#it would have to be a private moment when she doesn't feel like the convo would be an uphill battle

[crimeronan]

i'm very unlikely to be able to make this work which is why i'm posting about it instead of writing it but. i DESPERATELY want a bit in a princess luz AU fic wherein amity is just kinda like listen. luz. look. i honest to god don't care if you killed your dad. it's FINE. we ALL want to murder our parents sometimes. and i'm not just saying that because i don't want you to kill me too even though it would be so awesome for you not to kill me too

and luz, who is still in friendly princess-empress mode, which is VERY DIFFICULT for her to turn off in front of anyone other than hunter, is like whaaaat!! noo haha :) why would i do that :) i had an extremely normal well-adjusted childhood alongside my hunter :) i'd never Need to kill my dad :)

and amity is like. [head in hands] luz. listen. people who had normal well-adjusted childhoods don't openly have panic attacks every time their hunter is further than a whole entire two hallways away,

[brionysea]

Question for you: How do you think a one-on-one convo between madwheeler pre-s4 would go from Mike's pov?--like how do you think he would treat/talk with Max, who's isolating herself/depressed? Because I've seen a lot of fics with that premise, but it always seems to be them only talking about their relationships (whether it be Byler or Mileven in Mike's case, or Lumax with Max. Which I don't have an issue with, it's just not always the main focus I want on Madwheeler), but rather how Mike perceives Max post s-4. Sorry if this is rambly and doesn't make sense, I'm struggling with getting in Mike's head, and you're obviously very good at interpreting his character.

answer for you: according to the one (1) season 4 episode where max and mike were both in hawkins, the dynamics with max and the party pre-s4 seem to be as follows:

lucas chases after her at school and tries to get her to talk about her feelings and/or go to his basketball games. she's not into it, but she listens to the games on the radio at home anyway

dustin chases after her at school and tries to get her to hang out with the group (hellfire) (max doesn't seem to like eddie) (it's a d&d group - a game she had no interest in before she lost all capability to care about the things she previously enjoyed). she's not into it, makes fun of him for missing her sarcasm, and skates away

and mike, instead of doing any of that and making her feel cornered (or worse, pitied) when high school is already bad enough, leaves her the hell alone.

some people (non-madwheeler understanders) would think that means that mike just doesn't care or their friendship isn't Like That. those people would be incorrect. bothering each other and cheering each other up while they're in the Mental Health Trenches is what max and mike do. just look at the skateboard scene

madwheeler always have their Friendship Moments when no one else is around. the gym scene, the conversation in the byers kitchen, when mike called max's house and nobody else could hear both sides, when max radioed mike at the sauna, watching el get a coke can out of the bin together, after they both got knocked out by billy. it's a very private friendship, so playing into the "there's more here than meets the eye" concept and having them possibly share things with each other that they otherwise wouldn't share with anyone makes a lot of cohesive sense - even if it's just in a "distracts you from The Horrors until you blurt it out in a fit of annoyance" way, like what happened when max first heard about el from mike

people just think it's all fighting because that's all they see, but even that is always in an attempt to make each other better. and it always works eventually (although if we're being technical, the dynamic is max trying to make mike better, while mike tries to keep max safe). mike wouldn't fight with max when she's depressed though, i believe that's only a yearly occasion for the single week we jump back into these people's lives when tensions are high as a kite. if he was around during season 4 he would have fought with max over her willingness to self sacrifice (you know, like a hypocrite)

simply put, mike doesn't push because he gets it, which is exactly why max tolerates him more than the other two - she pushed through the crowd to stand next to mike at the pep rally while she ran away from the others when they seeked her out later - and might even open up a little. s2 mike and s4 max, both dealing with the trauma of witnessing a death (where the person's last words were directed at them) and feeling responsible for it while the world moves on and nobody else seems to care, are the same. mike knows that max doesn't want to hang out like everything's normal or talk about her feelings and admit that it's not. especially not with lucas, who has plenty of reasons to hate billy, and max is selfless enough to not want to add her own messiness into it. max's mother's distance would resonate with mike too

