#driving difficulties

[carolperkinsexgirlfriend]

Steddie Upside-Down AU Part 87

Part 1 Part 86

Mom’s hovering in front of the door, a knife in her hand, trying to get the rest of them to get away from the window. It’s not working. If anything, Max’s nose only presses more firmly to the glass with every request she makes.

Will’s hovering just behind her, desperate to keep Steve and Eddie in his line of sight. He can just barely see the wisp of a curl through the side window of the van, bouncing as Eddie moves around inside.

He squints, trying to keep the hair in sight as the movement becomes more erratic.

Will hears glass breaking just as he loses sight of Eddie entirely, wisps and all.

He rushes past his Mom, using the weight of his body to open the door, even as she stands in the way. It’s almost involuntary, a compulsion to follow the thread that Eddie’d pulled him by.

“Will, don’t!” she cries, but it’s too late. He’s out, and through.

Mike calls after him, too, and there’s the sound of tennis shoes stampeding out of the house behind him. Will only hopes he’s not leading them all to their impending doom.

Bodies slump into the driveway, none of them human. They’re like if the Demogorgon had followed a different evolutionary chain. Dustin would find it fascinating. Will just wants Eddie and Steve back.

Wayne’s still standing sentry, looking out across the street, waiting for more monsters to creep in from the darkness, Barbara by his side.

Shielding the entrance to the van, is El.

“El!” It’s Mike, because it always is. He sounds so genuinely elated that something curdles and dies in his throat. He swallows it down, hopes it decomposes in his stomach, so he never has to look directly at it. “You came!”

El smiles, happily at Mike, then around to all of them. “Of course.” She looks over at Max, and she’s frowning now, that way she does when she doesn’t understand something. It used to happen all the time. Now, it’s rare.

Will doesn’t care, can’t when Eddie’s too quiet in the van somewhere Will can’t see. He pushes past her, too.

There’s a misshapen, monstrous foot sticking out of the broken window. He stares at it for a second before swinging the door open. It wrenches the foot strangely, makes it crack and tear with the resistance of the door before it breaks free, black blood flowing like the thing’s still alive. 

It stays still. 

Will looks past it, and finds Eddie’s pale face.  

There’s glass in his hair, and his palms are bleeding where they’re held in front of him, but he’s breathing. Alive. And he’s looking up at El like she’s answered all his prayers. Will and Eddie have been sharing the same prayers from the same broken pews for so long that for a second, Will thinks Steve is back. 

He scrambles over the dead thing blocking his entrance. It’s cold against his palms, flesh barely giving as he crawls hand over feet atop it. But, Steve’s still just sitting there, blinking, Carol huddled into his side like he can protect her, even like this.

“Steve needs your help,” Eddie says, plaintive. Begging with both voice and unblinking eyes, gaze locked on El’s own until she breaks it to look at where Steve still sits, unbothered.

Her brow furrows, eyes squinting like she’s peeling off layers of skin and meat to get to whatever’s underneath. “He’s lost?” she asks.

Carol is squinting at El like the words aren’t clicking for her. She looks back to Steve, then back to El, brow furrowing with anger.

Eddie nods. Will clears his throat. “Not like last time,” he clarifies. “He’s here, but his mind isn’t.”

El nods, decisive. “I will help.”

“What the hell are you all talking about!” Carol demands, even as people scatter around her, setting up for El’s latest rescue mission. “He’s right there!”

She’s not looking at Will, though. She’s looking at Eddie like it’s all his fault. Still, when Steve doesn’t say anything, her lip wobbles as she turns and asks, “right Steve?”

He doesn’t answer, even as she calls again. Will looks away when she bites her lips, eyes wide.

It’s easier this time. They don’t have to break into the school, don’t have to find a pool. El just sits cross-legged in front of Steve on the carpet, careful to stay away from the broken glass and the dead thing. Mike covers her eyes with Wayne’s flannel while the man himself switches the radio dial until he finds one with enough white noise to satisfy.

He can’t quite tune out the murmured conversation between Eddie and Carol, though, no matter how hard he tries. Eddie explains, in clipped, emotionless words, that something, one of the monsters from the other place she’d just gotten a taste of, has taken over Steve. 

