#that was kind of therapeutic

[queenimmadolla]

ALWAYS, ok just a fun little question, I need to know why you’re so drawn to Eddie, JUST GO HAM AND GUSH ABOUT IT BABE

Boy am I glad I fixed (i think) the read more thing because I’ll give you everything I got:

I gotta start this off by saying i had no intentions and no interest in watching stranger things 4 when it premiered. The wait between season 3 and 4 was pretty long, especially because of covid and while i had attempted to keep the interest up, there wasn’t a whole lot of the fandom active until a little before st4 dropped, but the last time i was here, it was dead as hell. And so i left, not ever expecting to come back. then one day, after st4 had started streaming i was just scrolling through twitter and i saw a picture of Eddie. He piqued my interest immediately, the only thing i could equate it to is like when you were in high school, catching sight of someone you never really noticed before and being completely smitten at first sight. I wanted to know more about him, needed to. So i finally started the new season.

One thing that’s important to know before i detail exactly why i became so interested in Eddie is a little background information that i wont go too deep into detail about, but i lost my dad in early 2021. We were very close, he also liked Stranger Things (both of my parents did but we’re not gonna talk about my mom’s favs rn) and our bond only deepened during my late teenage years because of how into 70s and 80s music i was (am, but you’d think I was a 70s girl if you saw me)—like everyone else who was a teenager through st1-3, IT, and watched all the 80s tv shows that aired on like nick at night, tbs, tvland, etc.—and those were my dad’s golden years, he’d been in several bands and a DJ. He played the guitar (left me with so many guitars and a ton of amps) and he could absolutely SHRED it. He appreciated all genres—really, he just loved any song with a good guitar solo—but he loved rock and heavy metal, for obvious reasons (the guitar shredding). He was definitely a metal head, though he didn’t look the part (he’s black, heavily resembled Wesley Snipes especially back then, and you wont ever see a whole lot of aesthetics of black metal heads of the 80s for obvious reasons, and he was rocking the jerry curl lol, but it was a mullet). He was a pretty intimidating looking dude, that never stopped him from singing along to R5 with me and the Jonas brothers, one direction, Kelly clarkson, he’d encourage my love for music in whatever form/genre I liked. He got so excited when I also finally started appreciating the same type of music he did, but that wasn’t til around 2 or 3 years before he passed. And then when he did, i didn’t have any to talk to about it.

And here came Eddie, to the rescue (he and the rest of the Hawkins gang also popped up when I was being iced out of my only friend group at the time and I was really depressed). I liked Eddie, not only because I was INSTANTLY attracted to him, I also liked his style, I liked his hair, his pretty brown eyes (what they do to me should be illegal), how adaptable he was (stern when the hellfire boys needed it, gentle around people he could tell were shaken) and how he encouraged people to maintain their individuality (namely Dustin, while Eddie was really hot in the cafeteria scene, I wasn’t too fond of how he was ragging on people for what they liked, because they weren’t like him—when they weren’t even harassing or bothering him and I didn’t care for how he was unwilling to see Lucas—one of his little sheepies who was finding his way—play in one of the most important games to him but we got more Erica out of it so I’ll forgive him). His voice is also surprisingly comforting to me, I can’t explain why. AND HIS THEATRICS! My god, I could imagine watching him goof around, letting himself collapse onto the floor because of trivial things and just being dramatic and funny, all day long. The best part about him, is that he’s the most real feeling boy out of the “core three” (Steve, Jonathan and Eddie, I don’t count Billy for me because I don’t like him for obvious reasons) to me. See, I’ve been interested in all three of those boys. Jonathan first, then Steve (and still kind of) but my loyalty is to Eddie. Jonathan was first because it was Jonathan VS Steve, you know? The quiet underdog from the wrong side of the tracks, the good boy. it’s a character trope but a good one. And then Steve, former mean rich boy with a heart of gold. Another excellent character trope. Both of those boys are picture perfect Teenage Dreams. Then you have Eddie, who—I can’t explain how I know, I just do—would bark at someone who was bothering him until they were freaked out enough to go away. He’s considered trailer trash, a metal head with messy hair who deals drugs, becomes a friend to freshmen who no one else wants to associate with, starts arguments with the ‘popular’ crowd—that boy is NOT a victim, if Chrissy hadn’t died in that trailer he would have been harassing Jason and his crew more than the other way around lol—talks in weird voices, has weird gimmicks all while comforting sad girls, being chivalrous enough to help them into boats and holding Robin during the quakes in the Upside Down. In my opinion he’s far from a bad boy and difficult to stick into one character trope box. And out of all the boys, he’s the most realistic Teenage Dream. He’s one of a kind but it also feels like I could find him somewhere out in the world.

