#like i 100% want to see susan at some point

[lemonycranberries]

actually kind of happy Susan Triad didn't in fact turn out to be Susan because I want Carole Ann Ford back

[sea-salted-wolverine]

In honor of the moose/Iditarod rule 34 chaos post reaching 1000 notes and then Dallas Seavy winning the Iditarod here are all the unhinged stories and things I know about that race

They changed the rules and schedules so you can't do this anymore, but there was a subset of mushers who would race the Yukon Quest and the Iditarod back to back. That's a 1000-mile race followed by another 1000-mile race through some of the harshest terrain on earth in late winter. And the Yukon quest doesn't even finish where the Iditarod starts. To do this required putting dogs in a plane OR having another team of dogs waiting in anchorage and someone to deal with both teams of dogs.

The first woman to win the Iditarod was Libby Riddles in 1985.

Only to have her finish promptly blown out of the water by Susan Butcher who won the race in 86', 87', 88', and 90' while setting speed records the whole way.

Susan did race in 85' but she ran into a moose early and it killed two of her dogs and hurt the rest so she scratched. Dallas got lucky this year.

She was also the first person to mush a dog team up to the summit of Denali, the tallest mountain in North America. This is not what dog teams are intended to do, I don't know why she even wanted to, other than to prove it was possible. I don't think anyone has since.

The race now requires GPS trackers on all the racers and you would not believe the bitchfit everyone threw over those. Mushers can either hop between checkpoints or camp on the trail and it may surprise you to learn that these are the kind of people who have secret camp spots in the woods that they don't want anyone to know about. So now, everyone has acquiesced to the tracker requirement but you must have an account on the race website if you want to see them.

The race has 2 paths that alternate even and odd years with different checkpoints but every year includes a section of race that crosses the sea ice, approximately 50 miles from Shaktoolik to Koyuk. so forget landmarks. point the sled north and hope you're going the right way.

the race is in honor of the 1925 Serum Run and the diphtheria outbreak, but the trail itself is the old freight route which is almost twice the length. also, it's a freight route for hauling freight which means the the racers are going at more or less lightspeed as compared to the intended use.

the most effective way to avoid frostbite on your face is a fur hood and duct tape on your cheeks and nose. Cold-related injuries are rare but far from unheard of. The average number of toes and fingertips among mushers is lower than that of the general population.

The finish line is a massive burled arch in the middle of main street in Nome. There is not a lot going on in Nome at any given time and this time of year is the exception. Every racer who finishes the race gets the same reception, which is everyone in town crowding into the finish chute to cheer them on and the city fire siren going off. The last racer in gets the Red Lantern Award which means that they finished dead last but didn't scratch.

the 2020 race had started and was fully underway when the pandemic lockdowns came into place. as far as social distancing goes, you really can't do much better than being isolated 100 miles into the middle of frozen nowhere but the checkpoints are itty bitty villages with no medical infrastructure and the finish was reportedly terrifying because instead of a crowd to cheer at the burled arch, it was just the siren going off in a ghost town.

there is no way I can tell this story that doesn't sound like I'm making it up as I go. The sign says no sniveling and they fucking mean it.

no really, click that link. here's the YouTube vid (non-graphic, after-the-fact interviews)

[itsmarsss]

The World-Famous Annual Heffley Puppet Show [Rodrick Heffley x Reader] (Diary of a Wimpy Kid)

(~from the vault~)

Susan invites you to watch one of the Heffley's weird annual traditions, and you're expecting anything but this.

Word Count: 1,479

[...]

Dating Rodrick Heffley was… an experience. Not in a bad way at all, it was only that it could be… weird, for lack of a better word to describe it, at times. Like right now, for instance, when you were sitting in his living room while his parents told an extremely over-complicated story through… puppets.

You weren’t exactly sure how you'd gotten yourself into this situation. Okay, well, that was a lie, actually.

Susan had been incredibly persistent about you coming to the ‘World-Famous Annual Heffley Puppet Show’, as she made sure to announce extravagantly, adamant about you being present to witness the oh-so-great performance, and, despite Rodrick´s ridiculous attempts at making faces at you from behind her that quietly told you to not, in any occasion, agree to it, you just couldn’t get yourself to say no.

“Why would you say yes? You could have just said your grandma just died or something!” Rodrick questioned you, exhasperated.

“Dude! Don’t say that about my grandma!”

“Okay sorry. But you could’ve said absolutely anything! Anything!"

“I tried! She kept finding solutions! She even said she’d move the date up.”

“She said that?”

“Yeah. Why?"

“Shit. She’s never moved the date before. She really wants you to go.”

“Why is that?"

“No idea. I think she just really likes you."

“Why do you sound so shocked about that?”

“She’s never really liked any of the girls I went out with.”

“Okay, James Dean. You’ve gone out with like one girl before me when you were like sixteen.”

“Hey I got laid! Occasionally.”

“Ew."

“It’s true!”

“Yeah right.”

“Fine. I got laid twice. Happy?"

You shrugged, grinning at him as you poked fun at him some more.

"Well now that you said yes to her I guess we’re gonna have to go.”

“It can’t be that bad!”

It could. It definitely, 100%, without a doubt, could. The ‘performance’ had been going on for about half an hour now, and it didn’t look like it was heading towards an end any time soon. You were all sitting in chairs, which were lined up in front of the couch, your seat between Rodrick's and Greg's, with Rowley by Greg’s left and Manny by Rodrick’s right.

Okay, yeah, maybe this time you should have listened to Rodrick.

You really, really tried, but you could not, as much as you desperately wanted to, figure out the plot of the story Mr. and Mrs. Heffley were trying to tell. It had something to do with dragons and fried chicken and at some point you could swear there was a clown. How any of that tied up together was beyond you, and, as you could see, Rodrick and Greg too.

The only ones who seemed to be having any fun at all were Manny, who was standing up and clapping like crazy throughout the entire thing, probably props to the very questionable voices his parents were making for the ridiculous amount of different characters that seemed to progressively look worse in appearance as they showed up, and Rowley, who also didn’t seem to understand any of it, but looked entertained nonetheless, occasionally even shooting Greg a few comments, to which Greg just smiled and mumbled something incoherent under his breath in response.

You leaned over to Rodrick, who was wide-eyed at this point, looking borderline terrified at the scene that unfolded in front of him. “You said it was bad, not that it was gonna give me nightmares!” You whispered.

He looked genuinely embarrassed, and for Rodrick Heffley to be embarrassed of something, oh that was something. “I tried to warn you!”

“What are you guys talking about?” Greg whispered too, making himself a part of the conversation.

“Shut up dickhead,” Rodrick let out under his breath, to which Greg replied by sticking his tongue out at him, earning a middle finger in response. Oh, brothely love.

“Do you guys really have to go through this every year?”

They both nodded. “It’s like it gets more terrifying every year,” Greg commented, and you took a quick glance back at the couch, where Mr. and Mrs. Heflley were crouched behind. Apparently a pig who was wearing a bow tie was hunting down a rabbit for sweets now.

“Do you guys think they’d notice if we left?” Greg asked and you pondered on it. Then you had an idea.

You turned to face your boyfriend. “Okay look. You gotta be fast alright? And you can't let your mom be upset at me."

“What?” Rodrick questioned you, finally managing to look away from the trance the puppet show had kept his eyes in.

“When I say I gotta go you say you’re coming with me.”

He nodded, though he hadn't really gotten the gist of where you were going with that.

“Wait can I come?”

“No,” Rodrick promptly replied.

“Come on give him a break," you nudged his arm, to which he rolled his eyes, letting out a sigh.

“Fine. But only ‘cause she asked.”

Greg smiled, looking at you. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!”

“Alright we gotta get out fast. Just grab Rowley with ya.”

Greg nodded in understandment.

“Hey Mrs. Heffley?” You spoke up.

The voices stopped. You were already grateful just for that moment of silence. Susan’s head appeared from behind the sofa. “Yes dear? Something wrong?”

“I'm really sorry, but um I really need to head home, I think.”

“Oh but we’re only halfway through-”

“I’ll take her home!” Rodrick exclaimed at lightspeed, yanking you by your wrist and sprinting towards the front door.

“We’ll come with!” Greg yelled too, doing the same with Rowley, leaving only Manny as an audience for the remainder of the story.

“But-”

“Bye! Thnak you for inviting me!” You yelled over, already out by the front yard.

“Uh- bye sweetie!”

You got to Rodrick’s van, which was parked on the street, all panting and out of breath from running so fast.

“Okay, get in demon spawn.” Rodrick unlocked the back door and waiting for the boys to enter.

“Hey!” You exclaimed in feighened offense.

“Not you. You’re a… sexy little demon...ess,” he smirked, knowing he’d get a laugh out of you.

You could hear Greg and Rowley say ‘ew’ from the back as you got in the car.

“I agrre with them, ew. I think I prefer demon spawn.”

Rodrick got in himself, turning the engine on. “Okay any ideas?”

“Can we go to Chipotle?” Rowley asked.

“No we should go to Taco Bell!” Greg yelled, and they immediately started arguing about it, talking over each other so loud you couldn’t understand a single word they were saying.

“Hey! Dickheads! Shut up!” Rodrick yelled, and, surprisingly, they did. “Y/n chooses.”

“What? Why?” Greg asked, offended.

“She has girlfriend privileges!”

You laughed at Greg’s angry expression. “Well I think we should go to Subway.”

“We’re not going to Subway." Rodrick deadpanned.

“What? You said I had girlfriend privileges!”

“Not if you choose fucking Subway!”

“Fine. Domino’s?”

“That's a decent option!” He smiled, and started driving.

You got yourselves a large pizza, Greg and Rowley quick to leave the table and go chase after each other around the place.

“You have grease on your chin,” you informed Rodrick when you looked at him. He wiped it off, his mouth full of food. He tried to say something, but quit as soon as he started, the sound muffled.

“Dude swallow the pizza first, that’s gross!”

He did so before trying again. “I said thank you.”

“It was looking all greasy and gross!"

"Oh shut up," he smiled at your teasing. "I meant for saying yes to my mom. She was actually like super excited about it.”

You furrowed your eyebrows together, confused. “Wait I thought you wanted me to say no.”

“Well yeah. But she clearly liked that you did go or whatever. She likes you.”

“That good?”

He shrugged his shoulders. “I guess. Maybe he won’t be so up our asses if she likes you.”

“Well you’re very welcome. Cause that was… something.”

He laughed. “You thought that was bad? You should see the Christmas one.”

There was no way. “They do a Christmas puppet show too?”

“Oh no it’s much worse. They actually act in it.”

“Jesus.”

“Yeah. And you’re officially invited by me.”

“Oh no don’t bring me into this again-”

“Too late! I-” he took a sip of his soda- “will be telling my mom you had a wonderful time today, and you were so, so bummed you had to go home early!”

“You’re a jerk!”

“What's that I hear? You’d be thrilled to attend the Yearly Heffley Christmas Play?"