the thing about mike interacting with any of his friends is that he's the most persistent person who's ever lived. he called el every day for a year; he probably did the same for will after the byers moved; he wouldn't stop radioing lucas in season 1 until he answered; he would not shut up about trying to get in contact with dustin in season 3. mike doesn't give up. what this means for max, is that once he's sure she won't mind him being there (and even if she does, a little bit, but that might just be the Performatively Hating Each Other part before they get back to enjoying each other's company, so he's gonna stick it out regardless), he'd kinda just... be there. and continue to be there. they might talk, they might not, but he knows that it sucks to be alone like this and he's not gonna let that happen to max if he can help it

this last bit is kind of just a headcanon of mine, but i like to imagine that if mike ever searched for an Activity that max actually enjoyed (dustin's got the right idea, but at the same time the wrong idea), he would try to bug her into teaching him how to skateboard. their conversation in the gym was heading in that direction before el interrupted, so there's the connection to the Mental Health Trenches and implicitly returning the favour of that kindness and moment of connection (even though mike really wasn't doing great pre-s4 either, but whatever), and something about the "bambi on ice" line in lenora makes me think it could be something max said to him when he fell over once

[toxicanonymity]

I have an important question (technically there's a few):

How did the Joelkémons react when slasher suddenly moved into the brothel? Do they like him? Is there drama? Did they talk shit about him to the camera? I'd like to know the tea, if there is any

-nightmare

Also, this isn't really connected to my other question but is vampire!joel a joelkémon or no?

Great question. Thighs out, stepdad, and night walks all wanted him let into the brothel. FAQ

Recap: Slasher has been waiting outside the Prime Time mansion. Some of the men are more excited than others about the prospect of him moving in. Slasher has only had one short story, but readers have launched a passionate campaign to get him into the mansion.

—--- Joelkemon Brothel: Slasher's first night

*Slasher walks into the brothel and Thighs Out slaps him on the back.* "There he is!"  Everyone but raider is getting ready to eat. Night walks says, "Alriiiight, come on in, buddy. Been pullin' for ya." 

Lincoln side-eyes the camera. Lincoln is serving dinner and gives Slasher none of the crusted part on his mac & cheese. 

Speakeasy is indifferent, but in his private interview with the camera, the producer manipulates him into almost talking smack, like, "do you think it was unusual the way slasher got into the brothel? Do you think he would've gotten in without @jazziepascal's passionate campaign and @bonezone44's art? Why do you think it happened that way? How many times has he even done something on camera?" Speakeasy thinks for a moment. Then the only thing you see on camera is out of context, speakeasy saying "well shit I guess he's only been on-screen one time." (Spliced together with a selective clip of something else he said). "he woulda had to prove himself without the art." (leaving off "i dunno if" he woulda)

Then in Lincoln's interview the producer eggs him on. "Speakeasy thinks slasher might not even be here if it weren't for bonezone."  Lincoln takes a deep breath. "bonezone? *My* bonezone? The one that drew me?" The producer eats it up. "Yeah. Does that bother you? Slasher said there might be another one on the way at some point too" Lincoln takes another deep breath through his nose. Then he takes off his mic, fumbling with it for a few seconds before dropping it in the chair and walking out. The producer mumbles "oh shit" and urgently calls night walks in for his interview.

Night walks and the producer have a mostly inaudible conversation off-camera. You can hear the producer's end of the convo. 

"I dunno, just distract him . . . Hey, where's raider, why isn't he-. . .ok (via radio she pages another producer to go get raider). . . Idk whatever, just distract him. . . Ah, fuck. You know I don't have that kind of authority. . . But I'll ask her, sure." 

Night walks says "hell yeah" and the producer says "go, go, go."   Then I get a call from the producer begging me to let night walks come twice in his next escapade. I get suspicious and say I'm coming down there. 

While I'm on my way down from the penthouse night walks goes back into the kitchen where the guys are eating and tries to act casual.  Lincoln is glaring at slasher. Night walks is like "what do you guys think about Vampire?" Raider walks in and sits next to Lincoln, watching his every move.  Free Use answers Night Walks. "I guess that would be the guy who dragged a coffin across the lawn yesterday?" 

Stepdad is like, "ya think?" 

