas and pulled you out of his grasp. You couldn’t help but laugh as you looked back and waved to the others. ------------------------time skip--------------- You sat on the small sofa with Henrietta and baby Lily. You bounced Lily up and down on your lap as you cooed at her. Kathy sipped her tea from her seat. “Looks like Lily’s got a new favourite.” Kathy chuckled as Lily reached out her hands and touched your face with laughing. You had been here for hours though it didn’t feel like it. Luda had to run home to help Monty with something but she said you could stay and she would let you know when dinner was ready. “yes, I think she does.” Henrietta smiled as she reached out to stroke the babys cheeks. “She is such a cute baby.” You said to Henrietta as she got up to go get some more tea. “So were you.” Kathy said as she handed Henrietta her cup to refill. “Those big blue eyes of yours and your wild hair. You always looked so happy.” She reached over and picked up a framed picture from her table and handed it to you. You pulled Lily forward so one of your arms was securely wrapped around her as you took it. It was one when you were 7 or 8. You were lying on your stomach on the floor of this caravan with paper spread out around you. You kind of remembered the moment. You were teaching Thomas how to write. In the photo, he was kneeling beside you but you two were laughing so you obviously weren’t concentrating. It was such an innocent moment between children. And yet, you didn’t know if you still felt the same about Thomas as you did back then. There wasn’t that innocence there anymore. You couldn’t stop the way your stomach twitched when you thought of the man you had met earlier. You knew you were attracted to him but that mixed with the innocent love you remembered confused you. “I look like no one owned me.” You laughed as you handed her back the photo. Just then, there was three loud thuds from the door. Henrietta scurried over to the door and opened it. You couldn’t see who was there but you saw her smile. “She’ll be right out.” Henrietta told the visitor. You got to your feet and walked to the door with Lily in your arms. As you walked to the door, you saw Thomas standing at the bottom of the steps to the caravan. His eye fell on you instantly and you saw them soften. You smiled at him as Lily started to jump up and down in your arms, giggling. “You’re escorts here.” Henrietta turned to you, winking when her back was to Thomas. “Oh, what a lucky woman I am.” You said as you gently handed Lily over to Henrietta. Lily started to whimper but when Henrietta picked up her bottle, she calmed down. You waved goodbye to Kathy as you kissed henrietta on the cheek. “And don’t you be a stranger.” Kathy called to you as you walked down the steps. “I wont.” You called back, giving Lily one last wave before closing the door after you. You glanced around you but couldn’t remember where you had come from with Luda. It was sunset so most things looked different. Then you noticed Thomas. Not that you hadn’t before, but he looked different than a few hours ago. He was no longer wearing the apron, but he was wearing a different shirt. This was didn’t have a spec of blood or dirt on it. His tie was straight and clean. It looked like he had tried to tame his hair but failed. He wore clean trousers and shoes as well. He still wore the mask but the dirt that had been around the visible part of his face was gone. “You got all dressed up for me?” You smiled as you stepped forward with your hands behind your back. Thomas nodded shyly and looked at the ground then back to you as if he couldn’t bare to look away again. “Well, since you’re escorting me to dinner, lead the way.” You linked your right arm around his left. Thomas walked at a slow pace, you assumed for your sake. He seemed to know the woods like the back of his hand. You noticed he kept glancing over to you and when he wasn’t, it felt like he was watching you out the corner of his eye. You glanced up at him and caught him looking at you. Instantly, his head snapped to look in front but he knew he had been caught. “When did you get so tall?” You mused as you lay your head on his arm. You barley reached the height of his shoulder which was both amusing and impressive. Thomas shrugged his shoulder but you could see he was smiling. “Thomas?” You asked, pulling on his arm slightly so he stood still and turned to you. “Is it true what Jedidiah said? Do you still have a picture of me?” You asked, tilting your head to one side slightly. Thomas nodded, his body slouching slightly like he should be ashamed. But you beamed at him. “Its okay if you do. Don’t you remember this?” You asked as you reached up and pulled your neckless out a little to show him. He squinted his eyes a little at the small pendant on the end. He reached up and took it from your hands. Despite his hands being rather big, he was very gentle as he opened it. Inside, was a small photo of you and Thomas as kids. “You and your family gave it to me when I turned 10.” You said, trying to prompt his memory. He nodded and you saw his eyes flash up to meet yours. You were enchanted by his eyes. They were filled with so many emotions. “Ive been thinking about doing something but I wanted to speak to you about it before I say anything to anyone else.” You looked down then back up at him through your eyelashes. “theres a small cottage that’s up for sale around here. About half way between the gas station and your house. I was thinking of buying it.” You told him. You had enough money to buy the house in full and you had false documents saying that the money was from your dead parents so no one would be