#lonely peeper

[bowenoke]

[om0000]

the fact that there r no female watchdogs on the skullship is fucked up for obv reasons n stuff but tbh. if there were ONLY women on the skullship i wouldnt bat an eye. id think its pretty cool actually . the yuri empire ... is that a double standard

[sysig]

I’m just saying I think he has a type (Patreon)

[apoli-meow]

Guysguysguys

"Lonely king" by CG5 for the hypothetical season 3 Peepers when Hater turns good and Peepers is left in charge of the empire

[lonely-lorddominator]

#250

This was me trying to deal with kidney stone pain (I feel better now) and so I did something simple and easy to deal with.

Done in 2 1/2 hours with Colorpencil/Ink

[mrbossfr]

my watchdog ocs

[one-strugling-bean]

Thinking abt Hater n Peeps...

thinking about how they probably started out as friends with similar interests. Two losers with a damaged heart and a need to feel respected (and loved) meet and decide to conquer the world that wronged them before together

Thinking how at first they probably saw each other as more of a means to an end: ill make him do all the boring paperwork stuff while I actually conquer everything vs ill let him believe he's the number one and show his face while I pull the strings from behind type of shit. but eventually grew to appreciate each other's company, found interests in common, and went through shit that forced them to grow closer

(especially since they were probably each other's first friend. imagine the giddiness over finding someone you just click with after a whole life of being lonely)

thinking bout how much hater must have soaked in peepers praise from the start. Peepers being the 1st person to have ever called him cool. to support his dreams. even if hater hides it under a "sure you can tag along, if you do everything I say" kind of facade, he actually becomes super addicted to (and dependent on) peeps right from the get-go

Thinking bout how peepers must have been the opposite. He sees the potential hater has from the start, but for all the praise and admiration to become more than a way of manipulation it takes a bit. Still, it's only a small matter of time before peeps drowns in all the charisma and power being with hater brings. besides, he's found in Hater companionship the likes of he'd never felt before with anyone.

When he decides to make Hater the nº1 villain in all the galaxy, he knows he's sealing his fate - but he doesn't regret it one bit.

They essentially become best friends (also each other's 1st and only friend), though they never properly talk about it because ew feelings, and "they're supposed to be villains, and villains aren't friends". but they still see each other as friends and act accordingly

but then their pipe dream actually starts looking like it could work, and what before sounded like a make-believe game the two played with each other while they travelled the galaxy together, starts looking like a reality

They are ecstatic. they buy a customized ship. peepers convinces his people to fight for their cause and suddenly they have an army as well! hater steadily learns how to behave like a terrifying overlord instead of an edgy teen, and suddenly their fame is spreading everywhere!

they're unstoppable! hater is on his way to becoming the biggest threat to the galaxy and peepers is the 2nd in command that made it all happen! everything is perfect!

then, hater hurts peepers with his powers for the first time and things are... different.

They're both shocked that 1st time. hater has hurt many people by that point, but he never lost control on someone close to him. even if he was upset... peepers is also shocked because by that point he trusted hater with his life. he saw himself as a valuable part of their team, - their partnership! it felt like a betrayal. to both of them, actually

and slowly, these excuses become the reality. hater hurting peepers physically and verbally becomes the norm, and perhaps in an unconscious bout of retaliation, peepers becomes hater's biggest critic, just as he is his biggest fan. He's the first to point out hater's mistakes (under whats acceptable of him) knowing exactly where to press on his insecurities to make it hurt more

but they don't talk about it, just like they never talked about whether they were friends before, so separately, they start making excuses. Hater is the leader - the greatest Villain in the Galaxy - of course he shouldn't spare anyone! and Peepers is working for him right? If he makes a mistake, of course he should be punished! they were always using each other for their own goals

...there can't exist a betrayal of something that never existed, right?

they stop hanging out informally as much because "they're not friends it's just a mutual partnership". they still do hang out sometimes, because they're still lonely and have no other friends but its less... carefree

time passes and the empire grows. the more it does, the more they fall into their make-believe roles - the evil villain and his assistant. hater becomes crueler, peepers becomes more obsessed with his work (and crueler) and slowly they lose that spark that started them out in the 1st place

