#liv rambles

[livrere-green]

Wait, I have a question

If Zuko is Zuzu, Lu Ten is Lulu?

[barbieaemond]

Ok but seriously why there are so few Alysmond fics? She's a witch. He's a spoiled prince, younger than her. And they're in a haunted castle. What's not clicking

[olibavee]

thinking abt the whole thing in harvest moon SNES where seeing random wild animals increases your happiness score, like birds in the morning or foxes in the winter...it really is like that. saw an itty bitty bunny this morning and for a split second, everything was okay.

[uhthor]

nobody fucking move…. oh my god we are SO BACK

[livsmessydoodles]

thinking about this scene today

this scene alone convinces me that byler is endgame bc you cannot make will actively say that hes not gonna fall in love and then write a whole plotline abt him being in love with mike.... just for it to not be reciprocated???

will is the only party member who's completely unexperienced with romantic relationships, which of course has to do with the fact that he's gay in the 80's, but this is a TV show. all of this is fictional so they can take whatever route they want with these characters, and making will continue to stay alone and suffer through unrequited love would be awful storytelling, especially when people claim that will moving on from his feelings would bring character development and growth.

wills feelings for mike arent there just to "show his growth". weve seen this kid go through hell and back yet even with everything kicking him down he stays strong and kind. hes the most selfless character in the show and always puts others needs before his own. in s4, they put a lot of emphasis in these character traits of his, and they're always picturing his love for mike as something selfless and pure.

now if his feelings are not reciprocated, how does this teach will a lesson that leads to character growth?? he already doesn't expect anything. life has shown him time and time again that he always gets the short end of the stick, why would he think this is any different?? making him have feelings for his best friend just to get rejected would just be a nail in the coffin, reaffirming to him that no matter what hes not worthy of ever getting what he wishes. this isnt character growth at all.

but if his feelings ARE requited, that gives us a twist to the story we havent seen. we would get to see actual growth for will, him learning to give himself value and realize that he DOES deserve happiness!! instead of leading into the expected spiral of bad things keeping up the consistency with everything else that has happened to will so far, finally giving him one good thing leads to us seeing a shift in his whole nature, and wed see him dealing with things he hasnt dealt with before!!! GROWTH!!!

besides why would they make such an intricate complicated storyline.... just to lead to a rejection we all saw coming? the GA expects him to get rejected. his feelings not being reciprocated would not be any surprise. but twisting those expectations in a way to shock the GA AND give wills character the happiness he so deserves after being through so much..... now THAT would be world shattering and a satisfying ending to both the viewers and will himself!!

this scene establishes a clear subversion trope, making us aware of how will believes he's never finding love, just for the show to later on subvert expectations and reward will with the love he deserves and never thought hed get🫶

[salford-blues]

Driver! Reader Masterlist

f1 x driver!reader

General

Intro - background on driver!reader

Further background - p2

The Origins

My cat is a demon (smau)

Dressed to impress (smau)

2024

January

Party in the U.S.A - Happy New Year (smau)

Snow Much Fun (smau)

Funscape (smau)

February

Flowers Follow (smau)

[snowangeldotmp3]

so in Rebel Robin, though it’s focused on Robin and acknowledges the weird things that happen in Hawkins (will and barb’s disappearances, respectively), the author, A.R. Capetta, does a really good job of building Hawkins. and by building Hawkins, i mean they make it very clear that it could’ve been Robin.

in chapter fifteen of the book, November 6th, 1983, Robin is at her friend Milton’s house. They’re hanging out, watching MTV, eating dinner, etc. Robin has to go home at some point, and her only mode of transportation is a bike. Here is the scene where she bikes home.

“...There’s a rustle in the undergrowth at the side of the road. I try to ignore it. I do whatever I can to keep the strange skittering sound from sending nervous flicks of fear across my skin. I ride faster, my wheels now blazing a straight arrow down the road. I hum a little bit of the first song I can find in my head, “Hungry Like the Wolf,” but the rustle seems to get louder in response. I shout the lyrics at the top of my lungs.” (pg 120.) “Headlights pierce the night behind me, and the rustling goes quiet as a car passes. Right when I let myself believe it’s gone, it comes back. Louder. Closer. There’s another sound beneath it, soft and pulsing. Something like blood rushing through a heart or breath dragged up a windpipe. I pull onto my street and by the time I drop my bike in the driveway, I'm running scared and I don't care who knows it. I sprint to the door--thank God it's unlocked--slam it shut, twist the lock behind me, and push my back against the solid wood." (pg. 121.) "...I pick it up, hoping for a voice. Any voice. I hear a second of hard breathing and I think that whatever just happened to me is happening to someone else in Hawkins." (pg. 121-122.)

