#knowing he tries to use it on el later to attempt to make them more romantic when in reality.........

[chirpsythismorning]

📝 💐 🛼 💔⏪️💭🧊🌄❤️‍🩹

The Chain by Fleetwood Mac

previous ⏪ now playing ⏩ next back to playlist

[shitsndgiggs]

Hii

so you said your half danish and im alsooo

so could I request fluff where reader takes pau to Denmark and shows him the culture the food and teaches him danish?

take your time<3

A/N: ANOTHER DANE?! Wooohooo!. Hope you like it

VELKOMMEN TIL DANMARK - PAU CUBARSÍ

Showing Pau Denmark

Pau Cubarsí x danish! reader

︵‿୨♡୧‿︵‿︵‿୨♡୧‿︵‿︵‿୨♡୧‿︵‿

It had been a while since Pau and I had a proper getaway, and with a little time off from football, I decided it was the perfect chance to take him to Denmark.

I couldn’t wait to show him my homeland, its culture, and, of course, teach him a bit of Danish.

I knew he’d struggle with the language — after all, people joke that Danish sounds like someone speaking with a potato in their throat. But the thought of hearing Pau trying to pronounce it made me giddy.

The first morning in Copenhagen, Pau and I walked through the cobbled streets of Nyhavn, the colorful buildings lining the canal making it feel like we were walking through a postcard.

Pau was holding my hand, his eyes wide as he took everything in. “This place is so pretty,” he said, glancing at the row of boats bobbing gently in the water.

I smiled, proud to share this part of my world with him. “Wait until you try the food,” I teased. “Danish pastries are nothing like the ones in Spain.”

He grinned. “I’ll be the judge of that.”

We found a cozy café with outdoor seating, and I insisted on ordering in Danish. Pau watched me with a curious expression, his head tilted as he tried to follow the conversation between me and the waiter.

“Can you say something to me in Danish?” he asked once the waiter left.

I thought for a moment, then grinned. “Okay, try this: ‘Jeg elsker dig.’”

Pau squinted at me. “Uh, what does that mean?”

“You’ll find out if you can say it right.”

He raised an eyebrow, accepting the challenge. “Okay… yay el…sker dig?” he attempted, butchering the words so badly I couldn’t help but laugh.

“No, no, no,” I said between giggles. “It’s ‘Jeg elsker dig.’” I repeated it slowly, exaggerating the pronunciation.

Pau’s face twisted in concentration as he tried again. “Yai… elska… dig?”

I burst out laughing. “Close enough! It means ‘I love you.’”

He smirked, leaning closer. “Well, then… Jeg elsker dig,” he said, this time with more confidence — though still sounding pretty off.

“Not bad, pretty boy, not bad.” I teased, patting his cheek.

After breakfast, we explored more of the city — the Little Mermaid statue, Amalienborg Palace, and of course, the famous Tivoli Gardens.

Pau was amazed by the history and charm of it all, though he kept attempting random Danish words and phrases, and each time he got them hilariously wrong.

In the evening, we headed to my parents’ house for dinner. My mom had made traditional Danish frikadeller, flødekartofller, with brunsviger for dessert. Pau was excited to try everything, but the moment he tasted the frikadeller, his eyes widened.

“This… is so good,” he said, shoving another bite into his mouth.

“I told you,” I said smugly, watching him devour the food.

My family couldn’t resist teaching him more Danish words throughout dinner, though Pau’s attempts had all of us in fits of laughter.

At one point, my dad tried to get him to say “rødgrød med fløde” — a classic Danish tongue twister — and the results were nothing short of comedic gold.

“Rr…rö…rød…what?” Pau’s face twisted as he tried to make sense of the sounds.

“Rødgrød med fløde,” my dad repeated, grinning.

Pau threw his hands up in defeat. “You’re all making this up! No way that’s a real word!”

We all laughed, but Pau was a great sport, his cheeks turning a little pink from the constant butchering of Danish. “You’ll get there,” I reassured him, squeezing his hand under the table. “Or… you know, just stick to Spanish.”

Later that night, after a long day of exploring and laughing, Pau and I strolled through the quiet streets of my childhood neighborhood.

The cool evening breeze carried the scent of the sea, and Pau wrapped his arm around me, pulling me closer.

“You know, even if I can’t speak Danish properly,” he said, his voice soft, “I love everything you’ve shown me today. Your home, your culture, your family… it’s beautiful.”

I smiled up at him. “And you’re doing great, amor. Just… maybe leave ‘rødgrød med fløde’ out of your vocabulary for now.”

Pau chuckled, leaning down to press a soft kiss to my forehead. “Deal. But I think I’ll keep saying ‘Jeg elsker dig’ — even if it sounds terrible.”

I laughed, my heart swelling with warmth. “It doesn’t sound terrible. It sounds perfect coming from you.”

As we walked hand in hand through the Danish night, I couldn’t help but feel like this was the perfect trip.

Pau might never master Danish, but he didn’t need to — the way he embraced every moment, every laugh, and every bite of Danish food was more than enough.

And hearing him try, despite the language challenges, just made me fall for him even more.

[thecarnivorousmuffinmeta]

If Walter White has the death note does Jessie survive breaking bad? Does anyone?!

...

No.

Let's break this down though.

Let's say Walter White gets the notebook at the beginning of the series before he's fully embraced the dark side. He has a bizarre introduction to Ryuk, wonders if the cancer has already spread to his brain, and chooses to actively ignore it.

Then Crazy Eight happens.

That notebook starts to look very tempting. If Walter lets Crazy Eight live, then he'll murder him and his family. Walter knows this, but he also really really really doesn't want to kill a man. Even if, with this notebook, if it actually works, then Walter can engineer his death in such a way that it will be painless and won't trace back to Walter.

I imagine he doesn't do it then, has to kill Crazy Eight by hand as in canon, and bitterly regrets not using it as he a) had to murder a man by hand anyway b) the body cleanup is a cluster fuck.

(Ryuk also mercilessly points this out to Walter, though he's loving the fucking meth lab thing Walter has going on, "You could make this a TV show")

Then comes Tuco.

This time, Walter gives it a try.

Tuco is filled with the sudden need to snort a lot of meth, a lot, a lot more than usual, and Hector watches helpless as Tuco dies of a drug overdose. (Oh, don't worry, he still hates Walter White and thinks he's a rat, but it's not the shootout and attempted poisoning we got in canon and it's clearly Tuco having fallen prey to his addiction and something that was, perhaps, a long time coming.)

Jesse likely calls 911 in order to get the cops out to this location to find Hector and the body but the pair vamoose, with Hector unwilling to talk to the police about the odd kidnapping.

(Hank, as a result, is not promoted as he doesn't gun down Tuco. He doesn't have his brief foray into El Paso and is not quite as obsessive over Heisenberg in the initial aftermath/confrontation.

He also, later, will not be attacked by the cousins and paralyzed.

Hank doesn't realize he's literally dodged bullets.)

Walter at first wonders, again, if the cancer has gone to his brain but he's not losing time, his moods are (relatively) stable, and there's no inconsistencies. The death god, grim reaper, whatever the fuck it is is real, and Walter has a weapon he can use to murder if he has a name and a face.

Walter makes a point of breaking into Hank's office under false pretexts and memorizing the names and faces of everyone in the drug business who Walter may cross paths with next.

When Badger is arrested, he hangs himself in prison. Jesse is appalled and horrified, grieving, and unable to understand why someone as cheerful as Badger would do this.

"Ah, well, prison is rough," Walter consoles him.

However, what Walter doesn't realize is that this prevents him from getting into business with Saul, who had the means to get him connected with Gus.

He and Jesse are small fries again trying to sell their own shit with no middle management.

Walter tries to get Jessie's friends involved as he did in canon. Jesse once again notes this is an awful idea and that they are not the kind of people who can do this kind of operation. More, the people who normally do this sort of thing are fucking dead as Walter killed Crazy Eight and Tuco snorted himself to death.

Not to mention, of course, that it's not their territory and if they try they will all be murdered.

As usual, Walter doesn't care. They're still in shock over Badger, grieving over it, but are interested in both the money and the meth.

As before, this goes bad, and we'll say Combo gets killed again. Poor, poor, Combo.

Well, Walt can't stand for this and neither can Jessie. Walt asks if Jessie can find out who it was, does he have photos? Walter needs names and faces here.

Jessie figures Walter's going to try to get Hank to bust them and tries to talk him out of it: you can't do that Walter, otherwise everyone will kill you.

Eventually, as usual, Walter's able to get the names through Jessie who does some snooping. It's highly likely that there's some record (as these were low level under Gus) and Walter's seen them through Hank's files.

Well, they're about to have a very bad day.

Walter flagrantly kills them in such a way to make it look like deliberate murder/revenge. He wants their people to know that Heisenberg is responsible and that he follows up on threats. ("I am the danger" - Walter White)

Unfortunately, this probably goes awry, as Walter hasn't been spending his time learning the million rules that come with the Death Note. I can see Walter trying to get the pair to make their own ricin, ingest it, then spraypainting "Heisenberg" on a wall or something. However, the Death Note can't impart knowledge that the victim doesn't already have: they can't make ricin if they don't know how.

They die of heart attacks.

Walter throws a bitch fit of bitch fits as now his cool murder is ruined and everyone just thinks they had fucking heart conditions.

I imagine Walter, upon figuring out which cartel they belong to, tries again with other cartel members, now knowing the rules a little better to send the message.

Mike and Gus are now very aware that someone's whacking off their guys and the Salamancas.

Hank, who initially thought this was great and threw a party in the office at all the dead cartel members, is starting to get a little weirded out.

First, Crazy Eight disappears. Then Tuco dies of a drug overdose. Then all these street thugs just die one after the other in murders with no forensic evidence.

This, combined with the blue meth, that's still on the streets despite all the deaths: there's a new king pin and it's looking like, somehow, he's murdering off all competition.

This leaves Hank about where he was in canon: he really really really wants to catch this fucker Heisenberg (while Walter is smugly gloating thinking how cool he is and wanting to expand further).

Gus, meanwhile, is getting serious in a way that he didn't have to in canon: they have to find out who this Heisenberg is. Walter left enough clues that someone like Gus, who is a master of looking not like a kingpin, will be easily able to find him especially through Mike who is hired to look into exactly this sort of thing.

I imagine they wait and watch for a long time, as Walter's operation is, frankly, pathetic. He only has a few young men under his thumb, two of them have died already, his partner is a drug addict, and he appears to have no muscle. How could this man kill anyone? While it would be safer to get rid of him entirely, learning how he's doing it is of vital importance.

Mike gets to break into the house and finds (along with cash hidden in the walls) a strange black notebook, filled with the names of all their people along with Tuco, and a death clown who's just fucking loving this.

Mike has a really strange day but decides that he's taking the hallucination notebook into the lab.

And Walter, of course, gets to freak out that his murder weapon was stolen from under his nose and gets told by Ryuk that, unless he gets it back soon, he's going to lose ownership of it and lose all his memories of it.

Walter, in his panic, probably does something exceedingly violent and stupid and likely dies because of it as he has no idea who took it.

[the-bands-beholder-blog]

I've been thinking of a headcanon/au thing for several days now and it is quite literally the reason I'm on tumblr again. I mean, I had thought of it before but didn't think much of it, and now it's all I've been thinking about.

Heavily inspired by a fic I read, some fanart I saw, and general tendencies/what ifs.

Immortals/Undying duo aka Philza and Foolish

/rp

-Foolish was the first person to call/consider Phil his 'dad' or a father figure

-Phil finding Foolish as a young totem and, I mean, Phil's pretty recently immortal, somewhere between a few decades and a few hundred years.

-Foolish hasn't even formed with another living creature yet or has only hardly started.

-Phil is more rough around the edges than nowadays, but still takes Foolish under his wing.