Then wander and sylvia come around and the make-belief starts to crack.

things start getting out of control. Hater's cruelty doesn't kill the enemies. peepers work isn't efficient enough. the two are once more thrown into unlikely situations together that force them to be closer, and the occasional chaos breaks the carefully crafted characters they'd built over themselves for so long.

they start being seen as jokes again. the empire is losing its edge and so are they. all the while, they start losing that shadow of subordination that had been controlling their relationship for so long

but wounds and misunderstandings have been piling up for years, and there's only so much "casually hanging out with my friend-turned-toxic workplace relationship-turned-sorta friend again" they can do before something gives

and by the end of season 2, hater's fate seems inevitable - he'll let go of villainy sooner or later. but what about peepers? the other half of the same pipe dream, the other half of the same messy relationship.

Was he gonna be able to let go of it too? What was going to weigh heavier in the end? The fractured friendship? or the pipe dream?

were they meant to be able to solve their issues and regain that initial connection that drove them to conquer the stars together in the first place? Or just... break apart, for good.

...god i rly want a season 3

[earlofbats]

Western Au Furies

From the fic "What it Means to Love a Boiadeiro"

[Wits=Logic] A man's gotta be quick thinking. gotta be throwing together disparate thoughts and ideas to construct solutions and understanding. [Almanac=Encyclopedia] It's what a man knows, facts and information about the things and the world, knowledgeable and well read. [Preachin=Rhetoric] A man should know what's what, should understand the moral condemnation of right and wrong, of sinful and holy natures. [Artsy=Conceptualization] A mans got a poetic soul, a song to sing, a sunset to admire or just a plain ol appreciation of what's pretty. [Theatrics=Drama] Sometimes a mans gotta bend the truth, add a bit of flare or catch people on their bullshit. [Survey=Visual Calculus] A mans gotta get a lay of the land. map out trajectory and distance, know which direction the winds bound to blow.

[Gumption=Volition] A man should strive to be shrewd and keep an even keel. A steady mind and heart against the pains of life. [Lone Frontier=Inland Empire] A man's soul is a vast and lonely landscape he must travel all on his lonesome. [Silver tongue=Suggestion] A man is full of charm and panache and knows how to say the right thing at the right time. [Gravitas=Authority] When a man walks in a room, eyes should be on him, who is he? What will he do? Is he dangerous? A man is meant to be taken seriously. [Kahoots=Esprit de Corps] A man should always be knowing who knows who, its important to discern who's a friendly face and who's a foe. [Heart=Empathy] Sometimes a man is meant to feel, meant to love and meant to cry for his fellow man, to be human.

[Mettle=Endurance] A mans body is iron, it can hold itself upright, it can move even when its bound to fall. After all, it's only a bit further.  [Sinew=Physical Instrument] A mans body is made of leather, bone, meat and most of all sinew. [Grit=Pain Threshold] A man is built to take it, the sun, the pain, the dust and the metal blood tang between your teeth, a man is built to let it hurt. 

[Vice=Electrochemistry] Everyman has his poisons, whiskey, smokes, gamblin', women, Cardinal pleasures of the flesh that are meant to be indulged. You want em got em.

[Jitters]

[Instinct] Man is no different than an animal, built to survive the wild, built to know when danger is about. When to run, when to kill.

[Sharpshooter=Hand-eye Coordination] If a man carries a gun, he should know how to shoot it. [LookyLoo=Perception] A mans opticals, his peepers, his ability to take in the world around him.  [Quickdraw=Reaction Speed] A man faces his foe, face to face, all that matters, is who draws first. [Swagger=Savoir Faire] A mans gait can tell you a lot about who he is, his status, his nature and his worth. [Know-how=Interfacing] Sometimes a mans just gotta fandangle it.  [Stoic=Composure] Sometimes a mans gotta hide behind a stern face and a long hard stare just to keep it together.