Stepdad sees me first and  gets up from the table, confronting me before i even make it into the kitchen. “Now all the audience is fuckin’ pissed at me.”  I tell him they'll get over it, and some people actually feel bad for him.  “They drag me on discord thinking up ways to punish me.”   I try not to smile. “Oh you’re enjoying this, aren’t you?” he asks me.  I remind him at least he has a vacation coming up -- unless he doesn't wanna go. 

Vampire Joel is not in the brothel, he's setting up camp like Slasher was, in Slasher's camper.

Click the joelkémon art tag to find the art and joelkémon sitcom ☠️ for prior episodes.

[f0point5]

I can't help myself but those chats between Metaphor and y/n are so comical. 😅

He's trying so hard to get something... anything. It's always him starting a convo, him asking questions, him with the x's, him with everything. And when he gets those short answers (I can't help but like her even more for that) he always takes a couple steps back and explains himself for the message and the words, like he's going up against a scared dog. 😄

And she's not changing her approach at all. 🤣 I really wonder how those dates look like, what they even talk about... and then I think maybe that's exactly why she couldn't tell all too much to her bff, because there wasn't much to tell. 🤣

Him bringing up Max and saying he knows they're close made it seem like he's already intimidated by him. All those comments and stories about Max and y/n that are out there on social media, open for everyone to read... Metaphor might have taken a closer look.

And with the story you included about how Max always puts her first even when he had a girlfriend, and her doing the same, it'll really be interesting to see not only how long y/n will keep this dating thing up, but also how Metaphor will deal with having to share her. 🤣

Sounds like any relationship of either Max or y/n has always resolved itself in the past for a reason...

I really hope both of them will realize what they have and how they feel for each other before anything. But for the moment Max playing it cool doesn't seem that bad of an approach. 😆

I will say this, I do see both of them as dry texters. He definitely tries harder but I also don’t feel like he adds enough for it to inspire a response if you know what I mean?

Man’s trying so hard to say the right thing when the right thing would be to say less, honestly. He is not used to dating someone in the public eye and it SHOWS. But also, she is clearly giving him signs that she’s a private person and he keeps trying to bring up stuff about her life that he has learnt from sources that aren’t her, which is just so cringe. For sure when they’re on a date and she has more opportunity to steer the conversation, and he can see as he’s talking if she’s not engaging with something, it’s a lot smoother and they can keep to neutral topics.

We know how algorithms work, he’s for sure getting things coming up on his fyp. And tbf to him thats the only information he’s getting because she’s not talking about it at all, so you couldn’t blame him. I’m sure it’s intimidating to take a girl out knowing there’s thousands of people on the internet talking about her relationship with another man.

There’s reasons unrelated to Max why she can’t keep a boyfriend, and those will get explored.

Nah, that last comment. Men are not allowed to play it cool. If they want something they have to go get it, thems the rules. But it’s fine because Max categorically he said he doesn’t want to get it so….

Also, I did see your ask about tagging, I’m just keeping it in the inbox so I can remember for the next part :)

[consoledacup]

Question about the parents, for Laura, Billy and Grace, we've all seen them have close relationships with at least one of more of their kids' friends...but do you think they have favorites in the vortex outside of their own children? For eg. Grace treats Coop like her own because she and Spencer have been inseparable since they were kids. But for Laura and Billy it's a bit more tough, because Billy (outside of his own kids), he was a close coach/mentor/father figure to everyone he coached at Beverly and Crenshaw- his last convo on the bus with Asher spoke volumes. And Laura has been a landlord for quite some time to almost every character on the show, but I feel like she's close with almost all the kids on the show. But who do you think their faves are/have a closer bond with, and which are some of your favorite parents/kid scenes for Billy, Laura and Grace that may not necessarily be with their own kids?

Billy was, most emphatically, closest to Spencer. It was treasured, poked fun of, caused issues, and was the catalyst for Spencer's heartbreak after Billy died. Like, that's his son. And yeah, he was a nice mentor to Asher and a nice father figure to Layla, but nothing compares to the special bond he had with Spencer. Hard to pick a moment, but their pilot scene is super iconic. Although I also really liked when Billy told him there were enough ribs for him in episode 2, openly welcoming him to the family.

