#the case of hnl

[madwheelerz]

The Case of HNL & Russia

So, let’s talk about the case of locations in the manifestation theory. Starting with the lab. In terms of Mike's first DM book, we have two cases in which we see it being used. This is unusual because most of the DM books, including Mike's second one, pop up once never to be seen or heard from again.

Each time we get to see this one being read from it seems to be in relation to Hawkins National Laboratory, but specifically the interior. We see it directly after the scientist runs from the demogorgon which leads into Mike eventually introducing the demogorgon to the campaign.

{S1 E1 at roughly 0:00-3:00}

We also see Dustin read from it. While Dustin is reading, we get visuals of Hopper in HNL walking towards the gate.

{S1 E5 at roughly 6:14-7:22}

It seems like they want us to have a good look at the building and stuff on the cover, though, because there is a very nice shot of the cover. There's a building on it which is unusual because none of the other books, that we can see, have buildings on them.

There is also a small drawing of the cardinal directions, another interesting point when you consider what the boys tried to use to find the gate in lab in the first place. The last time we see the book is the last time it's reasonable to show us the interior of HNL. By the end of the season when Mike is sporting a new DM book the role of HNL has been completed so we don't need to see it anymore and in season two there is no DnD.

Now Russia, said in a very "now, you!" fashion lol. The entire Russia subplot is strange because even thinking about it for longer than a second causes the entire illusion of Russian counterintelligence invades Hawkins to fall apart.

The Russians come to Nowhere, Indiana smack in the middle of a new attraction at Hawkins, somewhere insanely overpopulated because of how new it is, and set up camp. They're in the lower levels trying to breach the gate. Yeah, okay.

Their super-secret code is also Planck's constant, a physics constant. Something Suzie points out that Dustin should already know.

The super-secret code to the top-secret Russian base is a constant that a reasonably nerdy kid who happens to be interested in physics would know. Okay. That doesn't sound like the work of multiple intelligent grown adults, but it does sound like the work of an intelligent child.

There's also a part of the Russian code about China that directly leads to a restaurant.

The only other time I can recall food, and something related to China coming up is during the Wheeler dinner scene in season one.

The Wheeler's also bring Russia as a negative force a few times prior to season three.

There's also the terminator guy. We see this man kill someone in cold blood in the first episode, but his behavior doesn't line up and have we ever figured out what he wanted with Hopper?

As far as I know, this guy saw Hopper make a scene at Enzo's and got pissed and that was enough to spark his anger? It really doesn't make sense.

(Hopper’s dialogue also being similar to the justification he used as to how he could cover up murdering Mike, but hey-)

What's interesting about him is that he seems like he was plucked straight out of a movie and seems to hate Hopper for little to no reason. He also doesn't sound like an adult. His dialogue is very childish and seems pretty reflective of the Mike-Hopper threat in the car situation.

For both locations the gates are also being operated in a lower level, basement-like area as well.

It's all very easy to poke a hole into.

[dathen]

I need. an OTQPP name for Holmes and Watson so I can make a tag for them.

[bekolxeram]

More observations from the trailer (I'm eating for daaaayysss y'all.)

The mirrored Air France 747 is definitely a placeholder, probably from stock footage. There is only one 747 left still in the Air France livery:

This one, and it's in a museum in Paris.

This is a Beechcraft Baron, just like the one in Airport 1975, but this one is the newer version with a glass cockpit, introduced in 2005.

The is the traffic alert system I was talking about. Sure, it doesn't look like that in real life, but it's pretty close, and the TV one is easier to understand.

The real one looks like this. CA stands for conflict alert.

Look in the middle, so Athena's plane is flying to/out of LAX.

We don't get to see the whole cabin yet, but I think it looks like a 7 abreast 2-3-2 configuration? There's only one plane that usually uses this configuration in economy (unless Athena is escorting a prisoner in premium economy lol), Boeing 767, which again, seems to be the one next to the 119 truck at SBD. (Beware, I'm just making an educated guess here, I can't be for sure until I see the landing gear and/or the tail cone.)

I've been wondering why Athena is on a wide body, where's she going? Across the ocean? Turns out, according to this screen, the plane is flying the PHX - LAX - HNL route, so LAX is just a stopover. I can totally see why you need a wide body to fly from Arizona to Hawaii. So is she going to Arizona? Is it related to the cartel after all? Oh, and the silhouette of a plane is definitely not a 747, no bump in front. (Also there are like 4 airlines left in the world still operating the 747 for passenger service, and I doubt Athena is going to China, South Korea, Germany or Saudi Arabia.)

Absolutely an Airbus cockpit, A320 in this case, you can check it out yourself. The thing is, all Airbus flight decks look alike, the wide bodies have an extra jump seat in the back, also the circuit breakers are located in a slightly different location, but that's it. A total layman probably can't tell the difference, but I think enough of them know about the Airbus sidestick vs the Boeing yoke.

That is a cockpit door, with the little fish eye lens on it. No one can open it except for the flight crew and the cabin crew. The flight attendant seems to be running into the cabin frantically but nothing seems wrong with the plane so far, why?

So the cockpit door blows open by the explosive decompression. (It doesn't quite work that way in real life, but tbh many pilots had no idea about it either before the Alaska door plug incident.) You can see a giant hole in the cockpit. Athena is thrown up then back down very quickly, probably by the erratic and sudden pitch down then back up, could be a course correction effort by the autopilot.

[henrysglock]

Finally, More NINA Puzzle Pieces

DISTRESSED NOISES!! WE GOT NINA CRUMBS!! AND IT'S DRIVING ME INSANE!!

IT HAS THE CAMERA!!! AT LEAST ONE VERSION OF REALITY HAS THE CAMERA!!!!!

Okay so remember when I pointed this out about the NINA discrepancies in El's 4.05 entrance, and how there were at least 22 different iterations of events?

Specifically this glaring difference between reality (tapes) and the rest of the 4.05 entrance (labeled 3 and 8)?

The presence of a camera in a UD-ified version of HNL tells us that the bottom row of images straight up cannot physically exist in one cohesive reality.

Which is to say—Anything that does not have the camera is 100%, definitely, concretely not based in the UD's reality/those versions without the camera are either fake or set in a different reality.

If you've been following along this past year and a half, this is not news to you; it's just confirmation of what we already knew.

It does, however, means that none of this was based in reality:

We already kind of knew that, based on the props changing so much within the Rainbow Room each time/Henry's changing hair/etc, but the confirmation goes crazy insane. We love to see it.

After the first entrance to NINA/after we see the footage of the version with the camera, we don't see a non-camera version again. Any non-camera versions seem to disappear. This means whatever simulation El's stuck in, it's adaptive. It learns, with a propensity for making itself immersive by molding itself to to the subject's understanding of reality.

However, what fucks me up is that all of these are, then, set in the same "reality":

Which means the new ST5 UD-ified HNL, the physical camera footage of 1979, Henry's electrocution, Blood Hands El, El running to the Rainbow Room, and Brenner running to the Rainbow Room are all supposedly set in "reality".

That's not possible, though. The electrocution scene cannot have existed in reality/could not possibly be a memory, because 14 year old El is barely tall enough to see in. 1979 El would not have been tall enough to have seen interaction:

This means that none of NINA is reliable. Period. Even the things that appear to be set in reality are unreliable re: what actually happened in 1979.

Whatever NINA runs on, it's adaptive and manipulative. It's like c.ai, if c.ai was actually AI. Whatever it is, it takes El's experiences both in the lab and outside the lab and combines them to form entirely new scenarios that never really happened (see: Blade Runner 2049 and the manipulated/mash-up memories shenanigans). El has been told she's reliving memories. That is not the case. None of what she's seeing is reliable. It's like when a movie says it's based on a true story.

This fits with what I said about the monologue never having existed at all and NINA being an immersive empathogenic drug trip that pulls from El's outside memories. It also fits with my draft about the Mindflayer ties between Shadow-NINA in the VR, TFS, and NINA in ST4, and my speculation in that same draft about a) NINA specifically running on the Mindflayer, and b) the Mindflayer using familiar humanoid avatars to gain sympathy and coerce its target into joining it.

We see this kind of behavior in Patty in her garnering sympathy from Henry and then insisting that she and Henry run away together to find her mother in the Stardust Casino...regardless of the fact that Henry is still flayed. We see it again in our "Couldn't Possibly Exist" Henry as he garners sympathy from El and then tells El to join him. And then we see it again in Shadow Brenner using the NINA-like maze to learn about Henry as a means to try and coerce him into joining him. It's a continuing theme.