“I hate you.”

“No you don’t.”

You smiled. You supposed you signed up for weirdness the moment you said yes to dating Rodrick Heflley of all people.

“I do, actually!”

He smiled at you. No, you don't.

[. . .]

A/N: heyy rewrote some thingies but its mostly the same as when i first wrote it. so here ya go with some more rodrick content! :)

[cheeseanonioncrisps]

The thing with Alastor is that I think he genuinely does like people. I don't think he cares too much about many individual persons, but when it comes to people as a collective he likes and wants to be liked back.

You don't go into entertainment if you don't want some kind of validation from it, and Alastor got so into radio in life that his soul was moulded around it in death.

And that's fundamentally the source of a lot of the conflict in his character.

Alastor wants to be the feared and hated Radio Demon. But he also wants to be ‘Al, that charming guy from the radio!’

Alastor wants to be treated with respect and terror at all times. But he also wants to have fun and joke around with people.

Alastor wants to keep the reasons for his disappearance a deadly secret. But he also wants to go to the Overlord meeting and have everyone dying to know where he was and what he was doing.

(“And when Alastor's not in the scene, all the other characters should be standing around like ‘hey, where's Alastor?’!”)

This is why Husk, up until he touches that particular sore spot, gets away with so much more in his relationship with Alastor than, say, Angel gets with Valentino.

Val wants Angel to be a tool or a toy he can control. Alastor kind of wants the same from Husk, but he also wants to be able to play the role of the cheeky but charming boss who can talk Husk around with a wink and a bottle of cheap booze.

(A role that Husk, for his part, goes along with because it allows him to keep some of his dignity. He gets to snark at Alastor and act like he still has even the slightest control over his own destiny. Alastor gets to laugh it off and act like he's a good employer. They both know it's a lie, but Husk clings to it because the alternative is even more humiliation, and Alastor finds it too much fun to give up.)

This is also I think the real reason he and Rosie are such good friends. Because Rosie is also 100% playacting.

Cannibal Town is a fucking dangerous place. Given that Charlie considered the “sights to see en route to my hotel” a selling point for joining her army (a hotel in walking distance) I'm guessing there are some restrictions preventing the residents from leaving. People eat corpses in the streets.

Rosie is clearly a fearsome and vicious Overlord in her own right. Even Lucifer's daughter is twitchy around Cannibal Town.

But, at the same time, when the streets aren't covered in blood and viscera, they're gleaming. The people are all well dressed. There are quaint little shops. Everyone is smiling, all the time.

It's clearly a stage play, but it's one that Rosie and the residents seem to enjoy acting out, and one that they let Alastor have a role in when he visits. In Cannibal Town, Alastor gets to be the charming young man about town whose smile brightens up the place and who everybody (except, ugh, Susan) is pals with.

And I think it's this conflict of personas that is ultimately going to be the biggest factor in whether Alastor ends up being a hero or a villain on the show.

Cause like, Alastor the altruist is obviously an act. But, so is the Radio Demon.

Alastor isn't an all powerful killing machine. In most of the scenes he's in, he's not even the most powerful person in the room. (Albeit

primarily because he's usually accompanied by Charlie.) And he's not acting purely on his own whims, he's on someone else's leash.

I don't think Alastor is necessarily capable of feeling remorse for the stuff he's done in the past. Or caring about other people more than he does himself. It's just not his character.

But I think he is capable, given time to get attached and a lot of positive reinforcement, of deciding that playing 'steadfast hotelier' for Charlie and co is more fun than playing the evil Radio Demon for everyone else.

Picking other people over himself is probably not something that's going to happen for Alastor any time soon. But picking one persona over the other? That I could see.

[gabeorelse]

Resource: Writing Craft Masterpost

Okay, so one of my favorite things to do when I'm not writing but I want to think about writing is to study the craft. Seriously, I'm a HUGE writing nerd and learning is one of my favorite parts of the process (besides the actual writing lmao). Below is a list of my favorite craft resources that I don't see recommended a ton but which I've found do a great job of identifying and explaining the nitty-gritty rather than just giving blanket advice like 'show don't tell'.

Ellen Brock's Youtube Channel

Ellen Brock, according to her bio, is an editor who has worked both freelance and in the publishing industry. The resource here is on her channel - TONS of free longform videos that break down structure, character arc, anatomy of a scene, dialogue, prose, principles of revision, anything you can imagine.

My favorite video: Character Arc meets Story Structure. An hour long video explaining how character arc and story structure marry within the 3-Act Structure. I made an annotated cheat sheet/study guide just based off this and it literally fixed my WIP lol.

Susan Dennard's Writing Academy - Free Resources

Susan Dennard is a published author who, disclaimer, I have not checked her books out yet (though I've been meaning to!) but I have found her blog post archive invaluable. She writes a ton on writing craft, publishing, revision, etc, and I've coopted a lot of her strategies, particularly in revision, for myself. Highly recommend.

Unfortunately, it looks like my favorite resource (her revision advice) is behind a paywall now (which, fair, she did a LOT of free stuff over the years), but I might put together a frankenstein version of my own revision method one of these days - it's heavily influenced by hers.

ShaelinWrites Youtube Channel

Another writing youtuber who really gets to the nitty-gritty. What I love about them is they are a pantser/discovery writer and they show, both through their advice and success, that you CAN be a discovery writer and not just end up in a mess of unrevised monstrosity, which is what I feel like a lot of people assume. They also do a lot of videos on writing confidence, process, and mindset which have all been very helpful to me.

My favorite video: How to Become a Confident Writer. This video really helped me get back some of my confidence and love for writing when I was struggling. They have similar related videos, and I basically watched ALL of them at various points, but this one really helped me.

LocalScriptMan's Youtube Channel

Okay, here me out. This one is a bit of a departure. I feel like LocalScriptMan kind of takes on this tough love/tough life advice persona, and I don't mind it, but some people might. He's also focused on screenwriting, but a lot of his videos apply to general writing principles, and I feel like, as with the other resources, he really gets to the heart of the craft and breaks down principles in a way I really like.

My favorite video: it's a tie between The Key to Writing Freakishly Good Dialogue and How to Actually Succeed as a Creative. I really liked the latter because I interact a lot with other authors who are querying agents or have one foot in the publishing industry, one foot not quite there (like me), and his attitude toward success changed my mind about how to approach the industry. His advice is something like 'most people keep looking for that big break, but that's very self-focused. If you want to succeed, help others and make yourself a valuable person, not only to get that big break, but because then you can do what you love: creating stories and working on projects, even if they're not your own'. This is a bit more applicable to the screenwriting community, but I do think overall the best part about writing is not just writing, but community, and I think he hits the nail on the head with that one.

Summary: obviously I am not an affiliate (these people 100% do not know who I am lol), but I get frustrated when I'm trying to find answers to my writing problems and all I get are shitty SEO based articles written by the Masterclass website lmao. So over the years I've cultivated my favorites, and wanted to share them. I hope these help anybody who needs them!

[hype-blue-fixation]

Deaf Alastor Headcannons

Because I said so

He is late-Deafened as the result of an illness. It dramatically went down at some point in his early 30s

While his heart is still with radio, his new medium is newspapers. He has his own newspaper in Hell full of dramatized stories, corny jokes, and grotesque details about his murder victims.

He can still talk and taught himself to lipread. But he prefers signing when possible.

He uses the oldest forms of signs and SEE (Signed Exact English) but with an ASL structure.

Refuses to use new signs unless it's a concept he doesn't have a sign for yet.

He is an absolute fire fingerspeller.

His expressions are over the top 100% of the time.

He signs extremely clearly, even in very casual settings. Rarely using slang or "lazy" signs.

He enjoys using a MASSIVE signing space and creative sign play.

If he accidentally knocks something over or hits someone while signing, he will not apologize unless he likes you.

If you're on his bad side, he will purposely slap you or spill your drink and make it look like an accident.

He's very protective of the Deaf community but maintains an emotional distance (especially with men). He treats community members like business partners.

Bro takes 10 years to say goodbye to people he cares about after a social or house visit.

His microphone will voice (interpret) for him when he wants it to.

He wants to teach new signers, but his eye twitches when they don't learn fast enough.

He doesn't like slowing down. You have to speed up.

He will assign crude sign names to people and things he doesn't like. Vox, television, social media, Lucifer, and Susan all have one.

[francines-pages]

edmund pevensie headcanons

being a diplomat

-as a young king, he pitied the messengers who were forced to go back and forth from kingdoms just to convey trading systems, alliances and treaties. so he decided to draft these messages themselves, overseen by his fussy sister susan, and peter, who couldn’t help but laugh at him, only as a brotherly joke.

-many liked him for his eloquence and finesse in his words, and he was often asked for his opinion at peter’s councils or at hardships, like at a peak of a war. he gives the most fitting solutions and humbly asks for his siblings’ opinions too.

-he knew the better war strategies and negotiations to be made

-edmund’s table is HEAPED with requests and letters, so he tries staying up at night to answer them, just like his siblings. through the people’s voting, he was elected to be Narnia’s diplomat, overseeing the treaties and alliances at Peter’s side

-during disputes, edmund would use largely his charisma and charm their opponents out of a war, resulting in an alliance. but that was only once; when he charmed the countess of whatever to hand over the plot of land that was rightfully theirs, since he was humble and did not want to use anyone’s trust to his advantage

-he would be the one to recite an entire rulebook whenever negotiating or arguing with opposing kingdoms, and due to habit he did this when arguing with his siblings (think of when he gets back to cair from a lengthy journey and finds his siblings fighting over some forgery, and he’d recite the 9th commandment.)

-he’d offer to clean armor after a bloody battle or the end of a war, and he would dedicate himself to the task though many protested

lucy’s no. 1 supporter

-during cold or warm days, edmund would always bring lucy into his study, since it had a large window and a flickering fireplace, and he would encourage her to stay close

-it HAS to be canon that edmund and lucy sneak off after their coronation at midnight and play chess in front of their thrones, then they’d proceed to make it a regular thing that happens on their coronation anniversary and of course susan and peter get looped in

-and oh, during the wars! he would be always searching for lucy whenever he’s fighting, making sure she’s okay, making sure she’s unharmed. even if he got stabbed, the first thing he’d remember is lucy.

-BUT THEN he sees Aslan at her side and all relief comes to him, knowing that Aslan takes care of everything

-remember edmund’s line from prince caspian? “i’m older and i don’t think i want to understand,” signifying his opinion of the relationship between susan and caspian, though it’s only movie-canon i’m basing off from the line, he’d be the one who would be like “oh no. lucy’s all red and stammering, clearly she’s got a fever” when it’s actually a simple crush on some village boy (lucy prompt: she meets some village boy and doesn’t know that she falls in love with him)

-although i hc that lucy isn’t the type to be dreamy over a boy

-edmund would 100% support her in all her endeavors and if anyone disagrees he will answer with a punch to the stomach then to the face

-when some guy tries to flirt with lucy at a ball or masquerade, edmund would immediately tap him on the shoulder, casually point at his hidden sword beneath his suit, and say “hi. i’m the duke of lantern waste. pleased to meet you,” which then makes the guy bewildered and slowly back off, recognizing edmund immediately

-and WHY would he be recognized so easily? edmund was known far and wide for his charm and wit, how he was the best swordsman, diplomat and brother at the same time, how he used TWO swords

-lucy would be so confused and edmund would just give her a knowing smile.