As you said, Billy was incredibly close to Asher. Billy forgave him for the stupid shit Asher pulled, encouraged him to be better, and then was so proud of the man Asher had become. And Asher was so grateful to him for all of it. I liked the moments Billy had with Asher in his last episode. It was super meaningful for both of them.

Laura is closest with Layla and Spencer. She practically raised Layla, and stepped in when her mom died. And Spencer's time staying with the Baker family brought Laura and Spencer incredibly close. I really love the scene of Laura checking in with Spencer in s1 when she could tell he was upset. And I loved how Spencer took care of the to-do's for her after they lost Billy.

And then, I obviously liked Laura's brief scene with Layla about prom, when she told her that she was everything a woman would want her daughter to be. For someone who wrestles with thoughts of not being enough, what a thing for Laura to say to her.

Laura is also becoming very close with Coop, and I really like that too. Laura has been looking out for Coop since s1, and Coop has returned the favor now and greatly admires her. My favorite scene of theirs is actually Coop protecting Laura at the repast. When she immediately declares that she'll handle things with Jabari and then tries to dismiss him privately. It's a small moment, but it shows how much she cares about Laura and steps in without a second thought.

Grace and Coop have some incredible moments. Grace is definitely closest with Coop. I really loved the moment they had when Coop and Spencer had broken up, and Grace was like, doesn't change how I feel about you. Maybe Olivia is the second? I thought her wedding dress moment with Liv was very sweet.

[ccsthemovie2]

(I think it's a word over 500, but:)

"Speaking of Tsukishiro, how's he doing?", Eriol asks. Frying pan to fire to volcano.

"He's good," Touya says quickly, before Sakura can say anything. Yukito is not even in the ballpark of "good". Yesterday he called Touya and begged him to bike over and said it was important and when Touya showed up he was asleep, and stayed fast asleep right through to the next morning. He keeps trying to make appointments with doctors, and then falling asleep before he can call, or, when Touya calls for him, before he can make it out the door. Privately, Touya isn't sure how much good a doctor can do for him, but anything has to be better than this, right?

"Really? I'm glad to hear it." Ugh, how much has Sakura told him. Not that she doesn't have a right to talk to her friends, but, come on, would it kill her to least keep it between her and Tomoyo and the funny looking cat.

He's good, that's an obvious lie. Ruby has said Yukito could barely stand upright at school. Every inch of Touya Kinomoto is packed full of magic. Sooner or later, Eriol figures, either Sakura will be powerful enough to sustain him, or Yue will have to get over himself and just eat already. Touya can't actually do anything with his magic, so it's not like Yue, even weak as he is, will have to face much of a struggle to take it. (Aside from competition with Ruby, of course. There's something to that, right, articles and studies about animals being healthier if they need a bit of careful planning to get their food? Yes, so this works out nicely.)

Or maybe- oh, that's probably it. Yue's on to him, isn't he? He's just being stubborn as usual, figuring sooner or later Clow will appear via Eriol and save him. He can imagine how surprised, overjoyed, grateful Yue would be, if Eriol showed up and saved his life. He can imagine Yue's head resting on his neck as clearly as if he had kept Yue well-fed with magic a thousand times in his lifetime. It would be nice, in the short run, but it wouldn't be right, no. Clow is dead, and Yue needs to learn to live with that. If he knows what's good for him, he will take responsibility for his own life, and if he doesn't...

Ahh, well, maybe it's Clow's old sentimentality, maybe Eriol is just warming up to Sakura's moon guardian all on his own, but he can't bring himself around to the idea of letting Yue just die. He'd save him, if it came down to it. But, he tells himself sternly, only as an absolute last resort. He's just worrying because he misses Yue and wants to get to know him better all at once in that past-and-future way- it's worth a visit, soon. Yes, a nice little visit, and Yue will never even have to know it happened. Just to check in.

