#also unidentified bug friend

[thetiethatvines]

i obviously love big showy flowers as much as the next person but the best kind of flower is the kind that’s so small it’s in people’s yards and they don’t even notice it to eradicate it, like dayflowers and bridalveil and dogshade and field madder

87% of these pictures are from squatting in someone’s yard and that’s so fine with me

also good morning!!!!!

[biomejumblesale]

Some lovely iridescent friends (some deceased) and a very tongue-y butterfly friend from this summer at work

[fantabulisticity]

Some more bugs I've found recently!

Idk how to turn off sound in vids anymore so here's a vid of a lacewing larva trying (and failing) to eat me while me and a bunch of bug nerds chat around a table, lmao, i don't have the energy to caption all of it so. Sorry.

[thebeast-dennis-etcetera]

Always There

Note: I know I’ve been MIA for a while but the “writer block” bug bit me good. Anyways, hope I can apologize better with this Gibbs Prompt!

Prompt: Gibbs has a panic attack after hearing old military footage.

"Tony, knock it off, you're gonna make me drop it and then we're all gonna be in trouble," you warned the overly excited agent as he made grandous hand motions near the tray of coffees you had.

"Oh come on, Y/N. I know you're just as excited as me. You're the biggest crime noir movie nerd I know."

You just smiled at his theatrics as the both of you exited the elevators and walked towards the bullpen, where the rest of the team was waiting.

"Tony been talking your ear off about the new Gregory Haines film?" McGee asked as you handed over his coffee with an eyeroll.

"You have no idea. It took him 10 minutes just to order his coffee because he was busy talking about the trailer with the barista."

You handed Bishop her loaded breakfast bagel and latte before finishing with Gibbs' tall black coffee. He was quietly engrossed in whatever case file was on his desk, barley looking up to greet you. It was unusual of him since you two were kind of a thing now. Of course no one knew about it, but for the last 3 months or so, you and Gibbs had been going on late night dates and hanging out at each others houses, occasionally sleeping together.

You blamed his distant behavior on keeping a professional cover with you so as not to arise any suspicion from the team, but kept a reminder in your head to ask him about it later.

"But she just can't help going back to him, totally oblivious to the fact that he's actually the town murderer-

"DiNozzo. Are you able to focus today?" Gibbs inquired in irritation, irrupting Tony's lengthy synopsis to Bishop. His tone was a bit more gruff than usual, even throwing Tony off a bit.

"Uh, yeah. Sorry boss. Back to work."

As Tony took his seat at his desk, McGee pulled up a picture of a very obvious decomposed body being pulled from the water. "Master Sargent Gantry, was found by local police, washed up on the shore 2 days ago. Shot in the head, the county's ME determined the cause of death to be a suicide after tracing the trajectory of the bullet and the linking it to the Master Sargent's missing sidearm that the police found when doing a sweep of the lake." Using the clicker, he changed the screen so that it showed a picture of a plastic bag filled with what looked like letters and a personal recording device. "Unfortunately, a couple days later, they also found this vacuum sealed bag containing letters to the Master Sargent and a recording of an unidentified male admitting to friendly fire during a firefight back in Iraq of 1991."

"1991? Wasn't that-

Before Bishop could finish whatever historical fact she had in mind, she was interrupted by Gibbs.

"Operation Desert Storm."

All of you turned to look at him as he stood up from his desk, coffee in his hand.

"DiNozzo and McGee, I want you two getting all the information you can from Master Sargent Gentry's time in the Marine Corps. Find out if anyone had any problems with him that would suggest motive. Bishop, I want all the records pulled from the ME that did Gentry's autopsy, talk with Ducky and Palmer. Y/N, you're with me. Abby and Sloan are going over the recording found with our victims body."

No one dared asked any follow up questions as all the clues were adding up. His more than usual grumpiness, the distant look in his eyes. You all knew Gibbs served in Desert Storm so seeing what looked like a fragging on a superior officer and possible friend, would definitely offput him.

You caught up to him as he entered the elevator, destined to the lab. It was quiet for a few seconds before you decided to speak.

"You ok?

He just nodded, but didn't speak further on it. Once the doors opened, you were following behind as he entered Abby's lab, where Sloan was already waiting. She looked just as worried as you felt.

"Whadya got Abbs?"

"Ok, so luckily for us, the letters and recording were vacuum sealed in a plastic bag, preserving them perfectly. The letter don't give any names or clues as to who wrote them but when I listened on the recording, I found something."

Gibbs nodded to her, to which she turned to her computer and clicked a button, immediately filling the lab with loud sounds of machine guns firing. It was the only time you had ever seen Gibbs visibly flinch. As you all listened to the audio clearly describing a firefight with enemy forces, you noticed the change in Gibbs' demeanor. He seemed to stand rigid as his free hand slowly closed itself in a fist, while the other adjusted holding his coffee in almost a nervous manner.

Are they coming from the south side or not?!

Who's got eyes on that treeline?!

The sounds of bullets ricocheting off of metal could be heard as a couple of men cursed before returning fire.

Check your fire Watts!

Did I hit him?! Tell me I didn't hit him Sarge! Is he moving?!

You could see the hard swallow come from Gibbs as he turned towards the exit, glancing quickly over you before looking away. In that split second, you identified exactly what he was feeling. Panic.

"That's enough Abby," you spoke, making her quickly stop the recording in concern. You looked over at Sloan who was also know focused on Gibbs.

"You alright Gibbs?" she asked tentatively.

He cleared his throat and nodded before heading to leave. "Send the recording to DiNozzo and McGee. Have them identify the voices."

As he walked out, he threw his full cup of coffee away in the trash, confirming that something wasn't right. As Sloan made an attempt to follow him, you stopped her.

"I got it. You stay with Abby."

He had almost managed to escape you through the elevators but you threw your arm in between the doors, causing them to open back up as you slipped in.

As the elevator began it's accent, you watched as Gibbs leaned his head back against the wall, eyes shut, and began breathing a bit heavier than before. Knowing, he would never want anyone to see him like this, you hit the emergency stop button and went over to him.

"Gibbs. It's me, y/n. Can you hear me?"

He didn't answer, but instead turned to face the wall, hands gripping the railing till his knuckles were white. You knew at this point, he was fully immersed in a panic attack and couldn't talk. He was now breathing through his mouth, eyes still shut and you knew if you didn't so something, he was gonna start hyperventilating.

So you squeezed yourself underneath his arms so that it was you between him and the wall and wrapped your arms around his neck, pulling his head down to hear you.

"Jethro, it's me. You're having a panic attack and I need you to slow your breathing for me, alright?"

He shook his head in defiance as his jaw clenched and unclenched.

"Just listen to me. Listen to my voice. You're here with me. We're in the elevator, no one else is here."

You were surprised when he used one arm to wrap around your waist, squeezing you tightly, as the other stayed gripped to the railing.

"I- I can hear them-

Your heart broke at the sound of his voice. He sounded defeated and almost scared, causing you to hold him tighter. Still, you whispered the same words over again, hoping to bring him out of the obvious memory he was reliving.

"You're not there anymore. It's over, you're here now. With me. In the elevator. Bishop is down in the bullpen. Ducky and Palmer are in autopsy. Vance is in his office."

You recited everything to him, describing all the details.

"Just breath with me Jethro. Deep breath in, deep breath out. Keep doing that."

You practiced normal breathing with him until you finally felt some of his body relax. His other hand eventually let go of the railing and joined his other arm to wrap around you. His grip was still tight and his face was buried in the crook of your neck but his breathing was a lot better. Now you began to feel his body start trembling as all the adrenaline was slowly finding ways to leave him.

