#btw I would like to make it clear at this point that Lucas is not showing good behaviour

[ellenchain]

Hitman fam question time.

Hot beverage of choice plus favourite hot beverage of choice in wintertime, if that answer is different to the first one

Uhhh a new Hitman fam question!!! I love them ❤️🙏

Not so easy because I think a lot of it depends on whether they like sweets. And I'm always not so sure about their preferences …

Diana I can imagine likes more tart things when it comes to sweets, like dark chocolate. But in general, I see her as a big tea drinker, with a coffee or two in between. In winter, she sometimes goes for typical winter flavours that taste of cinnamon and aniseed. She probably enjoys her cups of tea as much as she can; but sometimes a cup is left in the kitchen and forgotten.

I can hardly judge 47. I can also imagine him as an occasional tea drinker, but coffee is probably more his thing. He probably likes to make his own mulled wine in winter. With lots of spices, good wine, all in a pot, left to infuse for a long time and enjoyed in front of his fireplace in the evening. He certainly doesn't like the mulled wine from the Christmas market (too cheap). He might also enjoy a hot chocolate from time to time. With lots of cream.

I can well imagine Olivia with a sweet taste. But idk, maybe she's more of a savoury type - depending on the headcanon. In case she likes sweets I think she also loves sweet drinks. She hates commercial things like Starbucks and the like, so she makes her own drinks at home. With lots of syrup in different flavours, coffee or sometimes just milk. In winter, she probably goes for caramel, cinnamon and chocolate. Spiced biscuit flavour with lots of cream and gingerbread? Sounds like a dessert, but for her it's a drink!

Lucas unfortunately has a very strong headcanon in my head. Coffee. Black. And lots of it. If he ever drinks something else (e.g. mulled wine from 47, a sugar drink from Olivia or a home-made tea from Diana), at least one shot of alcohol is added. Or two. He probably spends Christmas in a kind of permanent drunken stupor, never too much, but just in such a way that he lets Olivia hang fairy lights around his neck and lets 47 dress him in a Christmas jumper. He couldn't care less (but he also enjoys family time very much)

[milevenstancyendgame]

Mike's Intuition

Something I haven't seen talked about yet, is Mike's talent of intuition.

We see the most of it in s1, I think. His immediate connection to Eleven is the first glimpse we get of it. Whether you see it as love at first sight or not (the s4 monologue confirmed that, but that's not the point), he acted in a deeply compassionate, empathetic, and very mature way for his age (compare Lucas and Dustin's reactions). Instead of being freaked out by El, he just saw a lost child in need, and he understood that she must have gone through something awful, even though he had no idea what it was (just look at his face when he sees El holding the soft sweater to her cheek).

He also just "knew" that she wasn't a dangerous/bad person. Which was something the others were very worried about, especially after she displayed her superpowers. He just felt sorry for her and instantly liked her, just like that.

I think his most consequential decision came after he asked El to ring at their door, so his Mum could call for help, and she refused and made it clear that it would get both of them killed.

Instead of freaking out, he did what? Turned his bike around after having departed for school, and went straight back home to give El company for the day and play host to her.

Seriously, the switch is astounding. One moment, El thinks he's gonna tell his Mum about her and they will all die, and the next they are playing and laughing like happy, little children.

There's zero logic in this decision, it's just Mike acting on pure gut instinct. He cares for this girl without knowing why, despite knowing nothing about her, except that she means danger, and he just follows that feeling.

And nothing changed that, not her powers, not when the danger became real.

When El recognises Will on the photo, he also immediately believes that she can help them to find Will, and he never wavers in this conviction. But all that happened, was that she wordlessly pointed at Will.

Lucas' reaction to Mike's belief in this is actually really helpful to emphasise their strengths - Lucas is the voice of reason, while Mike is the voice of intuition. Dustin is in-between them.

Which is also why they make such a great team - they balance each other out, and you need both to solve a mystery. And typically in this kind of crime or mystery-solving story, you need at least a few characters who just follow their hunches, even though they know that it doesn't make any sense rationally and might just lead to a dead-end.

Mike is exactly that character (and Joyce is too, btw. There's even a beautiful visual parallel of both of them running into someone's arms at the end of "Holly Jolly"). When they pack their things for "expedition Mirkwood", Lucas once again doubts the whole plan and El, but Mike shushes him with "Just trust me on this one, okay?", which effectively shuts Lucas up. So it seems like they have good reason to trust Mike's intuition.

I also think that there was a good deal of self-blame afflicting him after they saw Will's fake body, and this was (among other things) the reason why he lashed out so strongly at El. He had trusted her, and he also had trusted his own evaluation of her and his belief that she would lead them to an ALIVE Will (which others had doubted). Even though there really was no reason to believe that Will would still be alive, just because El had presumably seen him at some point.

But then El uses the walkie talkie to prove to Mike that Will really is still alive, and it shows us that Mike's intuition had been right the whole time - again, like Joyce's.

Throughout the rest of s1, Mike remains the most open to any new explanations and possibilities that open up (like the idea of an interdimensional gate).

When Nancy and Hopper call them on the walkie talkie, he's immediately inclined to respond and makes the final decision.

After they team up with the teens and adults, and Hopper asks El to confirm the details of the gate, Dustin wonders "How does he know all of that?" And Mike responds "Because he's been there," giving us another neat example of his deeper understanding/reading of what's going on.

In s2, he likewise senses from the get-go that something seriously dangerous is happening to Will, so he supports him. He has no trouble understanding what Will is sharing about his supernatural experience and he easily syncs with Joyce in trying to connect Will's vine tunnel drawings (crazy together, lol). And again, he connects the dots and realises that the Mind-flayer lured them into a trap.

His intuition also remains just as adamant about El still being alive, as it had been about Will being still alive in s1! And the fact that he actually could sense El in the void is BIG. This boy has superpowers of his own.

S3 and s4 moved him into more comedic scenes/genre, so we saw less of this, but it's still a core character trait:

In s3, he again notices Will's unease in the cinema. He also was right on the money about El overexerting herself (which only got confirmed in s4 by Brenner, who said she had suffered from something like a stroke), which no one except Lucas (!!!) paid any heed to ("Oh shit, is that like a thing?").

In s4, apart from the comedy, the focus is precisely on Mike's insecurity and self-doubt overshadowing his intuitive understanding. Will has to give him a pep-talk and remind him of why he's their leader, which is the cue for him to tap into his superpower and pour out his heart/love to El to save her (Will's "You're the heart, okay? Remember that!" is pretty cryptic, even with the knowledge of what he's referring to, but Mike immediately switches from a panicking mind to his heart/intuition).

[aranock]

Just had someone claim that I maliciously stole ideas from a friend without acknowledgong them when said friend is litterally in the video, and I was in the video I supposedly took thing from, despite my not even once thinking about either thing as being even remotely similar. Like not even slightly an influence. Also I am pretty open about when something influenced me. I don't exactly hide it. Idk I feel like people are really stretching to find anything they can hate Jessie and I for this video with. Like really? Really?

Anyway just to be clear The Editor is not a ripoff of my friend Neil from The Leftist Cooks video on metamodernism, great video btw go watch it. I wrote the editor in because as I was doing the script editing proccess on Jessies initial script and came up with a new structure and worried that if I didnt draw attention to this people would maliciously misinterpret part 1 without getting to the part 2 twist. The Editor is LITTERALLY representing what I did in the script editing proccess for this video. Though there role and purpose expanded to represent more broadly what editing and editors do to works, reinforcing the points we make on art as collaborative and the importance of the influence of for example Marcia Lucas on making the original trilogy as good as it was. If there was any inspiration for The Editor it was chatting with my friend @wonderful101gecs about Pathologic and Brechtian Epic Theatre. I wanted to disallow the audience from suspension of disbelief and force them to reconcile with the world as it is and with how narratives are manufactured. Even then its pretty loose inspiration. The Editor was just a natural result of needing a purpose fulfilled and rounding out my layers within layers structure. Im not sure if it was Jessie or I that named them that, but we made them a named character because we worried at one point early on if we didnt do that people might get really shitty towards me. Like originally in the script it was just "Aranock" and as they became a character I pushed it further towards them being a sort of amoral embodiment of concepts masquerading as a villain who was masquerading as a Hero, pretendint to be the great person behind everything. Thus I came to "oh I need a second rug pull" and thats where layer 5 came from because I needed to really REALLY make the audience go "oh I need to question the narrative" and not treat The Editor as the great man myth. Layer 1, the animation, came from a desire to have a narrative layer below the documentary and video essay layers, below any meta layer. So yeah originally this was just a long very direct essay by Jessie about the making of and politics of star wars, my reediting of those become layer 2 and 3, with some small bits of those ending up in layer 4. Oh also some elements of what became the editor and of the script existed before I even began my youtube channel. Like I have been kicking around aspects of these ideas for over 3 years. The Editors opening monologue is almost all from something I wrote about a year before releasing my first video. So yeah I was not stealing stuff from a video by my friend that released last year, and frankly its really shitty that people assume that of me.

