#dude i feel so sorry for the mindflayer | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

sorcerous-caress · 11 months ago

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Solllll :( :( :( :( :( I think they need like. 30 more hugs :( Them plus Lae’zel was really cute though.,,,,, a red dragon descendant and a githyanki huehue love how they’d offer to become a mindflayer instead of her ;-; Also yeah Minthara and Halsin would be great 👀👀 + any other characters you want to write for .!! I’m assuming they bond with Minthara about bullying Gale early on if nothing else

Getting asks about Sol give me such a serotonin boost that I save answering them for the days I'm not feeling well so I can indulge myself <33333 I don't wanna consume them all in one day, they're as precious as candy.

And I wrote the Halsin, Minthara and other companions here!

So how about instead, here is how Sol would react to receiving a hug from the companions + Durge + Tav. Assuming everything happens in act 3.

Shadowheart

By that time they feel guilty for the way they treated her in act 1, they watch her walk towards them and wonder if she's going to slap them after their half-assed apology the other day that Tav delivered to Shadowheart without their permission.

Whatever. She has a right to, they tell themselves. It's nothing, they've felt worse and if it will make her feel better then so be it. So they don't move and stand waiting for her, holding her gaze without faltering.

They're ready for the pain but instead are met with her warm embrace. With her hands wrapping around them and cradling their back, with her face nuzzling between their neck and shoulders. Her armour plates feel cold against their exposed skin.

They hated how good sharrans were at reading others emotions, they hated how her hug tightened around them when she felt the lump stuck in their throat.

They want to say it, I'm sorry. It burns and keeps slipping from their tongue, it scorches them to admit it. It's weakness. Their arms stay still on their side, clenching and unclenching their sharp fingers into fists.

The battle of the absolute that awaits them right around the corner crosses their mind, they might very well die as if they've never lived to begin with.

Is this really what they want to be their legacy?

"I am...deeply sorry for-" they lift their hand, entangling their fingers in Shadowheart's hair and pushing her face further into their neck, making sure she cannot lift her head to see the glossiness in their eyes or tremble of their lips, "for everything."

They still can't hug her back, they don't feel like they deserve to.

"I know." Shadowheart says. She eventually pulls back, Sol turned their face away from her in shame by that point.

Wyll

The watch the reunion between him and his father with bitterness, green envy burning through their brown eyes.

They hold themselves back, they don't say anything, don't ruin this beautiful moment just because of their selfish desires. They have a half-mind to know when they should shut up.

Wyll doesn't. As he calls out to them to come here, join the hug. Sol thinks he must have lost his mind or something.

They give him that look of "dude this is your moment, enjoy it and let me be" but he's persistent. And apparently the apple didn't fall far from their tree for his father is approving of this.

Of Sol.

Okay, now they're fully embarrassed. There is no fucking way he thinks that they'll just waltz up to a three people hug in front of the whole camp as if they don't have a reputation to uphold.

But they were raised on those strick"never disobey your parents and elders" rules and fuck does that training kick in when Wyll's father calls over to them to come. Damn you generational trauma.

There is an awkward clacking of heels as they walk over to the father and son duo, with the reluctance of a dog being lead to a bathtub.

When Wyll eventually has to make the first move and pull them into a hug, Sol closes their eyes and stand there like 🧍.

This is so disgustingly sweet and wholesome they think they're going to throw up. Wyll shouldn't be sharing his happiness with them, he shouldn't be sharing his father and he shouldn't be sharing this hug. He more than earned all of them for everything he went through.

But he is...and Sol is shown love. Shown understanding from Wyll who knows what's it like to see others hug their parents when yours aren't around for you.

His father is a surprisingly understanding man, he treats Sol with kindness and not like the intruder they feel they are. Sol gains respect for him because of that, they still haven't forgiven him for what he did to Wyll but...the fact he is willing to atone for his mistakes and listen to sense is not something they ever expected.

Lae'zel

Honestly they're always happy to see Lae'zel and especially in act 3. Her presence always brings good fortune and news like "found some guys we gotta kill" or "Let's fight to the death again" ah her activities are always so thoughtful and fun.

Sol absolutely loves how they don't need to hold back around her, how no matter how much they burn her and engulf her in flames, she will still rise up to swing her big sword at them. Even when one of them goes too far, the other never holds a grudge and actually compliments them on their strength.

The way she talks about red dragons sometimes as if they're some majestic creatures. The way she doesn't condem their selfish or greedy nature, how she sees beauty in their absolute grace.

Sol tried to return the favour one time but didn't know how to, they asked Astarion and he suggested frogs so they tried talking to Lae'zel about how beautiful frogs are but it seemed to fly over her head. The next time it was her turn to cook, she made a special frogs dish for Sol to eat.

They munched on brunt frogs legs wondering if it might be a bad idea to trust Astarion. Or if they need to find and kill a dragon to feed to Lae'zel?

This whole situation is what resulted in the hug, she was talking to them about red dragons again one day when they commented how they actually smell like them too.

Lae'zel got quiet, observing them with cautious eyes before immediately lunging at them. She had her tiny nose pressed against their pulse point and all of her body wrapped around them in a very intimate hug.

"Hmm yes, I see that you were telling the truth." Lae'zel murmurs, still obserbed in their lineage and not aware od the fact Sol is too focused on the hug to register her words.

This is definitely one of the top ten best moments of their life, even better than that one time as a kid when their first ever scale started growing out of their face.

Sol wraps their arms around her, the two idiots stay like this for a while, hugging and talking about dragons and githyanki.

Gale

If Gale offers it they'll immediately reject it, so it has to happen by surprise or accident.

You see, they were just normally minding their own business around their side of the room when Gale came by, said how he has been thinking about something and he realised why Sol is so mean to him.

"I've concluded it must be your rough upbringing which have resulted in your misplaced mistrust in others." He spoke with such confidence and consideration, a sympathetic look in his puppy brown eyes. "

"So?" They replied.

"Soooo...I'm very willing to start a new page with you, here is to our future happy friendship!" Gale's words held so much power in them and sincerity, it was clear this is something he has been putting a lot of thought int

Sol froze as he pulled them into a hug, patting their back awkwardly. Gale closed his eyes reading to cast a counterspell at the tip of his tongue as he held strongly in the hug.

Then Sol wrapped their arms around his neck, his smile grew as he thought he finally cracked down their walls. Only for them to tighten their hold until he couldn't breath, cutting off his air until he loosen his grip around them.

They immediately broke away from his embrace.

"I would rather hug a cactus at least it doesn't smell like cheap magic."

Their friendship was rather short lived.

Halsin

Maybe it's his bear form and he's high on some honey and cuddles them, they don't recognise him and happily let this adorable bear nuzzle them. Animals never befriend them so easily, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity and they haven't really been this close to a bear before. Even the most cuddly of cats run away from them.

Then you make a comment on how Halsin needs to tone down his honey consumption and it's like they were drenched in cold water.

Desperately kicking their way out of the heavy bear on top of them, clawing at the dirt to pull themselves away as if he's burning them alive. Halsin doesn't register their attempts and his fur is too thick for them to make any scratches.

So they do the only thing they know, they bite him, deep.

There is a metallic taste in their mouth and the smell of burnt fur follows after. They're seriously uncomfortable with this and want their personal space back.

Ugh the one time an adorable animal finally trusts them and it's this fake druid wannabe, they refuse to be on a team with him for a whole week after this incident. And keep snapping at anyone who touches them even if it's you.

Halsin seriously unnerves them. Even when he sincerely apologise after, they tell him they don't his apology, he should just keep his distance and stay away.

