#tina talks about things

[sunsetcurveauto]

never did i think media illiteracy would save the day. charles rowland standing ovation

[afewproblems]

Season 2 Halloween AU Part Four

Part One, Part Two, Part Three

A very big thank you to @strangersteddierthings for chatting with me today and being such a great sounding board for the next update!

Synopsis: What if Eddie had been at Tina's Halloween Party in Season Two? Featuring Steve!Whump, Stancy Breakup, and Eddie just trying to keep up with all these new revelations about who King-Steve actually is...

***

"So…I have to ask," Eddie blurts out, cutting through the awkward silence that has fallen between them, "how were you gonna pick up your car before you ran into me?"

"I don't think it counts as running into you, if you were waiting for me Munson," Steve side steps the question expertly, flashing him a strange smirk that seems out of place. It falls after a second and twists into something pained.

"I was hoping Nance would take me," Steve says eventually, his voice soft, "which was pretty stupid in hindsight, 'specially cuz she was counting on me to drive her this morning, which--"

Steve cuts himself, snapping his mouth shut with a harsh click of teeth, he shakes his head and lifts his hand to run roughly through his hair.

"Doesn't matter anymore".

Eddie holds his breath, feeling the conversation begin to shift. It's as though he's stepped onto a tightrope and any wrong move could potentially send him over the edge.

He settles for nodding once, turning the key in the ignition.

Steve sighs and lets himself fall back into his seat, "I know you know already, the whole fucking school does, Billy saw to that," Steve gestures to his face, "say what you really want to ask". 

Eddie's fingers tighten around the wheel as he turns them out of the parking lot, fighting the immediate urge to say, 'why did Miss Priss throw it all away?' 

"You think I believe the rumours that come out of that shithole?" Eddie lies, keeping his eyes on the road this time.

He can feel Steve's unimpressed stare as they continue down mainstreet.

"Right, so you had no clue I was in detention?"

Eddie chews the inside of his cheek to fight the sly grin that begins to creep over his face, "Alright smart ass".

He hazards another glance at Steve as they begin to hit the residential area, he looks so different from the night before.

His limbs are loose, tension free, if it weren't for the heavy bags under Steve's eyes and the nervous tap of his fingers on the passenger door, Eddie would think he was finally relaxed.

"I knew a fight definitely happened, it's Hargrove," Eddie says slowly, carefully weighing his words, "but I typically prefer to hear the whole sordid story from the source before I pass any judgements, ya know?" 

Steve doesn't say anything as they continue driving through residential  the houses getting progressively bigger as they go.

"Did you," Steve pauses and breathes out slowly before shaking his head and lifting his face to meet Eddie's gaze, "is that offer for something stronger still open?" 

Eddie smiles, "I think that can be arranged". 

***

Eddie pulls over beside Tina Cline's house, wincing as the right front tire rolls over the curb and bounces the van as it lands on the street once more, startling a snort out of Steve. 

"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up Harrington," Eddie huffs as Steve shoots him a grin.

"Didn't say a word," Steve hums, unbuckling himself from the seat. Eddie watches as he opens the door and hops out. For a moment Eddie worries Steve will pull the same disappearing act from last night but he simply stops beside his car door and motions for Eddie to roll down his window. 

Eddie cracks his door open instead, "window's broken, what?" 

Steve rolls his eyes, "whatever Munson, you know the way? It's north on 5th and--"

"Then two more rights, yeah man," Eddie says with a laugh in his voice, "I dropped you off remember?" 

"Fuck off," Steve huffs out, he's grinning though.

Steve swings the Beemer’s door open and slides in. He turns on the ignition and flinches at the loud burst of music from the stereo, the volume obviously set from the mood of the previous night. 

'I want to know what love is, I want you to show me--'

Steve slams his hand against the console, cutting off the song with a harsh crack. 

The van is parked just behind the Beemer so Eddie can't see Steve's face, but his head drops down onto the wheel for just the briefest moment before he slowly lifts it, turns on his signal and pulls away from the curb. 