[woodsfae]

Babylon 5 S03E20 And the Rock Cried Out, No Hiding Place previous episode - table of contents

It's kinda wild how much b5 is exactly to my tastes. Take this (and many other!) episode titles for example. Pretentious? Maybe. Poetic? Certainly. Full of allusion? Definitely. Makes me get shivers? Absolutely.  They even give me things to complain about. I'm well settled into complaining loudly about Londo bullshit.

Last episode's beverage (for data point purposes) was straight tequila with pepsi chaser. The hangover was vile and I woke up in the middle of the night and couldn't sleep for three hours. Today's beverage - Bitterroot Brewing Co "Dirt Church" ipa. It's alright for an IPA.

"Z MINUS 14 DAYS"

I see we've moved several letters on from "t."

Yeah!! It's another Susan Ivanova personal log episode. The telepaths they've recruited are being dispersed. Sheridan is tired, and Franklin is still pacing the halls. 

All the telepaths are being accompanied by a single Narn bodyguard. Fingers crossed for some of those bodyguards to start developing some telepathy of their own after spending a long time in close quarters with a telepath!!

Londo thinks it's time to "take care of" G'Kar?? FUCK OFF.  He wants G'Kar tricked back to Narn and executed. Thanks to the previous flashbacks, I am well aware that this plot won't play out with G'Kar's actual death. But I still want to strangle Londo. Can I isekai into B5 just long enough to goddamn murder that man?? 

Religious Theo of the religious group whatevever is being highlighted this episode. In theory I appreciate how diverse B5 is, religiously speaking. In practice....ehhh. At least when it comes to people quoting the KJV and referring to "the lord" every other sentence. 

Sheridan does look rough. And there's Delenn!!! Pretty in pink. 

"[Ivanova] said you were carrying on cranky. I looked up cranky, it said grouchy. I looked up grouchy, it said crochetly. No wonder you have such an eccentric culture. None of your words have their own meaning!" 

LOL!! Delenn is so cute. Also, very seriously, I apologize to every person who needs to learn English as an adult. It's a mess. 

Once I saw a gif of Delenn propping herself up on a elbow in bed with Sheridan and I have been FERAL to see that scene ever since. Maybe today will be the episode? Delenn climbs in bed with Sheridan to make him sleep??

Na'Toth might be alive. Or her name might simply be a trap for G'Kar. I don't think Londo's plan is going to work out. If he didn't go back to Narn for literally every other Narnuan, I'm not sure he'd go back for his aide who is probably dead. Also I 100% have more faith in Vir than this. Idk where he got them, but he has a surprisingly well-developed set of morals and empathy. 

Vir: "I won't. I won't go. I won't do it."

VIR BABY. Just say you'll do it, then go and collude and G'Kar. Londo is unhinged, threatening to have Vir's family stripped naked and whipped through the streets of Centaur's capital. What a fuck. He ought to be directing his energies towards getting back Lord Whatshisface who killed Adira on behalf of the Shadows. Refa. The show reminds me in a timely manner. 

Speaking of Refa, he's giving very desperate vibes. Trying too hard to suck up, and that puts blood in the water for the sharks to scent!!

Well. Hopefully even if Vir gives into Londo's threat and tries to trick G'Kar, his obvious nerves give away that something's wrong. 

Back to Londo and the Centauri court shenanigans. Londo is, undeniably, good at putting on the type of political front that works well on Centaur. 

Susan's blowout is so good every day I have to assume it's part of the high-tech auto-dryer when you step out of the shower...or something. Because there's no way that SUSAN IVANOVA is spending twenty minutes every day achieving the most ideal blowout that has ever been hair-dried into existence. 

OK I like the religious cabal a bit better now that I know they're smuggling up-to-date information about Earth politics into Bably 5. 

GODDANG IT. G'Kar is trying to sneak back onto Narn. Well. At least I know he lives to die another day. 

Vir, I am disappointed in. 

Centaur attack on Vir!! He lives to become Emperor another day as well. Stakes drop considerably when you know certain characters' ultimate fates. 

You know who I'd love to see again? AUNT PROPHETESS! Majel!! 

Lord Refa's eyebrows deserve their own acting credit. 

oooh, Centauri telepathy attack!! 

Poor Vir. If only he had been able to keep his position on Minbar. He looked less stressed-out when he was spending most of his time surrounded by a tranquil environment. 

The Baptist pastor is hanging out with Sheridan, who is struggling to relax enough to fall asleep while also doing paperwork. Maybe. don't do paperwork while getting ready for bed. Which the pastor is also bringing up, more delicately than I would. 

the Pastor: DELEGATE IDIOT.

OK he can stay. He is speaking common sense. 

"When youre worry tank gets full people stop coming to you, because they don't want to add to it." 

Smart. "figure out how to relax or your people will stop reading you in in an attempt to protect you." 

"Z MINUS 13 DAYS"

Zha'ha'dum minus 13 days?? 

G'Kar made it to Narn. There's climate change from the orbital bombardment. Constant wind, particulate coming down from the upper atmosphere, poor air quality. And I doubt they had recovered from the previous Centauri occupation, and possibly not even the Shadows' occupation before that! 

Emperor Cartagia is going to be traveling to B5: that seems like a significant security risk! Maybe he'll get nerfed and we'll see the glorious ascension on Emperor Londo. 

Refa's plot is to capture G'Kar instead of letting Londo do it. Fingers crossed for neither of them getting that glory. 

Delenn says there's no pattern to the Shadows' attacks. The lack of pattern is probably the point - all over the place and unpredictable so the united forces are spread as thin and widely as possible. And the tactical data sorta supports that! They haven't attacked anything in the center of the sector, so refugees are going there. And Sheridan is picking this up now, too. They could nail all the refugees at once. 

"I think this is as much about terror as it is about territory." 

Yeah. 

Hm, Delenn is horrified by Sheridan saying he needs to think like them to beat them. Unless she has a really compelling argument against it, I'm going to have to disagree. How can you counter a tactic unless you understand it? 

Londo just knocked out a Centauri guard with a punch to rescue Vir. He gets no points from me, because he put Vir in that position. 

Unfortunately G'Kar won't get to kill Londo for quite a few years, but maybe he and the resistance will get to kill Refa and his goon squad instead. 

Damn it, Londo was two steps ahead of Refa this whole time. f.ucking annoying. Well. all Centauri warmongering genocidal politics are annoying. Refa being personally in charge of the bombardment of Narn is backfiring on his right now. 

Oh so this means that Vir was an unwitting stooge in the plot all along, and that's extra scummy, considering it resulted in Vir being mindraped and made to believe he'd just given up his mentor and employer. Very very cutthroat politics. No wonder Londo didn't name the embarassment he was planning to remove on behalf of the emperor to prove House Mollari's value. 

Baptist Pastor brought a gospel singer along with him, lol. That's very on brand. And super fucking amusing juxtaposition between her music and Refa being pursued and killed. "There's no hiding place down here." Refa being beaten to death. 

Buuuut as much as I dislike Londo, I am a fan of the person responsible for untold suffering and death getting a tiny fraction of that delivered back to them. So...annoyingly... *sigh* go Londo...

It's so fucking funny that Londo had the ability to slip refa the other half of the two-part poison all along but instead he had him beaten to death for political purposes. 

Vir is angry, but probably not enough to make him break from Londo entirely. 

Delenn has a surprise for Sheridan - "the White Star was never intended to be one of a kind, only the first..." and now there's a whole fleet. 

Hm. As far as first kisses on screen go, that one was pretty dated. I'm happy for them, but the "smear your face against the other person's face" is a style I'm glad has mostly gone away. It doesn't look very pleasant, hahah. 

Mrs Sheridan, I presume?

[lovebillyhargrove]

Wake me up when July is around

Chapter 7

Chapter 8/?

Billy knows he's not the luckiest guy in the world when it comes to family matters. However, he's also aware that people have it worse, so he's not complaining.

Especially, when once in a million of years the sun shines down on him,

and when it does, Billy truly appreciates it. Turns out, having Susan's relatives living in a nearby town can be a blessing

Cause guess what

Neil and Susan are going to visit Aunt Shirley and Uncle Dean this weekend, with Max and

Drum roll

They are not taking Billy on this little family trip because Neil doesn't want to undergo the shame of his "imbecile of a son" interacting with his wife's respectable relatives again. Seriously, does dad really think he's punishing Billy like that, does he believe it is going to make him feel bad?

Cause Billy would take such punishment any day. Gladly.

He can't believe his luck. He is willing to behave in a more imbecilic way in the future if it gets him free passes out of family situations like that.

Max is upset, heheehe, of course she is, she'd rather stay here and hang out with her friends from that stupid AV club. On Thursday evening Billy overhears her asking Susan, voice full of bitter spite

"Why do I have to come? Why isn't Billy coming?"

What now? He wants to strangle her. If Neil and Susan change their minds and decide to drag Billy along, he'll definitely commit a crime, he can't be held responsible for his actions. Just shut up, Max, it's not your fucking business why he's not coming.

"It was dad's decision."

Max snaps

"His dad's, he's not my dad! Don't say it like he's our dad!"

Susan tells her to be quiet and "we talked about it, honey."

Susan is deranged if she still believes Max is willingly going to call Neil "dad".

Billy can't help but smile gleefully at his stepsister and give her a little wave when he sees her stomping to her room.

Max flips him off and slams the door.

Wait, it's getting better. Neil, Susan and the little rat are leaving on Friday evening and coming back late on Sunday. Dear parents and beloved sister are gonna be away for two whole fucking days. Uncle Dean wants to show them the farm which is, apparently, huge, and they are also gonna visit Susan's 100-year-old nana or something.

Billy's so happy, he's afraid of jinxing his luck. It happens so seldom, when he gets the house all to himself. When just the two of them - his dad and he - lived in pre-Mayfield era, Billy got plenty of time alone at home, and he couldn't stand it. Couldn't stand the emptiness, the silence. He used to go to Nick or his other buddies, stay out late on the beach or the streets. He never invited any of his friends over because Neil never welcomed it.

When the Mayfield ladies moved in, instead of feeling better cause he was never alone at home anymore, Billy hated the intruders with all the hatred his teenage heart could summon.

So hell to the fucking yes, he's getting a breath of freedom this weekend. Billy does have work on Saturday and Sunday, but he can do whatever the fuck he wants to on Friday and Saturday evenings.