Minthara

There is no way either of them would start the hug, even by accident. Sol keeps their distant away from companions and Minthara is too smart and cautious to touch them, even by accident.

She does kinda of treat them as an endangerment and Sol does the same. Both are aware of how easily the other is to tick off.

You'll have to be the one to plan this hug, maybe it's a dare, or maybe you play the leader card. Whatever it is, both of them are really hesitant and would need a lot of convincing.

When it finally happens it's...awkward, stiff. Minthara insists on having water nearby and Sol insists on Minthara dropping her sword before the hug. It's like the awkward hug two dads would give to each other because their spouces pressured them into it.

You picked the most emotionally constipated people in camp for this.

It's over quickly and they don't speak about it. If you ask Sol how it felt, they tell you it's none of your business. If you ask Minthara, she'd say it was as disappointing as she thought, why did you even suggest this?

Both of them actually enjoyed it a bit.

Durge

You're struggling against your ropes, against the dark thoughts swarming your brain.

Blood. Blood. Blood.

It repeats, you can only focus on the Sorcerer kneeling besides you.

How delicious it would be to tear them limb from limb, to show them how weak they really are. Would they beg for mercy or would their pride make them a boring silent kill? How much torture can they endure before their mind breaks?

Sol is looking at you with defeated eyes. As if they've seen this sight before, as if this isn't their first time holding a loved one down.

Pain isn't a great cost. A lot of things are worth enduring it for. Beauty, love, family, power.

You.

They ignore your previous words of staying away as they lean down, hugging your struggling body against theirs. They're strong enough by this point to hold you down, strong enough to hold your snapping jaw close.

It's okay, the tell you, they'll give you whatever you ask for. Just stay, don't let the voices win, don't lose yourself.

They aren't always careful, they end up with a couple bone deep bites from you. But they never burn you, never look at you with any resentment. Only understanding, only compassion.

It's the longest hug they've ever given anyone.

They'll do whatever it takes to calm you down, they never want you to feel alone even in your most dangerous of states. They never want you to experience the shame or isolation that eats up at them.

Tav

They snapped at you in anger when you touched their flower, it's gotten so old that a mere single touch made one of the petals easily crumble and fall.

They said mean words, very mean things as they blamed you for ruining something that saved them. Seething rage blinding them to the hurt expression on your face.

But you're not snapping back, not taking the bait. Sol is growing more irritated, why can't you ever do anything right? They yell.

It doesn't matter how you react, or what you explain. They end up storming away. You don't see them the next day but their stuff is still there, their precious belongings still next to yours.

They'll eventually be back, after they cooled off. They don't meet your eyes, don't talk to you much.

You can corner them and force them to face you, tell them this is getting absurd and their silent treatment won't fix the situation, that if they're angry at you they should just say so.

They're not angry at you, they're angry at themselves, they confess. You shouldn't forgive them, you should be angry, you should hate them for how they can't control something so simple as their anger, for being mean to you over something so stupid.

...but that flower really meant a lot to them, Sol knows you didn't mean it. They it was old and a miracle it survived the many battles they've been through for this long. But all they felt is unbearable pain when they saw it crumble and fall. They tell you they'd have preferred you severed a limb of theirs instead.

It doesn't excuse their actions they know. You deserve better, they can't be better. This is a losing game you're playing with them, because no matter how hard they try they always slip, something one day will always make them snap.

And they'll always hurt you, no matter how much they love you. So please either hurt them back or go, don't be this selflessly kind. They don't have anything of worth to offer you.

...why are you still standing here? Didn't you hear them?

You want this? You want them as they are? God...You're really an idiot.

But you're their idiot.

They immediately hug you, apologising deeply for all the words they said. They don't want to let go, they never want to let go of you. Don't be cruel and take away the single speck of love they somehow managed to swidle out of this life, out of the destiny they were born to fullfill.

Their kind is not meant for love, but for power. And you make them feel the weakest they have ever felt. It's exhilarating.

#♡Sol #♡myocs #♡several characters

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buck-yyyy · 1 year ago

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alright. for the past week or so i've been thinking a lot about the ST fandom space on tumblr, and i'm gonna be so blatantly honest--the "hive mind" that we all talk about and love, especially when it comes to byler, is starting to feel like a bad thing. i feel like we've built up a lot of unrealistic expectations for what season five is going to look like, and for lack of better available phrasing... i really wish that that mindset had never formed.

(to be clear--i am including myself in this criticism!! i am not excluded from what i am saying in the slightest. just to make sure none of you think i'm saying i'm exempt from it or that i think i'm better than anyone, because i am NOT)

anyways, i made this tier-list to be as show-accurate as possible in terms of each character's relevance. stranger things is an ensemble show, but not every character is going to be given the same amount of screen time or have the same amount of attention paid to their storylines, and i think that the division between primary, secondary, and tertiary protagonists in the show is often misconstrued in ways that lead people to believe that a lack of focus on a character's story is some sort of bigoted failing on the writers' part.

(this is not about lucas, erica, or patrick. every single criticism of the way their storylines have been handled by the writers, especially with the treatment of lucas and erica, is absolutely true. this show has a racism problem, fucking acknowledge it).

anyways, to the best of my ability, i've put the protagonists and antagonists in order of their importance/prevalence to the main story*. they have separate tiers, because i don't feel they're fully comparable.

this has nothing to do with what characters i like the most, or how well i think that their stories were written/pulled off--this is simply my own examination of how each character feeds into the fundamentals of what stranger things is. this does not take theories or speculation into account--this is SOLELY based strictly on the text.

i'm not including edward, rosemary, or any other speculative theory-based characters, because 1. i'm trying to be unbiased and don't want to favor specific theories over some i haven't heard of, and 2. they are moreso subtext than text at the moment. no i'm not counting newspapers or set design as text. sorry if that comes across as rude.

owens is in his own category because i cannot for the life of me figure out whether or not he's actually a good guy. chrissy, patrick, and fred are also in their own category because they're not necessarily protagonists, but they're certainly not antagonists--they're more devices in the story than anything else.

there's definitely room for improvement, and i'm very much open to criticism on how i've structured this--but please for the love of god just keep it constructive, don't call me an idiot or be condescending because i didn't take your theories into account when putting this together. i'm just one dude!!!

anyways. the biggest reason i made this is because i am firmly of the opinion that vickie being under-developed compared to other main ships is NOT lesbophobic, it's simply the fact that robin is not a primary protagonist and is therefore not going to be paid the same amount of screen time as certain other characters. it sucks that vickie is a carbon-copy of robin, and it sucks that she's barely gotten any characterization, especially since amy mcnulty is an incredible actor, but it isn't subtle or unintentional homophobia. it's the fact that robin (and by extension, her love interest) is not as important to the story as ships including one or multiple of the primary protagonists.

*flayed!billy (ST3) and billy hargrove (ST2) are noted as different characters and have different places in the tier-list, as are henry, vecna, the mindflayer, and the meatflayer.