suspicious. But you had to make sure Thomas and the others were fine with it first. They had this set up that worked perfectly for them and you didn’t want to disturb that. Thomas nodded his head violently as he grabbed your arms and pulled your closer to him, meaning he wanted you to stay. “Really? You’re okay with me staying?” You asked, unable to believe it. You bounced on the ball of your feet with excitement. Thomas wrapped his arm around your waist and lifted you up, spinning you around. You wrapped your arms around his neck for security as you threw your head back and laughed, loving the feeling of being in his arms. Thomas slowed to a stop but didn’t put you down straight away. You could feel his heart beating hard in his chest as he stared at you. You couldn’t stop yourself. You moved your hands and untied his mask before he could do anything. The material fell away from his face and you saw him fully for the first time in years. His nose was nearly completely gone but you expected that as it was half way when you knew him. His lips were scared and his cheeks dipped in places. But before you knew it, you were dropped to the ground. Since you weren’t expecting it, your legs didn’t support you and you fell, landing with a thud on the grass. You let out a slight cry of pain. You looked up and saw Thomas scrambling for his mask, then he went to reach for you and then for the mask again. He made a sound of distress as he looked for his mask and raised one hand to hid his face from you. You scrambled forward and he darted for the mask, but you got to him first. You moved his hand out the way and cupped his cheeks. “Thomas, please, calm down.” You said in a soothing voice. Thomas grunted and tried to cover his face again but you managed to stop him. “Im sorry, I shouldn’t have taken your mask of but I wanted to see you.” You sensed he had started to calm him self. Maybe he had thought you would run away from him or that you would be disgusted but you weren’t. you were calm and relaxed and he seemed to mirror you. “You know, I have to say-“ You mumbled as you moved up and swept some of his brown hair to the side so you could see him better. “You grew up to become rather handsome.” You smiled, more to yourself than to him. Your fingers played with his surprisingly soft hair. You couldn’t stop your eyes from roaming across his face. You weren’t lying. He was incredibly handsome and something inside you was drawn to him. You didn’t notices Thomas’ hands move till they gently cupped your own cheeks. You closed your eyes as the contact, bringing one hand away from his face to place it over his hand. Something soft touched your lips. You opened your eyes to see Thomas was kissing you, his own eyes shut. Once the initial shock of it passed, you shyly began to kiss him back. you didn’t know what had changed your view of him in such a short amount of time but you knew you were falling in love with him. While you had never been in love before, you knew this is what it must feel like. One of his hands dropped from your cheek to wrap around your waist and gently pull you closer. You couldn’t resist his touch as the hand you still had on his cheek moved up into his hair. It felt so good to be like this and the more you kissed him, the more you needed more. You tried to control yourself as you pulled away from the kiss, panting. Thomas opened his eyes and looked at you. You saw fear flash in them as if he thought he had done wrong. “So, I guess im staying.” You giggled, touching your forehead to his. He nodded a little as he squeezed your sides. Thomas was the first to get up. You grabbed his mask and pushed yourself up, rubbing the hip you had fallen on and hissing slightly. Thomas places his hand on your hip, mirroring your actions and you knew It was a silent apology. “its okay.” You smiled as you handed him his mask back. The two of you headed back to the house. Thomas walked with you in his arm and his chin up proudly which made you smile. When you got back to the house, you heard voices arguing. Before going inside, you pressed a quick kiss to the front of his mask. “Im telling you, Mama, Thomas and the new girl were kissing!” Jedidiah stomped his foot as the two of you entered the kitchen. “What did I tell you about lying.” Luda said in a low and dangerous voice. The same one she used to use on Thomas when he would sneak out to see you. “Im not lying.” Jedidiah pouted. You heard Thomas let out a low growl that only you heard but you were quicker. You darted over to the young boy who jumped. You crouched in front of him so you were the same size. “You know, ive got a 20 in my purse that says you saw nothing.” You said, winking at him. You saw his eyes widen as he processed the bribe and smile. “Maybe I was wrong.” He called over your shoulder to Luda still had her back to you. “That’s what I thought.” She called back. “And even if they were, that’s none of your business.” This took your by surprise since she was basically saying there was a chance you and Thomas would get together. Giggle, you stood up as he ran away. Thomas shook his head and you knew he had heard your bribe. You shrugged to him, nodding to Luda who was humming to herself. But you smiled at him and went over to her. “Hi.” You greeted, leaning on the counter beside her. “Oh, you’re just on time. Suppers ready.” She smiled. That night, Thomas sat next to you at dinner and during the evening. When everyone went to bed, you sneaked to his room where he seemed to be waiting for you. The next morning, you called the solicitors and made an offer on the house. And it was accepted.

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