[maxicaiman]

sitting here thinking I can't give my WOY ocs traumatic backstories and then I think about all the stuff the show deals with and I very much CAN give them trauma

Turbo has a relatively happy backstory other than the destruction of his planet and the loss of his species. He gets more destructive afterwards and doesn't recognize himself anymore

Flynn has never found a place he's accepted in, and travels the universe hoping to find somewhere he can call home without being judged. He deals with it pretty well but deep down he's very lonely and a bit resentful he's never able to fit in without suspicion and fear. And when he finally does find somewhere to call home, it's destroyed

Clive is never taken seriously and has serious identity issues being in an army of hundreds that look just like him. He's never been special and his crush on Peepers is always treated like a joke

Entrap was an experiment, toyed with to create a weapon only for him to break out. Maxwell found him and took him in, now his only friend in the universe

I've got another guy I haven't designed yet, but he's a chaos bringer set on gaining as much power and control as they can have. They aren't above manipulating others to their will and pushing away anyone who attempts to get close in any way. This isn't a defense mechanism or trauma response they're just a bad person because they find joy in the chaos and discontent around them

[fionacle]

Okay so I started drafting the slides for the school project on Wander Over Yonder’s messages on love and relationships. Can anyone say anything to change/add, or give advice for making it all sound more professional? (under cut bc long)

Quick descriptions of the main characters

Wander - A Star Nomad. Very impulsive, obsessed with helping people to a compulsive extent, optimistic, believes everyone can become better, actually very good at manipulating people but he only does so to help

Sylvia - A Zbornak (basically a horse). Best friends with Wander, much more grounded, sassy strong female character (but not in a shallow way)

Lord Hater - An “electrical skeleton man” (as phrased by the Evil Sandwich). An utter manchild, toxic masculinity, annoyed so badly by Wander that he can’t focus on anything else when he’s around and is constantly foiled by him, a villain more because he thinks it’s cool than having actual malice in his heart, not that he isn’t also sadistic (he has a remix of his victims screaming), a dictator basically

Commander Peepers: A Watchdog (eye people) Hater’s second in command, the actual brains behind their army, also has anger issues (napoleon complex, he’s short even for a Watchdog), attached to Hater in a queer-coded way

Appreciation

Wander and Sylvia constantly tell each other how much they love each other, and it’s really good to see that you can be so close and affectionate and not be romantically involved.

Communication

Wander and Sylvia aren’t actually always so good at communicating and listening. Wander is a very impulsive person, which can cause Sylvia a lot of strife as he drags her along with him. In the episode The Tourist, Wander gets into a competition with an elderly woman to see who can visit the most places throughout the galaxy. In his desperation to win the race, he deprives Sylvia of the experience of actually taking in the famous places they visit, and of being able to rest on the vacation planet they met the woman on. Wander has to learn to take things slow for her sake. In the episode The Void, they find themselves in a void where they can manipulate reality at will, and Wander messes around too much to the point of literally treating Sylvia like a puppet, briefly holding her from strings in a play setting. Wander would have been lost mindlessly messing around in that void for eternity if not for his friend, because she grounds him.

Communication (cont.)

Outside of those two, Wander and Lord Hater both fail to communicate with Lord Dominator, the main villain of season two. Hater falls for her just because she’s a girl, and Wander assumes he can manipulate them into falling in love to make them go good, again just because she’s a girl. They are both crushed when Hater finally lets down his walls and admits his love for Dominator, because she was never actually interested in dating, she just takes joy in destroying the galaxy, “I crush all your hopes and then I watch you cry” being in her villain song that immediately follows Hater’s love song. This teaches Wander he can’t just control everything everyone does, and that sometimes trying to do so without actually listening can lead to more heartbreak than reward.

Consent

In the episode The Boy Wander, there is a one-off character voiced by Weird Al, named Dr. Screwball Jones (he is a banana with a bowtie). His philosophy is that everyone should smile and laugh all the time, even against their will, so he goes everywhere tickling people. Wander may often influence people’s actions for what he considers the greater good, but he notes a stark difference between him and Dr. Screwball, with whom he has a past, where Wander believes you can’t force people to do anything.