But my favorite thing about Eddie is the fact that I know I’d be gushing all about my love for him to my dad if he were alive. And my dad wouldn’t mind because he’d be his favorite character, too, with all of their shared interests and how Eddie is kind of the epitome for the crowd he used to be a part of. Sometimes, I entertain the idea it’d feel an awful lot like telling my dad about a boyfriend and him finally like him, my dad hated all my boyfriends and refused to let me tell him ANYTHING about them. Like everyone else who loves Eddie, I wish he was real, but mostly for that reason. Honestly, I’d barely be able to be friends with Eddie. My crush on him would be way too intense for me to like operate as a normal human being around him and with him, I can tell I’d regress to my high school self and love/admire from afar because of my shyness. Those high school crushes were pretty magical for me, though nothing ever came from them (I didn’t start my maneater ways until after high school when I got hot and started doing drugs) and yeah, that’s the type of teenage dream he is for me. My love for him is intense enough to have me not only reading fanfiction—which isn’t all that surprising because I’ve been doing it since elementary school—but freaking WRITING it!!! I can count the amount of times I’d done so in the past on one hand (most of which I deleted a long ass time ago) and still have fingers available. Now, i can’t stop. I just can’t. And it’s all because of him. Everything i write is like my way of writing a love letter to Eddie. Even if I did stop writing, I wouldn’t ever stop being drawn to him.

So, all of that is why I’m so drawn to him, why I really do love him, and why I don’t think I’ll ever be able to let him go. And you might notice a lot of that also reflects in my writing.

So, all of that is why I’m so drawn to him, why I really do love him, and why I don’t think I’ll ever be able to let him go. And you might notice a lot of that also reflects in my writing.

[glitchinginhyperfixis]

this is the worst day ever

[ghostbny]

taranza

A happy taranza just for you anon 🫶

[howtodrawyourdragon]

Headcanon that Hiccup does, indeed, find an excuse to learn how to bake bread after moving to the Edge.

[stylesrecord]

THE LATE LATE SHOW HARRY STYLES & WILL FERRELL

[n1ckelpistol]

did you know you can ragequit from coding

[butchsophiewalten]

For the character opinion bingo can yuo do felix..

This fucking guy. I have such a torrid relationship with this character. I've spent a lot of time joking about actively hating him, just because (especially back in 2021, when I first got into The Walten Files) there was such a gross oversaturation of these terrible, bland, thoughtless interpretations of the character. Like so many people saw this really interesting sort of character, and watered him down into something that was more personally palatable and sympathetic for them.

I don't know. Felix is so uninteresting when you don't hold him accountable for anything. I remember a lot of people trying to pin the responsibility for his actions onto the other people in his life, chiefly Jack, because they sympathized with his personal struggles and wanted to woobify him into a character who had never really done anything wrong. Which is such a shame, because that sort of wishy-washy attitude a lot of the fandom had taken towards his actions really soured me on him for a while. And that's not fair, because he's a genuinely fantastic and really interesting character.

I've always loved Felix when it comes to canon depictions of him, y'know? Because it's so free of that kind of Fandom Baggage. Even the good fandom Felix content has to bear the burden of that baggage a lot of the time, and it's worsened for it. But it's like, man, I always forget how fucking fascinating Felix is until we get some Fun New Canon, or someone in the fandom writes or draws something really good, and then it all comes back to me. I'm dying to see more of this character. I really want to get further into his head. I want to see exactly the depths of depravity he's willing to go to save his own skin, and I want to see how he justifies it to himself all the while.

I think a lot about his Formerly Positive relationships with other characters, too, because I think even before things went bad, Felix was always pretty self-centered. Very upbeat and overfriendly to the point where it seems, very obviously, like he's compensating for something. I think he cares a lot about what people think of him, but doesn't necessarily value other peoples' opinions. I think he very genuinely thinks of himself as the smartest person in the room, but is chronically resentful of everybody else in his life for outsmarting him. I really love the idea of everything with him being this sort of paradox. He's so self-deprecating, thinks so little of himself, but would move hell and high water to avoid actually changing and improving anything about his life. He's always so sorry, when he does something wrong and it blows up in his face, but the last thing he'd ever be willing to do is try and do better next time. He treats every tragedy that befalls him as some terrible innevitability he's subjected to, instead of the natural consequences of his own, controllable behavior.