After he says "Have a great trip!" and closes the door at 5 pm on Friday

He takes the weights out to the living room, turns on the tv, and the music, opens the windows - it's going to be chilly but he wants to smoke inside, and cracks a can of beer open after a hard-working day at school.

Heaven.

The entire weekend is fucking his.

He's home absolutely alone.

He spends the whole Friday evening like that, working out, watching car programs on tv, making something quick to eat, smoking, drinking beer when he feels like it. At some point he takes out a porn video tape hidden in his suitcase that's in his closet, puts it in the VCR in the living room and ends up jerking off to porn multiple times till his balls run dry, right on the family couch.

He then rolls a joint and smokes it sitting in his car blasting the speakers at midnight.

When Billy goes to bed at around 1.30 am, his head is blissfully empty.

On Saturday he gets up late, ignores the mess he's left in the kitchen and living room, - he's gonna have plenty of time to clean up tomorrow morning, - has breakfast watching MTV on the couch and drives to work. Old Joe makes a note of Billy's good mood and invites him to share lunch together in his little office in the garage. The old man is okay, knows a lot about cars. Been in this business his whole life. Billy thinks he misses his son who got married and moved to Indianapolis, he sure likes talking about him. Mr. Daley also seems to like Billy. What's there not to like? Billy's work ethic is excellent. He's never late, he's smart, quick and knows what he's doing.

When he gets home at four in the afternoon, he takes a long shower, throws a sandwich together, rewinds the porn tape he's left in the VCR and goes to his room to look for another one.

Billy then changes his mind, digs into his school bag and finds a copybook with Vicky's number scribbled on it.

***

On Monday, through quiet whispers, gossip, like spiderwebs, is spreading all over Hawkins High.

Rumor has it, Hargrove and Vicky have fucked.

Rumor has it, Vicky's in love with him. She's walking around the school with her girlfriends, having private conversations, blushing slightly and exchanging eloquent glances

Her eyes always on the search for Billy.

Vicky's sitting in classes with a dreamy look on her face

Languidly examining Billy's profile while he's busy writing stuff down from the blackboard.

Judging from the way she's staring at him, it's probably true.

She's in love.

Hargrove, on the other hand, seems his usual self, only much calmer. Sex with Vicky did him good.

During lunch break he's sucking on a straw of the juice-box and listening to Tina talking about the absolute must-be-there of a party she's having this Friday night for Halloween.

"I hope everyone has figured out their costumes!"

Vicky is watching Billy's lips and tongue play with the straw.

She's not the only one whose eyes are following the movements of Billy's pretty mouth

Apart from some other girls, Harrington who is sitting two tables over and seems to be all lovey-dovey with his girlfriend -

what was it? A nice dinner with the princess's family followed by a timid and unskilled blowjob up in her room at the weekend? -

shoots an occasional glance at Billy, now and again

Harrington did have a quite pleasant Friday dinner, thank you very much, but not at Nancy's, although Mrs. Wheeler wouldn't have minded. No, he spent the whole evening with his parents, miraculously dodging all the questions about his future that he didn't and still doesn't have answers for. Well, mom and dad drank wine and were in good spirits, Dad was mostly preaching the wisdom, so Steve was just stuffing his belly.

On Saturday morning while Steve was still in bed, parents went to Indianapolis for a couple of days to visit mom's sister. Harrington drove to Tommy's place and they hung out in his room dishing about the people they know.

Steve told his mom and dad he didn't want to go to Indianapolis cause he had plans to study, and he indeed opened some school books. For a couple of hours. He also had a very nice Sunday with Nancy. They went to a diner, and spent the night at his place, and yes, they had sex which started with a timid blowjob which lasted a minute, and led to missionary. Steve has been meaning to spice up their sex life a bit, but he feels it's not the right time now with everything Nance has been going through, so he's happy with whatever he's given.

Harrington's eyes fall on Billy's tongue again -

the hell he's doing with that straw? -

and he's losing the trail of their conversation with Tommy.

All of a sudden there's an uneasy feeling in Steve's inside, simmering, lurking. It feels like calm before the storm. He can't explain it. The sex was good and tender, although Nancy seemed a bit distant but when hasn't she lately?

Maybe it's asshole Hargrove who's been minding his business and it is strange? Steve's probably overthinking things that might have actually just settled down. It's quite likely their stupid rivalry with Hargrove has somehow dissolved. He's got a girlfriend now - if Vicky has been honoured which is still a big question, - his own circle of buddies to hang out with, he's got a job, he's got off Steve's back.

Feels strange.

Hargrove was the one who fixed Andy's yellow camaro. The guy must be good with his hands, huh. Steve's never fixed anything. Has had everything done for him. Never worked a day in his entire life.

Speaking of cars, his beamer needs an oil change, and just uh .. a check up. Just a thought, for later.

As for their relationship with Nancy, Steve will keep on trying to bring it back to the way it was.

Calm before the storm? Nah, it's most definitely bullshit.

He shrugs the feeling off, hugs his girlfriend tighter and resumes listening to Tommy rambling about him wanting to dress as the Karate Kid for the upcoming party.

***

Tina wasn't lying when she told everyone the party is going to be massive. The trees on the front lawn and the house are toilet papered, cars are parked haphazardly near the house and down the street, there's Steve's BMW, Tommy's Ford, Andy's and Billy's camaros .. Drunk up to various degrees teenagers are everywhere, outside and inside, talking, dancing, shouting, making out, drinking some more. Hawkins High students went wild with costumes, and with alcohol. There's a huge bowl of punch which Roy still needs to come up with a name for, endless beer and vodka bottles and a keg.

"Shout at the devil" by Mötley Crüe is ripping the night up. The party in in full swing. Tina welcomes everyone dressed in Madonna's "Like a virgin" costume. The outside crowd is counting

" .. forty-eight, forty-nine, fifty, fifty-one, fifty-two !!"

All are cheering and Billy is brought down from the keg, beer foam flowing out of his mouth and down his well-defined pecs and abs. He's dressed as a .. Terminator? Black leather jacket, black fingerless gloves. Chest out for everyone to see and drool over, help yourselves.

The crowd is going insane

"Yeah! Fifty-two!"

Tommy - in a Cobra Kai Dojo costume - is sticking a lit cigarette in Hargrove's mouth

"We got ourselves a new keg king, everybody!"

Billy's holding a cigarette with trembling fingers, taking a shaky drag, yelling

"That's how you do it, Hawkins! That's how you do it!"

He is so wasted, god please help him.

People start chanting

"Bil-ly! Bil-ly! Bil-ly!"

Hagan is putting his arm around his shoulder and they get inside the house. The place is trashed. Toilet paper gets in Billy's face and he wants to .. what, lick it?? It's so soft .. He's fucking plastered.

Hargrove spots King Steve leaning on a wall with his prissy princess and without giving it a second thought starts walking towards him, through the crowd, climbing over the couch, which he doesn't really register cause his legs seem to move on their own, and

when he comes face to face with the King

Harrington takes his sunglasses off, like .. like he doesn't want to hide from Billy's intense stare

Why? What is this smoldering animosity between them?

Tommy's again materializing by Billy's side

"We got ourselves a new keg king, Harrington! Fifty-two!"

Mike, who happens to stand nearby, cuts in although no-one asked for this dude's opinion

"Yeah. Eat it, Harrington!"

Steve just stares back at Hargrove, holds the gaze

Is Hargrove back at it again? Just when Steve thought that the guy found something better to do.

Nancy who was standing by Steve's side, suddenly walks away, and Harrington has to go

"Yeah, whatever, Tommy. Not now."

I've got something else going on here.

Nancy walks into the kitchen and curiously smells the red liquid in a huge bowl

"What's in this?"

Roy who's been hanging around the bowl practically the whole evening provides the necessary information

"Pure fuel, pure fuel! Whoo!!"

Burps loudly and goes on pumping more fuel into his system. He's totally going to end up puking all over the kitchen

Nancy fills a plastic cup with punch and takes a big sip. When Steve catches up with her, she's already drunk half the cup

"Hey .. Who, whoa, take it easy, Nance? Take it easy!""

"We're just being stupid teenagers for the night. Wasn't that the deal?"

***

Steve knows he dragged her to this party, she didn't want to go. Nothing new.

Today at school Nancy thought that she had seen Barb in the library. It wasn't Barb, of course, but the silhouette and the hair colour reminded Nancy of her missing friend.

"Steve, I can't keep doing this." She told him behind the closed door of a small library room

"Doing what?"

"Pretending like everything is okay."

"What are you talking about?"

"Barbara. It's like everyone forgot. It's like no-one cares. Did you hear her parents want to hire a private detective and they'll have to sell their house to scrape the money?"

"Their house ..? How much does this detective actually cost? Are they sure it's not a scam?"

"I .. I don't know about the money, but they are going to spend the rest of their lives looking for her. It's destroying them."

"Nance, I know it's terrible. But .. I don't understand what we can do about it."

Nancy looked as though she wanted to tell Steve something but stopped herself midway. It wasn't the first time when Steve got the feeling that she was hiding something from him.

She fell quiet and Steve decided to use the same strategy - distraction.

"Hey, it's hard but .. but let's just go to Tina's stupid party .. wear our stupid costumes that we've been working on for a stupid amount of time and just pretend that we're stupid teenagers, okay? Can we just do that, just for tonight?"

"Okay." Nancy sure sounded super excited about it.

"Come here." Steve pulled her into a hug.

Nancy sighed and laid her head on her boyfriend's shoulder.

***

Steve remembers their conversation now, it happened about eight hours ago and backfired pretty quickly. Looks like Nancy took his words as a guide to act exactly like Steve said but multiplied it by a hundred.

Why can't things just be easy?

The thing is, Nance has already had enough. The girl isn't experienced enough when it comes to alcohol, and a couple of bottles of beer she had earlier have done their job. Still, she willfully fills her cup with punch again.

"No, no no, Nance!"

"Get off!"

"No, you've had enough, okay?"

"Screw you!"

"Nance, I'm serious. Stop. Hey, hey .. stop. No, I'm serious! Put it down!" Steve's trying to snatch the cup from his drunk girlfriend's hands

"No."

"Nance, put it down!"

"Steve, stop!"

He doesn't stop because what the hell? It's enough! Nancy is not letting go of her drink, but he's still trying to grab it. They look like kids. It's hands moving chaotically and

Oh shit, one wrong movement, and she's spilling the blood red punch all over herself, all over the white dress

People around them gasp

"What the hell?" Of course, it's Steve's fault.

Everything is his fault, according to Ms. Wheeler.

"Nance, I'm sorry."

Nancy probably wants to wash the stain off, so she goes to the bathroom, and Steve's trotting behind her. Because that's what a good boyfriend does, right? She opens the tap and starts rubbing the stain with a wet cloth but it's useless

"That's not coming off, Nance." Steve just wants her to stop being so stubborn, what has he done, where's his mistake?

"It's coming."