“But we’re getting him back?” she asks, voice shrill and breaking, contrasting with Eddie’s own even tone. A veteran to the newbie in the warzone. 

Will, suddenly, feels terribly old. 

“Quiet now,” El demands. 

Eddie looks away from Carol without answering. There is no answer to that question when they’re all subsisting off hope, and not much else.

“Tell him we’re coming, okay?” Eddie asks. He’s looking down at his own bloody palms now, like he can’t bear to look at their last bastion of hope and wait for it to flame and go out. 

“Ask ‘im how to stop the thing taking ‘im over,” Wayne interjects. 

Eddie’s lip wobbles. Will knows how he feels. He doesn’t want Steve to know, if he’s in there at all, that they don’t know what to do. Neither does Will. He wants to save Steve. He always wants to save Steve.

But, Eddie finally looks up, meeting Will’s eyes before nodding. The movement knocks a tear free, but his voice sounds clear when he says, “Ask him how we kill the fucker.”

El nods, shoulders settling as she reaches out to take Steve’s hand. The white noise blankets them all. Will settles down to wait. 

That’s what they always do, when Steve is dying: they wait. This time is no different. 

Part 88

Taglist: @deany-baby @estrellami-1 @altocumulustranslucidus @evillittleguy @carlprocastinator1000 @hallucinatedjosten @goodolefashionedloverboi @newtstabber @lunabyrd @cinnamon-mushroomabomination @manda-panda-monium @disrespectedgoatman @finntheehumaneater @ive-been-bamboozled @harringrieve @grimmfitzz @is-emily-real @dontstealmycake @angeldreamsoffanfic @a-couchpotato @5ammi90 @mac-attack19 @genderless-spoon @kas-eddie-munson @louismeds @imhereforthelolzdontyellatme @pansexuality-activated @ellietheasexylibrarian @nebulainajar @mightbeasleep @neonfruitbowl @beth--b @silenzioperso @best-selling-show @v3lv3tf0x @bookworm0690 @paintsplatteredandimperfect @wonderland-girl143-blog @nerdsconquerall @sharingisntkaren @canmargesimpson @bananahoneycomb

[zishuge]

The heavens will bless the kind. Since he is blessed, then he should go through hardships to gain knowledge and wisdom. Sooner or later, the truth will be revealed to the world. Story of Kunning Palace (2023) | Ep. 11

[starakex]

Some 30ish hours later and I've now completed everything there is to do in Shadow Generations, including rainbow ranks, all regular and hard mode s-ranks, and the collection room.

A run well enjoyed! But now idk what to do with myself 😔

[uselessgaywhovian]

you ever drive so bad that three (3) tourists show up to fix your shit car

[ghostlymarcy]

my big Homestuck Take™ is that there is a significant dissonance between the actual text itself and the discourse around it / sub-cultural idea of it, and that is not inherently a good nor bad thing.

ascribing any sort of monolithic statement about whether a cultural phenomenon is good or bad is always kinda stupid, but when it comes to HS its just… gods…

theres some real fucking bullshit out there. every week theres a dozen people throwing out takes with the confidence of a cis guy on two-and-a-half beers that have seemingly zero basis in the actual text and feel like they’ve invented 10+ years of fandom discourse whole-cloth.

but some of the most fascinating and enjoyable HS content and discussion I’ve ever seen has resulted from wilful dissociation from the base text. and i think there is immense creative and analytical power that can be found in highly non-literalist readings of a text.

i think the issue is less one of the inherent nature of cultural dissonance and more of the nature of our relationship to it and how we create it in our discourse. in other words, the way in which we culturally/socially recreate Homestuck in our discussions about it or in our fan media or what have you depends on whether or not we can all decide to just be normal about things or not.

this is an aimless rant but also i promised @arcanegemini a hs post so here you go lmao :33