You knew the worst of it was over and you didn't need to talk anymore, but just hold him and stay with him until he was back in control. You ran your fingers through his hair in the same motion over and over again while making sure to take in deep breaths.

Once you felt his grip loosen and take a step back, you wiped your own tears that had fallen and smiled gently up at him. He quickly wiped his eyes and cleared his throat, obviously somewhat embarrassed about what happened but as he turned to look away from you, you pulled his face towards yours and kissed him.

You heard him sigh into the kiss as he pulled you back into his arms.

"Thank you," he said, moving to nuzzle your neck again.

"Of course. I'll always be there for you Jethro."

The both of you took a few more minutes to pull yourselves together before facing the rest of them team, which you knew were gonna have a lot of questions after Abby filled them in on what happened.

But none of it mattered as you smiled slightly to yourself, feeling closer to Gibbs than ever before.

[langefisharcade]

Snippet

Butcher smiled at the exhibit. Her long light brown curly hair flows behind her black skull mask wrapped together with spider silk with yellow lenses that leaves the back of her hair flowing. The mask obscures her bluish green eyes. The yellow lenses of her mask are durable, high-end swim goggles tinted to help filter out bright lights, with lenses from an old pair of her glasses sealed inside with silicon. The mask design features dull yellow lenses and sections of armor designed to imitate a bug’s mandibles. She wears a black-and-grey spider silk bodysuit with armor panels made out of insect shells, human bones and exoskeletons augmented with more spider silk. Each had "layers" resembling a pillbug. She wore spider silk crafted gloves with clawed fingertips which inched towards her utility belt. Her tools of choice lay in each patch alongside her material for her more… obscure power.

She knew in her very soul what each item was and what they were for. The data her mind compiled allowed her to identify each item worth her time. She activates the firefly lights to highlight to the Teeth each item she requires along with activating the invisible security. 

She inched her flashlight to the side of the wall. Within minutes, her true power activates within the flashlight. Layers of lights in the form of webs flash into life before the Cape. The rest of the Teeth stare in amazement. She nods and they put her training to work.

She smiled. Within seconds she instinctively danced through each layer like nothing. Unlike the rest of her gang, Butcher somehow obtained the experience to do that before she “trained them.” She gleefully notes, “Nothing like a task of poisonous spider webs to prepare oneself.” 

While she never did understand how she knew the training method. She gleefully enjoyed how effective it was. 

Flashback

“Just imagine the security lights as these poisonous webs.” The amnesiac pointed out to the group. The webs congested brutally in the path of the Teeth. On each web is a specialized venomous spider with orders to bite if the web is touched. Vex stared at her, “Seriously?””

“Yep. I want each of you to practice till no one is bit. Understand!” The leader of the Teeth ordered.

End Flashback

She looked at the glass. It was supposed to be a jackal-headed golden divine mask made of unknown material that temporarily released a flash of light after being put on, and it was the size of an average adult human skull with pointed ears, a half-discovered nose in the lower part, and a mustache from the level of the nose up down to the level of underbrush on either part, however, the part that covered the wearer's lips, underbrush, cheeks and ears was completely uncovered. It also possessed eyeholes with lines above them that resembled eyebrows, and a third-eye crater on its forehead where an unidentified gemstone that served as its power source was located. Unfortunately, the gem is not there. So the mask retained a more bronze look to it. She smiled thoughtfully, “Hello there, my old friend.”

But no matter, Butcher guessed where it was. She placed her hand on the case. “Do not worry, old boy. I will restore you to full power. Anubis will bless us both.”

By activating Butcher II’s power, she removes the last barrier to her goals. Within seconds she grabbed her prize. “Poor Gustav. He never did know what he had.”

She glanced over to the Teeth. Each managed to obtain the targeted items. She moved over to the Mesopotamian section. With a flick of the wrist she sprayed special Hieroglyphics she knew in her hearts proved true. Fuck Baal. With that, Butcher led her forces out the door and teleported away.

[orion-my-rion]

ok it's time to share a mere fraction of my insane thoughts about beastieball and the preview.

for starters, kichik was my favorite from the beginning but now having seen the first metamorphosis for all three starters i am even more partial to them. ostrisigh is by far my favorite of the three (by a Much larger margin than kichik was my favorite of the initial starters), although i don't rock with the name as much as i enjoy the names hopsong and handicoot. frankly i'm not immune to "cool" designs, and i also like when parts of a design are explained by the description (the fact that their leg feathers and talons overgrow bc of a refusal to use their super strong legs for anything, and they look grumpy bc of constant headaches from relying on their heads instead, is an Awesome concept). i also like the play style over the other two as i'm big on having dedicated hard-hitters and saving support roles for my other beasties.

speaking of other beasties I MISS SKIBBLE!!!! does anyone else miss skibble? it's going to kill me WHY aren't they available in the playtest?? i understand they probably moved their spawn area to the caves or something but that's literally my friend. they're soooo cute i could cry. put them back.

i've also fallen in love with a few of the newly revealed/available beasties :) the collarva line is absolutely WICKED and i love the raremorph for them. really really cool design and play style, although the defense drop at full maturity is a bit of a bummer (but understandable for balance reasons. and also that's a bug).

we saw diggum in the demo but being able to play with them has changed my entire life. i can't imagine Not using diggum in the full release. i love them. my raremorph is named tiramisu <3 my friend had a hell of a time knocking them down in pvp LOL my fluffy brown self-healing tank.

humflit is SOOOO CUTE and also surprisingly very versatile?? the defender/avenger abilities are super cool and useful (having a wiped beastie in your team raises their defense/power, respectively, by 1.5x) and the moves they learn are super good for how i play And the design and colors and alt colors are so so so cute. i cannot wait for the full set of sprites to be finished.

i also love servitt!!!! much like with kichik i looove a dedicated damage beastie and even tho its weakness to mind damage is a little scary this is fairly easily played around with strategic movement, tactical tag-ins and tag-outs, and other beasties' abilities to redirect attacks or raise defenses :) not to mention the power of healing. and also they're a little kitty cat btw if you even care.

besides the beasties and the strategies i enjoy in the actual beastieball portion of the game, i also LOVE the newly introduced characters. kaz is my favorite and basically my actual best friend (and also Extremely reminiscent of my real friend jasper? which also happens to be the name of kaz's home town?? hello? greg???). i would do anything for him. i wish the volley minigame could be replayed forever i wish you could hit him up on speed dial and meet up to play at any time. i also wish you could do exhibition rematches bc i miss his team and music. he's so awesome.

speaking of music THE MUSIC IS SO GOOD. all the new tracks are SICK i love each and every one of them. the sports king theme is especially good. kaz's themes are both excellent. riven's themes are cool. reese's theme is charming and fitting. the new town themes are cute. lena raine is just so so so incredible.

one last thing: starting the marlin fight while replaying the tutorial for stream and seeing that unidentified CREATURE looming behind his original team was the biggest jumpscare. ma there's a weird fuckin cat on the court. looks like some sort of gigantic BEAST. i really like yamyth's design and concept art but they did Not need to scare me like that lol

okay i think that's all :) play beastieball. talk to me about beastieball. i'm very regular about this game please. thank you goodnight <3

[clannfearrunt]

Today was exhausting BUT one of the places I delivered I got pelted with a massive flock of the biggest grasshoppers I’ve seen in the area and I saw a huge P. audax walking around and I lost all sense of self awareness for a second and immediately crouched down to look at this spider. And the homeowner came out (oh no) but she has the biggest smile on her face as she excitedly asked to know what I had found and then she spent the next ten minutes showing me around her property pointing out all the bug friends she’s been keeping track of. She initially came out because she was hoping I spotted one of the ribbon snakes on her property but the spider was also a delight to her. She found another tinier P. audax right above me also and another unidentified spiderling we tried and failed to catch. The world is good and I’m jealous of her house

[junoniadoesart]

Meet Kligekylk!