"Come on. Let me just take you home, okay?"

It's not gonna come off, the dress it ruined.

"Let me take you home, Nance."

His girlfriend looks at him eyes full of anger, slurring the words

"You wanted this."

What does she mean? He only wanted them to have a nice time together, jesus, is that so awful?

"No, I didn't want this. I told you to stop drinking."

"Bullshit. It's bullshit."

Steve doesn't like the way Nancy's saying the word. It .. it doesn't make sense

"No, it's not bullshit. Okay? It's not bullshit."

"What? You're pretending like everything is okay. Like my friend didn't disappear in your backyard."

Pretending? .. Steve's not ..

"Pretending like we're partying. Like we didn't kill Barb."

"We .. what? I didn't kill anybody. Did you kill her?"

"Not with our hands, Steve."

"Whoa whoa hold on, Nance. I didn't kill her. You didn't kill her."

"Oh yeah? We shouldn't have left her alone there, near your .. pool."

"Nance, she wasn't even my friend! You brought her there!"

"Are you saying I killed her? It's all my fault?"

"Nance, it's nobody's fault. Also, why shouldn't we have left her alone? Were we supposed to babysit her the whole evening? How did we know something like this was going to happen?"

"I don't know, Steve! But she's gone now, and it's all bullshit, all of it, I'm so sick of pretending!"

The way she's looking at Steve, there's no love. There's only frustration and guilt.

"I told her to go home, so that I could spend the night with you!"

"Nance .. you didn't know .."

"It's all bullshit. Let's just party, let's pretend .. pretending like we're in love and we're partying."

Wait, what?

"Like we're in love?" Steve can feel his own voice breaking

"We're partying. Party. Let's party."

Maybe he misheard her, maybe she didn't mean it.

"Like we're .. you don't love me?"

"It's bullshit." Nancy turns off the water. The dress is definitely ruined. The evening is ruined.

She spins around and walks out of the bathroom, Steve is standing near the sink

"Nance! Nance wait!"

He knows that he has to follow her again, she's drunk and he has to take her home, and he will, he just needs to .. needs a moment to pull himself together.

He only wanted to have a good time.

It's all bullshit, apparently. He is bullshit. Their love is bullshit.

Is it for real?

Steve's alone in the bathroom.

He's looking at himself in the mirror.

Steve didn't kill anyone. He invited Nancy that night in June cause he wanted to spend time with her, he wanted to sleep with her, okay? He was, and still is, in love. Jesus fucking christ, they shouldn't have left Barb alone? Who would have thought something like this was going to happen??

Why is Nancy putting the blame on them, on him ? He didn't do anything bad. Steve can understand Nancy is feeling guilty, but .. he doesn't know how to help her. It's not their fault.

Distraction as a way to make her feel better doesn't seem to be working. It has only made everything worse.

Ffffuck.

He doesn't .. he doesn't know what to do.

The door of the bathroom opens wide and an absolutely wasted Billy Hargrove stumbles inside.

His heavy gaze is landing on Steve's face, hand going up slowly, and grabbing Steve by the collar of his jacket.

Almost gently.

The fuck?

There is no force.

"Haarrringtn .. Course it's you." Billy's snickering

"Can a guy piss? Or you're gonna throw a tantrum again and start shouting this is your fucking bathroom?"

He's such an idiot. It doesn't even make sense. It's Tina's house.

Hargrove's grin is obnoxious, Steve wants to punch it off the dumb drunk face. Bet one punch is going to be enough to knock him off his feet. He is so fucking hammered. Barely standing straight, slurring every word, and his eyes are so glassy, it looks like they're fake.

"You gonna stand here and watch me piss, Harrington?"

The grip on the collar tightens, and Billy starts getting closer, but Steve shakes Billy's hand off and shoulders past him.

When their shoulders collide for a second, Steve can't help it, there's something .. the force, the strength, Hargrove's body feels like a rock, big and solid.

He walks out of the bathroom but doesn't know where to go. The word bullshit echoes in his head, and he's suddenly so tired of this freaky night.

Let's make it freakier.

Steve turns around and opens the door to the goddamn bathroom again. If he can't distract Nancy, he can try distracting himself.

Hargrove's standing near the sink, washing his hands. He's swaying slightly, turns off the tap and is about to start on his way out when Harrington pushes him back inside. Slams the door shut without turning his back.

Something sweet and deadly is spreading through his veins. He wants to shove Hargrove further, wants to make him fall, nevermind that the guy's drunk, Steve doesn't care. There it is, a glimpse of weakness, and Steve wants to probe it, how deep it's gonna go.

Hargrove seems taken aback. Confused. Steve looks at him like crazy. What does he want? He's not so sure anymore. He wants everything to be the way it was before the summer, before the fall. His heart is turned inside out at Nancy's words, and anger is mixed with pain, because what the fuck?? Why is it his fault anyway? He didn't do anything bad, and now he's shit? He runs after her like a fool in love, but according to her it's bullshit?

And there's Hargrove, with his fucking basketball skills and badass car and he's so tough, so cool, so fucking macho, swaying his ass in those jeans in the school hallways, hanging out with Steve's friends and stealing his keg king title. Getting on Harrington's nerves by simply existing.

It can all go to hell, for all Steve cares. If it's bullshit, let it all blow up.

Billy is not the only one who's unhinged. Whatever it's called. Steve's hurting inside. She doesn't love him? Why, why not? What has he done wrong?

Both Hargrove and Harrington are staring at each other with wide open eyes. The trajectory is short and simple, eyes - lips, lips - eyes. Hargrove's eyelashes are too long, too thick, too fucking thick, it's annoying. Steve can hear them rustling.

He feels Billy's hot breath somewhere near his mouth, it smells like beer and cigarettes and a hint of mint gum. These smells are mixed with a barely audible scent of sweat coming off Hargrove's body and also some delicious perfume .. Steve knows this smell, he knows its name, he's sampled it in perfume stores

He notices that Billy's eyes are becoming predatory and wild. Unpredictable.

However, is it so hard to predict what's gonna happen if they stare at each other's lips like that?

Their lips are so close. A flash of a second, and it's Billy who goes for it

Stopping only an inch away. What the fuck, he's not gonna do it? Steve sees that Hargrove is slipping away from this, so he grabs Billy by the back of the neck, his grip feels like it's made of iron, fingers digging in that messy mullet. He pulls. He has to pull because Hargrove's balking like a stubborn donkey.

Fuck no, you're not getting away from me.

Steve locks their mouths together. Hargrove's lips are soft and .. and unexpectedly tender.

The kiss - cause that's what it is, right? - feels fucking weird. It's not gross, it's just weird but the kind of weird you wanna explore. They are looking into each other's eyes, Hargrove is narrowing his stare at Steve even more, like he's trying to figure out his game and then he pushes him away muttering a quiet

"The fuck .."

But the strength is not there really, so Steve pulls him back and kisses him again

Maybe I like it

Flashing lights at the back of his mind

He feels hot all over, feverish. It must be the alcohol, it must be the pain of Nancy's words still ringing in his head

Bullshit bullshit you are bullshit what we have is bullshit your love is bullshit

This time, Steve's lips stay on Billy's a couple of seconds longer, and when a low mmmm leaves his throat, he slides his tongue between Hargrove's lips. Billy is not making it easy, cause he attempts to shove Steve away again, but it's weak, and Harrington is holding him tighter, one hand still gripping the back of his head, the other slithering around Billy's waist. It's like Hargrove surrenders, opens his mouth more, but the moment his own tongue touches Harrington's,

Steve is pulling away as if he touched something hot, as if he got burnt.

Afraid to get burnt more.

Enough.

Everything is a rollercoaster together with a joyous and vile feeling blooming inside Steve - he now knows what Hargrove's deal is. He's cracked the Californian sun on hot wheels.

If someone, say, Tommy or .. or any other guy tried to kiss Harrington, he'd shove him hard, the hell you think you're doing? He wouldn't want it. He'd probably rinse his mouth after.

Hargrove didn't push him away. To be fair, he did, at first. But then, when Steve showed persistence? Billy kissed him back. He wanted more, didn't want to stop.

Steve knows his secret now.

There's a satisfied smile flickering on his lips.

You sure seemed to enjoy kissing a guy, Billy boy.

Steve swings the door wide and walks out, leaving Hargrove alone in the bathroom

As a matter of fact, Steve's got a drunk girlfriend here somewhere. Though it's not clear anymore if they're still together or not.

Steve goes to look for Nancy but can't find her.

He spots Tommy and Carol dancing and making out in the middle of the crowd. The party is still on and getting louder.

"Hey, Tommy, you seen Nancy?"

"Yeah, she went home."

Carol is smiling and Steve doesn't like her smile or her tone

"She's okay, Steve, she went home. She's probably in her bed already all tucked up."

"You sure?"

"Yeah, she's fine. Did you have a fight or something?"

"Uh .. kinda. Okay, I'm .."

"Hey man, everything alright?"

No, Tommy, fucking everything is fucked up.

"Yeah. I'm going home. You guys have fun."

***

Steve gets home after midnight, falls on the bed. His mind's on fire.

Nancy, what the fuck was that with Nancy? Are they still together? Is their whole relationship bullshit, that's what it is for her ??

Steve's wounded, Steve's hurting.

What has he done wrong?

He kissed Hargrove, that was definitely wrong.

He has him figured out now though.

There's a burning tingling sensation on his lips that won't go away

It's not gonna happen again, but deep down ..? If he's completely drunkenly honest with himself?

He liked the feeling of his lips on Billy's.

Tomorrow in the daylight his mind's gonna be set straight. Now in the darkness, Steve can secretly relish the feeling

Steve's burying his hot face in the cool of his pillow.

Is it the storm? Or it is only the first gusts of wind rising and the first raindrops falling from the sky?

[variousqueerthings]

Well, you don't steer the Tardis, you negotiate with it. The still point between where you want to go and where you need to be, that's where she takes you.

