Steve quietly unlocked his front door and stumbled inside, letting it swing shut behind him. He was honestly amazed he’d managed to get home at all. Everything ached after the ass whooping Billy had given him and he was seeing double. He needed to patch himself up, then he could go to bed and pass out for a week.
He’d only gone a few steps before he froze, the millionth wave of dread for the night washing over him. The kitchen light was on. He knew for a fact he’d turned it off last night, and he hadn’t needed it during the day with the sun coming in through the windows, so that could only mean one thing.
Damn it.
He glanced at the clock. 4 am.
Shit.
He looked at the small mirror on the wall and saw the state of his face.
Fuck.
Maybe he could just sneak upstairs.
He had a foot on the bottom step when his mother’s voice rang through the house. “Steven, come in here.”
Steve closed his eyes and forced himself not to sigh. Why now? Why tonight? He’d already dealt with enough.
“Steven!”
Steve flinched at his father’s sharp tone and opened his eyes again, removing his foot from the bottom step and heading into the kitchen instead. Ignoring them or keeping them waiting was only going to make things worse.
His parents were on opposite sides of the kitchen, his father leaning against the counter next to the sink and his mother sitting on a stool at the island. It still amazed Steve how they managed to present such a simultaneously united and divided front. Divided in their marriage, united in how they felt about their son.
There was silence while his parents stared at him standing in the doorway, shocked by his battered appearance, and for a brief moment, the childish hope that maybe he’d receive some concern flared to life in his chest. He knew better by now, but that repressed little desire betrayed him every time.
The spell of the moment was broken when his father cleared his throat. “Are you aware of what time it is?”
“Yes, sir.” Steve couldn’t help the sarcasm that slipped in. He’d lost patience with his parents years ago, and while talking - and sometimes yelling - back always did more harm than good, his anger and pride would never let him just stand there and take it. He had to push back first.
“Watch your tone with me, young man. Where have you been?”
“Robbing a bank.”
His father’s expression darkened. “You will take this discussion seriously, or -”
“Or what?” Steve stepped up to the other side of the island between them, on the opposite end from his mother, leaning forward with his hands splayed on the marble. “You’ll ground me? What could you possibly threaten me with that has any teeth?”
His father was silent, rage twisting his features and his hands clenching into fists. Steve noticed and he laughed. He honest to god laughed. He felt insane. It was like the weight of the night was all coming down on him at once and he was fracturing under the pressure.
“What? You gonna hit me? Maybe you didn’t notice, but someone already beat you to it.”
His father snapped. “Shut up!”
“Don’t yell at my son.” Steve’s mother broke in for the first time.
“You shut up too!”
“Oh yeah, assert your dominance!” Steve mocked. “Yell, scream, throw your weight around! You’re like a toddler throwing a fit!”
“I will not be spoken to this way in my own house! This is your fault!” Steve’s father jabbed a finger at his wife. “He learned this blatant disrespect from you -”
“Oh, that’s ridiculous!” she snapped back. “He’d be respectful of you if you earned it!”
“I don’t need to earn his respect, or yours! I’m the man of this house and I am owed respect!”
Steve’s parents had never seemed more childish to him than they did at this moment. “You think you’re owed respect? The world doesn’t owe you shit! And it sure as hell isn’t going to give it to you!”
“What do you know about life and the world? You stay here in Hawkins, whoring around with your friends and getting in fights until all hours of the night, imagine what everyone thinks -”
“Oh, there it fucking is!” That was what it always came down to with his parents. They didn’t really care what Steve did. They didn’t care if he hurt people or if he got hurt. They only cared what other people thought of their family.
His mother sighed. “Steven, please, we don’t want to have this discussion again.”
“Well, I don’t want to have the discussion we’ve been having, and yet, here we are.”
“I just feel like you don’t understand how important this is to us. Image matters, especially with the life we lead, and you’re our son, so you’re a part of that.”
“I’m not your son. To you, I’m just another possession you can trot out and show off when it’s convenient and then ignore.”