-Foolish knows he's only meant to be kept as a sacrifice of sorts to his parents, and since his parents are no longer around, that must be Phil, right?

-Maybe Phil keeps him at a distance, not wanting to start caring for the living thing that's supposed to keep him alive should anything happen

-Or maybe Foolish wiggles his way into Phil's heart, but in an attempt to keep Foolish far, he tries insulting him, calling him 'Foolish', but Foolish thinks it's a name like Phil has and happily takes it

-Maybe neither of them thought Foolish would be around this long, but then Phil starts to open up, more and more, and he doesn't want to sacrifice Foolish anymore for selfish reasons

-Maybe Foolish sees this as no longer being useful to Phil, although, surely not, though, right? They were getting along, so how come he isn't of use anymore?

-Maybe Foolish tries to go back to before he was useless, trying to convince Phil that he's useful again by bringing back the sacrificial behavior, but it only upsets Phil. He can't upset Phil, though. He'll have to find a way to manage being useful again while also keeping Phil happy.

-Maybe Phil explains how other species are treated, convincing and teaching Foolish to be more selfish.

-Maybe one day, after they were finally understanding each other, Foolish calls Phil 'dad'', but Phil freaks out, not wanting to be a father yet

-Maybe Foolish tries explaining that they can be like other creatures in society, just like Phil taught him, but he gets turned down. Phil doesn't want a family. Not yet. But a family's all Foolish has wanted since he learned about them, from his dad.

-Maybe Phil denies Foolish as his family, trying to ease it on him, but Foolish is still young by many standards. He doesn't understand. He gets upset and leaves, not wanting to stay with someone who doesn't even see him as important.

-Maybe this is what causes him to turn into a totem of death, his shark part growing as he let's out his emotions on hundreds of innocents.

-Maybe one day, The Angel of Death arrives at a town recently destroyed, only to be told of a Totem of Death. Surely it's not who he thinks it is, I mean, he's a Totem of Undying, of Life. Then again, the totem population doesn't seem very high. When was the last time he saw a sentient totem before Foolish, anyways?

-Maybe, eventually, Foolish learns from his ways, turning to building instead. He isolates himself, creating a temple in a far off desert, creating his own oasis where he won't harm anyone.

-Maybe he gets a visitor one day, with large, black wings. They talk, but both make a point to not bring up what caused their distancing. They both seem happy, even when the elder departs.

-Maybe they see each other again, years later, a popped totem from not far off, bringing Foolish out of a deep slumber, taking a few months for him to wake up. Several mortals are met, but they see each other once more.

-Maybe Foolish learns of Phil's Son. Of course, he can't blame Phil for changing his mind from all those years ago. He has- had- has a child of his own, one he actually chose to have. Foolish can't be upset. He has his own kids! They aren't sentient, but they have names, a safe place. At least someone else considered Foolish family. A mother-father.. a papa. But that doesn't last long either. Mortals don't last long.

-They meet again on what's supposed to be a vacation. Foolish has no family, his kids taken from him, his parent gone, his new fling just broke up with him. But it's okay! Time to start anew. Even though others aren't thrilled to be stuck on the island, Foolish takes it happily. Sure, Phil still has his son, but he can't be upset about that.

-Then they both become parents again. And things are looking up for the Immortals, both with their happy families. Phil's eldest son returns and gets a child of his own, one that eventually gets welcomed into Phil's care with open arms. Foolish tries not to be bitter by how easily the young one was welcomed, shoving his feelings further down. He's got his own family!

-But maybe his own family isn't doing great. His boyfriend would go away for a few days, but now it's been several months. He wasn't informed by his partner of their recently adopted child, another islander, grief stricken with the loss of his own child, but now he realizes how similar to Phil he is in regards to welcoming people. His boyfriend left, but he's quickly acquired a son in law and grandchild. He convinces himself he's happy, despite the cheating allegations, the torture from other islanders, the constant pain from totems popping around him, the manipulation of the higher ups of the island, the-... He's happy, he swears!

-He still thinks Phil thinks less of him, maybe he cares less, but he doesn't hear the worry as Phil notices he's stuck in the nether. Phil noticed almost immediately, trying to figure how to get him back. He doesn't know the way Phil affectionately rolls his eyes at something he says or does, just like a parent would do.

-Then the world falls apart, but at least they're on the same team. The "game" has just started and everyone on their team is already losing morale, all hope lost within a few hours. Over the next few weeks, things change and Foolish starts to feel like a kid again. His teammates aren't helping. His powers were ripped from him on the original island, but now he can't keep up with the deaths. If only he were still the totem of that. If his physical wasn't bad enough, his emotions are bubbling and he doesn't want them to boil.

-His teammates- his family, are becoming just that. He would join them, but ever since the first rejection, he hasn't done it again. He hears the way his friends all call Phil 'dad'. He's not sure if it's in the cult way or the family way, but it still hurts when Phil doesn't reject the title. He knows he's being selfish, but why do they get to call him that? He's not sure, but he has a feeling even Carre has at least mumbled the word to their leader. Maybe it's different since they're mortal. It's not fair, but he hopes that's the reason. He wants to join in, to not be the only one not calling their leader that. But he doesn't dare. Not after the first time. He can't risk the aftermath of another possible rejection. It wouldn't be a stranger that would be affected this time around. So he doesn't bother, calling him 'wise leader Phil' and things of the like. It leaves a sting each time he hears one of his friends call Phil that, but he can manage.

-Things only get worse on the last day. After hardly scraping by, they had made it to the final two teams. Foolish came across totems. 2, looking near identical to his former children. He does what he thinks is best, handing them over to Phil. He can't risk losing another child, his most important family member. Once again, Phil rejects him, handing the totems back over. To Phil, he knows how important such an act is, but he wants to play fair. He also doesn't want to cause Foolish pain by possibly popping one or both. To Foolish, Phil has declined one of the most selfless acts a totem can do. He's upset, feeling like a wounded puppy, but he understands and will accept Phil's wishes. Phil didn't need them anyway and Foolish pushes down those feelings once more, happy they had won.

-They get to see their kids. And they do. But the freeing of the child of their top tormentor isn't too exciting. As the room shakes and the ceiling falls, Foolish calls for one last ditch attempt from his father figure, for any sort of guidance. Phil stands frozen in shock at a son he chose being hidden behind rubble, leaving soon after. The one he's rejected, desperately tries to save the only family he has left, leaving only when he realizes he can't help his child. He chooses to be useful to someone else.

This started as just thoughts, then writer brain came out. oops.

[jonathanbyersphd]

WIP Wednesday

Dear Nancy,  Whoever said it never rains in southern California is a fucking liar.  After four days straight, Jonathan’s starting to think that it’s never going to stop raining. He’s supposed to be paying attention to a lecture about coastal wetlands but he’s staring out the window. He’s somehow stuck taking Earth Science again. When he planned his senior year last May, he picked Physics 2. He had sandwiched it right between U.S. Government and Lunch A. Nancy was adamant that they needed to take Lunch A  in order to have their Independent Study period after so they could work on The Weekly Streak. But Lenora High doesn’t have Physics 2. They don’t have Independent Study. And they certainly don’t have Nancy.  So, here he sits bored out of his mind in ninth grade Earth Science, because it’s a requirement to graduate. And Lenora High doesn’t care about his transcripts which he thinks is bullshit but it’s not worth arguing over anymore. This is his lot in life, he’s forced to sit in a classroom full of fifteen year olds sandwiched between Will and El. Jane, she’s Jane now, his step-sister. Not that he deserves to be called a brother lately.  Will clears his throat, turns around and passes him a worksheet. Jonathan in turn silently passes one to Jane and then gets to work. The only halfway decent part about taking a class he took in eighth grade is that he knows all the answers already. Five minutes later, he’s staring out the window again with The Smiths stuck in his head, wondering what Nancy had for lunch and if it’s raining in Hawkins too without having to worry about failing.  It’s early December so it’s more likely that it’s snowing in Hawkins. Jonathan misses the snow, he misses making elaborate snowmen with Will, he misses not having to go to school and above all he misses Nancy crawling into his bed and cuddling together for warmth. He tries not to think about how cold she must be without him there. Maybe he can send one of his sweaters to her. It’s not like he’s getting much use out of them. Jonathan’s mind betrays him with visions of Nancy in his sweater and little else. Just as he’s attempting to drown out imaginary Nancy’s begging with the water cycle, something hits him in the back of the head breaking his concentration.  Jonathan cautiously leans over to pick up the neatly folded triangle. He waits until the teacher's back is turned to open it. Someone has invited him to a party. He fights the urge to laugh. According to the invite, some girl named Daisy is celebrating her Sweet Sixteen. He glances around the class trying to find a face to the name. But, he’s almost positive that there’s no named Daisy in here. However, there is the tall blonde girl named Amy or maybe Annie staring at him and blushing furiously.  He slouches in his seat, folds the note and slips it into his binder without a fuss. Hoping that if he just ignores it it’ll go away. He refocuses on the rain hitting the window and tries to brainstorm how to get out of this mess while Imaginary Nancy rages at poor Amy-Annie. Like the kid even has a chance. He should just tell her that he's taken. That he's got a girl he's madly in love with. That they're going off to college together. That when he dies he wants to be reincarnated just to fall in love with her again.

[corgiplays]

Thinking thoughts because I've seen so much Russian Robin content but I'm putting a switch on it

So short history lesson but Poland was under Russian rule soon after WW 2 and became a communist country and was freed after an election in 1990 so

- Polish Robin who was placed in a spy program after her parents caused issues for the government (more about this later)

- She was shipped off to Russia were she spend the rest of her teen years training

- She was there when Alexie was told he had a year to fix whatever went wrong with their attempt the first time

- Robin definitely tried escaping back to Poland a few times but ended up getting caught and faced serious repercussions (omg is that Enzo?)

- She is technically Steve's age but because when she came to America her english was like nonexistent she was held back a year

- She was in the states since 1983 in Alaska but after reports of the chemical leak in Hawkins she was sent there for the rest of 1984 till season 3 starts

- Buff Robin enough said

- She tries to convince Dustin that whatever he got on the recording wasn't Russian but after a long debate she gave in to help them because she thought they'll think it's from Russia but after Steve pointed out the Indiana Flyer ride Robin knew she was in deep shit

- Robin was forced to tell the commander what's happening and got the shit beat out of her for translating their code to Americans but she promised that she'll keep them away

- During the interrogation the commander makes a comment about Robin being Polish but Steve never noticed the comment, he also makes a remark how Alexie was a traitor and that she'll wish she could meet with him instead (aka she'll wish she was dead)

- Of course that doesn't happen as Steve and Robin are saved by Dustin and Erica but the Soviet Union isn't too happy with what happened, so they send a mission file to Robin stating that she has to stay and keep an eye out for anymore Upside Down activity

- No one knows what Robin's real motives are because she doesn't want to lose her only friends

- After season 4 when Hopper gets dropped off by Enzo, Robin is there and ends up cornering him with a gun pointed to his gut and forced to tell her everything he knows

- Vecna uses Robin's trauma against her and once she's saved she slips back into her survival mindset and starts to only speak Polish or Russian while lashing out if anyone got too close

- The gang does find out about Robin's affiliation with the Soviet Union and their horrified, some broken translation from when she went into her survival mindset and an attack by a Russian spy helped put the pieces together

- Everyone distances themselves from Robin because how can we trust her after this but El keeps in touch with her because she's still Robin

- Robin tries to sacrifice herself to save the party because they will never trust her again and see lost all of her friends because of this but thanks to El for being so nice Robin doesn't die

————

- Robin is littered with scars, her least favorite is the Soviet Union brand on her torso (on the left side under her ribs) along with multiple cuts, scrapes, bullet wounds and some scars done by herself (once everything is fixed Nancy kisses all of Robin's scars so she feels better about them)

- Robin loves the snow especially when it snows at night because she has her happiest memories then

- Absolutely amazing at making Polish foods and deserts and the whole party loves it too which makes Robin happy because she gets to share her culture with her favorite people

- Has awful nightmares and her and Hooper end up trading stories of their times in a Russian Prison because they know their not alone in their fear

- Dresses baggy and more masculine because of the scars and how much she hates her body for being exactly like the Russians wanted it for a spy

- Has a surprisingly difficult workout routine because of her spy training (Steve gave up after 5 sets of one exercise, Nancy sits on Robin's back while she does push ups)

- Has a surprisingly high alcohol tolerance

- Knife tricks

————

Completely forgot Poland was once communistic which is sad because I'm Polish but wooo

Honestly this came out of the blue but I like it

[bluedalliances]

Or read it on ao3, that's cool too <3

When it becomes evident that the end of the world won’t be a one night event, but a slow burn catastrophe, domesticity starts sneaking back into everyone’s lives. At first is subtle, someone sleeps in one morning, the older teenagers open a few beers under the sun, and Max’s laugh, loud as always, can be heard from the street. They need the small things, silly little pleasures that keep them from going absolutely insane while they wait for hell’s next move.