He’s an original kaiju I’ll be using in a story idea I’m working on (Placeholder name: Kaijuwatching. It has influences from the early MonsterVerse, The Kaiju Preservation Society, Pacific Rim, Godzilla (2000) and Cloverfield. It’s based off of a concept called kaijuwatching, which functions as being similar to a combo of birdwatching and storm chasing).

As for Kligekylk, he’s the main antagonist kaiju. Since kaiju in this story will be of ambiguous sentience, it’s not sure why he’s rampaging, but it’s heavily implied that he’s sapient and just being a jerk to us little bugs ‘cause he can (not at all inspired by a childhood bully who would step on bugs in front of me because he knew it would upset me /s)

Klige is based off of hagfish, olms, viperfish, frilled sharks, and so on! Earlier concepts included insp from chimaeras and some of Beebe’s unidentified bathysphere fish, especially the “pallid sailfin” and “giant dragonfish”. Kaiju who went into him include Shin Godzilla’s earlier forms, Zilla’98, some of the Pacific Rim kaiju, and the Cloverfield monster. His name (which is a placeholder I may end up keeping) is a combo of the German word for “blade” and the Russian for “tooth”. Allegedly. A friend got that off Google Translate when I was asking around for name ideas.

The bird monster up in the upper right corner that he’s fighting is named Nauhanokka as a placeholder name (yes I know that’s Finnish for ribbon-beak and makes little sense, but it sounds nice for now). She’s the protag kaiju, based off of secretary birds, herons, hoatzins, Rodan, Mothra, and Litra. More on her later if people show interest. She was designed first, and Klige was designed to contrast her.

As for Klige’s abilities, he has hagfish slime (not sure if I wanna make it toxic or not). This makes him incredibly hard to grab or bite down on, and grants him some protection from fire and heat based attacks! He’s a slippery lil guy :D his teeth are also sharp, and he’s a very fast and agile swimmer. Slower on land, though. His biggest drawback is not having any ranged attacks (yet). He also has a standard kaiju’s durability, and seems to be immune to depressurization/the Blobfish Effect, allowing him to function at surface-level waters and even on land, even if he prefers the deep. His weaknesses include bright light (blinds him) and getting dried out if he’s out of the water for too long!

That’s all so far!

@fishyfishyfishtimes because you liked my Manda ideas and I thought you’d be interested in another feesh kaiju!

[wheeler-things]

Finally crawled my way through s1e1 in my slow rewatch, and there were a few things I found interesting enough to write about.

I can't believe this is long enough to require a table of contents, but... Topics covered in this unnecessarily long analysis (I'm incapable of brevity, sorry) of The Vanishing of Will Byers: - Unidentified Stalker Camera Angles - Concerning Details Around Mike (and Nancy... and Karen) - Mike's Eyes

You know... I didn't originally plan for this to just be About the Wheelers, but it's probably not a surprise because I love this terrible family. These aren't All the points I could make about the episode (by far), but these are the most coherent ones at the moment.

Unidentified Stalker Camera Angles

There are a number of stalker-y camera angles used in this episode, and because I'm interested in what they could imply, I wanted to include them all, but Tumblr's 30 image limit is hampering me, so I'm only going to focus on the ones where I couldn't determine, from context, the identity of the observer (though I will hazard a guess). In this episode, the only characters that I noticed being framed this way without an obvious observing party were Mike/the Party with Mike (one scene, and one shot), Will (one shot), and Nancy (one scene).

1-- Nancy at School

^ Steve and Nancy in the bathroom is a little more borderline than the others in this set, in my opinion (just because it lacks the same busy clutter in the foreground which makes it seem less like the perspective of someone looking on). I included it because it felt creepy in the context of the previous two shots, in a way that I felt was distinct from the other camera angles in the scene.

2-- Mike and the Party in the Basement

^ This is another borderline angle for me, but the panning shot that came from something close to this angle sold it for me. Even though the whole Party is visible, Mike's pretty clearly the focal point.

3-- Mike and the Party in the Basement, Panning Shot

^ Everything about this creeps me out.

4-- Will in the Basement

^ This makes some sense, because Will is the one kidnapped, but whatever's watching him seems to be looking from nearly the same spot as whatever was watching the whole Party/possibly Mike earlier.

5-- Mike and the Party in the Woods

^ Creepy!!

OKAY.

So, whatever's watching in 1 is clearly stalking Nancy. She's the common denominator in all three shots.

Whatever's watching in 2, 3, and 4 is almost certainly the same thing, because all three shots are angled from such similar positions. There's an incredibly helpful angle from the other side of the dnd table which comes up twice and which very clearly shows that there is nothing actually watching the boys from that position in the room, which suggests that whatever's doing the watching is from the UD or is possibly watching from the mindscape like El can. Or else it's something more metaphorical, like the room having been bugged by the government (though I actually find that less plausible than something supernatural, at this point in s1).

Mike appears to be the focus in 2, and the focus at the start of 3. Because we don't know of any reason for something or someone to be stalking Mike at this point in time, this is a potential connection between whatever's watching in 1 and in 2-4.

If the same thing IS the stalker in 1-4, then it's incredibly concerning to me that it saw Mike interacting with the people he cares for most in the world (at this point in time), seemingly selects Mike's favourite from the group (given that 4 is focused on Will and Will is later abducted), then (presumably) steals Will away to the UD, AND then also... sees Nancy interacting with the people she cares for most in the world (at this point in time-- side note, but GOD that's a sad thing to write, since Steve JUST started dating her here... someone give Nancy more actual friends in s5), and then just days later, her favourite, Barb, is stolen away to the UD. It's just... a big coincidence, is all.

The way the panning shot in 3 moves from being focused on Mike with (most of) the Party blocked out, to focused on the Party with Mike blocked out, to focused on the Party with Mike's head separated from his body via the placement of the railing in the shot? It feels deeply sinister to me (also... not liking remembering the fact that the dnd game at the end of s1 culminates with the Thessalhydra having its heads cut off... not liking remembering the fact that technically Mike's character doesn't play a role in that kill... I have some thoughts on this but I think they're outside the scope of this already bloated post, but hhhhh).

5 is also a panning shot, but it seems to be mostly focused on Mike with Lucas and Dustin apparently incidentally. I think it stands to reason that the thing watching Mike here is almost certainly the thing that was watching him the night before (and presumably also the thing that took Will).

Mike might have some ability to sense the thing looking at him, because after 5, while Lucas and Dustin are bickering about whether they should head home or not, Mike claims he hears something and looks to the left (where the watcher is presumably situated). However, El is to the boys' right, so any sounds she might be making should be coming from that direction. This could be nothing, but given that s2 subtly implied that Mike might(?) be able to see/sense El (sometimes) when she approaches him in the mindscape... it's interesting.

Also, I suspect the watcher is Henry. Like, assuming I'm right that the Demogorgon in Mike's game foreshadows Henry, then when Will says that the Demogorgon got him in the game, it also foreshadows Henry "getting" him. And if Henry took Will, then we can presume that Henry was the thing watching Will in 4, and if the thing in 4 was the same as 1-3... then it's been Henry this whole time.