Both Patty and "Henry" want Henry and El, respectively, to accept their offer and leave with them. Both Henry and El reject that offer in exactly the same way:

In my speculative opinion, we see a resurgence of this particular dual-yeeting in Billy and Heather.

Henry in the VR, as we know, has a dubious ending re: escaping the simulation.

This exists in contrast to the other version of NINA Henry, who, much like TFS Henry with Patty, is insistent that El run away without him.

When I say that we have multiple guys, this is what I mean. Their motivations are entirely different. One of these men in NINA is not Henry. It's someone or something masquerading as him. If I had to speculate, I would say that it stems from the Mindflayer and its possible presence in NINA...Especially given the similarities between NINA and the Russian prison, wherein they have a trapped form of the Mindflayer:

In short—Every day it seems more likely that whatever El fought in the massacre was not Henry. It's like I said way way back last year: there's someone else in there with her. Multiple someone-elses, even.

It also seems, if I had to speculate, that rejecting the Mindflayer avatar is what gives El her powers back. This means it may also be what "changed" about One, as mentioned in the plinko scene.

This all also backs what I speculated way back in the day about the blood transfusions being related to immunity against the Mindflayer, either finding it, triggering it, or building it. It seems to function like getting a live vaccine: you're given dose of the live virus, and your body fights it off. In fighting off the Mindflayer, it's entirely possible that the process triggers latent powers in those who have them. Those who don't have the basis for latent powers eventually succumb (see: Will, Billy, the Flayed). Brenner, with NINA, may have been giving El the equivalent of a booster shot.

[sollattes]

Jealous HnL boys

note: the bold dialogues are the boys, and you're the italics

Hanaoka Fujio

-gets jealous but does not realise it

-gets really pouty and sulky when your attention is taken away from him

-follows you around like a lost puppy until he gets your attention back

-keeps the 'friendly' facade around the guy until the guy leaves and his smile just immediately drops

"I don't like him at all, and i couldn't care to know his name, so therefore, I would not be giving him a nickname. Hmph!" "Fujio I-"

Tsukasa takajo

-literally glares at anyone who goes near you within 5 feet

-already hates everyone's guts, so just imagine the hatred that he has for the guy who is flirting with you

-though he gets really jealous easily he tends to hide it all and act cool when in the inside he is already screaming for the guy to get lost or punch the guy when he tried to initiate physical contact with you

-acts all salty and needs to be persuaded after the whole incident

"I don't like this guy at all." "tsukasa, he is literally 6 ft away from me . What are you on?"

Todoroki yosuke

-doesnt really get jealous since he is secure in your relationship, and he is too proud to be jealous

-though he still can't help but feel possessive every time a guys would approach with romantic intentions

-doesnt wanna be too close, though still close enough to keep an eye on the guy if he tried anything

-if he can't take the jealousy anymore, he would just take you away without saying anything and distract you so you won't go back to the guy(not like you wanted to anyway)

"I wonder how many punches he can take?" "Yosu, I swear to god-"

Ueda sachio

-gets jealous easily, and everyone knows ot except you

-literally all smiles towards you, but once you look away, the leader of the housen killer corps appears

-makes sure to stay close to you in case the guy tries anything

-just has this terrifying and intimidating aura around him while he's behind you until the guy goes away, and when the guy does leave, it's all sunshine, rainbows, and daisies for sachio

*mumbling*"I'm gonna fucking kill this guy if he doesn't leave anytime soon" "chio? You said something?" "Nothing baby^^"

Odajima yuken

-like tsukasa, gets jealous really easily but hides it under his smartass facade

-since he is showing his smart ass facade, so expect a lot of back-handed compliments towards the guy

-makes you wear his sweater so everyone knows who they're messing with if they ever flirt with you

-is literally draped in you like sloth on a tree 24/7

"You know you're really good looking with this lighting." "But isn't it dark?" "Yu omg-"

Shida kenzo:

-gets jealous easily, but unlike tsukasa and yuken, he is not afraid to tell you that he's jealous

-momma's boy, so he basically knows what you might feel if he doesn't communicate his feelings (SHIDAKEN GREEN FLAG FR)

-you are his no.1 priority, so your comfort and emotions will always come first before his

-no filter at all. If he sees something wrong with the guy, he'll immediately point it out

"I'm sorry, but your breath really stinks." "kenzo, stop omfg-"

Shoji sameoka

-another momma's boy(it's my hc idfc) that is not afraid to tell you how he feels

-he will be gorilla glued to your side the whole time, and this is rare since shoji is not one for pda

-literally just side eyeing the guy the whole while occasionally letting out an annoying scoff

-his hands are just on your waist the whole time with the occasional rubs and squeezes to assure you that he is still there and can take you away any time you want

-is not afraid to tell the guy to fuck off if he had enough tolerating his shit

"Fuck off, go find someone else to bother with your bullshit" "shoji atleast let him finish-"

Misaki Mario(roah)

-now I don't why anyone would even try and flirt with you if they already saw roah with you but ig let's just say some dumbass really tried for the sake of the hc

-now roah would get jealous but not to the point that he'll get bothered by the feeling since he trusts you and knows you won't flirt back

-if he sees the guy being more and more eager to flirt he just uses his big figure to tower over the guys and intimidate him

-now if that doesn't work, which is rare, he won't hesitate to pull into his (ginormous)chest, keeping ou there until the guy gets a hint

"Honey, cmon, the kids are waiting." "roah, ssshhhh oml"

Mashii takehiko(mercy)

-mashi does gets jealous but won't tell instead he shows you

-he would also pull into his chest while talking 'friendly' threats to the guy

-he would puff smoke into the guy's face if the guy won't shut the fuck up

-he would puff smoke into your mouth while making out with you infront of the guy

"Cmon, let's make out in front of him." "And here I thought you didn't like pda, takehiko"

[cloudycleric]

one quick thing i wanted to point out real quick, as i am doing research for my big video which is driving me to the point of insanity,

both will byers & ken no-last-name-given from suspicious minds are eerily similar. canonically in the timeline, ken is the first confirmed gay character of the series, a person who is participating in MK ultra. (it's speculated that ken is named after a real person who participated in MK ultra, ken kesey, who wrote the book one flew over the cuckoo's nest which explores themes of homosexuality.)

both ken (book ken, not real ken) & will have a big similarity: their supernatural abilities are both forms of clairvoyance, not telekinesis. ken apparently comes from a family that he says has a big connection to supernatural abilities & such, but was kicked out after being discovered as gay.

obviously, there are big differences in both will & ken's story, but i do think the parallels are interesting. one thing it does make me wonder, though, is whether or not the byers have a history of supernatural abilities like ken's was. joyce does mention a history of mental illness in her family in the very first season, which is a commonly used excuse in many stories covering paranormal themes for supernatural abilities.

is it possible that maybe joyce is so inclined to have her theories always proven correct because she has some sort of supernatural instinct or clairvoyance telling her things? jonathan is a little harder of a case, but he does have the investigative instinct that his mother has throughout the show whenever he leads searches on his own. (s1: searching for the demogorgon at night & discovering his mom is correct, s2: proving that HNL is still up & running, s3: discovering the rat problems, s4: helping the california gang come to the conclusion that the government is still very involved with finding el & he did help the gang find the nina project.)

i dunno. food for thought.

[simpforchuchu]

How about more shoji content? Maybe a reader is new to town and doesn’t really know any of the gangs or what they do but helps him out one day so shoji decides to keep an eye on her just in case and basically becomes her bodyguard

Neighbor | Shoji Sameoka x reader

a/n: Hi! It’s been a while, sorry 🙏🏻This was soo cute idea to write ☺️ And if anyone wants, I’m sure it deserves a second part ;) Thank you for your request andI hope you like it 🌸💕

Sorry for the grammer or spelling mistakes.English is not my main language so...

Thank you and love you 🥰

Warnings: fights, blood, wounds, usual hnl warnings

Part2

The young girl closed the door and walked down the stairs and left the apartment. She sat on the last step of the stairs and tried to tie her laces. But her attention was distracted by the sounds coming from the building opposite.

She was quite bored with the fact that there was a different event every day in this new neighborhood she had just moved into. And her neighbor's friends across the street, whom she saw frequently - they looked more like his men - were not good for her tension.

Her eyes fell on the black-haired boy coming out of the apartment again. He was quite an interesting person. Besides his good looks, his style and hair were also eye-catching.

Y/n didn't even realize how long she was staring at him. One of the boys around the black-haired boy approached her when he noticed her staring intently at him.

“Oh! What are you looking at?!”

When the young girl was startled by a loud noise, Shoji grabbed the boy by the collar and scolded him not to scare the people on the street. While Y/n looked at them in surprise, Shoji glanced at her from the corner of his eye and walked away with the people next to him.