In those moments, Will realizes, the headquarters (Steve’s place) feel like an actual home for everyone.

His mom and Mrs. Henderson start knitting together on the couch. They say it’s because they’re going to need extra blankets if the situation extends into winter, but they spend most of the time talking and trying to teach anyone vaguely interested how to use the needles.

Soon after, Max decides it’s the perfect time to show more stuff to El, and Dustin jumps into it immediately. He picks a corner in the living room and makes a small but extremely organized archive with all their comics, books, movies, and tapes.

Even if everyone is leaving their favorite things there, Will is afraid there will be no place for his interests. After moving to California, he had gotten more and more into world building and fantasy, writing and illustrating all the campaigns he once would have shared with his friends. However, last time he saw any of them, they had been less than interested in games, monsters, or stories. And sure, they had been playing at Hellfire all year, but he still can't shake the memory of Mike’s bored rolls and Lucas’s amused look, like he was trying to indulge a child with his silly games even if he wanted to make fun of him, or the way they would cut every session short, never getting to finish their last campaign.

In the end, it’s Gareth who gives him the push he needed. One afternoon, the boy knocks at his bedroom door, looking nervous and rambling about how he thought maybe Will would like to put his D&D books next to his and Eddie’s ones, but of course he doesn't have to, it was just an idea because everyone said Will was a great DM and filled his books with notes and that sounds really cool, you know? They end up talking for hours while they go through whatever the others left and add Will's stuff to it.

It's an odd collection, and now there’s always someone showing something to El or fighting to be the one who does, but also going through the homemade library themselves, listening or talking about their own interests, as they realize they can share everything they love with the others. They even bring the older ones as “guests” to talk about different things. Jonathan and Eddie introduce them to punk, metal, and poetry, Nancy brings her scrapbook of “inspiring women of history”, Steve shows them his favorite romcoms and explains which things actually happen in real life and which ones they should never put up with, Argyle and Gareth go on a long discussion about the merits of Latin American music and their favorite protest songwriters, and Robin explains the use of idioms and sarcasm. At first, they extend the invitation to everyone, but have to put a quick stop to it when Joyce tries to give them the most awkward attempt of a bees and birds talk. Later that night, Will tells her that Steve made sure they knew everything they needed to a while ago, and immediately makes her swear to never do something like that again.

As the sight of small groups gathering in the living room becomes an everyday thing, Steve picks up baking again. That one involves a short talk between Hopper and Owens, where Jim ever so subtly informs him that while his kids might have lost everything, they will not be losing the joy of their hobbies, specially if they involve chocolate. After that, there’s always a “Steve” package in their government-provided supply boxes, and the house starts smelling like cinnamon and lemons all the time. Everyone loves it, especially Eddie. It doesn't matter how early you wake up, you can find him in the same spot on the counter every morning, holding a cup of coffee and smiling in silence as Steve makes breakfast for everyone.

The last thing to come is Eddie’s campaign.

What he planned to be a simple one shot to entertain everyone on a rainy day, quickly turned into a six-week adventure that now is close to its end. They finally found the BBEG, an undead wizard that’s behind decades of hardships in the reign, and are close to defeating them, but also close to death. Lucas is down, Dustin and Mike are paralyzed, and even if Will hasn't rolled below 17 all night and Erica’s Barbarian is a force to behold, they are in trouble. Gareth has been getting shitty rolls all night, and he’s the only one left before it’s the Lich’s turn. If he fails, Eddie will attack Will, it’s the logical thing to do, and facing such a dangerous monster without a cleric would inevitably end up in TPK.

“Let's face it, I can't do it, we’re all gonna die,” says Gareth as he buries his face under his hands.

Will pats him on the shoulder and tries to ignore the tingling that spreads from his fingertips when they graze on skin over the neckline of Gareth’s shirt. “We’re not gonna die, you got this,” he goes for a smile, but is pretty sure it comes out all wrong and stiff.

Gareth meets his eyes, barely leaving his hiding place, but before he can do anything else Mike interrupts.

“No, he’s right, we’re gonna die.”

Everyone turns to glare at him. There have been long talks lately about the way things are said within The Party and how they can be hurtful.

“What?” Mike looks around the table, suddenly defensive. “The highest he rolled today is an eleven! It’s okay, it happens to everyone from time to time, I’m not trying to be an asshole here.”

Gareth sighs, and Will is pretty sure he’s ripping out his own hair with the way he’s pulling at it.

 “He’s right, guys. I guess I really upset the Fates this time.” Even if it starts in an overdramatic tone, playful and filled with the group's usual drama, he suddenly sits straight and turns to Eddie. “Do you think it’s because I didn’t let that Demodog eat Biscuit? Maybe his life was supposed to end that day and now they'll punish me for ruining their plans.”

He’s so serious about it that Will can't stop the laugh that escapes him, and a second later everyone follows. Even Steve, watching next to Max from the couch, lets out an amused snort. Leave it to Gareth to make a world out of a few unlucky rolls.

“Don't laugh, this is serious!” By now, Gareth actually heard himself and is fighting to keep a straight face. In his last attempt to keep himself from laughing, he goes back to his theatrics, whining and pouting. “Will, you’ve been doing great today, tell the Fates I’m a nice guy, share your luck with me.”

“You want guidance? Can I guide him for this?”

He’s looking at Eddie now, but two answers come at once, one from the DM, the other one by his side.

“This is not an ability check.”

“Sure, give me a good luck kiss.”

Even if he says it lightly, Will turns to him so fast, a twinge of pain runs up his neck. Silence falls around the table and he can feel everyone’s eyes on them. Gareth looks shocked by his own words as his face fills with red, and Will would find it cute if he wasn’t so sure he looked the same.

“You know what? I'm feeling generous.” Eddie’s stunned expression turns into a gleeful grin. Mischief takes over his eyes, and Will realizes this is the mean DM everyone talks about. The sight quickly finds its way to his top five most scary experiences and, considering their history, that's not a small achievement. “I’ll allow it as a blessing, if you actually kiss Gareth”.

As soon as he says it, hell breaks loose around them. Everyone wants to have a say in this.

Will should’ve expected that. During their first session, he discovered that, with Eddie, role-playing beats every rule in the book. Truthful to his theater kid nature, he’ll allow anything if it makes the game exciting. And exciting it is, if the fluttering of Will’s heart is something to go by.

As everyone laughs and yells and argues around them, he looks at Gareth and finds him already staring.

“You don’t have to”, the older boy says. “Eddie doesn't realize he makes people uncomfortable sometimes, but he won't press if you say no.”

Will thinks about it for a second. He could say no, and no one would give him shit for it, but he needs to know. Even if it’s not the time and everyone’s looking, even if he’s scared to death, he needs to know if he needs to rip these fluttering feelings apart before they grow too big and dangerous.

Is this a rosebush or a baobab?, he wants to ask.

But thoughts need translation sometimes, so he says, “Would it make you uncomfortable?”

“Kissing you?”

As Will nods, he sees Gareth’s eyes falling to his lips and back to his eyes. A small smile is taking over his face, hesitatingly, and Will’s not nervous anymore. He knows that smile, it’s the same one he sees before Gareth hands him a cup of tea and the last of Steve’s cookies, as he asks him about his campaign ideas or listens to his honestly annoying rant about the pros and cons of choosing the Moon Circle as a Druid.

It’s a familiar smile, kind and welcoming.

He’s already getting closer when Gareth finally says, “never”.

At some point, everyone went silent again and now they’re waiting for a show.

“Whenever I look at you, I see the fire of your bloodline, Gareth the Great.” Will cups Gareth's cheek and leans in until their noses are touching. He doesn't make his character’s voice this time. He wants Gareth to know this is all him. “When you speak, I feel the warmth that runs through your veins, and when you stand by my side, I feel invincible. I believe in your power,” his last words are said against Gareth's lips, barely above a whisper for him to breathe in, “give him hell.”

And just like that, he does it. It’s a soft kiss, gentle and sweet, filled with untold feelings, but there’s no doubt to it, Gareth is kissing back.

“I feel very lucky right now, Will the Wise.”

As they pull apart, the world regains its shape and Will can almost hear his friends’ surprise. El is slapping Max’s arm in excitement as they giggle, and Eddie gives a smug smile to Steve. Will would see it if he had half a mind to stop looking at Gareth.

Gareth, who’s smiling and reaching for his dice without taking his eyes away from Will either.

“I cast fifth level fireball.”

Only then, he turns back to the table and rolls both dice, his own and the one given by a kiss.

The rattling against the table seems to go forever, but Will can't tear his eyes from Gareth’s face to see what’s going on. He knows it’s good when the other boy turns to him with the brightest smile he’s ever seen.

“Natural twenty, for a total of twenty-seven with Will's dice”, he announces. Everyone roars again, and the air feels alive with their excitement.

“That’d be a crit hit,” says Eddie with a proud smile, the mean DM facade falling in pieces. “Add six D6 for me.”

That’s so many dices that Gareth has to borrow a few from Will and Dustin to do it in one go.

“Ohgodohgodohgod,” says Gareth as he counts, “that’s— 68 fire damage.”

Shocked voices take over the room and Holly mother of a Demogorgon gets mixed with fuck, fuck, Gareth that’s insane and that must’ve been a really good kiss.

 “Children, children. Be silent for a minute.” Eddie stands up from his place at the head of the table and looks straight at Gareth, putting an immediate stop to the noise.

“I regret to inform you, Gareth the Great,” he says before a long pause that has everyone holding their breaths and at the edge of their seats, “that you’ll have to use that one brain cell of yours and tell me how you want to end this motherfucker.”

A grin spreads across Eddies face as the gleeful screaming comes back.

Gareth stands up and starts acting his character’s moves, one hand extended in front of this body. “You all see sparks surge from my face. They start right under Will’s fingers and travel down to my arm and hand, where a small spark of fire forms. It gets bigger as it travels through the air and you can see it's purple, just as Will's clothes. It fills the far side of the room, engulfing the Lith and turning him into ashes.”

“As the Lith turns into ashes”, Eddie takes over, “you, Gareth, hear his voice in your head. He promises to come back, to end you and your party, to make you regret ever crossing his way. But right now the fight is over, you can heal your companions and take a good night's rest. Is there anything you want to do before we wrap up for today?”

“I'm going to hug Gareth and whisper, ‘you made it’,” says Will.

“Only because of you.”

They're staring at eachother again, and Will realizes that, just for a moment, he feels no fear.

“Okay, love birds,” interrupts Erica in her character’s voice. “Let's heal mister can’t-do-anything-without-fainting and get out of here, I need a drink.”