[francisforever2014]

you know what hyper-specific thing is really annoying to me??? when people like. allude to things instead of just saying them for literally no reason. for example. my ex used to do this all the time when we were getting to know each other and it was sooooo weird. we’d be out to eat and they’d be like oh i cant have anything….. i have…… allergies 😔. and i’d be like okay….. and this went on forever before i was finally just like literally what are you allergic to . so i can stop just offering you food and have you shoot it down with no explanation. and they finally told me and they were allergic to fucking peanuts. LIKE WHY WERE YOU BEING SECRETIVE ABOUT THAT

[lilydvoratrelundar]

loving the absolutely unhinged energy of this fight

[medi-bee]

yeah sure i'll post some sketches

[lunarflare64]

Jesus fucking christ read The Lady's Handbook For Her Mysterious Illness

[unproduciblesmackdown]

omgg lol [guy who won't stop going "more like scapeGOATED" voice] now hold! on!! lmao [same guy just saw encanto voice] Hold on!!!

[aidenwaites]

i usually can NOT get into straight survival games at all, i hate crafting mechanics, i hate having to worry about durability, i hate watching meters tick down, ect ect

but im having a BLAST with Pacific Drive

[bcneheaded]

I'm gonna be honest though yall, I have an extremely hard time coming back here because I genuinely find it really difficult to like... write.. anything? the formatting here really sucks, and the site is overall just difficult to deal with. That and due to Tumblr rpc nature and whatnot, it's jsut hard to get a foothold really, especially after you've been gone for some time, and my nd ass overall just finds the whole Tumblr rpc hard to deal with formatting and energy wise. That being said! I'd yall want tk write on like discord or something or if anyone has literally any better options over Tumblr then my go's please let me know. I'm down for short things, for sure.! But I need, NEED to like... idk.. think/talk dynamics and plots and stuff otherwise it just doesn't really work for me tbh ;~;

[salt-baby]

I think the take-away from my near death experience is that I am simply unkillable

[real-hot-grl-shi]

Hello!!! ^^

I'm here to ask something related to hypersexuality, so if you're uncomfortable with this topic, please ignore this ask!! ^^ The last thing I want to do is make a random stranger uncomfy in their own blog ToT.

☄️☄️☄️☄️☄️☄️☄️☄️☄️☄️☄️☄️☄️☄️☄️☄️

Anyways, I just recently became friends with someone who is hypersexual and I really want to know like how to befriend them?? Especially knowing that I'm ace huhu, I just want to know like how that works and how it'll affect our friendship and what I need to do to make them comfortable ykyk. This is an online friendship and we literally just met today(they approached me first) so like yeah, how do I do this TvT

Hmm… maybe set boundaries ^^ communication is definitely key and that’s where all of my bad relationships that started with my hyper sexuality came in. Definitely tell them when you’re feeling uncomfortable and when they’re crossing your line. But also don’t instantly blow up on them. Just make sure that they know “hey I don’t like when you talk about this.” Or “hey maybe you can talk to someone else about this?” Being uncomfortable is the last thing I or anyone wants to be. And it breaks relationships romantic and platonic. I’ve been there trust me 😔 also take time to listen to where they’re coming from, just like they should take the time to listen to you. There’s always two sides to the story, and a relationship should never be one sided.

hypersexuality is a pain in the ass. And I hate when people just blow up on me just because they find xyz uncomfortable. Especially if they don’t tell me before hand. If you know who I’m talking about, you know. But you seem like a very nice person! So you don’t need to worry! ^^ I’m so sorry if my advise was bad, but I’m genuinely so happy you came to me about this :(

So long story short, communicate, set boundaries, and listen, and hopefully they do the same <3

jeff

[spiral-wizard]

Man, nothing desensitizes you to city driving like having a job that requires you to drive (and PARK) a huge truck in any dense city area. I'm in massachusetts rn for a big family function and I drove + parked a small rental car all over Boston during rush hour today and felt Absolutely Nothing

[chronomally]

I recently finished Crypt Custodian! It's not a game I would've ever thought I would be into (it's a Metroidvania with Soulsburne-inspired combat - both things I religiously avoid), but the characters, monster design, and environments were all so charming and well done I couldn't help but get sucked into the demo and rush to buy the game as soon as I finished it. I highly recommend checking it out, even if you're not usually into Metroidvanias or Souls-likes