After this, the power goes out, starting with the Byers' house (as we've seen in the show), and then Robin's goes out fairly quickly after her experience (which leads me to believe that she doesn't live that far from Will. Especially since it seems like the Demogorgon was trailing after her, too.) You could replace Robin in some of these scenes with Will, and it would read almost exactly the same as Will's disappearance. It got me thinking, though, and there are two ways that this train of thought has taken me, and now you all have to hear about it.

The first train of thought is this: What if Robin had been taken instead of Will? What would that look like? Who would search for her? she's not friends with Steve or Nancy or Jonathan at this point. (in fact, she actively resents two of these people.) Besides Milton and maybe Kate, I doubt her friends would've searched for her. Dash is a mix of Tommy H and season 1 Steve, and his control over Kate is reminiscent of Steve and Nancy. (which is the point, i know.) but in this case, Barb still would've disappeared, meaning that Nancy still had to search for Barb and fight some Demogorgons. I doubt her parents would've done too much, as she states that they "don't believe in worrying." Not only that, but her parents have admitted to her that she was an accident, "My parents had me by accident (nobody gets pregnant in a VW van on purpose)..." (pg. 40.) and she's described by her parents as "not a hard child to raise" and through several scenes in the book Robin indicates that she's practically raised herself, her parents are nothing short of neglectful, only parenting when they absolutely have to. But this question haunts me because it's one that changes the trajectory of the whole show. because if this is the case, does Nancy still find Jonathan? do they really go fight the Demogorgon together? do they go searching for Barb and then find Eleven? what then of Robin? Do they go in search of Barb, only to find a dead Barb and a barely alive Robin? and what about Hopper and Joyce? Furthermore, what would happen in a season 2 situation with the Mind Flayer? Who would be there to notice if she was acting differently--possessed by the Mind Flayer? certainly not her parents.

what this train of thought proves to me is that, at least, in the first two seasons, could not progress without a character like Joyce because her worry and love for her son drive her to the actions that put this plot in motion. If Joyce had acted anything like Robin's parents, the story would have fallen apart.

The second train of thought (and a much more fun train one) is this: What if the Demogorgon got both Will and Robin? They both disappear into the Upside Down, trying to survive. I figure that Robin would do what she can to protect both of them, considering that when she first meets Will, the first thing she wants to do is to comfort him and tell him that life gets better, but the second thing she wishes she could do is to run away from Hawkins. So now Hawkins has three missing kids; Will, Robin, and Barb. I imagine that much of the season would be the same. I would also imagine that Will and Robin traversing the Upside Down would've been a great dynamic to see. Perhaps it's Robin who's trying to contact Joyce through the phone or figures out that the lights can send messages through the Upside Down--prompting Will to send his messages to Joyce. When Eleven has to find them in the sensory deprivation, she finds them and tells Joyce and Hopper that there's someone there with Will, hiding the both of them from the Demogorgon. When Joyce and Hopper finally find Will, they find Robin there too, barely alive but Hopper grabs her as well and they make it out. I would assume that Joyce would thank Robin profusely for keeping an eye on Will and that Robin would practically be adopted by Joyce.

I'd also like to think season 2 would've been wayyy different. The Mind Flayer takes one of them or the other (or both) and opens a whole new world of possibilities.

Sorry, this post got out of hand; I was skimming Rebel Robin and didn't notice this until I skimmed it. Anyways, feel free to add to this post, I came across this in the book and knew i had to talk about it lol!

[jjsmarijuana]

waiting for ppl to realize that pope is actually so hot and cute. :3 he is literally such a cutie patootie, a smart one too!!

[liv45no]

Most teenagers start off with Wattpad, then they decide to see if ao3 has any kick.

It does.

[livrere-green]

Here, dear @bryverros just make me think too much about this lmao

So... Is Zuko Disney Princess coded? Let's see.

He's canonically part of a royal family, so the title is there, no marriage needed.

He has superpowers (firebending) and a particular ability his really good at (swordfighting), you know like Elsa with ice and Mérida with archery.

Another thing he has in common with Mérida is the fact he doesn't agree with his father about stuff and he doesn't know how to shut up about it (:

He got the evil parent AND the evil sister (at least Cinderella was adopted)

He talks to animals (yk the frog thing), animals trust him too (Appa), and he got a magical pet (Ruk).

He had an incredible glow up.

