#Russians in s3 opening: You have one year (to open the gate)

[chirpsythismorning]

Robin’s first appearance in ST was Mike walking up to her and demanding that she give him exclusive access to gay activities and I think that’s beautiful

[henrysglock]

hey so how much awareness do the alt timelines have of each other?? I'm assuming that Edward and Brenner(both) are obviously aware of multiple timelines, but like...is El??will??Henry?? When the timeline switch happens, is it like a swap of places or just, like, possession?? Also also, in s4, it's implied that henward did not have the ability to open gates until he absorbed El's powers in s3....so then, his version of the ud did not breach in the real world until then, but then, are there different dimensions that are all being referred to as the ud, or different sections of it?? Or is Edward responsible for the changes in the atmosphere of the ud in each season?? I would love to hear your theories cause i find that you're able to analyse these things in such an accessible way that it is easier to take as a well thought out canon interpretation :)

All good questions, Nonnie!!

Brenner, at the very least, is aware of both. He's got a whole Dr. Who thing going on, which heroesbyler has talked about before. Edward, if we're correct in our who's-who in the Creel house flashbacks, is aware of the timelines via his powers/time exploration. Henry, in NINA, talks about spending years with 001 in the Rainbow Room, as if 001 is separate from himself (001 being Edward, later Vecna). So yes, I'd say that by the time we hit 1979, they're all aware of each other.

As for El, she doesn't seem quite awake yet, One might say (god that was bad haha). She's definitely confused re: the events of NINA, but I don't think she's put it together that there's something weirder going on than just one man having a violent psychotic break because of Brenner.

Will, though...that depends on what he experienced in the UD in 1983. He doesn't seem to be outwardly aware of any time differences, but then again...El didn't even know Henry existed until she was reminded of him. So there's definitely a nugget in his 1983 memories.

In regard to timeline swaps: if we're talking about swaps in present/80s canon...it's hard to say. There are some dead giveaways, like Scott randomly changing houses, Will's eye color changing from being listed as brown to clearly being green, Hopper randomly forgetting that Scott exists at all in ST3 when he met him firsthand in ST1...the list goes on. It's hard to match up which timeline goes with which season, though. It does seem like we're currently in the Henry timeline, given the layout of the Creel house (door in the chess room vs no door/wallpaper color swaps in that same room), but it's difficult to track outside of that.

If we're talking timeline collisions, that's a bit different. I'm of the opinion that certain dates are pinch-points, where the timelines meet and things get messed up. The 1959 murders, the 1979 massacre, Will's vanishing/El (supposedly) opening the gate in 1983, the Russian key of 1985, and now in 1986...all seem to be these pinch-points. They're moments where a version of Henward screws things up in an attempt to break free of whatever prison he currently finds himself trapped in, and by the time we get to 1986...everything is messed up.

It's a bit easier to track in NINA (though not by much I'll admit). At least there we can track hairstyles, handedness, formality, speech patterns, inconsistencies in dialogue, etc...and we're consistently swapping between which of the two timelines we/El are viewing.

Re: Vecna's ability to open gates vs the UD discrepancies...I'd agree with you. The up-down UD, the literal upside-down, has not breached into the RSU until ST4. Before that, all we see are right-left doorways.

Within the right-left UD, there is a distinct biome. The right-left UD has the demogorgon(s) and demodogs, wherease we see none of those in the up-down UD. We also see no demobats in the right-left UD, which are the sole creatures in the up-down UD. They're distinctly different spaces, and seem to be completely separate from each other.

(This is furthered by the distinct separation between Vecna and the Mindflayer, which...we never see the two of them together. Vecna never uses the Shadow, and he's a different person entirely from the guy we see shaping the Shadow. It stands to reason that, at least in ST1-2, they are separate. ST3 is a weird situation with the possessed Billy-Heather pair, with Billy acting distinctly like Edward despite Vecna's UD not being open. There's also a matter of Billy's vision, which is distinctly different from Will's shadow-walking pre-possession. Billy's is closer to a true Vecna vision, which makes me wonder if ST3 isn't Vecna and Mindflayer guy working in tandem. It would explain the change in flaying method, which is distinctly Vecna, and it would tie up the plot hole of how Vecna got El's powers if he's separate from Mindflayer guy.)

At this point, the different versions of the UD are just being referred to as a whole...and that is a telltale sign of our characters lacking the realization that they're entirely different guys in entirely different spaces.

That would neatly explain many of the atmosphere changes/added mental components/etc. that we see between ST1-3 and ST4.

[graysonnightwing]

20, 28, and 29 for the ao3 asks!!!

20. Which work of yours have you reread the most?

hmm its probably:

find me in our nowheres: In 1987, gates to the Upside Down started opening around the world. The CIA and Department of Energy recruit an unwilling Nancy, Jonathan, Steve and Robin to close them.

or

half of my soul: my "steve and robin get platonic married" au

28. Favorite work you wrote this year?

hands down it's easily:

the wine of life: After the Upside Down, Steve, Nancy, Robin and Vickie take the '90s to rest and grow up. Along the way, there's weddings, kids, a treehouse and one car breakdown. (aka my stancy & rockie slice-of-life future fic)

this fic was so much fun to write and was so full of happiness and hope and love. plus it's extra special to me because it sprang from the group chat so it just has such a cozy place in my heart.

29. Favorite line/passage you wrote this year?

this one is so hard because there's a lot that I loved this year. let's go with this long passage from after the storm (my immediately post s3 stobin fic):

The water is hot against her skin. She wasn’t expecting it to be, for some reason. Probably because at her house the water turned cold after five minutes. But Steve must have a better heater or something because it’s still so hot. Her skin turns red and when she pulls her arm out of the spray, steam rises from her skin. She’s surprised to see small fireworks burns on her hands and arms.

She stands there under the spray for a while, listening to herself breathing, the in-and-out of being alive. The bathroom echoes it all around her. She’s alive, she’s alive, she’s alive. She’s realizing that she hasn’t totally caught onto this fact the past few days.

She lets the heat rush over her, just to say she’s feeling something, before grabbing the shampoo bottle, opens the cap and breathes in the mango/peach scent. She feels a little bit like a crazy person, smelling the shampoo. She’s alive, she’s alive, she’s alive. She can smell mangoes and peaches. She’s never eaten a mango, but maybe she will now. She’s alive.

She washes her hair twice, before picking up the lemon body wash and smelling that too. Washes her body three times. Scrubs lemon wash into her skin and under her nails until her nails feel like they’re splintering. Remembers Steve doesn’t have any nails on his right hand. Remembers Steve’s body spasming, hears his screaming as the Russians pull out his nails and ask who do you work for. She listens to her own breathing for a few long minutes. She’s alive. Steve’s alive.

[grapesodatozier]

This is me asking about the theory 🫴🏻 hand it over

lmaooo you are an angel thank you for this lol

OKAY SO. the theory i had about brenner pre-st4 when we knew he was coming back but st4 hadn't come out yet!

brenner escaped the demogorgon bc we never saw his body in season 1. he could NOT outrun that thing, so how'd he get away? there was a portal to the upside down nearby, that we know the demogorgon didn't go through--imo, (my pre-st4 opinion ofc) the most likely way he escaped.

in 2x07, that guy says brenner is alive, and kali has a board full of information about the lab, including something that includes a codename "americana"

in s3, we learn that russians know about the gate, and have learned that it can only be opened in hawkins. how the FUCK would they have known to look in some random suburb in indiana unless someone told them where it was? sure, maybe they tracked it down with some science stuff or something, but that never got explained, so between seasons 3 and 4 i was like, well, someone may have told them to use information as bargaining power. someone they might call "the american," which is what the russian guards say in the post-credits at the end of s3, and which would make the "americana" codename from 2x07 be a cool bit of foreshadowing.

so it's post s3 and i'm telling everyone and their mother that i think brenner is "the american" in russia in the post credits scene, then they release the teaser of hopper in russia. hopper, who is alive, but we don't know how, and who was last seen near an open gate to the upside down! just like brenner the last time we saw him before s4!

so my st4 theory was that somehow the gate led them to the same place and they were both in the same russian prison, and hopper and brenner would have to escape together! and it would've been really emotionally complex! and brenner would've eventually learned that hopper had adopted el, and would've taunted him about not raising her and not understanding or whatever, and he would've asked hopper if el knew that hopper was the one who sold her, mike, lucas, and dustin out in the s1 finale, if she knew that he sent the people from the lab after them in exchange for a chance to save will's life, and it would be obvious that no, hopper has never told her that, and brenner would've held that over him!! and it would've come up again!!!! bc that was huge and it just has never come up and no one but hopper and brenner know about it so it should've come up and it would've been so incredible to have this plot between them where they're forced to work together to get back to el and joyce and hawkins!!!!!

and it could've worked so well with what actually happened in s4!! they'd get back to el by like 1/3-1/2 way through the season and el would tell hopper that she wants to go with owens and brenner bc she has her canon s4 crisis of not having powers and needing to save everybody and mike and hopper could band together to explain to her that it should be her choice and she's loved no matter what (alonng with help from the byers bc they've been family for the better part of year and they love her too, which gets forgotten halfway through the season). and it could've been so compelling and she still could've killed brenner and there would at least be SOME sort of explanation and the parallels between hopper and brenner's fakeout deaths would make sense and they'd address the fact that hopper sold her and mike and lucas and dustin out in s1 and the russia plotline wouldn't have had to drag on and on the way it did and just UGH it hurts so bad it could've been so good i'm gonna stand by this theory forever

thank you again for asking and thank you to anyone who made it to the end of this lmao have a lovely rest of your weekend <3

[entelodontidae]

Stranger Things rewatch notes: S3 E1

Important or interesting stuff is in italics

——————————————-

Opening Scene: the Russian portal key

June 28th, 1984

We never figured out what the fuel is. I wonder if it is the same stuff in the demogorgon tanks later on.

Foreshadowing to the last episode with the Two Man key rule. Also Wargames reference and general Cold War movie trope.

Portal opening - signifying them as villains.

Machine breaks - signaling that they still haven’t figured everything out and that they have time.

One year later.

“A little more time could open closing doors.” GENUIS TRANSITION

Mike is holding a “Space Gamer” magazine, it was about TTRPGs!

God he’s so annoying in season three 😭

——————————————-

Starcourt Mall Introduction:

Lucas is wearing an ocean pacific T-shirt, just find it funny because Mike got an off-brand one in s4. Maybe he thought Lucas was cool and wanted to be more like him. Or, it’s just because it was a popular brand.

Day of the Dead. A really good movie choice given the… later happenings of s3 (zombies).

I love how Lucas and max and mike and Will are always paralleled, it’s so sweet

Gorgeous transition to Brimborne Steelworks. They must’ve used a drone.

——————————————-

Open the Door

I DO find it interesting how the first song is about opening closing doors and how this one is about opening closed doors.

Plus the fact that Mike and Will are consistently paralleled to all the other couples.

Oh Bob :(

——————————————-

Dustins’s

Gold leader returning to base in a gold car.

Sooooo many Stephen King references in this one scene (monkey symbols, toys moving on their own)

I’m just going to pretend that the whole Karen thing never happens, but I do find it absolutely hilarious that the cover of the book she’s reading looks like Billy.

——————————————-

Melvalds

Heart-to-heart.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm

I wonder if mike being the heart has anything at all to do with that or if I’m drawing dots that don’t exist

——————————————-

Dustins again

“The forever clock, very useful in an apocalypse.”

I can’t believe that Mike wouldn’t know what a ham radio is, he’s probably just trying to not be a nerd in front of El

——————————————-

I love how stranger things is just planted and grown in character and human experience, friendship and love. It’s the main thing that makes the show unique, makes it powerful.

I have to say, the cerebro scene has stuck with me ever since watching this show in 2019 on an airplane. It’s just, it feels like being a kid.

——————————————-

Joyce watching TV

“He had a couple sips of Chianti tonight and asked me to marry him.” Heard on TV playing Cheers

Hopper orders Chianti at Enzo’s

In S4, hopper says he was dreaming about Chianti. Maybe that line is foreshadowing

Poor Bob, man.

——————————————-

And the radio call paired with Billy’s crash ties it allll together and gets the plot going! It also raises questions;

Where is the base? Who is this guy (Alexi)? Why are they opening the gate? How will the kids stop it? Etc.

it’s a great opening episode because it introduces these things and leaves you with questions. Aghhhh I just adore this show

[thenerdyfanwriter]

Heyo! Can you write a s3 Robin x reader where reader is a Russian spy in training but hates it and ends up helping the scoop troop and falling for Robin ( reader almost kills them the first time they meet.) but ends up dying in the end because the Russians found out. Thanks :)

Untitled

Word Count: 2299

Pairing: Robin Buckley x reader

Synopsis: Robin finally found the person she wanted forever, but some things aren’t meant to last.

Warnings: Angst

A/N: I changed some of what happened in season 3. Some things changed were Steve already knew Robin was gay, Dustin and Erica didn’t go with Steve and Robin, and Steve, Robin, and Y/n are the one to destroy the gate under Starcourt. Also, I wrote the ending while crying. Hope you enjoy!

Masterlist

-------------------

I haven’t been in America for long. My parents brought me here from Russia for some type of training about 6 months ago. I’m not exactly sure where I am. They haven’t told me much.

My parents don’t seem to be around any more. I’m not even sure they are still alive. If they are dead, I don’t think I’ll miss them much. They weren’t in my life very much in the first place.

I’m currently getting ready for my second training session of the day. If I’m honest, this session is my favorite. They told me I’m doing some kind of security training today. As I’m walking to the training room, I notice the door to security cracked.

I peek my head in and notice a lot of security camera footage. One of them is for a place called Scoops Ahoy. I watch the footage from the door and notice a boy and girl. The boy seems a few years older than me but the girl looks around my age. She has short hair that bounces as she walks. I see her name tag. It reads “Robin”.

I have a weird feeling in my chest as I watch her. She is very cute. Before I get caught, I continue going to my training room. When I get there, I notice there's a gun on a table in the middle of the room. 

As I walk towards the table, someone starts talking from the speakers. “Grab the gun. Carefully eliminate all threats without getting injured.” 

I picked up the gun. It already has ammunition in it. I see a map on the wall with 4 red dots clustered together near the elevators.

With the gun, I make my way towards where the red dots were. The elevator is in view but I don't see anyone. I make my way to the elevator.

Sitting next to the elevator security sensor is a stand with a badge on it. I hold the badge up to the sensor and the elevator door opens. I hide behind the wall with the gun drawn while the door opens all the way.

I peek around the corner. I can’t see anything at first glance, so I slowly make my way into the elevator. When I make it about half way inside, I spot someone crouched behind a box. 

I walk around the box so that I’m behind them. “ Slowly stand up and turn around.” I tell them. They raised their hands in the air while getting up. “ Turn around.” I tell them again. As they turn, I recognize them from the security room.

“You are Robin, correct?” She looked much prettier in person. She stared at me looking confused. 

“Yes, I am.” She said. I was about to reply but I heard something behind me. Before I got the chance to turn around, I was hit in the head with something.

Robin Pov

“Steve, did you have to hit her on the head?” I whisper-yelled at Steve. The Russian girl laying passed out in front of me somehow knows who I am.

“She was holding a gun to you. She was probably going to shoot you, too!” Steve yelled back.

“She wasn’t going to shoot me.” I told him. I looked back down at the girl laying on the floor. Her hair was in a neat bun on top of her head. If I’m being honest, she was very attractive for someone who wanted to kill me.

“Just because you find her attractive doesn’t mean she isn’t going to kill us Robin.” Steve leaned over her and grabbed the gun she was holding. He lifted her up next so that she was leaning against a box. When Steve let go of her, she started to wake up.

As her eyes opened, she looked around with confusion written on her face. “ Where am I?” She asked in a thick Russian accent.

“How do you know who I am?” I asked her. She looked up at me and her eyes went wide.

“You are from the security video. You work at an ice cream shop in the mall. You are also very attractive.” Her cheeks turned red when she said the last part. ”I am Y/n. What are you Americans doing down here?” She stood up from her spot on the floor and glanced between Steve and I.

Your Pov

 Apparently Americans can be smart. Steve and Robin ended up here after discovering a secret code. They were looking for some type of gate with a monster apparently. I know what they are talking about. We have a team of scientists trying to open a gate to another dimension.

“I will help you get out of here but I will not take you to the gate.” I told them. They looked at each other like they were silently coming up with a plan.

“Fine, but you have to come with us and tell us what's happening down here.” Robin said, looking back at me.

“Ok, deal.” I go outside the elevator to where I left the key card and grab it. Stepping back into the elevator, I slide it over the security box and the elevator starts going up. 

Once the elevator stops, I open the door again and we leave. “ Where are we going?” I asked them.

“We’re going to my house.” Steve said. 

After arriving at Steve’s house, he went to his room to get us all a change of clothes. “So, um, do you really find me attractive?” Robin asked me as we sat in Steve’s living room.

“Yes, I do. It’s fine if you do not find me attractive as well. I understand.” I said.

She gulped then looked at me and said, “ I do, um, find you attractive as well.”

“Ok.” I said. I got up and started walking towards the kitchen. “Are you hungry? I can make something.” I yelled so that both Steve and Robin could hear me. I heard Steve running down the stairs.