Obsession and Jealousy

In the episode The Lonely Planet, they meet a sentient planet named Janet. Janet grows obsessive over Wander, him being the first person to show her kindness, and thus jealous of his closeness with Sylvia. She tries to break them apart, filling up Wander’s time with gifts and praise, while pushing Sylvia to the literal other side of the planet, and making her fall through a crack into Janet’s core. Consent is once again called into play, when Janet reveals to Wander that she’s taken and framed dozens of photos of him, refuses to let him leave, and tries to kiss him with the “lips” of a flower. Sylvia shows up right on time and saves Wander, but Wander insists on going back to comfort the now-alone Janet. In the end she ends up in a healthy relationship with her moon. It was good that this episode spoke on love vs. obsession, and that it’s unhealthy when someone tries to separate you from everyone else, but in real life people going back like Wander did is dangerous as they could get re-stuck in abuse. This was in season one, before they wanted to share the “some people can’t be helped” message as they did with Lord Dominator, though.

[valerieismss]

Okay I did another manga panel recolor to illustrate my point about Danny’s freakassness and how it could’ve been written more effectively.

My main issue with Danny’s character has little to do with his design and nothing to do with his personality and motivations. It’s just his behavior that drives me up a wall. You really don’t have to change anything about Danny himself to communicate his main internal conflicts: his desperate need for unconditional love.

It’s frustrating because I know that others (including myself, when my friend introduced me to this) will misinterpret Danny to be a pedo when he’s explicitly not one, it’s just that his behavior communicates something that’s different to his actual character. You see this in the manga and the anime, especially—a lot of his expressions are weirdly horny even though he never actually communicates or suggests he really feels that way about Rachel. Notably, his need for her is familial. He sees himself in her, and his mother’s eyes in her. In another post, @wlwfav said in a reply to a post by @mothwithapencil that he wasn’t projecting his feelings about his mother on Rachel so much as he was projecting his desires for unconditional love onto Rachel to mother her, like a reverse projection (trying not to plagiarize here!). I fully agree. This is especially apparent when you see a flashback of Danny counseling Rachel in the game. He directly relates his shit onto her. The amount of countertransference (which is when therapists project their own feelings onto their clients) this man has is immeasurable. It’s part of why I’m so attached to him. (For reference, my favorite character of all time is also a therapist with an assload of countertransference.)

Anyways, I think you can make Danny just as unsettling if not more if you get him to stop acting as horny as he does. It causes some really uncomfortable mischaracterizations. There’s really no need for it. That’s why I edited the second panel a little bit. You can change a character’s behavior and keep their motives and desires the same. I wouldn’t change an extreme amount about his behaviors. I think his lack of physical boundaries actually works really well for his character. It makes sense given his isolated and rejected upbringing. I draw the line when he pins Rachel down in the anime. What was the reason. He just wants her eyes. Explicitly. Just her eyes.

Also, the tongue? Can anyone explain why it’s necessary??? It’s GROSS AND WEIRD! It also gives his character a weirdly sexual undertone that isn’t necessary to making him a terrifying guy. Like you can still get freaky with it without that damn thing. The excessive use of peepers…I mentioned this in my last post. It’s a good way to disarm clients/players from his obsession with eyes. If he treats his fascination as a joke (“I just really like your peepers haha!”) it makes him less suspicious. Contextually, it also makes sense. Danny canonically becomes a psychiatrist because he knows he’ll encounter people with lifeless eyes. Unsurprisingly, in the art of the game, they tend to be younger patients. To me, when we first meet him, he came off as a pediatrician. I mean, he calls himself Dr. Danny instead of Dr. Dickens, like a pediatrician would. His tongue shit and his peeper shit could sound like some silly thing he’d say to get clients to feel more at ease around him before he legit kills them and takes their eyes.