We've headed to Bill's second proper episode. The Doctor is in a somewhat non-dissimilar position to back in s3, but not spiralling into a series of suicidal urges (well...) -- in the sense that we're at "taking on a new companion is Not allowed because I'm sad (and in this case because the Master is being held in the cellar), but... well, wouldn't it be nice?" the difference between Bill and Martha is manifold, it's just interesting to imagine character change in the Doctor, who's consciously got not just Martha, but all of his companions in mind when he's interacting with Bill... and, possibly, Susan a bit, considering that picture in episode 1. Bill, to me, feels correct in being the final companion of this era, she ties a lot of emotional themes together going all the way back to Rose, and her greatest trait to me is all the questions she asks/the kinds of questions she asks

right now Bill is following the Doctor with the knowledge that out there in space, her almost-not-girlfriend-turned-puddle-creature is also hanging around...

sexism rank objectification (female character is ogled/harassed/turned into a sex joke by the doctor and/or a lead we’re supposed to root for and/or the camera): 10/10

sexism rank plot-point (lead female character is only there to serve plot, not to have her emotional interiority explored, or given agency to her emotional interiority): 7/10

interesting complex or pointlessly complex (does the complexity serve the narrative or does it just serve to be confusing as a stand-in for smart, this includes visually): 7/10

furthers character and/or lore and/or plot development (broader question that ties into the previous ones, at least two of these, ideally three should be fulfilled): 5/10

companion matters (the companion doesn’t always have to be there, but if the companion is there, can they function without the doctor– and overall per season how often is the companion the focus or POV of the story): 9/10

the doctor is more than just “godlike” (examines the doctor’s flaws and limitations, doesn’t solve a plot by having it revolve entirely around the doctor’s existence): 8/10

doesn’t look down on previous doctor who (by erasing or mocking its importance, by redoing and “bettering” previous beloved plotpoints or characters, etc.): 5/10

isn’t trying to insert hamfisted sexiness (m*ffat famously talked a lot about how dw should be sexier multiple times, he sucks at writing it): 10/10

internal world has consistency (characters have backgrounds, feel rooted in a place with other people, generally feel like they have Lives): 6/10

Politics (how conservative is the story): 5/10

FULL RATING: 72/100 (if I can count….)

this season, I tellya. I like this episode despite its flaws (flaws which come from some deeeply ingrained scifi tropes that are due a good Poking at)

OBJECTIFICATION: Woooo, we've done it! none of this Nonsense. also Bill's top is cute, and feels to me like something that didn't come out of a fashion catalogue -- I just mean by this that she's someone without a bunch of money, she'd probably have some Fits that she's really into and this gay top gives off that vibe

PLOT-POINT: Bill really engages with how she feels about travelling and the kind of adventures she's in (ofc we see even more of that in the next episode). in this one she's noticing that the Doctor runs into danger and tries to get her out of the way, and simply follows after, because she thinks there's something kind of destructive and lonely about that behaviour -- and this is what leads her to figuring out key parts of the plot as well

there's also this neat moment where there's a statue of perhaps Nefertiti and Bill stops and compares herself for a moment, and it feels very "I'm Black and I'm in space and I have both history and future" which is part of what her story is about -- before the Doctor she was very much floating from one day to the next, with all these questions she didn't have the privilege to be able to ask and have respected and answered. the Doctor really functions so often as a professor in their stories, being really indulgent with these questions, but still challenging her to figure things out for herself and letting her challenge him when she notices the flaws in his logic (or in the next episode, gaps in his truth)

COMPLEXITY: it's relatively easy to follow the twists and turns of this one, and they're quite good twisty-turns. the one thing I question is its ending, and a bit of its buy-in, but that's about Politics

I liked the feeling of this one though. I liked what it wanted to say, at heart, and I liked a fair bit of how it said it

CHARACTERS/LORE/PLOT: Bill's first own adventure. She's noticing that the Doctor has a tendency to run into danger. she's having some feelings about what the future of humanity might look like. it's not so heavy on Stuff outside of this, but that's fine, the point is really "how does Bill react to time-and-space"

COMPANIONS MATTER: yeah yeah yeahhhh! she really does! and it feels like a conscious choice to go from River Song's "we do as we're told" type line, to now where Bill really challenges the Doctor's limitations. and because she does, vital bits of the story are revealed, to us and to the Doctor

“GODLIKE” DOCTOR: I feel like I should have taken more notes on the Doctor's behaviour in this episode, because it's very much the oppossite of this/the Doctor is fallible, but I wasn't conscious enough about whether it's saying something about where the Doctor's head is at that he didn't consider that the colonists might already be there, and could have risked blowing them -- and the Vardy -- up. regardless, I think the Doctor is very happy to be travelling again and specifically to be travelling with Bill

PREVIOUS DOCTOR WHO: this episode is very self-contained, its narrative of colonising a planet because earth is [insert some kind of catastrophe that's not quite spelt out for us] doesn't relate to any other, similar episodes of the same, and I think it could have done. it's quite a popular theme (as we will get into)

“SEXINESS”: Bill is here to tell us we're post the need for stupid faux-sexy talk

INTERNAL WORLD: I think for where it is -- that is a "post"-colonised world, and I will absolutely be talking about that in the point below -- it's very well developed. the way also it threw the Doctor for a loop that the colonists were already there!

I am fascinated by how "post"-colonised is depicted via wheat fields. mono-culture harvesting is no good! (I may be overanalysing but that's the thing about "colony" -- it needs to be complicated as concept in modern scifi, it's well overdue for it)

I also noted in "previous doctor who" that it doesn't connect to any other narratives about Something Is Up On Earth so we must leave narratives it's done, so it's sort of ambiguous handwaved Reasons that bring them to this plot. perhaps if that was more grounded, their desperation would feel more real

but it works, the way the mystery comes together. the Vardy in the wall, the old spaceship full of memorabilia from earth, the shrine to the first dead, and the pods of sleeping people. I really like all that

POLITICS: oooooohohoo it's one of my favourite kind of stories, "everyone is people!" the way to win at the end is not destroying the robots, it's to acknowledge their rights to the planet on which they live. I also like that the majority of the colonists (we'll get to that word in a sec) are South Asian, until we get to gun-man-dude, who's not meant to be in the right. there's just a lot more casual and deliberately thought out diversity from the looks of things, making the future of humanity feel far broader

that being said, there are sooome elements to the whole thing that of course I cannot help but pay attention to- first of all, of course, the idea of colonists to begin with is always something complex that conveniently tends to pretend that wherever a colonist lands is empty before they arrive. that is the case in this episode as well, where the plot asks the audience to simply run with the fact that this planet was colonised, and we arrive to the story when "colonised" is its state, that's how we the audience first see this world. what it was before colonisation is not a part of this story

I really would be fascinated in Doctor Who moving forwards grappling with that idea of the implications of "colonist" because it's been the word habitually used in scifi for so long, without thinking about it, and although there are episodes that deal with immigration, with oppression of one species over another (notably, with humans over others), and with stripping resources without "considering" or perhaps caring for the consequences (and then there are consequences), the very concept of colonist isn't so challenged yet

actually if anyone can point me towards a science fiction story consciously writing on colonialism, which I'm sure there are, I'd be very interested

anyway, for this episode, one of the prime science fiction conceits that I would like to see challenged one day, is the "empty" planet just waiting for humans to populate it. maybe this episode has already been done, but not in nu!who, so again, if anyone knows an audio adventure, a classic story, a book, a comic, I'd be very interested

I also just watched Interstellar for the first time yesterday, so now I'm thinking about the popular narrative of "something's up with earth and it's so fucked, we have to go to somewhere else" which is... well, it's very colonialist, it's very Elon Musk and billionaires in space leaving the poor suckers to die, it's very defeatist, and dare I say it without going a biiiit into sentimentalism... it's very ungrateful to the earth, as narrative. it's time we complicated that "easy" shorthand for why colonialism must be done, the same as we need to complicate the "easy" setting of the conveniently empty planet

SO this story is not about the idea of colonialisation, but the Vardy (who have been helping to prepare the planet) are self-aware, and, according to the Doctor, were here first. I think the throwaway joke at the end lets down the story a biiiit, when the Doctor asks about discussing rental agreements for the humans being allowed there, and the Vardy then show a money sign and a ding effect

don't insert last-minute capitalism on a seemingly abundant world where everyone needs to learn to get along! I think this is partly a consequence of the episode needing to end and not having enough time, but I think drops the ball on that

however! tiny swarms called The Vardy who communicate with humans via robot interfaces are people! that society could become so in a particular Cyborg kind of way as long as it's not capitalist, but that's another discussion

FULL RATING: 72/100 (if I can count….)

this is a solid episode -- it's not perfect, and it kind of falls for "easy tropes" rather than real originality or challenge to concepts, but where it really really works is Bill, in my opinion

this makes a big difference to previous companions, where that's often been the point I've rated middly-to-low, because episodes have struggled to give companions something to do and/or a reason to care about what's happening around them

Oh Bill, you're so great

[icarus-suraki]

Book asks: 8, 15, 42, 46, and/or 48

8) What is your favorite opening line? "A screaming comes across the sky" is iconic. The typesetting for "Stately, plump Buck Mulligan..." is iconic (in my edition of Ulysses especially because the S takes up the entire page, as it should). "See the child" is magnificent. But I really think the opening line of 100 Years of Solitude is my favorite:

Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendía was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice.

Yeah, I'll play the 100 Years of Solitude drinking game (take a shot every time someone is named Aureliano) but I really love that novel and I really love that opening line.

15) What makes you close a book and walk away forever? Really cringy, weird, awkward phrases. Let me give you an example or two:

I tried, I really tried, to read the first Elric of Melniboné book (Michael Moorcock) but I got to this one line where the main character and his lover ride out to a cave on a beach whereupon "they tethered their steeds." I was just so done at that point. I tried, but I just couldn't do it.

Likewise! I was working at a Barnes & Noble starting around Thanksgiving 2004 (baby's first full-time job after undergrad) and that was the era of Dan Brown and The Da Vinci Code. We sold so many copies of Holy Blood Holy Grail--shit was so cash. So it seemed like it would behoove me, professionally, to read The Da Vinci Code. Once again, I tried. Oh my God, did I try. I even got ahold of a super fun illustrated edition with pictures in the margins like some kind of weird Eyewitness Book but for Paris and Jesus conspiracies. So I started reading and I got into the first chapter and it…wasn't great, but I was going to do my best because it would benefit me professionally. And then I got this one line--this is 20 years ago and I still remember it like it was yesterday--about the male protagonist which described him as having "a thicket of dark brown hair." And I close the book and I never looked back. It was just Too Much.

42) Do you read one book at a time, or several at once? Generally speaking, I'll read one at a time. I might fool around with another book or two, but I usually read one at a time, though not fixedly. I tend to get hooked on one book and not want to read others. It's not a conscious decision.

46) Who is your favorite author? This is tough because it has changed through the years. In high school it was mostly Ray Bradbury, and I like to joke that Fahrenheit 451 got me into college and I wept openly at my library job when he died. But J. D. Salinger started edging in there in high school after my mom gave me her copy of The Catcher in the Rye. By college it was J. D. Salinger, up to and including my senior project, but James Joyce was swiftly encroaching on his territory (a teacher got me to read Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and I was doomed). By college graduation it was definitely James Joyce, and he hung around through a decidedly disastrous trip through Europe until I got back to the States and started reading Haruki Murakami (in translation) and Murakami was moving up in the ranks. And then plucked up the courage to read Gravity's Rainbow (I bought it with my own money from that same B&N) and I think it was a tie between James Joyce and Thomas Pynchon. I finally started reading Cormac McCarthy when I was in graduate school and Blood Meridian made me want to fucking bite things it's so good.

And this isn't getting into all my favorites as a kid (Roald Dahl, Norton Juster, Susan Cooper, among others) nor any of the poets I obsessed over in college lmao.