#stranger things #byler tumblr

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devious-kat · 2 years ago

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I posted 178 times in 2022

8 posts created (4%)

170 posts reblogged (96%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@rynoprath

@jigsawtits

@lady-raziel

@tench

@madiesunny

I tagged 11 of my posts in 2022

#iswm - 4 posts

#in space with markiplier - 4 posts

#stranger things - 2 posts

#i was probably 11 or 12 - 1 post

#edit: - 1 post

#stranger things season 4 spoilers - 1 post

#byler - 1 post

#spoilers - 1 post

#st spoilers - 1 post

#stranger things spoilers - 1 post

Longest Tag: 83 characters

#some of you didn't see update on this post where i summoned 6969 crabs and it shows

My Top Posts in 2022:

I’m already onboard with Our Flag Means Death and I haven’t even seen it yet. But the funniest thing to me is having played the Assassin’s Creed series, these two characters are very familiar from Black Flag…

Stede Bonnet

And Edward Thatch/Blackbeard

So I keep picturing them in my head XD

9 notes - Posted March 26, 2022

OH FUCK I CAN SEE FROM THE PREVIEW ON INSTAGRAM THE CLOAK DROP HAS ‘FIX IT FROM THE OUTSIDE’ A N D ‘POP ‘ER IN REVERSE.’ RIP MY WALLET/BANK ACCOUNT

15 notes - Posted May 6, 2022

Some thoughts on Stranger Things volume 2 and Byler.

So I get that like, they couldn’t suddenly be together this season, that wouldn’t be realistic.

But Will Byers still got shafted. He had a beautiful moment with his brother, I loved that.

But pretty much no reconciliation with Mike. You telling me in a 9 hour car ride Mike never thought “I can’t believe El commissioned this painting. Wait I thought she said she hadn’t seen it and had no idea what it was!”? That Will gave him this painting he worked hard on and Mike was like “oh that’s cool” and promptly erased it from his mind? Like I get the situation didn’t call for casual chatter, but like I said they were on the road for a lot of hours.

Not gonna lie, with the way El did it, and the title piggyback, I was expecting Vecna to go after Will by piggybacking into her mind. Or even once they reached Hawkins to like “feel him”.

For the first few seasons it felt like this was personal. That something about Will was causing the Mindflayer/Vecna to choose him. Why did the upside down go from just a hellscape to a copy of Hawkins on the *day* he got pulled in?

I’m really wondering how the 5th season will go. Overall, I felt disappointed in most of the last two eps. Jopper was beautiful. I was stressed about everyone living or dying. I feel so bad for Dustin. And Lucas. They have been traumatized. And poor Max, she broke my heart.

I don’t know that I’d call it queerbaiting only because like I said, I don’t think they could have gotten together in this time frame. But I also understand I may not know the complete definition of it. And I’m sorry to everyone hurt by it. 💔

17 notes - Posted July 1, 2022

Dude, anyone who makes any kind of ISWM merch that mentions fixing it from the outside, they’re gonna make a FORTUNE off of me. Or ‘pop ‘er in reverse’. I had to rationalize not getting a jumpsuit I’d have like, 2 occasions to wear.

32 notes - Posted April 9, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Y’all. I’m sure we’ve noticed this, but I haven’t seen anyone mention it yet

They just always have to be touching and I’m HERE FOR IT

197 notes - Posted June 7, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

#tumblr2022 #year in review #my 2022 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review

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platypanthewriter · 4 years ago

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Growth

Harringrove April prompt 27: Growth! Max really wants Steve to know Billy's changed. Steve has doubts...at first, until he and Billy get a chance to talk. Also, yay, touchstarved AU.

“Sooooo Billy’s been getting better, you say,” Dustin said loudly, as he climbed into the passenger seat, and Max climbed in behind Steve.

She groaned. “Yes!” she said, like Dustin was deaf, leaning around to yell in Steve’s ear. “He’s much better.”

“Why are you yelling,” Steve muttered, leaning to see through the back, so he could back out of the parking space.

“Since he saved El,” Dustin practically shouted at Steve, and he eased off the gas to stare over. “He saved her,” Dustin said again, like this was news. “Billy did,” he added, like Steve was maybe brain-damaged, or Max had forgotten about her brother landing in the hospital.

“I know,” Steve told him, raising his eyebrows. “I remember.”

“He saved El,” Max said, and Steve stared at her in the rearview mirror, until a thought occurred to him, and his eyes narrowed.

“...are you two high,” he asked, sniffing the air, and Max punched him in the shoulder.

“No!” she shouted, kicking his seat.

“Hrm,” he said, pulling out of the parking lot, but keeping a wary eye on both of them, and then...Steve started to put the clues together. “Holy shit, wait, are you from the future? Trying to figure out the, y’know, the timeline. Oh my god, can you go through time in the Upside-Down?!”

“Shut up, Steve,” Max sighed heavily, her face smushed into the back of his seat.

“I mean, it’d be worth a try,” Dustin said, brightening, and Steve sighed with Max, disappointed.

“We were talking about my brother,” she said, flatly, like Steve had tired her out.

“Why?!” Steve asked bluntly, turning on the road towards the Wheeler’s. “Because he hasn’t given anybody a concussion recently?”

“...three months since the last head injury incident,” Dustin whispered, snickering, and Max smacked his shoulder, growling like her brother.

“He’s better,” she hissed, thumping back against her seat, and crossing her arms.

“Uh, yeah, yeah he is,” Dustin said, grimacing, and Steve stared over at him, and into the rearview at Max, and came very close to running a red light.

“What is going on with you two,” he breathed, staring between them, and starting to wonder about weirder theories, like doppelgangers, or possession. “Shit, can the Mindflayer get two people now?”

“...I’m telling him it’s hopeless,” Max said, looking at Dustin, and he grimaced, and sighed.

Steve couldn’t stop wondering what the hell that was about, and the next time he had a few hours, he drove down to the pool, and watched Billy’s water aerobics class—which he knew he was in, because now that he thought about it, Max talked about Billy a lot. He did look better, Steve thought grudgingly, for a given of ‘last time I saw this person, he had a hole in him the size of a basketball hoop.’

It was hard to imagine him having changed enough to warrant Max’s unending praises, and Steve clenched his fists, remembering Billy’s fists hitting his face, and the way Max had flinched away from her brother’s hands.

He wandered back into the locker rooms, biting his lips.

Since the water aerobics class was mostly grandmas, Billy wandered back in alone, and shuffled into the shower to lean against the post in the center. His legs shook, a little, and Steve felt kinda shitty all of a sudden for just standing there watching. The bench was hard as hell anyway—and what was he even gonna say, he asked himself, groaning.

He stood up, brushing his pants off automatically, and then he heard Billy’s voice say “...Steve Harrington?”

“...no?” Steve tried, turning around with a grimace, and Billy snorted a laugh, shampooing his hair.

“The hell are you doing in here? Dressed?”

“Hrm,” said Steve, wondering about that himself. Billy did look so much better, Steve could see Max’s fascinated relief. He could stand and take a shower, the water running over his muscles, even if he needed to lean one hand on the showerhead post while he washed his hair. His scars were thick and ropey, but healed—and as Steve thought it, he realized Billy was working his jaw, a little, glancing at Steve’s face.

With a sinking feeling of guilt, Steve grimaced, trying to imagine how he’d feel if he made it through something like that, and then people stared at him in the shower.

“My scars gonna give you nightmares, Harrington?” Billy asked, laughing a little breathlessly, and gripping the showerhead post.

“What?! No!” Steve said, making a face, realizing that was worse, feeling his face heat at the teasing tone of Billy’s voice, and deciding on a distraction. He dropped his eyes about a foot and a half. “Just pitying you, man, I never noticed your tiny-ass dick before.” He grinned, proud of himself, as Billy stared over.

“What,” he said flatly.

"I guess you're a grower," Steve said, eyeing Billy's dick. "I guess? Or is it just that size? Too bad, man," he finished the killing blow, only to have Billy start laughing so hard he staggered, and Steve ran in to grab his arm, steadying him down to the ground.

“Oh my god,” he wheezed. “What the fuck, Harrington. Brutal.”

“Sorry,” Steve said, grimacing, and starting to snicker along. “Sorry, I just—I wasn’t thinking anything shitty about your scars, I just...figured that was better?”