***

Steve beats him to the house.

He's getting out of the car, which is parked on the long driveway as Eddie pulls up to the street. 

Eddie hops out of the van, hiking his backpack higher up on his shoulders, not bothering to lock it. Who would even want his shitty van among the BMWs and Mercedes parked down this street --hell, Eddie could have sworn he saw a Jag three houses down.

Eddie stops short of the lawn. The Harrington house is so different in the light of day, the strange emptiness that seemed to ooze out of the dark windows the night before has disappeared, leaving an ordinary house in its wake. 

"Well?" Steve calls out as he pulls a pair of keys from his back pocket and spins them once on his finger, "you coming or what Munson?" 

Eddie rolls his eyes and jogs to catch up to Steve who turns on his heel to stride up the walk. He stuffs the key into the deadbolt and swings one of the double doors inwards before shucking off his sneakers.

No shoes? Fucking rich people man.

Steve must notice Eddie's expression because he blushes and shrugs, "I know, I know, but my parents will be home for Thanksgiving this year so…may as well…"

He gestures around the sterile foyer with a tight smile, as though it explains everything. 

If anything, Eddie has more questions. 

Steve cuts off the thought by clearing his throat, "we should smoke outside, last thing I need is for you to burn a hole in the couch or something".

Eddie steps over the threshold and has to stop himself from whistling, were the ceilings always this high in this place?

He lifts his foot to unlace his left chuck, snorting at the strange little table in the middle of the foyer. A giant vase sits atop it filled with a mixture of what have to be silk flowers --no way they were real. He pulls the shoe off and tosses it to the side before lifting his right foot. 

Eddie never had the greatest balance so he hops back and forth with his right foot in the air before hopping as close as he can to the wall of the foyer and leaning back against it.

He finally gets the knot in his laces undone and throws the sneaker to the floor, dropping his right foot to the hardwood.

Eddie looks up to find Steve staring with a bemused expression on his face, he ignores the wide hazel eyes and removes the backpack from his shoulders -which can't have been helping the balance issue. 

Eddie unzips the top and yanks out the trusty metal lunchbox, sliding a wicked grin into place.

"You said something about outside?"

***

By the time they've settled, facing one another on a couple of pool loungers, the sun has begun to dip low, painting the patio and empty pool a warm glowing copper. It catches Steve's hair, which shines like gold in the dying sunlight, like some Autumnal Fae King--

Eddie wants to slap himself, suddenly thankful for the November wind that cuts through the backyard, forcing him to chillout.

He picks up the grinder from his lunchbox, unscrewing the cap to open it.

"You good with a joint this evening my good King?" 

He pours a handful of a new strain Rick let him try the other day into the grinder and starts twisting. It's not something he would typically share with anyone other than Jeff, but Steve seemed like he could use something a little more special tonight.

Eddie looks up after a beat of silence, "yo, Major Tom, you with me?" 

Steve's face is pinched, tilted towards the empty pool, "please don't call me that," he says quietly.

"Major Tom?"

Steve raises his eyes to meet Eddie's gaze, his mouth cuts a hard line across his face, the typical easy grin it usually houses is gone. 

"King-Steve," he runs a hand through his hair, letting the fingers linger to grip and pull, "I just, that's not who I am anymore, I don't--"

Steve swallows harshly, "that's all anyone could talk about this morning".

He drops his voice and octave, "oh, King Steve is so pussy whipped he let his girl fuck Jonathan Byers before she dumped him".

"Is that what Hargrove said?" Eddie asks quietly as he pours out a portion of weed onto a paper.

Steve shakes his head, "that was Tommy, but that wasn't why I hit him". 

Eddie nods, and lifts the joint to his mouth to run his tongue along the edge of the paper. Steve watches him from the lounger, his eyes follow the movement before he blinks and continues.

"Tommy and I had been best friends since we were five, he uh, he knows a lot about me," Steve lifts his hand to his mouth and chews the nail of his thumb briefly before dropping it back into his lap.