“I’ll just order some pizza. Don’t worry about cooking.” Steve said once he reached me. “ Here’s some clothes. You can change in the bathroom around the corner.” He handed me some clothes then walked to where Robin was.

I took the clothes and went to change. When I was done, I went back to the living room where Robin and Steve were sitting.

“Can you tell us what is going on under the mall?” Steve asked.

I tell them everything I know, which isn’t much. “ I can help you guys get what you want from the Russians if you want.” I offer. 

“We’d appreciate it.” Robin said. “Steve, can you show us the guest room? It’s getting late.” 

“Yeah, sure.” Steve said. He got up and headed towards the stairs. Robin and I followed him. Steve got to the top of the stairs then led us down a hallway. “ This is the guest room. There’s only one bed, but the lounge sofa has a pullout.” He told us and walked away.

“I don’t think Steve likes me very much.” I said to Robin. I walked over to the bed and sat down. Robin came and sat next to me.

“It takes a while for Steve to warm up to people.” She said. “ If it makes you feel any better, I like you already.”

I looked at her and smiled. “That does make me feel better actually.”

“So, do you think maybe when this is all over, would you like to go on a date with me?” Robin asked me.

“Of course I would.” I told her. “Maybe we can go to the cinema, I think it’s called?”

“Yeah that would be perfect.” She said. “I’m getting tired. Do you want to share the bed or should I sleep on the pullout?” 

“We can share. The bed looks big enough.” I told her. We laid down and went to sleep.

The next morning, I could hear Steve downstairs walking around. I got up and looked around. Robin must already be up as well since I didn’t see her.

I walk downstairs and see Steve and Robin sitting in the kitchen. “ Good morning.” I tell them. I look at the clock on the wall and see it's almost 8 am. “ If we’re going to break into the facility, we should leave soon.”

They look at each other and nod. “Ok,” Steve said, “I’m going to go start the car then.” He got up and left. It was now just Robin and I.

“So, um, did you sleep well last night?” Robin asked. She looked so pretty first thing in the morning. My eyes drift over her face and land on her lips. They look very kissable right now.

“I slept very well. Would it be weird if I kissed you right now?” I asked Robin. I took a few steps closer to her. Her eyes grew wide in surprise. “Nevermind. Forget that I asked.” I started stepping away from her.

“No, wait.” She said in a rush. Robin grabbed my cheeks with both hands and smashed her lips to mine. “Sorry,but I’ve been wanting to do that since last night.”

“It’s ok. I liked it.” I said as my smile grew wide.

Robin looked like she was about to say something but was interrupted by the sound of Steve honking his car horn. With a sigh, Robin dropped her hands and said, “I guess we should go then.” She started towards the car before I could say anything.

When we arrived at the mall, we sat in the car for a minute. “I still have the security badge so it should be easy to get inside.” I told them. “We don’t have any guns so it will be hard to get past the security once we get to the basement.”

“I have some guns in the trunk.” Steve said.

“Ok. We should head in then.” I said as I got out of the car. Both followed after me.

Steve walked to the back of the car and opened the trunk. We each grabbed a gun and headed to the elevator in the back. “ You guys ready?” I asked with the key card in my hand ready to scan.

“As ready as I’ll ever be.” Robin said, looking at Steve.

“Let’s go then.” I scanned the card and the doors to the elevator opened. Walking into the elevator, I had my gun drawn in case there was anyone here this early. Once I saw there was no one in there, I signaled to the other two to get in the elevator. I scanned the card again and the elevator started going down.

Once the elevator reached the bottom, I glanced at Steve and Robin and scanned the card again, opening the door. I turned back to look at them, “ Ready?” I asked. They both nodded their heads.

We began walking down the long hallway. I know from living down here that there shouldn’t be anyone around until we get to the main part of the basement. Last night, they told me they needed to destroy the gate the scientists are making.

I stop and turn around to Steve and Robin. “ I have a plan. My room is around the corner. We go in there and change into the training uniforms. After that, we head to the lab where the gate is.”

“Sounds good.” Robin said.

“Let’s do it.” Steve glanced at Robin and I.

We made our way to my room where we all changed into the spare uniforms I have. When we were done, I peeked into the hallway to make sure it was all clear. “There’s no one out here. We should be able to make it to the lab without being seen.”

I walked out of the room with Robin and Steve following me. We made our way to the door that led to the lab without being seen. I opened the door and looked inside. 

“ Most of the scientists are either not here or are in the secure lab.” I told them. I walked into the room, towards the secure lab with Robin and Steve following. “ I can’t promise this is going to go easy once I open the door.” I warned.

I unlocked the door with the key card and pushed it open. There weren’t many people there, only about 10 or so. I glanced at Steve and Robin to signal them to be ready when I start shooting.

I walked into the room and started shooting. With the attention on me, Robin and Steve ran to where the gate was. I kept shooting until they came back. Robin grabbed me as she ran by and I ran with them. 

We almost made it to the elevator before security caught up with us. I slowed down and started shooting at them. When we finally reached the elevators, I unlocked the door. Steve and Robin both ran inside, hiding against the walls.

Security was halfway down the hallway now and closing in on us quickly.

“Robin, “ I yelled, grabbing her attention. “ Go to the cinema for me.” I told her.

I reached inside the elevator and scanned the card. When the door started closing, I threw the key card at Steve. 

“Don’t do this Y/n.” He said as he caught the card.

“Goodbye Steve and Robin.” I said as the door finally closed.

I turned around and started shooting at the security that was now standing a few feet away.

Robin Pov

I heard her start shooting after the door closed. As the elevator started moving, I heard her yell in pain before there was a loud thump.

I finally found someone and they were taken away from me too early.

A/N Part 2: Sorry it kinda strayed from the ask.

[ally-writes-many-things]

Secret Voight (J. Halstead) S3 Part 3 (J. Halstead)

Summary: Its been a year and a few months since Olive showed up announcing that she was pregnant with Justin's kid. You were working on a case that involved Justin. Is Justin back doing the same old things or is it something else?

Words: 3.9k

Requested: Yes

Warnings or A/N: Guys, I appreciate the love and support yall are giving me again with this series but please dont keep asking me over and over again if I'm continuing it. I think there will be at least one more part in season 3 and there will be one more chapter for s3. There also maybe be one more chapter that will be special. Idk yet. Well see.

You were smiling at your nephew in his high chair while wearing a birthday hat. It was Daniel's first birthday. You, your dad, Olive and Justin were all singing happy birthday to him as Daniel was just looking around and babbling. "Happy birthday, kiddo. Come on, blow out that candle. Ready? One, two..."

Your dad had put the cake on the food tray as Justin walked closer to his son and they both helped Daniel blow out the candle. "Good job,"

You looked from Daniel and then to Olive. "I can't believe he's a year old already,"

Voight nodded and went to grabbed a present. "Ooh, wait. Time for presents. This one is from me,"

Justin reaches over the table and grabbed the bag and opened it up. He pulled out a toy horse that he seemed to recognize. "All these years you kept this?"

"Your mom did. She kept all your baby stuff upstairs in the attic, just, you know, hoping one day she could pass it along,"

Olive puts her hand Justin's back. "Hank, it's perfect,"

"Yeah. Thanks, Pop. I wish Mom was here too,"

You got up from your seat and walked around to where your brother was and placed your hand on his shoulder. "I didn't know Camille but from what I've been told of her. She would be so proud of you,"

----

It had been an hour or so after you were done with giving Daniel his gifts. Justin and Voight were in the living room catching up. You and Olive were still in the kitchen with Daniel cleaning up. "So when are you and Jay getting married?"

Justin and Olive got married about six months ago and ever since then everyone has been up yours and Jay's ass over it too. Or well besides Voight. Voight told you over and over 'to take it slow'. You chuckled as you had a secret but it wasn't an engagement. Jay didn't even know about this either. "Whenever he proposes, I guess,"

"I'm sure, it'll be soon,"

You shrugged. "I'm just going with the tides. In this line of work, its difficult to worry about things like that,"

She nodded. "You guys did move in together right?"

"Yeah, a couple of weeks ago,"

"With two bedrooms right?"

You cocked an eye at her. "Yeah? Why?"

"Just asking. How's it going?"

"It's going good. It's a lot easy on the both of us since Jay would take me to work,"

Voight walked into the kitchen with Justin. "Sorry to break the girl chat up but we got a case. Team is already there,"

You walked over to where Daniel was and kissed him on the top of his head. "Goodnight my sweet boy,"

---

You and Voight drive to the scene separate but arrived at the same time. You saw Kevin and Antonio were waiting for us at the police line which they lifted up when we walked up to it. "Hey, Serge. We got one dead female found in the trunk,"

Antonio looked at his notepad. "A park district employee was closing the gates. He was about to have the car towed when he noticed blood on the rear of the car and called the police,"

You and the others walked up the car, Jay was already there at the car holding up the trunk. "Victim's hands and feet are tied with barbed wire. Throat's cut. Fingernails are gone, too. I'm guessing she fought back against the assailant. He knew there'd be DNA, so he yanked them off,"

"Cartel hit?"

"Or Russians. They've been known to use barbed wire too,"

You got a ping on your phone and looked at it. "Car's registered to the victim. Her name's Melissa Wilds. She's 26 years old. We got an address,"

"All right, call Ruzek and Olinsky. Tell them to go over there and do a knock-and-talk,"

It was the next day and you didn't have much to go on as of yet. Al and Ruzek knocked at the address but no one answered. Her neighbor came by and they found out she had a daughter. You were sitting at you desk while talking about the case. "Melissa Wilds. Her husband was an Army private killed in a training exercise last year at Fort Bragg, along with three others when their chopper went down,"

Antonio took it from there. "She had an associate’s from Roosevelt and worked as a paralegal for the law firm Sawyer & Sawyer,"

Antonio was still in the outs with you. Yeah, its been a year but you still didn't trust him enough to let him back into your life. Jay, on the other hand, just didn't care because no one was gonna tell him what he can or can't do. Ruzek swung around in his chair to look at Antonio. "Yeah, I've seen those commercials. They're just high-profile ambulance chasers,"

"Bigger than that. They do seven-figure class action lawsuits against pharmaceutical companies or schools with asbestos,"

Jay was looking into Melissa's background and to see if she got any priors. "Except for a few parking tickets, Melissa has zero priors. She's a working, widowed mom, so the more I'm digging here, I can't see any reason why she'd be associated with cartels or any Russians,"

Voight walk to where he was standing in front of everyone. "Well listen. This girl was tortured with barbed wire. That means the killer either wanted something from her, or it was personal. So I want to know where she was before we found her, who she was with- if she was seeing someone new,"

Your phone of your desk rang while Voight was saying what he was saying. "Voight,"

"Roger Simpson is down here. Says he is Melissa's father,"

You pulled the phone away from your mouth and looked up at Voight. "Hey,"

"Hm?"

"Roger Simpson, Melissa's father, is downstairs,"

Voight looked over at Al. "Al?"

"We should start drawing straws,"

It had been about an hour since Al met with Roger and he said that Melissa was acting strange the past few months and that she was asking him to watch Tigan more and more which was no problem but it was hard cause he lived two hours away. He had asked her if something was wrong but she wouldn't tell him. You were engrossed with your digging that you didn't hear Jay walking up to you until he tapped on your desk. You looked away from your computer and up at him. "Hey handsome,"

He slightly smiled before dropping it. That concerned you. "What's wrong?"

"We got Melissa's phone records,"

"And?"

"Follow me,"

Jay started to walk towards Voight's office and you got up from your desk and followed him. "Hey, we got, uh, Melissa Wild's phone records,"

Voight looked at you confused and you just shrugged as you walked into his office. "Okay?"

Jay closed the door and hand a copy to you and Voight. He kept one for himself as well. "She and Justin, um-- they knew each other. Looks like there's maybe 20 phone calls and twice as many texts between the two of them last month. The last phone call she made was a half hour before time of death,"

Voight picked up his personal phone from his desk and started dialing Justin. "He said he was in town to help a friend. Maybe it was her,"

You walked up to Voight's desk. "Where is Justin now?"

"He should be at home with Olive and Daniel,"

Jay looked from you to your dad. "Did he ever mention this girl to you, to either of you?"

"No,"

"Don't you think I would've mentioned it if he did? Straight to voicemail,"

-

You and Voight rush to his house and see that Olive is there with Daniel but no Justin and he looks worried. "Where's Justin?"

"He left over an hour ago,"

"Have you tried calling him?"

"He's not answering. I texted him too. Hank, I'm worried,"

"We'll find him,"

You pulled your phone out of your pocket and dialed Al. "I need you to track the GPS on Justin's car now,"

It took about ten minutes to find the location of Justin car which was parked on the side of the road. You and Voight both jumped out of the car and speed walked to the car. You looked into the car and didn't see anything. You walked around to the trunk where Voight was already opening it up. "Oh, my God,"

You find Justin the same way you found Melissa. Bound with barbed wire. "Justin. He's got a pulse!"

You pulled out your walkie. "Lincoln 5021, emergency. I repeat, emergency,"

Voight was trying to see if he had anymore injuries. "Oh, my God, he's been shot!"

You pushed the button on your walkie again. "I need an ambulance at my current location. We have a gunshot wound victim,"

--

You and Voight ran into Med with Justin and the paramedics when Maggie came into view. "We have incoming. You're with me. Talk to me,"

"It's my son!"

The paramedic started talking to Maggie. "GSW to the neck. GCS 3, tubed in the ambo. Pupils fixed and dilated. Sinus tachy on the monitor. He was bound in the trunk of a car,"

Maggie pointed into a room and started directing them. "Rotate. Get ready to transfer. Three, two, one--transfer,"

Sharon came up to Voight and started to pull Voight away. " Hank, let's step outside,"

"Is he breathing?"

"I need a CT head. Someone call neurosurgery!"

"Is he still breathing?"

"Checking right now, Hank,"

"Come on, let them do their job,"

Voight had called Antonio and told him what happened and the next thing you knew he had brought Olive and Daniel to the ER. Voight didn't look to pleased at Antonio.

Voight looked at you. "GET everyone back to 21,"

"Dad,"

"Now,"

-

You had texted everyone in the unit that if they were at 21st to get there. You couldn't call them because you knew if you called them you'd break down. You stood outside the door of 21st for a few minutes before walking into the precinct and then up the stairs to Intelligence. Jay saw you and walked up to you and pulled you into a hug and whispered into your ear. "It's going to be okay. He's going to be okay,"

You let him hold you for a few minutes before you pushed him away. Antonio looked at everyone in the unit before speaking. "Everybody needs to hold on real tight, and you all know what I mean. If at any point you're not comfortable with something, you come tell me,"

You were all looked at Antonio when Antonio stopped talking when he looked at something. You all turned around and saw Voight standing there with a duffel bag in hand. He throws in on Jay's desk and throw out money. "I want you to put word out to all your C.I.'s. That's 90,000 for any information on who did this to Melissa Wilds and my son,"

Kevin slowly got up and walked towards Voight. "Hey, we got this, Serge. Think you should go to the hospital?"

Voight nodded but didn't say anything for a good minute. "All right, let me be clear. I don't need condolences. I need commitment from each of you. I'm gonna do whatever it takes to find who did this. Anybody not comfortable with that should take the next couple of days off,"

You nodded and walked towards the detail board. While holding back tears, you looked at everyone. "So, turns out Justin went through basic training with Peter Wilds

at Fort Campbell before Peter got shipped to Fort Bragg. That's how they knew each other. They stayed close friends. Melissa started reaching out to Justin about four weeks ago.

"Still doesn't tell us how they were mutual targets,"

Jay who is now sitting on his desk, talked next. "Maybe there's a nexus with her job- the law firm,"

"Check it out,"

Voight had started to leave but you had grabbed him and stopped him. "Hey. You have a grandson now, okay? That is counting on you. Just remember that,"

Voight looked at you for a few seconds before nodding.

-

You were going out of your mind in the car when you and Jay were driving to the law firm. Jay placed a hand on your knee and squeezed it. "It's gonna be okay. Justin is going to wake up and everything will be fine,"

You looked at him and smiled. You appreciated the thought but that's not the biggest thing on your mind. You were worried about what your dad is doing.

Jay pulled up to the law firm and you put everything about your dad and Justin in the back of your mind and put all your focus on the case itself. You walked up to Melissa's boss' office. "Melissa used to be a great employee. Never complained about the hours

or working weekends. But there was definitely something off with her these past few weeks,"

You shifted on your other foot. "How do you mean?"

"Her demeanor. Melissa was always outgoing always had a smile on her face, even after losing her husband, Peter. But lately she'd become withdrawn..distant. To be honest, that's when I started to get suspicious,"

Jay didn't look away from her boss. "Suspicious of what, exactly?"

Her boss didn't answer for a minute thinking about what to say. She held up a finger to signal that she needed a minute. She got up from her desk, shut her office door and then sit back down. "We worked a class action suit last year. Several dozen plaintiffs were awarded mesothelioma cancer pay-outs, all over a million dollars each. three of the plaintiffs were robbed in home invasions, some of them badly injured,"

"Was Melissa the only one with access to this information?"