Also I'm tired of how frequently people have been specifying out just me to be shitty about. Attacking my voice for being feminine, being weird about my body. Really makes me feel great. Love being a trans woman making art on the internet. Love how y'all attack me if my voice sounds how you perceive womens voices should sound and you attack me when it doesnt. Im tired people suck, and its really weird that some of you want me to sound more "manly", but thanks for the validating my self taught voice training I guess????

[creative-heart]

"My thoughts will echo your name"| Esteban Kukuriczka

Chapter four: "No one has to know what we do."

Lucia’s notes: First off, I’m so sorry about last chapter, might have been a bit of a downer, but I trust me, it’s gonna get better soon. We’re back to the usual POV now. BTW the playlist “my hot girl revenge era” really exists on Spotify and it’s amazing.

+18 ONLY: If you’re no interested in reading the smutty part, please stop reading at “Whatever you say babygirl”; you can go back to reading at the next cut.

Playlist: 

Bejeweled- Taylor Swift

Wildest dreams- Taylor Swift

Could you love me when I hate myself- Lily McAlpine

Love in the dark- Adele

August- Taylor Swift

Starving- Hailee Steinfeld.

Ready for it- Taylor Swift

Content Warnings: Some not too heavy smut, mainly a makeout session; Social Drinking; mention to smoking.

Word Count: 2.4k

Five days, five whole days had gone by since that night when Y/N had told Lucas to leave the apartment, not one single text or call to check how she was doing, much less him coming home and as much as the hazel eyed woman wanted to pretend like it didn’t hurt her, truth is she had been laying on the couch in her pj’s without moving, just watching Grey’s Anatomy for the fifth time. Y/N was curled up on the couch one evening when she heard the front door but she stayed in the way she was, not enough energy to move to see who it was, coming into her place. “Oh. My. God, babe….nuh, hell no, you need to get your shit together” she heard the voice of her best friend Gabriel coming in from the living room’s threshold as the tall guy made his way to her pulling the blanket off of her and turning the tv off she whined.

“Gabi, nooo. let me, I’m in the best part” Y/N protested pointing at the tv without looking at the arched brow on the black haired guy.

“You know Grey’s by heart, don’t know what this fucker did now, but I’m taking you out, you haven’t answered to my calls or texts in days, come on” as she reluctantly let her friend pick her up from the couch and walk her to the bathroom “also, you smell, and your hair is so greasy I can fry an egg on your head, you’re not this, come on, you take an all in all shower and I’ll make you something to eat, we’re going out tonight bitch” he smiled turning around and going straight to the kitchen after leaving Y/N to stare at her reflection in the bathroom mirror. As she took her image in, she rubbed her face and stepped into the shower letting the steaming water run through her body washing that week off her body, mind and soul; maybe Gabriel was right and going out would be good to her, after all, it was clear that Lucas wasn’t thinking about her, so why should she be sulking over that wanker.

Forty minutes later, she finished blowdrying and styling her hair, her staple beach waves adorning her strawberry blonde locks, she took her makeup bag out and looked at her friend who came into the room with a sandwich just as she said “Alexa, play my hot girl revenge era playlist” as …Ready for it? by Taylor Swift started playing through the speaker Gabriel handed her the plate. “This is my bad bitch bestie!” he smiled turning around to look at the outfit laid out on the bed “damn, red lace top, leather pants and jacket, you going out to eat! I love” Y/N chuckled as she ate her sandwich while doing her makeup. Once they were ready they ordered an Uber and headed out.

“Ok, so…you know how I am obsessed with Andy from La sociedad de la nieve? well, I saw he will be at this club tonight, so, that’s where we’re going, I ain’t asking, just letting ya know mkay?” Y/N chuckled softly nodding knowing that if Andy was there, there was a chance that Esteban would be and she bit the inside of her lip, because why did the thought of kuku being there made her insides flutter and the heat rise in her whole body, she hadn’t told Gabriel about the whole Esteban thing tho, and she decided to keep it that way.

“I’m gonna get so drunk tonight” Y/N chuckled as they got out of the uber before making their way inside with the passes Gabriel had secured for them. As soon as the blonde set foot in the club, she headed to the bar to get herself a drink needing to keep her mind quiet only knowing that way to do it. Y/N rested against the bar looking out into the dancefloor as she downed her mojito, searching for her first victim, determined as she was to two things, get herself drunk, and secure a hot man to make her forget about the fact that the man she had loved for 5 years had all but forgotten about her in the last week. She knew she was the one who had told him to leave, but Y/N never thought he wouldn’t come back after that night, they might be in a horrible spot, but Lucas was still her boyfriend, and in some way she still loved him, or maybe it was just the comfort of knowing what it was like.

As soon as Esteban walked into the club with the guys later that night, he could see Y/N. She was up on a table dancing and immediately a mixture of feelings cursed through his blood. A perfect combination of lust, desire, rage at seeing how the other men around her gawked and touched her legs and protectiveness over the fact that she was clearly intoxicated, the cigarette hanging from her lips quite a sexy sight as she moved to the beat of the music. Without even hesitating about it, he made his way across the dancefloor swiftly, he didn’t give a flying fuck anymore about Lucas, if he wasn’t going to take care of her, he would. When he got up to the table where Y/N was he pushed the men aside and looked at her “Y/N can you please get down from that table?” he held his hand out for her. When Y/N heard that voice over the music she knew exactly who it belonged to, only Esteban’s voice could send a jolt of electricity down her spine straight to her center and she turned around to face him shaking her head moving down just so she was at his level.

“Now…why would I handsome? can’t you see how many gentleman are offering to get me drinks?” she smirked whispering in his ear biting her lower lip as she moved in front of her face stopping just mere inches away from his, staring down into his eyes and kuku swore she could see right into his soul, those Hazel orbs were so deep and entrancing. Before she could get away he picked Y/N up in his arms, his hands resting on the back of her thighs just below her ass cheeks and put her down from the table walking away. “Esteban put me down” the girl said in a tone she hoped to be firm and demanding but that much against her will came out breathy and whiny. Once they were far enough from that table and closer to the rest of the guys the brown eye guy let her down purposefully running his hands up Y/N’s sides which caused a new wave of electricty and goosebumps to course through the younger one’s body.

“Whatever you say babygirl” Esteban said looking straight into Y/N’s eyes his hands resting on the girl’s exposed waist. Her skin is as soft and warm as he had dreamt it would be. His eyes switching between the blonde girl’s eyes and lips as she spoke, not that he could hear what she was really saying all he was really thinking about was how much he wanted to kiss her right now, press her against his body and finally taste her lips. As Y/N kept complaining about what a killjoy he had been for taking her down from the table she found herself quite intoxicated, not only by the booze running thought her bloodstream but also by the taller guy’s perfume flooding her senses, she couldn’t think straight, his hands were still on her waist, her boobs pressed to his chest and she could see how dark his eyes were while looking at her.

Y/N didn’t know if it was the alcohol or the fact that she couldn’t deny anymore how hot Kuku was but she grabbed his shirt in her fists to pull him down to her crushing her lips to his, her eyes fluttered closed and she felt the sigh escape from the eldest lips and she took the chance to deepen the kiss as they started fighting for dominance in the kiss. Esteban’s hands slowly moved around exploring Y/N’s body at the same time as he pulled her closer to him if that was even a possibility, the soft moans escaping the girl’s lips taking his chance to tug on her lip as he pushed her up against a nearby wall her hands wrapping around his neck holding him closer to her as his lips trailed down her jaw to her neck slowly kissing all over, each touch setting a fire on her skin that lingered after he had moved on to the next. When kuku placed a kiss onto the spot right under Y/N’s ear she moaned into his ear closing her eyes as she could feel the smirk on his face right before he bit down on it gently.

Before Y/N could even stop herself she pressed her center to his, eager to feel as much of him as she could without taking their clothes off, but as soon as kuku felt her doing that his hands went back to her hips and he pulled himself apart a bit biting his lip, their breathing heavy and irregular with desire and need. He looked at the girl and leaned in whispering in her ear “as much as this is turning me on, and no matter how much I wanna take you home and fuck you right now, you’re one, quite drunk, and two, still my friend’s girlfriend as far as I know, and no matter how much of a douchebag he may be, I won’t do that” kuku rested his forehead against hers closing his eyes and while Y/N wanted to hit him for cutting of the moment like that, the fact that he was so respectful made whatever she was feeling inside her at the moment for him, grow stronger and she nodded looking at every single one of his freckles.

When Esteban pulled up outside of Y/N’s place he turned around to find her looking at him “wanna come in for a cup of coffee?” she smiled softly, her eyes still slanted from the alcohol pumping through her “I swear I won’t try to jump your bones…not that I don’t want to” she whispered the last part hopefully quiet enough to not be heard by the elder guy, but judging by his smirk, she hadn’t been successful “I just wanna thank you for bringing me home, plus I think you could use the caffeine”.