“Is it, though?” Billy cackled, leaning on one arm and panting, his eyes shut tightly against his dripping shampoo. “Is it really?”

Steve laughed harder, grimacing again as he watched Billy try to stay upright, the arm he was leaning on shaking. “Scoot to your left,” he told him, “—get back in the shower spray, I’ll help you with your hair. I’ll be right back.”

“...how long am I supposed to wait,” Billy muttered, wincing as he tried to scoot himself along the sandpapery anti-slip floor.

“Just a sec,” Steve said, backing out of the showers, with an eye on Billy Hargrove, in case he drowned.

The floor at the pool was familiarly pebbled and rough as Steve pulled off his shoes and socks. He yanked his shirt off for good measure, tossing it on the bench, and then walked back in. “Okay, I’m gonna spray you in the face,” he said, and Billy sputtered a “What,” as Steve stuck his hand under the showerhead, and directed it onto Billy’s hairline, to rinse the shampoo off his face.

“...oh shit, thanks,” he muttered, scrubbing at his face, and Steve held the water there while he rinsed and wiped his eyes.

“You want me to help you get back under the shower?” Steve asked, once Billy’d blinked and squinted around a little, and Billy shot him a glare.

“I think you better,” he huffed. “Come in here and insult my dick. Makes us ev—” he winced, and stopped, sighing. “...sorry about all the shit I did last fall. Showing up at the Byers, and...everything. Max said you were okay,” he said slowly, glancing up. He looked tired.

“Oh,” said Steve, startled. “Uh. Sorry I insulted your dick.”

Billy snorted a laugh, shaking his head, and Steve turned the shower off, stepping in to yank Billy up and help him stagger back under where he could finish washing his hair. The shampoo was starting to drip into his face again, and Steve crouched to wipe it off with his thumbs, feeling Billy laugh against his hands. He was bracing himself with both arms, and Steve was feeling doubtful.

“You got this, man?”

“Just need to sit for a while,” Billy muttered. “...long night. You can go—”

“I’m not leaving you lying on the floor,” Steve told him, indignant. “Come on, man, I’ll wash your hair.”

“What,” Billy said, but Steve ignored him, turning the water back on, and squirting more shampoo into his hand, because he’d seen Billy only get half his head while Steve made him laugh so hard he sat down.

The shower soaked into his slacks, and he grimaced, but there were scars all up Billy’s hunched shoulders, too, and he was trembling with the effort of staying upright, so Steve tried to focus on working the suds through his hair. Billy’s curls clung to his fingers, and Billy flinched, sometimes, when Steve lifted a hand away to wash a new part of his head, so Steve started narrating. “Gonna rinse around your ear,” he said, and Billy tilted his head obediently, clenching his hands against the floor.

“That’s good. Now around your face,” Steve said, like he was helping with Holly Wheeler’s bath, but bathing a person of any size seemed about the same, really—Billy was heavier to help in, but at least Steve didn’t have to keep distracting him with squeaky hedgehog toys. He tipped Billy’s chin up, shielding his eyes, and Billy sighed, shivering, his head heavy in Steve’s hands.

“...you need conditioner?” Steve asked, frowning around, and Billy swallowed—unhelpfully—but then Steve found the bottle, rolled against the shower post, and began working it through the length of Billy’s curls. Billy’s hands twitched and shook, and Steve wondered how the hell he was getting home, even if Steve got him out of the shower and dressed.

His breathing was going weird, gaspy and uneven, and Steve started to worry he was hurting him, somehow. He slowed down, a little, gentling his touches, and Billy pulled his knees up, hugging them to his chest.

“Shit,” he mumbled, panting. His skin was red even for in the shower, and finally, Steve got it.

“...shit, dude, you been lonely, huh,” he said, laughing.

“Shut the fuck up,” Billy laughed, groaning into his knees.

“Shutting up, just keeping on with my sexy, sexy shampoo job,” Steve told him, letting his fingers linger as he cupped water up the back of Billy’s head to rinse the conditioner out, and Billy made a strangled noise into his hands.

“Fuck you,” he moaned. “Why are you even here,” and Steve laughed, putting his hand over Billy’s eyes to tip his face into the spray again.

“Max said you’d...changed, I dunno,” Steve told him, feeling the odd sensation of someone else’s stubble under his hands as he held Billy’s chin, rinsing the sides of his head. “She kept saying it like I was supposed to care, you know. Thought I’d see what was going on.”

“...and?” Billy asked, softly, as Steve splashed some water on his hunched-up collarbones, trying to rinse the conditioner all the way off.

“Shit, I dunno,” Steve told him, laughing. “Talked to you for like ten minutes, and I don’t think you, y’know, uh, I don’t think you grew exactly the way she meant.”

“Jesus fucking Christ,” Billy groaned into his hands, curling up tighter, and Steve snickered.

“Guess it’s a little...frustrating, recovery from something like that,” he whispered, and Billy elbowed him, laughing.

“Go to hell!”

“That’s the Billy Hargrove I remember,” Steve said, handing him the soap. “Here, finish up whatever, I’m gonna find your locker and get your clothes out. You need a ride?”

Billy stared at him, head cocked away from the water. “...that’s it?” he whispered.

“What?” Steve asked, feeling like he was being pretty nice, all things considered. “You want something else?”

“...no,” Billy said, looking down at the soap.

Steve wandered off, trying not to listen as Billy took care of his little problem. Not that little, he thought, remembering his assessment of Billy’s dick, and snickering guiltily as he opened lockers, trying to Sherlock Holmes it based on water trails, but the whole floor was wet, and he didn’t see any wet handprints glinting helpfully in the lights.

By the time he wandered back, Billy had his legs sprawled, his cock properly limp and unobtrusive between them, and Steve turned the shower off and half-carried him to a bench. He sat down while Billy dried his hair and toes and struggled with socks, and then couldn’t watch anymore. He crouched down and put Billy’s shoes on, tying them for him, and helped him with his shirt. Billy was swaying a little by that point, his eyes drifting shut, and Steve thought maybe it hadn’t been a good idea to encourage him to jack off in the shower, even if he’d probably sleep like a log.

“C’mere, Billy,” he said, scooping him up, and Billy sighed against his ear.

“...sorry,” he mumbled. “S’ry ‘bout my dick.”

“Your dick is your problem, buddy,” Steve told him, hefting him up again as he walked. “And whoever you’re dating, I guess.”

“...fuck you,” Billy whispered. “Fuck you, ‘s…’s’okay.”

“Yeah, it’s an okay dick,” Steve reassured him, unable to believe he was having this conversation. A woman stared at them as he tried to unlock his car, and he beamed back at her, half-tempted to do something outrageous, like start barking dick measurements, but she harrumphed and wandered off.

“Still got my mouth,” Billy mumbled sleepily, as Steve loaded him into the car. “An’ my asshole. ‘F’you don’t like my dick.”

“Your dick’s fine,” Steve told him, sliding the seatbelt around him, and starting to blush as hard as Billy’d been, because what the fuck.

“S’a grower,” Billy said.

“Yeah, yeah, you grow, I get it,” Steve agreed. “Super impressed, man.”

That seemed to wake Billy up again, a little, and he watched Steve get in the car. “...is that what Max said? That’s why you’re being so nice. No,” he laughed, grimacing. “Max said you’ve always been nice. Shit.”

“...I haven’t,” Steve said, starting up the car. “I mean, I had to grow up some. Too.”

Billy nodded, slowly, biting his lips together.