I also think it's really interesting that: - Around the time of 3, Mike says "wait a minute", looks to his left (towards the watcher), then asks "do you hear that? That sound?", before revealing the Demogorgon - Just after 5, Mike is looking firmly off towards the left (towards the watcher), demands that Dustin "shut up", then asks "do you guys hear that?" (Dustin and Lucas do not agree that they heard anything so it's possible Mike is noticing something the other two are not), before El is revealed a) it's the parallels between these scenes for me, jeez b) something something the boys use the word "Demogorgon" for the UD Demo even though the dnd Demo actually foreshadows Henry, something something s1 Lucas wonders if El might really be the monster, s4 Mike unintentionally makes El think she really is the monster, something something in both instances the real monster was Henry (and the system/world that built him into what he became) all along

^ Mike, entirely focused in the direction of stalking camera angle 5, starting long before any discernible sounds of life in either direction, to the audience or other boys

Concerning Details Around Mike (and Nancy... and Karen)

1-- For obvious reasons, I can't get a good screenshot of it, but Mike is blinking a lot and has sort of a weird, pained expression when he's in the background of the shot where Dustin is saying that there's something "wrong" with Nancy. I wouldn't bring it up at all, except that it reminds me a lot of that one shot where Mike was blinking and had a pained look on his face while he and Dustin spoke about their difficulties in finding someone to sub in for Lucas at Hellfire. Given the ways people have interpreted that scene, I just find it interesting that it seems like something similar may have been happening as far back as s1e1.

^ The best screenshot I can get to show what I'm talking about

Also, everything about the "it was a seven" scene is... kind of scary with regard to Mike? I'll get to his eyes in the next part, but Dustin and Lucas bike away and Will stays behind. Mike doesn't seem to notice Will at all, looking so far away from him that the camera from Will's perspective can't see his face. Mike slowly turns towards Will, with his eyes closed, and then, as they open, he asks, "huh?" Like he was distracted or off in his own world or had his attention on something we can't see (unless he was THAT entranced in watching Lucas and Dustin bike away).

Will clarifies that the roll was a seven, and that the Demogorgon got him, and Mike? Just kind of stares at Will in silence? His expression is more confused than anything? I generally take this to suggest that this level of honesty with Mike is actually out of character for Will (at this point in the story), that this is an odd action on Will's part and Mike doesn't know how to respond to it, because this may be the very first moment of Will's crush/the first moment when it subconsciously pushed Will to treat Mike specially as compared to his friends (which, yes, if my read on that is accurate, does mean that this whole thing has been Will's incredibly angsty love story-- also, it's a fun twist on "love at first sight" because obviously it's not Mike and Will's first sight of each other, but it is the audience's first sight of the two of them alone-- also also don't tell me Will "let's stop by Vegas and use El's powers to rig the slot machines look at me I'm grinning like this is the happiest I've been all season, just thinking about doing crime" Byers would be above not disclosing a bad dnd roll... but I digress), but given the rest of all of the scene... I just think it's interesting how little of a response Mike gives here. He doesn't even say goodbye or respond at all when Will decides to leave.

Then, as Will bikes away, Mike stands stalk still, seeming to stare down at his feet. He doesn't watch Will bike away, but the flickering lights draw his attention.

This doesn't necessarily mean anything (and even if it does, there are a bunch of different interpretations), but I do find it potentially concerning, so it's a point I'll keep in mind while doing the rest of my rewatch, just to see if it fits into a bigger pattern, or if it's just first episode coincidences which happen to line up with some future events.

2-- Mike looks over his left shoulder/to his left side a LOT in this episode. He does it when introducing the Demogorgon, he does it again when looking at the flickering light, and again when he thinks he hears something while looking for Will in the woods (despite the fact that any sounds El is making should be coming from the right). And outside of this episode... Will (almost) always sits on Mike's left. When Mike's face is lit so that shadows cover half of it (to my memory, at least), it's often the left side of his face that's illuminated. Mike spends basically all of s4 with a literal arrow over his heart pointing left, which, yes, is the direction where Will usually stands, but also... I don't know. I feel like there might be something here, but I haven't put my finger on it.

3-- During the scene where Mike is DMing, Mike is regularly framed in front of the basement door's shuttered window. It's very dark, shadowy, and cool-toned. Nearly black.

^ Mike in front of the shadowed window

Yet, when Dustin's framed in front of this same window, it's pretty consistently brighter/lighter. So the shadows are a Mike thing.

^ Dustin in front of the same door-- the light varies significantly but is reliably brighter/bigger, even at its dimmest, than when Mike sits in front of it

Moreover, Mike is ALSO framed in front of a weird dark shadowy-blue square from his closeup angle as well? The door to the bathroom is open behind him, so we can assume it's part of the bathroom?

^ The weird blue shape behind Mike

Based on what we see of the bathroom later in s1, I'm pretty sure this is the bathroom mirror? Which means that throughout this scene, Mike is framed against a) a particularly dark window/doorway to another world the outside and b) a weirdly dark blue/shadowed mirror world.

It's giving UD vibes, is all I'm saying, so the fact that it's pretty specific to Mike is interesting to me.

In the same vein, when Karen opens the basement door to interrupt Mike, she is framed against a dark blue wall and in front of a mirror.

^ Karen gets similar framing, Mike takes over in her place in the same framing

In the scene with Nancy in the bathroom with Steve, she is also depicted next to a mirror (the colours reflected in the mirror are all slightly more blue/cool than the actual colours of the room, as well, but it's quite subtle).

^ All the pale colours in the mirror are just slightly more blue than in the real world

4-- There's something wrong with the Wheelers' TV. The show makes a point of showing this. My question is... why? No, really. What is causing this TV to snow?

In real life, it would likely just be that the rabbit ears had gotten messed up (hence Ted fussing with them), but in ST, glitching electronics almost always mean that someone or something supernatural is around/occurring. But the lights aren't flickering, which is pretty unusual.

As I noted previously, I do believe that Henry was watching the Wheeler house from the UD that night. However, I think Ted gives us a clue that this may not be Henry's doing when he calls the TV a "piece of junk". He doesn't seem to be curious or even surprised, just resigned and annoyed. This implies that the TV glitches like this regularly. Which, again, in the real world would, would be largely meaningless. But this is a show where malfunctioning electronics are not random, and this scene could have accomplished the same surface level character building by having Ted on his recliner, distracted by watching his show, so obviously the malfunctioning TV is in some way relevant. So, it's important, and we can infer that it happens regularly enough for Ted to be resigned to it.

If it's Henry's presence that's causing this glitch, then that implies that Henry watches the Wheelers often enough for Ted to be used to this issue. Which is terrifying. But as far as we know, there's nothing special about the Wheelers (even though all three of their kids have been involved in/connected to/able to engage with the UD since the first season... even though Mike can come up with successful plans with what seems to be ease while everyone else struggles, and Nancy can hit a perfect bullseye the first time she ever holds a gun, and Holly ALWAYS notices when there's something supernatural going on... even though the Wheelers are deeply invested in their facade of perfect normalcy even though we still have no idea what Karen and possibly Ted are actually scared of should it crumble... even though, and I cannot say this enough, there's something WRONG with the Wheelers), so there's theoretically no reason for Henry to be watching them that closely/that often.

Additionally, when we first see the TV, the picture is snowed out but you can see a bit of it, and the audio is distorted but potentially understandable. Then, Mike asks his dad to override Karen's insistence that the game must end. Ted refuses to do so, clearly more interested in fixing the TV than in getting involved in Mike's drama. Mike is visibly more frustrated by this answer, and as the screen cuts away from the TV, the audio clearly becomes more distorted (unfortunately, there's no shot of the screen, so it's difficult to confirm exactly how bad the visuals got).

If the TV is being influenced by something supernatural, then the question at hand is, why did it suddenly get worse?

There isn't a good reason for Henry to have made it worse. In fact, assuming that the unknown stalker from the weird camera angles is him, then we know he's currently watching Will, not the Wheelers.