All of that is really unsettling to me. You could characterize his freakassness in ways that aren’t sexual but just as chilling. If Rachel’s needs for a perfect family and things that are “hers” can be conveyed in a horrific way without sexualizing her, the same could be done for Dr. Fuckface. He’s so similar to her, after all. He wants a family—Rachel, specifically—that mirrors what he wishes he would’ve had in his childhood, because he believes that comes with unconditional love. Even when Zack stabs him in the anime, his line is, “I’ve been so terribly lonely!” Because that’s his actual issue. He thinks Rachel, having had a similar childhood, is the only one who could understand, and he believes he’s fundamentally unloveable because of his trauma. He literally thinks his eyes killed his mom. He’s so fascinating!! I’m so obsessed with him. I can’t wait to start episode 0 of the manga.

So, yeah. In the second recolor I tried to convey his creepiness by giving him a more wistful expression that still strikes you as fucking weird. Instead of seeming excited sexually, he seems excited at the idea of a forced family. It’s more accurate to who he actually is. He literally does not want her like that in canon. I wish his behaviors reflected that more.

[ohmystarrynight]

The Miller Farm in June

There is no progress without fear! No growth without discomfort! Being so brave and sharing my writing even if it makes me writhe in agony :) enjoy the little blurb/snippets about my oc below the cut if u want ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Cassius lay in bed, thoughts continuing to swirl around in his head as he drifted between sleep and wake. It was a blissfully peaceful state he hardly found himself in. That is, until this summer began.

There was always a gnawing sense of dread or impending doom to be felt with his line of work, an unrelenting knot in his stomach and a racing mind that couldn’t be silenced. Everyone was always out for blood, or revenge or god knows what else. But here…

Here, time was slowed, as if in its own little bubble. It was safe from anything and everything outside of it, untouchable. Here, his work couldn’t possibly interfere. Here, he could breathe.

Clark had made him feel incredibly welcome from the very beginning, of course. Nothing, however, could have prepared Cass for the days after that first semester; of their first meeting. Never before had he laughed so much, nor had he ever truly, properly relaxed. Not once, in his twenty-one years on earth, had he expected anything Clark had in store.

Not the malt shop, not the carnival. Not the cruises in Clark’s truck with Elvis Presley and Patsy Cline and Doris Day and Johnny Mathis coming through a staticky station. No, not a force on earth could have prepared him for the accidental grazes of their hands, nor their proximity when they sat on the tailgate sipping sweet tea, leaving no space between each other. All too often Cassius found himself thinking -more than he should- of the way the summer heat would leave their thighs stuck and faces flushed. The way they would bump together while Clark mindlessly swung his feet as they talked for hours. Or even of the feeling that shot through him the first time Clark had yanked him into an exuberant embrace while he cheered about something on the television. They were watching The Lone Ranger… or something along those lines… Cass could hardly care to recall. The rest of that night was spent staring at his ceiling gnawing on his lip while his heart hammered against his chest. Though he wondered how many of those times were just the sweat and the heat and how much of it really was…. Regardless, the suspense to follow in wake of these ‘accidents’ left Cass reeling. Each night would end the same way, with confusion, fear and guilt writhing and churning and fighting for dominance until he could finally persuade sleep to take over. It wasn’t always just those three, though. Sometimes fondness and warmth joined the mix, along with curiosity and a fascination with it all, which really only lead to confusion again. The cycle continues. Before this summer, if someone had told him any of this would happen, he would have thought them insane. Because for him to have a life like that, well, that sounded a lot like having a home.



Home.

He supposed he did rather think of this place like home. He’d never had a home before, nor a friend, but he could tell Clark was a good one. All because…

Well, because he feels like home.

Cass’s eyes snapped open.

Home??

His heart raced as icy panic shot up his spine, tensing every muscle he had.

You know damned well why this cannot be home. Get ahold of yourself.

What was he doing? What was he thinking? He wasn’t sure what terrified him more: the risks Clark and his mother unknowingly took by insisting he stay with them during the summer, or how easily he gave in to them. Was it all that tempting?

Surely, his will was stronger than a few pleas? An offer of a place to sleep and home-cooked meals?

Stronger surely, than all those hot days spent swimming with Clark in the lake.

Or than the nights spent in the back of his truck bed watching fireflies dance and stars twinkle while crickets and peepers and owls sang their serenades in competition with the radio.

Incredibly selfish. The very idea- the danger you’ve already put them in… that you continue to put them in, every day you spend here!