It wouldn’t be so bad, Steve thought, to swing by and see Billy again. Have another dude around who knew what Hawkins was like, and who seemed...kind of cool, now, now that he wasn’t being such a prick. “I’m glad you’re okay, man,” Steve told him, honestly, and Billy’s smile was quick and bright.

“Yeah, back at you,” he said, sighing.

He slept for the rest of the ride.

Here are my other Harringrove April prompts!

#Harringrove #harringrove april #Billy's grown #Steve's grown #Billy's dick is growing too #Lots of growth #XD #Hurt/comfort a bit #My bathing fixation

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cherrydreamer · 3 years ago

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WIP Wednesday(ish)

Time’s an illusion. Wednesday doubly so, right?

I was tagged by the utterly brilliant @thatharringrovehoe and the wonderful @booksfoxesandcoffee I am so late for tagging BUT I’ll give y’all a tardy pass or whatever if you send some sweet WIPs my ways @passivenovember @prettyboyporter @aspartaeme @mouseskeleton and @okaybutlikeimagine (no pressure, you know that 💕💕💕) So here’s a (longish but mostly dialogue!) snippet from Chapter 4 of Don’t Leave Me Hanging (On the Telephone) under the cut

"We don't know him," Steve repeats Will's words. Because they're true.

"I know him," El pipes up, and Will nods.

"She does. That's right. El's been in his head."

"And so has the MindFlayer!" Dustin stops his pacing to slap his hands against Steve's desk, exasperated, "He’ll know everything that El does. Maybe more. We don't know what he knows and we don't know anything so we're stuck."

“I can hear you little shits, you know,” Billy's voice cuts through Dustin's rant, "What the fuck are you talking about?"

"Can we put him on hold? I'm putting you on hold," Dustin announces, and Steve slaps his hands away as they reach out to press a button.

"Dude, no. I dunno how this connection thing works, we can't risk messing with it."

Dustin tuts, "It's just a phoneline Steve, it's not exactly high tech. You literally just press the button and-" he reaches out again, and Steve pushes him away with even more force,

"Yeah and it might cut him off for good so I'm not gonna risk it."

"I know what I'm doing,” Dustin argues, “I won't-"

“What did you take from Max’s room?” El interrupts. The room goes silent. The only sound is the click of Billy swallowing down the line, and then his shocked voice through the speaker,

“...what?”

“Max’s room.” El repeats, “Right at the start of summer, when I was sleeping over. You came and yelled and turned the music down and then you took something. I saw you. What did you take?”

Billy doesn’t answer, and Dustin jabs an accusatory finger at the phone, “He doesn’t know. Shit. Shit! It’s the Mind Flayer! He’s back. Code Red, people, we have a Code Red. We need-”

But Billy’s saying something else, something that’s lost amidst Dustin’s yelling and flapping, and Steve clamps a hand over Dustin’s mouth to try and hear it. “Billy? Sorry, what was-what did you say?”

“Lip gloss,” Billy’s quiet, but Steve hears the words this time, “I took her...her fucking raspberry gloss, OK?”

The boys all turn to look at El, who nods, almost solemnly, “He did.”

It's one thing too many for Steve's brain and he breaks, laughing out loud. “Seriously, Hargrove?”

"Yeah, alright Harrington, laugh it up. Tommy told me all about the Lip Smackers in your locker."

"That was Carol's!” Steve squeaks in indignation, “I was gonna give it back to her."

Billy's laughing now, not unkindly, "Yeah, yeah, sure, Stevie. And you never tried it at all, right?

"Course I tried it, Goldie" Steve can’t help the nickname slipping out, "The girls go wild for that kind of thing."

"Hot Lips Harrington. Betchya had ‘em all lining up for a taste." Billy chuckles. It's that dark one again, almost sultry, and Steve licks his lips involuntarily, like he's trying to mimic the action he just knows Billy is doing on the other end of the line.

He feels his cheeks heating up with a blush, and it only deepens when Billy's voice drops low and smooth as he says, "Lemme guess. Cinnamon? Spice it up?"

"Uh, Dr. Pepper, actually," it slips out before Steve realises, more of a confession than a retort, but Billy laughs anyway. A proper laugh, a bark that sounds almost as though it's caught him by surprise and which catches Steve too. And it's so easy, so relaxed, that Steve's forgotten the whole reason he's talking to Billy in the first place, it's only when Will starts to talk that Steve's brought right back down to earth.

#harringrove #tag game #WIP Wednesday #cherrywrites #don't leave me hanging

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argylemikewheeler · 5 years ago

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SO a lovely anon’s been asking for a screampost about season 2 byeler aaaaand guess who figured out what their screampost is gonna be about??? It’s ME, and it’s the freaking SHED SCENE. But I’m going to yell about it from the POV of an english major who’s writing an honors thesis and thinks they know shit about writing. OKAY LET’S GO:

SO. The main beef I have with the shed scene is: what the fuck was it for? Why was it so long and emotional and well done, if it was just to show the humanity of Will could be engaged/wants to get to showing he knows Morse code. Like, we see three stories told to him before we get him tapping out “HERE”. Why have those three? Why have everyone in the room? I understand the montage after with the music and the different stories is to keep the Mindflayer distracted and Will engaged. Makes sense!!! But that first part. That FIRST PART.

It’s extremely weird to think that it was just meant to be casual. Like. Of course I have time for character/dialogue analysis but first– as a writer (and this is just ME of course, I’m not an authority at ALL) I know that kind of scene. It’s where all the plot kind of lifts for a bit and you have this free spaces to create this MOMENT. It’s just for Will, it’s just shameless background– and it’s the most important moments of Will too.

It’s his Mom, his brother, and his best friend– who, no matter how you look at Mike, he’s been there the entire time. Mike’s plot started out being Minus One Eleven Plus One Broken Heart and became I’m Worried About Will and I’m Going To Make Sure I’m There For Him. I Said Crazy Together, Dammit. And that makes him logistically even with Will’s own mother and his brother speaking to him.

So the writers choose to have this moment for Will. It’s their chance to let these actors work their chops, get some background, let us feel SUPER invested in Will making it out Alive and Human, and also learn something about these relationships– before Will became Zombie Boy. Before the Upside Down. They know this is the moment to really just Go Off and Create. I mean, they have the open space! They can say whatever they want and make it canon! It’s a blank canvas of a scene that’s just WAITING to make us cry. And they tell three stories: Rainbow Ship with Joyce, Castle Byers with Jonathan, and Becoming Friend with Mike.

I’m looking at this like I was sitting in the writer’s room and I was thinking about what I would want to do and have each character say– and I acknowledge I do not write for a multi-million dollar netflix series and that shit is not easy. but WITH THAT SAID. I still, you guessed it, HAVE some THOUGHTS.

Jonathan’s story makes the most sense– very like Point-A to Point-B to me. It’s not a cheap shot or anything, but that story makes sense to tell. It’s something that 1. explains how Castle Byers came to be 2. gave us some timeline stuff 3. showed us how Jonathan dealt with the separation and 4. how close he and Will truly are, because most of the time Jonathan is just trying to save Will; they don’t really hang out, ya know? It’s a great story and writing wise it does a WHOLE BUNCH.

But it also does this really weird fifth thing of showing us that this is the first story that Jonathan thought to tell when faced with trying to reach Will. It’s the most emotionally rooted– I mean? That’s his brother! That was their father! And NOW, Will’s got a safe space! One that they made together. That’s so beautiful and human and definitely able to cut through The Mindflayer. Jonathan’s first story, and actually all of his stories, are rooted in things he did to get Will out of the abusive environment his father was creating. Jonathan’s first instinct and memory to bring Will back is: I know what you’ve been through and I know that you were scared, but you survived that. And you’re going to get back to us and survive this. Great writing, right? Good shit.