I don't have a good answer here. I think it's possible that if s5 does go into some amount of time travel and flickergate is a thing (in some capacity), then this could be tied into that?

But I will note that if I'm right about Henry having been watching Mike and Nancy throughout this episode, then it stands to reason that there's some reason why he's interested in them, specifically.

Holly's (presumably) asleep and not involved in this. Nancy is having what appears (when Dustin approaches her) to be a pleasant conversation with Barb. Ted's annoyed, but it seems mild and it's a reaction to the TV not working. The only people showing signs of actual anger/frustration in this house, at this time, are Mike and Karen. I don't really know if it means anything (it's not like either of their noses are visibly bleeding or anything like that), I just think it's interesting.

Mike's Eyes

So, I've discussed Mike's eyes during the first dnd session in this episode at length, and the full dissection can be found in this post, but I'll cover the basics here for context.

Essentially, during his introductory scene (where Mike is foreshadowing all of the main UD antagonists from s1-s4), Mike's eyes appear black rather than brown, and often reflect no light at all. I'll add an example here, but I included way more in the linked post. It's consistent enough that I found it creepy upon noticing it.

^ Example of Mike's flat black eyes

As a result of noticing that, though, I made sure to keep an eye on Mike's eyes throughout the rest of the episode (and plan to do so during the rest of my rewatch), just because I'm curious to see if there are any consistent themes that crop up.

When Karen calls down to tell Mike it's time for everyone to go home, his eyes are difficult to see in detail due to the distance between him and the camera, but upon zooming in they finally appear to be brown, and this is consistent with the fact that they are clearly brown and reflecting light normally when Mike goes upstairs to argue with his parents.

Mike isn't close enough to the camera to get a usable read on his eye colour until he's alone with Will. But once we get it... boy is it interesting.

For context, Will's eyes are also clearly visible during this scene. They are obviously hazel, and reflect quite a lot of light. In fact, as the scene goes along, if there is any change to the appearance of Will's eyes at all, they're getting brighter and more clear (something something THIS is the very beginning of Will's crush on Mike, the first moment when Will acted differently around Mike than he would have with any other friend).

^ Will's eyes during the "it was a seven" scene

But Mike's eyes? They go on a journey. So, to start with, Mike's looking away from the camera. When he opens his eyes fully, they are shadowed (obviously) but clearly brown and reflecting a very small amount of light. Then, Will clarifies that he's talking about the roll and the light is gone from Mike's (still brown) eyes. And then Will says that the Demogorgon got him, and Mike's eyes are now reflecting no light and appear black. They stay black and lightless as Mike remains silent and Will bikes away. At that point, Mike looks over towards the lights, and his eyes are clearly brown/are back to reflecting light the way that Will's did under the same lighting.

^ Mike's "it was a seven" eye journey in chronological order

^ From when Mike is radioing Lucas about going out to search for Will, showing that Mike's eyes can look brown/reflect light normally even in the basement at night (though to be fair, he is now sitting in a different seat than the night before)

Just for fun...

Here's Mike's heartbroken expression when he sees that his barb about Nancy dismissing the danger Will was in/implicitly blaming Will for their situation because she wanted to see Steve turned out to actually be true :)

^ It hurts my heart every time I see it (also, yeah, his visible eye does look a bit black and flat here, but the camera's too far from his face for me to get a good read, and I don't have any other shots from the same lighting to compare, so it didn't make it into the above section)

[the-lincyclopedia]

I feel this so hard. School fucked me up badly--I got my autism diagnosis a week after graduating college, so I never had an educational accommodation, and my literal interpretation of assignments combined with my slow processing speed meant I did basically nothing but homework from ages 10 to 21, which unsurprisingly meant I was suicidal on and off throughout all of high school and college.

And. The school I attended for first through eighth grades was a beautiful haven in a lot of ways. It was a public magnet school for kids who had tested as gifted and talented, and there were so many twice-exceptional (gifted + disabled) kids that a lot of the teachers were doing universal design before it was cool.

We had really interesting creative projects/festivals in almost every grade--the Frog Olympics in second grade, concluding a unit on frogs with competitions involving origami frogs we made; a play in third grade about the history of our city (somewhat white-washed, unfortunately, but still); also in third grade, the Unidentified Flying Bug unit and the Animal Research Unit (the former involved learning about insects and then making up our own imaginary insects, which we then made physical models of and pretended to be experts on, and the latter involved doing a bunch of research on a specific animal of our choosing and making a book about them); the Wax Museum (research project on a famous person of our choosing) and Medieval Feast (festival at the end of our unit on the Middle Ages, with everyone in costume) in fourth grade; the Greek Gods and Goddesses Fashion Show in sixth grade; etc.

I felt loved and cared for in the eight years I attended that school, and moving to a significantly larger high school where I felt like a number rather than a person was a shock to the system. But even in high school, I got a world-class education despite being at an inner-city Title I public school on a shoe-string budget. I did the full International Baccalaureate diploma program in high school, in addition to taking nine AP tests, with all my tests subsidized heavily by the school because they subsidized everyone's standardized tests. And yeah, going that hard in high school almost killed me, but I also learned so much.

The International Baccalaureate cohort in particular felt like a group of 22 of us who were majoring in everything at once, together--we could discuss the philosophical implications of mathematical axioms and point out incorrect scientific assumptions in the poetry we read in English, because we were all studying all of the subjects pretty intensely. I missed that intellectual community so much when I went to college and found that people basically only cared about the one subject they were majoring in, if even that.

My sixth grade writing teacher changed my life forever, both by getting me into creative writing and by teaching me basically all the grammar and punctuation rules in the Chicago Manual of Style. My tenth grade English teacher created a community in her class that helped me learn to appreciate my peers, even those who were less academically inclined than I was. My high school econ teacher was the best adult in my life at a time when I deeply needed non-parent adults to care about me, and we're still friends.

Now my sister is a high school English teacher, and I'm so impressed by her. She pushes back against the racism in her department's curriculum. She purchases diverse YA books for her students to read so that they can see themselves in literature. She stands up for students who need accommodations, even when her colleagues advocate "tough love." Students confide in her to the point where she helped a pregnant student call Planned Parenthood when this student couldn't trust her parents for support.

I know my sister isn't perfect, and I know most teachers aren't doing as much to support and care for students as she is. I know many of us had some horrible experiences in the education system, and I know there exist teachers who should absolutely be fired but haven't been. But it's a messy and complicated and multi-faceted world out there, and there exist things that don't suck.

"the public education system is intently evil and all teachers are abusive because it was the worst experience ever for me personally"

guys, look, I'm legitimately sorry that happened to you. that's fucked up. it shouldn't have happened, and it shouldn't be allowed to happen again to you or anyone else. I'm sorry.

public school was hard for me too, at times, and I'm still suffering the consequences for the harsh grading, the arbitrary deadlines, the hours of completely useless-to-me homework. I could name a few teachers who have been pretty fucking terrible. the fact that nobody considered getting me evaluated for ADHD has had an impact on my self image and academic success that I can't erase.

and also.

I grew up in an area where education, in particular, is incredibly progressive-leaning. educators are working really hard to create and try out education philosophies and practices that prioritize kids and their learning, rather than teachers and what they think kids should learn.

My sex ed was comprehensive, and came entirely from school. My gay sixth grade teacher taught me about HIV/AIDs in a useful, accurate way. In high school, I learned about the way orgasms work & I was prepared not to feel shame for normal stuff.