The brunette nodded getting out of the car with her and locking it before walking into her place as he looked around “so…Lucas isn’t here?” As soon as she had stepped foot into her home Y/N remembered the state of the place and hurriedly picked up around so that it wouldn’t look too messy shaking her head “no….truth is….he hasn’t been here for the past 5 days” she bit her lip hard as admitting it outloud made it all the more real. Once she had thrown everything out of sight she went to start the coffee pot and rested against the countertop looking at kuku, was that a slight smile she saw on his face?

“Have you two…broken up then?” He knew he shouldn’t be this happy over this possibility, a break up is always shitty but he couldn’t help but feel at least hopeful over the chance of things working out for him. He sat down on the kitchen island in front of Y/N.

“Well…not in so many words no, I mean, not officially, but we did have an argument, five days ago, I told him I didn’t wanna see his face around here that night and he left, hasn’t come back, texted or called since then.” She whispered the last part wrapping her arms around her own body and looked down to the floor to try and blink away those stupid tears that shouldn’t even be there in the first place. Kuku frowned seeing her upset and reached out pulling her to him gently making room for her to stand between his knees and hugged her tight kissing her head.

“Honestly….if he doesn’t see the kind of woman he has standing next to him he’s even dumber than I thought, it’s his loss, truly, if I were lucky enough to be in his place…” he mumbled cutting himself short when he realized what he was about to say when he saw Y/N look up at him with glossy eyes. He sighed  gently wiping her tears from her cheeks and took a deep breath before picking up where he left off, there was no use on denying what he felt now, even more so after seeing her cry, he only wanted to protect her and take care of her “If I were lucky enough to be in his place. I’d make sure to show you how important you are to me, I would do anything and everything in my power to help you achieve your dreams, you’re a wonderful person, gorgeous inside an out from what I’ve gotten to know you, and you deserve to have as your partner someone who sees how special you are and helps you shine on your own, who builds your light up, not someone who tries to dim you down.” Y/N kept looking at Esteban, not only could she look at him all night because he was the most gorgeous man she had ever seen, but hearing him say that, not only made her insides burn with desire, it made her heart swell with love.

That night, standing on that kitchen floor between Esteban’s knees, she understood two things, not only she didn’t love Lucas anymore and was determined to officially break things off with him as soon as possible, but she was also falling in love with the man in front of her, she was falling fast, she was falling hard, and she was falling deep in love with him and this was either gonna be the love story she was gonna tell her kids, or the break up that was gonna ruin her life. But either way, she was ready to find out.

Lucia’s notes: I told you all it was gonna get better didn’t I? and you haven’t seen the half of it! If you wanna be tagged in coming posts, please coment below. Also, no comments or likes needed but they are much appreciated. I love hearing what you think!

Credit to @cafekitsune for the MDNI divider and the section divider, they're amazing!!! go follow her if you wanna find amazing resources!

Taglist: @madame-fear  @cyliarys-starlight @castawaycherry @luceracastro @espinasrubi @lastflowrr @koiibiito @candycanes19 @nperoconelcositoarriba @lxdyred @deepinsideyourbeing

[tainted-liquor]

do 15 year olds not have sex? that’s crazy oops didn’t know they didn’t…most I know did.

the thing about reading is that it’s not having any of the individuals preform, it’s an imaginative process where people can make their character who is a horrible villian nice to their significant other because it’s fucking FANON. they have changed the version of the character to make them older.

The whole point of having adults play younger people on screen is to avoid child labor laws despite a seventeen year olds passion being actor and all, they might want to do is be onset, they can’t all the time so they choose someone older. They also do this knowing what I said above. Fifteen year olds can and (some) do have sex, but to have one simulate that is wrong, of course.

Which is why miles is voiced by a grown adult, written by a grown adult and when aged up, acts like a grown adult bc he would be if characterized by.

Another thing is you probably (or most users I know both in my six years of being on this sight) have broken the rules of this fucking app by being on here too young, and now you are here dictating how people handle their own changed charactization of the character

15 year olds should not be having sex. glad I cleared that up. regardless of if he's played and voiced by an adult, he is not characterized as an adult. he's immature, his choices are led by emotions, and he's anxious and stays unfocused. hmmmm....its almost like...the prefrontal cortex, you know, the part of the brain that controls emotional response isn't developed yet! CUZ HE'S 15 LMFAOOAO, which is exactly the reason why aging him up doesn't work! you're attracted to the mannerisms, face, and thought process of someone underage! regardless! and 10/10 times, "aged up" miles all act like 15 year old miles, just with an apartment.

and no, that's not the point of having adults voice children. Monsters inc, boo was voiced by a child. gumball and darwin? voiced by children. Luca? VOICED. BY A CHILD. your argument is shit, and falls flat...at least do your research before you come in my inbox, cuz idk if you know, but I debate w law and science. I applaud you for coming into my inbox with one missing ball, for being on anon, pussy ass nigga, and for typing such a long essay defending reading smut about minors!

why do you think the russian novel "lolita" is banned in most countries? inappropriate depiction of children in sexual situations. if that booked managed to get itself BANNED, no matter how well written, a shitty tumblr writer with a 74 in english should not be allowed to publish nor induldge in sexual depictions of minors.

oh and btw, no i didn't. maybe the reason i'm more mature than some niggas on social media is because I was OFF social media until I was well after 13. I didnt join tumblr before 13. I didnt join instagram before 13. I didnt join tiktok before 13. don't try and use your experience w rule breaking to justify YOU being a weirdo, kay? <3 love ya toots !

[munsons-maiden]

I'm so scared that now that we get the book Eddie really won't be back and all the hints and teases were bc of the book bc Joe is on board with that and what if he meant that? 😭

I see where this is coming from but I absolutely don't think that the book means Eddie won't return

Look at the other characters who got books so far (novels, not graphic novels):

Suspicious Minds - Dr Brenner

Darkness On The Edge Of Town - El and Hopper

Runaway Max - Max

Rebel Robin - Robin

Lucas On The Line - Lucas

There's a very clear pattern here: every single one of these characters is an important recurring character who's been in at least 2 seasons.

And all of these books, including Eddie's, feature said recurring character's backstory. Even if we ignore the first two books and only focus on Runaway Max, Rebel Robin and Lucas On The Line, it's clear that these books offer a deep-dive into each of these main characters' pasts.

Which places Eddie once more on the same level as the recurring main characters of the season.

I've always said that Eddie is a main character based on this post by @strangerthings4theories which perfectly sums up the differences between main characters and supporting characters and from which we can clearly see that Eddie is the new main character introduced this season (and not Argyle or Dmitri etc) PLUS by the level of marketing and promo Eddie got before and after the season aired (Netflix even comissioning an artist to create an "Alive in the Upside Down poster" and so so SO much more) and the way Joe was doing more promo than the actors playing recurring characters combined.

If anything, this book is another big reason to believe that Eddie will return.

Which brings me to my second point.

2. Eddie is not just a fan favorite; he's THE fan favorite. Which makes him Netflix's personal favorite, I suppose. An Eddie novel will bring a lot of money - and imagine how much more money he'll bring them if he returns on screen, which yeah a book is nice but we want him back on screen. Alive and thriving. And they know that, Shawn Levi has said so himself (remember that "We know you love him, so do we, we know you want him back, we heard you"-interview on that red carpet).

Which means that:

3. They KNOW what they have with him, and they've been relentlessly showing us that with said promo, special comissioned posters, etc. They've been doing that looong after Vol 2 had aired: Oh and remember that crop circle?

What I'm trying to say is, even if Joe's winks and I-know-something-you-don't-know smirks were because he already knew there'd be a novel and that he'd be involved in that novel (btw he's the only actor involved in the creation of his character's novel) that still doesn't mean he doesn't know more (he said himself that he knew stuff about ST5 in that interview with Jamie, which in itself is super sus because actors leaving huge popular shows like ST usually don't know what'll happen in the next season if they're not part of it anymore. To put it in relation - Jenna Ortega, who played a fan favorite on Netflix's You for two seasons wasn't even told how the season would end beforehand so she wouldn't be able to spoil anything, and You isn't as big as ST.)

And all that Eddie promo Netflix dropped...for a novel? I don't think that makes sense, considering the novels are a nice little treat on the side but the actual business is the season, the things on screen, not on a printed page.

4. The book's release date is set nicely right between seasons. Screams "hey remember that guy, hm? Hm? ;)" for the general public. Means, keeping the hype going for the general public.

5. The author of the book is Caitlin Schneiderhan, who's one of the writers of ST4. No other ST novel has been written by a ST writer. My thoughts on the matter are summarized here.

6. And finally, the topic of the book will make neither his return nor a spin-off for him redundant because we learn about his past but only some of it (it'll be set in his first senior year in 1984 and likely explain what happened for him to be held back the first time).

So in conclusion,

Eddie will be back and him getting his own novel is only further reason to believe it.

[dojae-huh]

Just to be clear most Muslim world isn't even following the boycott, I'm Pakistani and I've seen McDonalds and KFC full all the time even at 2am...

Sometimes trends have an effect on the ppl who follow the idols on social media but generally the earning fan who pays for the tickets and buy merch don't have time for fanfights and struggles of ppl on the other side of the world.