Right now I'm honestly not sure. I don't know that I have One Favorite Author. There are a lot that I really like. There are a lot that I'll read when they have something new published. I've been reading a lot of Japanese authors in translation. I wish there was more a works-in-translation market here in the states. Anyway, If someone mentions a book that's "really fucked up" or "weird" or "too hard to really read," I will seek that out. I love fucked up books. I love "transgressive literature." And if something wins the Booker Prize, I also will probably love it.

48) What line has stuck with you for years? "The heaventree of stars hung with humid nightblue fruit."

Happy Bloomsday. This line is from the Ithaca chapter of Ulysses. Stephen Dedalus and Leopold Bloom are outside pissing in Bloom's back garden and they look up and witness the night sky. And that is a pale description of the scene, but you understand.

Like, I'm not into tattoos. But if I were to get a tattoo? It might be this line. (And/or the Doodles Family from Finnegans Wake and/or a Muted Posthorn. My mother would kill me and then disown me lmao.)

[cineflections]

When it comes to superhero movies, they always feel a bit samey nowadays, don't they? Especially origin stories. While this one plotwise is almost step by step, the same plot as Iron Man, Ant man, etc, it had its charm and its own identity.

I'm ofc talking about Blue Beetle

First thing first, the Reyes family? MVP.

I loved the family in this movie. Their dynamic, their relationship to each other. In Ant-man, we have divorced parents who are doing their best for their little girl. Here, we have 3 generations of people sticking up for each other through thick and thin.

(And Nana is a beast hell yea!)

Susan Sarandon as Victoria Kord, the main antagonist, is more or less evil for evils sake. She mentions stuff like "for the greater good" but there's no real depth to it. Her underling, carapace (I think it was) was the actual physical threat to Jaime, and like many other origin stories, becomes a different colored version of the hero (only BIGGER and BADDER). Except we did get a nice little moment towards the end between Jaime and Ignacio, which is his real name.

This movie is like the 8th bomb in the DC franchise at this point, but I feel so sad about it especially in regards to this movie. If this had released 10 years ago, heck, even before the pandemic, it would probably have done great at the box office. Mayne not huge numbers, but definitely not sub 100 mil worldwide 💀.

This is a good superhero movie. It is fun, the characters are a blast, it has heart, it has comedic moments and serious moments. Xolo Maridueña is perfect in the role, and I so wish to see him in more things (I hope this doesn't tank his career). I hope we see this Blue Beetle in the new DC Universe James Gunn is cooking up. With how stand-alone this movie was, it definitely could fit!

There are some things I dislike. During his first transformation it look horrific and almost shot in a like "horror way" but it was played for comedic effect with the family screaming and panicing like headless chickens and the music being up beat and fun. I wish they stopped doing such tonal whiplashes. If it's an horrific experience please show it as one!

It's both strange and not strange how easy the family got to killing people while Jaime throughout does not want to kill and become a murderer.

And like I said earlier, the villain is kinda bland.

But still, I like this movie a lot. I want it to succeed, and I want to see this character again!

So please support this movie at the cinema. Or rent it when it comes out there. It deserves to be seen.

[adamsvanrhijn]

How likely are the following scenarios on a scale of 1-5 (or 1-10 or %-based, if you prefer) in your opinion, in season 2 or in hypothetical season 3:

1. Agnes dies

2. Oscar gets outed

3. Larry is bisexual

4. Marian is bisexual

5. Maud is a lesbian

6. Oscar's character arc leads him to shave off his mustache

7. Oscar gets a new boyfriend

8. A character with a name that's NOT Oscar does a drug

9. An actual sex scene with actual sex being shown for more than 0.5 seconds

10. An actual sex scene with Oscar

11. An actual sex scene with Oscar trying to start a family

There is I think a 0 percent chance of Agnes dying in Season 2. But in Season 3 I would say we move up to potentially a 25% chance if they know going into it that S3 will be their last. otherwise, unless Baranski wants out Agnes is staying alive because she's drawing viewers - same reason Violet couldn't die until 1928

Oscar being outed in S2.... I would say a 10-20% chance? S3 my estimation jumps up to a 50 or perhaps even 55% chance.

Larry bisexual canonically never happening. true in my heart. Larry has been dreaming about lying in John Adams's arms since they met in Newport in September 1882 and Larry namedropped Harvard as soon as they had a minute alone together to win Mr. Adams's favor

Canonically Marian being a bisexual is never happening. In my heart: she's like a Kinsey 2. Also in my heart, Marian will have kissing practice with Maud, because Marian has kissed a man and Maud hasn't yet 😱 can Marian help her learn how to kiss before Oscar kisses her 🥺👉👈 because Maud has never been kissed 😰 (by a man 😉😏)

Canonically I'm at like 35/65 with the odds in favor of straight Maud but at this point we don't have enough information. In my heart. See above.

NEVER!!!!

Ugh........... well the unfortunate fact is I don't think anyone else could be made in a lab for my brain like John Adams apparently was and so whoever he is I will need adjustment time like when you introduce a new animal to an enclosure. I will need to get to know Oscar's new boyfriend through a closed door etc. I would say zero chance in S2 or we would probably know about it from reviews, and maybe 50/50 on S3 and I'll have thought more about it after S2 is done and I have a better idea of just how on a bus John is

This is an HBO show so I would say like 85% chance of a drug at some point in the current or ideal next season overall, and maybe Oscar's drug potential is like 15-25% of that? Larry seems like a good candidate to get into drugs and make his mother mad and bring disaster upon himself.

I think there's a 100% chance we get this in the next episode if you don't take "more than 0.5 seconds" as hyperbolic and interpret it as the actual requirement because we haven't seen the Larry/Susan sex scene yet and Laura Benanti is ALLEGEDLY only in three episodes

This was implied in an S2 review but I don't fully understand so I think I'm like 50/50 on it happening this season and I don't know who with. S3 all bets are off. Needs more info.

Going to be bold but, 0% in S2 but that doesn't mean he wouldn't have a Maud sex scene in S2. It just presumably would not be a starting a family sex scene because I am assuming they will be engaged but not married in S2, and that they are not going to talk about babymaking until they are married. But I could be wrong!

[thessalian]

Thess vs The Garden, Yet Again

It’s been a really rough week but I got through it, and now it’s time for GARDEN PHOTOS!

Black-eyed Susans, asters, and cornflower. No blossoms yet, but they’re doing remarkably well. Also some photo-bombing marigold leaves.

Thriving marigolds and somewhat struggling zinnias. It’s mostly because we had some serious wind last week and the zinnias didn’t like it much. I put little tags there to keep the poor things from uprooting, as you can see. They’re holding on regardless, at least. I will keep pampering them, and if they still seem to struggle, I’ll swap them for the daisies or petunias and keep them inside. (The marigolds are fine; running absolutely riot.)

So this is my parsley. The tallest of these (not pictured because TOO MUCH PARSLEY) comes up to my waist, just about. I’ve hit up my Facebook friends to see if anyone wants some parsley because it needs cutting back in a significant way and I don’t want to waste it. Hell, I’m considering slipping notes into the neighbours’ post boxes at this point.

Sage and rosemary, still doing wonderous well. There should be a roast chicken for them at some point. (Also on the far right, photo-bombing oregano.)

Oregano and thyme. Some of those oregano leaves are the size of two-penny pieces, I swear. The oregano, thyme and mint have taught me a whole lot about plants that you should just cut back in winter and leave alone, and see how they thrive come spring.

Mint, coriander / cilantro, and my two dill plants. I’ll be cutting back the coriander a bit because I need the leaves for my next planned curry dinner, and we’ll see how it thrives after that. The mint will be getting the same treatment. As for the dill, well, I have two plants of that now; I didn’t expect the supermarket rescue dill to thrive as much as it has when repotting and I’m not going to just ignore the one I grew from seed just because I have a pot of it already. I have refrigerator dill pickles to make!

And back inside (because we’re running out of room), the petunias and daisies. They sprouted a bit after the flowers that ended up on the balcony, but they’re doing well after repotting.

And finally, the basil and cayenne pepper. I have a special place on the balcony prepared for the basil, and as for the cayenne pepper, well ... I can get one more hanging pot for that; I think I can just squeeze that onto the balcony rail and still have room to lean while looking out over the view.

Not pictured: beetroot taking over the world, strawberry taking longer to bounce back than the herbs did, lemon balm veeeeeeery slowly sprouting, lavender not sprouting at all, two potatoes that actually survived last year (since replanted), a raspberry branch cutting I’m trying to propagate, and tomatoes that are slowly gaining enough height for me to consider cutting them. I just want them to get tall enough to grab the sun that hits my balcony wall ... without growing higher than my head this year. I might actually get more fruit that way.

I’m still not 100% sure what possessed me to start this whole thing - I just kind of wanted to. I’m really glad I did, though. I’m learning a lot, I’m enjoying myself, and now I can find new recipes as an excuse to use all these herbs I have.

[atlantablack]

Stranger Things/Narnia Crossover

Okay, so, this was originally just me rambling in the tags on @steveshairychest’s post but uhhh i ran out of tags…..which has never happened to me before …..and then I didn’t want to hijack their post because it got wayyyyy too long and there are three parts because I have A LOT of thoughts for the lion, the witch, & the wardrobe; prince Caspian; & voyage of the dawn treader so like, this is part 1 i guess, bear with me here

Okay so, I’ve decided to go with, this is a canon compliant Stranger Things AU though Season 3 and then Season 4 still happens, but Eddie doesn’t exist in the modern world. Not 100% sure on how S4 would go in that case but hand waving that away, basic plot points happen, except they defeat Vecna, happy-ish ending, Max is FINE. Cool cool. Moving on.

In the OG post I saw @munsonsduchess mentioned in the replies Eddie as Caspian and I have ENTHUSIASTICALLY taken that to heart, not 100% sure how to work Wayne in there but that’s a problem for me an hour from now (but i have IDEAS for the steddie of it all so I will make it work)

So, The Lion, The Witch, & The Wardrobe:

So, post canon, at some point a few years post-S4, let’s say summer break between the kids Junior and Senior years, Steve, Robin, Dustin, & Max go on a vacation together. Which makes sense because the Sinclair’s, Byers, and Wheeler’s are probably all having family vacations. But Ms. Henderson and Susan Hargrove can’t take time off work to do that and Robin just wants to spend vacation with Steve, so they all go on a vacation to Europe and stay in this bougie ass Bed & Breakfast.

The Bed and Breakfast off is course Professor Kirke’s old house. Now, so we know time in Narnia isn’t accurate to time in England, so theoretically even tho it’s 1988, the kids could go through the wardrobe and still end up at the end of the long winter. I’m thinking in this universe the Pevensie’s never got to sent to Professor Kirke’s house during the war and he passed away in 1949 so the wardrobe just kind of got left in the house when it was turned into a bed and breakfast.

