#It was inspired from the first pilot episode of the show

[h8aaz]

𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐑𝐎𝐃𝐔𝐂𝐈𝐍𝐆 . . .

⋆ ࣪. — SWEETGIRL!READER — .࣪ ⋆

𝐏𝐋𝐀𝐘𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓 .ᐟ + 𝐏𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐓 .ᐟ

dean winchester's ex-girlfriend. they dated in their late teenage years, breaking up when sam left for college and she supported the movement, driving dean away from her on the spot.

she's a babydoll type of girl. loves pink in any shade, comfortable yet revealing clothing, doing her makeup, eating raspberries + strawberry ice cream, a mixed strawberry + vanilla milkshake, painting her nails, flaunting her perfectly curled hair, leaving her lipstick + gloss stains everywhere her pouted lips touch, driving around and blasting britney spears in her 1966 white convertible mustang, and taking dean's anyone's cock while they degrade + praise her.

she's a hunter, an extremely expensive successful one at that. john winchester was seemingly impressed with her skills, so much so that he practically pushed dean to date her; though dean was already planning on it far beforehand.

she became a fill-in mother to sam, dean being the father more than john ever was. sam was like her baby and she always treated him that way; after his schoolboy crush on her faded away, of course. but dean admired how well she fit into the chaotic rhythm they lived in. everyday felt as if they were playing house, a moldy motel room of a house— but a house nonetheless, and it was the best thing he ever experienced.

they planned a future together, of course they did. but it was just a dream, considering their life. and when sam wanted to make his own dream a reality, she couldn't hold him back like john and dean planned to. she assisted in getting the young winchester out, dean breaking up with her right before her and sam drove off in her car.

dean and sweetgirl!reader haven't seen or spoken to each other since. she ignores his calls, deleting his voicemails before she could cave into the urge of wanting to hear his voice. but she has kept in touch with sam, occasionally seeing him every other month when she comes back from a small hunt, having dialed down the dangerous life immensely.

she never expected to see dean again. but when she gets a call from sam saying he's with dean to find their missing father and they need her help on a case. . . well, she broke a new record for how fast she could pack up and leave.

𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐊𝐒 .ᐟ

coming soon . . .

comment if you'd like to be on the taglist for this series!! <33.

GABS YAPS .ᐟ . . . this layout is inspired by @sunsbaby + heart divider is from @strangergraphics !! i'm so excited to write for this y'all have no idea. i hope you guys like the concept! there will be smut btw so MDNI please. only episode i'll write from the show is the pilot but it won't be the whole thing. check out the playlist + pinterest board i've made for her if you'd like, they'll constantly be updated/modified until i'm fully satisfied with them lol. i'm writing the first chapter for this series so hang tight, but until then, you can enjoy my other works!! <33.

© 𝐇𝟖𝐀𝐀𝐙 — don't copy or repost without MY permission!!

[rika-mortis]

I think it would be funny if their reunion basically went like this

[dazzlerwriting]

a long long time

jake ‘hangman’ seresin x reader

pictures from pinterest!!

word count: 2.8k

summary: childhood best friends, who always felt a bit more about each other, finally see each other after 12 years. will all their wishes come true at the Seresin holiday party?

warnings: childhood best friends to lovers! fluff!! cheesy goodness!! no use of y/n but reader does uses she/her pronouns! pet names: sweets, sweetheart, darlin, tiny dancer. no looks are given besides an outfit!

an: this is heavily inspired by ‘Its been a long long time’ by harry james! definitely recommend listening to it while reading! can you guys tell i love when people dance together as a form of intimacy? thank you to my friends who have no clue who jake is, who proofread this. & thank you guys for all the love on my other two fics! this is incredibly new to me so to see that people like the stories is really amazing. thank you. likes, comments, and reblogs are deeply appreciated!!

───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

Growing up, Jake Seresin was always by your side. Jake’s mom and your mom were best friends, meaning the two of you were destined to be in each other’s lives. Of course, you two went through the phases of disgust when one of you thought the other had cooties, but they never deterred your friendship. When you would fall off your bike and cry because you scraped your knee, Jake would immediately be by your side. Jake’s PeeWee football games never had a silent crowd, of course not. Little you would be right there next to his parents, screaming the loudest for him. A dance recital, nervous about your performances? Don’t worry, Jake would be right there in the front row next to both of your families, with a bouquet of your favorite flowers.

───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

High school hit, and Jake became the star football player who girls and guys alike pined after. You on the other hand were a quiet theater kid, dancing still, and leading the school newspaper. Despite running in different social circles, you two were still attached at the hip. The sharp stares you received from girls who wanted Jake would burn into your head, but you never let that affect your friendship. The free time you two had was spent with each other, taking long drives when you needed to clear your head, watching new episodes of TV shows you both enjoyed, and studying together. There has always been a hint of something more between you two, but out of fear of ruining things, you never made a move. Although, there was a time during your senior year when the possibility of being something more didn’t seem as distant. You two had just taken a long drive to a field in the middle of Texas to watch the sunset. It was then that you two shared your first kiss, and then it was over, and neither of you brought it back up. You knew you had feelings for him. That wasn’t even a question. But those feelings would not outweigh your friendship, you’d rather have him in this way, than in no way at all.

When Jake got into the Naval Academy, you were ecstatic for him. He had been dreaming about getting out of here since you were little tots, and now he had his out. You got into a school an hour away for Broadcast Journalism, and he was just as excited for you. When you told him, he picked you up and spun you around, both of you reminiscing on the days when he would play with his model planes and you would pretend to report every little thing that was happening around you two. Graduation day came and went, and soon you were getting ready to send Jake on his way to Maryland.

“Don’t forget me when you become a hot shot pilot mister.” You said to him with tears in your eyes. He looked back at you with something that could only be described as melancholy and kissed your forehead, “I could never forget you tiny dancer. Plus we can still keep up with each other, and I’ll see you over the holidays!”

You two kept up with each other for the first two years of your college time, but communication became scarce. He didn’t come home for the holidays, you couldn’t blame him though. He finally got out of there, he was doing what he always wanted to do. Communication between the two of you completely went away during your junior year. You’ve kept up with him through your parents and his, and to say you were proud was an understatement.

───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

It’s been 12 years since you last saw Jake Seresin. You would be lying if you said you didn’t think about him a lot of the time. After you graduated from UT at Austin, you moved back home and started to work at the local news station as an Anchor. Your free time is spent with friends, going out to bars, or just brunch together. They always hound you about finding a guy, “Come on!! You’re single, hot, and an amazing person!” “You can’t just sit here all night, come meet Tyler, I promise you’ll like him! Please?” You knew they had good intentions, with their bright smiles and kind words. So you tried. You would go out with who they wanted you to, but every time, it felt as though something was missing. You knew what was missing, you just didn’t want to admit it. Seasons change but you don’t think your feelings for those

───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

The holiday season is always your favorite time of year. From October to January, you feel lighter. Walking around to see decorations everywhere, families laughing together, and hot apple cider to warm the now-cold Texas air. Work is busy, but you can’t complain, you love your job. Recently you covered a story about a baker and her husband who had just celebrated the 30th anniversary of their bakery by having the cutest reindeer cookies and a huge cake for everyone who may want a slice.

Tonight is the annual Seresin family Christmas party, and just like every other year, you hold on to hope that Jake will be there. You know it’s a stretch, but you can’t help but be hopeful.

You bought a new outfit just for tonight, a red cable knit sweater, a black mini-skirt with black transparent tights, and black leather boots that went up to your calves. After adding some touch-ups to your makeup, you decided you were ready to go, grabbed your purse, and headed towards the Seresin’s house. It was about a 5-minute walk from your new place, which is quite convenient, and you spent the entire walk with your head in the clouds, daydreaming about the pilot who stole your heart all those years ago.

Walking into the house you spent so much time at as a child, a sense of warmth feels you. The entire house smells like freshly baked cookies, Christmas lights twinkle along the hallway, and the sounds of laughter and soft Christmas music fills your ears. Mama Seresin sees you and you are immediately engulfed in a hug that could probably fix anybody who is on the receiving side of it. “Oh my goodness look at you!!! You get more beautiful each time I see you.” You felt your face heat up instantly, shying away a bit from her kind words. “Thank you mama Seresin. I’m happy to be here again, happy holidays.” She pulled back and had an incredulous look on her face.

“Thank me?? Sweetheart, you are welcome at this house any day, any time. Make yourself at home, tonight should be a wonderful night.” She winked at you and left you standing there in the entryway.

After making your rounds, you grabbed yourself a drink and sat on the couch watching “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation” with one of Jake’s sisters. She kept looking over at you with a sly smirk on her face so you snapped, “What is going on with y’all tonight? First your mama winks at me, Elizabeth said she was ‘So excited’ for me tonight, and now you can’t stop looking at me like the cat who caught the canary! So what is going on?” With an exasperated look on your face, you fully turn to look at her. Charlotte just slides off the couch and smiles, “We’re just happy to see you and we are hoping you have a great time tonight.” With the cryptic answer said, she walks away leaving you to sit there in your skepticism.

After an hour or so, everyone has made it and dinner is about to be served. At least you thought everyone had made it, that is until you hear a knock on the door. Mama Seresin rushes to open it, and you lean over the arm of the couch to see who it is. You can’t tell if it's the winter air or who you see standing there, but a chill runs down your spine. In all his glory, Jake Seresin is standing there with several suitcases and a bright smile on his face. Taking him in, you notice he’s grown into himself in the last 12 years, His sandy blonde hair isn’t as long, he’s filling in the brown button-up shirt very nicely, and he’s grown at least 3 inches since you last saw him. He’s still got his cowboy boots on and a smile that could light up a room, so not everything has changed. Finally, you look back up to his face, and you lock eyes with the man who has never left your mind.

You stand, mouth agape, and the two of you finally make your way to each other. You meet in the middle of the entryway, and as soon as his arms are around you it’s like everybody and everything fades away. You stay there in the comfort of each other’s arms for a few more seconds and when you finally pull away, the sounds from the rest of the house fade back in. Looking at each other, you feel a warmth creeping up your neck, the chill from earlier has fully disappeared. “Hi,” you said with a shy smile as you fiddle with the cuff of his sleeve. “Hi sweetheart,” he replies with the kindest smile you’ve ever seen. The moment is broken when someone clears their throat behind you, “Dinner is ready.” You turn and see the Seresin women standing there with smirks across all of their faces. Looking back at Jake you realize he’s got a scowl on his face, and you just giggle a bit. At the sound of your giggle, he looks back at you, the scowl being replaced with a shy smile, “We can talk after dinner?” You nod your head and make your way toward the dining room.

Dinner is the most delicious thing, but you would never expect anything less from Mama Seresin. She always cooks things with love, which makes things 10,000 times better. Once you get turned away from helping with dishes, you make your way outside to get some air. It’s a bit chilly, the backyard is decorated with lights strung across the way, the music from inside the house carries softly across the yard although it’s muffled, and stars are shining so bright in the night sky. You see a plane fly across the sky and you huff out a laugh, realizing your dreams of seeing Jake again, came true tonight. At least you know why the family acted so odd tonight. You take a seat in one of the cushy chairs sat up in the backyard, and stare up at the sky.

Surely Jake didn’t know you were gonna be here tonight, Has he changed a lot? Did he miss you as much as you missed him? Was your pining so obvious to everyone that they sat this up? Your mind starts spiraling with thoughts, and a bit of nervous tension sets in as you sit out there. The music gets less muffled for a second, meaning someone has just opened the back door, but it’s quickly snuffed back out. You don’t bother to turn your head, your mind is busy with so many questions. In your peripheral, you see the man on your mind take a seat next to you. He looks up at the sky and you can feel the nervousness roll off of you both as you sit there.

You turn to look at him, right as he turns to look at you, and you both sit there taking each other in for a second. “So-” “It was-” You both start trying to talk simultaneously and once you realize, you both start giggling. You nod your head to tell him he can go first, and with a shy smile he rubs the back of his neck and says, “It was nice to see you again sweetheart, I was really hoping you’d be here.” That warmth from earlier creeps back up your neck, and you smile softly at him. “I was hoping you’d be here too cowboy.” You both just sit there with smiles, and after a few beats of silence you add quietly, “I missed you.” What you could only call longing, flashes in his eyes, before he smiles at you, “I missed you too tiny dancer.”

The two of you fall into easy conversation. He tells you all about the Naval Academy, and how he is the “best of the best,” which you don’t doubt. Once he sets his mind on something, he doesn’t give up. You learn he’s living out in San Diego, but he constantly misses the Texas skyline. You tell him all about your experience at UT at Austin, and how your job at the local news station is going. You both continue just telling each other what you’ve both missed out on.

At some point, the conversation shifts to relationships. You take a deep breath and ask, “So do you have anyone special waiting for you back in California?” He takes a minute to just look at you before responding, “No sweetheart, I don’t. Do you have anyone missing you tonight?” You let out your breath at the word “no,” and chuckle. “The only person missing me tonight is my fish, Mr. Speckle.” He throws back his head and barks out a laugh at that, before looking back at you with a wide smile. It shifts to a bit of an apprehensive smile before he asks, “Is there any reason? You’re a gorgeous girl who is amazing sweetheart, I’m sure guys are lining up for a date with you.”

You knew you could try and lie to him, but he knows you too well. He would immediately figure you out, so you shake your head and respond truthfully. “I’ve tried over the years. But every single time, it didn’t feel right. Something was always missing. It took me a while to realize what that was.”

“And what was that?” His face is a bit more hopeful now, or maybe you’re just going crazy. After a moment of just looking into his eyes, you turn to fidget with your sweater and finally speak. “They weren’t you Jake.” It came out softer than you thought it would. The silence surrounds you like a suffocating room, and panic starts to claw its way up your throat.

You’re about to apologize profusely when Jake finally speaks. “That’s why I don’t have anyone waiting for me sweets. They weren’t you. The gorgeous girl I’ve known since diapers, who has always been so caring. Who put others before herself. The girl who knows me and my family, and still chooses to be around us.” You stare at him with wide eyes, trying to absorb everything that was just said. Softly, you reply, “I will always choose you, Jake. The boy who didn’t let me go to bed upset. The boy who constantly cheered me on in everything I did. The boy who set his sights on something and chased it. ” Your chest feels lighter, while your heart beats at a lightspeed rate.

Looking at Jake, he has a boyish grin on his face, rubbing the back of his neck again. In the blink of an eye, he is in front of you with his hand held out. You look at him like you’re considering your options for a second, just to make him sweat a bit, but ultimately you take his hand with an affectionate smile. He pulls you close and wraps his arms around your waist, your arms going around his neck, playing with the collar of his shirt. The two of you dance to the muffled music coming from inside, under the twinkling lights of the backyard you’ve spent so much time in over the years. You look up at him to find him already staring at you. He’s got a look of love in his eyes, and you’re sure he sees the same look in yours.

“So can I take you out tomorrow sweetheart? I should’ve asked you that years ago.” He asks with a smirk across his lips. You mirror his smirk as you respond, “You sure can cowboy. We have a lot of time to make up for.” You both slowly lean in, and your lips meet in a short kiss that makes fireworks go off in your stomach. You both pull away, but that one kiss isn’t enough. The two of you share another short kiss, before breaking out into a long deep kiss. He dips you a bit with this one. Everything you’ve ever dreamed of has come true under the twinkling lights. You’ll have to make sure to send the Seresin women some cookies and flowers for planning this.