The kitchen was silent. It was finally out there. They all knew it was true, they’d known for a long time, but none of them had ever said it. Steve felt like a weight had been lifted off of him. At least now they all knew where they stood.
His mother started crying. “How could you say that? You’re my son, how do you think it makes me feel to hear you say that?”
“How do you think it makes me feel to know that it’s true?” Steve had long since stopped taking his mother’s tears seriously. The way she approached him was different from his father. She would pretend to be on his side when really she just liked using him against his father, and she loved crying and talking about being his mother to make him feel guilty and get her way. It had worked when Steve was younger, but he knew better now.
“Go to your room.” His father walked around the counter to stand in front of him, asserting physical dominance. “We can’t deal with you right now.”
Steve scoffed. “Oh, sure, when you want to bitch me out, you can deal with me, but the minute we get to something that I want to talk about -”
His father cut him off with a sharp slap and Steve stumbled, bringing a hand up to his throbbing face. “I said go to your room.”
Steve turned and left the kitchen without a word.
He cursed himself as he went up the stairs. He was all bark and no bite with his parents and he knew it. He would talk back and yell and tell harsh truths until his father eventually slapped him for his disrespect, and just like that, it was over. Something snapped inside of him and he was eight years old again, shaking and terrified of punishment. He hated that part of himself with everything he had.
He listened to his parents scream at each other while he sat on the edge of the bathtub and did his best to tend to his own injuries. The two of them were always fighting about something. He’d be more worried if he couldn’t hear them tearing each other’s heads off, honestly.
Before long, they moved the argument to ‘their’ room, yelling right up until they settled down to sleep, his mother going across the hall to the guest room.
Steve stayed where he was long after he was finished and the house had gone quiet. He was tired and in pain, and he was just so sick of arguing with his parents, of his parents arguing with each other. It was exhausting enough on its own even without all of the other shit he had to deal with. Something needed to change or he was going to have some kind of mental break.
Eventually he did get up, but he didn’t go back to his room. He just wandered the dark, silent house, letting himself pretend that he was the only one home. Normally he hated being alone, but it was better than having his parents there. When he was younger, he would wish they were home, but that was back when he’d held onto the hope that maybe he could earn their affection, that maybe if he was just a little bit better, they would stay and they would love him. But he knew better now. He’d known better for a long time, and at this point, he just wanted them to go on their trips and stay gone.
He ended up in the garage. He was almost never in there, no one parked their cars inside. The entire space was devoted to his father’s Ferrari.
The 1961 Ferrari 250 GT California. Only fifty-six had ever been made. It was his father’s pride and joy. He’d gotten it when Steve was young, and any time he was at home for several years after was spent in the garage with the car. He’d worked on it, loved it, bragged about it. He cared about what happened to it. All the things he should’ve felt and done for his son, he’d done for a car.
Steve wasn’t prepared for the burst of hateful disgust that suddenly tore through him. A car. A fucking car. He’d spent years jealous of a fucking car.
Before he knew what he was doing, he’d opened the garage door, grabbed his nail bat from his car, and was approaching the Ferrari. The anger, bitterness, and resentment he carried was overflowing, too much for him to contain anymore. It was all just too much. Too much, too much, too much -
The bat slammed down on the car, denting it, the nails scratching off paint and digging in. It was loud, but he didn’t care if he was heard. He wouldn’t need long.
Steve brought the bat down over and over again, destroying the hood and the grill, shattering the windshield. It was like everything was pouring out of him at once, the years of neglect and loneliness and disapproval, full of icy silences, cruel words, and stinging slaps. The guilt of the damage he himself had done, the pain of thinking that Nancy loved him and learning that it had always been a lie, of never being good enough for anyone. The memories of monsters and flickering lights and terror and danger and losses he could’ve prevented, pain and blood and darkness and death. Always death.
Steve screamed as he beat the car, letting all of the agony twisted up inside him loose on this one thing.
Eventually he stumbled back, breathing heavily, the bat still clutched in his hands. For the first time in years, he didn’t feel like he was being suffocated, even if it was just for a few minutes. The front of the vehicle was unrecognizable, and he smiled in spiteful satisfaction. If his father couldn’t sort out his priorities, then Steve would sort them out for him.