I personally am not eating McDonald's but my niece who is my responsibility eats it. Also idols have no real value in international media so why would a Korean popstar promoting a charity burger hurt the cause...

Btw I've seen more sea fans not happy with the schedule but most are still posting him, the loudest ones weren't ever his fans so it shouldn't matter.

P.S. the Indonesian fans got pissed on the Korean fans and not the idol, one should never down play the superiority complex most Koreans have as if not 30 years back they were worse than most ppl they lolz at now

The racism and sarcasm made them demand the concert be cancelled and ultimately Korean fans started talking about indofans being terrorists.

In this whole situation I was just reminded the shit Koreans used to say, thanks to K-pop becoming global just made me forget it

As for unfollowing, I kind of disagree with you. Sometimes it's better to leave an idol or band then make drama. If they're over doyoung it's better for all that they leave. Everyone is allowed to like or hate stuff...

P.S. the doyoung shirt offended me more than the whole McDonald's situation... Mary and Jesus are very important individuals in islam and I hate it when ppl do shit like this (this is why I hate liberals being anti Christians too)

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

IG. It was not the point. (And not the case, Doyoung's situation is not even Lucas' situation). Unsubscribing might bring people you described peace of mind, but it won't change the fact that they changed their opinion about a good person due to the pressure from the masses, him being labeled "bad", and nothing else. It's like those fans who ask if the new to them idol "did anything controversial?" before deciding to stan. Or hating an author of a book without actually reading it only because of a bad review from a person who also didn't read the book "but heard it's problematic". Delegating thinking to the others, following someone else's opinion and judgement.

[aura-bug]

If given the chance to make a game based on yo-kai watch, what would you do for plot stuff, gameplay, characters ect?

ooooooo this sounds fun :0

If I were to make a YKW game, it would pick up where 3 left off bc I know nothing about 4 lol. So uhhhh this one's kinda Yo-kai Watch 3.5

-First of all, I'd want to combine all the areas available in 2 and 3. Old Springdale, Gera Gera Land, the Infinite Inferno/Divine Paradise, and the Infinite Tunnel all come back, as well as New Yo-kai City and BBQ bc I'd want my boy Buck to make an appearance <3

-ALSO KATIE IS A PLAYABLE CHARACTER

-I can't decide whether I want 3's battle system or the original wheel, I like both but the wheel has a bit more points for nostalgia

-For characters, Hailey and Buck both come back because them and the MC form the best trio ever. Also Buck can have his own yo-kai friend. As a treat. Idk who though. It'd probably be a 'Merican yo-kai.

-Idk how I'd make the "switching back and forth between BBQ and Springdale" thing work story-wise, but who needs coherence when you have the funny southern american boy haha am I right !!

-Also I'd want to add more classic yo-kai based on other japanese folkloric creatures!! I want a yo-kai based on the Nobiagari SOOOO badly. or the Amabie. or the Ao Andon. Or the Karyobinga!! I could literally go on and on forever. maybe I'll make some fake yo-kai art idk

-Plus some 'Merican yo-kai based on some American mythology too. Bigfoot, mothman, etc. maybe Noko can have a 'Merican counterpart based on the hoop snake and that'll be ykw3.5's token unobtainable streetpass Noko

-As for plot, if I've made anything clear, I want Lucas to be involved. I want him to be involved soooooo badly. And he has to be at the FOREFRONT of this damn plot, none of that showing up at the last second shit. Maybe the MC trio have to protect him from a Big Bad trying to kill him, ORRRRR maybe HE'S the one that turns evil and its up to the MCs to stop him for committing evil little boy crimes. Is it too obvious that I want evil lucas? I want evil lucas btw.

-Also I think it was mentioned in ykw1 that Venoct was kinda put in charge of "protecting" Lucas/acting as some sort of guardian for him, and then in 3, during part 1 of that enma note quest where Lucas got thanos snapped, Venoct says he feels like he's "missing something important." expand on this. I am begging. expand more on venoct's whole bodyguard arc

-theyre probably not gonna do anything plot-wise but I just want the wicked yokai to be there. for funsies lol. I just like them theyre so scrurngkly

-BRING BACK FORGOTTEN YKW 1 BOSSES. WHERE IS TARANTUTOR. WHERE IS PHANTASMURAI

-I'd make Lina and Zoe's Ghost Club plot relevant bc out of all of Nate/Katie's classmates, those two and their weird little freak club is the most interesting, also the fact that Lina BEFRIENDED A BOSS YO-KAI?? Insane. love that for her. theyre interesting I like them a lot

-also maddiman is befriendable now

-I'd make another yo-kai watch CEO guy and his name would be Sealon Musk (seal) and he'd invent the new watch for ykw 3.5. It's called the SpaceWatch and it sounds cool and interesting but all it does is explode. Also it costs 8.2 million dollars and whisper had to sell all of your medals and also jibanyan's soul on the black market in order to get one, and that's how the medallium gets reset this game

if I get anymore ideas or like an actual coherent plot ill probably add on later, but I think thats it for now lol

[thefishesbite]

Diary Entry: 10/28/2024 || The DRAMA

Sorry for not posting recently, but a huge drama happened ON HOCO DAY which has taken up most of my time. It’s a big doozy!!! Also sorry if it’s written bad, my brain has blanked a lot of this out due to how fucking terrible it was— and it’s almost midnight (that’s why it’s the 28th not 29th bc I STARTED THIS on the 28!) by the time I’m starting this post so exhaustion is KICKING IN. But I know I would forget to write if I didn’t write now.

On homecoming day, early in the morning, I had sent a follow up text to my friend— Owen— about us being dates to the dance. This was based on a previous joke that I had remembered— where he was complaining, about a week before homecoming, how his parents were asking if he had a date to the dance. I jokingly said we should be dates to the dance. He agreed to be dates with me— both during that moment and the morning of the dance (which was 10/19, a Saturday). Suddenly, I got a message from a different friend claiming something about Owen— specifically about us being hoco dates and how it’s a bit of a.n issue, because he has a crush. On exactly who, I didn’t know at that moment— but I found out two hours later, from the same friend, that he in fact had a crush on me. A little awkward, but I’ve survived other people having crushes on me. I also found out that he realized, around the same time, that I did not like him back— that I liked Luca. (IMPORTANT!!!)

Throughout the day, Owen repeatedly continued messaging me about Luca. It was obvious jealously, but was put too far. He also was just acting in a manner that was uncomfortable. At one point in time, he asked to see my outfit early— but asked in a manner that was very uncomfortable for me, repeatedly asking with very little time in between. He claimed he was doing this because I was “dressing up for Luca”, even when I actively told him I was not and that I do not dress up for others. (Btw, super strange thing to think especially because it was HOCO!) He also refused to listen when I said that our fake homecoming date was just for all around jokes and not to make Luca jealous. I hoped this would just be a message thing, that due to the different media of talking in message and in person, he would drop it once we talked in person.

He did not.

But, I shut him down quickly— telling him that it was time to stop, that my world does not revolve around Luca. I ended up not having another conversation with him in person that night, since he walked out early (which was quite relaxing for me, since I was a little stressed over how he was acting).

The next day, a group of us hung out— including Luca. Suddenly, mid-hang out, Owen messaged me an immensely uncomfortable message of “you touching Luca rn?” out of nowhere. When I promptly got irritated and told him to stop outright, he blamed it on another friend and stopped messaging me for a while. At this point, I was both overwhelmed and irritated— it felt he was going down the path of not listening to my boundaries no matter how hard I set them. He began to ignore my feelings.

On Monday, I heard that he actively began to pray for Luca and I to fail— so that he could sweep in and be “Prince Charming”. Unfortunately, the same day, I had to regurgitate this information (minus the fact that this started due to me having a crush on Luca) to Luca himself. I told him of Owen’s strange obsession with the two of us, how it got borderline uncomfortable— but I quickly told him I was figuring it out, Owen was told to stop and hopefully would. Once I got home, after some quick deliberation with my friend who knew what was going on, I blocked Owen on all but one social media platforms. This was to ensure he could apologize, but also to limit interaction. It was becoming glaringly obvious he did not care for me— he was dehumanizing me, actively ignoring my feelings even if I made them blatantly clear.

The same night, he messaged me. He began begging for my friendship back, instead of actually apologizing, to which I put my foot down and told him I couldn’t be his friend again. I stayed serious and tried my best to stay calm— to which I’ve been told I did a well job by others. He attempted to manipulate me by claiming he couldn’t eat or sleep due to his feelings on this matter. I continued to stay strong, not wishing for him to become so dependent on me. Nothing worked, he never apologized and simply continued begging— so I put my foot down and left the conversation, blocking him soon after.

I guess this is what set him off. I don’t remember much from Monday onwards due to it being immensely stressful, but I’ll try my best to recap truthfully. He quickly became irritated with me, deciding that I was hateful and rude— he decided that I was not having my feelings ignored, that he was the one being dehumanized. On Tuesday, he attempted to get another person on his side via lying. I had already begun collecting screenshots of Owen’s misbehaviors and any proof that we had of Owen not listening and such— since he continued claiming he didn’t know what he was doing wrong, despite being told many times— so that we could show others. He was beginning to grow more and more absurd in his claims, becoming irritable. He began to show signs of an unstable mentality towards this issue.