Her boss shook her head. "Well, no. But the way she was acting, and now what's happened to her, it can't be a coincidence,"

--

As you were leaving the office, Jay called the unit and told them what Melissa's boss, you got in his truck and he got in his truck after he finished the call. You were driving to the precinct when you got a call telling you to meet the team at a location they think Ginger is at and to suit up. Apparently while you were out, the team had learned the suspect's name. You were also texted a picture of him.

Jay parked a little ways down the street and you guys suited up and walked the rest of the way to meet up with the team. Voight saw you and as soon as you got next to him, he started talking. "This one we don't announce. We hit it and we hit it hard,"

You all nodded. Jay grabbed the battering ram and hit the door. Antonio was in first, Al and Ruzek was next, then you, Voight and Jay. You could hear a woman screaming. You saw three males trying to get up and run. You pointed a gun at one of them. "Don't move!"

Jay pointed the gun at the other. "Right there!"

Voight goes past you to point a gun at the three suspect.. "I'll blow your head off! Let me see your hands. Don't move,"

Antonio looked at the girl. "You, get your clothes. Get out of here,"

When everyone was under control you finally looked up at the three suspect and saw that it was Ginger. " You got a warrant?"

"Melissa Wilds,"

"Never heard of her,"

Voight didn't say anything for a minute then didn't take his eye of him but address the team. "The stove. Cover the door,"

Al and Antonio grabbed Ginger and pulled him over to the store as he turned on the store. "Wait a minute,"

"Justin Voight is my son. You shoot him and wrap him in barb wire?"

"No, man, that wasn't me. It was all Kevin!"

"Kevin who?"

"Kevin Bingham, a guy I work with sometimes. He...he used to bang

that girl Melissa when they were younger, started forcing her to give up info on who was getting big pay-outs from her law firm,"

"Yeah, and you did the home invasions.

"I just do the safes, man. He handles the people, then we split it down the middle,"

"Why did he kill her and shoot my son?"

"Melissa wanted out. But Kevin wouldn't let her, so she went to Justin for help. wanted me to meet him at that social club to broker a deal for her safety for five grand. I told him, leave it alone. He had no idea who he was messing with. Kevin knew Melissa was gonna rat him out, so he called Justin to meet to tie up loose ends!"

"Where's Kevin now?"

"I don't know. I swear! He only calls me when there's a job!"

Voight grabbed Ginger's head and forces it down on the hot burner so he could burn his cheek. Ginger screamed out in pain and you looked away in disgust.

Antonio came up to Voight and tried to pull him off of him. "Voight, we can do this at the district!"

Voight shrugged. "We're fine right here. Relax. Relax. Where's Kevin now?"

"Hiding cause he knows you're after him. I swear to God, that's all I know,"

-

It's been about two or so hours since you talked to Ginger. You had finally found some information on Bingham. You printed off a picture of Bingham and what you found on him. You also made copies for the team. "Kevin Bingham. He's been racking up felonies since he was 18, armed robbery, assault, battery, burglary. Five years ago he got popped for attempted murder. A guy spilled his drink at a bar, so Bingham stabbed him 16 time,"

Antonio looked up from the sheet. "Yeah, and he got out of jail three months ago,"

Al who was leaning up against the file cabinet talked next. "Melissa's father said she and Bingham dated six years ago back in high school and after her husband died, he started coming around again,"

Jay pointed at the photo that was sent over. "So these were sent over, all of these are from recent home invasions where the victims were tied up with barbed wire,"

Kevin looked at the phone. "That is definitely something he picked up in prison,"

Ruzek comes into the room with a paper in his hand. "So Bingham's parole officer said he stopped showing up-- violated him, but he's got no LKA. Yeah, so we've been running an extensive check on all his known associates, including those off his prison visiting list. All right, this is Dillon James. visited him all the way up until his parole, putting money into his canteen account. He's got priors for methamphetamine and a thing for stealing UPS trucks and selling the stolen goods,"

Voight turned and looked at him. "Where is he?"

"We got a possible house in Rogers Park,"

Voight nodded. "Let's roll out and suit up. Oh, Antonio. You stay here. Just call us if you get anything,"

-

You hit the house and found his brother but all his brother told you was that Bingham came by last night and took some cash and guns that he was holding for them. He only told him that he needed to get out of town until something blew over.

*Justin was moved to ICU and Sharon will call in an hour with an update*

Dillion: I ain't--I ain't seen him *point the gun at him* All right, he was here! He came by last night. He was picking up some cash I was holding for him and some guns. He also gets a call from Antonio saying Sharon called and told him that Justin came out of surgery and that

You were in the unit for an hour or so when Voight gets a call and goes into his office and he was in there for a few minutes before he comes back out. "I got an address on Bingham. I want everyone rolling there now. First two to arrive, breach. This guy's on the run could be leaving any minute. Let's go,"

You didn’t ride with Jay or anyone else. You rode by yourself so you could have some time by yourself just to think about everything that was happened. You heard your phone go off and you looked down and saw that it was Jay. "Hey, I'm two minutes out,"

"Bingham's not here. No one's here. Not for a while,"

"Is Voight there?"

"Not yet,"

That's when it hit you that Voight sent you to a bogus location and that whoever he was on the phone with, found Bingham and he was at the Silos.

You heard Jay on the line calling for you but you dropped your phone in the seat and as soon as you could turned around. You drove as fast of you could to get to the Silos before your dad could do anything stupid. You drove up and saw that Kevin was digging a hole. You got out of the car and Kevin started talking to you. "Oh, thank God. Thank God. This guy tried to kill me. I didn't do anything,"

You walked up closer to your dad. "Don't do this. Think of your grandson,"

"Get back in your car, Y/N,"

"Do not throw it all away over him,"

"Get back in your car,"

"Dad, please. Justin is still alive and he wouldn't want justice like this,"

"Get out of here,"

"Justin,"

You looked at your dad to Kevin and then back to your dad and knew you couldn't get your dad to think straight. You slowly backed up and got in your car and left. You were halfway down the road when you finally heard the gun go off.

--

You didn't even go the unit after, you went straight to the hospital and you saw Sharon coming out ready to go home. She saw you. "He is in room 12. Say that I allowed it. Talk to him, he can hear you,"

You nodded and said a silent thank you. She placed a hand on your shoulder for a second before removing it. You walked up to the room and no one bothered you. You took a deep breath before opening the door. You opened the door and saw your brother in the hospital unconscious and Olive sitting next to him. She looked at you. "I'll give you two some time together," You walked to the chair and sat down. You finally let go of all the emotion you've been holding on too since you found Justin. You reached out to grab your brother's hand. You sat there and cry until you couldn't let anything else out. When you were finally done crying, you sat there in quiet thinking of what to say. "I don't know if you can hear me, Sharon says that you can. Do you remember when we first met after dad transferred me into Intelligence. We didn't like each other at well. We hated each other at first. Bickered all the time. Yes, we always had bad times but we also had god times and I want...I need more good times with you. I need you to be in my life..."

You trailed off with what you were about to say because you haven’t said it out loud. "Your niece or nephew is gonna need their uncle,"

You put your head on the side of his bed and just sat in quiet once more. "I'm gonna make them my partner in crime,"

[strangerthings4theories]

The Star Trek Connection: Proof For Mirror Russia (And Mirror Billy)

If you haven’t read my post “If Billy Is Alive, Where Is He,” please check it out before you proceed! Thank you.

In my last post, I laid out a story for you.

We’re going to find out the Russia we saw at the end of S3, and the one where Hopper is a prisoner, is not our Russia. It’s a Russia in an alternate universe. In this universe, Billy survived Starcourt but fell into the hands of the Russians. [...] Hopper and Billy learn of each others’ presence in Kamchatka. They also learn there’s a Gate that will take them through the Upside Down to the Prime Universe. Together, they concoct a plan to escape, but something goes wrong, and Billy is forced to leave Hopper behind.

At first glance, you might’ve thought I pulled that story completely out of my ass. But I didn’t. I built it from Stranger Things canon - the actual show, AND a special book, The Hawkins Middle School/High School Yearbook.

The yearbook is a treasure trove of clues that I will use multiple times in my meta. For our purposes here, I’ll focus on a letter from Mr. Clarke that you can find in the middle school section.

Y’all remember the scene in S1 where the boys ask Mr. Clarke for an explanation of the Upside Down? Well, he opens with a very interesting statement:

“You guys have been thinking about Hugh Everett’s many worlds interpretation, haven’t you?”

“Well basically,” he continues, “there are parallel universes, just like our world, but just... infinite variations of it. Which means there’s a world out there where none of this tragic stuff ever happened.”

*raising my eyebrows in Billy dying at Starcourt was the definition of a tragedy*

(He goes on to explain interdimensional travel by using the analogy of an acrobat and a flea. That’s not terribly important to us at the moment, so just lay it aside for now.)

In his yearbook letter, Mr. Clarke tells us more about the many worlds interpretation. In my opinion, he also tells us exactly how Billy is going to come back.

I’ll quote the letter here in full:

Boys, I was thinking about your interdimensional travel question a little more. Like I said, if our dimension is a tightrope, then we are like acrobats who can only move forward and backward on it. Something smaller, like a flea, could actually go around the rope and enter another dimension. Simply put, this has to do with energy, mass, and GRAVITY. Have you heard about string theory? It's a physics framework that accounts for other dimensions. Superstring theory says there are 10 dimensions. The bosonic theory claims 26 dimensions! It's pretty radical stuff. There was an interesting article about this in OMNI last year. (Maybe June?) If I can find it, I'll give it to you. If not, the public library probably has it on microfilm. Until we do have enough energy to blow open rifts in the space time continuum, you can always watch "Mirror, Mirror." It's not my favorite Star Trek episode, but it's a good one. Live long and study! Mr. Clarke

When I first read the letter, I freaked out. The Duffers are handing us two massive clues. With a wink and a nod, they’re saying, “Hey, you should probably look for that OMNI issue, huh? And watch that episode of Star Trek.”

So I did. ;) I’ll deal with the OMNI issue in another post. For now, we’ll focus on the Star Trek episode.

The episode Mr. Clarke names, “Mirror, Mirror,” is the episode that establishes Star Trek’s long-running tradition of exploring mirror universes.

A transporter malfunction caused by an ion storm sends Kirk and his away team into a parallel universe. The Enterprise still exists here, but the Federation is a militaristic empire styled after the Soviet Union (!!!). The team have to hide their true identities until they can find their way back to the prime universe. 

(Meanwhile, their mirror selves have landed on the “normal” Enterprise. In other words, Kirk and his team have switched places with their doppelgangers (!!!). *COUGHING SO LOUDLY I NEARLY HACK UP A LUNG*)

This is a common theme in Star Trek's mirror universe stories. Often, they explore ideas like, “What if the Klingons won the war?” Or, “What if the Borg was wiping out the Federation?” I don’t know about you, but to me that sounds an awful lot like wondering, “What if America lost WW2?” Or, “What if Russia was the supreme superpower in the ‘80s, not the US?” Or, “What if Russia opened a Gate to the Upside Down, captured Demogorgons, and started breeding an army of them?”

The possibilities are endless, constrained only by the demands of the story.

(^ me trying to wrap my mind around the possibilities)

Okay! Well, in that case, let’s review a few demands of Stranger Things’ story. By demands, I mean developments that: 

(1) account for foreshadowing; (2) pay off narrative setups; (3) hold to the show’s established story structure; (4) explore the show’s themes; (5) move character arcs forward in a compelling way; (6) track with what we already know about S4, and (7) make for damn good TV.

Demands Of  The Story

Hopper is alive and imprisoned in Russia. He’s trying to figure out a way to get home.

Billy is alive and free to continue his arc, which is incomplete.

Billy does not lose his character development from S3. He was still possessed by the Mind Flayer, forced to do horrible things, and brought back by El’s compassion. (This is, of course, open for debate; there are any number of points in the latter half of the season where Billy’s story could’ve diverged. But, in my opinion, Starcourt is the most compelling and logical place, with Billy standing up to the Mind Flayer and surviving.)

Billy is in Russia with Hopper. This accounts for Billy’s “American” foreshadowing.

Billy still has his superpowers (superstrength, invulnerability). This accounts for the “Billy as superhero” foreshadowing.

Billy continues to be compared to the Demogorgon in cinematography and plot choices. (This demand is particularly interesting to me, considering we’ve already been told a number of things about the Russians’ treatment of Demogorgons. They’re transporting them in cages; holding them in cells; controlling them with cattle prods; training them to do the Russians’ bidding, and “feeding” other prisoners to them.)

Billy and Hopper develop a father/son bond in Kamchatka. (I’ll write a post about this soon.)

Billy returns to the Prime Universe through the Upside Down. This tracks with the symbolism and themes of the show: the Upside Down is the ocean, and Billy is the lord of the ocean; the Upside Down is the underworld, and Billy is the god-king who dies and rises again.

Billy shows up in the Byers’ new town around the episode 3 mark and tells them Hopper’s alive. This accounts for multiple instances of foreshadowing and holds to the show’s preferred story structure. (In each season of Stranger Things, without fail, a big Upside-Down-related twist happens at the climax of episode 3. Most importantly, it always has to do with our heroes. In S1, Will’s dead “body” is discovered. In S2, Will is possessed by the Mind Flayer. In S3, Billy and El meet, and the Mind Flayer realizes she’s the one He’s looking for. In S4... Billy emerges from the Upside Down when everyone thought he was dead.)

Amazingly, when we use the Star Trek episode “Mirror, Mirror” as a baseline, we can EASILY come up with a story that satisfies these demands.

In Star Trek...

Kirk and his away team get transported to an alternate universe. They know they’re not supposed to be there, and they have to hide their identities while they figure out how to get back.

In Stranger Things...

Hopper escapes through the Gate and emerges in Mirror Russia. He knows he’s not supposed to be there, and he has to hide his identity while he figures out how to get back.

In Star Trek...

Kirk meets an alternate version of Spock. Spock is native to this universe and doesn’t know anything about the one Kirk came from.

In Stranger Things...

Hopper meets an alternate version of Billy. Billy is native to this universe and doesn’t know anything about the one Hopper came from. Here, he survived Starcourt, but was captured by the Russians, who found his superpowers intriguing and took him to Kamchatka.

In Star Trek...

Kirk forms a bond with Mirror Spock.

In Stranger Things...

Hopper forms a bond with Mirror Billy.

In Star Trek...

A wormhole to the Prime Universe is open, but it’s closing and time is running out. In the away team’s efforts to escape, there’s always a danger that one or more of them will be left behind. Spock helps them escape.

In Stranger Things...

A Gate to the Upside Down is open, but it’s not stable. Billy and Hopper collude to escape, but something goes wrong, and they get separated. The Gate closes behind Billy, trapping Hopper in Mirror Russia.

Do I think the story will unfold exactly like this? No, it’s just one possibility. But hot damn, I find it really compelling, and it accounts for so. fucking. much. that I’m just-- *GESTURES AND FLAILS WILDLY*

Y’all, if you take away anything from my ramblings here, it should be this:

The Duffers have built alternate universes into the show, and they’ve signaled that they’re using Star Trek for inspiration.

And in the multiverse, are you ever really dead?

(The answer is no. Just ask Schrödinger’s cat.)

»»————-　✼　————-««

P.S. I hinted that the Russians’ treatment of Billy would echo their treatment of Demogorgons. I’m currently writing a oneshot about that :3 I’ll post it in full when it’s done.

Lips twitching, Billy pads quietly across the arena. The prisoner yanks at his chains again, jabbering in frantic Russian. When Billy's shadow falls over him, he breaks down in sobs, collapsing against the column.

Billy studies the man up close. Beneath the prison grime, his skin looks as smooth as a baby's. Blond fuzz along his jawline hints at a downy beard struggling to grow.

He's young. Younger than Billy. A boy.

The boy whimpers and screws his eyes shut. Billy's hand flashes out, seizing the crown of his head, gently forcing it back. The boy looks at him, wide blue eyes glistening in the light. Tear trails cut through the grime on his cheeks.

Hardening his jaw, Billy glances at the observation window.

“Demonstrate!” orders the voice in Russian, more impatiently this time.

Billy turns back to the boy. Slowly, he leans in.

“I'm not going to hurt you,” he murmurs. “Just stay very still.” 

The boy doesn't understand. He's trembling now. The sour smell of piss hits Billy in the nose.

Billy rests one hand on the boy's shoulder, the other on his upper arm. The kid is emaciated from prison - barely any muscle left. It'd be so easy to crack him open like a drumstick.

Billy breathes in... breathes out...

»»————-　✼　————-««

The “Billy Is Alive” Meta Series

[m6p2s5gziax8]

Deconstructing Season 3 Jim Hopper

Note1 - I wrote this before the 2020.02.14 "Stranger Things 4 | From Russia with love" teaser. I'm glad they didn't try to drag out the "is Hopper really dead" question - he's 100% back! Note2 - Ok, now that so many of us are inside and ST4 is delayed, I'm going to finally post this and hope some folks find it interesting. Note3 - 6+ months later, I'm finally posting this for real, enjoy! :)

Please Read * !!! MASSIVE S3 SPOILERS !!! * I am a huge fan of Stranger Things and Jim Hopper. * This is a critical analysis of season 3 Jim Hopper, aka s3-Hop. * I would never want to sour anyone's enjoyment of the show or s3-Hop. * Please skip this essay if you enjoy s3-Hop! * If you viewed season 3 and thought "Hopper sure was different" or "Hopper wasn't enjoyable like in s1 and s2" then please read on!

uber-TL;DR * s3-Hopper was unbelievably and (for me) unenjoyably different from s1/s2 * for s4, my hope is this extreme character shift is acknowledged by Hopper to Mike, Eleven, and Joyce

longer-TL;DR There were many changes in Stranger Things with season 3: the mall, the bright color pallet, the love-quadrangle pitting El/Max vs Mike/Lucas, Dustin splitting off from the boys to join the Scoops Troop, and the campy, Scooby-Doo-esque Russian base plot. I can accept these changes and enjoy many of their elements.