"Stuff I don't tell anyone, stuff he knows will hurt". 

Eddie nods, twisting the joint closed, he can kind of understand that, although the only person in his life that knew him like that was Wayne.  

And Wayne would never hurt him. 

Did Steve really not have anyone else like that in his life, someone he could tell anything to that wouldn't look at him weird or judge him. Someone safe.

"Anyway, Hargrove started in on me after that, but he's been fucking with me for awhile so," Steve shrugs again, "he saw his big opportunity here".

"Hargrove's been messing with you?" Eddie asks sharply as he pours more weed onto another paper. He lifts it and runs his tongue along the edge of the paper before twisting it into shape. When he looks up, Steve's ears have gone slightly pink and he's sitting strangely, slightly hunched and twisted.

"Yeah," Steve says after a moment, he clears his throat and straightens his back, "yeah, it's just been at practice so far, and I thought it was just because he wanted to one up me for my spot but," he shakes his head, "it's getting worse". 

"You know, I have a bit of a reputation around school," Eddie says slowly, carefully, watching as Steve freezes and looks at Eddie with wide eyes.

"The Hellfire club is more than just the game we're playing, it's also kind of a sanctuary for kids that don't have anyone to lean on, we look after each other," Eddie continues, ignoring the way Steve relaxes slightly, "you wouldn't need to play or anything but if you need somewhere to sit at lunch now…" 

Steve looks at Eddie for a long time, his expression blank, guarded, "really? Just like that?" 

"Yeah man, besides I get to use my 'Mean and Scary Guy' persona on these fuckers so it's a win-win for me".

Steve grins, raising one skeptical eyebrow, "mean and scary?"

Eddie bristles a little bit at the questioning tone in Steve's voice and can't quite swallow the urge to snarl, "yeah I mean you looked plenty scared of the town freak yesterday". 

Steve winces and immediately starts to shake his head, inching forward in his seat so he's even closer to Eddie, their knees are almost touching.

"That's not, I wasn't," he stops and takes a deep breath, "I was upset about Nancy and it was so dark outside, the trees--"

"You afraid of the dark Harrington?" Eddie cuts him off, the lingering irritation still simmers in his voice as he coos. 

Steve just looks at him, there's something strange about the haunted expression on his face that makes the hair on the back of Eddie's arms stand on end. 

"Things happen in the dark, in the woods," Steve says softly, his eyes drift to the empty pool again. 

Eddie opens his mouth to ask Steve what the hell he means by that, when a voice shouts across the yard.

"Steve? STEVE?!" 

The sound of someone running through the grass has them both of their feet, the joints forgotten on the pool loungers. 

"Dustin?" 

A kid, he can't be more than twelve or thirteen, skids into the porchlight that has replaced the last copper rays of evening light, the sun fully set by now. The kid's blue eyes are wide underneath a mop of curly hair and hat, he's breathing hard.

"I need your help".

Tag List: @eriquin @luvinthefreaks @cinnamon-mushroomabomination @goodolefashionedloverboi @ellietheasexylibrarian @bambibiest @sadboislovebeans @howincrediblysapphicofyou @coleys-a-nerd @whycantiuseunderscore @airconditioning123 @xxfiction-is-my-realityxx @corrodedbisexual @starman-jpg @ilovecupcakesandtea @yoriposts @clumsiluni @pelinelin @phantomcat94 @lololol-1234 @anaibis @airconditioning123 @steveshairspray @hellfireone @sunswathe @eddielives1986 @tentativeghost @robin-not-batman @estrellami-1 @manda-panda-monium @tinyplanet95 @perseus-notjackson

Part Five

and for some peeps that I think may be interested! @steddierthings @steddie-there @steves-strapcollection @outpastthebrakers @henderdads @stevesbipanic

[seepingfrommyskin]

finding joy in the smaller things

Tina and her kids are so dear to me 💔 plus! here we have Tina in one of her concept design outfits because it's one of my absolute favourites!!