On Wednesday, I found out he was threatening me with going to the school to file a sexual assault case— because I had joking sat on his lap once. He explicitly sexualized me and that action, which was taken completely as a joke in the moment and for a while after, solely because he decided to hate me. He hates me so much he sexualized me, in order to “get back” at me. At this point, after waiting nearly a week, Carlos and I rushed to tell the rest of the friend group— so that they may know whats going on, in case Owen attempts to lie to get me removed from the group. Luckily, the whole group understood— we had screenshots of immensely uncomfortable messages in which he obsessively asked for outfit photos, was extremely jealous and such.

We also got videos of him claiming many things: I was not accepting of him when he came out (not true) so he deserved to not be respectful towards me and my boundaries, I was “acting interested” (also not true! I literally hadn’t done anything past sit on his lap for a little hot second to piss him off), that he could get too angry and kill us all (us being the group), that he felt entitled to not respecting me because he didn’t view me as human for some reason (literally WHAT) and more.

The next day, a small group of us most affected— Carlos (someone Owen went to who helped feed me information), Nico (a boy Owen was immensely close with who helped us get even more proof of him being terrible) and I— went to the school’s counselor to report the situation. On Friday, we got taken out of class and told her our side of the story. The same day, Owen was pulled from class and told to stay away.

Let’s hope it stays that way. In writing, especially with how my brain has blocked out most of it, it doesn’t sound like terrible— but it felt like my life was falling apart for a second. This entire experience forced me to witness the absolute horrible way men thing. I was treated as a sexual object because he got mad— and I guess his only true rebuttal, because I was right in my ways, was to turn me into just a simple sex doll. He even did it before being mad, though at a much less sexual sense and more of a relationship sense. He dared not conceptualize the thought that I could be living without being in a relationship, so he always mentioned Luca or tried to get with me knowing I never liked him back. He actively hated me for standing my ground, for simply setting a boundary that WE couldn’t be friends (not that I couldn’t dare see him or such), and actively said he wouldn’t respect my boundaries because of the lies made up in his head.

The entire week after hoco I wasn’t sleeping well or eating well— I wasn’t even doing school work— because u was so terribly beaten down. I feel this situation has triggered some kind of trauma response or SOMETHING. I still cannot do school work because I mentally can’t handle it, I’m physically unable to sleep and just wanna lay around all night and still can’t eat normally. Hopefully I’ll go back to the way I was, especially with school work. I’m caught up mostly for this week, but I’m super behind for last week. I need to catch up but I can’t really handle doing the work to actually catch up honestly.

Owen tried to blame me for not sleeping and eating well— guess who also hasn’t slept and ate well this ENTIRE situation.?? Luckily now it’s done since Owen can’t go near me due to school regulation, if he does he could get suspended. Now I can relax and we can go back to how life was before this week-long drama, just minus one person.

[wheneverfeasible]

I was going to just make this tags but there was a lot I had to say apparently so I’m just making a quick note here.

Look, I will always adore Mean Girl Steve in fics, without a doubt. I love when he gets bitchy for the right reasons. But let’s be honest, canonically the only time he ever acted like that was when it was deserved by others.

Maybe he said some things he shouldn’t have in the heat of the moment, but let’s be honest, even when derisively calling Jonathan “a queer” it hadn’t been as much of a derogatory insult as it could have been. He could have used the f-slur, could have put more hate behind the word, but it was more conversational if anything. Still not okay, but not how Tommy probably would have phrased it.

And about the whole nerd vs jock thing, I ADORE fics that point out the nerds’ prejudices. Especially Eddie’s. Lucas was vilified for liking sports and I need more fics that have Eddie acknowledging that he became the type of asshole he always ranted against. And he assumed Steve would be a douchebag too because he was rich and popular and a jock.

But again, think about what that means for the whole bully Steve thought. Eddie said he just assumed Steve would be like that. Meaning he had no actual evidence of Steve being a jerk or bully before. Eddie who guided the lost little sheepies never had clear evidence of Steve being a bully or a jerk.

Steve always always always honed up to his mistakes. As soon as he realized his hurt had made him act like an ass in S1, he cleaned up the mess and went to apologize. In S2, he again was hurt (by the same person btw) and might have lashed out a little verbally but then he still went to apologize, despite not really needing to honestly.

I think also S2(?) he made a mean little comment about Dustin’s teeth when they were bickering and immediately felt bad and apologized.

Like, he had every opportunity to be a bully and he wasn’t. In fact, he stood up to bullies more often than not, at least when it was someone else needing protecting. He might be bitchy at times, but he’s not a Bitch.

Anyways this was longer than just a quick little note but I love Steve.

Granted, if you want to make an au with Bully Steve or exaggerate on things, you do you. But let’s just acknowledge it IS an au because canon Steve would never.

Also, he’s such a doofus and I think that should be explored more as well. The playing with the stuffed animal at Nancy’s? The secret handshake with Dustin? The liking the “teddy bear” Star Wars movie the best? Literally just his and Robin’s whole thing?

He’s a goofball and should be protected at all costs.

I'm annoyed with people who completely vilify s1 Steve or King!Steve in general and put him onto the same level as Billy or Jason, when in canon, it's simply not true. Steve did one bad thing at the end of season one, which he realised, immediately checked himself, and apologized for.

People act like he was a big bully, constantly shoving people into lockers and committing hate crimes, so to speak, when in reality he wasn't like that.

The reason he was an asshole to Jonathan was because Jonathan put himself into the role of being the school weirdo. Plus, him being a creep and taking those pictures and developing them in school isn't exactly helping his case. Steve smashing the camera was totally valid as Jonathan violated Nancy's privacy and Steve's as well. He didn't have to buy him a new camera because he was in the right for that.

Throughout s1 and s2, Jonathan gives off "I'm not like other girls" vibes, he constantly judges people who are popular, and he even judges Nancy. Will called him out for having no friends because Jonathan doesn't want to open up. Granted, he suffered a lot of trauma and had to grow up quite early to take care of Will. I won't hold this against him because he had it not easy, but it still doesn't change the fact that he can be a judgemental asshole, like Steve essentially.

In s1 ep 2 it was shown how King!Steve wasn't this big asshole when he throws the party. He invited Nancy because, duh, he liked her, but when Barb showed up, he never made a big fuss about it even though he probably anticipated Nancy coming there alone. Later, when Barb cuts herself, after being pressured by Nancy to participate in drinking, he never made fun of her for that. He was concerned and honestly less of an ass than Nancy was in that scene. To me, this shows his true character because he could have easily made Barb feel terrible in that situation, as he obviously doesn't like her that much, but he didn't because he isn't evil. Even after she was gone to take care of her hand, he never made a joke about it with Tommy or Carol.

In s3, when Robin gave her speech to Steve as to why he was the worst (after him being brutally tortured which was played off for laughs) she couldn't even come up with good reasons why he was so horrible. She literally says Steve was a real asshole because he:

Was late to school

Asked dumb questions

Was funny and cool

Got bagel crumbs all over the floor (the worst crime committed by a person)

And the girl she liked was only looking at him and his "stupid" hair.

Another reason why the show itself villainizes Steve so much, and has to remind him and the audience how bad he was every season, is because it's written by people who were nerds and had a bad experience in high school. Like the basic concept of the show is nerds=good and jocks=the devil. They are literally judging popular kids because of their own prejudices. And with how they set up s5, Steve will have to prove again he's a changed man, this time to Jonathan (again) despite him saving his ass twice, and him apologizing to Jonathan in s1. It's like Steve is never allowed to truly move on, simply because he was popular in high school. He still has to make up for the mistakes of his past while other characters in the show just get a pass for theirs.

We are never shown this big evil Steve, we are only told by people who themselves have prejudices towards the popular crowd. Eddie literally gave this whole speech about how he doesn't like people who fit in, he was harassing them and couldn't find it in himself to postpone the final campaign because he hated how Lucas wanted to venture into other hobbies. (The show basically vilified Lucas for playing basketball.) Eddie isn't really better than the popular kids. However, because he's a nerd, he isn't portrayed as the villain but as a person who just gets it.

In conclusion, yes, Steve was an asshole in certain situations. Yes, he was (still is) vain and cared about his reputation. But in no way was he this big bad bully like people and show make him out to be. He was popular because he was charming and had the ability to converse easily. I mean, he was still able to become prom king in 1985, despite falling from grace in '84. He wasn't awkward and knew how to make people like him. He was still King!Steve up until Billy, even with dumping his friends, because he probably got along well with others in general and was only judgmental towards people who actively seeked out keeping to themselves rather than participating in "normal" high school society and were judging the popular crowd for participating in return.