From inside the house, the Seresin family is silently cheering. They’ve watched both of you pine after each other for so long, they knew y’all just needed a bit of a push in the right direction.

[hbowardaily]

Jan 26th will mark the first anniversary of the airing of Masters of the Air. Let me invite you to our 1st MOTAversary! The event will start on January 26th and from there you will have weekly prompts to follow with your creations. This 8-weeks long event will take place from January 26th to March 22nd.

With this event our goal is to spread love for Masters of the Air, and that is why we are inviting you to create content for the miniseries! You can participate with gifs, edits, moodboards, graphics, fanfiction, fanvideos or fanarts (anything that inspires you!) dedicated to the show. 

You don’t have to create for every prompt to participate in the event! There are four prompts weekly, and you can just use one prompt or all of them, it is really up to you! The creation weeks always last from Sunday to Saturday.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact us!

Please use the tag #1stmotaversary in the first 20 tags! You can also tag #hbowardaily.

Prompts:

Week 1 (Jan. 26. - Feb. 1. ): Fluff || Scenery/Planes || Favorite pilot || Blue

Week 2 (Feb. 2. - 8.): OTP || Faceless || Favorite non-pilot || Red

Week 3 (Feb. 9. - 15. ): Angst || Creations based around song lyrics || Favorite crew || Green

Week 4 (Feb. 16. - 22.): Missions || Emotion || Favorite character arc || Purple

Week 5 (Feb. 23. - March 1.) : Loss || Ladies || Favorite episode|| Colorful

Week 6 (March 2. - 8.): Hurt/Comfort || Favorite quote || Most heartbreaking scene || Black & White

Week 7 (March 9. - 15.): OCs || Tuskegee Airmen || Favorite dynamics || Orange/Yellow

Week 8 (March 16. - 22.): Found Family || Crossover || Favorite scene || Free choice

Please reblog this post to help signal boost!

[tinytablepodcast]

Help Us Choose Our Next Game!

We received so many wonderful submissions from the indie ttrpg community of games to play next on Tiny Table. We need your help to narrow them down! We will be taking the top 3 games to Patreon for our patrons in the Mini and Micro tier to vote on.

Reactors and Romance: Reactors and Romance is a rules-light RPG about flirting while piloting a giant robot. You only have one stat, and that is your HEAT 🔥. Your HEAT measures how hot your mech's reactor is getting, and how hot of a pilot you are 😉 Will you fight or flirt your way through battle? Can you keep your mech from overheating? What will it be hotshot?

To Infinity...: Inspired by Alien and The Thing, "To Infinity..." is a tabletop social deduction game where up to 4 players and 1 GM need to escape on a spaceship from an alien monster who killed the rest of the crew. What none of the survivors know is that this isn't just a monster, the alien could be any one of them...

Hellborn Descended: Hellborn Descended is an infernal TTRPG set in a modern Hell, inspired by comics and shows such as Hellboy and Helluva Boss. In Hellborn, players take on the role of sinners, demons, and fallen angels, working together as mercenaries to attain wealth, fame, and power, or gloriously die trying. Check out their kickstarter!

Darkest Hour: Darkest Hour is a horror tabletop game inspired by horror movies of all kinds, featuring a group of monster hunters attempting to put a stop to a malicious supernatural entity in a single night. Over the course of six rounds, known as the Hours, the hunters must use their abilities to establish benefits that will aid them even as the haunt grows in strength and the hunters become less effective. As Blackest Night envelops them, the haunt feels insurmountable -- will the hunters find the haunt's true weakness and destroy it for good, or be whittled down until only a Final Girl remains? Featuring six haunts, six locations ripe for the haunting, and six unique hunter archetypes, Darkest Hour is perfect for one-shots for 2-5 players, and can either be run by a GM, or communally without a GM.

Dawn of the Orcs: Dawn of the Orcs is a GMless dark fantasy worldbuilding and roleplaying game. Play the magical technocrats who create the first orcs as living weapons and tell the story of how the Orcs become their own people. It can be played seriously as a fantasy transhumanist Dr. Strangelove, or as a wacky game of Saruman by committee.

The Trains of the Glorious Republic of the People: The Trains of the Glorious Republic of the People is a tabletop RPG where players take on the roles of a train crew in a fictional 1930s totalitarian state. Your mission is simple: get yourselves and your unique train from point A to point B though things are never that easy on the tracks of the Glorious Republic. The game requires only d6s, pen, paper, and, above all, your loyalty to the party.

Paratype: Paratype takes place in the aftermath of an apocalypse where giant bugs have reclaimed the earth. For humans survival is a challenge-one helped by the invention of a device that grants strange new buggy abilities. Paratype is a game about survival, humanity and so, so many bugs.

Broke Wizards: Broke Wizards is a light, silly game about working class sorcery. Play as students of the prestigious Audment's Academy of the Arcane who must go delving for treasure in order to pay tuition. To cast magic, wizards must use items found around their dormitory as makeshift spell ingredients - and then use their real-life argumentative skills to convince the living force of magic that yes, actually, a dirty shot glass is a great ingredient for casting a spell of water breathing, thank you very much.

RiskTaker: RiskTaker is a GM-less system built around players making big moves with big risks. Each sessions revolves around "The Scene," a climactic event like an episode's final battle in a superhero TV show, or the aftermath of a heist gone wrong. Players take turns either doing exposition scenes to give context to The Scene and built character relationships, or Influencing The Scene, which means they take a decisive action and decide how effective that action will be. But watch out - the more impactful your action, the more things can go wrong, and the more likely it is that they will. But what's a good story without a few Risks?

'til it kills us: in ‘til it kills us, you play as a group of young, reckless queer activists fighting to make a difference in the world. you’re angry, and you’re scared, and rightfully so. not to mention, you’re all a little bit fucked up. whether you’re dealing with issues at home, struggling with mental illness, or just learning to stand on your own two feet, life isn’t easy. but you’re also in love with the world, and with each other, so you keep fighting anyway. it’s the only thing you can do. the only problem is your magic. sure, it protects you. sure, it helps you fight. but you can feel it – feeding on the most unpleasant parts of you. and the longer you have this magic, the more you fear by those feelings. you worry it might be powering but you keep fighting. what else is there? remember what you always said: we’re going to keep on fighting ‘til it kills us.

If you submitted a game to us and don't see it on the list, don't fret! We will be hosting many polls like this and your game is still in consideration. If you game is on here and isn't chosen to move on to our next poll, also don't fret! We may add it on to the next poll again.

[aboringredmop]

k still don't know how im gonna post the videos (YouTube? unlisted?someone please help) but I can't sleep so I thought it'd write down whatever I remember happening!

(edit: here's the full recording! )

Becky and Joe walked on stage wearing sunglasses and red leather jackets and threw 3 of the trio plushies into the crowd. didn't get one unfortunately but it's really cool some people got free plushies :)

they made this robot child called the Inspiration Child, who's clearly meant to be a nod to ai (can learn from our show and generate it's own content!)

they explained how they met (and had some dodgy animated retelling), and how they started with small projects like commercials and music videos, until they came up with designs of the trio (and a mysterious fourth fella)

they made the designs first, then made the set, then the song and finally wrote the script for creativity. red guy was just a red mop head with legs at first ("alien squid thing") but Joe put the red guy head on for shits and giggles once and Becky thought it was hilarious so they kept it in the show

they were really not expecting it to blow up, and when Sundance called because they wanted to show creativity Becky thought it was a scam caller lol

they talked about the kickstarter and the credit card fraud kid. the mailed him saying "hey maybe dont do that" but the kid didnt know how to undo it cuz he just found a website full of credit card information and went ham, so Becky and Joe had to contact kickstarter because people were pulling out of the funding because they thought the project was overfunded (kickstarter was very difficult to contact)

they also made (lighthearted) fun of nsfw fluffybird art ((no padlock 😔) "using OUR characters to act out their SICK FANTASIES" - Becky) and theorists, especially because most if not all of the webseries is just them fucking around.

Inspiration Child also says something along the lines of "wow what a cool show with a great message of how corrupt the media is. I hate the media!"

Becky and Joe had these rules to make the show as vague as possible (no pop culture references, no names, no swearing and way too much detail put into small things)(the duck guy drag queen absolutely obliterates the no swearing rule lol)

they talk about the pilot, how they focused too much on the story because they felt like they had to due to it being on the big screen now, and how it ended up ruining the atmosphere and such of the pilot. they did show the entire thing sped up but my phone sucks ass so I could not get it to focus correctly. I'll see what I can salvage so you people can dissect frames of your blorbo you're Legally Not Allowed To See (which is also the official reason we don't get the pilot)

also pilot concept art showed that Mean Steve is in fact just called Key

they showed a whole post-it wall full of ideas for the tv show. don't know how much I got on footage, but what stood out most to me were 2 episodes called Money and Christmas. Joe mentioned "clock in a wheelchair" specifically

also really fun fact. Becky made the Lesley suit during covid, and pretty much threatened Baker into writing a human character into the show to wear it. concept art also shows Lesley with a mask made out of the same fabric, don't know if this was part of the original suit tho

they showed Warrens old models (?). he was gonna be a wayy more ugly looking silicone pug-worm thing y'all got lucky with the bald fuck

lily and todney were directly based off of some cancelled show about two porcelain doll children with panda parents. do not for the life of me remember what it was called but Becky and Joe were very enthousiastic about it (UPDATE: Candy and Andy!)

international release of the show soon!

Inspiration Child talks about what he's learned and sings a little song, then generates his own dhmis inspired content of a cult meeting in a forest at night. the dhmis Discord server called this "potential new content" but I doubt it

3 cultists walk on stage, face the screen backs to the crowd, drop their cloaks and boom! drag queens!!!

they were not mentioned on the site or during earlier parts of the show at all so they were a complete surprise. I asked Becky about it later during the night and she said she really wanted them there, so she asked and they were excited to! hope this means more official content with them soon I love them

they dance to There's Three Of Us, then Duck lipsings the shredder song which turns into a techno remix while Red and Yellow dance during the background

then Duck and Yellow make out while Red tries to undress to the instrumentals of the Fucked Up Part of Creativity but can't get out of his suit on time before the song ends

the drag queens, Becky and Joe and the Inspiration Child walk around during the meet and greet later and I got signatures from all of them! except inspiration child he didn't have thumbs

the drag queens were so fucking funny. Duck adopted inspiration child and loudly yelled at everyone to "GET AWAY FROM MY FUCKING CHILD" (their duck voice is sooo good). yellow stood in a corner staring at a wall for like 10 minutes and red was constantly awkwardly hovering just outside the frames of pictures (and also could not see shit lmao)

Becky liked my shirt! (the one with the melting trio heads) said she handdrew it

I'll post the signatures and some more stuff tomorrow because it is. 5 am

edit Heres the signatures! yellow guys is Italian I think? and means hi I love you :)

(the liyskaen is duck trying to spell my name. they got pretty close)

[phantomwitch16]

Hazbin Hotel Theory: Lilith

I had never posted about Hazbin Hotel before, but I came across a theory about Lilith that I wanted to discuss. I’ve only seen clips, so correct me if I'm wrong. So, anyone who hasn't watched anything or hasn't caught up yet, WARNING: SPOILER ZONE.

At this point, everyone is quite aware of the Lilith/ Eve Theory, where Lilith left or was kidnapped by Eve to explain her disappearance for most of the show and what she was doing in Heaven. I think the theory has some promise, but some things don’t feel quite right.

In the episode where Lucifer first appears, we learn that Lilith and Lucifer seem to have split years ago. We don't know how long ago or the circumstances of the separation, with it pretty much up in the air.

It could be possible that Lucifer’s depression could've gotten in the way of their relationship (similar to his relationship with Charlie), causing some friction. This obviously would give Lilith a lot of responsibility, likely to raise Charlie and inspire the denizens of Hell by herself. We don't know much about what Lucifer does most of the time other than making ducks, keeping Lulu World running and wallowing in his depression.

I don't think that they split up, at least I don’t think that’s the whole story. There have been some odd details regarding Lilith and a few other people within the series that do add to the theory. While it's possible things might have changed during the development of the series, Viv has previously stated that Lilith and Lucifer were a very lovey-dovey couple and I doubt that she would change it. While I think their relationship would have its faults, obviously with their history and trauma, yeah, that was going to happen, but not the stereotypically 'my partner hates me' bs.

Even if they had split up, I doubt that Lilith would have just up and left Charlie without saying anything.

But anyway, since her appearance on the beach with Lute, there have been several theories about Lilith and whether she would be an antagonist or the main one. I disagree, but given how she's been pretty much a mystery for most of the series, with not much being said about her, it’s understandable most would come to this conclusion. But I doubt Lilith would be because Lilith was the one to instil Charlie to help the denizens of Hell so for her to come to disrupt her progress with the Hotel.

This obviously leads to the Lilith/Eve Theory people have come up with by what people have seen and picked apart from the show and the cards that people received before it aired. Now people who have watched the show and been on Twiiter/X or any other social media probs already know the theory, but I'll spell it out for those who don't.

Just before the show aired, people received cards on each character and a few select items in the series. Of these characters was Lilith, but there was something off with it. Instead of seeing a revamp of her original design in the pilot, it's just a close up with her face shadowed.

The image above has Lilith or who we think is Lilith sitting with her hand over her lips and a shadow over her face, only showing a sinister smile. The one thing strikes me about it was the was almost like she know that we know there was something wrong with the image and was telling us to be quiet.

So far in the show, we've only seen her in the portraits that are decorated around the hotel and in Lucifer's ducky workshop. She makes a brief appearance in Charlie’s flashbacks where we don’t even see her face, though this is largely because the attention was focused on Charlie and Lucifer. Here it shows that even her look has remained largely consistent since the pilot.

What truly defines Lilith design is her long wavy hair. But despite it, there is something different about it in the card. It's very long, obviously but as it gets closer to her face, it starts to look more uneven. Or jagged.

But what grabs the attention in the card is the smile. It looks very sharp and angular, very different to the smile that she has in the portraits and in her depiction on the storybook in the first episode.

But we've already seen it somewhere. Just not on Lilith.

Obviously, this isn't a new take. This is a very popular take that nearly everyone has heard.

I like to think that with the reveal, we will get a more factual retelling of what happened when Lilith and Lucifer rather than what came out of the story book Charlie was reading, likely something her mother made for her when she was growing up. Mainly what happened to Eve as they cleverly avoided it. While we don't know if they're going to tackle it, it's likely that they will discuss Eve's life after eating the fruit and her very long life. I think that while Adam was sent to heaven to become one of the exterminators, Eve became one of the first original sinners sent to Hell.

There are several ways they could handle it with it's possible the Eve is starting a little bit of chaos using the knowledge Lilith and Lucifer gave her. With Lilith attempting to stop her alongside Lute and the rest of Heaven.

For what reason? She could've taken up a new identity after death. that identity being called Roo. Or more specifically, the Root of All Evil.

Roo is someone that's been known for since 2019 and someone Viv is excited to introduce since she first drew her, calling her a looming threat amongst the series. Hints of her appearance have been placed throughout the pilot on the tower and on the show. I believe that Lilith, Lute and Eve are working together with Heaven to track down Roo to destroy her hold on Earth or to prevent her from doing something to Hell, Heaven and Earth.