Everyone laughs at that as Lucas complains. They still have to find the Lich’s phylactery and find out what waits for them in this adventure, but that’s a story for another day.

[thestrangestthing89]

Prediction time - I feel like the kids friend group might drift apart a bit post time jump. The boys fight a lot when things get stressful and I'd be surprised if we didn't see them butting heads trying to figure out how to save Max.

S1 - Mike and Lucas fight about the best way to find Will. Mike believes the crazy theory he's still alive and that El is their best way of finding him. Lucas believes a more logical approach and doesn't want El involved because he doesn't trust her. He goes to the lab by himself and finds out valuable information the group needs even though Mike was technically right. Lucas and Mike both have leadership skills but they go about using those skills in different ways which is why we see them fighting here. Dustin is in the middle of this fight and tries to get Mike and Lucas to apologize to each other. They eventually do and everything is resolved. S2 - Lucas and Dustin fight about D'art and Max. Lucas told Max everything that was going on with Will even though he wasn't supposed to. Dustin kept D'art even after he learned he was dangerous. They both did something wrong here and fight about it but it's quickly resolved. This season, Mike and Will spend very little time with Lucas and Dustin. Mike is worried about Will and is with him through most of the season. Lucas and Dustin don't seem to be bothered by this or find it weird that Mike and Will are off together. Neither of them attempts to go to Will's house to check on him. So from this it seems like Mike and Will go off together alone sometimes. It wasn't out of the ordinary for them to be together without Lucas and Dustin and they don't try to intervene. S3 - Lucas and Mike are pretending to be adults and think they are grown up because they have girlfriends. This leads to a fight between them and Will - especially with Mike and Will. Both of them apologize to Will later and realize they took things too far. Mike had a worse fight with Will over this and it's clear he spends time thinking about this. Will calls him out for not knowing what Dustin is up to and Mike attempts to help Dustin and reconnect with him at the end of the season. We also see Mike and Dustin together in S4. Not to mention that when Mike is apologizing to Will in Lenora, he references the fight here. He acknowledges he spent too much time with El and he regrets what it did to his friendship with Will. Will was right to call him out here and Mike pretty much says this. Dustin during this time is with Steve, Robin, and Erica. He's upset that his friends aren't hanging out with him at first and expresses this to Steve. But they are quickly distracted by finding the Russians and he seems less bothered by this once that happens. S4 - Mike and Dustin are playing D&D again but Lucas is still not interested. He has basketball now and it's unclear if he was only playing because he didn't want to be bullied or if he actually liked playing. It could be both and he is shown to be good at this. He drifted away from the group a bit but he's shown to be regretful of this and seems to genuinely miss his friends. Mike is less concerned about being nerdy than he was in S3 but there are few things that stick out here. Mike's room and basement are a mess and this is out of character. Along with the fact that Dustin seems closer to Eddie than Mike is. This makes it seem like Mike isn't really socializing much. There have been many hints of him having depression in the past so it would make sense to me if he was just going to school and D&D and not doing much else. Which would lead Dustin to be on his own and hanging out with Eddie more. Karen also makes a comment to Dustin about how he's welcome at their house anytime and this line sticks out. If Dustin had been hanging out there like he always has, why would she feel the need to say this? She also makes a comment about how she likes seeing them all together and it seems like this hasn't happened in a while.

Mike and Will reconnect their friendship in Lenora but they still have some things to talk about. They get into a fight at the skating rink and this fight is about how much they missed each other. They are both upset the other person didn't reach out more. They spoke on the phone a few times but didn't write each other letters. They resolve this fight but are still holding back with each other. It isn't confirmed if Lucas and Dustin were writing Will letters after he moved but I would assume they did at least occasionally. The boys don't exactly have a fight in this season but it's clear they aren't really on the same page and they are each dealing with their own things. They seem to be drifting apart more than fighting. The past couple of years are starting to catch up to them.

Which leads me to where they could end up in S5. Things are tense and stressful with regard to Max, the situation in Hawkins, and Eddie dying. Tense situations in the past have led to the boys fighting. I think Eddie's death will impact Dustin more than Mike. Not that Mike won't be upset but like I said above, I don't think Mike was very close to him. This could lead Dustin to break off with the group a bit. I can see him post time jump either not wanting to play D&D at all or taking up Hellfire in honor of Eddie. Lucas will be focused on Max and of course everyone will be trying to help. But like we've seen before, they tend to have different approaches to handling problems. I can see him bonding with El over this more. Will is connected to this problem somehow. He is seeing a vision of what Hawkins will be like in the future. I really like the theory that it's both Mike and Will having this vision. Either way though, if Will feels like he knows a different way to save Max I don't see Mike going against this. He will support him. Which would end up leading to another situation where Mike and Will are off doing their own thing and Lucas and Dustin on the other side and the groups eventually meeting in the middle. I do think they will be able to work together to save Max, but I also think they've been drifting apart for a while now. It's possible that they can work together but don't exactly end up completely reuniting like we've seen. If Mike has been separating himself from the group for months, I can see this causing some tension with Dustin and Lucas. It's been shown (both in S2 and I think there was a book that also stated this) that Mike has an attitude when he's depressed. He's similar to Max in this way where they both isolate themselves and lash out at the people around them. So I can see Lucas and Dustin pulling away a bit from him in the same way they did with Max (they thought she needed space). Only Lucas is now more focused on helping Max and it's possible him and Dustin just don't make the connection between something being wrong with Mike too. Lucas didn't understand what was going on with Max right away. We are seeing Will start to notice Mike isn't okay though - he is worried about the messy room comment and I think he will start to put together some things about El and Mike's relationship. I can see Will being upset that no one was taking care of Mike. Will is really the only one who sees him. This combined with the painting reveal that would have to happen early, would end up leading to Byler happening before the time jump. But it's possible that Lucas and Dustin don't find out about them until after. After the time jump, it's possible that Mike and Will would be hanging out with Robin and Vicky more but I can also see them hanging out with El and Max. Max and Mike in particular could help each other a lot and El and Will could start to form more of a sibling bond. I think if this is the case the girls might end up in the middle of the drift apart between the boys. I think Mike and Will would also end up closer to Nancy, Jonathan, and Argyle once this happens too. Depending on the situation with them and college, I find it plausible that Mike and Will would visit them and get a better sense of what life could be like for them outside of Hawkins. That being said, I think the boys will come back together and work things out by the end of the season. It would be nice to see the 4 of them playing D&D again. But we haven't seen that since season 1 so I'm not positive it will fit in here. We really haven't seen this being a thing they've bonded over. I think Mike and Will would continue to play but with just the two of them. I always thought D&D was meant to represent their relationship more than it was the boys friendship. But I do think they will end the series with them all being friends again even if it is likely they end up going their separate ways outside of Hawkins.

[bagsofbones63]

The Boar and the Bat

This the first story I had ever written for myself so it being my first post makes sense. It features my OCs Avalanche and El Vacío (real names to be revealed later) Hope you enjoy.

"A-va-lanche, A-va-lanche, A-val-lanche!" The chant crescendoed as a hulking figure entered the arena. The chant devolved into a cacophony of cheers while the boar wrestler slowly made his way to the ring. He wanted nothing more than to wave back at the crowd and thank them for their excitement but he knew that would betray the arrogant and brash character his agent had concocted for him. Instead, he paused in front of the ring and flexed for the crowd before winking at a group of fans. "People love a flirt," his agent would always tell him. The way the fans suffered a group fainting spell only validated that statement.

He rolled into the ring and took center stage before flexing again. Wearing only a mask and a pair of wrestling trunks, nothing was left to the imagination. Personally, he would have preferred something warmer, his white chest and arm fur only did so much to keep him warm, but his agent insisted that this was the best outfit for him. "Sex sells" she would say. The slow decrescendo of cheers signaled that it was time for him to take his spot on the side of the ring and wait for his opponent. He leaned on the ropes and tried to present a relaxed, almost bored disposition. In actuality he was beyond excited; the mix of cold and anticipation was causing goosebumps to erupt all over his skin. He wondered who he would be fighting; the producers never told the wrestlers who their opponents were. He thought it was some odd attempt to keep them on their toes.

Silence fell over the arena as everyone awaited the reveal of Avalanche's challenger. Several seconds passed but, still, there was no sign of his opponent. Confused murmurs from the crowd began to overtake the room. "A no show? Really?" He thought. Knowing he couldn't let the dead air continue, Avalanche made his way to the center of the ring. "Looks like I scared him off, didn't I!" He shouted.

"YEAH!" The crowed shouted in response.

A hearty laugh escaped his barreled chest before he continued. "That just goes to show that he couldn't handle,” He flexed his right arm for emphasis. “The crushing weight,” his left arm followed suit. “Of an Avalan- '' the lights cut out causing him to lose his words. When they came back a new figure was standing atop a turnbuckle in the corner of the ring. The bat wrestler El Vacío had made his entrance.

A brief look of surprise flashed across Avalanche's face before it morphed into a thinly veiled embarrassment as he realized he was still posing. He regained his composure and dropped his arms before adopting a saccharine scowl while he took note of who his opponent was. "Him, really?" Avalanche thought. He had heard of the eccentric newbie wrestler but he hadn't expected to see him in the ring so soon.

"Nice of you to finally join us" Avalanche snarled in an intentionally showy manner. The bat only gave a slight head tilt in response. Avalanche had to admit, the combination of appearing from nowhere, the eerie silence, and the bat's skull mask left him a little anxious. Vacío definitely had a solid gimmick going on.

El Vacío jumped down and stood in front of Avalanche. Avalanche observed his opponent as they began circling one another. First, he noticed his size. El Vacío was much smaller than him. There appeared to be about a 6 inch difference between the 6 foot boar and the bat. Next, he took note of Vacío's outfit. The bat wore a pair of white wrestling trunks over black tights with skeletal legs painted over them. Going up showcased his lithe yet still muscular frame. "He's going to be a fast one," Avalanche thought. His gaze finally reached that bat's mask. Or at least what he thought was a mask. The dark hollow holes where the wrestler's eyes should have been gave the impression that it could really be a skull. Betraying the bat's undead visage were the glimmers of purple light in his hollow eyes. "His costume designer must have had a field day with that mask," Avalanche surmised. Lastly, his eyes locked onto the wings on the bat's back. An unintentional snort escaped him. He hated fliers. They often made matches take forever. It would be nice if he could jump off a rope and catch them in the air, but his girth left him landlocked in matches. Their circular dance ended with both wrestlers adopting their own stances.. Avalanche, arms outstretched, was prepared to charge at Vacío as soon as the bell rang. It was a bit of a stereotype to be a charging boar but the crowd seemed to love it. Opposite of him Vacío stood still and straight with his head tilted at an unnatural and painful looking angle. "This has to be the strangest person I've met," Avalanche thought.

*ding*

*ding*

*ding*

The bell signaled the start of Avalanche's charge towards Vacío. On the verge of colliding, Vacío pivoted to the left and dodged the attack. Avalanche spun around to look at his opponent as he collided with the rope. The bat was already in motion, throwing a lightning fast kick at the boar's gut. It wasn't very effective. The kick rebounded off his stomach and left Vacío off balance. Seizing the opportunity, Avalanche grabbed Vacio's leg with an iron grip. He lifted the trapped bat into the air and marched towards the center of the ring. Vacìo didn't even attempt to escape, his body rigid and unmoving. Avalanche presented the bat to the crowd like a dad showing off a caught fish. Cheers were the reward for his big catch.