The young girl knew that he was a dangerous person. But there was something that set him apart from others. She wasn't afraid of him.

It wasn't easy to study with the black-haired boy on her mind all day. After spending hours in front of her book in the cafe, the young girl put her books in her bag and left.

It was dark and cool. When she entered the street with quick steps, she saw someone walking towards her apartment - or rather, barely able to keep his balance - Her fast steps slowed down, and she tried to understand what was happening from afar. But this effort turned out to be quite useless when the person she was watching suddenly collapsed to the ground.

Y/n quickly ran over, bent down and looked at the person on the ground. When she saw that he was her neighbor who had been on her mind all day, she looked at him with fear. It was obvious that there was a fight and it didn't look like he was the winner. The young boy's face was covered in wounds and the dried blood flowing from his forehead was frightening the young girl.

Shoji opened his eyes and looked at the young girl who was looking at him with concern. He wasn't expecting to see her either. A few seconds of silent staring ended with y/n's thoughts that she had to do something now.

The young girl helped Shoji up from the ground with all her strength. Even though Shoji didn't want to put his weight on her, he didn't have the strength in his legs to support himself right now.

Y/n didn't know how she managed herself. She was carrying Shoji home with all her strength. She was about to be crushed under his tall height and arms, but she was very determined. Even though Shoji told her several times to let him go, she didn't listen and continued.

Although climbing the stairs was the hardest part, the young girl breathed a sigh of relief when she arrived in front of her own apartment. The young girl gently placed the black-haired boy on the sofa and locked the door. She closed the windows, closed the curtain and looked out through a small gap.

Shoji was watching her with one eye, which he was barely trying to keep open. He looked at the young girl's frightened face and wanted to laugh.

“Oi! If you are afraid, why did you bring me to your apartment?

Y/n turned to the young boy at the voice she heard. He was acting like an annoying brat. She shrugged and ran into the bathroom without saying anything.

Shoji didn't understand. He didn't understand anything. But he trusted the young girl - even though he didn't understand why - That's why he couldn't stop the sleep that engulfed him anymore.

Y/n left the supplies she took out of the bathroom cabinet on the coffee table in the living room and turned to the boy she left on the couch. Seeing that he had already fallen asleep, she stood up nervously and approached him.

His hair, which she liked very much, was messy, his face had many wounds, and there were blood stains on his shirt. But she still thought he was quite attractive.

She shook her head and pushed these thoughts away from her mind. She moved the coffee table closer to the couch and began to clean the young boy's wounds.

Even though he was sleeping, she could see that the alcohol was hurting him. When he was startled with pain, she would apologize in a sweet tone and continue doing what she was doing.

After the wounds and blood on his face were done, she slowly took off his jacket and shirt. Although it was quite difficult, she put the clothes aside to be washed and looked at the young boy's chest. There were bruises and scratches on his white chest. She could guess how far the fight had gone and it scared her. She took the blanket from the couch and covered the young boy.

Y/n had been checking the young boy's temperature all night. Sometimes she wondered if he would be angry with her when he woke up, but she thought she didn't care. She also slept for 1-2 hours in the morning and woke up again with the sunlight.

She checked the young boy's temperature and smiled when she saw that it was still okay. She stood up and moved to the window. She opened the curtain a little and checked outside. She was still afraid that someone would come and take him away, and while she was thinking about these, she didn't even realize that the young boy had woken up and was standing behind her.

“Don't worry, no one will come.”

Y/n was startled by the husky voice and turned around. She didn't expect the young boy to be standing behind her, staring at her. She put her hand to her heart and sighed.

"You scared me."

Shoji mumbled a small apology and then looked into the young girl's eyes.

“Why did you help me?”

Although the young girl was a little stunned by this question, she smiled and answered playfully.

“Because you are my neighbor.”

“Huh?!”

“You are my neighbor, you live in the opposite building.”

When the young girl spoke confidently, Shoji replied sarcastically.

“You can't let everyone into your home just because they're your neighbors. Don't you realize this is dangerous?" He asked, getting a little closer to the girl. “Besides… aren't you afraid of me?”

The young girl looked at Shoji's face in surprise for a while. She smiled and shook her head.

"No."

“Why?"

“Because you are different.” The young girl said and Shoji laughed.

“How do you know that I am different? I'm just one of the delinquents who scared you yesterday."

Y/n smiled and shook her head as the memory came to mind.

"You're different. A person I should be afraid of wouldn't tell his mother he's sorry in his sleep."

When Shoji turned his head shyly, the young girl smiled. She knew that he had a sweet character underneath his cold appearance.

The closeness between them and what he said made Shoji uneasy. Realizing that he still didn't have his shirt on, he asked the young girl.

“By the way… where is my t-shirt?”

The young girl opened her eyes wide. Afraid of his misunderstanding, she ran to bring the T-shirt and jacket she had washed. While Shoji looked behind her in surprise, he smiled when he saw the girl coming a few minutes later with his t-shirt in her hand.

“I… well… there was a lot of blood.I washed it, take it."

Smiling at the young girl's blushing face, he took his t-shirt and put it on. Y/n protested when he said he should leave after a small thank you.

"Let's eat. Besides, you don't know if it's dangerous out there. What if they are waiting for you?”

Y/n couldn't hide that she was worried about him. She didn't want to send him away after seeing his blood covered face last night.

Shoji smiled,

"I have to go. Also, don't worry, they attacked me from behind last night. I will be more careful.”

Y/n didn't look convinced. But she knew she couldn't say anything. Shoji shook his head, looking at her worried face.

"Can you give me your phone?"

Even though the young girl did not understand, she took her phone out of her pocket and handed it to the black-haired boy. Shoji returned the phone a few seconds later

"This is my number. If you need anything, even the smallest thing, call me. I will be there."

Y/n smiled when she looked at the phone and saw that he had written his name as well. But she couldn't stop the fear inside her from speaking.

“Are you really sure?”

“Yes, I caused you a lot of trouble. Thank you for everything. So you can call me no matter what, no problem.”

Y/n shook her head as Shoji smiled.

“I didn't mean that.” The young boy didn't understand. Y/n continued. "Are you sure you'll be okay?"

The black haired boy smiled and patted the young girl on the shoulder.

“Don't worry, I'm stronger than you think.” When Y/n rolled her eyes, Shoji opened the door and smiled. “See you later y/n, take care.”

Y/n nodded and smiled as the young boy walked out the door. She waved until he left. But after a few seconds, she looked at the road in surprise at what she realized. She hadn't told him her name before...

HnL taglist : @straysugzhpe @tiddly-winx @ninamarie1994 @thatpoindexterpixy @koala-yuna @star2fishmeg

[reikunrei]

i honestly cannot get over how much this scene from tfs

reminds me of terry stuck in her chair in st2

especially how much her dress is reminiscent of the sheet(?) over henry's lap, and arms in the same pose on the arms of the chair (yes, i know henry is tied down and that's the logical place to do it, but still). even the cuffs on her sweater are visually similar to that of the straps tying henry down

it took me a minute to connect the visual back to terry, but with the general context of the scene in question (brenner talking to henry about the kids in the lab, how he's been behaving well enough that he's now allowed to meet them, etc.) i was immediately looking at it like "this looks like a woman just coming out of a rough pregnancy/delivery who was barred from seeing the kids due to her acting out of sorts/unhealthily." and maybe it's just because of all of henward's mother coding (shoutout to mothergate and the post of all time by james) but with all the sa coding throughout tfs, the weirdness with henry's supposed relation to the lab kids, etc... i definitely feel like it's a connection we're meant to make

and while i don't have the full context from that tfs scene yet, james and em have also said that henry is way out of it in that whole sequence (and you can really tell in the still of him looking down at where brenner is touching him. he looks exhausted). which only further reminds me of terry, not just in the sense of her being involved in hnl drug programs and mkultra, but also her general state after she's been zapped (not to mention how terry has no real way to communicate other than these flashes of memories using her/el's powers, much like how atp henry has no real way to communicate the truth to anyone, including the audience, so we have to form our own conclusions based on the fragmented evidence we're given, but anyway)

which, speaking of...