[tiredlylaughing]

leaning fully away and talking without looking at him oh lesbian vanessa is so real

[zeb-z]

bad and tina’s conversation today starting about what it truly means to be ‘okay’, and the importance of perspective. how people who are hurt one way can be okay another, or visa verca, how there are different kinds of ‘okay’, how those who are being asked if they’re okay can not know themselves that they’re not okay, because their sense of self or reality or perception of such can be warped. forever with the reality pills, for example.

bad, in that way that he does, feeling out if he can answer something honestly. asking roundabout questions and dodging those that he gets in return, until dropping the truth in a way that’s earth shattering, before pretending it’s a joke. only it isn���t a joke, it’s really a cry for help, he just can’t ever be straightforward about anything. not with himself, especially not with others.

he tells tina, finally, about what he’s been doing to himself. maybe because she wasn’t pressing to see if he’s okay, but pressing instead to see if he trusted her. and he’s been all about giving pieces of info to islanders lately to see if they’ve been trustworthy. this way he gets to ignore the fact that he’s not okay, gets to drop a truth bomb that is almost a cry for help, and trap tina with a secret so locked up it will definitely expose her as a traitor should it get out. outlandish enough he can pretend it’s a joke or lie to everyone else should push come to shove, because he’s ‘okay’ - of course he’s okay, why wouldn’t he be, it’s the eggs that aren’t okay.

but that’s the thing - being ‘okay’ is about perspective, and his has been terribly warped. he’s been color blind for weeks, he hardly looks at himself in the mirror, his sense of reality has been twisted due to sleep deprivation and grief.

their conversation ends with him, for the first time, acknowledging the fact that he is changing. finally taking tina literally, shocked that he’s physically turning blue. a shift in perspective. an admission, a self realization, however small, that he’s not as ‘okay’ as he thinks he is. he’s not okay at all.

[demodraws0606]

Ok this is gonna sound very condescending but I feel like some people need to hear this :

What q!BBH isn't : Doesn't actually care about the eggs, always has harmful intentions, faking amnesia, doesn't care for his friends

What q!BBH is : A caring father, is very kind to the people he cares about, very much has issues he needs help with

What q!BBH isn't : "Just a little mischievious", better than *insert character who may have done one immoral act*, undeserving of consequences, a good person

What q!BBH is : Manipulative, willing to hurt and kill others for his own goals, has some level of enjoyement over causing people pain, doesn't have any sort of moral compass, overall a pretty shitty person

[thoughtfulchaos773]

You know, Tina saying Jeff's friend (1x07) still gets me.

It brings up the question of Tina's perspective and what she's observed of Carmy. She doesn't know him as well as Natalie and Mikey since he's the youngest and Mikey cut him off. I would think the biggest thing she observed about Carmy is his lone nature throughout the years. I fill in the blanks and wonder if Mikey and Richie brought up Carmy's social life in conversation and did Tina hear them? Did she hear Mikey's grievances to one day get someone for Carmy? If this is the case, to see Carmy with Sydney the last six months must have been a treat- because it was one of Mikey's wishes.

'Jeff's friend'-You only say this when you observe that closeness. Carmy and Syd were probably like two peas in a pod. even though they aren't friends yet (which is honestly so wild to me).

To say they're friends, there must be a lot of -grinning in each other's faces, shoulder-to-shoulder chopping, whispered conversations, and finishing each other's sentences -behavior to say that.

[mayomkun]

man the bear SS3 EP6

[mydadlistenstothis]

New podcast episode is up! This week, we give Kevin the Dad a break from all the tribute episodes and do an album by his favorite band: Talking Heads' More Songs About Buildings and Food.