I learned that Communism was not what the USSR actually practiced, and what it really means. I learned about atrocities and, specifically, the genocide of indigenous people committed in/by the US. I learned about the military industrial complex, the school-to-prison pipeline, and I learned about manifestations of racism specific to my local area. I learned about Stonewall, and the intersection of the civil rights movement with gay rights and disability justice.

My creative writing teacher taught us about LSD, and the real reasons we shouldn't do it, after a hilariously ineffective assembly run by some local cops. He spoke gently, carefully, and emphatically about his friends and his own experiences. Later in the semester, he read us a story he wrote about two gay men finding each other in a deeply homophobic environment.

My sci-fi teacher made me feel safe & seen as a kid with "weird" interests. My US History teacher helped me research and put together a 10-page paper on the modern relevance and mission of Feminism. My government teacher made me feel appreciated for the work I put into the class, and the thought I put into what I said in it, even though he disagreed with a lot of it. My sixth grade teacher bought me books to read with his personal money, whichever ones I asked for. My third grade teacher made me feel safe. My science teacher in middle school made me excited for and passionate about science, and saw and nurtured the effort I put into her class.

A lot of stuff sucks, absolutely. But I am seeing new teaching methods being tried out all the time, and I am watching teachers get really excited when I teach their students about the roots of modern graffiti in US black history & to question property laws, and just...

There's hope. there are so many people doing so much work to make things better. so many people agree with you on what education should be, and are trying so fucking hard to put that into action, and so many public schools- not just teachers, but whole schools and even districts- are really doing that work. so much is getting better.

I had more to say, about necessary childcare and trusted adults and outside contacts and time away from abusive family. But like. Please just sit down and listen to more people on this, and please talk to educators and education professionals about what's really going on in this big huge world of philosophy, science, and practice.

[biomejumblesale]

For this side blog’s inaugural post: a funky dude who visited my balcony last year

[gemologistsdreamdiary]

Right, so I know I had more dreams last night than this one, but it doesn't matter because it was absolutely fucking terrible.

HUGE CW FOR WORMS. AND BUGS. AND WORMS AND BUGS IN PLACES THEY DO NOT GO.

(also, emetophobia warning.)

They were trying to get me to eat some sort of wheat mash with LIVE WORMS IN IT

AND I DID.

And no, this ambiguous 'they' isn't a recurring character this time, it was just some unidentified woman. They said it was way better for you than oats! It was like a grass mesh. But that doesn't FUCKING matter, because YOU COULD SEE THE WORMS IN IT. It was transparent. You could *see them moving through it*. In *complete fucking detail*.

oh, and there were different KINDS of worms, like it couldn't get any worse. Ribbed beetle-like worms. Pulsating maggot worms. No regular worms, and believe me, I would staunchly prefer it was earthworms. I like earthworms. I DO NOT LIKE THOSE WORMS I DREAMED ABOUT LAST NIGHT.

And they made me eat it. And I ate it. And threw up. And I was looking through the remains (it wasn't liquid, it was just. Undigested wheat.) And there were STILL LIVING WORMS IN IT.

I know I had another dream. I saw one of my old friend's houses and I could feel my best friend drifting on the wind, and I heard his voice and got a little sad. But FUCK ALL THAT APPARENTLY.

If you'll excuse me, I'm going to go drown that memory!

[percontaion-points]

Five Survive chapters 1 & 2

Click to see the rest of the snark & image descriptions

Click here for the rest of the series!

Chapter 1

Oh wait, what was it she needed to ask Maddy about again?

Chapter 1 summary: In one of the worst spoilers imaginable, for a book entitled “5 Survive”, there are six friends going on a spring-break road trip in an RV. I’m also not quite sure what to make of the fact that the section headers tell me that this entire book takes up less than 12 hours total. We start off at 10 PM… And Red genuflecting over her reflection in the dark windows of the RV. 

Aside from Red, there’s also Maddy, Simon, Oliver, Reyna, and Arthur. 

Everything else in this chapter is 100% irrelevant; it’s nothing more than setting the scene… But for some unholy reason, we needed 4 pages to do so. Also, I feel a headache coming on about how unidentifiable that each of these characters are. We’ll see, though. 

Chapter 2

A strange yawning in Red’s gut, the sound hidden by the wheels on the road. She couldn’t be hungry, could she? They’d only stopped for dinner at a rest stop a few hours ago. But the feeling doubled down, twisting again, so she reached out for the bag of chips in front of Maddy. She removed a handful, placing them carefully in her mouth one by one, cheese dust coating her fingertips.

The first chapter was like this. I was hoping that shit would start to move along once we got out of that introductory chapter. 

Apparently it’s going to be like this for the entire. 

Fucking. 

Novel. 

“Brazil nuts,” Red said. 

Arthur’s face screwed up. “What?” 

“I used to be allergic to them as a kid, but I’m not anymore. Isn’t that weird, that a person can just change like that?” she said, fidgeting with the front pocket of her light blue jeans. She’d been sitting here in this spot a long time now. Too long. “My mo—p-parents had to write it on my hand, so I wouldn’t forget.”

I assume that she means “allergic” in the “need to go to the ER right now” sort of way. HOW THE FUCK DO YOU FORGET THAT YOU GO INTO ANAPHYLACTIC SHOCK WHEN YOU EAT BRAZIL NUTS?! 

“My mo—p-parents had to write it on my hand, so I wouldn’t forget. Also, does the pattern in the curtains remind anyone of something?” She touched the white-and-blue curtain hanging down next to her, running her hand between the pleats. “It’s been bugging me all day, can’t work out what it is. A cartoon or something.”

I’m not quite sure what the author intended when she wrote Red. But it’s giving “I took a bunch of street drugs recently!” 

No, she wouldn’t. These eyes were just hers.

Chapter 2 summary: Anyway, we continue on with a weird attempt to establish more of who these six characters are. However, the author 100% failed with the task, and instead seems dead-set on giving us basically five unidentifiable, flesh-shaped blobs. The narration spent paragraphs describing backgrounds and hobbies… All of which flew out of my head the second the narration moved on. None of this was told to us like it was going to be important in any way, so I’m not worried about it. 

The main take-away from this is as I mentioned: Red’s sole personality trait is acting like she recently took a bunch of street drugs. Her thoughts are random, and distracted by the tiniest thing. 

Oh, and her mum died several years ago. Which is something that she apparently never got over… To the point where she’s legit triggered when Maddy’s mum calls and the name “Mum” pops up on the caller ID. 

[the-scarecrow-of-aus]

(TW: Slight gore warning)

The call to the justice league about Lian's imaginary friend is met with disbelief and jokes until they read the incident report, they also had mistaken it for just a childs imagination, not only was the fear for Lian being in contact with this entity, it was a major security breach since quite a few leaguers had visited or being spoke about at the house.

Now... the mangled bodies almost unidentifiable except for specific areas like tattoos and fingerprints, sometimes even their lower jaws for dental records left in little piles next to their respective bodies.

The immediate attempts to locate the entity by league members were worthless as they could detect no presence or heat signature in the house or around lian, cyborg could faintly detect interference on the radiowave frequency but couldnt narrow it down when directly looking for it. Needless to say they were powerless until JL Dark could attend to it. Which they did, rather quickly as soon as they found out about it after having been off earth with a different mission.