It's also likely that she is the demon Alastor is chained to. Why her specifically and not Lilith? Besides the timeline matching, there is very little opportunity for them to meet. Even though Alastor has made a big name for himself in the Pride Ring, Lucifer has not heard of him, so why would Lilith? But that just might be a Lucifer thing, they probably could've met after one of Lilith's shows or something.

Knowing Alastor as a person, he would've been in a very desperate situation, or maybe he was too cocky like with Adam and picked a fight with her, thinking that she was some random Overlord or low ranking demon who knocked him down and stole his soul. With her having control over him, then he is willing to do anything to get out of their agreement. Whether its to play around and isolate the princess of Hell from her support network, to make her hopes and dreams crumble to dust.

It could be possible Lilith left Charlie and Lucifer to focus on Roo, with it likely that Lucifer knows what's she's up to and tries to shield her from what's happening. But as the hotel gets more popular, Roo's attention is directed to it, thus putting Charlie and all three realms in danger. Lilith would come to Charlie, try to sugarcoat it as best as possible before revealing Roo as a threat. Then when she comes there, Alastor betrays them, but as he is free, has a change of heart and attempts to help.

That's what i think anyway.

[endiness]

"Epic fantasy has responded poorly to too much oversight from above. I think that was The Witcher’s problem. You had that visionary: It was Henry Cavill. And they didn’t want to listen to him. So, well, there you go." — Brandon Sanderson

Yeah, anyway, just a friendly reminder that Henry Cavill massively over-exaggerated how much of a fan he was of the franchise and how much he knew about it as he hadn't even read the books when he first sought out the role because he thought that the books were based off the games (and for some reason despite proclaiming himself to be such a lorebuff, he ~curiously never bothered to check them out; he can't have ever googled or wiki'd the series, either, despite finding out that Netflix was making the show from the internet, because if he had, then surely he would've learned that the games were actually based on the books and would've read them; and somehow he also ~curiously never noticed that the first thing credited in the games is Sapkowski and the books.) He only read the books after Lauren told him about them and even then, he only read the series once right before he was cast in 2018. He also only ever really played the third game and even then, he never played the DLC for it.

By his own admission, he also didn't actually do any research or preparation for the role because, as established above, he hadn't read the books when he first sought out the role, he only read the series once after Lauren told him about the books, and he's really only played the third game.

"I asked my agent to put me on the spot and wanted to meet Lauren as soon as possible. I didn’t even need to prepare specially for the role. Because I breathe, I experience this universe every day. I’ve already had many opportunities to think about this character when I was playing the game. My preparation was already done before the casting even began!"

Henry Cavill was also directly responsible for a lot of the show's deviations from the books, or he at least had a hand in them, and the idea the he was such an advocate for the source material is actually just a massive pr campaign he ran against Lauren, the writers, and the show to deflect from his own responsibility for those changes and because he was mad about how he was co-lead with two women and the general prominence of women on the show.

He fucked up Geralt's characterization in S1 and made it inaccurate to the books by cutting his lines and either saying nothing or just grunting instead — often leaving his scene partners in the position of not knowing what was going on and if he was going to say his lines and even having to take his lines just in order to move the plot along. (Half of Geralt's dialogue was cut in the S1 finale, btw.)

"Henry tends to cut his lines, say less, which means I have to say more. So I had to improvise quite often." — Joey

Then in the press for S2, Henry Cavill started heavily pushing the narrative about how important adhering to the source material is to him and how much he advocated for a more book accurate, verbose Geralt — and not only did he virtually never take any responsibility for how it was due to his acting choices that happened in the first place, but he also lied about the whole thing and tried to act like Geralt was never originally written as being verbose and blamed Geralt's lack of dialogue on Yennefer and Cir's prominence — which can't be true as confirmed by Lauren. (Yennefer and Ciri's scenes were actually the ones cut in S1, btw.)

He tried to act like he was inspired by Doug Cockle's performance to make up for the lack of Geralt's dialogue — which can't be true because he only decided to use his "Geralt" voice in January 2019 but filming for the show started late October/early November 2018 and meanwhile he started cutting Geralt's lines from the pilot episode.

And he tried to act like the lines he was cutting weren't even really that important anyway so it didn't really matter that he was cutting them — which can't be true as confirmed by Joey.

Whenever Henry Cavill went on about how important adhering to the source material is to him in the press for S2 as if Lauren's vision of the show was somehow contradictory to that and the books, he was actually just mad about the prominence of women on the show. (Ciri is the main character of the main book series, btw, and women move the plot forward in the books in massive ways and are absolutely integral to the story.)

(In the press for S2, he also went on about how important men being three dimensional characters is to him as if women being three dimensional characters on the show somehow came at the expense of the male characters.) (Also, here's a quote from him during the press for S2: "I believe that real men are very sensitive. They are very capable of doing things which can be violent, if possible, or necessary. But at the same time, they are incredibly capable of love and caring amongst men and towards children and family and all sorts." Weird that he doesn't specifically list women as people that real sensitive, violent men can be loving and caring towards and reduces them to just being part of "all sorts." 🤔)

Henry Cavill also fucked up Geralt and Jaskier's friendship — beyond, y'know, just cutting Geralt's dialogue in scenes with Jaskier. (Imo given everything he's said, I think it's likely a lot of the dialogue he was cutting in their scenes was any, all, or most affirmation on Geralt's side of things that he cares about Jaskier and that they're friends and, in general, just any positivity toward Jaskier and their friendship .)

"In the books, they are very, very close friends. That is so obvious. They speak to each other fondly. The opportunity is different in this story because Jaskier turns up and he’s not an immediate player straight away. We sort of had to show that essence of Geralt and Joey playing the complete opposite, which creates a wonderful dynamic. If I were to play it more directly like the books, it wouldn’t quite have the same sense of two fated friends. They’d just be like, “Hey, buddy!” Instead, Geralt cares deeply for Jaskier, whether he wants to admit it or not."

He cut a sex scene between Geralt and Yennefer in S2 because he didn't understand Geralt and Yennefer's characters and their relationship dynamic as it absolutely would've been in character of them to have sex after reuniting.

"We wanted it to be emotional rather than sexual. It was really, really important and we had to lean away from what was originally on the page. […] That's not how they behave. How they behave is they just want to be with the person and emotionally recognize their existence again in that shared space."

He nixed even the idea of Geralt and Triss just platonically finding comfort with each other — which is what happens in the books.

"The thing that was important to me, which we took directly from the books, is that Triss asks Geralt to spend the night with her and, in the books, he actually says yes once she says just basically lay with me, nothing is going to happen. Henry felt very, very strongly that when we were playing this scene he still believed that his one true love, Yennefer of Vengerberg, was dead. He was still mourning her. So he didn't actually want to go that extra step and have them have any intimacy whatsoever." — Lauren

He didn't want to play Geralt struggling with fatherhood in any way in S2 nor with any character flaws and only positive character traits (because he was overcompensating for how he fucked up Geralt's characterization in S1 and was embarrassed that redditors were dunking on him for it and that even the show was completely harmlessly making fun of Geralt's "grumpy snowman" characterization) — all of which resulted in the domino effect of Yennefer's betrayal, Eskel's death (which in itself led to Vesemir trying to create new witchers and Lambert's harsher attitude toward Ciri), and Voleth Meir being the big bad of the season.

So yeah, anyway, a friendly reminder that the conspiracy theory that Henry Cavill ragequit the show because he just cares about the source material oh so much and he's the only one in the cast and crew to know anything about it and he's the only reason why the show followed the books in any way whatsoever is, actually, just a conspiracy theory based off nothing more than Henry Cavill saying that he cares about the source material while all of his actions and everything else he's said, as established above, proves otherwise. 👍

[columboscreens]

columbo is so gender to me but i dont think i could ever look like him</3

i think it's totally possible for anyone to embody his essence. you can even manage to rock something directly inspired by columbo without looking like you're cosplaying.

hair

if you have columbo's hair type, it's actually pretty easy to emulate his styles. i even know people who show pictures of columbo to hair stylists to get his look. my partner's hair in its natural state is very similar to columbo's--dark, wavy, tending to grow in spite of gravity rather than with it. whenever he gets his hair cut, he shows the stylist photos of late 60s/pilot episode peter falk, whose look is actually pretty on-trend for the current era. it works out pretty well.

your swag may have aged well pilot columbo but you can't beat floof

failing that, getting any haircut that is natural, low-maintenance, and not too attention-grabbing captures the visual language all the same. for reference, natasha lyonne in poker face has her hair in natural-looking, messy waves that to me just exude columbo.

clothing

how you present yourself to the world is up to you, but if you want to invoke columbo, there's a lot more you can do than buy a tan raincoat.

in an era of sharply-cut, wide-lapelled constructions, fat tie tuesdays, and gucci loafers, columbo stands out as classic comfort personified.

his collar, tie, and lapels are slim, proportional, and unassuming; they'd look good in almost any era. his pants fit closely to his leg but not too wide or slim, and sit at or near the natural waist. though his suits, shirts, ties, shoes, socks, and even coats rotate, there is a consistent color palette keeping him "on model". he embraces earth tones: creams, forest greens, light browns, dark browns, stony grays, rusts, and roses. his clothing seems like an afterthought, but it's an extension of his personality--rumpled and unassuming at first, yet sharp and deliberate upon further inspection.

amid the 1970s explosion of synthetic popularity, it says something that every stitch of textile on columbo's person is natural (aside from the raincoat, which is probably nylon or poly--he wears it without a lining and uses it as essentially an oversized windbreaker). his boots are leather with crepe latex soles; his tie is silk. his shirt is cotton, a bit boxy but comfortable and properly fitted. because the construction of his suits is roomy and unstructured, and because they're made of linen, they wrinkle easily.

this is easily confused for appearing slovenly. actually, all things considered, his clothes fit him pretty damn well, it's just hard to avoid wrinkling natural fibers like linen and cotton, especially in hot weather. he's running around los angeles sweating up a storm, the man needs loose, breathable fabric.

point is, columbo dresses very thoughtfully. since these clothes are workwear for him and he works a hell of a lot, it's imperative that he factors in the weather, his comfort, and proper fit when picking clothes. he wants to like and be comfortable in them while looking unassuming. so even though he sometimes ends up looking like an unmade bed, his choices are deliberate.

you could invoke these principles in your own appearance by picking earthy colors/jewel tones and comfortable, natural fabrics that you enjoy wearing, which has the added benefit of being better for you and the environment. consider also taking a few garments in to be altered. it's usually not that expensive, supports your local needlefolk, and makes even cheap clothes fit great.

as a last little aside, i think having a "signature" clothing item akin to columbo's raincoat would be a nice touch. a jacket, a pair of shoes, even a watch or necklace. something you always wear. if you really do want a raincoat like his, just make sure you're not buying a trench coat, because, repeat after me: columbo does not wear a trench coat.

[typewritingyip]

First! Get better soon you awesomesauce typewriting fellar!! treat yourself with some warm tea and some rest!

also for the Q/A thingie i got a few question if it doesnt bother u much!

what inspired you to start writing and how did you get here? (as in writing bangers for the TF fandom we love you man)

For arcturus: do you have like an ending or story in mind? do you have scrapped ideas for the ending? (and may we peek??)

On the Arcturus 3 snippet we got the confimation that no texaid is taking place, however do you have other ships planned/ what are the pairings within arcturus? looking at u with googly eyes rn 🥺

ty for reading :3

Thank you so much!

Okay, let’s go in order!

What inspired me to start writing and how did I get here?

I started writing in middle school, not long after I had a major surgery and was in a dire need of an outlet. I mean back then I was writing on my index cards for class and just trying to escape the hell I was living in.

As for how I got here, I graduated from college back in May and sorta realized I hadn’t posted fanfiction in years, I have a few old pieces up on this blog but certainly nothing like Arcturus. I needed an outlet again cause I was spending 99% of my time studying for the LSAT. I never gave up writing, just gave up on posting it for whatever reason. So when this AU came along my sister and I were talking about it, then I started to write things down before it became my beloved Arcturus. If it weren’t for @keferon I probably wouldn’t have posted for another few months cause at the time I was working on a 10 chapter TFA Rock Star AU, which I’ll get back to at some point. This just was so inspiring.

For Arcturus: Do I have an ending or story in mind? Do I have scrapped ideas for the ending?

So, yes, I have an ending in mind. I’ve had this ending in mind for a bit honestly and love it so much, I just hope you all do too. As for scrapped ideas, well.. originally I wanted Red Alert to be human, then forgot and had him show up. I went back to my outline and just about cried. But it’s fine, I’ve made adjustments.

(As for peeking, mayhaps… I do a lot of stuff that I alter to a document in my commonplace book with other characters/my OC to get the ideas moving so maybe.)

Do I have other ships planned/what are my pairs in Arcturus?

Alright, I actually do have TexAid in this. So, the crew of Arcturus One does not know that First Aid is piloting suit 11, and the Arcturus universe of this AU, they’ve taken to calling that suit Vortex just cause he was such a famous pilot and they all know something isn’t quiet normal with that suit or those first generation pilots (they’d all be in their late 40’s early 50’s rn, so Swindle is maybe 46?). First Aid is pilot 3113, he was originally in Arcee’s spot for Arcturus 3 but I personally think that the eating the alien episode happened right before the announcement and things were moved around while he gets a psych evaluation done and the suit is cleaned. TexAid is canon to this AU even if I don’t know the characters well, I hope to understand them more by the time I write stuff for Arcturus 5.

Other ships? Now that’s where I’m having a blast. The obvious ones are Mirage/Hound, Knockout/Breakdown, Jazz/Prowl (they already are dating, just don’t want to make anyone uncomfortable), and Sunstreaker/Bluestreak for sure (maybe Sideswipe too but I’m still debating on how I want to do that/handle that.. idk yet.) We have background MegOp because it’s just a favorite of mine.

Then, we have Arcturus 3, Ratchet/Drift is just, *chefs kiss* to me, so that is happening but at the moment Deadlock is heavily pinning and Ratchet is oblivious. Honestly, most of Arcturus 3 is completely oblivious and I love that for them.

I plan to have other ships, but I think I’m going to hold those cards to my chest, for now.