[dnalt-d2]

My Thoughts on the Purgatory Finale as a Whole

So it's been a few hours since the event ended and I think I have my thoughts sorted out for the most part

I had a lot of trouble pinning down what I thought about this for a little while, and focused more on the smaller details instead of the whole thing

And for me, the resolution to the whole thing (this event) feels kinda empty. I think a way a lot of people would put it is that it felt anticlimactic, but that's not quite how I'd word it. I liked the climax, it was tense, suspenseful, exciting, etc. But it's what came after for me that feels like the problem

And that's that this event felt like it was supposed to be a resolution. But it wasn't. Everyone went through all this, these two weeks, and the months that came before, doing everything in their power to find answers and get their eggs back, and we just don't have anything. There's no answers, we only got ONE egg, and we don't even know if he made it off the island safely. None of this feels resolute.

And I get that was probably the point. I still stand by that whatever was gonna happen here today was gonna happen no matter what, with maybe a change of which egg got saved (but considering the hard stop we got on 7 when Phil spun it, and when Tina spun the wheel by accident, it landed on 7 again, I think Dapper was always gonna be the one saved as well)

This is supposed to be one of those cliffhanger endings I guess, but I think it would've been better to end it here. At least regarding the fate of the eggs. Tell us if they lived or if they died, but don't just leave it hanging like that

Because I feel like a LOT of QSMP is spent setting things up and at this point, they've just set TOO many things up without resolving them. You can only have so many loose threads at a time, something has to be wrapped up eventually

(And yeah, I get that's just something that happens when you have this many people each creating their story and their own thread, that's just how it goes)

Now for all I know, literally every problem I had could be fixed by tomorrow, in less than twelve hours, and I'll eat my words if that happens, I'll devour them freaking whole

But we still have so many unanswered questions. I wanna have faith in the admins and writers though, and hope that this is something that was meant to be like this. Because I get the struggles of writing, and while this might have felt like a Season Finale to us, it could have just been a single plot point in the overall story, and we might not have even REACHED any Season Finale yet. We just can't know right now

So yeah, that's my thoughts on it, I'm incredibly excited to see where everything goes from here, but at this moment specifically, I'm mostly just...Thinking, still. I guess. My writer brain is still trying to figure out what this whole thing was, and I'm just drawing a blank

Guess we'll see what happens tomorrow

Let's hope we can enjoy the island

[fireheartwraith]

A dog you say... I'mma start Kerberos truthing them

[simplepotatofarmer]

wow i love women streamers <3 <3

[guckies]

Oh I’m bothered!! I saw someone do that Greek god to qsmp member thing specifically with the qsmp streamer awards photo in which Tina -> Aphrodite and some said that it’s only because Tina was pretty so instead Tina should’ve been Hecate or another underworld god/goddess…

WHICH IS LIKE HELLO DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND?!?&?!!?!

Like yeah Tina’s awesome and a girl boss and powerful as fuck! BUT DO YOU KNOW WHO APHRODITE IS??? The literal Olympian goddess of love. Like we do not know or can not fathom how far her power roams because her influence can apply to literally everything. It is not a case of she is just pretty and everything sexual love. It is that she is other worldly, she enchants you, she takes your souls and makes your heart soar towards a purpose you would have never cared for without her!! There are reasons why Aphrodite is and has been closely connected to being around or being a war god/goddess.

[goldendoodlerlockerlove]

Geneuary Countdown: Discussion Question #1

Hello everyone!

To drum up excitement for Geneuary, I wanted to ask a question to encourage some fun discussion!

I'd like to ask what one of your guys' favorite Gene moments is. You can choose multiple because I know it'll probably be quite difficult to narrow it down!

I have so many favorite Gene moments that it was super difficult for me to narrow down, but one moment that really made me fall in love with Gene as a character and make me appreciate him was this moment from Season 5, Episode 5, Best Burger:

There is so much I could analyze about this scene, almost too much. But I've already kind of analyzed it for my post on why I love Bob and Gene's father/son relationship, so I'll try not to repeat anything.

I adore how genuinely hard Gene worked to try and help Bob this whole episode. Sure, it was technically him who created the issue in the first place, but he was just being a kid and being forgetful, something I can definitely relate to a ton. And he spent the entire episode trying to make up for his mistake, and he went through hell and back to get that black garlic.