But s3 brought one massive change that was not a new character, location, nemesis, or team combo: I felt Jim Hopper's character change was simply unbelievable and unenjoyable.

Sadly, I may be in a tiny minority that does not speak up or that critical comments about a beloved show get "black holed" by show boosters on social media. Many ST fans were sad and angry that Hopper appears to have died and the letter reading at the end of s3 was very dramatic and moving. So analysis, and especially criticism, of s3-Hop is frequently down-voted or not liked and thus not socialized.

This is an attempt to collect the thoughts of one very unhappy s1/s2-Hopper fan about s3-Hop. I hope readers will enjoy the long detailed analysis (sorry it is so long!) and I look forward to any comments and feedback.

FWIW, I'm a big Stranger Things fan and David Harbour is a great actor (even in s3) and a Good person IRL. I loved s1/s2 Jim Hopper and how he was written in the official book Darkness on the Edge of Town.

Here are some collected and reformatted writings I've done on Hopper and his s3 change. My fave ST character is Eleven so s3-Hop becoming so different and unenjoyable is particularly jarring for me.

s3-Hop was so different from s1/s2-Hop as to make it seem like he is a new character. Not only that, but I did not enjoy this new character who acts: * anxious * whiny * selfish * sarcastic * self-entitled * super-violent

Recall Hopper's pre-s3 history from s1, s2, and the official book Darkness on the Edge of Town: * volunteered for the military at 18 (not drafted) * 3 years combat in Vietnam, awarded Bronze Star * 2 years as a Hawkins policemen, marries, has a daughter * 6 years in New York City as a homicide detective * after his daughter dies, hits the bottle/pills, gets divorced * back in Hawkins as Chief of Police and dating women * goes into the Upside Down and literally brings Will back to life with Joyce * takes Eleven in, she runs away, they each apologize * Hop protects Eleven while she unloads at maximum to fend off the Mind Flayer and close the Gate * El goes to the Snow Ball dance and Mike comes over for 6 months to be with her (and smooch!)

Now look at s3-Hop - a very brief s3 timeline: * he's anxious, has no gravitas or authority - he gets advice from Joyce on El/Mike * the evening of s3e1, s3-Hop writes about "emotions" and how he's upset about change * Then s3-Hop continues writing wise words about life that are all read in s3e8 * AFTER writing why he's upset and these wise words, s3-Hop proceeds to act like a mega-jerk * he is gleeful when Eleven is upset that Mike is not coming over * s3-Hop bizarrely thinks whining to Joyce will make her like him * WORST OF ALL, s3-Hop does not say "daughter", "kid", "Eleven", or "El" from s3e2-s3e7

Hopper went from a mega-over-protective dad in s2 who was able to legally adopt Eleven right before the Snow Ball to a jarringly different character in s3. I can see s3-Hop making bad judgments and behaving badly but just not in this anxious/silly/immature way. Why not have him be brooding and angry? That would be consistent with s1/s2. I fear the writers wanted a whacky/silly/goofy characterization for s3-Hop so that's what we got instead.

I can not stress this point enough: Hopper went from being El's loving, protective parent to forgetting about her once he broke her and Mike apart.

At the start of s3e2, Hopper watching El being upset and storming into her room because she missed Mike, his smiling while eating cereal, and then gleefully singing while going to work is when I was broke and I thought: This is not my Hopper.

s3 Hopper and Eleven then Hopper forgets Eleven - an episodic timeline:

e1 - Hopper is anxious and unnerved by Mike visiting Eleven daily since it reduces s3-Hop's time with El e1 - Hopper lies to Mike about his Grandma being sick and then frightens him into not coming over

e2 - When Eleven is upset the next day about Mike not appearing, Hopper is joyful e2 - Note, the song played while s3-Hop is gleeful at Eleven's separation from Mike is the same one that was used when s2-Hop took El into his cabin and started cleaning it up. What a terrible ruination of a wonderful, charming moment from s2. When I hear "You Don't Mess Around with Jim" now I just think of how unhappy El was and how uncaring s3-Hop was of her feelings after he chased Mike away.

e3 - Hopper drives home drunk and enters the cabin yelling angrily only to burst in on El and Max with no Mike; s3-Hop is very happy e3 - Note, s3-Hop wrote in his letter the night before that he missed spending time with El so his accepting Max with El at the cabin is inconsistent with what he wrote.

e4 - Hop adventures with Joyce (no mention of Eleven)

e5 - Hop, Joyce, and now Alexei road trip on the way to Illinois e5 - Hop does not mention El but at the gas station Joyce is worried and calls Karen: JOY - Oh, hey, Karen, it's Joyce. Yeah, I... I'm just checking on Will. At the movies?

e6 - Alexei describes how the Russians are re-opening the Gate and Joyce quickly gets up: HOP - Where are you going? JOY - To call our children. e6 - Note, Joyce said "our children" so she is also worried for El while an indifferent Hop drinks vodka with Murray e6 - Hop calls the feds and afterwards sits down and lights a cigarette, then: JOY - So, now what? HOP - Now, we, uh... we wait. JOY - How long do we wait? HOP - As long as it takes. JOY - How can you just sit there being calm? HOP - I am not calm! JOY - Our kids are in danger! HOP - You said they were at the festival! JOY - Which is, like, ten minutes from the gate! HOP - What are you doing? Joyce? HOP - What are you doing? JOY - [she calls the feds again pressing them to hurry] e6 - Note, s3-Hop talks here (and in most of s3) with various combinations of sarcasm, exasperation, indifference, and irritation. Just hearing his tone is so unpleasant and jarringly different from s1/s2-Hop.

e7 - in the car ride home, Hopper sarcastically ridicules Joyce about her being concerned about the kids: HOP - Oh! Wait, that's right! We're on our way to rescue our children from the big, bad Fourth of July celebration! JOY - You know what, if you can't handle this, then just turn around and drop me off first. HOP - What are you gonna do? You gonna walk back to Hawkins? JOY - I will do anything if it gets me away from you!

e8 - FINALLY Hopper arrives at the Mall and holds Eleven while she drinks a soda and rests her wounded leg e8 - Inexplicably, Joyce agrees to go on a date with Hop before the climax when he disappears

Why did the Stranger Things writers change Jim Hopper so much and so negatively in s3?

I think the writers want us to enjoy (or experience in my case) a new, goofy, ha-ha, funny version of Hopper who: * can't parent a teenage girl dating a boy, * is chasing Joyce for a date and then a relationship while she is still grieving the loss of Bob, and * despite acting like a jerk "sacrifices" himself in the end.

Then, to cap the season off, we get gut punched emotionally by Eleven reading s3-Hop's letter.

The writers likely thought the viewers would fall into two groups: * s3-Hop likers who enjoy this new s3-Hop would be upset at his "death" and moved to tears by the letter * s3-Hop dislikers who were annoyed by s3-Hop would flip to likers because of his "sacrifice" and feel guilty so they are also moved to tears by the letter

But remember: the timing of s3-Hop writing the letter about emotions with sagely advice. He wrote it the end of s3e1, after getting advice from Joyce at the store and just before lying to and threatening Mike to break him up with El. I don't think the writers thought viewers would catch this since the letter is so dramatically read (awesome performances by David and Millie) way at the end of the season in s3e8 after s3-Hop disappeared.

Why did s3-Hop act so different from s1/s2 and so badly if he can write so openly and wisely in s3e1 about emotions in the letter?

Why does this dramatic character transition occur? * s1/s2-Hop - bad temper, apathetic, lackadaisical with a good heart and over-protective of Eleven * s3-Hop - anxious, whiny, sarcastic, immature, self-entitled, selfish and mocking of Joyce for worrying about the kids including El

The breaker with s3-Hop for me was his complete turn around regarding Eleven. For s3e1 his only interest was stopping Mike from coming over and taking up El's time which he wanted for himself. Once the breakup was achieved he was very happy despite El's obvious upset.

Note, after breaking up El/Mike we never see s3-Hop make Eggo extravaganzas or watch a western with Eleven like he said he yearned for in the letter. Nor does he mention it to Joyce after breaking El and Mike apart. He read El's note on the fridge and proceeded to adventure with Joyce, all the while whiny to her about wanting a relationship.

Joyce on three occasions showed concerned and called someone about "Will", "our children", and "Our kids" and finally she said to Hop "I will do anything if it gets me away from you" because of his mocking her concern. (That was my favorite line in s3! - Joyce is so awesome)

After breaking up Mike and Eleven, from e4 to e7 Hopper did not show concern or caring about his adopted daughter. It was not until s3e8 in the Mall when Hop is seen holding El while she sips a soda and later he talks to her and is loving and supportive.

Is this Jim Hopper from s2 who was an over-protective, super-loving father to Eleven? Does Mike coming over and using most of El's time turn this decorated Vietnam combat veteran, who was a 6 year NYC homicide detective and current Chief of Police into an anxious, shrill father who can't think straight?

Why not have Hopper react to wanting more time with Eleven and wanting to date Joyce like the normal s1/s2-Hop we know and love?

I blame the writers from wanting s3-Hop to have an arc from nervous/unhinged to "sacrificing himself" and then the letter being read.

I think the s3-Hop character change was done so we'd be gut punched when he "died" and then the letter was read. And there's the additional goal of getting Hopper to fit in with the "summer of love" theme of s3 with him breaking up a love pairing with El/Mike and pursuing his own love with Joyce.

But the timing of when Hop wrote the letter just doesn't make any sense because of how he acted later. Additionally, if s3-Hop can not follow the life advice he wrote down, why does he act badly in such a different way then when he acted badly in s1/s2?

Because of this extreme character change I sadly can not watch s3-Hop anymore without being upset. It's just so unbelievable and unenjoyable.

Did Sarah's death or Mike's dating Eleven or PTSD from Vietnan explain or justify Hopper's s3 change?

These items have been mentioned as possible explanations for s3-Hop being so different from s1/s2. I initially tried to use Mike dating El as an excuse for Hopper's changes but after three s3 viewings I gave up because of everything else I've written in this essay. Here are some reasons while these explanations do not work for me.

1) Sarah's death was wrapped up when Hopper and Joyce saved Will in the upside down. Hopper literally brought Will back to life, something he could not do with Sarah. This was in incredibly moving scene and the end of a powerful arc for Hopper. But the point is it was the end of the arc: Sarah's death still impacts Hopper in s2 dealing with Eleven but Sarah dying isn't a driving force for s3-Hop and how he acts. That arc wrapped up and though it guides s2-Hop, he still acts in a consistent manor. In season 3 there's no mention of Sarah making s3-Hop stressed out so that arc is not in play.

2) Mike dating Eleven and their disrespecting Hopper are certainly stresses for s3-Hop but his reaction to breaking them up is out of character. El and Mike giggle and whisper with each other. Then s3-Hop - an adult, parent, and police chief - cruelly lies to Mike that his grandma is sick and then holds him in the car and threatens him after Mike angrily used profanity. Many commenters call Mike a "little sh|t" and side with tough guy s3-Hop and his approach. It would be consistent and believable for s3-Hop to act like this at night and then the next morning to have shown some remorse or some kind of caring to Eleven. s3-Hop could have said "too bad Mike isn't coming, let's have Eggos tonight and watch a Western." But he did not say anything to El. Instead, he smiled and then happily sang in the car on the way to work.

3) PTSD does not explain s3-Hop's behavior since we never see any evidence in the show that he is having flashbacks or any issues related to Vietnam. Also, writers just can't use PTSD as a do-anything-whenever-you-want-with-a-character excuse. Not only is there no Vietnam PTSD evidence in the episodes, there are many quotes from the official book with Hopper that he does not have PTSD.

3a) In s1, s2, and s3 the words "Vietnam" and "veteran" are never spoken. The only indication of Vietnam is a box under under Hop's cabin floor that Eleven sees when she discovers the trap door. Hopper never speaks of dreams or flashbacks and there is no other indication he has PTSD from Vietnam. His divorce, drinking, and pill abuse are all from Sarah dying based on what we see in the episodes.

3b) From the official book Stranger Things: Darkness on the Edge of Town (published May 28 2019):

1984 DECEMBER 26 - 11 days after the Snow Ball Dance with Jim and El in the cabin: The truth was, Hopper realized, that he didn’t want to talk about Vietnam, not because it was a trauma or a personal demon, but because it was ancient history—but more than that, it felt like part of some other person’s life. Although he hadn’t really stopped to consider it properly, he was aware of how he had compartmentalized his past in his own mind. So, yes, Vietnam had been difficult, and he had come back changed—as most people did, of course—but it just wasn’t relevant, not anymore. That wasn’t him, not now. Because he had come to accept that there were really only two parts to his life. Before Sara. After Sara. And nothing else really mattered. Vietnam included. He just wasn’t quite sure how he was going to explain that to El. “Because,” said Hopper with a smile, “Vietnam was a long time ago. I mean, a really long time ago. And I’m not that person now.” He leaned forward on the table, resting on his elbows. “Look, I’m sorry, really. I can understand that you are curious. And I understand you want to know more about me. I’m your—” He paused. El raised an eyebrow, cocked her chin again, waiting for the response. Hopper sighed, happily. “I’m your dad, now. And yes, there is a lot you don’t know about me. Vietnam included. One day I’ll tell you about it, when you’re older.”

1977 JULY 13 - Homicide Detective Hopper in New York City: This was a support group for veterans of the Vietnam War. Hopper knew such groups existed. He knew full well that such groups were needed. That he’d come out of the war unscathed and with his marbles all where they should be was a blessing. Okay, it had changed him, and he wasn’t going to pretend that it hadn’t been difficult at times. But what the war had done to some people... He’d never felt the need to attend a meeting like this himself, but he was glad they were there for those who did feel that need.

How can Jim Hopper's portrayal recover in season 4?

First off, there is no doubt that David Harbour is returning to play Jim Hopper in season 4 (and s5 if there is one). This is David's big, career making role that is getting him award nominations/wins (the most for any adult ST actor), and he just got a huge raise (80k to 350k per episode). And, most importantly, he loves doing the show and the people in it (especially Millie).

Since what's done is done with s3-Hop, what can happen with Hopper in s4 to bring him back into a believable and enjoyable form for huge ST fans who miss s1/s2 Jim Hopper?

I am very much hoping that Hopper will dial back or eliminate his new s3 qualities, like being whiny, selfish, complaining constantly, etc. Please bring back some of his old s1/s2 strength and empathy under a grumpy exterior.

And I hope Hopper does a reset with three people:

1) Mike - Hopper needs to do more to make up to Mike than just saying "Mike, Be careful" like he did in s3e8 at the Mall. Hop should clearly say that he accepts Mike as El's boyfriend and that he knows he'll do everything possible to keep her safe. Which is actually what Mike did for all of s3 while s3-Hop was adventuring with Joyce.

2) Eleven - While the Letter explains why Hop was feeling upset (change, less time with El, etc), it does not justify how s3-Hop acted afterward when he lied and threatened Mike breaking them up. Hop needs to clearly apologize to Eleven for being selfish, immature, and inconsiderate.

3) Joyce - I hope that Hopper admits to Joyce that he acted like a jerk towards her and that he promises to be a better person in general and especially better with her. That's the only way I can make any sense out of Joyce and Hopper being any kind of couple: Hop has to own up to his terrible behavior towards Joyce and promise to be better.

The End! Sort of... :)

Well, you've read or skimmed or skipped all the way to the almost end and I thank you for taking time to look at my thoughts about Jim Hopper's portrayal in season 3. I still love Hop and think David does an incredible acting job with him in each season. I've been 100% sure he's coming back since the Duffers have bluntly said: no body = no death. So while I'm a little scared at how Hopper will be characterized in season 4, I'm also very excited to see it! Word is that season 4 will have more episodes (10, 11, 12?) than normal. Plus, the Duffers just signed a big deal with Netflix so I'm wondering if season 4 will be a semi-finale for the series and give the Duffers and the stars a break to do other stuff and then come back for a movie or a season after more ideas have percolated in the Duffers' creative minds.

So, here's looking forward to season 4 when we can see Jim Hopper evolve along with all the other great Stranger Things characters.

[mrs-evadne-cake]

Regarding the criticism that Hopper has been getting post S3, how much of the backlash do you think is justified and how much do you think is unnecessary? Because to me, in some aspects i can understand why he would have such a knee jerk angry or grumpy reaction in certain situations, like when it comes to dealing with the boy dating his daughter, or when his crush stood him up, but i didnt like how they amplified his anger to the point where it becomes his default reaction to everything.

There was a thing I saw on here a while back that said something along the lines of ‘You know something went wrong when you don’t get mad at a character for their behavior, you get mad at the writers’ and that’s sort of been how I felt about S3 Hopper.