So, the four of them are there, Dustin and Steve are both in the room that have the wardrobe, and Robin and Max are sharing a room. At some point in the first couple of days there, Steve, Robin and Max are outside doing something and Dustin is just exploring as much of the house as he can get away with and for whatever reason, he gets it into his head that maybe the wardrobe has a false back!!! Because you know old house, old wardrobe, why not right?

And ofc it then spits him out in Narnia which is not a false back but is infinitely cooler in his opinion. Unfortunately, Dustin “what if I raise this baby demodog what could possibly go wrong” Henderson does not immediately turn around and go back, but instead goes exploring and then is happened upon by Jadis. Now, see, here’s where it changes, because Dustin’s played D&D for years and he might not have the good sense god gave a goose to not going run around a random new universe, but he does manage to clock, almost immediately, that Jadis doesn’t have his best intentions in mind. but he’d quite like to not get murdered thanks and so he plays along and mentally rolls dice and promises to bring her his “siblings” and then fucking hightails it the fuck out there

So, Dustin is back in the room, and immediately goes to tell the others. Change Number 2: they’ve all already gone through the upside down bullshit four times, and while they’re slightly skeptical, they also believe him pretty fast. It would not be the craziest thing to happen to them.

So, instead of doing the sensible thing and simply not going back into the wardrobe, they stash a bunch of supplies in it and start going in as a group to check it like once every hour or two to see if it’ll let them back in. It takes sixteen hours, by which point Steve is thoroughly over the whole thing and Max is starting to suspiciously wonder if Dustin is playing the longest prank ever on them, but it does indeed open back up and they grab their supplies and wander back into Narnia

If Nancy was there she’d be completely appalled that they don’t have any weapons on them except for Steve’s pocket knife and the kitchen knife Robin managed to steal. Unfortunately, Nancy is back in the states with her family and unaware of this.

So, into Narnia they go, Mr. Tumnus is there, since he didn’t meet Dustin the first time around, and wasn’t implicated. And then they run into the beavers etc father christmas all that

basically, book events happen similar-ish, Steve gets his sword & shield and Robin gets a bow & arrow and her horn. Because really, like, Steve is self-explanatory, going from a nailbat to a sword is the logical conclusion and by god does that boy need a shield. I think Robin would do well with a bow & arrow honestly, especially considering she seemed to do fine throwing the molotov’s and holding a bow doesn’t involve much walking/running unless the enemy gets too close.

Now, I was thinking on the cordial & dagger, and i technically slotted max into the role of lucy because dustin was the one to originally run into Jadis, but neither of them fully fit either of those characters, and I’m not really trying to make them fit perfectly. But so I do feel like the cordial and dagger fits Dustin more, especially if we want to assume he still watched someone die in S4. Not sure who…….but let’s just say he did. I’m not writing this as a full fic so that’s a problem for me never. But that would fit his character then.

We don’t have a canonical fourth gift set since Edmund wasn’t there, but I think, since they all received a weapon of some type, Max would do well with a set of dagger short swords for two handed fighting, and then maybe a map that always shows the right path? to tie in with her being the party’s zoomer?

so they get their gifts and keep going, whatever happens in the book happens I guess (I really don’t remember the small plot points) and then since no one betrayed anyone and we’re ignoring the bible metaphor of it all Aslan’s sacrifice isn’t needed and the battle is fought and won and the kids become the kings and queens of Narnia.

Now, they talk sometimes in the first couple years about trying to find the wardrobe and go home. They’re not really aware that time moves differently in Narnia than in their universe, and they’re sure that the rest of the party must be worried sick about them. But they’ve been handed an entire kingdom and Steve, whenever it’s brought up, always says that if they want to try and find their way back they should but he’s going to stay because this asshole has a savior complex and refuses to leave the kingdom he’s been given responsibility of and well, the other three refuse to leave him, and so in the end none of them leave.

But then, just like in the books, the memories fade and then it’s fifteen years later and completely by accident, they stumble back through the wardrobe and back into 1988.

The In Between:

So, they’re mentally 15 years older (36 / 35 / 32 respectively if my math is right) and now they’re back in their younger bodies in England and it’s only been maybe an hour or two and no one even knows they were gone.

Obviously, when they get back to Hawkins, which was an ordeal in itself while they tried to reorient themselves to the modern world, they call a code red and the party has a meeting where the four of them try to explain what the fuck happened.

The rest of the party wants to not believe them so bad because honestly, it’s horrifying, all four of them gone for years and years and none of them even noticed because time just, passed differently there (which is fascinatingly reminiscent of the upside down btw). The party doesn’t want to believe it, but they do, because Steve is matter of factly talking about the intricacies of running a kingdom and planning battles and treaty negotiations and Robin is explaining how you keep track of crop yield and making sure a kingdom is fed and taken care of and how to make sure you have back up reserves in case a winter runs crueler or longer than the last. Dustin casually talks about hosting castle functions when visiting rulers had come to Cair Paravel and Max talks about hunting and the dryads that taught her how to understand a river’s voice.

They don’t want to believe them but the party doesn’t lie, not about stuff like this, and no one can really deny the way that the four came back from England and no longer seem to fit.

It’s hard on the party of course. Dustin and Max can’t just slip back into their friendships with the others that easily. It’s been fifteen years for them, they’ve forgotten so much. It’s even harder for them to go home to their mother’s and pretend to be children. Robin and Steve have an easier time of it, time had only made them closer, and they’re still together even if they are back in Hawkins. It’s hard on Nancy who had started to grow close with Robin and had been looking forward to seeing Robin after they all got back from their family vacations.

But life moves on and it takes months but eventually all four of them start to slip back into their lives in Hawkins. But they still don’t quite fit, no matter how hard they try.

Steve and Max get into a mock fight one day when they’re out by the pool. Someone had brought a bunch of fake weapons, because they were getting ready for a LARP festival, and no one had thought about it past “that sounds like a fun thing to do” and one minute they’re all laughing and the next Steve has picked up a sword and Max has picked up a pair of short swords and they’re off.

They miss training is the thing, they never say it but there is so much about Narnia that they miss that it feels like they’ve lost a limb some days. Dustin misses Narnia less with every day that passes and Robin thinks some days that she’s fine in either world as long as Steve is there. But Steve and Max feel like they’ve lost a vital part of themselves and so of course they’re not going to pass up a chance to capture even a little bit of Narnia back.

The party goes dead silent as they watch Steve and Max fight. It’s obvious they’ve done this before. Max is fast her on feet and Steve is grinning, sharp in a way he never used to be. Neither of them are pulling their punches and Max jabs Steve hard in the side at one point right as he brings the sword down hard on her arm. “Guess that’s a draw,” he says, cheery as anything and Max laughs, says, “Don’t be ridiculous, you know that one’s mine. One of us would be bleeding out and it wouldn’t be me.”

They go kind of still when they turn and find everyone watching them but Robin hoots and starts making fun of Steve for losing before the silence can carry too long. Dustin joins in making fun of Max for getting hit at all. “I swear you used to be faster than that,” he says.

“Yeah, well, I used to have properly weighted swords too.”

He grimaces and concedes the point.

The point is, it gets easier and it gets harder and they try to move on because they don’t really see what other choice they have and the party does their goddamn best to get used to the new habits and idiosyncrasies of the four that came back.

It gets easier and then of course, a year later, in 1989, Steve, Robin, Dustin, and Max get called back.

to be continued.....

[project1939]

100+ Films of 1952

Film number 147: The Miracle of Our Lady of Fatima

Release date: August 20th, 1952

Studio: Warner Brothers 

Genre: drama 

Director: John Brahm 

Producer: Brian Foy 

Actors: Susan Whitney, Sherry Jackson, Sammy Ogg, Gilbert Roland 

Plot Summary: In 1917 three Portuguese children of shepherds see an apparition of the Virgin Mary. She brings warnings of upcoming war and strife if people do not worship the Christian god. The anti-religious government fears what could happen when thousands of people begin arriving to see Mary for themselves. 

My Rating (out of five stars): *** 

Full disclosure, I am neither a Christian nor religious, so I am not the intended audience for this. I wasn’t sure if I would even watch it because it’s so overtly Catholic, but I decided to give it a try because it was a major release by Warner Brothers in 1952. In my heathen opinion, this could actually unintentionally be atheist propaganda! Do you want to worship a god that delivers a “positive message” by making children suffer? Over and over again, this god refuses to intervene and stop the suffering of children! I could not find anything beautiful in it, but horses for courses, I guess. (some spoilers)

The Good: 

Susan Whitney as Lucia, the main girl. She was only about 12 here, and for a child actor in this era, she was quite good. Her face gave off a genuine seeming innocence and earnestness. 

I liked the character of Hugo just because he was the only skeptical one who wasn’t judged harshly for it. He was clearly written to be likeable despite his lack of piety. Of course, he had to have a tacked on “come to Jesus moment” at the end, but I was expecting that. 

The cast overall was pretty good. Both of the other children were capable and cute, despite the fact that the poor girl playing Jacinta had to cry more than speak. The adults were also effective performers. 

The crowd scenes at the sacred spot were impressive. I appreciated that the extras all looked like real people. 

The score was lush and pleasing, even if the non-diegetic choir got a little tedious at times.  

The WarnerColor looked nice. It’s not as beautiful as Technicolor, but it's not bad, either. 

The Bad: 

Mary appears to be cool with the suffering of children! One of her first messages is that two of the three children will soon die, which she says right to their faces! Then she stands back and lets them all endure trauma after trauma. Another time, a boy on crutches asks to be healed, and Mary basically says, “OK, chill- you'll be cured in about a year.” How can a loving god do nothing about, and even glorify, the agony and pain of children??

At one point Mary tells the suffering Lucia, “You are enduring these hardships for the conversion of sinners, as atonement for sins committed against God.” WTF?! I thought Jesus already did that?? Isn’t that the whole point of Christianity? Why does an innocent little girl need to atone for other people’s sins? I wanted to scream. 

Mary hates Commies, I guess?  

The spot where the miracles occurred was obviously a set. I understand that to make it otherwise would require a lot of location shooting, but the set felt stagey and lifeless. 

The ending “miracle” was highly disappointing! 

There was some absolutely hilarious rear projection where a road sign appeared to be a cartoon! 

The film was completely unskeptical of the events. No real inquiry was given to the story, because everyone who questioned it was either a villain or malevolent in at least some way. 

“Secular Governments are bad, I say, bad!” Because the theocratic monarchy that preceded it was so freedom-lovin' good?

In one scene an innocent little girl was scapegoated and handed over to the police to protect Lucia. We see her terrified face and hear her desperate cries... and that’s the end of the scene. The movie only cared about the “good outcome” of Lucia getting away. What about that little girl? Again with the suffering of children! 

Lucia’s mother was horrible in the first two thirds of the film. She screamed at her, slapped her, and grounded her, telling her to stop lying and admit the visions were fake. When she had a change of heart at the end, I didn’t exactly want to forgive her.