I've already said I think Jack was a bit of an emotional anchor for him, in a way where Jack was this sort of representation of a Successful, Fulfilled man, so Felix really craved validation from him. He would always try, with varying degrees of success, to be on Jack's good side, because having Jack tell him he had done a good job made him feel that much closer to being the Pinnacle of Success he imagined Jack to be. And in this way, Jack was sort of dehumanized by Felix from the very beginning. Jack, in many ways, stopped being Felix's friend, an important person in his life, and started being this idyllic representation of a Good Man that Felix both resented and desperately clung to.

I think about this idea a lot when rewatching Guilty and hearing Felix try and justify his actions to himself through the lens of how Jack would feel. He had to bury Edd & Molly, because Jack would be devastated to see them like that. He could never do that to Jack, his best friend. Jack would be devastated. That's why it has to be a secret, why Jack can never know. He's doing good, he's protecting Jack's feelings. It's such a fundamental disconnect from the reality of the situation, and it feels to me a lot like he's projecting this imagined idea of Jack Walten onto the circumstances to soothe himself, and in the process is denying the real Jack Walten his autonomy in the situation. Jack doesn't get to be told what happened and decide for himself how to feel, Felix gets to decide how Jack would probably feel, and act on that instead.

Imagine for a moment, this same situation, but involving something much less terrible and serious. Maybe Jack has a nice vase in his house that he likes and is important to him. Maybe one day, Felix comes over and, when Jack is in the other room, accidentally knocks it on the floor, and it shatters. Felix, imagining how upset Jack would be to know his favorite vase was broken, sweeps it discreetly into the garbage, and plays stupid when Jack asks about it later. Now, Jack: 1. Never gets the closure of knowing that happened to this thing that he valued so dearly. He never knows if it was stolen or misplaced and is in one piece somewhere out in the world, or if it really was broken, and he should give up trying to recover it. 2. Never gets to decide what should happen in the aftermath of this vase being broken. Maybe he, too, was just going to sweep it into the garbage. But maybe, beforehand, he would take the opportunity to mourn this broken thing before it was out of his life forever. Or maybe he'd try to glue the shards back together. The point is not what he does, but the fact that he was never given the chance to decide what he would do.

I'm worried that last paragraph might come off as pretty patronizing. The point I'm trying to make is just that I don't think Felix really considers Jack as an autonomous person, and that's a really interesting part of their dynamic to me that I think is relatively really underutilized.

Apparently I have a lot to say about Felix Kranken. There's a lot more I could say, but this post is so fucking long already, holy shit.

[autumnblooms]

You’ll be alright

Still not over anxiety ridden Mountain - in reference to this post

[delicehm]

TRANSLATION BELOW! I was to lazy to change text on the pic while editing, sorry

Narrator - "Sea turtles live for many years." "What is the secret of their longevity?"

Wilbur - "Life without weigh of responsibility"

Fundy and Tallulah - "Mommy!"

Wilbur - "Good bye!"

[uranium235s]

tim cat masky cat seth & sarah realness

[virsancte]

hey buddy

[dailycupofcreativitea]

A belated father’s day to those for whom the occasion is a little less than happy 😔 

Be gentle with yourself on this day 🫂

[jacks347]

The bell on the coffee shop door jingled as Raven pushed it open, the familiar "Welcome to the Regrets Cafe!" greeting barely being processed. She ordered her usual, hot chocolate with extra whipped cream and a peppermint stick. Call it childish, Raven found it comforting when she was wallowing in her own thoughts. Blame it on her growing motherly instincts from raising Paloma.

She carefully cradled the warm mug in her hands when her name was called, watching the steam peek our from the gaps in the melting whipped cream as she settled into her usual table by one of the massive front windows with a world weary sigh. What she failed to notice was that, for once, the table wasn't empty.

"Rough day?"

Raven just about fell out of her chair, head snapping up to see a person sitting across from her, the barest hint of a smile peeking out from behind the coffee mug they were sipping from.

When Raven finally recomposed herself in her seat, she cleared her throat before answering the question. "That's a word for it, sure." The person hummed, setting down their mug and leaning forward over the table. "Mentally or physically?" "...what?"