Cassius ran his shaking hands over his face, scrubbing away whatever lingering feeling of sleep his sudden anxiety neglected. He tossed the covers back, swinging his legs over the side of the bed. The alluring temptation to lay down again almost instantly beckoned him. To simply put his head back on the pillow and be welcomed once more by the serene dreamlike trance he was in just moments earlier. To hell with the day, to hell with this sudden anxiety.

But no.

Opting instead to stand, to somewhat clumsily make his way to the bathroom and splash cold water on his face, Cass pushed the panic and guilt back down inside his chest, somewhere deep and far enough away to allow for a halfway decent rest of his day. It could churn and writhe as much as it would like when he tried to find sleep again later. For now, he was completely. Fine. He owed them that much at minimum.

Clark was a bit more perceptive than Cass really liked, but he would never push Cass into an explanation. That much he could appreciate. But Clark’s mother was a force to be reckoned with. Her radar was truly the most fine-tuned instrument of empathy Cassius had ever encountered, (must be one of those ‘motherly’ things) and he’ll be damned if he gave it any reason to go off. Their generosity and hospitality, their kindness; it was already more than he could afford. There was no need to worry them.

Surely, any threat would have presented itself by now? Wishful thinking, Cass knew, but it was the only thought keeping him from losing it completely, or from up and leaving in the dead of night to lure any impending danger away from his beloved little ‘family’. It wouldn’t be hard to do, of course. And he’d, of course, have no trouble at all leaving any of this behind. The thought of his other life colliding with his new one was just as nauseating as it was dangerous.

Family?

Was that how he thought of them? Who was he kidding? What on god’s green earth had he gotten himself into?

So to the thought he clung, with all of his confusion and guilt and fascination and hope attached. Desperately. Needily.

Selfishly.

[madsmilfelsen]

mads would you ever consider writing something about rust and sophia? that paragraph about the has made me emotional and its not even 10am here hehe also i love love love the way you add details to the characters/writing in general (another question lol what are your writing inspirations? like writers whose style inspire you )

the combination of these asks is about the out me as the biggest weirdo lmao

on more than one occasion I have daydreamed about Rust and Sophia, young bright eyed man with his whole world in his arms?? bringing her home from the hospital??? telling Claire to go back to sleep because he’ll take care of the baby???? crying over a vhs recording of her first steps when he was at work??? giving Sophia a first birthday party (no Travis does not believe in them) with Claire’s family (who I decided is from Georgia btw) and laughing when Sophia doesn’t know what to do with her cake and throws it immediately off her tray????? Taking her fishing and insisting she has to wear a life jacket just on the dock???? taking her hunting and letting her sleep slumped against his chest in the blind???????????? Not reprimanding Sophia when she learns how to climb out of her crib and just holding his girls through the night?????????????????????

Inspiration typically strikes me in really vivid pieces of dialogue (I have a primarily auditory memory but sometimes descriptions crop up or a picture of what I’ll never be able to get on paper in words), I have no control over when it happens, it’s not as dramatic as prophetic visions but it’s up there and has made me double over to catch my breath once or seventeen times.

Lately all I’ve been able to read are @barbie-nightmare-house recommendations— who should make a reading list— I just started Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh yesterday. I really love authors who can build a strong sense of place ie To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Bastard out of Carolina by Dorothy Allison, Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver, and The Bone Season series by Samantha Shannon (and everything Stephen Graham Jones has written, Mongrels being my all time favorite)— but I also read a lot of non ficiton too (usually broader themes in history but more recently biographies) or dig through university archives to read interviews of people who live in a specific time or place so I can eek out speech patterns/phrases/slang/city layouts etc. The book I’m writing right now is set in Washington, USA 1954 so I bought books published that year— The Teahouse of the August Moon by Sneider and The Sound and the Fury by Faulkner (I have not finished either lol)— and pick up old cloth bound books at antique stores, I opened Wolf Song published in 1927 i think and began with a group of men leading a troop of mules which felt super kismet because that’s how my book starts (sort of, with a lone woman and her mules). I love poetry, indy lit mags, and reading modern plays too, I’d love to try to write one myself because the constraint of a stage seems like such a fantastic challenge, but I’ll read really anything that can show me what language is capable of or new ways to play with it, because at the end of the day that’s all this is for me— playing.