Thank you so much for your questions! 💜

[tf2heritageposts]

by the way personally this is how i see tf2 canon in terms of “what’s actually canon/the most canon”

inspired by some DCA videos i’ve watched before lol

the first tier is the comics surprisingly. MOST canon comics are the mann co no more as they are the most plot minded and are actually trying to be consistent with the lore and characters. the update comics are a little less canon since they’re more jokey and meant to present the update rather than be apart of the larger narrative (outside of things like blood brothers and whatnot), but still very high in the canonicity

the second tier is the official videos, aka the meet the team series as well as expiration date. expiration date i see as a little less canon than the meet the team videos since it was by all technicalities a pilot and most of the time pilots aren’t entirely canon to tv shows, buuuuut it’s still very high up

the third tier is the OFFICIAL voicelines(i will elaborate more later). yeah the actual game is kind of low in canon scaling. why’s that?

well, the game was initially not made with a story in mind as teamfortress.com/comics says itself, leading to some strange things being said by the mercs themsleves that could be considered out of character in the modern day, such as medic making a reference to nazi germany in one of his control point lines despite the fact he later on ended up being VERY heavily implied to be jewish. on this, voicelines that were baked into the game on its 1.0 release i consider to be way less canon then voicelines done later on, especially after they got actually developed as characters. voicelines made later on that were made with their modern day charizations i consider more canon

the fourth tier is blogposts

these were made purely for humors sake to announce an update or new merch or whatever and often had the writers roleplay as a merc when they wrote it, so it ends up being either extremely uncanon or has info that’s never denied or retconned, such as the mountain range heavy lives in apparently being the Dzhugdzhur mountain range. you can pretty easily take it or leave it with the blogposts

the fifth tier is official valve cosmetics(again i’ll elaborate LATER)

there’s a very big tendency in valve made cosmetics to be wildly out of character for the mercs, such as giving heavy communism based cosmetics despite the fact it’s said clear as crystal in mann co no more #3 that heavy is anti-communist. extremely take it or leave it

the sixth tier is valve made maps, namely the earlier ones

pinkerton himslef has said in a email that some of the things regarding the mann family in maps like mann manor were made in mind as, in his words, “a tf2 version of treehouse of horror”, in reference to the simpsons’ halloween tradition of making distinctly non canon horror based episodes using the simpsons universe, and they are not to be taken as actual canon

the seventh tier is community made voicelines with the newer maps

here i’m talking about the VSH maps specifically. the voice lines were made beforehand before valve made it apart of the offical game and were not done by the original vas nor written by valve. you may say that since valve approved the map that it’s canon but that’s not how it goes. all valve does is port the map into the game, it doesn’t make any alterations period(even if the map is accidentally incomplete in regards to summer update 2024’s applejack). just because valve put it in the game

DOES NOT MEAN ITS CANON

more on this later

the eighth tier is pretty much any valve made thing before 2010 or so

this is the tf2 trading cards that give erroneous backstories to the mercs, this is a statue of medic giving him the name humboldt ludwig(in case you ever wondered where that name came from), this is all of that. basically considered not canon by anyone

and the moment you’ve been waiting for

tier nine: community made cosmetics

valve will fucking approve any goddamn thing if it looks pretty enough. it doesn’t matter if it doesn’t make sense for a character, if the description implies scout is a pedophile, doesn’t fucking matter. distinctly not remotely fucking canon

[skellyflowers]

My Bounty to Keep

AN: Finally done! Thank you to everyone who showed interest.

I use the first two episodes of 'The Mandalorian' for inspiration. I'll have one chapter for each of the Eppies. II is next.

Taglist: @nikipuppeteer

Vessel x bounty

I'll admit that when I ran away from home two days ago I didn't really have a plan. I knew that I wanted to go see the galaxy beyond my home and settle down on a green planet. Maybe be a farmer, raise some livestock and just live a simpler life. However, that idea seemed to be more and more difficult after I got off world. 

After I get off my home world of Xehiri my transport shuttle brought me to our moon, Aliv-4. This habitable moon is Xehiri’s main transport station. I’m not sure how long I spent looking at the transport schedule. I want to go as far as I can, as soon as I can. I also need to be sure I will have credits after the trip.

I decided to get a ticket to Neshan 4. It’s a planet that is between the mid rim and the upper rim, so it's probably a safe place to stay for a while. Plus it is a water planet with cities under the waves. It would be a great change of scenery. Thirty minutes after I buy my ticket I get checked in and start my journey to Neshan 4.

The trip goes smoothly until an alert is played. The shuttle has to make an emergency landing due to a problem with the fuel line. We end up in the spaceport on Lao-2X9. Lao is a city planet, known for having one of the biggest casinos in the galaxy. It can be a dangerous place for your wallet.

“So sorry everyone.” I heard the shuttle pilot say. “Unfortunately we're going to have to spend the night here. The fuel line maintenance won't be done until the morning.”

I heave a sigh at the information. I try to look on the bright side, at least we got complimentary drink tickets for the bar in the port. I was not looking forward to sleeping in the port but a good drink would soften the blow. I just needed to remember that I would be back on my journey in the morning. It could be worse, I could still  be at home with my parents. 

The port is huge and has a few bars for me to choose from. I decided to follow a couple who broke away from the group. I overheard them mention the ‘east bar’ so I guessed that they had been here before. I ask if I could join them and the three of us walk together. When we get to the bar the couple get a table and sit at the bar. I give my ticket to the bartender who informs me that not only can I get two free drinks with my ticket but I can also get an appetizer. This night is really turning around. 

When I finish my first drink and my small meal I notice someone has taken the seat next to me. I looked over at the stranger when the bartender handed me my second drink and asked for their order. Their voice is… odd. Like it is coming through a filter. When I glance over everything makes sense. The stranger is a Mandalorian!

He is in black body armor. His helmet has a thick white stripe on the top and a red stripe at the bottom where his mouth would be.  He is wearing a cape and has a staff resting on his back. Not to mention all the other weapons he must have. I can see a red crest in the shoulder closest to me. The crest looks like wings almost. When his helmet tilts toward me I turn away. I have heard stories about what happens to people who upset mandalorians. I don’t want to take any chances.

“What brought you here?” I hear the mandalorian ask. The bartender is gone and I don’t see anyone else with us, so I assume he is talking to me.

“Me?” I ask.

“Yes. What brings you here?”

“I'm just passing through. My shuttle is refueling.”

“Is this your first time on Lao-2X9?”

“Yes.”

As I look at the stranger I see that his helmet also has four black marks around the visor. It looks like he has six eyes. I wonder if he is even human. I can’t even see his hands.

“So you're not from around here?” He sounds disappointed. “I’m looking for someone. I heard that they might be around here. Their bounty is pretty high plus the client was willing to pay my extra fee for a live capture.”

“Well I hope you find those you are looking for.” 

“Can I show you a picture? Maybe they were on the shuttle with you.”

I am really reluctant to keep talking to him but I have heard that ignoring a Mandalorian can make things bad. So I agree to take a look. The Mandalorian takes out a bounty puck and taps the top. A hologram springs to life and the person is very familiar to me. Because the bounty he has is on me! 

I nearly fall on my face as I run out of the bar. I do my best to avoid the others in the port but for the few I run into I hope they will forgive me. I just found out I have a bounty on my head from the hunter trying to collect it!

I found my way out of the port and hid in an alley. As I try to catch my breath I realize I left all my things in the bar. Including my credits! So now my next moves are limited.

“Who put a bounty on me!” I quietly wonder out loud.

I cautiously look around on the street before I exit the alley. Or at least I tried to.  Just as I stepped on the street, hands grabbed me from behind. One around my mouth and the other around my middle. I get lifted as I try to kick and swing my fists. 

One of my wild kicks connects and my attacker grunts in pain. However my little victory is short lived. I get thrown into the wall behind me. My attacker then punches me in the stomach pushing all the air out of my body. While I attempt to recover I feel my wrists getting restrained. A gag is shoved in my mouth, and then I am blindfolded. This has to be the Mandalorian from the bar.

Something sharp sticks into my arm and I suddenly feel sleepy but not enough to pass out. It is a strange in between. I am aware of what is happening but I can’t really move or speak. I feel myself get lifted up and put over his shoulder. He walks steady with me over his shoulder. We must be walking back to the port.

“Hey, is your friend ok?” I hear someone ask.

“They’re fine. Just had too much to drink.” The Mandalorian replies. It’s almost like he is just being a good friend, not kidnapping me.

The feeling returns to my body when we enter a ship. The sounds from the port quiet down and I hear the sounds of boots on metal. He stops and presses some buttons and drops something on the ground. I’m then flopped into a chair, my wrists are then tried to the arm rests. The blindfold comes off next.

Just as I thought he took me back to a ship. He did take my bag with him, I can see it on the ground. He grabs my chin to force me to look at him.

“I’m going to take out the gag. If you scream or spit I put it back. Do you understand?”

I nod my head ‘yes’. Slowly the Mandalorian removes the gag. Clearly waiting to see if I disobey him. When I don’t move he leaned away and grabbed a flask. He put the flask to my lips and grabbed my chin again to lift my head back.

“Drink this. It will help the drug move out of your system.” He ordered.

I don't trust him but I don’t have much of a choice but to drink out of the flask. The liquid tastes like bitter medicine. But just like he said a few minutes after the flask was shoved in my face I felt more alert.

Looking around I see that I am in a cockpit. I wonder what type of ship this is. The Mandalorian stares at me for a moment. He then spins in his chair to start his ship. The ship has left Lao 2X9’s atmosphere when I feel my strength return.

“How long have you been following me?” I ask when I get the energy.

“I don’t think you want to know.”

“How long.”

“It doesn’t really matter any more.”

“HOW LONG!”

“You were never going to make it to Neshan 4.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean that it was more work to damage your shuttle's fuel line than it was to find you.”

Hearing that was like a slap to the face. It's not that I was trying to be the most stealthy person in the galaxy. But it still hurts my pride to hear him say that. 

“Don’t be too upset. You did give me a good chase at the end.”

“Who sent you?”

“I’m sure you already know the answer to that.”

“Just tell me.”

“Given how much they were willing to pay, I would assume they are your parents.”

Hearing that is my last straw. I start to tear up. I can’t believe that they would do this! I just wanted to not get stuck in my hometown. I just wanted a life of my own. Even for just a little while.

“Stop crying. If you cry I put you in the Hold and I need to keep an eye on you. So stop.” He growls. 

I try to calm down, I don’t know what the Hold is but I don’t want to find out. I have had too many surprises for one day. When I calm down the ship jumps into hyperspace. After that the Mandalorian turns to look at me. I don’t want to look at him.

“So, what were you running from?” He asked. “It must have been important if your parents were willing to hire me after 24 hours.”

When I don’t answer he puts a hand around my neck.

“Answer me.” He said, hand tightening for just a moment.

“They decided that it was time for me to settle down.” I say when his grip loosens. “What’s your name?”

“What?”

“You had a question, now I have a question.”

His helmet tilts to the side. “I’m called Vessel. Why did you want to go to Neshan 4?”

“It was the farthest I could get for the least amount of money. How much is my bounty?”

“10,000. Half when I took the job, the other when I drop you off.”

“Wow, that’s a lot of credits.”

“That’s why I wanted to know what you did.” He pauses. “Most of my clients don’t care if the bounty is warm or cold.”

“What do you mean by ‘settle down’?”

“My mom wants me to marry her best friend's son.”

“Congratulations.”

“He's a loser with no ambition. What's that symbol on your shoulder?”

“That’s my clan crest. I'm from the clan Sleepwalker.”

A button starts to flash and beeping sounds out in the cockpit, ending our question game. The Mandalorian… Vessel turns away from me and pulls a lever. The ship comes out of hyperspace  and he starts the landing sequence. After we land he turns back to me.

“I'm going to untie you now. Are you going to walk or am I going to carry you?” Vessel asked. 

“I'll walk by myself.” I said. My pride can't handle being carried around like a prize. I guess in a way I am.

As we exit the ship Vessel grabs my bicep. I assume to make sure I don't run away. I couldn't even I wanted to, being back home has really crushed me. We walk to the spaceport entrance and I see my father. When he sees me and Vessel he taps my mom on the shoulder. She starts to wave her hand over her like we couldn't see her. Vessel lets my arm go once we reach them.

“Oh Sweetie,  you had me and your father so worried!” She said, giving me a hug.

“Thank you so much for your services.” My father says. I see him hand Vessel a small bag.

After collecting his credits Vessel turns away without a word. At least one of us gets to leave this place. I wonder where he will go next. My eyes start to sting as I watch him walk away. My parents led me out of the port to the family truck. I silently sit in the back and stare out of the window. My parents try to talk to me but I don’t answer. If I talk I’m going to cry. And I don't want to explain to them why I wanted to go.

It takes an hour to get out of the city and back onto the quiet town streets. The streets I grownup on and now the street I'll see for the rest of my life. Then suddenly I hear a loud bang. Then the truck veers into the brushes and hits a tree. We all got out to see what happened. The tire has a blaster hole in it! Who shot at us?

“Alright hands up!” Someone yells. I recognize that filtered voice!

Sure enough when I turn around there stands Vessel. Black armor shining in the sunlight. There is a speeder bike behind him. He is about ten feet away and he is pointing a blaster at us! What is he even doing here?

“You two keep your hands up. You, you're coming with me.” He says.

“What are you doing? You got your credits! LEAVE US ALONE!” My father yells.

I walk over to Vessel and he pushes me onto the bike. He sits behind me and starts the bike. As He leads against me I feel a chill go up my spine. I’ll have to explore that feeling at another time. However when his hand rests on my thigh  that feeling gets harder to explain away.

We are back on Vessel’s ship in no time. I have so many questions. It must show on my face because he laughs when he looks at me.

“You deserve to live a life. I’m going to give you a chance.” He explains. “Plus someone should teach you how to throw a punch properly.”

I don’t know what to say so I just laugh instead. You could have given me a thousand guesses about what would happen to me over the last four days. I never would have said this. Suddenly Vessel pushes me against the wall of his ship and covers my eyes. I hear a hiss, something metal hits the floor and warm lips are on mine.

“You’re mine now.”

[deeptrashwitch]

Earthquake

One-shot inspired by an episode of the k-drama Descendants of the Sun! Remember that the WTF belong to the marvelous @islandtarochips! Now, let's begin!

Taglist (just to show :3): @alypink @snootlestheangel @islandtarochips @hollywood-is-bleeding

@cynicvice @midnight193 @mutantthedark @justasmolbard @welldonekhushi

@tapioca-milktea1978 @imagoddamnonionmason @stargazing-sapphire2 @milkteaarttime @blacktacmopsi

@maymaylyn @thatonesillyducko @seraphiixiao @me-is-confused @gunnrblze @taciturntraveller

The Specters and the WTF were involved in a mission regarding a branch of a cartel they both were hunting. At first they were sent to France to chase the two leaders they were looking for. As they arrived and raided the main building, they noticed how the objectives had already fled away.

“Wraith, where to now?” Alicia asked while all of them looked around. 

“They split. One is going to Kiribati, but we have their live location over Kyrgyzstan.” Wraith informed through the joint line. “The other one’s going to Cyprus, right now arriving.”

Kanoa intervened from his comms as well. “Then we need to split as well, Origin. If we let them have any kind of advantage, they’ll disappear.”

Alicia nodded and made a sign to call her boys. “I agree. Where will you go, Alpha Six?” 

“Kyrgyzstan, if we can intercept the bastard, we can get the locations.”

“Copy that, we will go to Cyprus then.” 

Wraith intervened with a calm voice. “Alpha Six, you and your team can go with our pilot. I already planned a transport for the Specters.”

“Much appreciated, Wraith.” Kanoa said, then nodded at Alicia before going to get his people.

“Copy and over, guys, good luck.”

Soon Edward and Nicholas were flying the WTF to a base in Kyrgyzstan, meanwhile the Specters were on a carrier going to Cyprus as they were taking a look at some last minute files Wraith sent them to prepare themselves. They were arriving at night to the island and were meant to go to a building in a city near Nicosia. Although, Elliot was looking at the sky with a bad feeling.

“Something wrong?” Marcus asked curiously when he noticed Elliot’s frown.

“I just…have a bad feeling, y’know? But it’s odd, I can’t get a name to it.” He murmured a bit worried.