Deadman and zatanna had stopped on the footpath the moment they tried to approach the house, a presence like a giant tail coiled around the house, the presence strongest where lian was currently, Constantine and raven pushed ahead through the strange feeling with a sense of unease, "lets get this over with shall we?" Constantine already on edge tried to barge inside, he and raven were immediately flicked back a few feet onto the porch as they tried to enter the house with a eerie laugh. Roy was talking to jason in the kitchen when there was sounds at the front door. Lian got up and tugged on her dads arm "they didn't knock first, now they need to ask nicely before she let's them in"

Roy panicking ran to the front door leaving a confused Jason with Lian and her playmate, Jason had been busy with his duties as red hood to pay attention to any league messages and Roy had been too distracted to tell Jason assuming he already knew. So he wasn't too concerned when dani as she'd been introduced by Lian had greeted him and asked him how he was feeling, "rough" was all he could reply with trying to be polite in Lians earshot. "Huh, yeah I would be too if I had that much contamination floating around my system, do you want me to fix it?" She had pulled out what looked like an epi-pen and offered it to him, hood frowned at her "I don't know how to say this politely kid, but injecting myself with an unknown epipen is doubtful to fix me" the girl shrugged and put it on the table next to him "fine by me, I just figured you'd prefer not to be clouded by all that rage and hate, it's there if you want it" she went back off to play with Lian as hood stared at her in confusion.

Roy headed back with the JLD following him looking sheepish. "Roy? Is everything alright?" Jason asked looking at the members in his friends house. Roy shuddered "yeah uh, there's just some things happening at the house that requires the league to investigate, we should be fine". "That does not fill me with confidence, what happened?" Constantine spoke up "what happened is little lian made friends with a powerful spirit which then proceeded to tear apart a hit squad that attacked the place, so 'we' being the members that deal with the spooky shit are required to figure out how much of a threat it is"

Jason stamped down the fear and rage that started bubbling up inside him as he turned to Roy "i know I've been busy the last week but shouldn't this have been something you bring up in conversation? I've been here for over an hour Roy!" Something that had been bugging him since they entered finally was spoken "and why is Boston so quiet, this is the quietest he's ever been when you guys cast the sight charm?" The JLD members froze and looked to Boston, he was floating there, paler then normal and staring at lian and her friend dani in almost reverence "we... didn't cast the charm yet, did we?, but you can see him?" Asked raven looking confused

"Uh yeah, kinda hard to miss the floating guy in the trapeze costume.

Lian Harper has an imaginary friend. Roy thinks her new friend is imaginary at least. Dani is very much not imaginary as he soon finds out.

Okay, so I don't know much at all about Roy & Lian, so I did some very fast searching to try and get an idea about them for this. Sorry if Roy is out of character!

Have some spooky very slightly eldritch Dani/Elle being a very polite unwanted house guest/imaginary friend:

When Roy had first noticed Lian idly chatting with thin air beside her, he hadn’t thought much of it.

She’d been playing with the latest batch of stuff animals Jason had brought with him last he’d visited, joyfully arranging her plushy hoard just how she wanted them in her overly full room - they were going to have to do another toy purge soon, it was starting to get hard picking a path through to the bed again - and happily talking as she did. It wasn’t anything exactly uncommon. She liked to introduce new plushies to the older ones, make sure everyone knew each other’s names and got along, the way that little kids did. He noticed she seemed to be holding each plush out as if showing it to someone beside her, which was a little odd, but still nothing of concern.

It wasn’t until the tea party - knees bent up to his ears as he curled over the tiny, brightly colored table Kori had gotten her a couple months back - that he was formally introduced to her imaginary friend and put some pieces together.

“Do you want some tea, Dani?” Lian asked, holding out the bright red child-sized tea pot to the one seat at the table that was not occupied by one of his daughter’s favorite plushies or Roy. He watched as she paused, head tilted to listen carefully, before giving a bright smile and pouring a healthy amount of imaginary tea into the cup in front of the seat.

“Well, I don’t think I’ve met Dani yet.” He said, offering out the tiny cup she’d put down in front of him for his own healthy pour of non-existent tea. “Is she a new friend?”

Lian smiled brightly, gap tooth smile bright as she launched into telling him all about her new friend Dani - with an I, Danny with a Y is her big brother! - who fell out of a hole in space right into Lian’s room and who was a ghost princess with superpowers who beat up evil ghosts with her big brother. There are surprisingly few elements from any of the shows she watches or books he’s read to her, and he’s delighted by how vivid an imagination she has in her creation.

It’s easy to roll with imaginary friend Dani. Lian’s friend Marcus had an imaginary friend last year and Roy had learned enough from Marcus’ mother’s exhausted research dive into the topic over play dates to know that Lian making a friend of her own was perfectly healthy. She had plenty of friends, was doing well in school, no bullies or isolation, just a bright creative streak and a boundless enthusiasm for make believe. In a few months to a year Dani the ghost warrior princess from space - green space! There aren’t any floors and everyone flies and there are floating islands and - would be set aside in favor of other forms of entertainment. Just a fond memory for him to recount when she was a little older.

But then things got…strange.

Things in Lian’s room shifted just out of place where they usually were. Then around the house - common areas only though, never his room. Small lost objects appearing on the kitchen counter where they hadn’t been before. A blanket that had been folded on the back of the armchair draped over him when he woke up after falling asleep on the couch. Lian munching on little healthy snacks - a peeled orange, her favorite rice crackers, carrot slices - that no one had made her and that she couldn’t have possible gotten herself. Glow in the dark stars that he had not bought pressed onto her ceiling in the shape of accurate constellations.

That last one had not been the last straw, exactly, but it had been noticed about the same time all the rest of the very concerning little things had been. Talking with Lian about them all only had her explaining that Dani was doing it.

“She said wants to help.” Lian explained, little legs kicking as she focused on her drawing. “She’s stuck here til her brother comes and gets her. She said she wanted to be a good guest while she crashes with us.”

There’s something about that specific phrasing coming from his five year old daughter - crashes with us, not a term Lian’s used before and that he’s pretty sure no one else has ever had reason to use in front of her - that makes the hair on the back of his neck prickle. Lian doesn’t notice his apprehension, little tongue poking out in concentration as she adds more green to the paper. He doesn’t much care for the strange shape of the spectral figure his daughter depicts, hovering over her squiggly rendition of herself in her bed, the ghost creature being shown holding a green star up to a field of others in what Roy realizes is meant to show Lian’s bedroom ceiling.

Lian pauses suddenly in her drawing, head coming up and tilting as if listening, eyes drifting to look at a point close to the ceiling. “Oh.” Lian says, turning to look back at him with a frown. “Dani says there are bad people coming.” Another glance towards the spot near the ceiling. “She says she’s gonna make em go away if that’s okay with you.”

His stomach cramps with anxiety at the declaration just as he catches a dark figure shifting on the roof of the neighbor’s house, a flash of metal in the yellow glow of the street lights. There’s something cold on his shoulder suddenly, almost feeling like a small hand, the vague impression of something not altogether human at the corner of his vision.

Fuck it. He decides. If Lian’s maybe-not-so-imaginary friend wanted to deal with the people that he was just now aware of surrounding his home and putting his daughter in danger, then he wasn’t going to stop her.

Roy barely has the word yes out of his mouth as he darts up to grab Lian and run her to safety before all the lights in the house - hell, the neighborhood - begin to flicker and he catches a flash of bright, glowing green eyes turning towards the people outside. Distantly he heard a cut off scream and wet crunch and pressed Lian’s face to his chest as he ran for the safe room.

He was going to have to call the League about this one.

[songs-about-girls-like-me]

chapter 9: an unidentified bug

(Author's note: le puse "Mr. G" a nuestro maestro. I was giggling so much when I came up with that. Also, I will call people "random girl/boy" when they are irrelevant. Ok, cool)

I was highlighting something in my geography textbook to make a "bright sun" (which was a graphic organiser thing) in my notebook during class. Our teacher, Mr. G, the one who had sang and danced at the disco, was obsessed with making us do "original significative sentences" or "bears" by its initials in spanish. It was a friday and the school day was almost over. I was bored and I just wanted it to be 1:30 already. We were told to use our glue stick to make a circle for the center of the sun with red ink pen. I always thought these graphic organizers were ugly as sin, and I wished we could just do mind maps or a normal summary instead. We couldn't even color it in or use different colors and my sunbeams always looked wonky.