I can’t read when I write and I can’t write when I read, it’s annoying so I shift gears when I hit a block, read for a bit until something smacks me over the head hard enough to open a word doc again. Probably the weirdest writing trick that helps me focus is listening to songs or sitcoms on repeat, something in the background with a good beat that i’m familiar enough with that I don’t have to focus on, that helps me break down my sense of time or attention surplus/deficiency so I don’t feel like I’m rushing or going super slow— but soundscapes with birdsong, especially evening choruses with frogs or peepers is really nice :)

here’s an ask requesting horror recs for someone new to writing the genre + another ask for my favorite books

[maelialuv]

Cut the Cord - Eddie Munson

Summary: After leaving home, you unexpectedly find yourself living next to the town freak, Eddie Munson. Your new neighbour subverts the town's perception of him. (SERIES)

Warnings: small mentions of controlling parental behaviour! Eddie wears check pyjama bottoms. reader is a peeper (A LITTLE)

Word Count: 1.4K

Part Two - Howdy, Neighbour

Eddie Munson looked like every mother's worst nightmare. Tattoos, unruly hair, curious taste in music and extra curricular activities. With his ripped jeans and leather jackets, Eddie was a vision of the Bad Boy to the fretting parents in Hawkins; they pictured him selling their tennis shoe, Sunday mass children hard drugs and corrupting their daughters. And while drugs were sold, though they weren't hard, it was to the Ivy League jocks and their cheerleader girlfriends.

Eddie looked miraculously different as he sat on the porch next to yours. His vest had been exchanged for a dark blue sweater - frayed at the sleeves as he ran his fingers over the yarn there. Ripped black jeans were replaced by red check pyjama pants. His hair was wet, strands sticking to his forehead, framing his face. He lit a cigarette as he looked at you, eyes boring into yours.

Dread filled your stomach. You wouldn't be able to escape his questions - he'd probably watched you move your lonely duffle bag into the trailer. You took a drag of your own cigarette. "Hello, Munson."

Eddie sat forward in his lawn chair, the tiniest of smiles on his face.

"Hey, Pom Poms. What's with the boot?" He gestured to the cast on your foot, ash flickering away as he did. "You take a tumble?"

"You could say that, yeah." You laughed humourlessly.

"Not out for the season, are you? I was thinking of maybe, finally, going to a game this year." As he spoke, Eddie shifted his chair closer to the edge of the wooden structure that formed his porch. You were about six feet apart now. "Can they even go on without you?"

You were the best flyer on the cheer team, but not the only one. You could imagine that the team was already working out who would replace you for the Tiger's first game next weekend.

"I'm taking some time off the team, actually." You said quietly, going back to your cigarette. The way you said it made Eddie tilt his head to the side. Your jaw locked as you spoke, eyes forward.

"How much time?" He hugged one knee to his chest, resting his elbow there. Getting comfortable as he foresaw a lengthy conversation ahead. Riveting, he thought.

"Long enough that my college scholarship is out the window." When Eddie's brows furrowed, you continued. "I quit."

Eddie's brows shot straight up at this.

For as long as he had known you - or of you, since the two of you had not become friends until your sophomore year, Eddie's second- you had the pom poms and the green ribbon in your hair. He couldn't picture you without it. Didn't know who you were without it.

"Woah," he said, pausing for a moment. He chuckled to himself, a small smirk etching itself on his lips. "Now I've gotta call you by your name, how boring. Not even sure I remember it."

You laughed for the first time that whole day.

It was short lived, however, as Eddie's words made your head spin. Eddie had called you Pom Poms for the better part of three years. You'd worn your hair with a green ribbon for four whole years. You didn't know a life without cheer. It was all you had. You hated it, but were you yourself without it? The thought sent a shiver down your spine. Maybe people wouldn't like you without it. All they'd ever seen you with was the cheer jacket and uniform. You wore it like an armour, you name sewed into the jacket like a sash of pride.