“You should tell the Captain.”

Elliot nodded, then his frown deepened a bit when he noticed the birds flying weirdly. “Yeah, I’ll go get her.”

As Elliot spoke with Alicia, Jackson was looking at the comms, noticing they were getting oddly cracked. When they contacted Nicholas about it, the man was confused but figured it out relatively quickly as they docked in Cyprus.They were driven to the city where they had the intel about their objective in silence. 

Either way, they kept comms open. 

“Alpha Six, here Origin, you copy?” Alicia asked calmly.

Kanoa answered with a chuckle. “Here Alpha Six, how’s the paradise island?”

“How funny.” She murmured with a smile. “We’re arriving at the building, fucking old by the way, you?”

“All done here, we managed to intercept it and we sent the intel to General Kalani and Wraith..”

“Good to hear that, have a good trip back home.”

“Thanks. Change and out.”

“Hehe, we’ll keep comms open just in case. Change and out.”

Soon the Specters went inside the building, noticing it was oddly empty. So they prepared for any kind of traps that might await them inside the building. With the rifles raised, they started to walk back against back as Elijah and Alexander climbed up to the ceiling beams. That was the way they moved for a while, with their recon and sniper cleaning part of the path and informing them about any kind of enemies or problems ahead, of which Noah and Elliot took care of. 

At some point, Elijah and Alexander stumbled over the beams and it called everyone's attention.

They climbed down quickly, surprisingly uneasy as they walked towards the team.

“Delta, Hawk, what is it?” Alicia asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Something’s wrong, ma’am. Up in the beams, it shook.” Elijah murmured, shivering. “Not like us losing balance, but…literally shaking. It wasn’t strong but-”

“It’s not normal. That never happens.” Alexander interrupted, oddly serious.

Luke frowned and soon everyone was on high alert at what they said. The Lieutenant especially looked around and paled when he noticed some signs he knew well.

“What the-?” He murmured as he looked at some stagnant water now waving. “Oh fuck.”

“Harlem?” Jackson asked, now worried.

“Earthquake.” Luke murmured, and everyone tensed.

And in a second, the ground started to shake with enough strength that the huge machinery started to clink and fall. 

“Origin, Origin! What’s going on?!” Kanoa asked over comms when they heard the rumble from the other side of the line.

“There’s an earthquake! We’re evacuating!” Alicia answered as they started to ran towards the exit to avoid being locked with the machinery. 

“Wha-?!”

“CAPTAIN, THE PLACE IS COLLAPSING!” Luke shouted as the walls started to crack and explosions could be heard outside. 

“Get out! GET OUT! EVERYONE RETREAT NOW!” 

“WATCH OUT!” Jackson yelled with an edge of worry and fear.

Then a scream cut on the line, then it cracked and got cut off completely, just leaving static behind.

Meanwhile in Kyrgyzstan, the WTF seemed in shock as the static filled every channel they had available to try and communicate with the Specters. Tiala shared a look with Kanoa, then both of them looked at Agnes and nodded in silence. 

Blast nodded back and sped away, running towards the plane where Edward, Nicholas and Francis were anxiously looking at the control console of the comms.

“What’s going on?” She asked Edward, panting from the run.

Edward shook his head and looked at Nicholas. 

The comms expert seemed even more anxious than the other two. “I can’t get a hold of them. None at all. Lines are down completely.”

“What?” Agnes whispered worriedly. 

Francis simply went to look for some documents in the meantime, all while Tiala, Kanoa, Aelan and Nigel arrived running. The Specters cartograph was frantic as he logged in to get some news in real time.

“Viper, what do you have?” Edward asked worriedly.

Francis was pale as he read the breaking news, then looked at his Sergeant, whispering nervously. “Cyprus was hit by an earthquake that's a 6 on the Richter scale. They were near the epicenter.”

Kanoa felt a cold shiver run down his back and the fear started to clench his chest. For a second the world stopped as his mind kept running at the speed of light thinking about all the possible scenarios. 

“There’s seriously no way we can know how they are? None at all?” He asked, trying to keep his composure.

“Well, we all have trackers for our vital signs.” Edward explained, scratching the back of his neck out of pure nervousness and worry. “If Wraith can find the signal, at least we can know if they’re alright.”

“Good, good, is Wraith available?”

“Yes, sir.” Nicholas said, connecting with Black Tomb and Wraith’s office inside it. “We have her right now on channel three, connection stable.”

Kanoa nodded and took his own radio. “Wraith, here Alpha Six. You copy?”

“I’m here, Alpha Six, send traffic.” Wraith said as a keyboard clicked on the background. 

“We’re aware of the situation in Cyprus right now. Sergeant Edward Jackson informed us about vital signs trackers, can you get access to it?”

“I’m on it, give me a second.”

For a second everyone stayed in silence as they waited. It was a heavy silence filled with tension, and Tiala was speaking with Edward to prepare everything to take flight as soon as possible.

“I…I don’t know.” Wraith murmured, scared to everyone’s shock. “I can’t find it.”

“Repeat that, Wraith.” Kanoa ordered, his voice trembling for a moment.

“I can’t find the signal of the infantry team or recon pair trackers. To this moment, we aren’t sure if they’re dead or alive…they’re MIA from this moment forward.”

Kanoa closed his eyes almost like he received a punch while Francis sat next to the control console with a trembling sigh. Nicholas simply frowned and kept trying to connect with their radios. Even Nigel and Agnes seemed worried and confused, not sure of what to say at that moment or even at all.

Meanwhile Tiala looked at his brother and noticed the fear in his eyes as he leaned against the wall of the plane. She walked to him and put a hand over his shoulder.

“We can’t- we need to go get them. I don’t wanna think they might be dead.” He whispered, unable to look up from the floor.

“Noa, breathe in.” She said, worried. “We’ll find them. I already spoke with the Sergeant, and we’ll be ready to fly to Greece and move from there to Cyprus.”

Kanoa nodded in silence, feeling a lump on his throat. The forty minutes that took to refill and prepare the plane felt like an eternity for everyone. And as soon as the plane was ready to go, they charged everything and took flight while Wraith coordinated everything with a base in Greece.

In the middle of the flight, Wraith told them more about the situation as Francis showed them a map of the island.

“I’m following the news live, and it seems like the epicenter was in Nicosia. The capital is almost destroyed, and the cities nearby are somehow in the same state.” Wraith murmured, sighing heavily while Francis showed them images of the disaster in Cyprus. “We can’t wait for the rescue aid services, the priority is on Nicosia right now. From what I can tell…it’ll be days until they get to the place where they are.”

“What about the UE aid?” Tiala asked with a raised eyebrow.

“They aren't ready yet, but the Greek government can assign a rescue dog and its handler for now to help us if we’re ready to help in the rescue.”

Kanoa sighed and looked at Aelan, who seemed thoughtful. “Aelan, if we encounter an emergency-?”

“I'll lead with it until we can take them to a hospital or medical tent, Captain.” She said with a nod, seriously.

“Good to hear.”

“We’ll go too.” Edward said from the pilot seat. “We might not be infantry, but this is our team too.” 

“All hands are helping hands in these cases.” Kanoa said with a nod. 

As they flew over Georgia, Kanoa just closed his eyes and pressed the back of his head against the wall. He sighed and tried to ignore the thoughts about the possibilities of what happened. 

His hand clenched on a fist as he tensed. Not again. He won't lose anyone again if he has a say in it. 

A couple of hours later, they arrived in Greece and Kanoa went to speak with the high ranked soldiers while the rescue dog and the handler arrived. It was Aelan who spoke with him, coordinating everything to start the search as soon as they took land. Soon they hopped into a helicopter to fly towards Cyprus to start the rescue. 

The sight of the cities was discouraging, with the buildings collapsed, fires in some points of the cities and blocked roads. In a few minutes they arrived at the city where they had the last location from the team. And the first thing they saw was dozens of buildings destroyed on the floor while some people tried to help to find some victims of the earthquake. 

“Alright, let’s move everyone! We have people to find!” Kanoa ordered in a roar. 

“Yes sir!” Everyone shouted back and they started to move around the debris and the broken streets. 

The dog and its handler took the lead and Aelan followed them while the rest started the search and to help wherever they could as well. Sometimes, the dog barked towards some piles of debris where they started to search. To everyone's relief, they found many civilians still alive, so Aelan helped as much as she was able while some medical staff arrived after the nearby hospital sent their ambulances.

As they kept searching, bodies started to appear as well, which only worried the WTF and the remaining Specters even more.

For a while they didn’t find much as Wraith also told them that the rescue aid from the UE was on their way, which made everything a bit quicker for them. While they kept searching, at some point, when the rescue dog was a bit far, it started to bark loudly. And that called Aelan’s as well as the handler’s attention, so they called some of the paramedic and aid personnel. 

“Wait a minute-” She murmured at the same time she saw some smoke coming from under the debris near the dog, flare smoke. “They wouldn’t do something that stupid. Wait, it’s them, they would.”

Aelan ran towards the dog, who was scratching the debris and barking. 

“Who’s there?!” Jackson’s voice asked, half worried and half relieved.

“Jackson!? It’s Aelan!” She screamed, avoiding the flare smoke . “Are you okay?!”

“We’re still alive and using gas masks! But we need medical treatment for some of us!”

“On it! Have you-?!”

“Done triage?! Yes! We have one that needs immediate transport, two that need evaluation, another two with apparent light wounds and the rest of us are safe!”

“Copy that!” Aelan shouted, then turned on her radio. “To everyone, I found the Specters infantry and recon team. I repeat, I found them.”

“Copy that! Where are you? Six and I are on our way.” Tiala asked through comms.

“Approximately eight kilometers from the medical tent, follow the smoke, it’s a flare.”

Nigel’s voice came through as well. “Blast and I are going with some rescue personnel. Everyone can hear you right now.”

“Alright, we have eight people, all survivors, most of them are wounded and buried. I have no report of any external agent that can complicate the rescue.” She explained looking around and seeing how pieces of the building were still up. “Seems to be a partial collapse, so there is a possibility of foundations still supporting the area.”

Soon the comms were in stand by as well, and Aelan simply stayed beside the opening from where the smoke came from. She narrowed her eyes to try and glance inside, sighing relieved when she noticed the light of a flashlight emerging as well, followed by the well known medic.

“Good to see you, Jackson.” She said with a chuckle.

He huffed and sighed. “Me too, Aelan, me too. How’s everyone out there?”

“We’re helping with the rescue labors while searching for you, and you?”

“...We’re still alive and that’s enough for us right now.”

Aelan nodded and as soon as the flare started to burn off, she lit a new one and helped as much as she could to move some of the debris that didn’t seem to be of structural support. Not long after, the rest of the WTF arrived with Edward, Nicholas, Francis and a group of rescue workers. 

Bit by bit, the debris was taken off as the rescue personnel started to send a stretcher down. The first one that came out was Elijah, who was in the worst state of them.

The recon expert had an iron bar going through his leg, with his uniform already stained with blood. He was already in silence, simply exhausted despite the pain.

“The bar didn't seem to have punctured the femoral artery, either way, I haven't removed it in case I misdiagnosed.” Jackson explained to Aelan. “I stopped the bleeding, but still, he lost a lot of blood.”

Aelan nodded and helped to move Elijah to the place where the aid personnel were waiting before they rushed down to transport him to the medical tent. The next one was Alexander, who seemed to be hurting as Jackson explained that he was hit by some debris over his back. 

“He hasn’t moved since the end of the earthquake, I haven’t allowed him in case he has a crack or something.” Jackson explained while Alexander was taken by the rescue workers.

“Understood.”

One by one, he helped everyone to get the wounded ones out. Kanoa sighed relieved when he saw that everyone was alive, even chuckling a bit when Nigel and Agnes running to speak with Marcus and Noah, both of them with light wounds. 

However, he felt a shiver when he noticed how Alicia was unconscious. But before he could start to overthink, Tiala dragged him to talk for a second.

“Easy Noa, she’s okay.” She said to calm him down. “Jackson told Aelan what happened, she got hit by debris on the back of her head, but she’s unconscious because she was starting to panic bad.You know how Licia gets with dark places.”

“You sure?” He asked, worried.

“Wanna ask Luke? He’s already out.”

“Yes please.”

Tiala nodded and made a sign for Luke to get near, so the Lieutenant came near still covered in concrete powder and ashes. 

“What is it?” He asked curiously.

“First of all, are you good?” Tiala asked.

“Just a cut in my arm, nothing serious.”

“Good, do you mind explaining to Kanoa what happened? He's getting pretty worried for Alicia.”

“Ah, about her? She got hit by debris in the head, but when we ended down there it was pitch black and…well, we all know Alicia doesn’t like being in dark places like that. Long story short, Jackson helped her to calm down and she basically went out cold. She’ll be fine, Captain Toa, I promise.”

Kanoa nodded and sighed again, relieved, then decided to keep helping with the rescue activities while everyone was sent to the hospital. It was hours, until late night, before they could finish their help. mostly when the UE rescue aids came finally. They were covered in dust and tired, but they decided to go see if they could see everyone.

However, Wraith told them, more calmly than before, that they were in a hospital on the Turkish coast while they got treated. Mostly referring to Elijah’s injury, since most of Cyprus hospitals were either destroyed or collapsed. 

It wasn’t until three days later when they were able to go see them.

“Oh, c’mon! I didn’t die! No need to go mama hen with me here!” Elijah exclaimed, and it was heard from outside of the room.

“You shut up!” Noah exclaimed, half amused, half worried. “What if you fall down or something?”

“I’m not that clumsy, Noah!”

“Lie!” Nicholas intervened, laughing.

“Shut up!”

Tiala and Kanoa shared a look and chuckled. 

“Seems like they’re alright already, eh?” Kanoa murmured.

Once inside, they found the eight of them in their stretchers, some of them talking and some of them doing other things, while Edward, Francis and Nicholas were sitting with them and speaking. Jackson was in a corner, just watching everything with a smirk, but also with a huge bruise on his face and arms.

When he noticed them, the medic nodded as a greeting. Aelan went to get an update from him while the rest went to say hi to the wounded.

“You look horrible.” Kanoa commented to Alicia, chuckling despite the spark of worry in his eyes.

“I know, the worst part is that my neck itches and now I have a bald patch.” She commented with a calm laugh, leaving her book aside. 

“You do?”

“...Yeah.”

“Hehe, baldy.”

Alicia rolled her eyes, but smiled. “Shut up. But it’s good to see you, Noa.”

“Yeah, me too.” He murmured sitting beside her stretcher. “I was scared, y’know? For a second I thought you might be dead, and even just remembering you and your team were MIA…”

“I understand, don’t worry.” She said with a soft smile, punching gently his arm. “Also, since when am I easy to kill? You know I’d crawl back from hell if I had to.”

“Haha, how funny.” He said sarcastically while rolling his eyes.

Alicia laughed softly, and then looked at how Tiala was waiting for them to finish. So she smiled and waved at her, to which Tiala waved back and went to hug her gently. 

“Good to see you, Licia.” Tiala said with a hum, sitting beside her and leaving a flower bouquet next on the nightstand.

“Likewise, Tia, it’s good to see you too. How did everything go?”

“Our objective is captured and being interrogated, and yours is dead.”

“For real?”

“We found the body after a while under the debris.”