Let's say that Iroh is his fairy godmother, gives him good advice, helps him prepare for his dates and always reminds him that he is a prince even at his lowest.

He is fighting for his honor (I mean, if you told the guy he would get back his honor going to the matchmaker, he would've been first in line, doing way better than Mulan with the tea thing)

He would cry looking at his reflection while this verse sounds in the background "If I wear a mask, I can fool the world, but I cannot fool my heart".

Being Lee for a month show him that he was meant to fulfil his role as a part of the royal family (customer service/domestic work does that to people)

He got a love interest that fell for him with zero knowledge about who he was: his title or his past or real identity, so if you want to eat up the classic Disney princess romance. There you go.

He goes through the tantrums, emotional rollercoasters and "the world hates me" moments like a pro.

The change of heart moment happens to him as it happens to most disney princess, and it defines his destiny. So point checked.

He went into a life changing adventure with the first cute and friendly guy that stood in front of him (I'm not even explaining more about this).

He gets the throne at the end of the show (in this point we only got Elsa, and I'm sure Zuko also considered moving to the forest after being Fire Lord for a year, but his sister wasn't as reliable as Anna).

His canon love interest is a childhood love that ended up saving his life and that's so princess coded that there's no need to give an example, it just makes sense.

I think there are things I'm not addressing, but for now this is enough to conclude that... yeah, he is sooo princess coded.

[barbieaemond]

[olibavee]

when u finish a really good game or book and suddenly reality closes in on u and u are just sitting there wishing it wasn't over yet but it's over and u have to deal w it. and other such feelings

[uhthor]

the marvels was an absolutely delightful movie FULL of lesbians and i loved every second

[livsmessydoodles]

honestly i think we moved on too quickly from this

like what do you MEAN they named the track that starts playing during the byler fight RIGHT AFTER MIKE SAYS "we're friends! we're friends" IN THE CLOSET??????? IN??? THE???? CLOSET?????? LIKE HOW BLATANT CAN YOU BE😭😭😭

stranger things has always named their leitmotifs/soundtracks very purposefully and something they love to play around with is titles with double meanings... whenever a track is played in more than one scene they always make sure to put in a name that works for all the contexts its used in

THIS TRACK SPECIFICALLY is used in two continuous scenes: mike and will's fight, and el crying alone in the staff room. they make it clear in the show where el is – they even make a point of showing the little board saying "STAFF ROOM" before going in and showing el alongside the brooms and cleaning material. placing those there DOES give the room the same function as a closet, so it justifies calling it a closet even after explicitly showing us its really not one, giving them plausible deniability

and putting into context how the name fits el's scene, there's really no other explanation to how it fits mike and will's scene other than the queer implications. especially when we consider at what moment the track starts playing in the first place:

right after mike claims he and will are just friends in a weirdly defensive tone.... and we know that a character claiming that their relationship with another character is platonic is a common romantic trope that stranger things itself makes use of frequently.... hmm🤨

and then we get to the most damning part of it all imo, the PARENTHESES

when they put "(At Rink O Mania)" in between parentheses, they're very much implying that bringing up rink o mania is simply an afterthought, and that the main, important part of the title is "In the closet". the part in parentheses is 100% connected to el's scene and used as a small explanation for why it fits her scene, by putting context behind the closet phrase to associate it with the location el is in. but when we consider the main title by itself, the phrase "in the closet" is directly associated with the queer phrase to refer to LGBT people who aren't open about their identity.

when they separate that part of the phrase from the specification of rink o mania, the queer implications are undeniable, especially when its such a popularly known phrase. the decision to name it this was completely conscious, and if they wanted to avoid those implications, they could have gone with a name more fitting, and not using the word "closet" altogether since it wouldnt really fit either scene...... yet they stuck to it😭

"In the closet (At Rink O Mania)" is a name just vague enough that if questioned, they could get away with explaining the name by alluring to el (even though shes not really in a closet) but its also specific enough that its obvious what they were actually referring to..... its a smart way of hiding their true intentions while simultaneously tipping us off. duffer brothers i am onto u

[oscarwildebutwilder]

I'm a simple person. Jamie Campbell Bower tells me on twitter to join him on youtube for the launch of his new song and I oblige

[fairysluna]

I've been obsessed with 'So American' by Olivia Rodrigo and my mind tries to find ways to take that song and make it a hotd fanfic, but the only idea that comes to my mind is reader being from Dorne/Oldtown and having cultural shocks with Cregan who lives in the North.

Maybe Winterfell is the UK of Westeros so they drive on the left side of the street, idk.💀