They gestured to the shop around them. "This is the Regrets Cafe. Hardly the place people go when they're just tired from a hard day at work but it wouldn't surprise me. So, I ask again, mentally or physically?" Raven blinked a couple times before sitting back in her chair, deflating a little. "Mentally." "I figured. What's on your mind?" "Are you always this prying?" "Only to the people who sit at my table looking like they hold the weight of the world on their shoulders."

Raven highly considered just getting up and moving to a different table at this point just so she wouldn't have to actually talk about what was going on in her head but by now, this person had caught their attention. "You first. Why are you here?" They chuckled at that, sitting back and crossing their arms over their chest. "Should've expected that." They turned and stared out the window into the setting sunlight. "Just thinking about someone I shouldn't." "Ex?" A whirlwind of emotions passed over their face at the question; anger, betrayal, sadness, regret, before landing on a cold mask of apathy with a click of their tongue. "Tsk. Nah, he's burning in hell where he belongs. Just...a friend who got caught in the crossfire." They finally turned their gaze back to Raven. "Now you. Got an ex on the mind?"

Raven sighed, laying their forehead on the table with a quiet thunk. "Ex feels too strong of a word for him. Like yes that is his title but it doesn't feel right." "Was he a good ex or a bad ex?" "What's the difference?" "Physical and/or psychological abuse. The fact you have to ask is a touch concerning." "Oh, well, by that definition he was a good ex." "Okay, where's the regret?" Raven paused for a moment to swallow the rock in her throat that had formed as she lifted her head off the table. "...he didn’t deserve to die. If it wasn't for me, he'd still be alive." "Ah, there it is. Survivors guilt." They nodded sagely. "Can't say it's an unfamiliar feeling, though it is an unfortunate one." "Did you lose your friend too?" "Mm, not quite. They're still alive just...don't remember me. And I can't talk to them again." "Can't bring yourself to?" "No, legally I cannot speak to them again. Trust me, I would if I could."

Raven almost laughed. Legalities, boy was she familiar with those. "Yeah, I get that. I lost my name the day I lost him. I lost...everything. Everything I'd ever known died with him. It had to." "Run away? Start a new life?" "Not exactly? Went into witness protection." "Ahhh, that explains it. So you had to start all over, leave everything behind whether you wanted to or not." "Pretty much." "Are you scared?" "Of witness protection?" "Of forgetting. Forgetting who you were, who you used to be. Are you scared of the day you forget your own name?" The intense stare the person was leveling them with made Raven shudder. She almost felt like she was back on trial. "Sometimes. But at the same time, that life brought me nothing but pain, I'm glad to leave it behind."

They sat back, eyes turning to the ceiling like they were searching for something in the tiles. "Do you regret loving him?" Their tone was softer, more thinking out loud than an actual question. Raven smiled the smallest bit, taking a swallow of her now significantly cooled cocoa. "Sometimes. But then I look at the people I have now and remember that I found them through loving him. So maybe it was all worth it." She watched their head tilt back down, looking at Raven again. "What about you? Do you regret loving your ex for what happened to your friend?" They sighed, chewing on their lip as they contemplated their words. "Every day. Every day I regret loving him because if I hadn't, they would be fine. They wouldn't have had to go through everything that they did. They wouldn't have had to get their mind wiped and all the memories taken away. They wouldn't have...had to forget me. Had to forget how they helped me in the lowest point of my life. Had to forget how much I cared about them." They paused, their jaw clenching to hold back tears. "But then I see the domino effect. The things that happened because of it. The person I met because of it. And then I wonder if it was all worth it and if fate really does exist. It's-" "Confusing. And complicated. And frustrating as hell." Raven finished for them, making them chuckle. "Sounds like you've done this before." Raven shrugged with a smile. "Not so much a reoccurance, more so just a more recent one." "Oh? So then miss recent expert, what's your opinion?" They leaned forward with a smile and a quirked brow. "What's your advice?"

Raven considered what to say for a while. What would her advice be? "Others can't write your story for you. They can hand you the pen and paper but they can't put the words on the page. You have to write your ending yourself. It's up to you to decide if you want to write it happily or not." The words rolled off her tongue easier than she thought they would. Her own spin on the words that kept her from running away from the best thing that happened to her. Would Crow be proud of her? She hoped so.