“Huh, seems like the world took it in its hands.” Alicia joked with a smirk.

“Yeah, it seems like it.”

“Well, it ended well after all. But I can already guess Wraith will give us an update for the trackers.” She murmured, looking away. “And a scolding now that I think about it.”

“Oh yeah, even Wraith was scared.”

“Ah shit, what if I feign I ended deaf?”

“Alicia no!” Tiala and Kanoa shouted, frowning.

“Okay, okay, sheesh. Just let me rest while I get better, then I’ll lead with Wraith.” Alicia said with an ashamed smile, raising her hands as a peace gesture and chuckling.

[dearheart42regenerated]

MOTORCITY SEASON 2 MASTERPOST

once upon a time, over 10 years ago, just a few months after the announcement that Motorcity was officially canceled...the creators of the show took pity on their heartbroken fandom and gave us several glimpses of what season 2 might have been like. they saw how much we loved Motorcity and gave us every scrap of info they could at the time, so that we could use those scraps to imagine our own personal "Season 2" - whether it continue on in our fics, our fanart, or simply our own heads.

I'm making this masterpost so that none of this material will be lost or forgotten, and so any fanartists/fic writers still hanging around today can use it for inspiration. if there's any related material I've missed, PLEASE feel free to add it in a reblog or let me know in my inbox! I want this list to be as complete as we can make it! :)

--

The Season 2 That Never Was: A Comprehensive List

Motorcity Season 2 Rough Intro "Scratch audio by our very own Chris P." (x)

-> backup download

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Season 2 Writer's Wall posted (and later deleted) by @chrisprynoski on twitter, and shared on tumblr by @peopleofmotorcity, these pictures of the writer's wall showed us a "rough sketch" of what could have been, and gave our imaginations SO many fun theories and possibilities to play with. every blurry sticky note was a treasure to us. :')

-> original tumblr posts: x x x x x x x x x x x x -> image masterpost -> google drive folder

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Chris Prynoski's Fan Interview + Tumblr Q&A's this whole interview on youtube is a delight to listen to, and Part 2 in particular has some interesting bits about season 2. (skip to 17:10 for some good stuff about Texas and Chuck's backgrounds!)

-> Part 1 -> Part 2

Chris P also answered several juicy season 2 questions on tumblr. sadly his blog is deactivated now, but you can still read through all of them at the links below!

-> image masterpost -> google drive folder

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Capri Chilton - Mike Chilton's long lost big sister! I can't remember where or when it was first revealed that they were considering giving Mike a secret older sister, and I haven't been able to track down the origin. that being said, when it was revealed, the fandom loved the idea so much that they begged the creators to make it canon. Chris P busted out the "magical canon stick", gave us this delightful concept sketch, and "Capri Chilton" was born!

--

The Motorcity Series Bible "To help you all understand what it is you are reading, this is the material that Titmouse used to help pitch Motorcity, and it was also a tool for writers to use when coming up with episodes to help understand who the characters were before there was any other reference. That being said, this was one of the very first documents about Motorcity, so many things have changed or evolved from these early concepts." (x)

-> original tumblr posts: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 -> image backups -> PDF download

EDIT: the COMPLETE series bible has now been leaked by Lost Media Busters on X (Twitter) and helpfully shared by @waksworldrebooted!!

--> here is a google drive download for the full PDF file!

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Motorcity Series Bible - Redacted Version (Pages 1, 2, 17, 19, 20) funfact: @peopleofmotorcity was the official? unofficial? tumblr blog for Motorcity, and it was run by a guy named Mac - an animator for the show who loved to tease and joke around with the fandom. before revealing the actual first 13 pages of the series bible, he posted this censored version as a prank - a mix of truth and trolling! it's up to the fandom to decide which is which. ;)

-> original tumblr posts: 1 2 17 19 20 -> image backups -> PDF download

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MTV Era Motorcity Masterpost a fantastic collection of glimpses into the original pilot/pitch trailer that would evolve into the show we know and love today, found and compiled by @waksworldrebooted. "In 2000, Chris Prynoski pitched a cartoon called Motorcity. He made a card and a website promoting the show, which wouldn't see the light of day until the Walt Disney Company got their hands on it."

--> tumblr masterpost (including wayback links to the old website) --> twitter sources from Chris P himself :)

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Motorcity Unaired Pilot - 2009 Disney Version Originally aired during Comic Con 2012, the pilot was recorded and then posted on YouTube by Allison Simmons in July of 2012, later being privatized in 2022. The video was re uploaded onto VKVideo 22 days after its original posting to YouTube and is still currently available to watch online. (x)

--> backup download --> also viewable here!

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if I find more material, I will add it here! :)

[thegayhimbo]

Stranger Things (1x01): "The Vanishing of Will Byers" Review

NOTE: Two years ago, I announced plans for reviews for each of the Stranger Things episodes before S5 premiered. Because of multiple obligations that came up in those years, from work, to training for a marathon, to plans with family and friends, to dealing with other personal issues, this kept getting pushed back multiple times. Now that I have the opportunity this year, I'm aiming to do a full in-depth analysis of each episode, along with analysis of the characters and story arcs present in each season, while also speculating on how the Duffer Brothers plan to end the show.

I will admit that I did a semi-review of the first episode (split into two posts) back in November 2023 in honor of Stranger Things Day. However, at the time, that was me experimenting with a different review style rather than the in-depth analysis I want to aim for with these reviews (though I will be taking certain quotes from that particular semi-review for this specific episode as it does contain some interesting observations I took note of at the time). I have also done reviews for the tie-in materials Netflix, Random House Publishing, and Dark Horse Comics have put out, and given my thoughts on characters, arcs, and potential theories there (you can see my pinned page for links to those), but I also recognize not all fans will have read those materials, and the episodes hold more importance in terms of continuity and canon.

On top of that, another reason for the delay was researching multiple sources of media (books, movies, other TV shows, comics, etc) that the Duffer Brothers have cited as inspiration for how they wrote and structured Stranger Things, as well as how they crafted certain arcs and characters. These reviews will be citing those sources, and even doing a compare/contrast at times to understand why the Duffer Brothers went the direction they did, and whether (IMO) it made things better or worse. I also plan to do a deep dive into the themes the show presents, how those themes continue to be relevant to today's culture, and how the show acts as both a homage to the 80s as well as a deconstruction of it.

Before I begin though, there are a few points that need to be made:

1.) These will be long reviews because there's a lot to discuss. I will try my best NOT to split each episode into two or three posts and contain them to just one per episode. There will be no TL;DR however.

2.) I am writing these for my own interest and for the 4-5 mutuals who follow me (they know who they are). I'm okay if these get liked or reblogged by others, or if people want to leave comments, but I'm not writing these for a wider audience. This is my passion project for 2025, and I intend to enjoy it, regardless of others opinions. Which brings me to number 3.......

3.) I am fine with people disagreeing with my takes, or having dissenting opinions, but if you come on here being rude, condescending, belittling, or behave like an asshole, you're getting blocked. I will not indulge that behavior, and I won't even respond to you if you pull that.

With that out the way......let's get started:

In terms of a Pilot episode, not only do I think this is one of the best I've seen on TV, but it's one that's improved over time and has great rewatch value. There's a lot of subtext and foreshadowing planted in the first episode that not only comes to fruition later in S1, but also sets up aspects that are paid off in future seasons. I know the Duffer Brothers have said that season 1 was originally conceived as an anthology/miniseries (based on the original pitch and whether the show would get renewed), and given how nervous they were about whether Stranger Things would be a success, I can see why they would play it safe with Netflix at the time. However, there is evidence suggesting they had certain story elements and ideas ready to go if they were allowed to continue past season 1. At the time though, this season was "make it or break it" and if it hadn't gotten the audience and appeal that it did, it probably would have gone the way of Freaks and Geeks (a show also set in the 80s that the Duffer Brothers have cited as an inspiration for Stranger Things) in being cancelled before it could reach its potential.

Thankfully, that didn't happen, and not only did the show continue, but it also went forward with the same cast and crew that we would grow to love.

Part 1: Montauk vs. The Vanishing of Will Byers (and why changes aren't necessary a bad thing):

George R.R. Martin once said there are two types of writers: Architects and Gardeners. Architect writers are usually the ones who plan everything in advance to know what the structure is and how everything in a story is going to fit together. Gardeners are more spontaneous in that they will plant something and see whether it develops into anything. Obviously, they will tend to the seed (or in this case, the idea/story/character the writers has introduced), but it's more of a mystery how it will grow, or if it will blossom at all. Some plants/ideas grow into something beautiful. Others fall short. And some don't even make it out of the ground.

If I were to make an educated guess on which one the Duffer Brothers were, based on what their original script was (Montauk) vs what it evolved into (Stranger Things), I would argue they're the rare breed of writers/directors who fall in the middle of being both Architects AND Gardeners. Looking at the way they pitched Montauk in its original form, it's pretty clear they did have a general story planned out (like an architect), and even the original script contained planted ideas/seeds (like a gardener) that may or may not have panned out.

But just like any architect or gardener, that doesn't mean things are set in stone. If an architect discovers flaws in the blueprints (or realizes that the building plan isn't practical with how it's originally designed), they're going to go back and make changes. Same with a gardener: If a plant doesn't spring up or ripen, it doesn't mean they give up and abandon the project. Any good gardener will prune that which isn't working, or figure out why the plant didn't grow the first time and start again in a better environment.

And in the case of how Montauk evolved into this episode, and how they structured the rest of season 1, I would argue most of these changes were for the better.

Let's look at the original setting for instance: Montauk's premise is centered around the infamous mystery regarding The Montauk Project. These were a series of alleged experiments that took place at Camp Hero, a base owned and operated by the United States Air Force, in the town of Montauk, New York, between 1971 and 1983.

These experiments are chronicled in several books written by Preston B. Nichols, an alleged scientist who worked on the Montauk Project and claimed to have been witness to bizarre and inhumane experiments centered on mind control, time travel, alternate realities, psychics, and the apparent aid of aliens from the distant stars.

Having read the first book, Experiments in Time, and watched the documentary Montauk Chronicles (which is two hours of my life I'm never getting back), I can attest to this being a huge rabbit hole of conspiracy theories that have no solid evidence or concrete proof, other than the word of the author and the people in the documentary who claim they either worked at Camp Hero or were used as experiments in the Montauk Project. As a science fiction story, it's a mind-trip wrapped in a mystery, and I can understand why the Duffer Brothers would find it fascinating enough to write a show around. However, outside of that, the whole idea taken as fact (which is what Preston and the documentary aims for) is outlandish and even self-indulgent at times. Maybe this is just my cynicism talking, but after so many years of seeing people on both the Right and the Left fall into QAnon levels of thinking, or having moron politicians like Marjorie Taylor Greene and organizations like Code Pink spewing garbage conspiracies, I find that my patience is pretty thin in regards to topics like this.

All of this factors into why I'm not bothered that the show changed the setting from Montauk, New York to Hawkins, Indiana, as well as creating an original mythology for Stranger Things centered around Hawkins Lab as opposed to basing the entire show on a real-life conspiracy that some people would have swallowed wholeheartedly and claim was actual truth. The Duffer Brothers have admitted that the change in location was based on practicality, weather (Long Island is freezing cold during winter and it would have been miserable trying to film there during the season), budget, and having more flexibility with what they could do with a fictional town vs setting the story in a real town to correlate with specific events in the past and NOT have that break suspension of disbelief.

In spite of moving away from the premise of the Montauk Project, there are certain elements the Duffer Brothers kept:

1.) The Philadelphia Experiment (Project Rainbow). A.K.A The fate of the USS Eldridge in 1943. This was the precursor for why and how The Montauk Project got off the ground. While "The Vanishing of Will Byers" doesn't specifically mention this particular incident, it is brought up in the play Stranger Things: The First Shadow, and anyone who's seen the play can tell you that it is a MAJOR PLOT POINT central to the show's mythology regarding the Upside Down, and the characters of Dr. Brenner, Vecna, and El. If you haven't yet, be sure to check out the play, or even read my review if you're looking for a quick summary.

2.) The connection between someone with special powers and the monster that's unleashed as a result of their actions. In the book Experiments in Time, there was a psychic named Duncan Cameron who had worked on the project for years and, through the use of a transmitter connected to a chair that he sat in during sessions, was able to create physical objects with his mind. After Preston and several of his colleagues expressed misgivings about their work, due to how it was messing with the space-time continuum and the number of people they were callously sacrificing for the project, they formulated a plan with Duncan to have him use his subconscious to form a monster that would destroy Camp Hero. In 1983 (the same year the first season of Stranger Things takes place), Duncan unleashed the monster to cause chaos.

While the beast eventually dissolved into the Ether after power to the transmitter was cut, it resulted in the base being permanently shut down.

As evident by Stranger Things, there are parallels between Duncan and Eleven in that both have special powers and worked in a top-secret government facility. The difference is that Duncan was psychic whereas El is psychokinetic. Duncan willingly worked on this project whereas El was a prisoner for years manipulated into working on behalf of Dr. Brenner. Unlike Duncan, her release of the Demogorgon and opening the Gate to a different dimension was an accident and not premeditated, in contrast to Duncan knowingly opening a vortex in time for people to travel to different time periods. And while the monster unleashed on Camp Hero was a creation of Duncan, that turns out not to be the case with the Demogrogon, with El having nothing to do with its creation.

The Montauk script implies that the Duffer Brothers were originally planning to recreate the same story beats as Experiments In Time, even right down to the last scene:

I am curious is this was supposed to be the first appearance of the Mind Flayer before they moved it to season 2. If it was, 1.) I'm glad they waited for that reveal and didn't tip their hand too early (especially since they had planned for 4-5 seasons) and adhered to the rule of "Less is Better." And 2.) It gives the impression that characters like the Mind Flayer (and even Vecna) had been planned out from the beginning, and were eventually going to be introduced, regardless of whether they stuck to the Montauk mythology or not.

Alternatively, there is the possibility this may have been meant to reference the Radiosondes from The Montauk Project. Long story short, this was an alleged device created by the government that manipulated the amount of DOR (i.e. energy in a descending spiral) and orgone energy (i.e. orgasmic or life energy, similar to Isaac Newton's idea of Ether) in a weather-related storm. It's the idea that the government has a device that can control the weather.

Yeah.......it's easy to see why this didn't age well, and why I'm glad the Duffer Brothers went a different direction. Even this would have been too much, and sounds like something that belongs on a show like The X Files as opposed to Stranger Things.

Speaking of different directions, the original script was a lot gorier than this episode. We're talking about mutilated and burnt bodies once the monster is unleashed:

Even Will's encounter with the monster plays out differently:

It's interesting that the original idea behind the Demogorgon was that it acted as a disruptive metaphysical force that could cause a person to start bleeding profusely. As if its mere presence was something that mere mortals couldn't handle being around, or even looking at without suffering some sort of physical or mental breakdown. The Duffer Brothers have cited Lovecraftian horror as an inspiration for how the Upside Down and its inhabitants were structured, and that is shown in this episode with the slime, vines and rotting mold growing out of the Gate, as well as how the Gate itself breathes like it's a mouth sucking air:

In regards to the change with the Demogorgon, where they got rid of the "humans start bleeding if they're anywhere near it" aspect, it hearkens back to the principle of "Less is Better." One of the brilliant things the Duffer Brothers did was introduce the horror gradually, with season 1 paying homage heavily to Steven Spielberg and movies like Poltergeist, as opposed to immediately going for gory shock value the same way shows like Elfen Lied, True Blood, Game of Thrones, and The Boys did. It was inevitable this show would eventually introduce bloodier aspects, like the Flayed in S3 and Vecna's mutilation of his victims in S4, but those instances felt earned as the show progressed and moved away from lighter aspects in order to explore darker and more mature themes.