Then we get to Joyce and the Rainbow Ship! She tells this story of feeling SO proud of her son for creating something all his own. I’m not going to say anything about the, uh, rainbow thing, but we all know it’s there. They decided that not only was this ship just Different, it was Rainbow too. Crazy. But, the main point here is that the first story she chooses to tell Will to bring him back is probably one he doesn’t even think about often– which is a really great story for a Mom to have, when you think about it. What kid remembers what drawings they did– especially if they were embarrassed about it.

Well, Joyce comes through trying to pick at such a small and minute memory that only her Will would know. It’s the moment she, in a way, really started to see her son for what he is: creative and unrestrained by convention, bubbly and inventive, and just this happy joyous kid. This was probably one of those moments that she sat at the table alone, looking at the picture and hearing her son scribbling in the other room, and thinking oh i really have someone special here. oh i have to protect him.

For writing, Joyce’s moment was very detailed, completely new for the audience– but added a lot about Will’s childhood. The happy one that we know gets turned around down the line (before it goes Upside Down). Joyce misses her son and this story is a way for us to see that aching side of her and just CRY with her. It’s easy (not cheap though of course) tears and it’s incredible.

And then. And then the writers have Mike come into the mix. Like, we get the shot of Joyce and Jonathan together, wetly laughing at Will being “so bad at hammering” and the shot of Will’s hand trembling. And as a writer, I know, we’re there. We’re almost there. We set it up– Three’s a magic number. Send him over the edge let Will finally reach reality again AND–

It’s. It’s fucking Mike Wheeler. Bringing up the first day they met. Letting us in on the backstory we have NO primer to. Like, Byers Family Drama is semi-known; we know that there Is history there and it’s being given to us slowly. But how Mike and Will met? We have NO IDEA– we’ve just seen this boy calling when he’s out sick, being concerned when he’s quiet, assuring him he’ll keep him safe, “crazy together”, helping him explain his Bad Vibes with Dart without speaking over him, and just constantly thinking about Will’s well being while they’re fighting a literal monster.

So now, the writers have shown us this pure dedication and loyalty and go: they’ve known each other since they were FIVE. They make the decision in this moment that they want to tell us that Mike is literally Will’s longest and best friend. Nearly as long as this boy has been able to form memories he has known Michael Wheeler. That’s the move. That’s the info we get and that is chosen to be given. Mike’s friendship is turned into a center of Will’s formative years by simply implying that this story needs to be told to both Will and the audience. BUT THAT’S NOT ALL.

This story also, from a writing perspective, says a lot about Mike! They chose to have Mike remember the first day they met– not when the party all met or anything like that. No. Just the two of them. The writers don’t cop out on this moment at ALL. Like they take FULL advantage of this free moment and build such an intimate and short memory between characters you’re just supposed to Understand are friends. Like, the backstory isn’t always important sometimes– but right here, they tell us it is.

They tell us that Mike being alone and scared is something that stuck with him, it’s something he’s afraid of having happen again if he loses Will. They tell us that Will was a loner all the way back then too, but he doesn’t seem to mind being one (or being different). And then, mixed in with this backstory that shows both Mike and Will really haven’t changed they throw in that… uh….

Asking Will to be his friend is the best thing Mike has ever done. They wrote that sentence without any jokes, no laughs, no weak smile– Finn says that line and it’s dead. fucking. serious. The moment that speech was written into that scene, that entire relationship’s gravity changed.

And writers have to know that. They HAVE TO. Because of how close Will and Mike were the entire episode, there’s no way that this was a Red Herring– something just to throw us off the scent of… Will breaking through, I guess? Because he literally taps the chair in the next minute. It’s not a decoy scene or, as expected honestly, played for laughs. It’s a completely serious moment of an eighth grade boy, that has been emotional and angry and lashing out all season, stand in front of his friend and just CRY.

And what’s worse. Mike seems to only cry when El is involved (at the end of s1 and when Hopper tells him he was hiding her). And THAT’S a parallel, of course, but not only that, but the writers chose to show Mike having non-romantic emotional range. Which is GREAT, but dude this scene is SO… Tender??? Seeing a young boy cry at the feet of his best friend that he thinks he’s losing? And recounting the FIRST MOMENT THEY MET because that’s the BEST FIRST MEMORY? Like, literally just becoming Will’s friend is the best one because it allowed him to have every other memory? Dude that’s so profound. That’s so incredible to think of and to write.

And for no one in that room full of straight white dudes to say: Uh…. maybe that’ll seem gay in the 80s is CRAP. Sorry, not to be that piece of shit, but I know that they thought about it. So for them to still keep the speech in– even with their DUDE THAT’S GAY Monkey Brains going off– says something to me, as a writer. And not in a “they wanted to be progressive” kind of way.

They wrote a beautifully tender moment between Mike and Will, in a scene that could have been anything they wanted, with only Will’s family present. That scene was a creative writers dream! A free-for-all! A moment to just fucking make shit up and go crazy!!! and they decided to go with That…. BRO, ngl I’m kinda emo about it STILL….

Okay. I don’t know if this makes any sense, but as someone who’s writing a longer piece that has many character relationships to juggle and show the reader piece by piece, this moment of OH we can give Will some Memories and Audience Some Background is very clear to me– and I don’t mean that like, it’s cheaply done or it’s obvious in a bad way. I just know the vibe: when you get to sit and ask yourself WHAT do I want to say about my character here. It doesn’t have to be related to ANYTHING ELSE that’s happening. I get the reins back. What. Do. I. Want. To. Say.

And they chose. To Say THAT.

I’m not going to scream about season 3 because I think st3 needs st4 to make sense all the way. Like, I think it’s a set up for the Big Finale, so I won’t say they “didn’t follow through with ANY OF IT” because maybe they will. But let’s just say, if they do not. Please print this out and send it to the Duffer Brothers.

Alright. Word, thanks for reading this ridiculous rant

#s2 byeler #byeler #byler #kaz s2 rewatch #*#i reposted as a txt post bc the read more on mobile wasn't working and i didn't want anyone to have to scroll past that more than onec #xoxo

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panharmonium · 4 years ago

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stranger things 3, a visual summary:

more coherent thoughts under the cut, because wow.

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

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

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

first, good things:

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

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

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

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

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

OVERARCHING PROBLEMS:

1. keep it simple, stupid

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

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

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

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

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

2. the horror!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

3. illogical, captain

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

4. watch your tone

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

SMALLER THINGS THAT BOTHERED ME:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

LASTLY:

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

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

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

#i finished yesterday #holy moly #interdimensional babysitters club

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marzipanrose · 5 years ago

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I would love to know more about your ocs, all of them. They're all so nice and cute, and your art style is so visually pleasing

Sorry for taking so long to awnser this but i have a lot of Oc’s and I wanted to be home to awnser it properly/ write it all out.

I have quite a few oc’s bouncing around in my head and its kinda hard to congregate them all but heres some of the more recent ones!

First off lets talk about characters that I go halvsies on, Tom Jim and Alfie are all characters that I am the artist for in me and @tomahawkbunny‘s comic Tom, the Kinda Rogue Mind Flayer. I love these dudes and they feed my need for silly dnd shenanigans. heres the link! go read the comic! its quarantine baby you have nothing better to do, theirs almost 90 pages of Mindflayer shenanigans.

Second lets talk about my obsession with all things squiddy! I have a couple of Mindflayer oc’s that I really enjoy but haven't really done much with.