He could hear his parents footsteps moving through the house as they came to investigate the noise. Good. He wanted them to come and see and know what he’d done. They couldn’t deal with him? Well, now they’d have to. They’d have to face their decisions and their son and deal with the consequences. And this time, Steve wasn’t going to back down.
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⸺ LESSON 10 ⸺
Solomon
Lucifer
Solomon & "Nightbringer"
MC's magic
strange feelings & soup
the 'MC is human' situation
records of a banshee
misc
- lesson 9 || lesson 11 || all posts so far -
I'm going to reveal my crack theory on Nightbringer's identity soon since the brainrot is getting out of hand, but then again, it shouldn't be hard to guess based on the points I bring up for this lesson :)
I'm still preparing a sideblog for that tho, so it might take a bit
Also if someone wants to get tagged for these recaps, do let me know!
General spoiler warning for all of Obey Me Nightbringer, as well as for the original Obey Me
⸺ SOLOMON ⸺
Solomon suddenly shows up at HoL uninvited and claims he and Simeon have plans for drinking tea together. Simeon doesn't remember ever making such plans [10-4]
-> while we're not told what they are talking about, I'm guessing it has to do with 10-A
-> love how he just was at Nightbringer's tea party, and now his immediate response when asked why he's here is just "......Simeon and I are having a tea party" lol
by the time Solomon arrived at HoL, Satan was already outside, yet he didn't realize Solomon came over [10-18]
-> while you can argue that Satan was just so caught up in watching the cat, he does notice MC coming over, the brothers leaving to the Demon Lord's Castle, AND this is the same demon that could later tell on that MC was standing in front of his bedroom door based on the intervall of their footsteps
⸺ LUCIFER ⸺
Belphegor talks about Lucifer trying (+ failing) to hold in his laughter [10-1]. Demon!Lucifer would never :(
Lucifer seems overly reluctant to take MC with him and Belphegor at first [10-4]. When asked why, he deflects
-> he was kind of quick to entertain the idea of taking Solomon with him as the 'uninvolved third party' though
Lucifer seems surprised that Belphegor was denied entry to a shop back when they first arrived in the Devildom [10-6; pic below]
-> since this treatment from the denizens was part of the reason Mammon wanted to gain the title of 'Rulers of the Underworld', you'd think that Lucifer would be aware of this kind of treatment happening in the first place...
it's raining, which reminds the brothers of the day before the Great Celestial War + according to Lucifer, it was unusally quiet [10-9]. The brothers talk about what everyone was doing that day:
Belphegor was napping in a tree and was all alone that day [10-11]
Beelzebub was off in the human world to run an errand on Michael's behave [10-11]
Asmodeus was taking a bath, and thinking of ways to get out of Raphael scolding him later on [lesson 10 hard mode]
we don't get any comment on Satan, but he was obviously still part of Lucifer, so uh... Would have been interesting to know if he has any fragments of Lucifer's memories of that time tho
Leviathan and Michael were taking a walk and talking [lesson 10 hard mode]
Mammon was tasked with covering Beelzebub's gatekeeping duty, but he ended up skipping out of it [lesson 10 hard mode]
and then there's Lucifer who was......somewhere. The game doesn't tell us what he was up to, but instead points out that no one knows where he was [lesson 10 hard mode; pic below]
Lucifer hogging the family braincell as usual and immediately realizes that, yep, MC has the Ring of Light [10-16]
-> btw kind of unrelated but I do find it funny that out of all the characters to (originally) head to the Demon Lord's Castle to free Beel, it was MC and Luci & Belphie. You know. The only two brothers that wanted to attack MC once they found out that they are a human. Imagine what would have happened if Mammon, Levi and Asmo hadn't shown up lol
⸺ SOLOMON & "NIGHTBRINGER" ⸺
[hi, this is probably the only time I'm bringing the Japanese version into this recap simply because I already translated this specific scene here]
illusion!Diavolo and illusion!Simeon pressure Solomon into choosing either demons or angels. Solomon chooses the secret third option :) [10-A]
-> since this illusion was most likely created by Nightbringer, we can assume that he wants Solomon to either choose his side (whichever that may be), OR to simply abandon humanity altogether
-> a little later on Solomon implies that Nightbringer should know by now that Solomon won't ever waver on his convictions
-> Nightbringer knows Solomon well enough to know that threatening MC's safety might get him to change his mind. Solomon does stop smiling at this threat, so he does seem to take the threat seriously
during the illusion tea party, Solomon says that he just wants to be free, and that that's part of his agreement with "him" [10-A]
-> while we don't know for certain, I'm guessing his agreement is with Nightbringer since it would make sense narrative-wise
Solomon also tells Nightbrignger that he sounds like a demon [10-A]
-> sounds like something you'd either say to someone who isn't a demon, or someone who only recently became a demon
Nightbringer says that Solomon is acting more like a demon than he is because of his arrogance [10-A]
-> Solomon then says that it is inevitable that he behaves like a demon since Nightbringer made him to the person he is today
Two fun facts about the Japanese version!