Part 2: Will getting dragged to the Upside Down

Parallels between Will's disappearance and Carol Anne's situation in Poltergeist (which is referenced in this very episode) have been drawn before, but there is another reference that often isn't brought up, which Poltergeist owes acknowledgment to for its story: The episode "Little Girl Lost" from The Twilight Zone.

Similar to Poltergeist, "Little Girl Lost" features a girl named Bettina Miller who disappears one night into another dimension. Unlike Carol Anne or even Will, this happens on accident when she falls through a portal at the wall of her bed. The main premise is still the same though: The parents of the disappeared kid desperately attempt to find where this portal leads and rescue them before it's too late. Like "Little Girl Lost," a dog is featured that's aware of the alternate dimension, but the big difference is that the dog in said episode (whose name is Mack) was able to follow Bettina into the other dimension and help lead her back to her parents whereas Chester, the dog in Stranger Things does clue Hopper into the area where Will disappeared, but isn't able to follow him into the Upside Down:

(Side Tangent: I think there was a story opportunity missed here with the dog. It's made ambiguous if its barking at the shed is because it was Will's last known location, or because it can sense Will's presence despite being in the Upside Down, or it's somehow aware of the Upside Down, but the idea of animals having some kind of sense regarding the Upside Down and the eldritch abominations that exist there and are hostile to it (similar to how living creatures flee the presence of the Nazgul in The Lord of the Rings) was ripe for potential. However, I am aware that the reason Chester disappears after season 1 is because David Harbour had problems working with the dog, so any potential for that story arc likely went out the window. Though if UD monsters start appearing frequently in the woods during season 5, maybe they might explore that arc again. Who knows?)

Carol Anne's disappearance in Poltergeist initially appears as a random accident, especially with the revelation at the end of the movie regarding where the Freeling family lives, but it's implied in the movie (and later confirmed by its sequels) that she was intentionally targeted by a monster called "The Beast" (who's later revealed to be a malevolent spirit named Henry Kane) for his own nefarious purposes. Interestingly (and something I'll discuss more when I review "Holly Jolly") the BTS photos of S5 that they've revealed of Holly and Vecna together (with Vecna even wearing an old-fashioned suit like Henry Kane did as a preacher) implies they might actually use aspects of the Poltergeist trilogy for what they do with Holly's story in season 5.

Getting back to Will, I've talked about this before in my review of The Other Side (which chronicled the events of season 1 from Will's perspective in the Upside Down, and is a comic I highly recommend reading), but given the revelations in season 4 regarding Vecna and the UD freezing in place on November 6th, 1983 (the same night Will disappeared), it changes the context regarding what happens to Will in this episode. Instead of it just being the Demogorgon randomly stumbling onto Will (the way season 1 initially frames it), it comes off like Will's disappearance was planned by either Vecna or The Mind Flayer (or both) for a yet unrevealed reason. I've held to the theory that Will somehow had to do with the Upside Down freezing in time. Or at the very least, there is something Vecna wants from Will. The fact that Jamie Campbell Bower has stated in interviews that Will is central to this whole conflict (something that was confirmed by the Duffer Brothers when Bower went to talk to them), as well as how both Noah Schnapp and Bower have talked about there's unfinished business between the two of them (Vecna and Will), only confirms that.

Part 3: Changes to Characters (and why it works better in the final product):

Just like the changes to location and story beats helped improve the show and allowed the Duffer Brothers more creativity in constructing the show's mythology, the same can be said for changes made to the characters that helped improve them and the story.

Take Dustin's arc for instance. In the Montauk screenplay, and the original outline the Duffer Brothers drafted before revising it, there was a great deal of emphasis placed on Dustin's weight and how would impact his character going forward:

I'm sure there are fans who have accused the Duffer Brothers of engaging in fat shaming, and while the original script is iffy on this (the line from the original script about how Dustin will be fat later as an adult doesn't help) the way the outline frames the fat shaming itself is in a negative light. It's portrayed as detrimental for Dustin, with him being made the target of bullying because of it, and having to work to gain self-confidence to overcome his insecurities surrounding it.

However, the way Dustin was originally written may have also been a callback to certain 80s characters who were the butt of jokes about their weight and eating habits, such as Vern Tessio from Stephen King's Stand By Me and Lawrence "Chunk" Cohen from The Goonies, and I can understand why fans would have a major problem with this, especially if the Duffer Brothers blurred the lines between calling out the fat shaming Dustin would've experienced vs indulging in it. Look at F.R.I.E.N.D.S for instance in its portrayal of Monica Geller and how the writers alternated between showing the negative impact fat shaming had on Monica vs the constant jokes made at her expense, and you'll see what I'm talking about. Or even Avengers Endgame and what they did to Thor's character in that movie.

So for me, I'm fine with the Duffer Brothers not going that direction because I'm wary about whether they would have stumbled into that pitfall. I also think the decision to write in Gaten Matarazzo's condition of cleidocranial dysostosis (CCD) works better and even helps raise awareness regarding genetic birth defects people have while also humanizing them, similar to the Eric Stoltz film Mask (1985) (another movie the Duffer Brothers cited as an inspiration for Stranger Things) and the way Rocky Dennis's condition was portrayed and how he dealt with it.

Likewise, the way they rewrote Lucas for the show, from an angry loudmouthed kid whose parents were getting a divorce (and was set to cause problems for the group later on), to a kid who's blunt about his opinions, undergoes positive character development, has a stable family and loving parents (Charles Sinclair is one of the few characters who doesn't fall into the "Deadbeat and/or Abusive Dads" club), and maintains his loyalty to the Party despite his disagreements with them works a helluva lot better. I also think the decision to reverse Lucas's crush on Nancy and giving it to Dustin was a good choice in hindsight since it freed Lucas for his future relationship with Max.

Mike also has some minor changes made to his character. The original screenplay talks about him having a birthmark on his cheek, making him a target for bullies, as well as a possible crush on another girl named Jennifer Hayes before he meets Eleven.

It's similar to the character of Sam Weir from Freaks and Geeks, who had a crush on another girl in school named Cindy Sanders (before Cindy revealed herself to be a jerk) and was also initially bullied for his physical appearance. I can see why they cut Jennifer from the script since she was superfluous as they intended for Mike to fall in love with El and have her be his first crush. As for removing the birthmark, that may have had to do with casting, the decision to write Gaten's CCD into Dustin's character and have that be the reason he's targeted by bullies like Troy and James, or they simply figured that having Mike get bullied for being a nerd was enough. In either case, one thing that they kept consistent with Mike in both the original script and the final product (which unfortunately carries over to season 4) is his passivity to bullies (though he certainly becomes a lot snarkier than he is here).

Interestingly, Will is the one character that remains consistent with both the original script and this episode. Aside from tweaking his encounter with the Demogorgon so he isn't pleading with the monster (and being horrified when it appears behind him despite having locked the shed door), his characterization remains the same. Just look at how he was described in the Montauk pitch:

This also carries over to the conversation in Joyce has with Hopper at the police station about Will's clothes and being referred to as 'queer.' The implication here is that, even if they had gone with the original screenplay, there was always the intention of eventually revealing that Will was gay. Maybe the revelation wouldn't have happened in the first season of Montauk, and they would have dropped subtle hints beforehand (just like the first 3 seasons did), but, contrary to the homophobic idiots out there who want to pretend LGBT+ people didn't exist in the 80s, this was the direction they intended to go with Will's character from the beginning.

There are other minor changes that work better:

Hopper's establishing character moment of waking up, smoking, and downing pills with beer is the same, but unlike in the original screenplay, this is the first image we see before we pan over to Hopper:

It's a small scene, but it makes a huge difference (especially on rewatch) in how the show quietly foreshadows WHY Hopper has become like this as opposed to in the Montauk Pilot (which doesn't mention this scene at all in the screenplay), helps make his initial apathetic behavior more understandable, and cues the audience in quicker to his depression.

Joyce's swearing and casual use of F-Bombs is absent in this episode, and the 1982 flashback of her entering Castle Byers to give Will tickets to Poltergeist is added in as a way of emphasizing her, caring, motherly side while toning down her impatient outbursts.

Jonathan's character also remains the same, albeit some minor changes, from how he was written in the original version: He still acts as both a loving brother and a parental figure to Will, as well as supportive of his mom. The difference is his reason for not catching that Will wasn't home the night before: In the Montauk script, it's because he was busy getting photographs developed and didn't come home until later. In this episode, it's because he picked up another shift to help his mom. It's a change that does a better job showing how Jonathan is forced to shoulder a lot of responsibilities for the family since Lonnie left. It also makes Joyce's frustration with Jonathan overworking himself more understandable, as opposed to the Montauk script where their exchange comes off like she's lashing out at him:

Mr. Clarke goes from a handsome teacher the girls fawn over to a more traditional science teacher with the same passion for his subject. The scene with him showing Mike, Lucas, and Dustin the Heathkit Hamshack Radio is also a new addition, which does a good job highlighting why the boys like him so much as a teacher, and also avoids them being publicly drawn out of their class to speak to the principal and Hopper over Will's disappearance. They also cut parts of the conversation with Mr. Clarke and Hopper in the woods that would have revealed when they both graduated. This was definitely for the best because the date of Hopper's graduation in the original script (1958) would have been a major continuity error when they wrote Hopper still being in high school for The First Shadow.

El's age is changed to 12 instead of 10, likely as a means of keeping El and Mike the same age for their relationship, and so they could later have El attend public school in S4 in the same grade as her friends, which the Duffer Brothers have admitted was an arc they'd wanted to explore with El for a while. There's also a reference to a Tommy that El calls her "little brother," which may have initially been a subtle nod to James Cameron's Aliens with the character of Newt and how she had a brother named Timmy who fell prey to the Xenomorphs. Considering that the Duffer Brothers have mentioned that all of the other special kids, with the exception of Eight, were dead when they initially conceived the story for Hawkins Lab, it's likely Tommy was meant to be Eight before they rewrote the character to be El's older sister Kali Prasad once season 2 was underway.

Dr. Brenner is noticeably not named in the Pilot script, and his dialogue is spoken by someone called "Agent One." The way he's described, along with the other two Agents, reminds me strongly Agent Smith from The Matrix. Furthermore, the script implies he has some kind of relationship with Eleven, and considering he's already calling the shots in regards to the investigation, it's clear Dr. Brenner evolved from Agent One, with the addition of having him be in charge of Hawkins Lab.

The biggest change in regards to characters (and one that the fanbase tends to fixate on) is how Steve's character is written here vs in the Montauk script, and by extension how that impacts the way Nancy and Barbara were written. I will go more in-depth about these three characters in the next episode, but there are important things to note here:

1.) Contrary to how the Montauk script killed Barbara off in the first episode, I prefer how they did it on the show where her role was expanded for two more episodes after this one, and we at least got the chance to know her better before her death. #JusticeForBarb wouldn't have the momentum it did after season 1 if it hadn't been for the Duffer Brothers keeping her around longer than intended and fleshing out her character.

2.) I hold that the conflict brought up between Nancy and Barbara about her interest in Steve, and how much of this is based on the two actually liking one another vs social status and how this relationship would be perceived by others, is a lot more nuanced than its been made out to be by the fandom. It also makes the motivations behind all three characters complex as opposed to shallow and simplistic. Had the show gone with the original Montauk script, it would have removed that complexity regarding Nancy's reasons for liking Steve, Steve's reasons for being interested in her, and Barb's ambivalence about the two of them getting together. That's not even getting into how "Popular Douchebag wanting to get into another girl's pants" is a trope that's been done to death way before Stranger Things was ever written, so it's nice to see this trope subverted instead of taking the cliche route of playing it straight.

3.) I will talk more about this in future episodes, but ironically enough, by rewriting Steve's character, they actually manage to improve Nancy's character. Rather than coming off as a shallow brat pining for the rich popular dude (while referring to Mike's friends as "losers" in the process) and ignoring all the warning signs that Montauk!Steve couldn't care less about her, she comes off as someone who is trying something new with her relationship with Steve, but also establishes boundaries and isn't shy about calling out Steve if she thinks Steve is behaving badly. We see this even before her make-out session in the bathroom when both she and Barbara express their disdain for becoming friends with Tommy and Carol (Tommy is still as shitty in the Montauk script as he is in the final product), indicating that while they might tolerate Tommy and Carol for the sake of Nancy's relationship with Steve, they do not like them (rightfully so), nor have any intention of becoming friends with them. Same thing goes for how she deals with preparing for Mrs. Kaminsky's test (whose named Mrs. Krietzberg in the Montauk script): In the original screenplay, she basically blows off studying, sneaks out of the house to go to a bonfire, and gets put in an extremely horrific situation as a result. In this episode: While she does flirt with Steve, she is pretty firm in telling him her priority is studying for the test, and even brings up the question of whether Steve actually cares about her, or if this is just "another notch under his belt." It makes Nancy look a lot more responsible and intelligent than she was in the Montauk script. Which brings me to Steve.........

4.) Again, I will discuss the difference between the sex scene between Nancy and Steve on the show vs how it was originally supposed to go in the next episode, but in regards to how they wrote Steve.......I will always maintain the direction they took his character was a better choice, not just because they cast Joe Keery in the role, but for the story as a whole. It's easy to write hateful characters who have no depth to them (looking at Troy, James, Tommy, Carol, Angela, and Jake to name a few 😒), but it's a whole different ballpark when you have to write characters who have unlikable qualities (or in Steve's case, start out with unlikable qualities), but also have hidden depths to them that show they have potential to be decent people and get the audience to invest in them. Steve is one such character, and a far more interesting one than the Montauk version.

Take for instance the difference between Montauk!Steve vs Stranger Things Steve: In the show, it's stated in dialogue to Barbara that Nancy and Steve made out a couple of times, establishing this relationship had been ongoing for a while, and leading to speculation about where they take things from here. Furthermore, the way Nancy and Steve's make-out session in the bathroom is filmed comes off as a lot more consensual (helped by the immediate jump-cut to Steve and Nancy in the bathroom following her conversation with Barbara) compared to the original draft where Nancy has NOT been in a relationship with Steve at this point, and Steve just comes out of nowhere and starts kissing her when she doesn't expect it. It doesn't help that the Montauk script already spells out what his motivations are:

The problem with this is it takes away any mystery regarding Steve's motivations. It also makes it hard to invest in Nancy's decision to sneak out of the house to meet up with Steve because we already know it's going to end badly for her.

By contrast, Nancy commitment in this episode to study for her test and Steve's volunteering to help her raises an intriguing question: Is he actually doing this because he cares about her, or is he doing this for selfish reasons? It's a question that drives part of the episode, and helps keep the drama fresh instead of one-note.