"Look at this little runt," Avalanche bellowed. "Show's up late and he doesn't even last a minute!" The crowd boos at the bat. "For being a bat he does an awfully good job at playing Oposs-" a kick to the head stunned him out of his sentence. Two other kicks followed causing him to loosen his grip. The fourth kick almost set the bat free. Before a fifth kick could reach Avalanche, he tightened his grip and flung Vacío in the ground. The force of the slam caused the bat to bounce back into the air. Avalanche used this opportunity to send him plummeting to the ground again with a forceful elbow to the gut. Knowing his opponent would be out of commission, Avalanche took the opportunity to flaunt to the crowd. He gestured for the crowd to start cheering and was met with a deafening boom of excitement. He looked down at his opponent, raised his arm, tapped his elbow twice, and performed an elbow drop with the full force of his body. During his descent on Vacío he thought his vision went black. Except it wasn't his vision, the lights had gone out. By the time they were back on his elbow had impacted the floor of the ring with a loud slam. Vacío had vanished in the darkness. A wildfire of gasps spread through the crowd. Avalanche pushed himself up and did a quick 360 to look around the ring. The bat was nowhere to be found. In the corner of his eye he noticed something strange, instead of watching him the crowd was looking up. He directed his upward and spotted the bat hanging upside down on the rafters of the arena. The lights went out again. They came back just in time for Avalanche to see Vacío's foot as it slammed into his head with a sickening crunch. The throbbing pain caused the boar to stagger. Vacío used Avalanche's moment of weakness to spring an additional attack. Vacio jumped onto the boar's face and wrapped his thighs around his head. Vacío then threw his upper body back. The force of the motion caused the boar to lose his balance and tumble forward. The ring shook and a loud boom erupted from Avalanche's crash site. The fall left him gasping for breath as the air was evicted from his lungs. Vacío stood above the temporarily helpless boar and put a foot on his chest as a sign of dominance. He then leaned his head closer to the boar and made a throat slitting gesture across his neck. "This guy is a total freak," Avalanche thought. The lights flickered again and Vacío was gone. A second later the flickering repeated and the boar was greeted with an elbow drop inches from his face. Avalanche rolled and avoided the move by a fraction of a second. He got to his feet before the lights started flickering again. Every flicker resulted in a new attack from a different angle at impossible speeds. Avalanche tried moving in the dark to use Vacío's own gimmick against him but his accuracy with every blow remained flawless. "Of course the bat wrestler would use echolocation in the ring!" He screamed internally. A punch to the head, a knee to the gut, a kick in the side, the barrage of blows were wearing Avalanche down and there was nothing he could do about it. Usually he would solve his issues in the ring with his strong body and brute force but this challenge wasn't one he could overcome with muscles alone. He needed to think laterally.

A strike to the back of Avalanche's leg brought him down to one knee. Screams from the crowd filled the room as it appeared to be the end for Avalanche. Avalanche thought the same until he felt a gust of wind rush past his face. "He missed?" Avalanche questioned. Another strike came for the boar but it only grazed him. Avalanche used the opening created by the bat's blunders to force himself to stand up causing an uproar of excitement from the crowd. The bat missed him again, it was like he was fighting a completely different person. "Is he throwing the match?" Avalanche thought. "No, that makes no sense, it must be something else." A smirk painted his face as he experienced a eureka moment. "Sound! The bat can't echolocate when there's too much sound." His theory was proven correct as Vacío missed several more blows. Avalanche decided his best plan would be to rile up the crowd even more to make his opponent's tactic completely useless. "Look at the tiny bat," Avalanche shouted. "He shows up late to a match, acts like a jobber, and then pulls out this gimmick as soon as he starts losing? Are we going to respect that here?" The crowd boos in response. "Now who's going to put this pathetic little runt in his place?" "Avalanche!" The crowd cheered.

"I can't hear you!"

"AVALANCHE AVALANCHE AVALANCHE!."

With the cover of noise, Avalanche was ready to make his next move. He waited until he caught a glimpse of the bat and charged as soon as the lights went out. The two bodies connected in the darkness and fell to the ground. When the lights came back on, Vacío was pinned under Avalanche's massive frame with no chance to escape. Wanting to make sure the bat had no fight left before the pin, Avalanche grabbed Vacío by the neck and rose from the ground. He lifted Vacío as high as possible before slamming him into the ground causing the ring to shake. Avalanche looked down at his subdued opponent. The lights in Vacío's eyes had dimmed leaving only empty voids behind. He noticed a crack going across the right eye hole and wondered if that had been there before. "Oh shit," Avalanche thought. "Maybe I was a bit too rough. Assuming the bat had a concussion he decided it was best to end the match now with a pin. The boar plopped himself on the bat's chest and held his arms down. It was an unconventional pinning style but it got the job done. Avalanche looked into Vacío's eyes as the countdown started.

"One!"

Closer examination of the eyes revealed that even up close they appeared hollow, like an actual skull.

"Two!"

"I need to tell my agent never let me get put against this guy again." He thought to himself. "He’s one zip code shy of crazyville."

At the start of three Vacío's eyes reignited with a blazing red hue. The sudden display startled Avalanche causing him to loosen his grip on the bat. Vacío used the moment of weakness to break himself out of the boar’s grip and make an attack of opportunity. The bat raked his claws against the boar’s left eye, cutting through the mask and into his skin. Avalanche reacted to the white hot pain by backing away from the bat and raising a hand to protect his eye. Upon contact with the eye he felt a sickening wetness. He watched in horror with his uninjured eye as the bat contorted his body into an uncanny backwards spider position before performing a backwards handspring onto his feet. Avalanche took the opportunity to get to his feet as well, albeit less gracefully. "I got matched with an actual psychopath," Avalanche muttered. With a flicker of the lights Vacío appeared on the top turnbuckle. Knowing another kick was likely, Avalanche raised his hands to intercept the bat's foot on the next flicker. Just as he expected, the bat's foot was just within grabbing distance as the lights came back on. Avalanche lunged for the grapple and managed to grab the bat’s leg with his bloody hand. In retaliation, Vacio flapped his wings and spun forward; the sudden upward force allowed his foot to slip out of the boar’s grasp.  The added momentum of the spin added power to the kick as the bat’s heel smashed into the back Avalanche’s head with a bone breaking crunch. The boar stood dazed for several seconds before losing the fight to stay conscious. A thunderous boom followed by a tremor emitted from the ring as Avalanche’s body hit the floor. His lights had gone out for the last time. Vacío stood triumphantly over the boar, for he was the victor.

[oceanic-sunsets]

"We're friends. We're friends." Or: an analysis of Mike's feelings and the Rink O' Mania Fight

So, first of all, I'm sure there's more analysis and different interpretations of this scene. This is just my perspective! Also, keep in mind I read Mike's character as gay (bi!mike truthers ily. we're in this together).

I'll be analyzing dialogue, characters, and their actions, rather than the cinematography of the scene or lighting. There's a great analysis by @rainy-raerae that addresses that, and you should totally check it ou.

Now, let's begin.

The first thing we need to understand this scene is the context: El and Will hadn't seen Mike for approximately 6 months. During these 6 months, El and Mike wrote letters to each other. There's no mention of them having calls, but Will says Mike "called a couple times". We, as the audience, know Mike joined Hellfire Club after meeting Eddie in high school, so he got back into that hobby.

Now let's go back a bit to the airport scene. Keep in mind this is the first time they see each other again, and they're supposed to have fixed things back in s3. Will and Mike were on good terms. And yet...

Will is extremely excited to see Mike, and we see him carrying the painting. But Mike doesn't match his energy, coming off as cold and uninterested. We never get an explanation for his behavior here, but we do have some clues that help us put the puzzle together: the few times they talked, it was because Mike called. Mike knows there's a painting Will has been working on, and it's probably for a girl he likes. He brought the painting to the airport.

So, despite us knowing the truth about Will, about how the painting is for Mike and how much he cares, Mike doesn't. Will thinks Mike doesn't want to talk to him through letters (so it must mean he doesn't care?), so he doesn't try to reach out either. It'd make sense if he thought keeping distance would make it easier, trying to cope with his feelings. But again, Mike doesn't know this.

We feel bad for Will, and are upset/confused at Mike's weird behavior because we know the truth from Will's side. Mike doesn't. To Mike, Will moved to California and didn't try to reach out either. To Mike, Will is doing just fine without him, he even got a crush on a girl and is painting for her. And he had to find that out from El, because Will never told him. To Mike, he's the one that tried to reach out.

So he's upset and acts cold towards Will, overcompensating, trying to be overly affectionate with El ("You don't care? Well, I don't, either!"). And Will doesn't deserve that (as Mike later tells him during the heart to heart). Later, when they get to Rink O' Mania, this just keeps getting worse: El and Mike are so caught up on each other (For the wrong reasons. Both are lying and overcompensating here.) that they basically ignore Will.

Will is understandably sad, so he gets more quiet, rolls his eyes more often, and doesn't attempt to join the conversation. But El and Mike don't try to include him either. So, for Will, his best friend just saw him again after a long time but is not interested in talking to him. But for Mike... This is true too. He probably expected Will to act 'normal', shrug off the awkward airport interaction and not overthink anything. This is probably how a friend who doesn't secretly have romantic feelings for Mike would've acted. But for Will it matters more, so he doesn't shrug it off.

This leads us to the actual argument. It's been building up for a while, but it blows up once Will tells Mike that El has been lying to him.

And Mike says "bullshit" in a defensive tone that always stood out to me: Mike isn't offended by Will implying that El is lying to him. He's upset because he's also been lying, so if El is lying, and he is lying, their relationship is not as perfect as they try to paint it, meaning there's a reason for that, a reason Mike isn't ready to acknowledge and try to fully understand.

Then we get to THE scene:

Will: What about us?

Mike: What?

Will: Were you mad that I didn't talk to you? Seems like you made it super clear that you aren't interested in anything I have to say.

This confirms the point addressed before: Will recognizes that Mike is upset about Will not talking to him, and he thinks he's uninterested in what he has to say. But he misses something: Mike is upset because he thinks Will doesn't care.

Mike: That's just not true.

Mike is being honest here. It is not true: he IS interested, otherwise, he wouldn't have been paying attention to Will "moping and rolling his eyes". He's also the one that tried to reach out and call Will, even when the line kept being busy. He does not mention this, tho.

Will: You called maybe a couple of times. Meanwhile El has like a book of letters from you.

Will says it himself. Mike is the one that called. Mike didn't write him any letters, but neither did Will, otherwise, we would've known.

Mike: That's because she's my girlfriend, Will.

Will: And us?

Mike: We're friends. We're friends.*

Will: Well we used to be best friends!

Mike: Well then, maybe you should've reached out more, I don't know. But why is this on me. Why am I the bad guy.

Mike is trying to be nonchalant as he tells Will he should've reached out more, but remember the context we analyzed before: he's upset about Will not reaching out, so he's trying really hard seem like he doesn't care. Because he cares too much.

Just try to picture this argument between Mike and Dustin or Mike and Lucas. It's odd, out of place, because for them, the lines wouldn't be so blurry, it'd be clear why they're upset, and they wouldn't overthink it so much. We as the audience understand Will, but Mike's attitude is vague and hard to read for a reason. It's a conscious writing choice.

*Now, I'm writing this separately because this line is what made me write this analysis in the first place: We're friends. We're friends.

Again, there's a lot of interpretations about what Mike means here. Personally, I don't believe he's aware of his feelings for Will or his sexuality. I think he's confused, and that's why a lot of his actions, what he says vs what he does don't make sense, his words and actions don't match.

But. For Mike to react so defensively and insist they're friends, he has to be somewhat aware, too. Will didn't mean "And us?" as something romantic. He kept the conversation explicitly about platonic feelings, Mike is the one twisted it, mentioning how he wrote El because she's his girlfriend and Will is his friend. His friend.

So to understand him, let's go back a bit before he landed on California. Let's take a look at the cafeteria scene with Eddie.