These two knuckleheads are Dave and Izzie, the are people that live in a world where a magical explosion at a convention turned people into what ever they were cosplaying/roleplaying as. out of all the attendees they were the only two that ended up as mindflayers. they were pretty good friends that then became accidental co-parents after some rogue science shenanigans, they eventually end up falling in love.

Next Squid is these two... I kinda keep flip flopping on names but basically the mIndflayer lady was kinda border patrol for a mountain dungeon that connects to the Underdark. she kinda had a love at first sight thing with the halfling bard of an incoming party. obvs she has never been in love before and dosent know how to handle this.. confused lesbian feeling all round.

Another Oc is Ozymandius!

Ozy is a Dnd Character of mine, he is a fire elemental that was summond by a wizard. he was excited to be summond and was ready to protect the wizards valuables.. but it turned out that the wizard just needed someone to look after his elderly mother while he went to wizard college. The Elderly mother just adored her new firey gransdon and taught him many things about the world and adventuring ( she used to be a fighter in her day you know!) after her passing Ozymandius set out on his own adventures ready to be part of the world!

so yeah... these are some of my more recent oc’s if you wanna know about some of my older ones heres a link to my Deviantart.. I have more info on there and you can do more digging.

#long post #oc ramblings

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sweetmoons · 5 years ago

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Stranger things season 3 review

Sorry about how long this is tumblr mobile doesn't allow me to put in a read more link. I want to preface this by saying that this is my opinion and if you don't agree with me that's totally cool and I'm open to discussion but if you're rude I'm not even going to reply. I also want to establish some things that could make me biased: I've been a will 'stan' since season 1 along with also shipping byler/byeler during season 1 so I will say that when it comes to relationships I'm quite biased but I'll try my best to support everything I think with facts. I'm gonna separate all my thoughts into parts sorry if it gets supper long.

Acting:

Okay I just wanted to get this one out of the way first. The acting was amazing this season as usual and Millie really did a great job on El's character. I have no issues with the actors so everything in this review is targeted towards story.

Main plot:

Before going into specifics about characters I want to address the actual main plot of the show. So how I would explain it is Russians are in Hawkins cause they've figured out about the other dimension and want to open the gate for military use (I think?????), while this is going on the mindflayer is possessing a shit load of people to create a huge monster to kill El cause as far as the mindflayer know shes the only one who can kill it. Alright that's the base of it but there are some issues I have with the plot. First off I feel like it's very all over the place, the past 2 stranger things seasons have had multiple factors going on at once but the common theme between them is that they all had one major focus season 1 was finding Will season 2 was figuring out what was wrong with Will then saving him, but I really can't pinpoint what the motivation is this season. Each character it seemed had a different driving factor that just happened to lead them all to the same place where they didn't know what the fuck to expect. [This is not necessary to read so if you want to skip go back to where its normal text but I just want to point out what I mean by them not having a common goal. Nancy and Jonathan's driving force was Nancy wanting to find answers for a news story she was doing. Joyce and Hopper's driving force was joyce thinking something fishy is going on and hopper tagging along with her. El, Max, Lucas, Mike, and Will's driving force is the fact that Will senses that the mindflayer is still alive. And lastly Steve, Dustin and Robin's motivation is pretty much "my job sucks let's see what this Russian radio frequency I found means" which sounds about right for them] That frankly gave me a vibe like I was being pulled in ten different directions while watching the show. I didn't really feel like there was any order and it felt all over the place like it didn't know what to do next. It almost feels like they had a beginning and an end and just shoved through the middle and filled it with random shit. My second issue with the plot is why are the Russians suddenly the only enemy and we're just cool with the American government that we are aware tested on people??? Why did our enemies just switch and why dont we get an explanation of how the Russians know about the gate? The last thing with the plot I'm gonna touch on is the mindflayer/big bad monster made of molten people. So I just wanna say uhh I'm full on confused when it comes to the mindflayer. So it's never established if they closed the gate and accidentally trapped the mindflayer in their world or if the Russians opened the gate and let it back in because if it's the first one I don't see the point in adding the whole Russian story line. Also what exactly is the mindflayer and what are its powers because it completely changed between season 2 to season 3. If the mindflayer can posses multiple people why was Will the only one possessed in season 2 and how come he was able to with stand and over come the mindflayer so much easier than everyone else in the show? That shit just threw me for a loop. Alright I think that's all my concerns with the main part now let's get to the fun stuff.

Relationships:

Hooooooo boy do I have opinions on relationships.

Mike and Eleven: What the FUCK was that???? It was literally painful to watch. I do think some of their moments were cute especially in the first episode but after like halfway through the first ep it just became painful to watch. This isn't just me saying this because I'm not into mileven I'm saying this because I genuinely think it's bad writing. I really do think Mike and Eleven should have discovered themselves and developed their characters more before putting them in a fully committed relationship. Also Mikes whole character was the fact he was dating el and it was really disappointing.

Lucas and Max: This might be an unpopular opinion but I feel the exact same about Lucas and Max I do about Mike and El which is really disappointing cause I really do love Lumax. Everything felt so awkward and I just wanted them to stop fighting over romance bull shit and just be friends.

Eleven and Max: Their relationship single handedly saved this season and made it enjoyable to watch (other than a couple others). Their friendship is exactly what they both need and I'm glad they confided in one another.

Will and Mike: Strap on boys cause I'm about to go off. WHAT IN THE LIVING FUCK WAS THIS SHIT. Mike was acting completely out of character. He went from loving and caring about Will to making him an after thought for the entire season. Will fucking followed him around like a puppy being ignored before he snapped and quiet frankly I'm glad he snapped because he doesn't deserve to be treated like that but right after he snaps Mike goes back doing the SAME THING DUDE. WILL IS STILL AN AFTERTHOUGHT. They have been friends since kindergarten, befriending will is apparently the best thing Mike has ever done, Mike would not leave will's side the entirety of season 2, but now he like doesn't pay attention to will half the time. This is lousy writing and I'm sorry to say it but the duffers cant seem to write relationships well, unless this is on purpose and this is planned for Will's future character arc because it definitely wasn't for Mike to progress as a person because he fucking DIDN'T. They just really fucked Mike's character this season because he was only concerned about El the whole season and it was soooooooo frustrating.

End:

I have more little things I think but I'm cutting this short before I piss myself off way too much. I did enjoy watching this season because I just adore seeing the characters and also the like 3 byler scenes we got had me living. Obviously this is just what I think and I want to hear what you all think too, please keep it friendly.

#stranger things spoilers #stranger things #will byers #mike wheeler #el hopper #lucas sinclair #max caulfield #byler #byeler

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koboldburrow · 6 years ago

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Aurix update

There won’t be one of these for a while, since our schedules ain’t workin’ out until next month, buuuut:

Last time: Ronin wanted to get some Thieves’ Tools, and Aurix brought him to some shady-ass Drow gang to hook him up. He didn’t really wanna pay 50g for a set of tools, so instead offered to do A Favour. They asked him to get rid of an elf who was a High Priest of Savras; he agreed. Aurix asked him if 50g was a price he was okay with paying for blood on his hands, and promised to back him up in however he approached this job.

THIS TIME: Aurix made some very excellent use of her new spell, Flock of Familiars, in scouting out the Temple of Savras. We not only found out the high priests would be meeting tonight (one of which was our assassination target) so everyone could see them vote on a change in tenets, but we spotted a young girl that may be the child who was taken away by the temple. (I’m a little fuzzy on what THAT’S about, since it’s a plotline that was going on before I joined the campaign.)