sure, a ball gag and a bite block/mouth guard aren't exactly the same thing, but they could be used for similar purposes (in this case, to prevent biting. in the case of terry, to keep her from biting her own tongue. for henry? perhaps the same case, but likely also to prevent biting others if his arms are also strapped down)

and with the question of henry's relation to the lab kids/el specifically, it brings me back to the idea that el and jane might not be the same person at all and it was more of a mixup/el misunderstanding what terry showed her, etc. (which has been talked about countless times before by multiple people but i can't find the posts atm rip im so sorry)

and so if we're meant to make a connection between henry and terry with these visuals, plus with the whole "henry was being kept away from the kids for misbehaving" and "terry was punished for trying to find her child after she was taken from her" ... i feel like it's stupid to not draw a line between the two of them and reach the conclusion that henry fathered (or mothered) at least some of the lab kids. and to then see terry fight so hard to get jane back... only to be shown 001 (some version of henry) doing everything he can to save el as well?

anyway i can't remember where i was going with this post anymore lol. long story short, i think this new visual from tfs is just one more nail in the mothergate coffin, and henry definitely was used to breed more powerful kids, and the close tie to terry just makes me think that he really and truly fathered el

[givehimthemedicine]

that massacre blood won't let me rest

(bloodstain pattern analysis)

warning, this will contain some graphic explanations of how blood stains get made and a couple pictures of real blood (no people) as I attempt to apply my modicum of education on this subject to the HNL massacre

I'm mostly focusing on that main blood stain that goes across One's chest, but toward the end I'll touch on other stains in the RR.

tldr: I think that chest stain leaves plenty of room for doubt about whether One was the attacker.

so. bloodstain analysis crash course.

your main types of blood stains:

active - blood flying and landing on a surface as a result of force/motion. this includes spatters, splashes, arterial sprays.

passive - blood falling from plain old gravity. stains like drops and pools.

transfer - a surface coming into contact with another surface with blood on it. smears, maybe a hand or shoe print.

two lovely volunteers to demonstrate:

One's neck bleeding on his collar is an example of a passive blood stain. if any of those larger vertical blood drops on his shirt are supposed to be nose blood, (his nose barely bled but his shirt looks like it dripped) that's also passive. victims' eye blood is passive.

One mopping the floor with El leaving her with blood smeared on her gown is transfer.

that main pattern of blood droplets across One's chest is an active type stain. all the blood on him, apart from his own, appears to have flown through the air and landed on him.

the costume dept clearly put effort into depicting those types differently, going as far as to actually drag someone around the floor to find out what El's gown blood should look like as a result of the actions that put it there. I think it's fair to expect a similar level of research went into designing One's stains.

but discussing those methods in the interview might have revealed too much.

some types of active blood stains

arterial spray is when a vein or artery is cut and blood squirts out, flies through the air and lands on nearby surfaces. it's not usually just a little blood. here are two real examples of arterial spray:

to me, it seems like a severed artery would produce a more blood than is on One.

impact spatter is created when an object forcefully hits exposed blood and little droplets fly. forward spatter is made in the direction of the force, backward spatter is thrown back toward the direction the force came from.

in many cases forward and back spatter look much the same, so the main distinguishing clue is location.

back spatter is, without us even thinking about it, the type of stain we assume is on One's chest, because we also assume that he is the attacker. that he did something violent to someone and their blood splashed back on him. that is one valid explanation, but not the only.

see, spatter flies in all directions from an impact, 360. it looks like this (simulation). not all spatter is automatically back spatter. if it's forward spatter, it suggests One was facing the impact from opposite where the force came from. it's hard to imagine a scenario where the attacker gets forward spatter on himself.

castoff is another type of spatter typical of repetitious stabbing or beating where a weapon that's covered in blood, when swung back for another blow, flings off an arc of small blood droplets.

examples:

the attacker virtually never gets castoff on themselves. rather they fling it on the walls/ceiling around them, depending on the arc of their swings.

telekinetic blows cannot possibly create castoff because there would be nothing for the blood to stick to.

so if the stains on One are castoff, A) there was a bloody physical weapon/object involved and B) he seems very unlikely the attacker.

to me, the main stain on One looks consistent with either impact or castoff spatter. let's consider some more characteristics:

blood velocity

droplet size can also tell the speed at which the blood was moving, which helps reconstruct what amount of force and therefore type of injury it came from. generally, the smaller the droplets the higher the velocity.

One's chest spatter looks medium velocity. no surprises here.

blood directionality

the shape of droplets helps determine the direction the blood came from.

a drop onto a 90 degree angle, like if you're just standing there and your blood drips on the ground, leaves a circular droplet. an elongated blood droplet shows that the blood was flying through the air at an angle.

blood tails are what you call the pointy end of an elongated blood drop, which points in the direction of the motion. the bottoms of these more acute examples are the tails, indicating the blood was moving toward the bottoms.

now look at One. he definitely has multiple spatters on him, but I'm focusing on the main spatter that goes diagonally across his chest.

note how blood tails go in a consistent direction (bottom screen left moving towards upper screen right). this creates a strong idea of the spatter having originated low around One's right hip and flown upwards across his body.

of course we can't get too into analyzing this as legit forensic evidence, because it isn't. but the fact that they kept consistent with the direction of the blood tails when recreating these stains by hand multiple times seems like that detail mattered to them.

(I don't wanna shoplift directly from em's jumpsuit blood post but that has the best collection of pics and you can see that all iterations are in agreement with the direction of motion suggested).

here's a quick video showing a guy creating a bloodstain that illustrates both castoff and blood tails:

how'd homeboy get blood on his back?

I wish I could get a clearer look, but those are absolutely active spatters and not transfer. do you wanna tell me how, if you are the attacker, you'd manage to get your victim's blood to spatter onto your own back? like, even if he can Vecna someone behind his back, why? was he showboating like shredding guitar behind his head?? was it like the champagne in that one kim kardashian photo??

whose blood is on him?

neither castoff nor impact spatter makes sense for the bodies we see.

as I've discussed in other posts, none of the ways we saw anyone get killed in the massacre, nor any of the dead bodies in the RR, should produce blood stains like the ones on One.

the only external bleeding that getting Vecna'd™ produces is passive drips from the eyes. nobody got stabbed or struck repeatedly. even the eyes getting sucked out (or whatever?) doesn't result in any spatter. you can watch One kill Two, and there's no new blood on his face or on the floor between them. you can watch him throw guards into walls without a speck of blood on the walls or on himself.

for the amount of blood around the scene, there should be at least one much, much bloodier wounded person around here somewhere.

what is telekinetic force shaped like?

I'm unclear on what kind of spatter to expect when the weapon is telekinesis because I have so many unknowns about the nature of the impact. it really seems up to the person what shape and force of power they want to use in each instance (think the brute force of flipping a van vs the fine motor skills of turning a tv knob).

what I want is to picture the telekinesis used in the massacre as an invisible physical object so I can draw conclusions about the impact spatter it might create, but I can't.

ST has given us a couple great visuals of what impression telekinetic force actually creates when impacting various substances, revealing its "shape," and it varies a lot. my ruling is that telekinetic force has no default shape, so this is kind of a dead end.

but regardless, here's the curious thing about spatter:

(and that IS spatter on One, whether it's impact or castoff): spatter is the result of force upon exposed blood.

and a bunch of blood is not exposed yet until after a victim has been struck/stabbed/whatever at least once. meaning the victim that One's bloodstain belongs to was likely struck in the same spot repeatedly. twice minimum.

"well, blood is already exposed from the eye thing, couldn't it just be that?" yes, but striking victims after the eye thing isn't the MO. watch Virginia, Two, Chrissy, Fred, and Patrick die - after the eyes, they simply drop in place. he doesn't throw or hit them in any way.

if that is castoff, what was the blood cast off OF?

if there was a physical weapon, it's either missing from the scene or not shown.

I'd love to finish this section by suggesting an object in the lab that would make a thematically fitting murder weapon, but nothing jumps out at me.

it would be unlike them not to have brought our attention to the murder weapon before it's revealed as such. like, we need to be able to go "ohhh, they killed everybody with the 8 ball!" or whatever later or else it's not as fun.

the blood being castoff from a weapon would tend to suggest that the attacker wasn't telekinetic (or wasn't currently able to use their telekinesis). I mean, would you bother doing the manual labor if you didn't have to?

I don't see any very bloody objects lying around the RR, but I do see extremely clear evidence that there were very bloody hands.

hands are absolutely a thing that can cast off blood.

and there's only one person I know of who was ever shown with bloody hands in conjunction with the massacre.

let's talk about hands, then

we've got a diagonal thing going on here:

this bottom-left-upper-right orientation that would tend to result from a right-handed person casting off blood from an upward swing of either a weapon or their bloody hand. a lefty's swing would most likely create a bottom right-upper left diagonal castoff.

so which lab folk are what-handed?

lefties:

righties:

(I found only 2 lefts from El: manipulating the helicopter and stopping Vecna from killing Max. I could do a whole post on that. stop me)

ok, but what if that's backsplash, not castoff? same logic.