(sorry the formatting got weird when i copypasted lol!)

hiiii thanks for the ask!!!

if we talk about this convo we need to back up and talk about how it got here. this should give you some idea of how badly this needs to be under a cut for length lol.

so it all starts with the bit about how someone falling and being caught is something that happens a lot in ccs. how with eriol, it's purposeful, and with fujitaka (and i misremembered it but since found out she fell *on* him and not *caught* by him, which lolol i hope he broke a bone, but also its fine the fic's already marked canon divergent, or maybe the story gets misremembered, whatever, in any case), it's an echo of clowriol's intentional artificial-trustbuild-dangersaves but without the magic or purpose to back it up (just like fujitaka himself!), but it's a situation he quickly makes favorable to him, because it may be a blank slate but it's made of the same material.

this whole convo was part of one of the very first chunks written, but everything was going to go in a very different direction at first. (there's a lot of Cut Content from this fic, some that i just didn't like, some that wasn't connectable with the rest of the fic after it took the shape it took but might pop up somewhere else one day idk). in this particular bit i cut the later half of the conversation because i really didn't like what i'd written, but then even though the direction of the story changed the conversation was still going so it had to bounce somewhere else, so it bounced to yukito. here we are answering your ask 2 paragraphs in!

yukito, iirc in the anime, did catch her from a fall, (in the manga, which made way more sense for why she had to change her clothes and rest so much, he saved her from drowning, again iirc because who can trust a memory) and at a point where eriol still has some investment in making yuekito/sakura (ewwwww) happen, he's going to try and draw on that symbolism to nudge her in that direction, right?

so all this said, SPEAKING of yuekito. how are they doing.

bad, obviously. touya's freaking out. i imagine that part of what's stopping yukito from seeing a doctor is yue, though- he knows it wont help, and i dont think yukito has, like, person insides that will stand up to medical tests, and yue would pick up on yukito like, not wanting to be outed to the doctor as a magic construct because he, like, doesnt actually have a real heart that pulses, just a repeating heartbeat sound. doesn't for real have blood etc to test, just records of blood type (for personality reasons).

and also touya's a very like keep-ur-problems-not-everybodys-business type so hes like imagining sakura venting her fears to this weirdo and getting pissed off. but that didnt actually happen, eriol knew all on his own lolol. touya you have to say something nice should happen to sakura to make up for wrongly suspecting her now

and this bit on eriol's end is all wrong information and inaccurate conclusions and i was really worried ppl would take it at face value but i hope nobody did. in ccs we get moments where eriol wants sakura to take power, or to learn that power can be taken- his final battle with her, for example, where the answer to his light and dark puzzle is to use kero and yue's power, except that's not something she would ever Want to do or would even Occur to her to try. the power is gifted to her by kero and yue (and syaoran!) because they love her.

same concept, here- the answer to the 'yue is dying' puzzle is to eat touya's power, and he can't imagine the real reason why he won't just do that, and when he thinks about it too long it goes right to his ego- yue looovvvvesss clow, and by extension me. he wants meeeeeee to save him. he wants to neck kissy MY magic soo sooooo bad. but yue isn't considering any of that at all. he's thinking about yukito and what touya means to yukito and why that would make yukito hesitate to reach out, and that no way in hell will he just ambush his other self's crush down a dark alley and take his magic, even to save both their lives. he's a lot more selfless than clow and eriol ever realize. maybe- this is just a half formed thought right now, i dont know if im like certain about it, but- maybe they feel his devotion to clow was a form of selfishness, that he Wanted Love as a thing he could hold and own, whereas pretty much everybody else who meets him goes like YOU SELFLESS MAN YOU CANT JUST DIE FOR PPL YOU CARE ABOUT YOU GOTTA TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF TOOOO

and there’s also that bit of teacherliness intrinsic to the three of them again: im doing this to teach him a lesson. im letting ruby do her thing without telling her what’s going on to help and encourage yue, etc.

anyway, that (in terms of fic weaving itself into canon) solidifies his decision to do uhmmmm a thing that creeps me out real bad in the anime (knocking yue out to have a moment with him, and oh, ding, there's another 'you fell but i caught you' moment!). eriol loves this manner of hanging out with people, you see it later in this fic, even:

It's important to say what's in your heart to the people you want to say it to, even if you have to make sure the other person never hears it. It's important for your own emotional freedom.

he loves to spend time with people exclusively on his terms, to the point where the other party never even knew he was there, because he knocked them out, or because he was just staring creepily at the outside of sakura's house while she did homework, etc etc etc.

tldr: it's all connected, aaaaaaaaa