Also worth noting is Steve being mean or an ass was really amplified by the friendship with Tommy and Carol. It's like he thought he needed to be extra mean in order to be perceived as cool by them and vice versa. They all brought out the worst in each other, when Steve realized that he cut them off. Like he said, he cared a lot about superficial things, but in the end, when it comes to serious things, he will always come around.

[luvxiem]

the stars aligned for us

word count ! 【idk】idk【idk】 pairing ! luxiem x gn!reader (separately) genre ! fluff, mild angst on luca's part summary ! different soulmate au tropes w our faves bc i'm weak and love self indulgence 🤭 soulmate aus my beloved cw ! non-explicit violence/injuries on luca's part notes ! this was written on my phone so sorry for the uggy formatting and any typos 😭💔 btw tysm for 100 followers 🥺🫶 i appreciate y'all lots for enjoying my shit LMFAOOO it's just me projecting on here but i'm glad u guys enjoy it anyways when u wanna read a fanfic so bad but it doesn't exist yet so u gotta write it urself also kindred plz don't kill me for calling vox an asshole i meant it endearingly (insert "'i hate him' while putting up his picture" meme here)

.｡.:*☆ IKE EVELAND !

TROPE: SEEING COLORS

ike's world has been black and white for as long as he could remember

his friends have always told him how beautiful everything be came after they made eye contact with their soulmate for the first time

despite them trying their best to describe colors (what does a "warm" color even look like anyway?) it was hard for ike to really care

after all, how can you miss something you never experienced?

but more than seeing colors, the novelist just wanted to meet his soulmate

it wasn't that he was lonely; ike had his fair share of relationships in the past with others like him (those who haven't had the chance to meet their soulmate just yet, but wanted to date anyways)

however being a writer comes with a certain sense of romanticism and a lust for life, and ike was no exception

he's always loved the thought of meeting someone who was perfect for him in every way; a person who he could be his honest self around and love with all his heart

this is why when he suddenly started seeing colors he never could've imagined on a busy sidewalk, he immediately started scanning the crowd for you

he spotted you under the canopy of a nearby cafe. you were looking around with clear awe on your face, mouth slightly agape as you took in the new world around you, not even noticing the grumbles of passerby who narrowly avoided you.

you looked almost ethereal in your (now known as blue) button up, the sunshine leaving your skin in a warm glow. the gentle breeze ruffled your hair just right, and the novelist couldn't tear his gaze away.

as much as ike wanted to admire his new view too, he was more focused on making sure he didn't lose you. he's thought about it countless of times—dreamt of it, even—of somehow meeting his soulmate and losing them right away, never to be seen again. ike's lost enough sleep over it and he was determined to not make his nightmares a reality.

pushing past shoulders with rushed "sorry's" and "excuse me's," ike rushed to get to you as quick as possible; and soon enough, he was now standing face to face with you—the person who would become the love of his life.

your gaze fell onto him and an unspoken realization was met. you could feel it to; the ecstasy blooming in your very core at finally meeting your other half.

"hi," he breathed, a broad smile adorning his face. "i think i'm your soulmate."

.｡.:*☆ LUCA KANESHIRO !

TROPE: MUTUAL PAIN

woe is the soulmate of a certain blonde haired mafia boss

injuries came with the job, unfortunately, but the soft-hearted man couldn't help but feel sorry for his soulmate

luca knew some most of his injuries weren't normal. civilians don't get bullet wounds in their arm or knife slashes to the chest

did his soulmate worry for him? or were they wishing they weren't fated at all? as much as it hurt, luca couldn't find it in himself to blame them if they did

the small pricks he felt on his fingertips from presumably paper cuts can't compare to literally getting stabbed in the back

eventually it came to a point where luca tried to stop going outside altogether

he can't obtain any further injuries if he's always at the base, right?

but that fantasy couldn't last forever.

the one day he had to be escorted to a different location, him and his guards got ambushed

luca was the only one who got away, but not without sustaining a bullet wound to his shoulder

it wasn't as bad as it could've been but it still hurt like a bitch

stumbling into an alleyway, the blonde collapsed next to a dumpster, creating a loud thud that echoed into the night

luca was ready to rip off a piece of his shirt to wrap his shoulder when suddenly a bright light momentarily blinded him

standing a little bit away was you, pointing your phone flashlight on him while gripping your shoulder in your other hand

"so you're a med student?" luca asks, gritting his teeth when you dab at his bullet wound with rubbing alcohol. tossing the cotton ball, you reach into your first aid kit for gauze.

"yeah," you say quietly, starting to wrap his shoulder. the blonde frowns noticing how you refuse to meet his eyes. he opened his mouth to say something but you beat him to it.

"i chose this path because of you." at your words luca's eyebrow raises in question. you finished wrapping him up and now rest your hands in your lap, fiddling with your fingers. "you got so many injuries growing up and i didn't know what to do. i was worried you didn't have anyone to help you so i wanted to learn how," you explain quietly. at this the mafia boss's gaze softens.

"how'd you know? that i'm your soulmate, i mean," he asks. reaching up, you gently grazed the large scar on his abdomen with your fingers.

"i recognized your injuries," you said. luca shivered at your touch, raising his non-injured arm to cover your hand with his.

"i'm glad i ran into you then, soulmate."

.｡.:*☆ MYSTA RIAS !

TROPE: COUNTDOWN TIMER

mysta's known since he was five that he had a soulmate, just like every other five-year-old in his class

but there was one teeny little problem

ok actually it was a major problem

his timer seemed to be broken

instead of the few years or days or months like his friends had, his timer was set to decades

because of how long his timer was set for, mysta was teased mercilessly for "having a soulmate who doesn't even want to meet him"

this followed him for most of his youth until eventually he covered up his wrist and tried to forget about it alltogether

if he wasn't going to meet his soulmate until he was old and gray, why should he even care

that was until he fell through that damned portal and landed in 2022

he noticed it after he got out of the shower, spotting his wrist in the mirror while brushing back his hair

mysta's mouth dropped open in shock, dropping his arm to gently run his fingers over the numbers

the timer that was the bane of his younger self's existence was down to the hours

the detective was antsy, understandably.

a lifetime of thinking he wouldn't ever meet his soulmate suddenly turned into meeting his soulmate in twenty minutes. mysta wasn't sure what to do, how he should act. should he go outside? he should, right? how else would he meet you?

filled with a newfound sense of determination, mysta grabbed his keys and darted into the london night.

there was hardly anyone out this late; maybe his timer really was broken? what were you doing out at one in the morning, don't you know that's dangerous? who knows what kind of dangerous people were prowling outside right now.

mysta started walking briskly toward a more crowded area of the city. if he had to meet you, it would be somewhere safe.

settling on standing in front of a pub he's been to a few times with friends, the detective started counting down the minutes till he would meet you. he kept glancing at his wrist, watching the numbers go down one by one until there was only a minute left on the clock.

mysta tapped his foot impatiently as he glanced left and right down the street until suddenly, he felt the lightest tap on his shoulder. he spun on his heel and low and behold, there you were.

grinning, you spoke.

"nice to finally meet you, soulmate."

and mysta couldn't be happier.

.｡.:*☆ SHU YAMINO !

TROPE: SWITCHING BODIES

in all honesty, shu couldn't care less about having a soulmate

the idea of the universe choosing who he would fall in love with didn't sit right with him

not to mention how frustrating it would be sometimes when the two of you switched bodies at inconvenient times

like in the middle of one of his experiments

or when he's talking to one of his fellow sorcerers

or how about that time he was meditating in a lovely, perfectly quiet room for the first time in ages as a way to destress only to suddenly wake up in your body in the middle of a bustling city

yeah, shu wasn't all too happy about it, but what can he do?

so while all his friends were out actively searching for ways to meet their soulmate in person, shu was directing his energy toward mastering his powers instead

but the thing about having a soulmate is that you can't exactly reject them altogether

they're your soulmate for a reason, after all

so despite his resistance, the purple sorcerer found himself falling for you all the same

he grew antsy at particularly long periods without switching and eventually started leaving notes behind for you for when you would eventually switch

including a bright purple post-it with an address and a time and date

shu sat inside the cafe anxiously, bouncing his leg under the table while sipping his drink. he hoped that his note was obvious enough that you saw it the last time you guys swapped bodies, but how could he know for sure? you didn't leave a reply on his note, and the swap period was rather short that time too.

minutes passed the written time and the pounding in shu's chest grew louder and louder in his ears. he looked up at every tinkle of the bell above the door, hoping that it was you only to be disappointed when it wasn't. he kept glancing out the window rather obsessively, and soon enough his cup was empty too.

after 40 minutes had gone by, the sorcerer had just about given up. letting out a disappointed sigh, he rose from his chair to leave his tray and finished drink on the counter only to pause when the bell jingled one last time. shu looked up on instinct and his breath got caught in his throat.

in the doorway was you, slightly sweaty and definitely out of breath, looking frantically around the cafe before your eyes landed on him. shu was still holding the tray in his hands when you ran up to him, still in shock at seeing you in the flesh for the first time and not just through a mirror.