I think very little that he does is out of character in a vacuum- if you just gave me one sentence write ups of everything he does in the Season like, ‘becomes needlessly aggressive to Mike because of El’ or, ‘doesn’t believe Joyce thinking the Upside Down is Back because of magnets’, or ‘is ridiculously mean to the world’s most adorable Russian Defector’  or ‘almost chops a man’s finger off with a cigar cutter’ I think I would have been a little...taken aback... by some of the choices but I wouldn’t go ‘That’s absolutely ridiculous, he’d never act like that’ (with one significant exception, but we’ll get to that later) because Hopper is and has always been a man at war with himself when it comes to good vs. bad emotional impulses and one with anger issues, and with a presumably cold-turkey pre-10am barbiturate habit in his rear view mirror and much LESS under control drinking problem. 

The problem for me- going along with what you said- became how MUCH there was of it and how cartoonishly over the top it was most of the time (I’m aware this was an active choice during production- this does not impact if I think it was a GOOD choice). I think that if they had - focused- his anger a little more instead of just turning every scene he was in into a chore watching of Hopper YELLING at someone I’d have less of a problem. If I wanted to spend my time watching a middle-aged prick getting stupidly aggro at literally everyone around him for no real reason I’d just go to family holidays. 

Now, where it gets really in the weeds for me where I would lean heavily toward justified rather than ‘in-character actions, badly handled’ is that his characterization- even within the context of only S3- starts to become inconsistent to feed his anger. 

Lemme explain.

So lets assume we as an audience can accept that Hopper is being Needlessly Shitty to Mike and El because he’s being protective of El and has established anger issues- so far so good. We have cause, we have effect, it’s in character, not a fan of execution but hey, I don’t have to love it all. We think that he’s so resistant to Joyce and her Magnets because he really wants the entire thing to be over so badly that he’s willing to ignore and aggressively reject her (admittedly) shaky theory just validate his own hope that El and the rest of them are safe. We can draw a through line for the character very adequately explaining (but not excusing) why he’s acting out. And then we get to Murray's and, as usual when the show takes me to Murray’s, it ruins any goodwill I had. What possible excuse  is there- given what we’ve accepted about his actions and motivations up to this point, what the season has been telling us about the character, and what we know the character knows about the *sigh*... Evil Russians definitely starting shit in the town with his telekinetic super-weapon of an adopted daughter in it who he wouldn’t even let out of the house for a year just to be safe- to give Joyce shit about BEING WORRIED ABOUT THE KIDS. 

Him putting her down because the kids (these fucking kids) were obviously, definitely fine (in the town he knows has *sigh*... evil Russians trying to open a gate in it)  is so absurdly, blatantly contrarian that it wrecks everything. I can accept ‘Hopper is acting out because he is very stressed in the first half of the season about his daughter being in any kind of danger, from boys, monsters or the world in general but when the plot goes ‘Your daughter is absolutely, totally is in very obvious danger’ and his reaction suddenly becomes ‘GOD, stop being so hysterical Joyce I’m sure it’s FINE’- The character is now broken- he’s internally inconsistent and is serving the writers needs instead of the writers serving the character. 

 It’s a trivially easy fix- just flip his motivation to Needing to Get Back To El ASAP- hell, it’s EXCELLENT motivation to be a raging asshole to everyone that gets in his way or slows him down- but as written it makes it clear that the actual motivation is ‘be shitty to Joyce because we want to be like Romancing the Stone or Moonlighting’.

This is where I feel like the backlash was VERY justified. 

Thanks for the ask- this one was really interesting. 

[theonewiththefanfics]

Hawkins’ Charm (Part 7/?)

Synopsys: They had gotten out of Hawkins. After all the shit that had happened, all the heartache and pain, Billy and the Reader had gotten away from that hellhole, building their life in California as he had dreamed. But when Max’s graduation rolls around and they go to celebrate, it’s as if the Upside Down was just waiting for all of them to return. And it has a bone to pick.

Pairing: Billy Hargrove x f!Reader; platonic!Steve Harrington x f!Reader

Genre: angst, lil bit of fluff

Warnings: blood, mentions of injuries and death, fighting, swearing, mentions of sexy times, but not smut

Word count: 3337

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT CONDONE BILLY’S ACTIONS AND THE THINGS HE’S DONE! THIS IS BASICALLY AN AU, WHEN REALLY LOOKING AT IT! SPOILERS FOR S3! READ AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION!

It was like the air had suddenly been sucked out from the world, leaving him a heaving, dizzy mess in the void.    His dad. His old man. The person that was supposed to love him unconditionally but had been abusing him since he was a little kid was the one the Mind Flayer was using as a host.        “I’m gonna kill him,” Billy seethed. “Did he touch you?” he doublechecked every inch of Y/N’s body. “I’m gonna fucking murder him.”        “Billy, he didn’t do anything,” she put a hand on his cheek, and he practically melted, taking in a shuddering breath and nodding. “I didn’t even see him. I’m alright.”        “Was he,” he gestured vaguely around, “you know, possessed when we went to his?”        Y/N shrugged. “I don’t know, but he was by the time that whole thing at Tina’s happened. But Billy… he knows… about Clara. I tried to keep them out of my head but,” her chin wobbled, and Billy had to keep his composure.    “He’s so strong,” Y/N whispered. “Like, not to say what happened to you wasn’t horrible and painful and bad, but he’s,” she shook her head. “He’s so fucking strong. I don’t know how we’re gonna stop him. If we can stop him.”        They thought the Mind Flayer might have evolved, they knew it could, but with the way El had struggled against the small piece inside of Y/N, she couldn’t even imagine what battling against the full force of that thing would be like. 

       “We gotta close the Gate,” Hopper said. “It’s our only option.”        A murmur of agreement spread through the people in the cabin, Billy’s attention still on Y/N as she flinched when she reached for the glass of water Robin had offered. She practically gulped the whole thing in a second. Only then did Billy realize how thirsty he was too, but he could wait.        “Is my mom,” Max’s lip quivered, making Y/N look at her, and Billy reached for his sister's hand squeezing it in comfort, something that just five or even three years ago he would’ve never voluntarily done. “Is my mom one of them?”        When Y/N shook her head no, Max almost sagged to the floor in relief. “I didn’t feel her. He has a lot of others under his control – Tina, Tommy, Vicky, pretty much everyone else that didn’t leave the party that night… they drugged the punch and knocked everyone out, and then Neil helped them bring the rest to Benny’s where… ya know… they got possessed and shit…”        Y/N groaned trying to stand up, but when her knees buckled, she opted for staying on the bed.        “How does your back feel?” Robin asked, making everyone remember that before being possessed by a Mind Flayer, she’d been dragged away by a monster with knives for fingers.        “Like a Demogorgon wanted to make a skinsuit out of me,” Y/N shrugged and hissed at the pain. Without it possessing her, she was back to herself, and it meant she was back to feeling things and not just ignoring the unpleasant itch in her back. Billy was instantly in action mode.        “Okay, we need to clean those. Don’t want you getting an infection.”        Joyce was immediately on her feet. There was an old bottle of vodka, she’d found in Hopper’s room from that day when she’d ditched their ‘date but not date’ to instead go to Mike’s science teacher, and she went to grab it.        “Vodka doesn’t have an expiration date,” she muttered to herself taking a clean cloth as well.        “Here,” Joyce gave both of those things to Billy, and Y/N sighed.        “This is gonna hurt like a bitch,” he warned soaking the rag with the alcohol and reached for one of the leather restraint that had been wrapped around her wrists.       “Yeah, I’m kinda expecting it to,” she grumbled and bit down on the belt. With one final nod, Y/N readied herself, and he pressed the cloth against her wounds.        Searing hot pain erupted throughout her body, and for a second Y/N’s vision went completely white. She grabbed onto the sheets and fisted them between her fingers, holding back the scream. Honestly, she’d rather be possessed by the Mind Flayer than feel every single time the alcohol ate at her wounds.        And oh god, when Billy had to peel away the scabbed over parts… Y/N thought she’d pass out. Hoped she’d pass out. Childbirth had been easy compared to the torturously slow movements as each crusted bit was ripped from the gashes leaving them open to the air.        She spit the belt out to the floor and growled, “Hurry the fuck up!”        “Sorry, sweetheart,” Billy murmured seeing Y/N’s face scrunch up as he dragged the cloth across the third out of five slashes. “But I gotta be thorough.”        It dragged on for five more agonizing minutes before Billy and Joyce deemed Y/N’s skin would not rot and fall off her back. For the time being at least. She’d definitely need to see the doctor first thing in the morning.    “I think these might need stitching,” Billy trailed a careful palm along the two of the deepest gashes.        “Yeah, nope,” Y/N shook her head heaving and shuddering, and Joyce applied a compress to her back. It had some sort of a cold salve on it, and it instantly relieved her blazing skin. She’d been the only one smart enough to remember about El talking about Y/N’s wounds, so while everyone had gathered tons of tinfoil, Joyce had bought a first aid kit and some other things that she considered might be necessary.    “Thank you for cleaning them up, but I ain’t letting you anywhere near me with a needle and thread,” Y/N smirked.        “Wha- hey!” he exclaimed. Usually, he’d slap her arm playfully, but this time he opted out on it.        “Do I need to remind you when you tried, keyword tried, to sow up Clara’s dress?” she gave him a pointed gaze and shook her head, smiling as Joyce muttered a ‘men’ underneath her breath.        Steve who had joined their little group once the gross stuff was out of the way, crossed his arms and snorted. “What happened?”        “I ended up having to throw it out,” Y/N gestured at Billy. “Because cross stitch is so hard.”        “It wasn’t that bad,” Billy protested but accepted his defat and helped to wrap the layer of gauze around Y/N’s back. Immediately it got soaked and turned a scarlet color, but it was better than leaving the scabs on with millions of possible infections underneath them. And the red was a much pleasant color than the pitch black. “She’s just being dramatic.”        “Frist of all,” Y/N hissed and pointed a finger at him. “I’m allowed to be dramatic. At least right now. Second of all, you managed to sow the dress to your jeans, and then, when I told you to just cut the thread off and pull it out, you cut a hole into the dress.”        “It was a stylistic choice.”        “Yeah for what, her third arm?”            It seemed insane to be bickering about what were now minuscule things. A ruined dress. Billy’s inability to sow. Him being in absolute denial about it. Insane, but nice, given how the actual things they needed to worry about were the possible invasion of their world by an interdimensional alien, a Russian army opening up the Gateway between the two universes and her father-in-law being the main henchman.        “How do we explain this to Clara?” Billy nudged his chin towards Y/N's back, and her eyes widened.        “Fuck,” she swore under her breath. “I hadn’t thought about that…”    There was no way she could just brush it off, and their little Terminator had to know everything. It had been an interesting enough conversation when she’d asked about her dad’s scars, but now when her mom would arrive home with a destroyed back was not something, they thought they’d have to deal with.        “You might also wanna figure out what to say to mom,” Alex said as he stood to the side, arms matter-of-factly crossed over his chest.        “What? Why?”        Alex’s eyes widened. “Graduation’s in like a few hours, and you're gonna show up like that?”        That’s when the rest of the kids also remembered Friday was just three hours away, and graduation only fifteen.        “Oh, shit,” Max muttered sharing a look with Mike, Dustin, Will and Lucas. El hadn’t gone to a public school, having been taught by Hopper and then Joyce at home.        “Well, we can’t go,” Mike said. “This is bigger than some fucking graduation.”       “Hey, watch your mouth!” Hopper said pointing at the teen. He was still in the mindset of ‘keep the door open three inches’, no matter if four years had passed.        “I think going might be our best bet,” Y/N butted in. “Or at least, you have to go.”        “Not to be rude, ‘cause I know you went through some pretty dramatic shit,” Lucas said, “but Mind Flayer versus getting a piece of paper,” he made a gesture as if he was weighing the options with his hands. “The Mind Flayer wins.”        Y/N shook her head and stood up, leaning heavily against Billy. “He still needs to keep up the appearances. I mean when Billy was possessed, he went to his job at the pool, so I can guarantee he’ll be at the school. And that’s when we can strike.”        The thought of attacking the Mind Flayer and bringing the fight to him, instead of how it usually had been with it striking first, made everyone perk up and start talking, but Billy didn’t join in, even though he might have the most cause to.        Instead, he tugged on Y/N’s palm making her attention flit just to him and look at his furrowed brows. It seemed as if the formulation of the words on his tongue were the hardest ever, but in the end, he got them out.        “What did you mean by ‘the three of us…?’ When you said you wouldn’t let me taint the three… of you…”        “I don’t know…” she shook her head. “I have no clue where that came from.”        “Do you,” Billy swallowed harshly and wrung his hands together, “do you think you might be pregnant again?”        That thought had crossed her mind, but Y/N didn’t think it to be plausible. Every time they’d had sex they’d been very careful, as they weren’t planning on having another kid. Sure, Clara hadn’t been planned either and turned out to be the best gift ever, but they were doing really well at that moment, so another gremlin would be quite jarring.        “I don’t think so… I had my period right before leaving.”        “Yeah, but we did have a lot,” he emphasized the word and smirked, “of fun at the motel in the morning. And when we got to yours in the shower… and before going to Tin-“        “Okay, you don’t need to recount every time,” Y/N chuckled feeling heat crawl up her body. “I remember, I was there.”       “You better, otherwise, I’d need to remind you.”        She tilted her head to the side. “I wouldn’t complain about that. Like at all.” A beat passed before she spoke again. “If it was though…” Y/N bit down on her lip. “Would you want it? Another kid? Would you want one?”        Billy snorted cupping her cheeks and giving her a sweet kiss. “If you’d ask me to run through Hell barefoot, I’d fucking skip through it with a smile on my face.”        “So, would that be a yes?”        “You’re such a dork,” he shook his head, the affectionate grin never leaving.        “Yeah, but I’m your dork.”        He scoffed. “You better fucking be.”        “We’ll figure it out…” Y/N nodded her head as if affirming herself they would. “If we get out of this alive.”        “When,” he growled back. “When we get out of this alive. Don’t you dare talk that way.”        She rolled her eyes. “I’m just being realistic.”        “Well stop it then.” He grumbled like a toddler being told he couldn’t have any more candy. “Be optimistic.”        Y/N scoffed. “Yeah, because you’re not only Keg King, but the King of Optimism as well.”        He watched her bring Nancy’s given shirt over her head and helped the woman let it slip over her body.    Billy loved that body with every inch of his being. He loved each and every birthmark, scar and dip, and now it had been completely rearranged by some monster. There was nothing in the world that would make him think of Y/N as anything as beautiful, but a small part in his head screamed at how much he hated the rips that would scar over at some point. They had been his fault. His ugly marks on her gorgeous body.        “Where’s uh where’s your ring?” Y/N asked, clearing her throat and bringing him out of the pondering. This was so not the conversation she thought she’d ever have. It was like they’d had a silent agreement to never take the golden circlets off, so seeing his finger bare, with a pale line around it, made her stomach churn.        “When you were missing, I asked El to help find you. She needed something that had a connection to you…” he shrugged flexing his fist. “This was the only thing I could think of.”        “And why haven’t you put it back on?”        It seemed like the question completely shifted the mood, and Billy let out a sad chuckle. “ ’Cause I don’t think I should.”        Y/N’s eyes widened. “What?”        She could feel tears burn at the edges of her eyes, but Y/N was not going to let them fall. Instead, she cleared her throat and repeated the question in a much softer tone.        “That day when we got married, I promised to protect you. I might have not said it out loud, but I promised it to myself.” Unlike her, Billy allowed himself to fully feel the emotions, a drop rolling down his cheek.    “And I failed. How can I put it back on, how can I promise that to you, when I broke it in the first place? I know it wasn’t you saying all those things, that it was the Mind Flayer using my fears against me, but it had a point. I don’t deserve you. Or Clara. For years this whole life has felt like a dream, like a fluke that I’d gotten so lucky. And now I know it is, ‘cause there’s no way I could ever deserve you or your forgiveness.”        Y/N thought she’d be sad and hurt by his words, but instead, she was just pissed. “Forgiveness for what?”        “For this whole thing,” he gestured at her torn-up body. “Had it not been for me, you wouldn’t have been possessed by that fucker. Had it not been for me, we wouldn’t have gone to Tina’s. I wouldn’t have gotten drunk and pissy, and you wouldn’t have had to wander off into those fucking woods… this whole shit’s my fault…”        Her lips were pursed into a very thin line before, Y/N nodded. “Okay, so answer me this – did you know the Gate was open?”        “N-no,” Billy stuttered out not sure where the conversation was going.        “Did you know the Demogorgon and the Mind Flayer were back?”        Once again, he replied with a soft ‘no’.        “Did you have any clue any of this would happen?” her voice was getting louder with each word.        Billy hid his face in his palms but shook his head no.        “Then why are you punishing yourself?”        “Because who else am I supposed to punish?!” he exploded jumping up. “You?! I was the one who put you in danger, I am the one with the shit father who’s even shittier now! All of your biggest problems in life have been because of me, and now whenever we’ll go to the beach, whenever you’ll take a shower, I’ll have to see those fucking marks on your back that you wouldn’t have if it wasn’t for me!”        Y/N was practically shaking as she stood face her husband, despite the tendrils of pain rippling down her back.        “I did not sit by your hospital bed for two whole days while you were unconscious, I didn’t spend my last summer here with you in the ICU for you to say this bullshit to me,” she seethed and moved closer. “Now, you’ll listen to me Billy Hargrove, we’ve been through so much shit, it’s insane. I could write a novel about it and still, there wouldn’t be enough pages to tell the full story.”       Her gaze was piercing, and he couldn’t pull his eyes away from Y/N’s. No matter how much Billy wanted to, it was impossible as every word found its mark, yet he still listened to her, still nodded along and let the tears slip down his cheeks, his wife’s soft thumbs brushing them away.        “I did not go through childbirth, through doubting myself if I’m a good person, let alone a mother; I did not go through this shit, only for you to tell me that you don’t wanna wear that ring anymore, cause guess what? I’ve fucked up too. That day at the pool when we got into that huge argument and the whole Mind Flayer shit happened to you? I blame myself for that.”        Billy’s mouth dropped open in shock. “But – but it’s not. You had nothing to do with it… it just happened, it was bad luck.”        “Exactly,” a painful smile of relief made her lips pull up hoping he'd get where she was going with it. “I know it wasn’t my fault, I can’t control the Mind Flayer, but I still blame myself. Maybe if I’d been more understanding, maybe if I’d tried to work it out, it wouldn’t have happened... you wouldn’t have gotten hurt.”        His hands shook as he settled them on Y/N’s waist, pressing his forehead tightly to hers. He’d never even considered that she blamed herself for that summer’s events. He never even entertained that idea, ‘cause it was simply untrue, so he didn’t spend time on it.        “You blame yourself for this, and I blame myself for what happened to you... even though it was neither of our faults... So,” Y/N let out a shaky breath, “put that fucking ring back on your finger, or I swear, I’ll serve you some divorce papers.”        Billy chuckled, pulling back from the embrace to fish out the ring from his pocket, but not before pulling Y/N in for a passionate kiss. Fuck, did it feel good to kiss her again. “Yes, mam.”        Beautifully, as if it was made to sit at the base of his left ring finger, the piece of jewellery slid on and stayed there. As it would forever.        “I love you,” he whispered pecking her lips.        “I love you too, dumbass.”        “Whatever you say Mrs Dumbass,” he bit on his bottom lip and glanced down at her. “You’re an amazing person, by the way. And an even better mother.”        Y/N mouthed a ‘thank you’ against his lips before caressing them again.        “You two okay there?” Joyce asked peaking inside the bedroom as they stepped back from one another.        Only then did they realize when the argument had started everyone else had left the room to give them privacy to work things out.        Billy nodded, smiling over at Y/N. “Yeah, we’re alright. But I think we’ll be even better when we decide what to do with the whole Upside-Down thing.”        “I think I have an idea,” Y/N sighed and, leaning heavily on Billy’s shoulder they entered the living room where everyone else was.        Max raised a concerned eyebrow, thumb between her teeth, and when their eyes met, she gave the redhead a small but assuring smile, making her heart lift from her feet back to her chest, knowing that everything was okay between the two.        Hopper opened his arms and then put them on his hips. “We’re all ears.”