The girls sitting with me in my team were: a girl called Queenie who was in jazz with us, Poppy, wearing a side pony with white ribbon in her hair, and another random girl classmate. Random girl and Queenie were part of the girls who teased Poppy about her bra during camp, and all three were friends and were now talking about their friday outing over Mr. G who was still talking about how to do a "Bear". I yawned and got my ruler out to make the sunbeams when Random girl and Queenie started looking secretively at each other, and I noticed they were side eyeing Poppy. I took a glance and I instantly knew. There was something walking on Poppy's perfectly gelled hair. A little insect of some sort, colored in black and some green or yellow. It was a bug I'd never seen before, at least half a centimeter big or even larger. I knew they were probably thinking it was lice, and I supposed it was a fair guess, adding up the fact that we had had "lice season" in school just before the summer holidays. But I wasn't sure, it seemed way too big. And the color made no sense and it was walking over the gelled rock hard hair, not her side bangs or the rest of her fluffy hair. I had had lice when I was in 3rd grade. Well, not lice, just nits or whatever baby lice are called. I knew they sucked but I also knew some hair washes with alcohol would terminate them in a weekend. I thought we should say something to Poppy and even to Mr. G so that she could go to the school nurse, who was the one to check on lice always. The school nurse and I shared first name and was never mean.

"OMG, IT MOVED!" Random girl screamed and I rolled my eyes. "OMG, OMG" Went Queenie. "What?" Poppy was looking nervous. "You have-" I started.

"You have lice!!" Said Random girl. "What??!" Poppy was terrified. She looked like she couldn't even move. The two girls moved back a meter, pushing their chairs away with their feet while still sitting down. "You- there's an insect on your hair, you should-" I really tried, but my classmates screamed and Poppy was stiff as a board and she looked like crying with her eyes closed, gripping her chair tightly as if that would help. I got a bit pissed at her friends cause I knew this could be handled better and they literally were still screaming !!?

So I stood up with all my Hermione-Granger-personality-complex that made me think I was really more capable than my classmates at times and went looking for our teacher. But Random girl stood up too and we both went to look for Mr. G and she talked loudly over me so she got to tell him about the bug however she wanted to. Then Poppy was sent to the school nurse and that was that. But it almost felt like she got “evacuated” from our classroom because of these girls’ behavior. I was annoyed at them because it would’ve been nicer to keep people's lice a bit quiet, specially if they are your friend! And we weren’t even sure if it was actual lice or a random bug! I shook my head in disapproval and rolled my eyes, going back to take a seat to finish my school work.

Then, 20 minutes later, the school day finally finished and we were lining up in the hallway with our schoolbags to head out to the yard. The tiny hallway was always chaos with all the kids from our class (we were around 80 kids), and we all would push each other making the line so messy some people would even fall to the floor. It could be kinda fun. I wasn't Hermione all the Time. Except for when you actually hurt yourself, like, someone stepping on you, or falling with an elbow all the way to the slippery cream-colored tiles, etc. Everyone was chatting really loud, and Ella, Liv and I were no exception. They asked me a bit about Poppy’s bug incident which was the hot topic of the afternoon. I said I thought it could’ve been just an insect and I wasn't sure it was lice. She still wasn't back from the nurse when I looked around, though. My friends agreed that her friends had been quite sucky.

Ella somehow knew today it was Poppy's birthday party and I had to open my eyes big for how much of a pity that was. I felt bad for her.

"Damn" said Liv making a face. We all agreed to that "damn" and then kept talking about a Disney Channel show or started playing fight or something.

"I think I won't go" in the hallway it was easy to overhear people's conversations cause we all were really close.

"Well, obviously! She's got lice. Like-- I wish I could go, Queenie, we just can't. Even if it's her birthday party! No one should go." It also wasn't as if they were trying to keep it quiet.

Queenie was lowkey dumb so I never minded her much, but Random girl seemed a bit too decided on the matter. She didn't necessarily looked happy, but she was too serious. It definitely seemed like she was taking on the opportunity to throw Poppy under the bus and shit-talk her. And she was just always finding ways to try to walk over her.

When my mom picked me and my sisters up later and asked about our days, I started talking about it, speaking about Poppy as "Poppy [Last Name]" cause I had never talked about her before. When I had a full story to tell in the car, I would sit on the edge of the car seat (I always got the middle seat) and would rest my elbows on the back of the front seats to be closer to the driver. Sometimes I even rested my chin on my hands. I don't know why I did that, maybe so I could get everyone's reaction from that point of view. My sisters and my mom thought Random girl was obviously a terrible friend, more like, she even probably hated Poppy [Last Name] and was actively being mean to her. My older sister thought Random girl was jealous cause Poppy [Last Name] was really pretty and boys liked her, unlike her who was not, and was also a bitter envious bitch. She didn't actually say "bitch" though, cause we would never curse in front of my mom. My younger sister would always provide very good reactions like "no! really?" and "omg, she didn't" or even a small gasp or a shake of the head which was always good to have as support while explaining things.

"Yeah! and now... like- She's probably not going to have a birthday party!" I said, my eyebrows raised in a worried look. I think about this and I am reminded of how young I was lol.

"Yes, probably not. Poor Poppy." Said my mom, driving us. "But you can be nice to her, Rees."

I sat back and rested my back on the seat, pulling my schoolbag close to my chest. "Yea" I nodded. The september sun was still very warm and the car air always felt horribly stale with the carpeted surfaces of the car and the day-long-worn school uniforms. I had taken off my brown ballet flats with a flick of my feet. For a second I kept thinking about that party and if anyone would show up, or who had she invited. Or whether Poppy would be sad or angry at the moment. I would try to show up, if I had been invited.

[kodocha4ever]

dream i had 10/24/23

i was at an anime con with some friends and we were having a good time. we decided to go to one more panel and then head home. so we get to the panel and its changing rooms for whatever reason, so in this massive pool of people we start walking across the convention center. several unidentifiable people who i dont know in the crowd keep grabbing my hand, and its making me progressively more uncomfortable. i keep prying the peoples hands off, but theyre getting more and more aggressive, so i separate from the crowd, and when my friend sees they follows me (they couldnt tell what was going on so i explain it all to them, and theyre like "yeesh lets hit the bricks")

so we meet up with my mom, whos been chilling at these picnic tables with our stuff. i start getting my stuff together so we can leave, while im doing this my mom says "hey i ran into (friend from hs whom i havent seen in 5+ years), shes over there!" and so i go and talk to her, and she wants me to sign this petition? so ofc i ask what it abt. and she explains that she entered a talent show at a park a little while ago, and her talent was like a cosplay related thing despite the event being wholly unrelated. and somehow it went catastrophically badly with the crowd. and so, she wants to do a petition to like. prove cosplayers are good people??? the whole time shes explaining this to me i was internally trying to figure out how she thought this was gonna help. i felt bad for her having the experience because it sounded upsetting, but also the petition didnt sound like itd do much?

as i was trying to figure out how to respond compassionately while also not keeping my thoughts bottled up. we get interrupted by this... frog vendor? who is trying to sell us these ✨✨special frogs✨✨ that have. a bug exoskeleton. and suddenly everyone around me is the MOST into these frogs ever. and because i wasnt, they were like "annabelle 🥺🥺🥺 u gotta pet the frog" but the expectation was giving me crazy social anxiety so i ran and hid under a table far away, and thats when i woke up