Mike's reactions to Eddie stand out from the rest. They're supposed to stand out. Even when Dustin is looking away, Mike is not. It's obviously a crush, not a crush in the "I want to date you" way, tho. More like a crush you have on someone who you think is handsome and you admire, kind of like celebrity crushes. And the fact that "Fever" by The Cramps plays during this scene is not a coincidence either. The intentions are clear.

For Mike, tho, Eddie isn't just someone who he can recognize as attractive. Eddie is the first person he met who was so unapologetically himself, no matter how others perceived him. He met him in one of his lowest points in life, after a summer full of confusing feelings and then his best friend was moving away and things would never go back to the way they were. Eddie was the perfect character to introduce in s4 to further Mike's self-acceptance arc, and he's going to keep playing a key role in s5 for Mike's development.

So, back in Hawkins, with Eddie so present in his life, it's easier for Mike to be himself, easier to embrace being different. But it's not enough for him to connect the dots and come to the conclusion that the he has romantic feelings for Will. And with the "Satanic Panic" subplot and the allegory of DND/Queerness, it's inevitable that Mike doesn't know what the media says about queer people or the aid's crisis. He knows it's bullshit media propaganda with a conservative agenda, but that doesn't mean it's easier to accept and recognize his own feelings.

Mike was there when Will was bullied and called homophobic slurs. He knows how society is, he knows his family and what they think, too. So when he gets too close from the truth, he shoves it down, doesn't allow himself to think about it.

We've seen this behavior very clearly two times:

"It's not my fault you don't like girls!"

"We're friends. We're friends."

Both times he was projecting. He wasn't being homophobic or mean towards Will. That was about himself. It's not that Mike is aware that he likes boys/Will. But he knows it is a thing and he doesn't want to think about the too-real possibility and what it would mean for him. So when it starts getting Too Real, Too Close to where his mind doesn't let him wander, he reacts that way. And overcompensates; focusing on El only and being mean to his friends, especially Will, because he reminds him of feelings he's not ready to come to terms with.

Will doesn't deserve any of that, of course. And Mike is aware, that's why he tells Will he was being a self-pitying idiot. Telling Will that, he was admitting he was acting that way because he cared too much about Will not talking to him, not reaching out. He was only thinking about himself, how upset he was, so he was mean and forgot Will probably felt that way, too.

So, he sort of has an idea in the back of his mind of what these feelings could be. But he's not too aware, not yet. He's scared, and he's not only trying to prove to other people that he's your average teen straight boy. He's trying to prove it to himself, too.

He's not being a bad boyfriend to El out of malice or because he doesn't love her romantically. He's not consciously lying to El, he's really trying. He's trying to convince himself. But he is failing, and post-monologue, the realization is going to be inevitable.

But really, the thing that is going to make it all fall into place, the missing piece of the puzzle... It's the painting. The truth about the painting.

[wiseatom]

i need you to elaborate on the danny phantom au immediately 🤲

omg ella elekinetic in my ask…the artist formerly known as nancysglock….i will give you anything and everything but i will start with the danny phantom au 🤍

i already talked about it a little bit here!

i am going to put this under a read more because i know it’s going to get long! also disclaimer i am Not a casual watcher of danny phantom i have seen every episode several times you have been warned 🫡

FIRST AND FOREMOST I WOULD LIKE TO APOLOGIZE TO THE PEOPLE FOR NOT EVEN ATTEMPTING TO CAST EL IN THIS AU AND NOT EVEN REALIZING IT UNTIL 2 DAYS LATER. yes you can come to my house w pitchforks it is what i deserve!

el would be danny’s “cousin” dani, and if you are unfamiliar — she is literally an experiment/attempted clone of danny (will, in this case) himself created by vlad, who i would probably cast as brenner or split storylines between brenner and henry, potentially brenner and owens? like i said in my first ask, it’s hard because there are more st characters than there are dp, so there’s no way to really neatly assign everything!

i hesitate on the henry/vlad casting because although vlad is essentially the Big Bad of the series (especially in season 3), there are a lot of other really cool villains — specifically pariah dark, who is The Ghost King, uses a puppet general (fight knight/mind flayer parallels), and is one of (if not the) Big Battles of the show. there’s also dark danny, and it could be flayed!will, but there’s also an opportunity to make him henry bc of Foils, Your Honor! any input on this from anyone (even other dp villains that could work) would be so fun!

so, to recap and try give Some semblance of a plot:

will is danny! he got lost in the ghost zone as an accident and ended up with half-ghost powers. lucas, dustin, and mike tried to find him and got into amateur ghost hunting/fighting as a result, and they become a little ghost-crime fighting team (they Absolutely refer to themselves as the ghostbusters in their circle and everyone just thinks they’re nerds, which is true). lucas and dustin share the tucker role and mike takes on most of the sam role (i say Most Of bc upon further reflection - i think lucas and mike might share sam too)! el is an experiment meant to replicate will’s powers, brenner/owens orchestrated that, and max comes in adopting most of what valerie’s arcs would be. i think it would be cool to have billy be a ghost or ghost-obsessed and have max’s hatred for them be because of that!

family dynamics would be the same as to how they are in st. in dp terms, there is no jack fenton, but joyce and jonathan share maddie characteristics! erica of course would just be there as an addition bc she’s the best, and jazz’s role would be repurposed for nancy, with the only difference being that she’s part of mike’s family obviously instead of will’s!

plot wise i would just. take my fave danny phantom eps and rework them to fit what i wanted (me acting like i’m going to write this). definitely would include the “movie length” episodes like reign storm and reality trip, potentially the ultimate enemy depending on who henry ends up being — and obviously just flesh everything out.

ella i am so sorry to have rambled all over you but thanks for reading and for asking!! i am accepting any and all input on this bc i just think it’s neat!

[wontbyers]

I need gifs of the Mlvn almost kisses because I have a point to make but I need gifs instead of screenshots to prove it.

El is the one who leans in first.

In the bathroom in 1x07 (beginning of the episode) after El asks for confirmation that she’s still pretty and Mike agrees, then says he’s happy she’s home, El slowly steps closer to him, moving in while he stands still—then Dustin bursts in interrupting the moment.

In the next episode, Mike makes the move and kisses her in the school cafeteria.

In season 2 after they reunite, towards the beginning of 2x09, after promising that he won’t lose her, El is again the one to move in like she’s going to kiss him while Mike stands completely still.

Then at the end of the episode at the school dance, Mike is the one who leans in and kisses her.

Season 3 starts with them making out so we don’t see who initiates those kisses (although interestingly Mike removes her hands from him) and he interrupts it to sing along to the radio and be silly, but she doesn’t like it so they go back to kissing. Then later in the episode they are once again making out (though he isn’t taking her hands off him now.)

At the end of the season, for the first time we see El both initiate and follow through with a kiss without interruption, but much like the ones where she started leaning in and Mike didn’t match the movement (1x07 and 2x09) he stands still with his eyes fully open the whole time, not reciprocating.

They only kiss once in s4, when they reunite at the airport in 4x02 and they both run to each other and mutually kiss so it’s not a matter of which one leans in first then. But it is only a quick peck.

In fact, each time that we see Mike is the one to initiate a kiss under his own terms, he makes them short and sweet.

In s3 finale when El is the one to kiss him it lasts longer and more intense although he’s not matching the energy like he did at the start of the season.

The 3x01 make-outs (and implied more of the same during the summer up to that point, as Hopper said it was basically constant for them) are the only times we see Mike fully engaging more with the kissing, than the other situations where El is the one leaning in first or where Mike makes short little kisses—but we don’t see the context of how they started. And it honestly doesn’t look like Mike is the one leading the way because it’s always El holding his face in her hands (one time of which he specifically took her hands off him.)

I don’t know what to make of the fact that El is usually the one who attempts the move first, then Mike follows through in a subsequent scene. She leaned in first in the bathroom, he didn’t move, but then later he decided to go through with it and kiss her after asking her to the Snowball. She leaned in first outside the Byers house, he didn’t move, but then later he followed through and kissed her at the Snowball.

It’s like he let her lead the way in their relationship and make things romantic, but hesitated whenever she tried to kiss him, only ever going through with it when he could control the situation and give her a smaller kiss. Perhaps because it’s not something he really enjoys?

How did he actually feel during the s3 make-outs? Did he interrupt the first one with singing and goofing off because he wanted a break, because El is the one who wanted to kiss and he just goes with it because it’s expected of him and he’s trying to fulfill that duty to her?

I respect bisexual Mike interpretations (I am bisexual myself, I know we could use the representation and there’s no denying the canon potential) but I just truly feel like things have been presented in such a way that it would not surprise me if Mike is gay and the whole thing with El comes down to him giving into heteronormative expectations placed on him and responding to El’s initial attempts to start romantic moments. It would be a very compelling kind of storyline to explore.

And I really don’t know what to make of the fact that she is the one who leans in first in 1x07 when she honestly shouldn’t know what a kiss even is yet—unless it’s just that she was trying to be close to him, maybe not even going for a kiss, but he interpreted it that way because of what it looks like to a worldly-informed perspective, which is why he actually went for it in the next episode, thinking she wanted their relationship to be like that? But she seemed surprised (if happy) when he kissed her, so quite probably she didn’t really expect that either.

From Mike’s perspective, El was the one who started things romantically by appearing to move in for a kiss first, but from her perspective he’s the one who started it by actually kissing her first (because she never meant to?)

Maybe they’re both playing a very long game of heterosexual chicken with each other because they think it’s what the other wants 💀

Like now I’m not actually sure how much of their relationship from El’s side is true romantic feelings towards Mike, and how much is built on the fact that he’s the first person her own age she met outside the lab, and he kissed her and promised to go to the dance which was not like a brother/sister thing, and she watched all those romantic drama shows while she was alone in the cabin etc etc.

So how much is actual romantic attraction vs just “this is what she’s been taught is normal and is what their relationship is supposed to be like, it’s all she knows.” She told Max she doesn’t know if he’s a good kisser because he’s her first bf. She admits herself that she doesn’t have the experience necessary to compare her feelings for Mike against anyone else, so how are WE supposed to trust that she has genuinely romantic feelings/attraction towards him vs. her just accepting what she assumes she’s supposed to be doing?

Like I just don’t see the canonical proof/evidence that they love each other romantically when it could just as easily be explained by lack of other experience for them to compare their feelings against. (Just because they SAY “I love you” means nothing in a show where “show don’t tell” is important.)

My god just let them try to be FRIENDS first this has turned into an incomprehensible rant bc I love these 2 little characters so much and they deserve so much better than to be guided by heteronormative expectations from such a young age that they don’t even get to decide for themselves what they truly want and truly like. BOTH of them.

[your-greatest-queen]

I posted 1,758 times in 2022

That's 1,656 more posts than 2021!

119 posts created (7%)

1,639 posts reblogged (93%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@chemicaljacketslut

@jinglebellcock

@aquilacalvitium

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I tagged 241 of my posts in 2022

#stranger things - 10 posts

#pokemon - 8 posts

#byler - 8 posts

#lgbtq+ - 8 posts

#mental health - 6 posts

#digital art - 6 posts

#thank you - 6 posts

#will byers - 4 posts

#bisexual - 4 posts

#fishfishfishfishfish🦈 - 4 posts

Longest Tag: 125 characters

#me in the middle of june this year: let's hurry this the fuck up okay i want my heart to be ripped out by the duffer brothers

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

I missed week one, might still do it and post it later, but here's my attempt at a Parrot Waxcap for week two of Funguary:

33 notes - Posted February 11, 2022

#4

Season 2? You mean the most byler-packed season of the show? Good to know :)

43 notes - Posted November 22, 2022

#3

The fact that El told Mike straight up in her letters that she had no idea what Will's painting was because he wouldn't show anybody and then Mike still believed Will when he told him that El had dictated what he painted and that she kind of commissioned the piece in his "You're the Heart" speech.