1. Nightbringer uses 「傲慢」 for 'arrogant', which also happens to be the word used in the game for the deadly sin 'pride'
2. instead of saying "you're the one who made me who I am today", Solomon says that Nightbringer is the one who reduced him to what he is now
when Solomon calls Nightbringer......'Nightbringer' (lol), he actually puts his name in quotation marks in the Japanese version [10-A; pic below]. Makes you wonder if he actually is the historic Nightbringer we learn a little of later on, or if it's just someone using that name...
「」 are the Japanese quotation marks
⸺ MC'S MAGIC ⸺
MC one again absorbs the brother's magic in order to calm down Beelzebub [10-16]
⸺ STRANGE FEELINGS & SOUP ⸺
beast mode Beelzebub is heading to the colosseum, and Lucifer points out that it was build on the exact spot the brothers first landed in the Devildom [10-13]. That was a year ago. Why is it built already??
Leviathan points out that the Great Celestial War feels like a really long time ago [lesson 10 hard mode]
⸺ THE 'MC IS HUMAN' SITUATION ⸺
[hey, we finally reached the reason I wanted to make this its own category, whuu!]
so here's the thing:
1. back in lesson 8, Diavolo said that while he is now fairly confident that MC is indeed a human, he still can't be 100% sure because there is "something else" within MC [8-1; first pic below]
2. back in OG season 3, fairy illusion!Lucifer asks MC what they are. If MC answers that they are an angel, illusion!Lucifer says this that he knows when he is in the presence of an angel, but also admits that there is something else within them and that he can't say so for certain [OG 52-5; second pic below]
THE REASON I'M BRINGING ALL THIS UP is because now in lesson 10, Lucifer once again mentions being able to tell when he's in the presence of an angel. This time, however, he indirectly claims that he can tell that MC isn't one [10-16; third pic below]
⸺ RECORDS OF A BANSHEE ⸺
Beelzebub managed to escape from his prison cell and we learn about the state he is in [10-9; pic below]. Once again, it seems like too big a reaction for just hearing the word 'banshee'
we also learn that Beelzebub's rampage started right after the brothers left earlier [10-9; pic below]
Barbatos actually blames the brothers for Beelzebub's escape [10-9] and I am inclinded to believe him because:
1. Solomon was (supposedly) with him earlier, meaning Barbatos would have known had Solomon tried to pull something. And yet he is blaming the brothers
2. while Solomon could have just been sneaky & teleported away right after putting some kind of spell/curse on Beelzebub, the other characters mentioned last lesson that Beelzebub was already acting beside himself during the dinner party, meaning it must have been someone who was also at the dinner party. From what we know, Solomon was with MC at the time
3. while it could have been both Solomon AND Barbatos, I seriously doubt that Barbatos was involved in this situation in any way. Diavolo is already in a lot of distress because of suddenly having to govern the Devildom, MC's situation, Lucifer's comment last lesson and so. much. more. The Beel situation right now just causes Diavolo even more stress, and doing something like that just feels COMPLETELY out of character for Barbatos
4. speaking of seeming out of character, it's not like Barbatos to just baselessly accuse others like that, meaning he probably had a solid reason to blame the brothers
5. I am reaching with this one, but I like the idea lol--Diavolo still has the ability to tell lie from truth, and while Belphegor vehemently denies having played any part in Beelzebub's escape, Lucifer never outright says so