The person's eyed widened for a moment, blinking in surprise. "That was...shockingly profound. And actually really good advice. Huh. I'll have to remember that." Raven stirred her mostly melted peppermint stick through her cup. "Your turn now. What sage wisdom do you have for a newcomer to grief?" Raven half teased, not really expecting an answer.

"The world isn't out to get you. You're allowed to rely on others, the people around you want to help. You can't keep throwing yourself at the wall and expecting it to break every time. One of those times, it's going to be you that breaks. But when you do, you don't have to pick up all the pieces by yourself." They spoke softly, sounding like they were repeating a mantra. Maybe they were repeating advice of their own. Raven couldn't help laughing. "Sounds like we both are rehashing the words of someone far better at this than we are, huh." "Aw damn, you can tell that easily?" They both dissolved into laughter, not noticing the jingle of the bell at the door.

"Darlin?" A smooth Southern accent made Raven turn her head. Standing behind her new friend was a man, flannel shirt and worn blue jeans with a cowboy hat. Looked like he'd walked off the set of a western movie. Her friend tipped their head back to look at him and smiled. "Hey there cowboy. Come to find me?" "Clearly. I've been trying to text you but you haven't been answering." "Ah shit, have you? Sorry, got caught up talking, I haven't been checking my phone." They pulled their phone out of their pocket and scrolled through what Raven assumed was their missed messages. The cowboy just smiled and ruffled their hair. "It's fine, darlin. I'm glad you made a friend." He turned and faced Raven. "Sorry, should've introduced myself. Name's Sam. Their partner." Raven almost slapped herself when she realized she'd spent this whole time talking and never bothered to introduce herself. "Oh, hi. Sorry, I never actually introduced myself. I'm-" "Miss Raven!!"

A familiar excited voice interrupted her, the girl it belonged to running up to cling to her in a hug. "Paloma, don't run, you could slip." Ivan chided softly, coming up behind her. Raven just laughed, squeezing the little girl in return. "She's fine, Ivan. What are you even doing here?" "Well you weren't home at your usual time and hadn't texted so I figured you stopped on your way home somewhere and came to take a look. I'm just glad we found you." Ivan leaned down and kissed Raven's forehead, earning an amused look from her new friend. "He yours, I'm assuming?" "Yeah, he's mine. And the cowboy belongs to you?" "Who, this guy? Nah, he's just some puppy I picked up off the street one day." "Darlin..." Sam warned but his smile made the threat hollow. "Well, I thank you two for finding my girlfriend and keeping her in one place. Made it easier on me." Ivan offered, earning a wave from Sam. "Ah, don't thank me, thank my partner here. I only came in a minute before you did to find them myself. So I should be thanking you." "Please, it was no trouble. It was...quite the productive conversation." Raven waved off his thanks, smiling softly at her friend. They shrugged, returning a half smile. "Yeah, you could say that. Have a few less regrets than when I walked in here. Maybe one day I'll get rid of them all." They downed the rest of their drink and stood, taking Sam's hand. "Well, it was nice to meet you Raven. Maybe we'll run into each other again." "Maybe. Stay safe out there." "You more." They gave a final wave and headed out, leaving Raven with Ivan and Paloma.

"So, who were they?" Ivan questioned, taking the now empty seat. "Honestly...I have no idea. I never asked for their name. But they gave an interesting perspective for me to think about." "In a good way or a bad way?" "Good way, definitely." "Well that's nice." Raven hummed in agreement, turning to look out the window. "Maybe one day I'll stop having regrets too." "Miss Raven, are you going to finish your drink?" Paloma asked, poking the now cold mug. "Ah crap, my cocoa! Aw, now it's all cold." Raven pouted sadly, making Ivan laugh. "Oh Raven, has held the weight of lives in her hands yet pouts when her hot chocolate gets cold."

"Oh we'll see how funny it is when I pour it over your head mister!" "No, wait, I concede! Ah!"

(I have no idea why I wrote this. I had the thought "What if Darlin and Raven had a conversation about how dating their exes changed their lives" and boom, this was born. Okay this post is long enough, I'm shutting up now.)

[anchovymacaroni]

Drew the boys with crayons, glitter glue, and popped on some googly eyes because it's what Sun would want ✨

[everchased]

i am going to make art this weekend. dear gods i am going to make art

[prettycoolducks]

Illustration done for class 🌱