Why on earth would El commission a painting of the boys in a D&D setting all together like they were all those years ago before she even knew them? And if she did ask Will to paint it, why wouldn't she be holding on to it or have given it to Mike as soon as possible?

Why would she commission a piece that didn't include her or anything that represents her and Mike's relationship?

Knowing El, if she had requested a painting it would have included Joyce, Hopper, and Max and it would have been all of them being together in peaceful times (eating eggos, obviously).

It was Will's painting. He made it while remembering the good old days. Before the upsidedown, before the girlfriends, before Mike drifted away, before the Byers left Hawkins, before he was alone.

The painting was so clearly a love letter, but it definitely wasn't from El.

46 notes - Posted July 16, 2022

#2

Leo Valdez really took on an actual goddess after having only learned of his powers less than a week earlier and was winning

49 notes - Posted March 16, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

So I just read this post and it got me thinking about how Mike may have His Realization and these are my quick thoughts on it-

-----

El is breaking up with Mike and it turns mutual and while they're having a very sweet, very platonic moment, Mike asks kinda offhandedly, "if you wanted to break up, why did you have Will make that painting for me?"

And El looks at him, a bit confused and goes "I didn't? I've never even seen his painting."

Mike looks puzzled and so she asks what the painting is and he shows her and kinda explains the talk he and Will had and El looks at him sympathetically and like he's an idiot as he mumbles about "why would he lie?" and "this doesn't make any sense."

And she's just like *stern look* "Mike."

And he goes "yeah?"

And she says "friends don't lie, he just wasn't talking about me."

And Mike's face goes blank as he processes what she means, but the realization moment washes over him very obviously and El pats his shoulder and says "go."

-

And so he immediately goes to find Will and Will is like "hey, what's up?" when he sees Mike looking like a lost puppy at him.

And Mike just kinda looks at him for a minute before finally saying "El doesn't need me."

And Will, being the absolute sweetheart he is, tries to immediately comfort him but Mike is like, "no, Will. El doesn't need me. And she didn't ask you to make that painting."

And then Will goes quiet because oh god, oh no.

And Mike says "it was from you. You were talking about you. It was all you."

And Will just breaks and says through the tears "it's always been you."

And Mike steps toward him and smiles that dorky little smile and says "it's always been us."

62 notes - Posted August 18, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[sleepy-moron]

This might be an extremely strange sounding take, but just hear me out it's actually relevant I swear:

Let's talk about Velma from Scooby Doo mystery incorporated. I know I know I'll explain why later just trust me for now

This specific incarnation of Velma spends a lot of the early portion of the show having Shaggy as her love interest/boyfriend. While dating Velma is extremely possessive of him and very forward about wanting to spend "alone time"(which for the sake of this comparison we will draw the line at this implying anything more adult than making out for the sake of my sanity), tries to sneak around to prevent Scooby from finding out about their relationship because she fears he will try to keep them apart. She also devotes a lot of time and energy to try to get Shaggy to both eat and dress better, and when they eventually break us she still holds a sizable grudge against Scooby for it. She is upset and frustrated when they break up, but when Shaggy suggests they eventually get back together Velma is the one to say they probably shouldn't.

Now, Mike shares much of this behavior when he dates El. He actively keeps her in the cabin so they can kiss, makes excuses to separate from group hangouts to kiss and makes sure the rest of the group knows that's what they're doing, gets annoyed and attempts to disobey Hopper telling him to stop hanging around El all the time, objects to Max spending so much time with El and to her encouraging El to try new things,and at least partially blames Max for El breaking up with him. Despite all of this and the fact he straight up says he loves El while they're broken up, Mike doesn't seem to reciprocate the kiss or actually want to get back together with El at the end of the season.

Now some of you have probably figured out where I'm going with this by now. The co-creators of mystery incorporated have gone on record to state that Velma was written to intentionally come off as toxic and a bit out of character when dating Shaggy, because she was always intended to be a lesbian in this continuity and she had not come to terms with this yet; however the show was airing in 2010 so they were very limited to how much they could show this.

This makes Velma a very good example of a well done repressed gay character, because she isn't a walking caricature of every bad gay stereotype who continually insists she's straight. There are plenty of people who aren't straight in real life that don't have everyone in their lives figuring out they're gay before they do. It also makes for a very realistic twist about this character because it recontextualizes their behavior without contradicting their established characterization. It keeps the shock factor while also not feeling like it came completely out of nowhere, because when you really sit down and think about it it makes complete sense.

This makes Mike a very interesting case study, because even if you don't believe that he was written to be a repressed gay character, you can't really deny the fact that he would probably be a very convincing one. If this were to be revealed in season four it would: explain and make the audience sympathize with how he acted in season three which many fans stated is one of the worst parts of the season, would be a big twist for casual audiences without doing a game of thrones season eight, and would make him a big departure from the standard "leader of a group of plucky preteen heroes" character archetype he is based on and we know how much stranger things likes to mess with these archetypes.

[findingjoynweirdstuff]

Dream SMP Recap (December 6/2020) - End of Week

What started as a sad but calm day ended with a revolution where morality was questioned and blood was shed. The server’s first canon death since the three lives rule was implemented occurred, and all hell broke loose.

Dream’s motivations have started to be laid bare, but whether or not he’s in the wrong or right remains foggy as ever in a world where everyone’s morals are gray.

Also, the prison’s construction continues and some strange red corruptions called “Blood Vines” have sprouted up on the server.

A short summary of the week’s total events is at the end of the post.

---

- HBomb hosts Niki and Wilbur’s L’Cast

- Fundy continues work on the chess board

- Ranboo is leaving a book with messages to communicate with Tommy

- Fundy and Ranboo visit Tommy and help him through the Nether to find blaze rods. It’s a very...interesting...time... Fundy fills Tommy in on the fact that Dream is officially recognizing L’manburg as a country.

- Tommy falls in lava and loses all his stuff

- Then he burns to death

- Then he falls in lava and loses all his stuff again

- He FINALLY gets an ender chest

- Lazar asks him for help since he’d fallen in lava and needed help getting out. As Tommy does so, Lazar questions why Tommy hasn’t turned against L’manburg. Tommy says it’s because Tubbo is there, but Lazar points out that Tubbo was the one who exiled him.

- Ghostbur comes on and says he has a gift.

- Tommy attempts to rescue Lazar from the depths of the lava pit. Techno starts arguing with him.

- Tommy falls in lava and loses all his stuff again. He gives up on helping Lazar, who is understandably annoyed at him.

- Philza joins the call wondering wtf is happening and why Tommy keeps dying, but Tommy just ends stream

- Psyche! After credits scene. Ghostbur asks Tommy to return to Logstedshire so he dies in lava to fast-travel back. Ghostbur gives Tommy a lodestone compass named “Your Tubbo” that points back to L’manburg at all times. Tommy puts the compass in his ender chest right next to the discs, saying he’ll keep it close to his heart.

- Thunder’s frustrated that Tommy got exiled exiled because the Prank War he was setting up between Dream and Tommy can no longer happen and Thunder’s great villain arc has been cancelled - he is no longer a villain now.

- Now, he wants to do the clay prank to George instead to try and get Dream and George to turn on each other as revenge for Dream burning his house.

- Puffy builds Tommy a second Christmas Tree.

--- Note: From this point on I tried to include more specific details than normal since it’s an important and confusing event ---

- Quackity declares war on the Dream SMP from Mexican L’manburg. He gets George, Sapnap and Karl on to help. He’s rigged TNT under Eret’s castle bridge and wants to invoke the same ideas as the Mexican Revolution. He wants to put M.L. on the map by staging an assassination and using George’s dethronement as an excuse to start a political movement.

- Sapnap wants to take on Technoblade but Quackity tells him that they have to take things step by step and that it’s an extremely bad idea to do it now.

- Eret asks Hbomb to be one of his knights. HBomb agrees.

- George wants his kingship back 

The explosion goes to plan with H and Puffy as witnesses.

--- ---

CANON DEATH: KARL 

Cause: Death by explosion and falling

--- ---

- George distracts Eret while Quackity, Sapnap and Karl steal his throne. Punz joins Eret’s side as one of his other knights.

 - The M.L. side reconvenes in L’manburg and drink invisibility potions. Dream is in Mexican L’manburg. He is tearing the dirt to shreds. Meanwhile, Eret gives a speech to his Knights as they head to Party Island. Dream, alone, is invisible in Boomerville.

- Sapnap gets Dream to log (he says it’s lag). The Dream SMP faction blows up M.L. with TNT. The Mexican L’manburgians kill Puffy. 

- They want to head to the Holy Land. Dream says he wants to talk. They collect at the Church.

- They argue. Dream threatens to kill Quackity permanently and make sure Mexican L’manburg can never rise again. (Also Karl’s acting is genuinely good holy shit)

- Sapnap tells George that he thinks Dream has completely turned against them, and that they’re better off disowning him.

---

Dream: “You’re painting me as this tyrant when I’m just trying to maintain peace.”

He refers to it as his castle, his throne. He calls the people of M.L. “terrorists.”

---

He says that in his eyes, Mexican L’manburg does not even exist, and that he’ll speak to Tubbo about making sure he sees that it doesn’t exist as well.

M.L. argues that putting a human life above a few blocks of gold is more important.

Dream refers to himself as the “ruler” of the Dream SMP, the “leader,” letting it slip that “king” is a meaningless title.

He says that Quackity is causing the most problems, the number one “enemy” of the SMP right now. Similar to how he referred to Tommy defying him.

He says that Quackity is not like Tubbo, who is a “fair, just ruler” and that is why New L’manburg is recognized and Mexican L’manburg is not. Tubbo would never do what Quackity did. Wilbur and Jschlatt and Tommy would. He says that he waited until New L’manburg had a reasonable leader to recognize it.

- “Un-killing” is implied to be a thing, where the person who gave you your canon death can take it back. 

---

 Dream: “The king is a figurehead and he knows that!”

Eret: “I do.”

Quackity: “So that’s what you are Eret -- a puppet--”

Dream: “Yes! -- no he’s not a puppet-- h-he has no power and I have - and - it’s the same thing and--”

(Dream proceeds to deny Eret being a “puppet”)

---

- Quackity decides to dissolve Mexican L’manburg for a clean slate and call it something else. He wants the server to have a precedent of establishing new countries without having to go to Dream for recognition every time.

- Eret agrees to recognize Quackity’s new country if they apologize and return the throne.

--- ---

CANON UNDEATHING: KARL (?)*

* Dream says that the death is still canon later since plot was based around it. I don’t know what Karl considers his death count to be? 

--- ---

- Sapnap declares that he no longer wants to fight Techno but Dream instead. He says he wants to slay Dream in front of everyone.

- Overall, Dream and Eret declare it a “failed coup” and say that the destruction is just a consequence of “what happens when you don’t plan anything” but Quackity is satisfied that his new country has been “put on the map.” 

- Quackity declares the country to be named “El Rapids” in honor of Cedar Rapids.

- Punz no longer wants to be an official Knight.

- Quackity misses Ghostbur and wants to speak with him. He tells Ghostbur about the war. Ghostbur asks if it was a revolution - Quackity says yes! Ghostbur also informs Quackity that he burnt the sacred texts - How to Sex 2 - in lava.

- Karl streams with the intention of rebuilding and preparing for Pokimane’s visit

- Karl steals Eret’s Museum Llamas and gets caught in the act. Fortunately this doesn’t spark up the war again. They take a llama to Party Island.

- They get into trouble at Boomerville and Lazar joins.

- Dream comes online and asks Sam about the prison’s progress. Bad gets annoyed at Sam for destroying the beachfront property value, and he didn’t authorize the seizure of the land. Dream is there helping to shovel but Bad wants him to stop. Bad is angry about the prison being built and starts shouting at Sam.

- Bad tries to negotiate with Dream. Dream refers to the prison as containing a “prisoner.” Singular. And that the prisoner would have nothing, and Bad would be in charge of helping to guard it. There are going to be multiple “layers.”