they suddenly start arguing that Beelzebub is acting like this because he's hungry [10-13]
-> thing is, we later learn that he's lacking his "demonic disposition" and that the hunger he feels is all No. 6's doing. So unless No. 6 suddenly decided to go all in that can't be true
⸺ MISC ⸺
Belphegor tells MC a little more about Lilith + we get Michael lore (he looks like a jellyfish :] ) [10-1]
Belphegor also tells us that the Celestial Realm forbids angels from intervering with a human's life [10-1]
Belphegor's line from the website [10-1; pic below]
the sibling bickering <3 [10-6; pic below]
Simeon reassures Satan that they will one day be known as "the seven brothers" [10-18]
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Sigh part two cuz I did it again (tw again obviously)
my last post (the vent turning into yuri where I vent through cartoon character) was unfinished so I'm making another. Right now we left off on zooble trying to get Gangle to confess what was up with her. Ok guys :3
Gangle shifted uncomfortably in their arms. She really didn't want to talk, but zooble kept pushing.
Zooble: "Gangle?"
Gangle: "... Yeah?.."
Zooble: "You know you can tell me anything, right? We're literally dating and I want you to feel comfortable telling me anything."
Gangle: "Some things go better unspoken of..."
Zooble: "Not with me. I'm right here for when you're ready to talk... Are you ready yet?"
Gangle:."You won't judge me or get angry?"
Zooble: "I promise I wont."
Gangle sighed. This was a hard conversation to have with anyone. Especially when (worst case scenario) it could end in the two breaking up. It was just a thought though. But it still bothered Gangle that that may be a possibility.
Gangle: "I.. Ugh... I have this.. Thing..."
Zooble: "Go on.."
Gangle: "I- ugh!- I force myself to throw up! Ok?!"
Gangles body language changed. She was grabbing zoobles wrist tightly now. It was mostly to keep her grounded and comfortable. Zoobles face looked.. Concerned to say the least. They gently took her hand off of their wrist, having a lot to say.
Zooble: "Gangle. That's unhealthy. You can't do that anymore. That's really bad. That's an eating disorder. You need to stop. I- Why would you-? Why would you do that? That's honestly the stupidest thing you've ever done! You- Gangle I'm really ma- upset. I'm upset at you. Why did you do that?"
Gangle: "I.. I just..- I wanted to like.. I don't know.. I feel guilty when I eat.. Its hard to explain..!"
Zooble: "... You know.. you're beautiful. You really are. Don't do this to yourself."
Beautiful was a strong word. It could be used to describe many things. Scenery, a painting, a person, but Gangle felt the word didn't fit her. She isn't the type of person you would imagine when you imagine 'beautiful'. She was ribbons and a mask.
Gangle: "No I'm not zooble. Dont lie to me just to make me feel better."
Gangle had a serious tone. Her voice was different when she was serious.
Zooble: "Gangle."
They grabbed her 'waist' and pulled her against them. She was surprised.
Zooble: "You're beautiful."
Gangle: "But i-!"
Zooble: "You're beautiful."
Gangle: "Zooble i-!"
Zooble: "You're beautiful. You can't change my mind."
Gangle: "... Frick you..."
Zooble would have been smiling if they didn't lack a mouth. Gangle relaxed into their arms. Her favorite place. Zooble leaned down and whispered into where her ear would be.
Zooble: "You're beautiful.."
Gangle wasn't good with compliments, especially how to respond to them, but she really did appreciate it.
Ok guys I'm done cuz I'm tired so enjpy this stuff ig uh I might be getting that seasonal depression again :3 it comes when school starts :(
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