One is left handed, and when he throws someone with telekinesis, say like if he slams them downward, he uses his left hand. the way the arm swings naturally seems more likely to create an impact on that same side of the body. but the spatter originates from his right hip.

(NOT saying otherwise is impossible, it's totally possible, just seems less likely. go ahead and pretend you have telekinesis for a sec and see what direction of arm sweeps feel most natural.)

this is why when I look at the stain on One, I'm not totally convinced it's back spatter.

so what are some possible scenarios that might be consistent with blood like that?

where One is the attacker:

One strikes Victim with either a physical weapon or telekinesis. either from the strike or from falling and hitting some surface, their blood back spatters onto his shirt.

where One is not the attacker:

Attacker is striking Victim with a physical object or telekinesis. One stands opposite Attacker. forward or sideways impact spatter flies onto One's shirt.

Attacker is beating Victim with a physical object. One stands opposite Attacker. blood is cast up onto his shirt on one of Attacker's upswings.

One stands near Attacker or Victim who swings a bloody hand upward and casts blood across his shirt. (I'm liking this best)

now that I've been serious for a whole post, let me go insane about the scene overall (I'M JUST BRAINSTORMING DON'T SNIPE ME):

what if, by timeline shenanigans or I don't know what, some versions of Henry, Edward, and El are all present in the RR during the massacre.

Edward is doing some or all of the killing in such a way that impact spatters are being sent onto Henry. the bloody face of one of Edward's victims hits the floor while Henry's back is turned, causing that small spatter on the back of his pant leg.

El's hands are covered with blood. she makes a sweeping motion like this, up and to her right, to throw Edward, and blood casts off her hand onto Henry's shirt.

if an action like the above gif happened, we'd expect to see damage and/or blood on the walls or ceiling of the RR. there are multiple drippy blood impacts on the RR walls. we assume them to have come from the kids (even though this is not consistent with their injuries). what if some or all of that is Edward's blood?

whoever hit the walls would have needed to already be bloody when they hit the wall. (we know from the hallway guards and Two that neither getting thrown against a wall nor Vecna'd up against a wall leaves blood.)

another explanation for already-bloody-Ed and Henry shirt castoff/forward spatter from a physical weapon is if Brenner comes in and tries to stop Edward by beating him with [?object]. but I feel like Ed would overpower Brenner too quickly to get very bloody. this isn't a strong one, I feel better about the bloody hands idea

re: the blood pools on the floor all being smeared even before El gets dragged... you know how El has some way-too-different-to-be-accidental variations in the blood transfer patterns on her gown? could we have multiple Els in play? like, by the time we see our El arrive in the RR, other-bloody-handed-El has already been mucking around the scene?

varying El blood and multiple El concept plays well with the way there are also at least two different crime scenes.

"Nat you idiot, that shot is filmed in the mirror, you're just confusing two different sides of the room. why are your green and purple circles on the same bookcase when they're clearly on two different bookcases on opposite sides of the room?":

YEAH I SURE AM CONFUSED! BC WHY WERE THOSE TWO BOOKCASE STAINS BOTH SHOWN ON THE RED-TOP-RAINBOW-BEND-ON-THE-WALL SIDE OF THE ROOM? the side with that pyramid thing and the plinko board has a red-top rainbow bend. the opposite side, with the benches and the drawing tables, has a purple-top rainbow bend (see below). like, whatever mirror tricks you wanna pull, shouldn't the side of the room with the bookcase corner stain be purple-top-bend? seriously, am I picturing this wrong??

anyway, many of those RR bloodstains could be explained by at least one unaccounted for person being thrown repeatedly around the room. telekinetic people really seem to like doing this to each other.

say El makes that hand motion, which makes One's shirt castoff and throws Edward. Ed hits that bookcase hard enough to get bloodied. Edward gets thrown around some more, leaving various stains around the walls and floors. El or Ed stomps in the blood puddle by the bookcase, resulting in the purple-circled splatter and the spatter on Henry's pant leg.

but if we're allowed to have multiple Els maybe some of the blood is other-El's too. or One's. or Brenner's

I DON'T KNOW. I'M DONE. END MY SUFFERING

[castleclerics]

revisiting the stranger writers 2019 letter; what it could be hinting about will, and a little dive into the byers

something that everyone seems to skim over is the first tweet in the letter's thread:

and if this letter is to will, no matter if it's from jonathan or mike, it sounds like will had something going on soon so someone he loves made something for him.

look at the "hope this is (enough to) last until (you get back)?".

like... if it is "until you get back"..... sounds like the "something" will had coming involved going somewhere. we all know will already had significant trauma in his life before 1x01, so if he was going somewhere for a little bit for his mental health/to "fix" him or whatever tf, it's kinda convenient that it's the same time he goes to the UD. like something was preventing him from doing what he was going to.

i'm sure this is about jonathan's mixtape since music is something that can last before you get tired of it. and i think it's interesting that mike made the dnd campaign and him saying that it took two weeks to plan means that it probably doesn't take that long to plan usually.

so what if mike also knew what will had going on and wanted to make a good enjoyable campaign for him with the rest of the party before he left? and mike being super serious about it and wanting to make sure it's finished before they leave/wanting 20 more minutes.

also since will only tells mike what's up in his life:

it makes sense that mike is the odd one out and is the most intense about trying to find will out of everyone in the party.

also my mom has pointed out before that yes while joyce has every right to be that crazy in s1 since her son is missing, she says it's like something else happened to will before the series that we don't know yet. and i have to agree like the energy joyce and jonathan have is this weird unspoken knowing like an "oh shit it's happening".

(getting a little off track into like will's past with lonnie) but not to mention the weirdness with joyce literally trying to make hopper less suspicious for some godamn reason:

then joyce sighs after this and gets annoyed with chester barking and leading hopper to the shed lmao

then all the direct mentions of lonnie and the byers trying to misguide hopper:

jonathan goes out to try to prevent him from going to lonnie's since joyce telling him not to didn't work:

hopper tells him to stay with joyce and then jonathan goes to lonnie's anyways in case will was there ??? literally wtf are they hiding bc it's definitely more than just will's abuse from lonnie i think!!!!!!!!!

SO. if i'm right and will had something coming up and he suddenly goes missing right before then, i get why everyone would be freaking out especially if the byers are already involved with HNL or the government in some capacity because of will.

[aemiron-main]

Will’s Hospital Scene, Will at Hawkins Lab, The Two Wills and the Newspapers About Will’s Vanishing

So, something that’s ALWAYS bothered me SO fucking much is Will’s hospital scene. Why does it bother me? Well, why on EARTH would the lab let Will go to a normal hospital??? Even after Brenner left with some military guys & connie, there was still other lab staff there AND the lab requires keycards for most doors AND it has its auto lockdown thing- there’s no way Jopper could’ve gotten out on their own with Will.

And we NEVER see Jopper leave the UD with Will. We don’t see them come back out of that gate at all. And we don’t see how they left the lab.

The lab was prepared to KILL HOPPER and make it look like a suicide to prevent information from getting out. Why one EARTH would they just let Jopper AND Will leave and go to a normal hospital???

And it’s hammered home AGAIN in S2 that the lab does NOT want Will at a normal hospital:

But when we look at this paper about Will’s vanishing, from the end of S1, which I talked about here, and here:

THE BOY WHO CAME BACK TO LIFE

By Benjamin Buck

The former missing child Will Byers has been found after a week of searching. He is presently in stable condition in Hawkins General Hospital. Byers’ mother, Joyce Byers Alleges that Will was the subject of a secret government program run by the Hawkins National Laboratory. The allegation comes amidst a massive investigation into the hidden organization and its elaborate experimentation in perusal of mind control.

The abuse detailed in the first report includes prolonged psychological duress and psychological interrogation. This government sanctioned torture has sparked outrage amongst the American (NOT VISIBLE). In a statement issues yesterday, Ives mentioned her “disgust” (NOT VISIBLE) the organization, saying “our own American people are being treated like the (NOT VISIBLE) we should be directing our attention to the real targets, the Soviets, not our own daughters and sons.” Under legal advice, Brenner has issues no comment on- CUTS OFF

Not only does this paper say that Will was found at the lab as an experiment, that paper also says that Will was currently at HAWKINS GENERAL HOSPITAL.

Just like THIS WILL is:

He is 100000% at Hawkins General Hospital. That is the hospital, not the lab.

Which means that THAT WILL, the Will at Hawkins General Hospital was found at HAWKINS LAB AS A TEST SUBJECT.

But there’s more. Like I talked about here, and here, this paper from S2 seems to be the SAME ARTICLE just with different contents. This article talks about Will being found in a cabin in the woods.