Tags (crossed out wouldn't take): 

Hawkins’ Charm tag list: @genius2050 @aiifandomsunite @ashleymarieriffle @littlefool-smalljester @infinitelycharmed23 @llcalumllhoodll @benevolentgemini @rxmanovbby @euphoniumpets @krazykatykat456 @believerofall @ccidk @babechief @meganmj @blackhood5sos @fml9603 @noodlenerd101 @universefinds @kuroidesuchloe @im-a-stranger-thing @grxxn-gardxns @springholland @beforethebraces @robinisourlesbianmom @queeneliza108 @neenaw-neenaw @lexisntthatweird @choicesismylife @mckenzie2020 @kcd15 @snuggleducky @reckless-sofia @didyouseetheflair @silver-winter-wolf @jay-ta-blog @hopeless-lovex0 @anyasthoughts @robinismyqueen @yeah-butyourenot-dacremontgomery @mcrganstarks @psychoticobsession @cutehipstergirl25 @sbfandom @mickmoon @jackyfrost01 @txhmine @dark-princess99 @morgangrice18 @changingmylifestyle367 @sweetdayme4427 @alowexpectation @sexyvixen7 @golddvstwoman @evelynfreakinaddams @sunfucked @sataninsatin @queenbbarnes @venomavocado @rangotangomango @psychosupernatural @sereiins @frickin-bats @bandsruinedmylife @thee-brunette-princess @queenskyster @aspiring-fangirls-world @gracethegeek9902 @katiexdacre @dreamwavej @escaping-reality21 @void-fire-rose @slvtherinseeker @paranoiadestroyah @arromite @jojo-buttercup @danarysstormborn @graveyard--baby--666

Forever tags: @lumelgy @palaiasaurus64 @supernaturalbaesduh @breezy1415 @crazy--me @thatawkwardlittlefangirl @sea040561 @staryeyedgirl @deathbyarabbit @s-c-a-r-e-d-po-t-t-e-r @reblogger-not-a-blogger @m-a-t-91 @dalilx @i-need-a-hero-i-need-a-loki @maladaptive-ninja-returns @averyrogers83 @in-the-end-im-still-trash @gallifreyansass @dewy-biitch @avxgers @unlikelygalaxygiver @sweet-ladyy @magicwithaknife @ollyoxenfrees @bnhvrdy @tvwhoresblog @celebsimagines @thatkindofgurl @sj-thefan @teenwolflover28

A/N: heya! Sorry for the delay on this part, but I had such a full weekend that I just didn’t have the time to write or post, but I hope you enjoy this part. The next one might be the last or close to that, but I have a few other Billy imagines in mind, so if you wanna be tagged in any of the future fics drop a message (whether Hawkins’ Charm tag list, Forever tag list (means you’ll be tagged in EVERYTHING or just Billy’s :) )

ALSO! HOLY SHIT WE HIT 6K!!!! WHAT THE FUCK!!! THANK YOU!!! I CANNOT BELIEVE THERE ARE SO MANY OF YOU THAT LIKE WHAT I CREATE AND IT MEANS THE WORLD TO ME THAT YOU’RE STICKING AROUND :****

P.S. my tags are always open

P.S.S. what did ya think? :)

[ohjaimelannister]

Do you think Hoppers actually dead though?

O K A Y.

I’ve been looking for an excuse to pull all of this together so here we go! NO Anon, I do not think that Chief James Hopper has gone and died on us. There’s no REAL evidence (there are easter eggs though) however and the Duffer Brothers could still pull the rug out from under us but hey.

No I do not believe that Hopper is dead. Although some things can be interpreted as pretty final and if the Duffers really kill him off I will never watch this show again, because it’s horrifically SHITTY writing and im already super tired of that this year lmao.

One - There is no body? We were never showed a body or what’s left of one? We have seen bodies for Benny, Barb, Bob and Billy (and even people who were in it for like 5 minutes). THEY EVEN PRODUCED A FAKE WILL WHEN THEY WANTED US TO THINK HE WAS DEAD. THEY AREN’T AGAINST SHOWING US BODIES!!! Which brings me to my next point!

Two - They also aren’t against to showing us death. Lots of gory detailing death, WHOEVER it is. Billy died horrifically but you saw it even though hes a kid. Bob got ripped to shreds.  And even those dudes at the beginning of S3 died horribly? They still showed it. Hopper’s death??? It cuts away. You see NOTHING. AT. ALL. There aren’t even any remnants OF a body where he was standing, and Joyce goes down there and LOOKS. Surely shed find something? Gooey grossness like the bodies at the beginning? Nope. You could argue that they’d be against showing us the death of a beloved hero and a main character but. Again. Bob was beloved and arguably one of the sweetest characters in the show and he was ripped to bits in front of us and Joyce. Billy was a kid for all intents and purposes, still he died a horrible death. Not one bit of that was cut away.

Three - If you look in the shots hes not on the platform when the thing explodes????? like at all? Either that’s badly shot or its done deliberately because he’s just not there anymore? There’s the portal to the Upside Down and you can see a ladder in the shot too, so maybe he either went into the Upside Down or down the ladder and got caught by the russians?? We just don’t know.

Four - We see the devastated Eleven and the aftermath of what happened at Star Court. Then it jumps to three months later? Okay, odd that were not shown anymore of the grieving or the funeral. Then of course Eleven read the SPEECH. Think about the end of it specifically and about LEAVING THE DOOR OPEN 3 INCHES!! You can see from one of the final shots of Star Court that the gates not CLOSED. It was healing but it never fully closes. So Hopper could be in the Upside Down, or travelled through it to Russia on the other end?? Who knows. Point is, they included this line at the end for a reason. Whether the reason is that hes actually dead and they’re just being profound or that its a hint about his fate, its meaningful.

Five - During the ending the song HEROES by Peter Gabriel plays, this is the same song that was placed over them finding Wills fake body, and after all the goodbyes and the ‘speech’ where it ends with “keep the door open three inches” well. Come on.

Six - Then it cuts to Russia and you hear the “not the american” line, and Hopper was called “the American” throughout the series by that Russian baddie. Should I start waving Red Flags here or???? Then again, a lot of people are saying this could be Brenner. Okay I 100% get your logic Im with ya, and for a few days I’ve also thought it could be Brenner. But here’s the thing. Elevens powers. Brenner makes her use them to spy on a russian man in Season 1. Hinting that there’s more going on here than just super powers, kids and other dimensions. Don’t forget that in the 80s the world was in the grip of the Cold War, and things would have started reaching a boiling point for this long before 1985 when it ‘officially’ began. We were never given any answers about why Brenner was spying on this man, or even Russia. Or even if he WAS spying for the US. Nothing, it’s a throwaway scene. Or IS IT? Russians show up in Season Three somehow knowing about the Upside Down, having failed at their own attempts to open a gate in Russia. They somehow know that its Hawkins they need to be in to successfully open their gate and potentially get monsters to use, oh I don’t know, in a WAR???? How would they have known any of this information to begin with?? Oh I wonder. We were told all about Brenner being alive and out there in season two (and we were never told WHERE and this is not referenced again), but as far as I can remember Eleven has never shared this with anyone else, even though it’s completely RELEVANT information. And as far as I can remember (its been a hell of an emotional few days) I dont think were given any explanation about how the Russians knew about the Upside Down, Hawkins or anything. So maybe the reason they knew is BECAUSE BRENNER is the one giving them their directives? Because hes worked for THEM this whole time???

Seven -  Interestingly also Eleven lost her powers? JEEZ ISN’T THAT CONVENIENT!!! Because the first thing shed use them for is to look for Hopper even if she was told he was dead. Shed look, 100% for the man who saved her, gave her a home, loved her, worried for her, cared for her like she was his goddamn OWN. Conveniently though now SHE CANT??? Interesting.

Eight -  And now. There’s the voicemail message. In one of the episodes (my brains so fried I cant remember which one sorry) Murrays gives out his landline number, and when you call it you can hear him give a message to Joyce. You can listen to it here.  You can tell this is after season three, because why would he talk to Joyce Byers? Surely if he was trying to reach someone for information it would be Hopper?  “I have an update, its best if we speak in person" an update??? About what??? Why is he coercing with joyce???  Notice how he says “it’s not good or bad but its SOMETHING” and then says “we’ll talk about it in person” (or something like that) why would he be calling joyce with an ‘update’?????????? AND ON WHAT EXACTLY?? INTERESTING!!

Nine - Theres this interview with the cast specifically ABOUT Hopper, the death and the post credits scene. And I love David Harbour but, you cannot lie for shit my angel.

Ten - Millie has said in an interview “ Her dads gone, or so she thinks” COME ON.

Eleven - Again WE KNOW DAVID HARBOUR IS LIKE THE MARK RUFFALO OF STRANGER THINGS. And hes bad at keeping shit to himself. Hes already told us at the end of last YEAR, literally a month after they finished filming season three that the Duffers have told him the ending to the series as a whole. Why would any creator do this for a man they have effectively just fired, because his character died? Why would they tell him? They wouldn’t.

Tweleve - Again. David Harbour, bless his heart, I think its trying to give us HINTS and bread crumbs to follow. Last week he changed his instagram photo from Hopper in S1 to the number 6. Odd. Today he changed it to the number one :

Twelve continued - Basically if he changed it to an 8 next, we know hes trying to hint at Murrays voicemail message and this is a clue for Hopper. Because why else would he bother?

Thirteen - Theres also this screenshot from Cara Buonos instagram where she literally SAYS about him being in Kamchatka, and uses the Russian word for PRISON. (Of course this could just be a joke between the actors

Fourteen - Theres also the fact, which is not evidence mind you, that its incredibly shitty writing to have both the men that Joyce Byers loved/loves to die in front of her? And actually having her put the action in motion that kills the man she loves? No. I wont accept that. And weve been shown her non willingness to believe in peoples death, everyone and their mothers told her Will was dead and she was being crazy. Did she listen? No. And she got her boy back. Will she think once she has a clear head that Hoppers dead? Maybe. Which is why she asks Murray to investigate. Hence the Voicemail Message.

Fifteen - Its also incredibly shitty and hard to swallow, for Elevens sake too. I mentioned already how much she loves Hopper and finally got a true parent in him. Do you honestly think they’d put her through all of that just to lose him NOW? Like i said, its convienent how shes lost her powers at this very crucial moment.

Sixteen - DAVID. HARBOURS. BEARD. RIGHT. NOW.

And SEVENTEEN -Just in case y’all are having trouble with any of that it looks like David Harbour has let sorta slip (my god I fucking ADORE THIS MAN LET ME TELL YOU). I dont know how reliable this is mind you because its not coming from a BIG source, but HERE he hints at knowing who the American is, after telling everyone else (see the interview above ^^) that he doesnt know and he cant say anything. 

‘During an interview with David Harbour, I attempted to delicately get around the fate of Jim Hopper. Harbour, however, came right out and gave it to me straight. “This is the question I’m going to have to dance around–” I began, only for Harbour to interrupt me and ask, “The ending?” “Right,” I said. “Is there a way you can talk about the future of Hopper without…” I trailed off here, only for Harbour to ask: “Well, did you see the post-credits scene?”I had, of course. And so I straight-up asked: is that Hopper behind the door? According to Harbour, that’s the most likely scenario. Throughout the season, the main Russian baddie refers to Hopper as “the American”, and having another Russian refer to the mysterious prisoner in the same way was the big giveaway.Of course, knowing that Hopper is alive, and knowing how he survived and ended up in Russia, are two different things. We’ll have to wait for season 4 to get that answer. And we’ll have to wait to see how things unfold from there. Will a big chunk of season 4 involve Hopper escaping that Russian base, and trying to get back to America? Time will tell. One thing is clear: Hopper still has a long journey ahead of him; not just physically, but emotionally.’

SO, basically Jim Hopper has not left us, Joyce or Eleven.  And if the Duffer Brothers have done all this to screw with us, well. Im not gonna be responsible for what I do.

I FEEL JIM HOPPER IN THIS RUSSIAN PRISON TONIGHT!!!

THANK YOU FOR COMING TO MY TED TALK!!!!!!!!

[panharmonium]

stranger things 3, a visual summary:

more coherent thoughts under the cut, because wow.

......okay.  that was a Trainwreck.  an absolute mess.

i remember when my coworkers were watching S3 (and still urging me to start season 1) and they were saying how amazing the latest season was, and honestly i think there must just be a difference in people who watch tv just to be entertained and people who watch tv and automatically evaluate the story (aka fandom veterans and English majors, lol - cue Me twice), because WHO could watch this critically and praise it that way?

it's honestly hard to know where to even begin; i've been sending frustrated notes to @brambleberrycottage ever since episode three and now that i'm done with episode 8 there's just......so much more to say

first, good things:

erica is a great character.  she's what max should have been (aka, uh.......interesting!)  i liked the realization moment where dustin was like "you're a NERD!"

that entire sequence where will is so upset with lucas and mike for not being engaged with the dnd game was very well done, especially the conversation he has with mike out in the rain.  i loved that moment where mike asked him "did you think we were just going to hang out in my basement playing games forever?" and will said, "yeah.  yeah, i guess i did."  i really felt that.  [edit, now that i've finished: this was never resolved.  will giving away his dnd books at the end was not an actual resolution to this conflict.]

steve is still a good dude, and robin was pretty cool.  i'm down for them being super friends.  but i'm still mourning the steve+nancy+jonathan trio that was a thing for like 5 seconds and then never returned.

i loved how genuinely excited steve was to see dustin when dustin came back from camp.  that was adorable.  "HENDERSON!!!!"  "how many children are you friends with?"

and uh. yeah.  i had more problems with this season than praise-bestowing moments, so.  here goes that bit.