"h...hi..." you stutter, gripping the strap of your tote bag tightly in your fists. "i'm sorry i'm late. but i'm so glad i found you." shu broke out of his trance and smiled, setting the tray back down on the table.

"i'm glad you found me too."

.｡.:*☆ VOX AKUMA !

TROPE: FIRST WORDS

fitting for a voice demon that the first words his soulmate says to him is permanently printed onto his skin

"you're gonna have to try harder than that if you wanna impress me, pretty boy" decorated his ribs under his right pectoral

now vox knows he's hot

he's well aware of the power he holds fucking asshole and uses his charm and good looks to his advantage

the demon spent most of his early years dropping one liners and introducing himself with various pickup lines in an attempt to find his elusive soulmate

and many have tried to pretend they were his fated one but they never succeeded

after the death of his clan and being transported to the future, it took vox a long time to feel ready to find his soulmate again

slowly he started visiting pubs and parties in an attempt to socialize

it was at one of these parties that he met you

beer in hand, vox pushed past a group laughing with each other in the hallway to slip out onto the balcony. he was hoping to get a chance to breathe and get away from all the sweaty partygoers, but there was already another person out here with him. figuring it wouldn't hurt to say something, the demon let a familiar smirk slip onto his face as he approached you.

sensing his presence, you turned your head to look at him in curiosity, fiddling with the many rings on your fingers.

"why hello there; what's a gorgeous person like you doing out here all alone?" he drawls, sliding up next to you. a breathy laugh escaped your lips, dropping your head to your chest for a moment before you looked back up and meeting his gaze dead on.

"you're gonna have to try harder than that if you wanna impress me, pretty boy."

at your words vox faltered, the smirk falling from his face as his lips parted in surprise. the skin where his soulmate mark was seemed to tingle.

it seems like you figured it out too; your eyes widened and suddenly you were tugging your shirt up to show a matching tattoo on your ribs. you let the fabric fall back down and looked back up at him, a softer smile now gracing your features as vox reached over to intertwine his fingers with yours.

"would you look at that," you laughed happily. "guess you really did impress me, pretty boy."

WRITTEN ! 080222

[bylrndgm]

i noticed something...

I was watching S04E01 (because I needed screencaps for an edit I made that I’ll post sooner or later) and, oh my, I had to share with you all.

As soon Lucas says this, look at Mike’s reaction:

To me it just screams: “yeah you’re right”. And there is even a little disappointment? And what about the last frames where he nods a few times as to convince himself?

I haven’t made a gif but seconds later he is nervously playing with the shoulder strap of his backpack.

We understand here, that they started high school with a goal: to make things better, to change, twist their lives for the best.

But then we see Mike and well... he looks disappointed, almost guilty, getting nervous, because he knows that for him things didn’t get better: new chapter but same book, same mindset, same everything. 

He nods, trying to convince himself that maybe, things will eventually get better.

Now fast forward to Mike and Dustin’s search for a sub for Eddie’s campaign. After search with no results, Mike proceeds saying this:

If we assume correct the supposition that high school didn’t really provide Mike with the change he wanted to have, then, it’s understandable that he hates high school, and so, why keeping convincing himself that things will be any different?

Also, by saying hate it means that he’s still hoping things will change, he hasn’t given up on that already (when you say you hate something, means you still care, remember xoxo).

But again just notice Mike’s expressions a few moments later, because he’s either on the verge of crying or just out of breath.

In this last one gif, to me, it’s pretty clear that is the first option: he’s on the verge of tears. I am feeling it in my bones, blame it on my water placements, but it couldn’t be any clearer.

So, my take on this, and I ought to kiss my meninges because for once in their lives have clicked on something, is that:

Will left, and Mike had to re-adjust his life, find another balancing point

No wonder he started playing DnD again, it’s like connecting with his inner child and keep Will next to him even if he’s far

However, as much as he wanted high school to bring some fresh air into his life that didn’t happen and Mike is left with hating high school because it didn’t bring any clarity, Will’s still in California, nothing has changed.

The only person that can actually substitute Lucas would be Will and the reason why he hates high school it’s that it had to help him not to think about Will being far, but here he is again, thinking of him.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this, btw! Hope it made some sense!!

[symbioticsimplicity]

This post by @ellewritesandrants got me thinking about Will and Billy bonding, which is something I don't see often enough.

I think it would be really awkward to start. Honestly I think Billy bonding with any of the Party members would be incredibly awkward to start with. But Will and Billy have a lot of common ground tbh. Finding their way to it would just be...hard.

In an Billy Lives AU I'm imagining El and Max are the most likely to visit him in the hospital. Max learned how much she actually cares about him when she nearly lost him, and El has seen some of the deepest parts of his mind and knows hes more like a kicked dog than an actually horrible person.

They go keep him company almost every afternoon, to the point where one if the others, probably Mike makes a comment about it. Something something why are you wasting your time on Billy Hargrove of all people something something He's really not that bad when someone isn't constantly attacking him something something.

It gets brought up, probably by Dustin, that technically he killed a bunch of people, almost including them. That's when Will chimes in, because hey no Mindflayer murders shouldn't count against the Flayed. Dustin realizes his mistake and tries to backpedal, while maintaining that Will was different since Will was fighting it, obviously.

This does not have the intended effect. If anything Will seems more upset because how do you know he wasn't fighting it??? Fighting a mindflayer looks like your body sitting in place for hours while you're scratching at the walls of your own mind, screaming and trying to get back to yourself. None of them knew Billy well enough to know if he had just given in to the mindflayer. Or in Max's case, she hadn’t been home enough to know.

Someone, probably Lucas (which from his perspective is absolutely justified, btw, wanna be very clear on that), mutters that given what he was like before, he can't really picture Billy fighting being evil.

That pisses off Max, El, and Will.

Max snaps about how none of them knew what it was like for him at their house, for either of them for that matter. While he was a dick, yeah, he wasn’t just like that. He isn't evil any more than Max herself is, even though she can be a little much sometimes.

El is frowning when she explains what she actually did to get him to break the mindflayer's control, and it was essentially just reminding him that someone has cared about him at one point in his life. Reaching out to show him the smallest bit of kindness had been enough to let him break the mental hold of a creature that El herself had had trouble fighting.

And Will. Will storms out of the house, now determined to actually ask Billy himself because he's starting to get the sense that no one really ever has.

Billy is surprised to see Will when he gets there, having not ever really talked to the kid. From what he'd seen, he was shy and soft spoken, non-confrontational. It was almost alarming to see him roll up with a fire in his eyes.

His voice is still soft when he talks though, when he apologizes for storming in and asks if he can ask him some things. Billy is bored out of his mind and decides, what the hell, lets see where this goes.

So they talk.

It starts off just being about mindflayer stuff, given that they're really the only two people who can understand what that's like. Will never realized how...good?? It would feel to have someone to really talk to about it?? Billy is obviously still a little gun shy about it, but hearing that that's what happened to Will when he went missing, that he had to go through an experience that horrific at such a young age, immediately vaults him over a lot of Billy's walls. Its the worst kind of common ground, the kind found between vets after a war has ended.

Will attempts to place a hand over Billy's, which garners a flinch, and another piece of common ground is unearthed. Will knows that reaction, has seen Jonathan do it, has done it himself, knows his mom makes an effort to keep her own flinches under wraps.

He wants to hug him, if he's honest. Knows he could probably use it, but also knows that now isn't exactly the time.

Will doesn't mention the flinch and Billy doesn't either, but Will files it away for later.

After that, Will starts joining the girls when they go to visit Billy. They talk more, and for longer as Billy starts getting his energy back. Its weird to Billy, who's not had anything resembling an actual family, but he starts to develop affection for these kids who keep choosing to spend time with him.

He's still slow to truly trust, especially people who he should be able to trust like family, but hes learning. Its slow and its made of small steps like a newborn fawn learning to walk, but Billy starts to open up to them.

He tells El how he misses his Mom, but at the same time he thinks he hates her. El tells him how she feels about her own parents, and how she's still not fully sure about it.

He finally tells Max what Neil did to him when she asks. Little bits and pieces, never anything graphic, but enough that she can understand why he acted the way he did. He apologizes again, and this time when she hugs him and tells him she forgives him, its not with the looming knowledge that he's about to die hanging above them.

He tells Will how scared he's always been about someone catching him looking at his friends for just a little too long. Will hadn’t told him how he feels about Mike, but Billy isn't stupid. He could hear it in the way he talked about him, the way he smiled. He takes the leap first since Will took the leap to get close in the first place. Billy ends up being the first person Will properly comes out to, and Will cries for a good ten minutes because its as relieving as it is terrifying. Billy swears to take the secret to his grave. Its the first time Will hasn't felt like a freak because of something about himself that he can't change, and its the first time Billy hasn't either.

Just....Billy and Will being really ride or die for each other.