THE BOY WHO CAME BACK TO LIFE

by Benjamin Buck

In a recent statement, the state coroner’s office has admitted to misidentifying the body recovered from the Sattlee Quarry as twelve year old Will Byers. Will Byers had gone missing two days prior, inspiring the (?) of Hawkins to form a search party in hopes of finding him. When a boy’s body was recovered from the Sattler Quarry, the case seemed solved. Six days later, local police lead by Chief Jim Hopper found Byers alive in an abandoned cabin a few miles outside of Hawkins. Police launched an investigation in the state coroner and have since arrested him. Chief Jim Hopper has- ARTICLE CUTS OFF

And like I’ve talked about here, and here, we have two different Wills in the vanishing scenes (warm Will and cool Will), and so I would bet that one Will was found as an HNL experiment, and that another was found in the UD and that we have more multiple timeline weirdness going on here. But we didn’t see what happened to the one in the UD. Like I said, we never see Jopper leave the UD. All we have to go off of for him is that newspaper article about the cabin in the woods. Which, we know that Nancy was entering and exiting the UD via trees in the woods…. There’s just something rattling about it.

I would also bet that one Will has a birthday in March and one has a birthday in May. I don’t know how the whole scene of Jopper in the UD and how they got out all fits together yet or if it really happened or if they all just got drugged TF up by HNL and hallucinated it all (not auper likely but yknow my point is that there’s a bunch of options) or WHAT, but that boy in the hospital is likely not the one who was in the UD.

And also, the Will in the hospital suspiciously resembles warm Will rather than cool Will- both hospital Will and warm Will are smaller than cool will, and both have shorter hair.

And Cool Will was the one with Vecna’s grandfather clock behind him… which makes sense if he was the Will in the UD….

[inevitably-johnlocked]

Hey! I was wondering if you know any fic where Sherlock and John have an actual conversation in TEH where they sit down and discuss their feelings? I know that’s not very much like them at all (and that’s why they didn’t do it lol) but I would love to see it to heal by heart a little bit.

Tbh I just needed them to come back slowly to what they were before and I feel like they never quite did *cries*

Thank you! (and sorry for all the long text)

Hey Nonny!

Ahhh, funnily enough, I THOUGHT I did have a list, but apparently not one dedicated specifically to them actually talking, LOL! I think it's because I consider them to be "confession" fics instead :P So let's start a new list! Yay! I just perused for the "communication" tag, so enjoy!"

Enjoy!

COMMUNICATION

See also:

Love Confessions / Slow Burn / Dev. Rel. (Fluff Version)

/ Love Confessions, Slow Burn & Dev. Rel. Pt. 2 /

Love Confessions Pt. 3

Love Confessions Pt. 4

Love Confessions Pt. 5

Christmas-Time Love Confessions

Arguments Lead to Confessions

Arguments Lead to Confessions Pt 2.

Communication (Swissmiss list)

Green Carnation by glenien (T, 2,616 w., 1 Ch. || Sherlock’s Mind Palace, Meta-Fic, Angst and Fluff, Communication, Post-TAB) – John takes Sherlock home. Part 1 of It’s No Longer Eighteen Ninety-Five

Measuring Damage With the Fujita Scale by teahigh (T, 3,548 w., 1 Ch. || First Kiss / Time, Vacation / Holidays, Friends to Lovers, Bed-Sharing, Pining Sherlock, Sherlock POV, Angsty Fluff, Scars, Awkward Talks) – John goes back into town, into the storm, and Sherlock realises he forgot to say, “I just want to be alone with you.”

MR# 1430155 by blueink3 (T, 3,560 w., 1 Ch. || Talks of Parentlock, Baby Watson, Hurt/Comfort, Love Confessions, Fluff and Angst) – John paces the length of the not inconsiderable hallway and glances at his phone for the tenth time since he exited the hospital room seven minutes ago. Sherlock’s last text was sent at 5:06pm. It is now 5:39pm. He should be here by now. After all, his daughter is 46-minutes-old and if John is going to share this momentous event with someone, it sure as hell isn’t going to be the woman who just gave birth to her. Part 5 of Tumblr Prompts

Stranded by BeautifulFiction (T, 5,798 w., 1 Ch. || First Kiss, Communication / Relationship Discussion, Pining Sherlock, Sherlock POV, BAMF John, Doctor John, Case Fic, Drinking, Huddling For Warmth, Friends to More) –  When stranded on a derelict barge at high tide, John and Sherlock reconsider their friendship.

Permanent Fixture by vitruvianwatson (E, 18,836 w., 9 Ch || Post-S4, Parentlock, Slow Build, Friends to Lovers, They’re Good Parents, Blushing Sherlock, First Kiss/Time, Explicit Consent, Sexual Content, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Mutual Pining, Big Feelings, Crying, Fluff, Anxious Sherlock, Inexperienced Sherlock, Emotional Communication, Love Confessions) – Now, as Rosie sat curled up against Sherlock’s side, John watched and wondered exactly how he had ended up here. Domesticity had never suited him before, not at any point in his life. His disastrous marriage had been proof of that. But somehow, here in the warmth and safety of 221B Baker Street, here with Sherlock Holmes reading medical jargon to his daughter, Sherlock’s bony feet nudging against his leg, John couldn’t imagine anyplace that would make him happier. 

At the Heart of it All by SilentAuror (E, 19,823 w., 1 Ch. || Virgin Sherlock, Post S3, POV John, Domestics, First Time, Kissing, Romance) – John has been back at Baker Street for four months now and thinks it's about time they had the Talk to see whether or not they could be more than friends. Sherlock has a lot of uncertainty about this concept for multiple reasons. Unabashed romance.

LHR-HNL by scullyseviltwin (E, 35,066 w., 7 Ch. || Hawaiian Vacation, Post-TRF, Friends To Lovers, Slow Burn, Just Talk Already, Drinking, Mutual Pining) – In need of an endangered flora sample, Sherlock and John must make a trip to an unexpected destination.

You Have Drawn Red From My Hands by J_Baillier (T, 67,085 w., 17 Ch. || Three Garridebs, Heavy John Whump, Hurt / Comfort, Pining, Heavy Angst, Case Fic/Adventure, Slow Burn, Sick Fic, Injury, Guilt & Depression, Just Talk Already Please, Medical Realism, PTSD) –  John getting injured leads Sherlock on a path of guilt and revelations.

The Bang and the Clatter by earlgreytea68 (M, 137,049 w., 37 Ch. || PODFIC AVAILABLE || Baseball AU || Slow Burn / Developing Relationship, Possessive/Obsessive Sherlock, Jealous Sherlock, Mutual Pining, Body Appreciation, Depression, Closeted Sexuality, Family, Sherlock’s Mind Palace, Ogling Each Other, Anxious Sherlock, Panic Attack, Drunkenness, Talk of Forever, Big Feelings™) – Sherlock Holmes is a pitcher and John Watson is a catcher. No, no, no, it's a baseball AU. Part 1 of Baseball 

MARKED FOR LATER

Everything by glass_rose_paperweight (G, 1,603 w., 1 Ch. || Post-T6T, Angst, Pre-Slash, Communication) – Sherlock is devastated after Mary is shot and John's world falls apart. He is devastated further by Molly delivering the news that John has decided to cut Sherlock out of his life. But what if Sherlock didn't just take it? What if he got justifiably angry and burst into the flat to give John a piece of his mind?

The Norwood Bewilderment by Long_Time_QT (G, 4,128 w., 1 Ch. || Early S2 Fic, Asexual John, First Kiss, Friends to Lovers, Romantic Fluff, Communication) – Sherlock was strangely quiet for the cab ride home, and John wasn’t about to break the oppressive silence before they reached the privacy of their own flat. Instead, he went over the moment in his head, playing it on repeat. There was no mistaking it. They had definitely and irrefutably kissed. Or rather, Sherlock had kissed John. But it was a kiss nonetheless. A sudden, passionate, heat-of-the-moment kiss. And he’d liked it.

Never Been Better by LoloLolly (G, 4,913 w., 1 Ch. || Post-TSo3, Missing Scene, Hurt/Comfort, Mentions of Drug Use, Oblivious John, Concerned John, Communication, Alternation POVs, Angst) – John gets married. Sherlock leaves the wedding reception early, but he’s fine. Fine. The seven percent solution? It helps him think. If only Baker Street didn’t seem so empty. But he’s perfectly okay. Never been better, in fact. Never been better.