Von (the bard) polymorphed Ronin (the samurai) into a spider, Aurix tucked him into her hood, and one Mask of Many Faces disguise later, we sneak into the temple for that big meeting. We see the girl is being kept behind a High Priest by the name of Shadowstone, who’s got a fancy tattoo on his arm marking him as a member of the dwarven shady-ass mafia. Ronin also picks up that our assassination target glances at Shadowstone with utter fear before voting the same way that he does. It’s pretty clear that Shadowstone is the dude behind the sketchy business, and it’s equally clear that the drow gang who Ronin promised to Do An Assassinate for probably picked this dude because he’s obviously in Shadowstone’s pocket.

The Polymorph is getting close to running out, so disguised-as-a-random-Savras-cleric Aurix tries to scootch out of the meeting all “bathroom break s’cuse me.” She manages to deceive all the high priests except one, ducks out, and hides away in an empty room so Ronin can be a half-orc again and not a spider. Knowing their cover may be blown, Ronin tries to suggest pulling out and coming back with the rest of the party. Aurix is wary, knowing that much of the party won’t be super on board with “murder a church guy” or really cut out for Stealth, and fearing that the suspicions they raised may lead to tighter security. She suggests instead that they do a “to hide a tree, use a forest” approach and try to slip in with all the leaving clerics when the meeting ends, and maybe try to follow their mark that way.

No luck seeing him among the people who go by, though, so Ronin figures that we should just cut our losses and leave. He gets caught on the way out, though, and we get taken to talk to the High Priestess who wasn’t fooled by Aurix’s “lol brb bathroom” bit. She talks about Shadowstone’s shadiness, a bit about our mark’s past, and how he’s one of Shadowstone’s many puppets. Aurix suggests that they, as ardent adherents to the tenets of Savras and not this skewed version Shadowstone is trying to push, try talking to the mark in private. Somehow, this works, and the priestess arranges for them to talk.

At this point, Aurix is READY THE FUCK TO HIT. Hexblade’s Curse, poised to strike, waiting for Ronin to give the signal. He talks to this drow High Priest a bit. The guy doesn’t really know anything useful at all about Shadowstone, but he quickly realizes that we were sent by the drow gang to kill him, and starts sobbing and weeping. At this point, Ronin does a 180, and completely changes his mind about killing the dude. He kinda does a “well now you know that this gang wants to kill you, so we’ll just see what fate decides” kind of thing and asks how he can help and stuff. Aurix is like shooting him Looks and trying to mouth stuff like “DUDE WE NEED TO GET INTO THE UNDERDARK ARE YOU SURE YOU WANT TO DOUBLE CROSS THE DROW MAFIA,” but she takes her oaths pretty seriously, so she doesn’t really want to run this clown through in front of Ronin after she promised “I’ll have your back, however you wanna get the job done.”

She knows that the High Priestess of Savras has seen his face and heard his voice, and she also knows that he openly admitted where he’s from, so she’s just thinking, like, “well shit, I gotta protect this poor naive idiot or he’ll absolutely get arrested and/or silenced.” She tells him “okay, go leave back to the inn, don’t hide it, just let people witness you exiting the temple.” Once Ronin clears off, she talks with the mark, convinces him “look, these people will just send someone who’s actually willing to assassinate you once they realize this failed, you have to flee, I can help you disappear so well neither Shadowstone nor drow can find you.” With some very lucky smooth-talking, she convinces him to tell some of the Savras clerics he’s heading out for a walk to clear his head (thereby proving he was still alive after Ronin left), and she takes him out to one of the city gates.

Now, at this point, her full intention was “get somewhere with no witnesses, run him through, dump him in a ditch.” She did NOT want to backstab the drow criminal syndicate for a lot of reasons.

They also knew Ronin’s face and voice, meaning they could easily come for him and/or the party he was with.

Aurix had been prepared all along for “I can do an assassination for you” to result in actually doing the assassination, so she was pretty braced for “this is a priest, he probably won’t go HELL YEAH KILL ME I’M EVIL AS SHIT,” so she wasn’t all that moved by tears at all

also Aurix is a True Neutral lizardfolk only really concerned with keeping her oaths and surviving, so risking the necks of herself and her friends for no better reason than “this total stranger did a real sad cry” is just not really something she’s wired to understand

Aurix is a fuckign criminal with an evil sword that thirsts for blood. She’s been in shadyville so long that she’s probably pretty numb to shedding the blood of sapient beings, especially ones that are cronies in some Real Fucky Business

they definitely did still need to get to the Underdark, and the only really accessible entrance is in this exact city, so thumbing your nose at the drow seems REALLY unwise

It didn’t actually work out that way though. The mark passed out a little outside the gates, an elf standing guard there was all “HEY WHAT ARE YOU DOING.” Aurix tries the “hhha ha ha he’s just drunk I’m taking him home,” but the dude just automatically knows that’s horseshit. I’m thinking “jesus christ this unexpected morality moment is going to get my character arrested and/or killed,” so I try to cast Hold Person. Automatic fail (I guess elves resist paralysis or WIS saving throws?). I’m like. [SCREAMS INTERNALLY] and just..... try to bribe the guy to forget he saw anything

I think the DM feels sorry for me and my utterly screwed character lmao, because the elf kinda just goes “actually for this much gold I’ll just handle making sure this guy gets to the next town over lol” at which point I go “COOL THANKS IF ANYONE ASKS YOU SAW NOTHING” and just fuckign. peace out. So I ended up losing a chunk of change on this, but like.... at least Aurix didn’t Perish

So the whole party reconvenes at the inn, and Ronin has already spilled most of what they were up to. The group moves up to one of their rooms for Privacy and Aurix is... not entirely happy.... about the way things went. She’s pissed that he sprung a last-second backdown on her with no warning and put her into a situation where she had to break an oath to these dudes, that they’ve made enemies of both sides of a gang war, that she had to go through a bunch of money and trouble to clean this up, and that there’s now a loose end running wild on his way to the next town over. The vanishing of a high priest is very quickly noticed, despite the “just going for a walk” thing, and the alarm is raised across the city. We decide “hey this would be a REALLY GOOD TIME to skip town.” We wait until the next day, when Corrin (half-dragon ranger/sorc) can pick up her new +2 spell focus, Aurix picks up the Entire Live Cow she ordered, and we skip town to go back to the ancient dragon’s lair and see how much of the hoard the kobolds have dug up.

Aurix comes barreling in all “MY SWEET LITTLE LIZARDY BABIES I BROUGHT YOU A BEEF.” Kobolds are very pleased to get an entire delicious cow, and present us with A SHITLOAD OF STUFF. 11K gold tossed into our portable hole, along with 36 more magic items (most of them are scrolls). We explain that we’re gonna be away for a while and that the kobolds really should stay away from hassling the nearby city because AURIX NEEDS HER BABIES TO BE OKAY LMAO.

With our ducks all in a row, Von (bardy boi) does a Teleportation Circle, and we all blip back to Breedonne to hand in our dragonscales to (and get our magic items Identified by) the wizardy dude who we’re doing this Main Quest stuff for. We retire to an inn to discuss our next move. We’ll still need more dragonscales probably, but it took us a lot to find this white dragon, so we’re not all that sure how easily we’ll even be able to locate another dragon to hunt. Sticking to getting mindflayer helmets from the Underdark seems like the better move, but considering the only really accessible entrance is the one in the city we just messed with the drow in, we’re kinda unsure how well that will go. We figure that we’ll maybe just, like... spend a bit here in Breedonne preparing and researching and getting materials for our Underdark adventure, and hopefully by the time we’re ready to come back, the heat will have died down a little bit. On that decision, we end for the night, and we’ll pick back up sometime in March!

#aurix #troubled times campaign

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