In regards to Steve climbing through Nancy's window (and making such a hash of it that even Mike is rolling his eyes while he leaves the house with his bike), I always took this as a homage to A Nightmare on Elm Street (and even watched the movie three months before bingeing the first season of Stranger Things) where the main character (who's also named Nancy) had a consenting arrangement with her boyfriend Glen where he would show up at her bedroom window to avoid her parents and she would let him in and later help him sneak out once they were done talking. Considering that Steve informed her about coming to her house around 8:00pm and Nancy let him stay to study, I'm not remotely interested in doing the hysterical pearl-clutching about the ethics of this like Steve-Antis on Reddit and Tumblr want to. 🙄

Finally, with the way the study session goes, it hearkens back to my previous points: Steve is being challenged by Nancy about his reasons for coming over, and unlike the original script that spells out Steve's sleazy motivation (and kills any interest in that version of the character as a result), this Steve shows a different side: He projects the cool, popular, IDGAF image that might have made other girls attracted to him, but when Nancy makes it clear she isn't really interested in doing anything sexual, he lays off and continues to help her prepare for her test, showing he DOES actually care about what she thinks. Add on the clumsy way he sneaks into Nancy's bedroom, combined with his "stealthy like a ninja line" (which wasn't in the original script), and the Duffer Brothers are already setting the groundwork of the image Steve projects to others vs who he actually is on the inside. I will happily take that kind of character study any day of the week.

Part 4: Subtext and Foreshadowing:

Like I said before, there's a lot that's set up in this episode, and it's fun going back and picking up on tibits that not only foreshadow what will happen in season 1, but also foreshadows later seasons and contains multiple 80s references.

The opening with the scientist attempting to escape the Demogorgon, only to be pulled through the roof of the elevator by it is not just a homage to Ridley Scott's Alien, but specifically to Brett's death scene in the movie:

The main difference is, unlike with the Xenomorph, we don't see the Demogorgon yet since the Duffer Brothers are adhering to the principle established in Steven Spielberg's Jaws: Waiting for a certain amount of time (in this case, a few episodes) before revealing what the monster looks like, and build anticipation and dread in the audience as a result.

In regards to the D&D campaign that introduces Mike, Will, Dustin, and Lucas, one thing I failed to notice first time around was the poster of John Carpenter's The Thing in the background. It can be assumed the movie is one of Mike's favorites since I seriously doubt anyone else in his family would have been fans of it. Even though it's likely meant as just a reference (and the whole idea of body horror and assimilation from a monster will play a bigger role in S3 with the Flayed), it does foreshadow the conflict that will erupt between Mike and Lucas in future episodes.

For those who haven't seen the movie, John Carpenter's The Thing centers around an alien threat being brought unintentionally into a research facility on Antarctica that has the ability to assimilate and imitate creatures and people, which it uses to kill off the human crew in gory detail. The two main characters are R.J. MacReady (played by Kurt Russell) and Childs (played by Keith David), and the main drama of the movie centers on their conflict over how to deal with this "Thing" as tensions grow and hostiles threaten to turn everyone against each other. Both characters have parallels to Mike and Lucas in that they both have the Party's best interests in mind, but disagree over how to handle it, and it eventually comes to a boiling point where trust is shattered. Childs is (rightfully) suspicious of everyone around him in the movie, similar to how Lucas is suspicious of Eleven when she's first introduced, and even clashes with Mike over his leadership and decision-making in regards over how this helps Will, similar to Childs's antagonism towards MacReady's leadership and how his actions are impacting the research crew. Likewise, MacReady and Mike act as the unofficial leaders of the Party, make decisions with the consent of everyone, but also take stances that put them at odds with the people around them. Both Mike and MacReady also share stubbornness as a trait, which becomes a problem later on when they're trying to rally their respective groups.

As for everything else in this scene (including both Will and Dustin), the semi-review I did over a year ago which talked about that scene in detail sums it up best, and I'm going to quote it here:

"They do a good job with the establishing character moments for both Dustin and Lucas in Mike’s D&D campaign: Dustin telling Will to use caution and cast a protective spell while Lucas insists Will fireballs the Demogorgon while he has the chance. Lucas’s strategy is to go on the offense while Dustin’s is to go on the defense. Specifically with Lucas, he uses that strategy in other situations he’s in: Like when Lucas kicks Billy in the groin in S2 after being pinned to the wall by him, or gets an axe to chop at the Meat Flayer’s tendril to save El in S3, or even how Lucas is the one who later convinces everyone to take the fireworks from the store to use as ammunition (which helps turn the tide at the Battle of Starcourt). By contrast, Dustin prioritizes the safety of the Party, from pointing out to Mike and Lucas that they might be walking into the same danger Will encountered when they later look for him in the woods, to telling Mike NOT to jump off a cliff when Troy threatens Dustin, to enlisting Steve’s help in S2 because he knows Steve will be able to protect them due to his size and skill with the bat, to rescuing Steve and Robin from the Russians in S3. This isn’t to say that Lucas is wrong and Dustin is right, or even that Dustin is wrong and Lucas is right. It’s merely noting they have opposite approaches. Each situation they encounter is different, and sometimes (just like with Will’s dice role) it’s really up to chance. Also (as noted later in the episode by Mike), Will took Lucas’s advice and used fireball as a means of protecting the Party instead of trying to save himself. He puts other people’s safety before his own. The comic book “The Other Side” (which focuses on Will’s perspective during the events of S1 while trapped in the UD) expands on this aspect of his personality by including several moments of him coming to the aid of others (including Nancy) while in the UD, despite knowing it would put him in danger. Also, regardless of Lucas insisting the role doesn’t count because Mike didn’t see it, Will still chooses to be honest with Mike. He knows there are situations you can’t cheat your way out of, or pretend didn’t happen (as he’s about to find out with the real Demogorgon)."

In regards to mythology related to the Upside Down, there are some references that could come into play in season 5:

First is the mention of monsters like the Troglodytes in this episode. While they may be a simple D&D monster reference, considering the final season is implying there will be an invasion of monsters from the Upside Down, the Duffer Brothers could choose to introduce new creatures that the Party could give these names to. Troglodytes in D&D are a reptilian-humanoid species that's known for their stench, their bloodthirst, their desire to prey on innocent travelers, their short-sited stupidity, and their inability to plan in the long run.

Their characteristics have similarities to the goblins in the Artemis Fowl series, especially in their ability to be manipulated by the antagonists in those books to creating general chaos and kill as many people as they can get their hands on. Since Vecna and the Mind Flayer have long since abandoned the stealth approach they used in the first two seasons, if they're looking for a direct brutal attack that will rake up a high body count and happen to have creatures in the UD similar to troglodytes, they will inevitably be throwing these at the military stationed in Hawkins.

Same goes for the Thessalhydra that's mentioned in the S1 finale:

Considering that the vision Vecna showed Nancy in S4 involved a creature with a "big gaping mouth," we will likely be seeing a version of the Thessalhydra appear in the final season.

Adding on to this, there's a reference made to Mirkwood from The Lord of the Rings, which is one of the places inhabited by giant malicious spiders. Originally, they had planned to introduce a new creature on top of the Demobats in S4 called the Demospiders:

Even though those plans got scrapped in favor of the Demobats, there's nothing stopping the Duffer Brothers from formally introducing them in S5. And considering that the BTS photos for S5 have emphasized Castle Byers and Mirkwood, I wouldn't be surprised if Demospiders made their appearance there. Just like with D&D, references and even parallels to LOTR have been dropped, and it wouldn't be remiss to use Tolkien's books as a blueprint for the direction they could go in S5.

Speaking of references, comics like X-Men and Fantastic Four are brought up in this episode. When Will races Dustin for instance, the prize is the X-Men #134 comic, which features the X-Men against the Hellfire Club (Wonder if that's where the Duffer Brothers got the name for Eddie's D&D club? 🤔) and contains foreshadowing for the S1 finale regarding the Demogorgon's eventual fate, as well as a direct parallel between how Jean Grey/Phoenix deals with Mastermind:

BTW, I actually bought the comic and now own it! 😁

Additionally, after Troy and James get done with making fun of Dustin for his CCD, Mike tries to make Dustin feel better by comparing him to Mr. Fantastic and trying to get Dustin to see his CCD as a cool superpower. This is a general theme that will persist on this show: That being an outsider or a nerd isn't a bad thing, and can even be a "superpower" if the characters choose to see it as such and use it. The fact these characters also go to the lengths to support and uplift each other in spite of the world putting them down (similar to the constant discrimination the X-Men face, which forces them to rely on one another for support) also strengthens this theme.

Speaking of uplifting others, let's talk about Benny and his encounter with El.

I didn't appreciate the significance of this interaction the first time I saw this scene, but given what's revealed in El's flashbacks to the Lab, the way she was bullied and abused by the other kids (with the possible exception of Kali/Eight who later escaped), and how she was groomed and manipulated by both Dr. Brenner and Vecna........El's interaction with Benny is probably the first time she's experienced any type of kindness and human decency with no malicious motivations behind it. I mentioned in my previous semi-review that I wouldn't be surprised if Dr. Brenner deprived her of food either as a means of getting results (which was the same reason he allowed the kids at the lab to repeatedly bully El) or as a means of punishment. That man was a monster, and one thing y'all are about to find out real fast is I don't have a lot of patience for him, or for the fans out there who make abuse apologies on his behalf.

In any case, Benny is an example not just of a decent person, but a perfect example of how to write a character for such a small role and still have them leave enough of an impact that the audience will miss them and be upset when they're gone. For all the flaws the Duffer Brothers have, they excel at this. Benny was one of them. Chrissy and Barbara were also great examples. All of them deserved better than the fates they were subjected to.

Speaking of which, there's nothing like human cruelty and stupidity to quickly snuff out compassion and decency, is there? 😒

I still hold the same opinion about Connie Frazier as I did before: Not only was her murder of Benny evil, it was downright moronic and caused so many unnecessary problems for Brenner and the government. Granted, I don't feel sympathy for Brenner or his goons, and I'm hard pressed to care they all suffered horrific consequences down the line, but damn! I pretty much summed it up best once before:

"I’ve questioned the logic of Connie killing Benny, especially because of how it drew unwanted attention (especially from Hopper of all people) when that’s likely the last thing Brenner and Hawkins Lab wanted. At this point, Benny was fully cooperating with Connie, and was about to give El to her since he believed Connie was from social services. There’s nothing in his conversation with Connie prior to his death that would’ve made her suspicious that Benny saw something he shouldn’t have, or that he believed there was something abnormal about El. It’s also notable that El doesn’t run when she first sees Connie at the door with Benny. She runs AFTER Connie shoots Benny. That implies that Connie was someone El hadn’t seen before, meaning Connie could have gotten El to come with her without fuss (and without arousing Benny’s suspicions) and then later hand her over to Brenner before El realized what was happening. If Connie had been ordered to kill Benny just for seeing El and wanting to keep her existence a secret, then at the very least, she should have waited until after they had El in their custody so that she wouldn’t be able to run away. Connie really screwed up here."

There seems to be an uneven ratio between decent people vs vile human beings. For every Benny, there's a Connie Frazier or Dr. Brenner or Colonel Sullivan in the wings. For every Chrissy, there are multiple Angelas. And for every Steve, there are multiple Billys and Jasons. 😒 I'm not just talking about on the show, but in real life as well. This past year alone has been eye-opening in that regard.

Part 5: Song Choices

It goes without saying I'm a big fan of 80s songs, and part of the anticipation I've had with the release of each season was based on what 80s songs would be featured in a given episode, and what context they'd be used in. Because of the sheer variety though, my aim will be focusing on songs that either are plot-relevant, are used to foreshadow certain story or character elements, or are connected to a character and what that says about them.

Two specific songs in this episode stand out: "White Rabbit" by Jefferson Airplane, and "Africa" by Toto. The first song plays when Benny is murdered by Connie, and El is forced to escape Brenner and his cronies. The second is played when Steve is helping Nancy study for her science test.

Like I've said, with the semi-reviews, in spite of their experimental nature, I did aim for analysis, especially in regards to the songs, and it's for that reason I'll let my quotes speak for themselves:

I love the song choice of “White Rabbit” by Jefferson Airplane for the scene where El escapes Benny’s restaurant. The lyrics to the song were inspired by the book Alice in Wonderland, and the natural curiosity Alice has when she explores Wonderland (similar to El’s curiosity about the world outside of the lab). However, it was also about the type of drug-induced “trips” you take when you get high on psychedelics. Grace Slick, front-woman for Jefferson Airplane, argued Alice in Wonderland contained metaphorical drug references, like the caterpillar on a psychedelic mushroom smoking opium, or Alice eating something that causes her to become “too big for the room.” The song itself was written and released in the 60s when psychedelics like LSD were being used, and those same psychedelics were taken by El’s mom, Terry Ives, during the experiments she did at Hawkins Lab while pregnant with El.

I would like to take this time to amend and add on to a comment I made in that previous semi-review about the way El was created: While she was conceived during the time Terry was being experimented on with psychedelics, we know from S4, as well as the events of The First Shadow, that Vecna's blood was an important factor in Brenner replicating these kids, and that said blood was transfused into Terry while she was pregnant, resulting in El having her powers.

Finally, there's "Africa" by Toto:

Another song choice I liked was “Africa” by Toto for the Steve and Nancy scene. There’s always been a debate about what the lyrics mean (and from what I’ve heard, the band meant for the song to actually be about the continent of Africa rather than just a metaphor), but when I first heard the song years ago, I interpreted it as about a man being enamored by a woman, anticipating the moment when they get together, and wanting it to be a special moment. Given Steve’s interest (and flirtation) with Nancy in this scene, as well as his insistence to her that he doesn’t just see her as another notch under his belt and is truly invested in her, both he (and Nancy) want it to be a special moment as well.

All I'll add to this is the choice of song acts as a paradox in that it's oddly comforting, but also highlights the conflicting feelings in both Steve and Nancy about where their relationship goes from here.

Final Thoughts:

I know this review has ballooned, but there is (and always will be) a lot to talk about, not just in terms of characters and story arcs, or even homages to 80s trivia and media, but also in regards to real-life themes and how the issues that are brought up in Stranger Things continue to be relevant to today's culture. It's a big reason I'm passionate about this show, and why I want to discuss it.

On top of that, one thing I'm grateful that the Duffer Brothers carried over from the original Montauk pitch is this:

This, more than anything, is why I value this show, why I defend it against accusations that it's just "popcorn entertainment," why I argue there's more depth and intelligence to this show than people (especially on Reddit and Tumblr) give it credit for, and why I'm willing to go to bat for it (even in regards to writing choices I disagree with).

1 episode down. 33 more to go! 👍

[lover-of-mine]

Like getting inspiration from that movie is one thing, but I really doubt that they used an entire episode to set up Athena, Jem, the rest of the passengers and the ATC crew and have us rooting for them only for that man to come in out of nowhere and save the day. It's that copium, their time with him is running out and they know it lol🤷‍♀️

The thing, if he was going to be involved, they would remind the audience that he's a pilot because GA does not remember he's a pilot. They used the scene he was in to remind people he used to work under Gerrard and that he's dating Buck because that's what's relevant for people to know about. If he was going to be involved as a first responder, they would have reminded the audience that he is still one. They didn't. He's not gonna be there. They're not gonna take the glory away from Athena. Jem is the copilot. The show is not subtle. They introduced Jem as he infodumped about the plane. And he flies helicopters for heaven's sake.