Stranded by BeautifulFiction (T, 5,798 w., 1 Ch. || First Kiss, Relationship Discussion, Communication, Pining Sherlock, Sherlock Whump, Doctor John, Huddling for Warmth, BAMF John, Case Fic, Drinking) – Do you think we’re less than that – best friends? Or more?’ John’s head pulled back, and the look he received suggested John was seriously wondering how someone so intelligent could be so stupid. ‘Well, definitely not less.’ When stranded on a derelict barge at high tide, John and Sherlock reconsider their friendship.

Olivia by poechild (T, 6,446 w., 1 Ch. || Post S3/Mary, Mary’s/Baby’s Dead, Caring John, Crying Sherlock, Emotions, Talking, Communication, Protective John, Friendship, Past Child Death) – John discovers something about Sherlock's past that brings up many much needed conversations.

The Rainbow Connection by honeybee_motorcyles (M, 13,161 w., 7 Ch. || Post-TRF, Autistic Sherlock, American Road Trip, Understanding, Communication, PTSD Sherlock, Regression, Aspergers, Angst and Fluff) – A Road Trip is the best cure for Sherlock and John's relationship.

Hot Water Bottle by khorazir (T, 18,436 w., 1 Ch. || Post TLD / TFP Doesn’t Exist, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Misunderstandings, Communication, Demisexual Sherlock, Bisexual John, Autumn, Bed Sharing, Developing Relationship, First Kiss) – A case in one of the remotest corners of the Lake District, a storm, an inn, a broken boiler, a room with two beds but only one hot water bottle, and two men who have a lot to sort out between them – all of this makes for a night to remember.

Loosed Reins by AggressiveWhenStartled (E, 35,095 w., 11 Ch. || Fighting, BAMF John, Explicit Consent, Safe Sex, Power Dynamics, Arguing About Feelings, Communication) – “You’ve stuffed an entire body into the fridge this time,” John accused. “What happened to the milk? The leftover risotto? My bloody jam?” Sherlock opened his eyes at that. “As a doctor, it should be readily apparent to you that there is only a partial body in our refrigerator. Popular horror stories notwithstanding, it’s rare for an entire corpse to fit into one this size. I had to cut it up into several parts to pack it in, and there is still only seven eighths of it there.” John stared at the ceiling. “That’s... not better.” Part 1 of Arguing and Corpses

In Bed by Ellipsical (E, 46,922 w., 12 Ch. || Autofellatio, Vibrators, Rimming, Blow Jobs, Coming Out, Liminal Identities, Christmas, Sex Toys, Sexual Fantasy, Fingering, Jealous John, Therapy, Flirting, Texting, Fluff, Sherlock’s Violin, Anal, Est. Rel., Semi-Public Sex, Harry Watson, Communication, Coming in Pants, Spitroasting, Double Penetration, Dirty Talk, Internalized Homophobia, Self-Acceptance, Happy Ending, PTSD John, Coping Mechanisms, Angst, Hurt/Comfort) – It’s almost Christmas, John thinks, and this, this is bullshit. The epilogue to Guilty Secrets. Part 2 of Guilty Secrets

The Night Is Darkest by missselene (E, 48,461 w., 8 Ch. || Post-TLD, Extremely Dub Con, S4 Rage Monster John, Insecure Sherlock, Self-Esteem Issues, Sexual Exploration, Healing, Self Care, Self Acceptance, Sexual Exploration, Casual Sex, Gentle Sex, Sherlock/OMC, Threesome with 2 OMCs, Implied/Referenced Domestic Violence, Communication, Internalized Homophobia, Relationship Negotiation) –  Sherlock Holmes would do anything for John Watson... and that includes letting John do whatever he wants to him. What would it take for Sherlock to stand up for himself and finally start taking care of his own needs?

The Noble Heart by All_I_need (E, 98,574 w., 27 Ch. || S3 Fix It, Minor Character Death, Slow Burn, Grief, Pining Sherlock, Bed Sharing, Hurt/Comfort, Communication, Fluff, Mary is Not Nice, Massages, Friends to Lovers) – When John's wedding gets horribly derailed on the big day itself, it falls to Sherlock to help him pick up the pieces, even if it means letting others do the sleuthing for once. But as the police embarks on what looks like a simple murder investigation, the case soon turns into something else entirely as more and more details about Mary's life emerge. But Mary wasn't the only person keeping secrets and Sherlock knows it's only a matter of time until his own will come to light.

[missmollybloom]

Things I’d love to see in a new season of Sherlock

(To be honest, I’d take a one-off special at this point! Anything!)

One day, I might turn this into a fic - but in the meantime, here are my dreams for how the next episodes of Sherlock might go. (And note my eternal optimism that there *will* be more episodes one day!)

I want to see Molly as a natural part of the narrative, she doesn’t have to take over, she doesn’t need to be a huge part, I just want her there. (Part of that is my reaction to how small a role she was given in s4 compared to s3!!).

But what if Mrs Hudson requested in her will that the whole of 221 be left to Molly. Why? Because she knows that Molly is the only other woman Sherlock would let look after him, the only one he listens to, the only one he trusts.

She’s still working at Bart’s, but she’s also there, living in Mrs H’s flat.

Sherlock could make a few cracks about “the new landlady” to John before it’s revealed to us that’s it’s Molly.

“No more drugs for me, John. The new landlady wouldn’t allow it.”

“You’ll notice there are no more bullet holes in the walls. Request of the new landlady.”

“I’m even eating during cases now. The new landlady didn’t buy my argument that digesting slows me down.”

We get this picture of a very stern, harsh mistress. 

“Oh. Here she comes now.” Sherlock warns

And it’s Molly.

For Molly’s part, she’s moved on with her life. She has twins. If we do the math we can work out they were probably conceived within a few months of The Final Problem.

There’s enough ambiguity to keep everyone happy. It’s never spelled out. 

Maybe it was a one-night stand or a relationship that failed and the father isn’t in the picture?

Maybe she got an anonymous sperm donor?

Maybe she asked Sherlock to be the sperm donor?

Or maybe the sperm was donated “recreationally”?

Fans can debate it over and over. There’s enough deniability for the J*hnL*ckers to be happy and plenty of fodder for Sherlolly fans to write countless fics over.

Anyway... some thoughts. 

If anything, I just want more episodes! Please!

[henrysglock]

[Kazoo Kid voice] Wait A Minute...Who Are You?

ANOTHER installment of the Cracks and Mirrors series...this time tied (haha) to Brenner's ties. Yeah. Ties. Plural. This is going to be a long one. Where to begin.

#1: The Ties

If you can make sense of that, more power to you. Here's what you really need to know:

Meaning these 5 guys are different from each other:

Wonderful! I hate it here.

Interestingly enough, this guy is the only guy we see the doors to El's stairwell with:

Now, it finally makes sense why none of these blood patterns match:

BECAUSE THEY'RE NOT THE SAME GUY/SCENARIO.

All of this, of course, ties back to what I said in September about Ten's changing test room regarding shot choices, prop movements, and color grading fuckery: It's not the same room continuously.

These two, however, seem to be set in variations on the same universe:

And they both end in an infuriating camera cut to (in Brenner's case) a completely different guy. (smash cut to my post about how if El's experience is lifted from Brenner's memories, then Brenner should have seen One killing Two, like El did)

Anyway, what we can glean from this is that Running Brenner's universe is one of the top row, but not any of the bottom row:

(i.e. It's at least a variation on a) the taped version of El's first NINA experience and b) Henry's electrocution. It is not, however, any of the other versions of El's NINA entrance, as far as we've been shown...which is consistent with the multiple versions of NINA we seem to be seeing overall.)

Okay. Good? Good. Moving on.

#2: Tying the Ties (to the Rainbow Room)

As I just mentioned, the Brenner in the hallway isn't the Brenner who runs into the Rainbow Room. And as far as I can tell, Rainbow Room Brenner doesn't appear in the hallway shots:

Rainbow Room Brenner, as far as I can tell, seems to be this Brenner:

And so, of course, the part you all knew was coming...

#3: Tying the Ties (to the Cracks)

Yeah. We're fucked. We got a bunch of different guys.

If you're just tuning in, I suggest you take a peek at the original Cracks and Mirrors post (the other installments of which can be found in my pinned post)...but for time being I've lifted the most relevant portion:

Now. These cracks have associated Brenners:

No Gate and Gate, respectively.

Not only are these two Brenners not the same guy, they're also not any of the guys we saw running around or the guy who burst into the Rainbow Room:

Adding lines would make this more confusing, so just go ahead and squint at them all. You'll see what I'm on about pretty quickly, since I've circled the important bits.

But...Surprise! We now have seven Brenners! (My apologies for the fucking crunchy as hell "looks like the visual representation of an earrape video" cracks Brenners, it's just that the lighting is shit and I can see fuck all if I leave them as-is)

So. A Tale Of Seven Brenners...or so you THOUGHT. (Because fuck me, that's why.)