- The prison will be in the middle of the ocean bit, and Bad would have a terraformed beachfront property. All of the land would be considered property of the Badlands - including the prison.

- People are going to have to go through PORTALS to escape the prison.

- Bad starts to come around to the prison idea. Dream tells Sam he thinks they need more hands to help, potentially Ant and Eret.

- A strange, giant red “egg” has appeared in the corner of Bad’s statue room. He feels a strange aura coming from it, and he’s unable to bring himself to break it.

- Dream says Eret can’t help with the prison but he can help make the beach nicer. Bad says he might want to put Tommy in the prison but Dream says no, Tommy’s already exiled. So the prison isn’t for Tommy.

- Once the prisoner is in there, Dream says they would only be able to be let out “by the server.” It’s got certain secrets that only Dream and Sam know about. Sam says that he could potentially escape from it, but it will be so impenetrable that even if you know the secrets it would still be difficult to escape from.

- Bad shows Dream the Egg. Dream gets creeped out by it.

- Another Red Corruption has appeared near Hutt’s Pizza, and another at the Mansion. Everyone swears that it wasn’t there before, and there wasn’t enough time for someone to place all of it manually in the time that they were down there.

- Bad stabs Dream for trying to “hurt it.” He likes it for some reason.

- Bad asks Dream about who the prison’s for. Dream says “if you can’t kill somebody, you need to lock them up.” He mentions that it’s one of the more powerful people on the server, someone who either provides a threat now or in the future. He has someone in mind.

--- ---

Dream explains to Bad and Sam that the reason he switched sides in the Manberg-Pogtopia War was because Schlatt gave him something.

And that thing is “a card up his sleeve” until he needs it.

A book of great value.

It puts Dream in danger if people know of it, but also gives Dream power.

The “most valuable thing on the server.”

Something pertaining to the prison.

Something where they wouldn’t believe Dream if he told them what he was given.

--- ---

- The corruption grows AGAIN despite Dream, Sam and Bad all being in the middle of the ocean

- Another corruption appears on Tommy’s Power Tower

- The water level in New L’manburg has risen again, covering George and Quackity’s mushroom house

- The prison is going to be as tall as a MOUNTAIN

- Dream proposes the idea of Bad giving him the disc to piss off Tommy. Bad says that Skeppy has it so he’ll have to ask some other time. He might trade some information about Schlatt’s book in return for the disc.

- Bad says he likes the name a dono came up with for the corruption -- “Blood Vines”

- Dream and Sam removed the Blood Vines on the Mansion to Bad’s dismay. Sam burns the Vines and Bad goes on a murderous rampage against him.

- Technoblade got a “Bee our guest” achievement

- Dream burns down the Eiffel Tower again.

- The prison will be reinforced with 15 layers of obsidian, and the guards will have Ender Pearl Stasis Chambers that are alarm-activated.

- The Blood Vines have sprouted up from Schlatt’s Grave.

The prison’s unofficial name as of right now is “Pandora’s Vault,” but it is subject to change.

Upcoming events:

- Karl will be touring Pokimane around soon

Potentially Scrapped:

- Elytra Challenge

- Bad and Skeppy’s plan to burn the disc *

* Bad mentioned it on stream, but it’s unclear if it’ll still happen

END OF WEEK RECAP:

11/30: Fundy bonds with Wilbur, Cursed Lore Day

12/01: Creation of Mexican L’manburg, Girl Dream visits, Mexican Manhunt

Note: not sure what’s up with 12/02. Probably messed up the dates? Whoops.

12/03: Sleepy Bois Family splits in half, dethroning of George

12/04: Day of the Exile, Badlands start to divide

12/05: Tommy’s first full day in Logsted, Sean’s visit

12/06: The Mexican L’manburg Revolution, end of M.L., start of El Rapids

---

!!! SPOILERS AHEAD !!! 

- Wilbur had two special lodestone compasses in his inventory. He didn’t want HBomb to see, but H looked anyway.

[urmomsmainbitch]

wonder woman

requested: yes / no

pairing: max mayfield x fem!reader

warnings: pining, angst, swearing, mentions of death, mentions of school, omg the writing is shit i’m so sorry

a/n: i love lucas so much (based off of i wish you liked girls by abbey glover)

i grew pretty attached to you, like a dog on a lead / thought you were everything i could have ever dreamed of, and more than i could ever need

The phone was cool against her ear, ringing for the third time as she twisted your fingers into the cord, tapping her foot impatiently. This was the second time that she had tried Max that evening; once before dinner, and now once after. She’s probably still eating, one part of her said. No, she’s probably off making out with Lucas, the other said. Nibbling on her lip, Y/N leaned into the doorframe, letting her entire body slump against the wall as she slid down, before landing on the cold hardwood floor. Max had only started taking this long to answer recently – once she and Lucas had become official, and more serious. Ever since high school started, you never saw Lucas without Max, and Max without Lucas.

“C’mon, Maxie,” Y/N murmured, tapping her finger and trying the girl again, looking at the watch on her wrist. She’d even waited half an hour after Max normally ate dinner, hoping to catch her so they could talk to each other. They hadn’t been doing that as often, the redhead never wanting to spend a waking moment away from her boyfriend. Y/N saw it, she supposed, Lucas wasn’t a bad looking guy, and he was nice. But he was nice. That was it. He wasn’t smart, or funny, or entertaining. He was just there. Just a phase, she kept telling herself, Lucas is just a phase. But what after Lucas? What happened when Max finally took notice of Matt Donahue in her math class, who’s always making googly eyes at her? Or, what if she just happened to meet Sam Davis’ eyes in English? What then? Lucas would be forgotten, sure, but he’d be replaced in nearly no time.

On her third attempt, she hung up the phone, slamming it into the receiver. That was the second time this week.

always thought you looked at me differently than any other you’d see / thought you were aching to see me at any, any possibility

“So, what should we do?” Max asked her, bright eyes looking between her and El, who was sitting on the other end of the bed, laying on her stomach as she flipped through a comic book. El didn’t used to come to their sleepovers. Come to think of it, Y/N couldn’t think of the most recent time that she had a sleepover with Max alone. They used to have them all of the time: giggling under the covers into the early hours of the morning, leaning on one another as they flipped through those comic books. Max’s loved copy of Wonder Woman, which used to rotate between her and Y/N’s houses, was now sitting on Lucas’ shelf. “We haven’t seen each other in forever. Especially not you, El!”

Y/N frowned. She saw El last week. She hadn’t spoken to her in two weeks. What happened to the whole, ‘I’m your best friend and you’re mine, Y/N/N!’ and the ‘I love you so much, and we’re best friends! I’d do anything for you, Y/N!’

“I’ve just been so busy, it’s crazy! I haven’t had any time with field hockey and band and everything like that.” Max laughed. Her face got all crinkled up, her freckles blending into one another as her blue eyes teared up with joy. It would have been gorgeous, had it not been a lie. Max used to frequently skip hockey practices to hang out, and since she hadn’t gotten team captain, her practices had decreased. Max used to see her whenever she could, but of course, now she’d spend her time with Lucas, or with El, or with anybody other than her. Max used to put her on a pedestal, but now, it looks like anybody who shows her any attention at all gets all of hers.

i could be your bitch and tell you a million reasons why being with me would be much better than with any other guy / i could tell you I’ll treat you right and never wrong / tell you in my arms is where you belong / but I know that you can’t change someone / so I’ll just leave you alone

The next Friday, Max was back in Y/N’s bed, flipping through a magazine while music played through the radio. Her beautiful red hair was falling into strands in front of her face, framing her gorgeous freckled pale skin, blue eyes piercing through the dimmed overhead lights. She looked like a goddess, her entire lanky body stretched out over the covers in a way that she could stare at for hours – watching the way that her face crinkled up when she read a funny entry, or seeing the way she nibbled on her bottom lip when she was interested.

“I don’t know what I should do for Lucas for our second anniversary.”

Y/N’s heart stopped. Of course she’d talk about Lucas. “Well, what does he like?”

“You know,” she smiled, folding her magazine and sitting up to look at the other girl. Y/N was walking out of the bathroom, tucking her hair behind her ear as she put Max’s next day outfit on the chair, folded neatly. “You know as much as I do about him. We both see him everyday.”

“Yeah, but you see him more than I do,” Y/N grimaced. “I don’t see him that much anymore, and I feel like I haven’t seen you in forever.”

“I feel like a shitty girlfriend.” Max avoided her statement. I haven’t seen you in forever – she’d even said it outright and then got ignored! You never talk to me anymore, and it’s always ‘Lucas this and Lucas that! I’m here, too!’

“You’re never a shitty girlfriend.”

“I turned him down to hang out tonight. The weekend of our anniversary, Y/N. You can’t even lie and tell me that’s a good look,” Max said, looking unbelieving. Her brows furrowed together. “I turn him down all of the time when I hang out with you and El. It makes me feel so terrible, especially because I see you so much.”

Y/N knew that she should shut up. She knew that she shouldn’t have said what she did, and she knew that there was absolutely no reason to do what she did. The words came out faster than she ever thought that they ever could, and she wanted nothing more than to crawl into a pit and die once the words left her lips. But,a part of her wanted to scream it from the rooftops, a part of her wanting to shout it again and again. It’d been bottled up for months and months, and it was twenty three months, three weeks, and five days after it had happened in the first place that she realized that it needed to be said sooner or later. “That’s a fucking lie, and we both know it. Don’t bullshit me, Max.”

“I’m not bullshitting you?” It was phrased like a question, and Max looked like she had just been accused of something much worse. “I see you all the time–”

“Yeah, see, that’s what the lie is,” Y/N chuckled, sitting down, putting the pile on her lap. The feeling of rejection that had been sitting in the pit of ehr stomach for nearly two years now was bubbling up and up, and the words were spilling out of her mouth before she could stop them. “He’s just a stupid boy! He’s not funny, he’s not smart, he’s not entertaining, and he’s not worth it! You’ve been blowing me off for months, Max, and I’m so sick and tired of pretending like I don’t notice everything!”

Y/N kept going.

“You ignore me again and again, and we both know that anybody would be so much better than Lucas of all people!”

“Like who?! Lucas is so much better–”

“Like me!” Max finally fell silent, the color draining from her face as she dropped her magazine on the bedspread. Her hands trembled, and her eyes glassed in only a few moments. The ugly monster that had been hiding under the bed, in the closet, and behind her in her own shadow had finally come out; shrouding the entire room in a thick and uncomfortable silence. Every word broke a deeper part of Y/N, and cracked a part of Max. She almost stopped, but at this rate, who knew when she would finally be left alone with her long enough to dare say them again? “Me, Max! You act so insightful, wise one, and then you fucking shit all over anything I say and do, and it hurts me every fucking day that I fall morw and more in love with you when all you do is ignore my fucking existence for some guy who doesn’t even know who Jane Austen is!” Her voice trembled with every word, and as the house fell quieter and quieter, the sheer stupidity of the whole idea grew and grew.

The room remained silent as Max gathered her things. She didn’t bother to take her new change of clothes, now on the floor. They would go in a shoebox in the closet, along with the pictures and notebooks and comics. She ignored the new friendship journal that was sitting on the vanity, untouched and unused by them. It never would be – it would be sold at a yardsale. Y/N met her eyes as Max picked up the Wonder Woman copy that was sitting on the bed, pleading her not to take it. Don’t take this, she begged, please don’t take this. Leave me this, please. Max picked it up, and put it in her bag.

That would be the Mayfield-Sinclair children’s first comic book – the one that would sit in their library until their perfect little house on the cul-de-sac sold.

and i know you don’t swing that way, but that won’t take my feelings away / oh i wish you liked girls; oh i wish you liked girls / girls like me