[otnesse]

Let me remind you that when Israel tried to implement freedom of religion back under King Solomon, God's response to that was forcing them into the Babylonian Exile, so it's pretty clear from that bit that God was NEVER for freedom of religion. Besides, let's not forget one of God's specific commandments was "Thou Shalt Not Have Any Gods Before Me", and to reinforce the point outright called himself a Jealous God, meaning freedom of religion literally CANNOT be allowed. And all those things I cited came DIRECTLY from the Bible, BTW. And whether I even LIKE or want a tyrannical God along the line of Skar King from The New Empire or not is irrelevant. The fact of the matter is that God himself made that VERY clear he is like that in the Bible. If anything, I HATE having that image of God as a psychopath, but HAVE to embrace it anyways. Tried finding instances where God is genuinely merciful WITHOUT making him look weak in various sources, but they all failed me, DESPITE my efforts. Even when I get some success, the guys who make it all go "oops, nope, he's either the villain, or we'll pretentiously treat him as a good guy despite doing the same evil acts as the prior arc's villain." As far as Vatican II is concerned, there's plenty in that bit that if anything goes AGAINST what God himself mandated (there's definitely no way knowing some of his talks about knowing people before they were even born and having a purpose to them that he would EVER support abortion, or even contraception). And quite frankly, if we are to go that route regarding dictatorship not equaling love, that also makes Obi-Wan and the Jedi Order guilty of that as well. Or have you forgotten that with AOTC where Anakin sincerely told Obi-Wan that he viewed him like a father when the latter scolded him and even implied Anakin would kill him with his actions, he outright told Anakin if he actually loved him, he'd obey him, implying his view of love is absolute obedience, the kind you'd expect from a slave master.

And yes, actually, Obi-Wan WAS manipulating him into killing his father. If he were truly using Jedi Philosophy for that, he would have been up front with him and explicitly tell him "your father, Anakin, was one who betrayed the Jedi due to being seduced by the Dark Side. In order to restore the Jedi, you need to best Vader, kill him if necessary." And let's not forget Obi-Wan, when Luke said he cannot kill his own father, specifically said "Then the Emperor has already won", never made any apparent attempts to even CONSIDER an alternative to killing Vader, left NO option for that on the table.

And BTW, Lucas was notorious for overriding even his own films (Aside from the bit about Anakin and Vader being one and the same, he's ALSO the same guy who not only retconned Han Solo's character establishing scene with Greedo to have him shoot in response to Greedo firing rather than shooting him before he had a chance to fire, but even tried to gaslight his audience into thinking they experienced a Mandela effect despite his own shooting script proving otherwise. And don't get me started on how he retconned Obi-Wan to having Qui-Gon as a master despite TESB making explicit that YODA was his master, or how he made it VERY clear anyone could be a Jedi, comparing it to Karate, but then introduced the midichlorian concept that made it impossible for anyone to be a Jedi without the right bacterium. And he also indicated Yoda isn't even the type to use a lightsaber and that his role as master was more in the Zen Buddhist sense, only to have Yoda use a lightsaber in AOTC. Heck, he even notoriously retconned Obi-Wan's origins purely for a JOKE he told on the Jon Stewart show), which means that even his OWN testimony is non-canon ultimately since it changes on a dime, if we are to follow your logic, since Lucas clearly doesn't have ANY respect to his own vision (if he did, he'd be all fatalistic and refuse to change it in even the slightest).

He did it for me specifically and I thank him every day ❤️❤️❤️❤️

[lupon]

But what if it was just Will pinning after Mike and nothing more? Also what did you mean in the last post? 😅

(Btw that’s weird that icedmo made that post, because they’re proshipper and following accounts with byler smut and Will sexualising on twitter)

Okay I want to be clear on one thing - I do not enjoy smut. I don't enjoy watching sex scenes. I don't enjoy having sex myself. I don't support sexualizing actors. It's my personal belief that sex shouldn't be a topic we shy away from or ignore, and not just in media, especially when it comes to queer people. There's already far too much stigma around that. Since the release of season 4, Stranger Things is rated to be for people ages 15 and over. This is not a children's show. Like I mentioned in my post, sex has been a consistent throughout the entire series. The writers clearly view it as just another part of love, and they aren't wrong.

It's been established that sex exists between many of the characters, I'd again like to point out that they wrote Nancy and Steve getting together when she was only a year older than the party currently is. It shouldn't be surprising that they would write something to imply sexual attraction at the age they are. Nothing has ever been explicitly shown and I don't expect nor want that to change.

In most cases, sex has been used as a form of humor in ST. "So Jonathan... How was the pull out?" "What's a good scream?" *Runs away from lingerie* "I told them to have sex" "boobies" "it's time you give that right hand a vacation" It isn't meant to be taken seriously or looked too far into. It's a joke.

I enjoy analyzing the subtext of the show, and phallic imagery happens to be a part of that. They added these scenes for us to notice and get a chuckle out of, same with the pineapple on pizza being "blasphemous" and Tarzan Boy playing at rink o mania. It's the kind of subtext that just makes you laugh once you know it's there. It's not that deep. Surface level yes, it was just Will pining after Mike. There was nothing sexual actually happening in the scene. It's kinda just there to show us "Hey! Mike is attracted to Will!" subtly. Byler is all about subtext and subtly. I can garentee you though if they showed this type of imagery between Steve and Nancy, or Hopper and Joyce, or even Lucas and Max, the GA would have picked up on it almost imidiatly and be laughing their asses off.

My last post was kinda the same joke in a different light. Just weirdly coincidental that in the same conversation we get they "you're moping. Mopey dick" "you were moping you were barely talking" parallel, we get the "give your right hand a vacation" and Mike's right hand on the hose.

[missusplum]

I'm worried abt the showrunner's comment that no relationships are safe in the TCL finale. I kind of hated Thony's betrayal of Arman altho you made some good points. It sounds like Thony goes rogue next ep. I really hope she doesn't betray Arman again - I think that would signal the end of their relationship which would be very frustrating to say the least. Any guesses? Tx.

Lol yeah it sure is a hell of a tease eh. I mean your guess is as good as mine re: which relationships she’s talking about so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I have more thoughts on Thony this week under the cut:

I honestly think her ‘betraying’ Arman has been a bit overblown, at least only judging by what went down this week. Was it harsh to question Arman? Sure maybe? But I dunno she wasn’t exactly wrong, the drugs were already on the way via Kamdar, vs. all the variables and unknowns that would come up if he died and they had to find their own way to get to the drugs. Like imo it was less about not trusting Arman vs. going with the sure thing for the sake of Luca. I hated seeing them fight but both had points tbh.

And as for Thony keeping Kamdar alive, well I mean I see it less of a betrayal as much as a clear crossroads of motivations. Thony was extremely clear with everyone that she couldn’t have Kamdar die, and also mind you she spent basically all day trying to reach out to Arman who ignored her. And per her scene with Nadia, she was really just asking them to *wait* — wait until the drugs were secured for Luca. When they kept blowing her off, she was pretty much left in a desperate situation. And also let’s not forget that before Kamdar collapsed, Thony was at Fastlane to beg for Arman’s life. She never betrayed them by giving up their plot to kill him, she was just trying to find another way. Which by the way has always been what she’s tried to do, it’s just in this episode it didn’t work out as nicely as it has in the past.

The only real bad thing she did to Arman was siccing an emotional Miller on him and she didn’t even know the extent of what she was doing. She had no idea they found Arman’s print on the gun, she had no idea the danger she was putting him in. She’s certainly guilty of being myopic but not intentionally putting him in harm’s way.

I do want to bring up that the more I sit on it, the more annoyed I get at Nadia gaslighting Thony about equating keeping Kamdar alive to killing Arman. Obviously I understand it’s out of concern for Arman but like what is she supposed to do with that lol. It literally puts Thony in an impossible situation. And notice how it’s not Arman who says this to her because he knows who Thony would choose. This is why I don’t think their relationship will be that strained coming out of ep 10. Ultimately Thony choosing Luca over Arman, over anyone, should be the least surprising thing. As much as we all would love to see Armony, people ought to remember the reason Thony got into the mob business in the first place. She would sacrifice anyone and anything for Luca, even herself.

To be clear, like I said in a previous post, I didn’t agree with Thony’s choices this episode, but at least I can see what drove her to make those decisions. I also think it was very deliberate writing how almost every character pushed back on Thony this episode; I think the writing made it clear that she’s trying to control everything and failing. It’s really her hubris; thinking that she can outsmart everyone and can control how everything goes down (which btw definitely plays into her past as a surgeon). But reality isn’t like an OR and people are wildcards and she cannot possibly see all the angles and things won’t always work out exactly how she wants. I think that’s the main takeaway from ep 10 and going into the final two hours of the season. As far as the episode synopsis for the finale, with everything leading up to it (JD’s voice of reason, a certain character in an orange jumpsuit in the promo, the looming danger of Sin Cara), my initial thought is Thony’s plan is less about throwing other people utb as it is about herself. But yeah who knows lol.

One last thing I’ll say is… I’m like 90% sure that if a character does die in the finale, it won’t be anyone without a penis lmao 🙊 I don’t have any insider knowledge, I just can’t see this show offing any of the women. But I mean yeah if you’re a man in TCL or a boy I would watch your fictional backs 😬