OVERARCHING PROBLEMS:

1. keep it simple, stupid

remember in the office when dwight quoted the above advice to ryan as michael's rule for making a sale?  the same advice applies to storytelling.

season 1 of stranger things is so simple.  there is One Monster.  that is the danger.  and somehow, that single monster manages to be a thousand times more terrifying than all of these new "bigger, scarier, more epic" threats crammed into the second two seasons.

how goofy is the stranger things season 3 plot, seriously?  russians are blackmailing a small-town mayor so they can buy up land to steal power from the town while operating a secret lab under the mall to open a gate to the Upside Down (WHY?), while simultaneously a remnant of the malevolent force that was "defeated" last season has reanimated itself and is making people scarf chemicals (WHY?), and then it possesses one of them and uses that person to possess a bunch of other people in order to build itself a body made out of melted people, in order to kill el, whose only story this season is breaking up with her boyfriend, and we have to infiltrate this russian base in order to close the gate (same endgame as last season - BIG NO-NO) to kill the goo monster, except last time the "mindflayer” survived the gate being closed, so why would this even WORK, and -

the fact that there are so many "round-up/info dump" scenes where characters summarize what's going on and make implausibly accurate connections/guesses about what it all must mean is a red flag.  the characters shouldn’t have to tell your story to the audience.  if it's too complicated for us to keep straight on our own, it's too complicated.  

the amount of energy that goes into trying to lash together a Chaos Plot with too many shaky legs leaves nothing left over for nuanced character development or mood establishment.  you're constantly running to catch up to your own flimsy story before it collapses on top of itself.

2. the horror!

S1 of stranger things was the scariest thing i'd ever seen.

granted, i don't watch a lot of horror, because i don't like it.  i get scared too easily and then i legitimately can't sleep.  i watched a horror movie five years ago that i still think about every time the lights are off in my house.  but still, ST1 was something i had never experienced before.

it wasn't creature horror, and it wasn't just suspense.  it was the UNSETTLINGNESS of it all.  it wasn't really about the monster.  it was about the Upside Down.

the reason ST1 is so successful is because of how much we don’t know.  it's the horror of not understanding what is happening, and the terror of knowing that nobody thinks it’s real.  feeling like you're going crazy and being cut off from all assistance.  the conspiracy and the cover-up.  and the sheer unsettlingness of the whole parallel worlds things just tipped me over the edge - the idea that you can take one wrong step and then be suddenly and without warning completely off the map, simultaneously right next to the people you want to get to and also utterly beyond their reach.  that was fucking scary!!!!  

and they do it all with so little.  i have literally never been more scared in my life than when i would see those christmas lights start flickering.  and they're just LIGHTS!  yes, we see the monster later, but it's the uncertainty that's most frightening.  we don't understand how it arrives in our world, and we don’t know where it will show up next.  it could be right next to you - on the other side.  you could be standing on top of it.  you just don't know.  it’s like what jonathan says to nancy in her bedroom - “it can’t get us in here.”  and she says, “we don’t know that.”

the later seasons of stranger things, by comparison, did not scare me at all.  season two was like a zombie movie - hordes of weak enemies that you can just shoot with a gun.  and season 3 was even less frightening - upping the ante and making things gorier, more explosive, and bigger just isn't the vibe they set in S1.  i'm not scared of that giant goop monster.  it's like godzilla.  it's not horror; it's just a lot of noise.

the unsettling, "creep" factor that made season 1 so effective was gone.  it just turned into a regular old monster movie, and i didn't find that particularly interesting.

3. illogical, captain

a while ago there was a wave of pushback against people complaining about plot holes, but you know what?  there is, in fact, an appropriate place for us to talk about plausibility, as well as the point at which our suspension of disbelief collapses.

ST3 is a bona fide plausibility disaster.  i did not believe half of the story, because it was not unfolding in a believable way.

half of the plot points in this season would not have happened if the characters had been behaving with any kind of sense.  it is absolutely impossible for me to believe that none of these children IMMEDIATELY went to joyce or hopper the minute they knew something weird was going on.  it makes no sense.  after the shit they've seen?  it makes sense in season 1, because the kids are still so young that they have that kind of magical thinking that makes all of this seem kind of like an adventure.  but they're teenagers now, and developmentally, they’re past that stage.  they know the evil creature is back and they're pretty sure it's possessing billy?  for some unfathomable reason, they don't go to an adult, but try to trap billy in the sauna and just see what happens.  the other group has actual proof that russian soldiers are up to something shady in the mall?  they don't tell an adult; they send a TEN YEAR-OLD in through the AIR DUCTS to investigate the secret room guarded by MEN WITH GUNS.

this is ridiculous.  none of this should have happened.  none of this WOULD have happened.  it breaks the boundaries of disbelief.  it completely sabotages the audience’s engagement with the story - joyce and hopper's whole detour with alexei and murray is so dull, because its entire purpose is to bring hop and joyce up to speed on something that we, the audience, already know.  the other characters already found out this stuff, but did not communicate it - the gate is being opened again in a russian lab underground.  there's no suspense for us.  nothing new is revealed.  we're just waiting for them to hurry up and finish finding out so we can move on to the next thing.

moreover: there are so many other problems besides just "these characters would have talked to each other."  why on earth would murray, whose sole characteristic is extreme paranoia, take alexei wandering around the festival for hot dogs and carnival games.  why would hopper be so virulently against the possibility that weird shit might be happening again?  does he remember the past year or what?  how on earth would the kids be able to fight off that massive monster with an ax and a hunting rifle?  it's made out of dead guts and bones; why does it care if they shoot it?!  how in the WORLD is this russian facility so penetrable?  i'm sorry, it's just - beyond believable.  it doesn't have cameras?  the russians guards really can't tell that murray isn't a native speaker?  they don't check his id when they don't recognize him?  joyce and hopper really just got that lucky, to be asked a question and have “smile and nod” be the right answer?  nobody ever got shot?  it's silly.  it's just silly.  so many things - erica uses the "Open" button to open the elevator door in order to let steve and robin and dustin inside, but once the elevator is at the bottom of the shaft, robin explains the door's inexplicable non-opening because......you apparently need a keycard to use the buttons????  THAT MAKES NO SENSE; ERICA JUST USED THE BUTTONS A SECOND AGO.

even the entire endgame of this season is a contradiction!  if the mind-flayer survived el closing the gate last time, it doesn't make sense that closing the gate this time would kill it.  literally the entire plot of last season was "we need to get this thing out of will, because the creature will die once the gate is closed, and we want to make sure will doesn't die with it."  but apparently the creature didn't die upon closing the gate; it just got trapped in our dimension.  but now apparently it WILL die upon closing the gate.  for whatever fucking reason.

i'm sorry, but that’s a mess.  that’s a bona fide mess.

4. watch your tone

i honestly think the tonal change is the thing that made me the most frustrated about this season.  it's possible to have a terrible plot and still stay relatively true to your characters - you'll still have a bad season, but at least you didn't bastardize your characters in the process.

i had issues with S2 and i definitely was not as impressed with it as i was with S1, but at least in S2 joyce and hopper were recognizable.  in S3, i felt like i was watching strangers.  the tonal shift was bizarre and off-putting, more so with hopper than joyce, but it affected both of them.  

even as early as the very beginning of this season, i was feeling weird about how often hopper was being used for comedy.  and as the season progressed, this trend only became more pronounced.  almost every scene we had of him felt silly - and not like there was just something funny in the scene for me to laugh at, but like the audience was almost being asked to laugh AT him.  like he was constantly the butt of the joke.  

this really bothered me.  from that incredibly sincere and heart-wrenching portrayal of him in season 1, when they kept him rooted in the trauma of losing his daughter and the breakdown of his marriage, and then how that same trauma made him so driven to save will and protect the kids - what a change.  even in season 2 i was frustrated how the throughline of his daughter wasn’t touched again until the very last episode, and now in season 3 we’ve left that part of him so far behind that he's just there for us to laugh at.  we're supposed to laugh at scenes of him being drunk and a mess.  every scene he's in is either him arguing with joyce for comedic relief or being way over the top with alexei or the mayor.  he was like a caricature of himself, and i didn't recognize him.  

joyce suffered from the same thing, just by virtue of proximity.  she spent almost all of her time in this season with hopper, and virtually all of that time was taken up with silly shenanigans or comically overblown arguing.  what a departure from the desperate mother of season 1, who was maligned by everyone in town and only taken seriously by the audience.  now it’s the audience who are supposed to be chuckling at her.  

i dunno.  the tone shift was very dramatic, very obvious, and it impacted the entire season.  are we supposed to be taking this seriously or is it supposed to be a joke?  a little bit of humor to break tension can be a good thing, but when it's constant, it confuses the mood.  

and i personally don't think it was appropriate or respectful to either of these characters, in this case.

SMALLER THINGS THAT BOTHERED ME:

this show has 100% hit maximum character saturation.  by the end of this season there were 13 core characters onscreen at the same time, in the same scene!  it’s too many people!  they cannot reasonably develop that many people in the space allotted.

i still am not interested in max.  i don't feel anything for her.  she doesn't feel real.  i don't hate her, but she's just an empty vessel, and i really do think she's superfluous to this show.  i think you could remove her with very little reworking and the show would be stronger for it.  (they TRIED to do something interesting with billy, and i might have cared if we had been given literally any reason to care about him previously, but there was no investment earned there.  they didn't do the front-end work to make him somebody we were interested in.)

weird relationship sunderings from previous seasons.  i felt very strange about jonathan barely even seeing will this entire season.  i felt very strange about steve having almost zero contact with nancy.  i felt very strange about joyce hardly ever interacting with her kids.  all of these were core relationships - the characters were BUILT on those relationships, and they don't feel real outside of them.  not seeing these characters devote time to these relationships makes it feel like i'm watching a slightly different show.

the VIOLENCE.  apparently this is a beat-em-up now???  i really felt like every other scene somebody was getting beaten to a bloody pulp.  there was SO much smashing and bashing and throwing people into walls and fistfights and head trauma like - first of all, i find that stuff pretty boring, and second of all, all of these people should be in the hospital.  

the GORE.  other people’s mileage may vary, obviously; i just didn't like that.  i looked away at the scene with the rat, and all this...goopy dissolving human shit, and the stabbings, and just...general grossness level - season 1 managed to be bloodcurdlingly terrifying without any of this stuff.

i know this borders on nitpicky, but yet more medical malfeasance - another example of someone receiving an injection via the mysterious 90 degree angle neck route, plus - was anyone else losing it at the fact that steve and robin “puked up” a drug they received……..via injection??????  IT’S NOT IN THEIR STOMACHS, FOLKS!  THEY CAN’T PUKE IT UP!  IT DOESN’T WORK LIKE THAT!

the complete lack of follow-up to last season.  the whole S3 plotline (such as it is) feels like a weird side quest.  last season seemed to be furthering the mythos and setting us up for "there are other children like el/brenner is alive" - but this season, that fact appears to have been forgotten by everyone (even el!!!) and has nothing to do with the story that we're given, which is a goofy and redundant story about russians opening a secret lab under the mall which requires us to solve the exact same problem as last season (closing the gate).

this show's inability to keep certain throughlines in its headlights/keep things visible on the periphery instead of dropping them completely and then bringing them back whenever they feel like they need it again.   i already talked about hopper’s daughter as an example of this (done well in S1 and poorly in S2 and S3).  another example is that scene with nancy and her mom - it’s such a good scene, and yet it misses out on so much resonance, because they completely dropped the plotline of karen feeling locked out of her kids’ lives and desperately wanting to connect with them.  if they had continued to reference that throughout season 2, then this scene would have been so much more powerful.   as a third example, season 3 starts with a clear context/premise, and it’s INTERESTING - the town landscape changing because of the mall, business slow to non-existent, small town discontent over big corporations moving in, hopper pressured to break up the protest against mayor kline when he should have let it proceed - and then the show just drops that entire context.  you expect season 3 to stay rooted in the "our small town is being strangled by this mall" and then to eventually deal with the revitalization of hawkins, but nah.  it's never mentioned again.

LASTLY:

i'm not really gonna get into hopper "dying," because he's, like...clearly not dead.  but the whole situation was stupid and contrived (i was so sick of that arnold schwarzenegger lookalike by the last episode, god that whole thing was so dumb) and it's even cheaper knowing that he'll obviously be back.

what i AM gonna say is that i was livid that they brought back that peter gabriel cover of "heroes" to end this season.  their use of that song in S1 blew my mind - it had me stunned with how GORGEOUS it was and just, the way it worked in that particular scene - absolutely incredible.  floored me.  gave me chills.  to recycle it at the end of such a poorly constructed season made me so mad.  yOU CAN'T MAKE ME FEEL THINGS JUST BY REUSING THIS SONG.  I REFUSE TO HAVE EMOTIONS JUST BECAUSE YOU PULL OUT THIS BEAUTIFUL TRACK THAT YOU ONCE USED TO GREAT EFFECT; YOUR STORY WAS STILL TERRIBLE THIS TIME AROUND; DO NOT TRY TO TRICK FEELINGS OUT OF US THAT HAVEN’T BEEN EARNED.  

and that's it.  i’m sure later i’ll think of other things i neglected to mention here, but...yeah.  i was not impressed.  

[syllvane]

Food Court Romance- Steve Harrington X Reader

a/n: one good thing to come out of s3? robin. another good thing? starcourt mall. this isn’t proofread or beta’d or something, this is 1am writing

taglist: @ateliefloresdaprimavera

“He’s so in love with you and you can’t even see it.”

You turn around from behind the counter of the Orange Julius, giving Dustin an unimpressed look.

“This again? Steve doesn’t like me and for the record, I don’t like him either.”

Dustin rolled his eyes, crossing his arms.

“Because you totally don’t spend all day staring at him from across the food court.” He pointed out and you glared at him.

“You’re like ten years old, what do you even know about love?”

Dustin gave you a mildly insulted look and scoffed.

“I’m fourteen, for your information. And also, I have a girlfriend. Suzie.”

“Uh huh. Suzie. What are you doing here anyway, shouldn’t you be bothering Steve or something?” You asked, glancing at the growing line behind Dustin.

“Getting some refreshments for me and your man. We are trying to crack a secret code.” He said lowering his voice.

“The usual?”

“Mhm, okay. That’ll be a dollar sixty two.”

“Friend and family discount?” Dustin said, giving you a toothy grin and puppy dog eyes.

You rolled your eyes.

“Two dollars.”

He frowned and handed you the dollar and sixty two cents and you got the drinks ready and handed them to him.

“When you solve whatever code you’re working on, don’t forget who gave you the drinks to do so.”

“Never.” He smiled before running back to Scoops Ahoy, drinks in hand.

————

“So what did you mean when you said that there is a secret Russian base under the mall opening a gate to the Upside Down?” You asked, taking a deep breath and rubbing your temples.

He looked at you, setting the radio he had used to try and contact Mike and the others down.

“Exactly that. There’s a secret Russian base under the mall and they’re opening a gate to the Upside Down.”

You blinked.

“Yeah, pretty straightforward actually. Guess it was lucky that I was already here when the four of you barged in- actually, is Steve and Robin okay? Because they seemed very out of it when they walked in.”

“They got drugged by the Russians.”

You took another beat.

“Yeah, okay. We should go make sure they haven’t run-off, I guess.”

You and Dustin return to your seats to find that they have in fact run-off, and Erica doesn’t have the slightest clue to where.

The three of you check the entrance to the cinemas and the popcorn vendors before checking the cinema bathrooms, and there they are; laughing on the floor of the first stall and you know you really shouldn’t feel any jealously, but you do.

And that’s when you know that Dustin, in all of his wisdom, is at least partially right about one thing, and that’s that you are very much in love with Steve Harrington, and you have been for awhile.

“Where have you guys been?” Dustin asked, somewhat angrily but mostly worried.

Steve and Robin just laugh.

————

“Looking for a new job?” Steve asked you, his voice taking you by surprise.

You turned around and smiled at him, unable to help yourself.

“Seeing as my old place of work was destroyed, I guess I am.”

He smiled back at you warmly.

“You know, as much as I hated the uniform… I’ll miss seeing you from across the food court. I’ll miss sending you ice-cream in exchange for a drink.” He said and you looked down, your smile growing.

“I’ll miss it too, you know. Even though we didn’t work together, it was nice seeing Robin every day. And you, I suppose. How are you and Robin, by the way? Are the two of you dating?”

He raised an eyebrow and shook his head as if the mere thought of him dating Robin was downright crazy.

“Absolutely not. Robin is… I’m not her type and I don’t like her, not like that. She’s a great friend, but only ever that. Gives good advice too.”

You looked back up at him.

“Oh?”

“Yeah, Robin she… said that I was a complete dingus for not noticing that someone I genuinely like has been in front of me the whole time. Albeit writing mildly insulting messages to me on Orange Julius cups, but still in front of me nonetheless.”

You paused and looked at him in the eye, beginning to grin.

“She really calls you a dingus?”

“Every day.”

“And you really… like… me?”

“I thought it was obvious by now.”

“It was not," You laughed, taking his hand in yours. “Maybe to everyone else, but not to me.”

“Well… in case I haven’t made my point yet… I really care about you and I want to know if you want to go on a date. With me.”

“Yes. Of course, yes.”

[kaypeace21]

Do you think the duffer's will ever stop being cowards and give Will powers? they've hinted at it enough and really missed some good reveal opportunities in s3. if they do do you think they'll be like El's powers or something unique to him.

It might actually be a bit of both- I talked a while back about this. But my subscribers have literally doubled in like the past week . So I might as well talk about it again. XD

El’s (unique) powers

Telekenisis- The power to move or manipulate objects with the mind.  It can evolve to the point that a Telekinetic can control anything at a subatomic, particle and universal level (like when she tore apart the demorgon cell by cell in s1).