He could've just given up at any time and run through that Hot Fudge Car Wash, but he didn't! He persevered and insisted that he should be the one to get the garlic to Bob, as he was the reason why Bob didn't have it. Side note, Gene was very ADHD coded in this episode, and I love it, as someone whose sister and boyfriend have ADHD.

Anyway, I adore how Gene apologizes to Bob right away, but it breaks my heart every single time when he calls himself a screw-up! He actually believes that he messes things up all the time, and that makes me want to reach through the screen and give him the biggest hug imaginable. He deals with so many confidence issues under his bubbly, effervescent surface, and it's always so fascinating to analyze and unpack.

It's always so clear how everyone saying that he messed up (even using his name as a negative verb) has affected him mentally. It's caused him to believe that if he doesn't fix this mistake, he'll just be seen as a screw-up, so that's why his determination in this episode was so strong. It's admirable, but it makes me want to give him some encouragement because he definitely needs it.

And him taking a moment to say that he's always admired Bob always has me 🥺 He loves his dad so much it's so cute. He really thinks of Bob as someone to aspire to be and look up to and is much more willing to admit it than Louise. I'm sure having a child who's so verbally enthusiastic about looking up to him feels really nice for Bob. Sure, Tina is also very vocal about her love for her family too, but is probably not as enthusiastic as Gene is, at least at this moment.

Also, I know it's not related to Gene, but I love how Bob quickly apologizes for snapping. It's a small thing, but it really goes to show how good of a dad Bob is.

My second favorite Gene moment is probably this one from the ending of Season 8, Episode 9, Y Tu Ga-Ga Tambien:

I think this goes back to Gene's self-worth issues that are hidden beneath the surface. Ga-Ga Ball genuinely made him feel left out, as seen with the line "It's not a good feeling when someone says "everyone" but they don't mean you!" It's implied here that Gene has felt excluded before, and unfortunately, I can definitely see that happening.

He's been excluded before (sort of) as seen in Season 5, Episode 17, The Itty Bitty Ditty Committee, where he was kicked out of his own band. That exclusion even led him to almost give up music entirely! So whenever someone excludes Gene, he carries it deep within himself. It actually hurts him a lot, even if he doesn't always show it. He gives off a happy, bubbly exterior because he is genuinely a happy kid, but he also doesn't exactly enjoy talking about any issues he has.

But when he had an opportunity to speak out against exclusion, he took it, because he didn't want anyone else to feel the same way he did. That was why he was the only one left who didn't like Ga-Ga Ball, because of that exclusionary aspect.

But yes, this was a fantastic speech and Gene moment. The gifs were taken from this lovely post:

[curtwilde]

People get way too serious about fandom and media. If you see a negative review of your favourite movie and take it as a personal attack you need to reevaluate your priorities.

[josie-marks]

I started watching The Bear, I wanted to watch for a long time, but the fact that I fell in love with Ayo Edebiri the last month motivated me to start earlier hehehe (I've seen her in Abbott Elementary and really liked her speaking voice and acting and already knew her for being a great actor, a gorgeous woman and a funny person, so I've always liked her, but now I'm in love so it's different). Anyways, I'm really enjoying it, it's pretty, I like the visuals, the writing is great, especially because while it's short, each episode it's still able to say a lot about the characters that are being focused on. I like every character even when they're being dickheads, love me some dickhead characters to be honest. Love Carmy, love Sydney with her determination and mannerisms, love the chaos in the kitchen, love Richie screaming and everyone really. I said a lot even though I'm still on episode 4 lmao, anyways the fourth episode was my favorite, the moment where Sydney tastes Tina's potatos showed how even though she was being arrogant all the time and treated Sydney with disdain, she was still looking for her approval which for me shows how she respect her as a Chef (someone probably already said all of this, sorry I'm new in the The Bear society or whatever) and during it, it played a song that I really liked that later I found out that it's Loved by You by KIRBY, great. So the junction of all this really made this scene really good, I love this scene. That's it, I'm really loving it.