#4: More Fucking Ties!!

Of course, none of these Brenners are this weird fucker with blood all over his face:

Many such cases, because none of them account for this Brenner from earlier in 4.01 who's shown with a) an incorrect tie and b) incorrect hair (shown here with "correct" Brenner) either:

...Which I talked about here.

YUP. WE HAVE AT LEAST NINE BRENNERS.

Now...I still have questions about this last Brenner ^ being shown as a reflection in his mirror at home, as opposed to Brenner in the massacre who does not reflect in the Rainbow Room mirror (both in 4.01 AND 4.08, respectively):

But for now...that's beside the point.

Closing Tangential Note:

Isn't it funny how everything electronic is going super haywire...except the camera and the card reader...and the lights in the hallway that doesn't exist on any of the HNL specs we have..........funny how that works:

You could argue that the camera and card reader are on a generator/backup circuit...I just didn't think powers-usage picked and chose which circuits it affected like that.

And before anyone goes "Oh but James, there is a light flickering in the hallw—" YEAH. THE ONE SINGULAR LIGHT HENRY JUST SMASHED WITH THE BODY OF A GROWN MAN. LOOK BEHIND EL WHEN THE DOUBLE DOORS OPEN. FLASHING LIGHTS? I DON'T THINK SO.

AS OPPOSED TO WHEN POWERS ARE BEING USED NEARBY, WHEREIN ALL THE LIGHTS FLASH:

OKAY. OKAY. SO IT'S WEIRD THAT THE LIGHTS IN THE HALL BEHIND THE DOOR WOULDN'T BE FLASHING. THEY SHOULD BE FLASHING. BUT THEY'RE NOT.

It's almost like, by passing through those doors, El has entered the "plot", so to speak. Like when you hit a save checkpoint, or leave a "safe" space in a video game (staring at you, Resident Evil: Biohazard). She wanders through the safe but horrific "context" sequence, then she enters the unskippable "villain lore drop" cutscene, and then she's in the Boss Fight sequence. Babygirl, you are just a cog in the machine!!

[pinkeoni]

Is HNL Connected to Pennhurst?

(and why the show might not done with Pennhurst)

This is a thought I had when thinking about Victor’s fate in Pennhurst. We know for a fact that HNL has a connection to what happened with his family in at least some capacity, considering that they managed to get their hands on Henry and cover it up pretty quickly. I wouldn’t be surprised if Victor’s placement in Pennhurst was somehow orchestrated by the lab.

The patients and nurses of Pennhurst wear mostly white, not unlike the children and orderlies of the lab.

Also peep this patient with similar hair to Brenner:

Pennhurst is named after a real asylum that shut down in ‘87, and while we don’t see a lot of how show Pennhurst works, the lab actually functions pretty similarly to how irl Pennhurst worked.

IE, a lot of patient abuse and basically being a prison rather than a hospital.

There’s also the boys speculation in s1 that El could’ve been from Pennhurst, only for it to be revealed that she’s actually from HNL.

How do we know that the patients at Pennhurst are being treated the same way?

I guess there’s no confirmation, but there are some hints. When Dr. Hatch is giving Robin and Nancy the tour of Pennhurst he says this—

Idk man, if there was ever a veiled way to say “They can’t escape, they don’t choose to be here and they don’t like it here” this would be it. I think Robin bringing into question whether or not they can escape in the first place makes it clear that they are drawing attention to this point, why even talk about this point in the first place if it isn’t a question that the patients want to be there?

Why would HNL and Pennhurst have a connection anyway?

Honestly, some kind of agreement between HNL and the lab would be super beneficial for both parties, and I imagine something like that would have formed during the MK ULTRA days. The lab could get rid of cases that either cause a problem for them and/or prove to potentially be dangerous, and Pennhurst would recieve new patients. Or at least, that’s what I speculate their agreement could be. HNL has a place to lock up Victor so he can’t blab about anything supernatural that he witnessed, and even if he did, he would just be seen as another “nut job” at Pennhurst.

Why would Pennhurst be brought back to the show?

Now I don’t know this for sure (as is true with any theory of mine) but I believe that Pennhurst may be brought back in season 5.

Despite Robin and Nancy only being there for Victor, we get a pretty extensive tour of the place. Granted this could just be here to plant the thing about music, but the way that Pennhurst is established here doesn’t make it feel like a location they would used for only one episode. Why go into so much detail for a single episode location? Why go through the trouble of familiarizing the audience with the layout and part of how it functions if not to bring it back later?

I don’t know exactly what kind of storyline they could use at Pennhurst, but I don’t think it would be out of place nor would it take the place of any other important plotline. Rather, especially if Pennhurst is connected to the lab, I could see the location being used as a vehicle to deliver more information regarding the supernatural plot.

What’s the resolve for the Pennhurst plotline?

Let’s go back to that point about the patients wanting to escape. This has been hinted at, but not brought to fruition. When Robin and Nancy are escaping, we get a closeup of a patient who laughs as they run away.

Something that I stated earlier in the post is that Pennhurst is named after a real asylum that was closed in ‘87, which happened due the revelation of the abuse behind the scenes. We know there will be a timeskip in s5, and while it’s looking like it might be closer to ‘88, details of show Pennhurst don’t align exactly with irl Pennhurst. Penn irl is in Pennsylvania and show Penn is in Indiana, as stated in s1 by Lucas.

But still, if the show still intentionally took the name and some of the real asylum practices, one could assume that the show asylum might end up with the same fate.

IE the truth coming out regarding HNL and the abuse behind the scenes coming to light in the public eye, and more imporantly-

Liberation!

[madwheelerz]

The Case of Jane Eleven “El” Hopper-Byers

The first case in this collection is the case of the lovely Jane Eleven “El” Hopper-Byers. As a product of Hawkins National Laboratory, the implication is that El is very much not real. In what way you might ask? She escaped from Mike’s mind. In this case we assume that the mental hospital Pennhurst is representative of Mike’s mind.

Lucas claims that El escaped from there. The boys also proceed to argue over family in Pennhurst which seems to have implications on Victor Creel and him being located there, but that’s for later.

Dustin before he leaves looks at Mike talking to El and calls it mental before leaving.

She’s also likened to Michael Myers.

Mike gives El a new name and shelters her. El is also given the same clothes that Mike wears in episode one to wander the house with. She also doesn’t resist speaking to Mike like she did with Benny.

Mike’s first meeting with El is very interesting. They stare at each other for a bit and the boys end up taking her home.

When Mike and El are in frame together they seem to be associated with the number twenty-two, which is twice of eleven. Both are individually associated with the number eleven, but Mike is also associated with another numbers.

Mike Wheeler = 11

Mike calls El for 353 days. We only hear about that day in particular and 3 + 5 + 3 is 11. Mike’s flight is 623 which again is 6 + 2 + 3 = 11. Mike is associated with the number eleven, but it’s not purely because of El. When the two are in frame together the number 11 is doubled so that it becomes 22.

Mike is convinced that the El he sees in season two has to be from his mind for some reason. He truly does not believe she’s there, which is interesting because he witnessed a similar situation with other characters. He may have watched her be taken away, but it’s not much different from watching Will’s body get dragged out of the upside-down and immediately believing without a doubt that he was alive.

With El, however, it’s different for some reason. He knows she has powers and has his suspicions, but he’s still doubtful until the very end that she could be alive.

Mike claims that El was born special and it’s extremely reflective of Terry Ives and even Dr. Brenner. He also says that he might have been the first to realize which is a major flag in this case.

He doesn’t have justification for knowing the specifics of how HNL operates and instead resorts to saying, ‘trust me’.

El regardless of where she is constantly on time when it comes to saving Mike. She shows up on time to catch him as he falls of the quarry, despite there being no implication that she was anywhere near the situation. She shows up right on time to protect them at the Byers’ house and she gets up soon enough to throw the flayed! Billy out and away from Mike.

It’s also interesting to note that while El is interested in finding her biological mother, she’s not interested in her father at all nor does her mama offer any memories of her father. Also, when Mike shows off Yoda to El the scene before was of the lab observing the materials from the upside-down. Later Mike says that El is similar to Yoda.

It’s notable that Mike introduces El to Yoda before knowing she has powers and then proceeds to describe the basic form of El’s power.

{The lab scene transitioning into Mike showing El Yoda & saying more like Yoda at the hospital}

Mike also identifies El as a mage, which at this point isn’t a possible DnD class. Afterwards he claims that she is someone and no one.

Max only asks the important questions.