Levitation-  To use the mind, and cause a person to rise into the air and float in apparent defiance of gravity. El’s does this at the end of s2 when closing the gate.

Remote viewing - is the practice of seeking impressions about a distant or unseen target, purportedly using extrasensory perception (ESP). She does this when Kali asked her if the man (she was planning on killing was alone). It’s not foolproof, since she can only focus on one person at at time. Which is why she assumed he was alone, when his 2 daughters were simply in the other room. She seems to rely on psychometry to do this with people she doesn’t know well.

Psychometry- ability to discover facts about an event or person by touching inanimate objects associated with them. She does this in s1 when she takes Will’s d&d wizard piece and tells the boys he’s in the upside down and his exact location. And she does this with newspaper clippings of Terri-  and uses this power to track her down and find where she lives. And she also uses a photo of Heather to find her/sense something bad happened to her.

The void- The prequel novel, “suspicious Minds” explains this ability.Terry after getting pregnant (temporarily) gains her baby Jane’s/El’s power to tap into the ‘void’. In relation to seeing normal people in the void, Terry learned they will not notice you observing and eavesdropping on them, and they generally cannot hear or see you (according to the book) … so we can probably assume they also cannot touch others without them fading away, as well (like in the show).  El uses this ability to observe Hopper, Mike, and a Russian spy (in s1/2).

But the void is different if you try this on another psychic, Terry accidentally summons a young Kali- and finds out it’s a way for other psychics and only other psychics to have a private place to talk to one another- without anyone realizing. So yep, Will is psychic- the fact Will could touch, see, hear, and talk to El in the void wasn’t a coincidence! Debate over! Also Joyce is def. clairvoyant like one of the other characters in the book (especially since she spoke to El in the void in s1, and the book confirmed having powers was hereditary.)

Powers they share (this is based on  the show/Will comic/ d&d powers)

Technopathy (ability to manipulate electronic devices) also able to use this ability to communicate through other dimensions. (El also has this power, but she used it to communicate from our world to the upside down- with the walkie talkie, and the school radio that she causes to catch fire).  When Will first calls Joyce through the phone, he actually used a walkie talkie (which is not how electronics work- it was simply his psychic abilities), also Joyce’s phone exploded because of this. After she buys a new phone, and Will tries again using their actual phone this time, it once again explodes on her end. And then Will uses the radio and the lights in the house to communicate.

And to make even more clear this is entirely because of Will, and not simply how electronics work in the upside down – When Joyce gets the Christmas lights out, she says “blink once for yes, twice for no.” And that’s literally what he does. He blinks (AND USES HIS MIND) to get lights to flicker from another dimension!

Portal manipulation/dimension travel / teleportation -. They both opened portals from the upside down to the real world. And although most of the evidence for dimension travel/teleportation is more evident in Will.  Technically El did teleport/dimension travel at the end of s1 to the upside-down. 

In the show,  2 scientists, Barb , a deer, and 2 hunters were violently dragged to the upside down, and simply died due to blood-loss. The comic showed this to be the case, showing one of the hunters bleed to death. He explained the demorgan dragged him there before he died. In both the comic and show , Will wasn’t dragged like the others. He sent himself accidentally to the upside down (the lightbulb , in both the show/comic glowed just like all the lights in Hawkins did when El closed the gate to the upside down in s2). 

This is made even more clear in the fact that the demogorgan is far away from him at this moment (in the comic). 

Biokinesis? -This is  a very broad ability. It’s the ability to psychically manipulate anatomy, physiology, internal body processes, and DNA. She caused Troy to pee himself - which is a bodily process.

However most people associate this power with the ability to alter traits of ones own physical appearance. I don’t think they’ll be a mystique or anything. But I did point out a while ago that when El and Will use their powers to their absolute limits- their eye color changes. El’s when using her powers to their limits, has her eyes turn red in both s1 and 2. And in s2 Will’s eyes slowly change from green, to brown, to black (maybe they changed color since he was fighting his possession with his powers?).

Imagination Manifestation- The ability to bring anything from one’s imagination into existence. I explained in a crazy amount of detail, here, why I believe El  made the upside down/demorgorgans and how Will created the mindflayer and demodogs… and how it’s not only an allegory for Will and El’s (cannon) ptsd, trauma, and darker intrusive thoughts (but because of their powers), became a physical manifestation (with a life of it’s own).

Will’s ( possible unique) powers

Shadow Walking-  They said in s1, Will ‘shadow walked’ . In D&D shadow walking is – “ largely illusory, but  ‘quasi-real’. characters can use this spell to travel rapidly by stepping onto the Plane of Shadow (the upside down), moving the desired distance, and then stepping back onto the Material Plane.” This quote perfectly summarizes Will’s power - which he was shown to be using in s1 & s2 (before his possession)- he can be partially-present and can physically interact with both dimensions at the same time. Although he has little control of this power- constantly flicking between both dimensions. This explains how he was standing in the real world next to Mike and later Joyce in the field,  while at the same time, the mind flayer took possession of him in the upside down version of that same field. And how on Halloween he was in the upside down calling for Mike, but was seen on camera in the real world calling for Mike ‘having an episode’.

Electro-kinesis – He has lightning come out of his hand, and this is also a power that Will drew of his wizard character (in the show) before he was sent to the upside down.

Pyro-kinesis- He drew his wizard character shooting green fireballs in s1 and in the first ep he rolled the dice and yelled fireball, he had the ‘shadow monster ‘ excorcised out of him with fire, and in the comic he shoots a demogorgan and yells “fireball”.  Will in the comic easily kills 2 demogorgans using pyrokinesis (fire) eviscerating 2 of them to dust – it’s a bit ambiguous, but he shoots fire out of the gun, and it appears the bullet wasn’t properly placed in the gun.

And in d&d lore the only previous human apprentice of the mindflayer, also had fire powers.

Scrying/clairvoyance- “ An ability the MF has, the ability to see and hear a creature at any distance…, the sensor has your full visual acuity, including sensing any magical effects-detect chaos, detect evil, detect good, detect law, detect magic, and message.” (all of which Will could do in s2-detecting the feelings/intentions of the mindflayer, seeing all those people die while in his hospital bed, knowing that the demodogs were approaching, giving the message to close the gate, and finding Hopper (a cop/’the law’) and knowing that he would die without their help). So it’s like a mix of clairvoyance/being able to see at great distances. 

-“The target (of the scrying) must make a Wisdom ( cough …’Will the Wise’) saving throw, which is modified by how well one knows the target and the sort of physical connection you have to it. If a target knows you’re casting this spell, it can fail.” (It failed in the shed, how the Mf found him)

“On a failed save, the spell creates an invisible sensor within 10 feet of the target. You can see and hear through the sensor as if you were there” (How the mindflayer found him so quickly).

Also, when Will uses scrying for tracking he always closed his eyes. So it’s interesting that in s2, before the mindflayer possessed him, he draws himself with closed eyes (in wizard garb) with a crystal ball (which according to wikipedia , “is generally associated with the performance of clairvoyance and scrying”.And Will in s3 did say he sees the future.

True sight- In the show Mike says he thinks Will has “true sight” (which Mike may be mixing up with scrying as it is similar). In the show it is said to be the “power to look into the ethereal plane”. However, in D&D it’s slightly different because they can see through the eternal plane, and are immune to illusions (so theoretically Kali’s powers wouldn’t work on him), and they have the ability to see the true form of any creature that has been mutated.

Temporary super strength- Maybe it’s comic-book logic. But a small 4’11 , 12 year old  (let alone most adults) would not be able to bang a chair with such force that it would smash into pieces like this. Not to mention the way they frame it- seems to hint that it’s important and that we should notice how much he smashed the chair. And in D&D some Wizards do have spells that give them temporary super-strength? Also while possessed by the Mf (using 1 hand) he was stronger than both Joyce and Jonathan using all 4 of their hands, at full strength.

Astral projection? -Later (in the comic) he hears a television report saying they found his dead body, he freaks out and tries to prove to his mom he’s alive- and in the show (after his body was found) he does this to prove he’s alive…

They never explain how he did this in the comic but it appears that he used astral projection ( El might have this power?).

Invisibility?- In regards to invisibility, in the show multiple characters mention Will’s ability to hide.  When Hopper is looking for Will in s1, Jonathan warns Hopper that when Will is scared, he hides, so he should go to Lonnie’s instead of Hopper. “If he sees the cops, he’ll think he’s in trouble. He’ll hide! Y’know, he’s good at hiding!” The fact that Jonathan thinks Will (a literal child) has hiding abilities so great that he could stump a sheriff from finding him in Lonnie’s small house is extremely suspicious, to me.  The comic double downs on this seemingly irrelevant line, saying “Will Byers has always been very good at hiding. For games, from bullies, when he just doesn’t feel like being seen.And he’s hidden himself way in darkness so deep that he’s not sure anyone will ever find him.” Plus, teleportation and invisibility seem like something a kid who hid from his abusive father might of accidentally used  A LOT- unbeknownst to Jonathan! 

(super crazy/prob not true) but there was a weird thing in s2 , that may have been time travel? link here

[sadbi-hours]

Here it is! Finally! My Stranger things’ Fanfic Rec list I’ve put off for months yooo! Anyway, I hope you find something to read and enjoy y’all :)

(Oh, the * at the front of the fic title means they are my favorites!)

* objects in the mirror by Snickfic  (Complete)

Jonathan has no f**king idea why Nancy and Steve gave him the Nikon. He doesn't know why they're so insistent on seeing the pictures he takes, either. 

why you should read it?:one reason: you can’t tell me that Jonathan doesn’t have a thing for taking pics during sexy times! you just can’t...and this fanfic is the reason why!

And you understand now why they lost their minds and fought the wars Series by  Drhair76 (WIP)

The many adventures of Steve, Jonathan and Nancy as they figure out their relationship. (feat. Robin, the kiddos and a heck ton of parental figures.)

why you should read it?: Because Steve/Nancy/Jonathan’s relationship is the cutest thing in this little series...but it’s also very real in a way that’s not supernatural. Just go read the series! Warning: It does get a little angsty in later parts!

Emotion Sickness by  Shypt  (WIP)

After the Battle of Starcourt, Steve struggles with the damages that the Russians left behind. In dealing with the aftermath, with the help of Robin and the Party, he uncovers a larger conspiracy at hand than just re-opening the Gate.

why you should read it?: Post s3 fic, where Robin and Steve are left with powers after the Russian’s experiments...and how they deal with that and the large conspiracy at behind why. 

* it's a risk, it's a gamble by  nondz (pinkjook) (Complete)

“I think we should pretend to date,” Robin says.

"What?" Steve answers.

why you should read it?: read this post and all my feelings will be revealed...or aka the emotionally sweet stoncy fic where Robin and Steve pretend to be each others beards... that might have made me weep silently a few times haha!

* Strike from the Records (it's not over 'till we're done) by SylphofScript (Complete)

If there’s one more thing Steve should have walked away with after so many incidents with the otherworldly, it’s to never trust the slow points.

They were only ever a blanket of lies, covering up a brewing storm.

Too bad Steve never learns.

why you should read it?: A long connective fic, where each character is common or not so common whamp trope! So beware, it gets super angsty in parts!

Have Happened by cortexikid (Complete)

"I overheard you. You were talking in your sleep.”

Steve's heart fluttered nervously.

“It was a little funny at first,” Nancy admitted, her tone a mix of teasing and apologetic, “you were moaning my name and I thought it’d be kinda funny if Mike accidentally overheard you having a sex dream about his sister—”

Steve couldn’t control the guffaw that escaped him.

“But then you said Jonathan’s name. Right after mine. All in the same breath.”

why you should read it?: You know, why not! I’ll admit, this story doesn’t entirely work for me anymore since the monster hunting trio had grown so far from their s1 characterizations, but it’s still a fic worth reading! So i am rec-ing it!

Slide Over Here by empathieves (Complete)

Nancy says Jonathan's name instead of Steve's two weeks after the Monster Hunting Incident. Steve says it instead of Nancy's name a month after. They don't talk about it until two months after, when it's become increasingly hard to ignore that Jonathan Byers has become a part of their sex life without even being in the room.

why you should read it?: Another post s1 fic, where Nancy and Steve slowly start bringing Jonathan’s name into their sex life...and how they eventually act on their desires! 

Searching For Your Heart by cali-chan (girls_are_weird) (Complete)

One of the world's biggest action movie superstars is coming to town, and every kid in Hawkins High is determined to win MTV's back-to-school scavenger hunt and get a face-to-face meeting with their idol. Mike and his friends are sure they've got this in the bag— until the contest throws a wrench in their plans and their only shot at winning is partnering up with Mike's longtime crush, El Hopper.

why you should read it?: I’ll admit I didn’t finish this story...I was a little too fluffy for my tastes, but It’s still a cute story worth reading!

Bad at Love (Can You Blame Me for Trying) by GeoffsEightGreatestMistakes (Complete)

He liked to think the world was done throwing him curveballs. He’s had to kill the Demogorgon, get his face punched in by a crazed stepbrother, listen to his drunk girlfriend tell him she doesn’t love him, and tell his best friend that he’s a piece of shit. He thought he had somehow managed to catch enough curveballs for a lifetime. He was wrong. The newest curveball may be the hardest one yet.

why you should read it?: It’s Stoncy and my fav romantic angst trope: (not so) unrequited love/Pining! 

* every night my mind is running around her by magneticwave (Complete)

In which Nancy gets married, Lucas gets hot, and Dustin gets to give lots of people advice that he’s only moderately qualified to dispense. 

why you should read it?: This was my first ever ST fanfic! I had to add it on principal...of it being absolutely amazing lol! 

* Ducks on the Pond by The Stephanois (ballantine) (Complete)

Steve Harrington knows two things to be true: the St. Louis Cardinals are the best baseball team in the world, and Nancy Wheeler is far too amazing for him to hog all to himself.

why you should read it?:  It’s one of my all time favorite stoncy fics, it combines two things I absolutely love into one story: Poly relationships and Baseball (I won a MVP trophy in HS for Pitching) ...and also uses the age old euphemism of bases for sex;) 

Across the Many Miles by FeoplePeel (Complete)

Nancy packed her bags and moved out West for Caltech. Jonathan’s East at NYU. Steve’s in the middle, Hawkins, Indiana and separated from the only people who understand by a seemingly endless stretch of land on each side. The story doesn't start there, but it doesn't end there, either.

why you should read it?: It’s actually been so long since I’ve read this one...and bruh is it long...so it’s definitely not a causal read, but it’s very very good read if you have the time for a long, long story. 

* let this pass you by CallicoKitten (Complete)

Steve’s not entirely sure at which point in his life he became Dustin Henderson’s personal chauffeur. Okay, maybe that’s not entirely true. Maybe he can pinpoint the exact moment it happened and it honestly keeps him awake at night more than the demo-dogs or the Demogorgon or any of the insane shit that’s happened in Hawkins recently.

---

the kids drag steve on a trip to chicago to find El's sister, steve figures some shit out in the process

why you should read it?: It’s stoncy, the party, and a road trip all rolled into one...what more can you ask for haha?!

Talk Me Down by anomalation (Complete)

Nancy knows what she wants: Steve and Jonathan both, and maybe a fight. Steve knows he'd do anything for these dorky kids. Jonathan doesn't seem to want anything, but he'd also never ask them. And none of them are interested in forgiving Billy.

Featuring: some D&D, a Christmas party, a lot of relationship negotiating, no excuses for shitty behavior, and yet also the firm belief that nobody deserves abusive parents.

why you should read it?: Another really long, long fic that I completely enjoyed the one time I read it...and It had a nice and real redemption arc for Billy that I liked. 

* For the Three of Us by brokenpromisesandhope

5 times Jonathan loved Steve and Nancy and one time they loved him back.

why you should read it?: The summary pretty much says it all...

* decide on me (decide on us) by mjolnirbreaker (Complete)

Robin could very well die tonight in her stupid work uniform, and honestly she doesn’t want to dwell on it. So she’s going to make it her personal mission to figure out what’s up with Steve’s romantic life, and hopefully they don’t die before she solves the puzzle.

why you should read it?: It amazes me to this day...just how close to canon this author had gotten for Robin’s characterization and her relationship with Steve! 

* fly me to the moon by bleuboxes (Complete)

It's a Saturday night; he's watching one of those Star Wars movies with Robin - who won't shut up about how hot Leia looks.

Steve mentions something briefly about how he likes Han’s hair, rugged tough guy appearance, and general aloofness. Robin rolls her eyes, mutters an 'of course you do', then throws popcorn at his face.

why you should read it?:  Okay, I related way too well to this story! Han Solo was one of my bisexual awakens too...and I didn’t realize until years later lol! It’s also a sweet story about how Robin slowly helps Steve through his awakening like a real BFF should. 

God Help the Outcasts by willwrite4coffee (Complete)

Robin Buckley's always been a little different, but to her, that's never been a bad thing.

She's been on the outside looking in, an outcast, but she'd rather spend her evening with Sousa than at a kegger.

Being an outsider has never been a bad thing.

(also known as, why does no one know Robin in such a small town like Hawkins?)

why you should read it?: A cute little story about Robin and Steve’s friendship directly after the events of s3...and how the party and Nancy and Jonathan slowly begin to accept Robin into the fold. 

Oh, and anything by @trulyalpha! Here’s the Ao3 link!