Your sudden silence concerned Eddie, his brown knitting together in a tight v shape as he watched you. "You good over there?"

You didn't answer right away, unable to swallow the lump in your throat that refused to move. When Eddie called your name - not his nickname for you- you turned.

"What are you doing here? Not that I'm not delighted at the thought of us being neighbours." Eddie stood dramatically, grabbing something from the ground by his feet before climbing from his porch over the banister of your own. He outstretched his hand to you. It was a lighter, his initials E.M scratched on in his own neat hand. "Had I known, I would have baked you basket of muffins." You chuckled lowly at the thought of Eddie being the Boy Next Door type of guy, welcoming you to the neighbourhood.

"I had a fight with my mother."

"Yikes, bad one?"

"What do you think?"

You didn't mean to say it so harshly, not minding Eddie's perfectly innocent feelings in your mixed up situation. "Sorry," you said, mumbling. "Yeah, it was bad. She kicked me out."

Eddie's doe brown eyes had a child like glee in them now.

"What did you do? Lemme guess," he said, sitting next to you on your own porch bench. He tucked his legs under him, like a first grader waiting for story time. "Stole her car? Had a wild party that went berserk and trashed the place? No, I know," he lifted a finger, poking you in the nose. "I bet she found your secret stash of 'performance enhancers'."

"God no!" You laughed out loud.

"Oh, wait.....got a little bun in the oven?"

You choked on air at the insinuation. "Jeez, Munson, you're way off base here." He looked at you expectantly. "She's very controlling, my mom. Everything I do has to be perfect. Nothing in my life is private. Almost everything I do is approved by her first."

Eddie quirked a brow as if to say 'you're serious?'

"When she was my age, she was on track to get a full scholarship to the University of Indiana for cheerleading, then she got pregnant with me. So, for as long as i've done cheer, she's been a little...unorthodox with her parenting style."

"Unorthodox how?"

"Well, locking my bedroom door from the outside when she knows there's a party, is one example."

"Jesus, Boots, your mom sounds crazy."

"Boots?" you questioned the boy.

"You're wearing a boot, er go, boots. Continue."

"Well," you went on, "I knew I wanted to quit the team. I knew she wouldn't take any reasoning I gave her....." you trailed off, thinking back to the SNAP! your foot had made this morning. You cringed inwardly. "I took matters into my own hands-"

"Meaning you broke your own foot on purpose? That's pretty metal, Boots."

"Yes. And then I told her I wanted to quit. And she kicked me out, simple as that." You sighed, taking a drag of your cigarette.

You quietly chatted with Eddie for a couple of hours, thinking to yourself that this Eddie - the much more relaxed, stripped down version- was very palatable. When your watch read 11:45, you figured you'd try to get some sleep in your new home. You passed him back his lighter. "Goodnight, Eddie."

"Goodnight, Boots."

You clambered into bed the moment you got inside, shoving covers and sheets on as quickly as you could without thinking too much about the cleanliness of the mattress. Through your bedroom window - a small rectangle on the far wall- you could see into Eddie's room. You meant to look away - you didn't want to invade his privacy, for god's sake!- but the posters that covered his walls and , more importantly, the extravagant guitar nailed above his bed, caught your eye. His bed faced yours, leaning against the opposite wall.

'Look away' you urged yourself, unable to tear your eyes away from the room. It was like looking into his head, the scattered vinyl records and cassettes littering his bed fascinating. You swore you saw Dolly Parton's '9-5' laying by his stereo. Squinting your eyes to get a closer look, only then did you see Eddie waltz into the room.

This was when you felt as though you were glued to the floor.

Eddie had removed his sweater, an array of bold tattoos covering his chest. You turned away at once, closing the blinds that covered the window. Your chest heaved, faced flushed in embarrassment.

'Oh God,' you thought.

You flung yourself into bed, burying your face in the pillow and under the covers. You heart raced as you tried to sleep, your closed eyes refusing to show you anything other than Eddie's toned stomach, and the bats that covered his chest.

You swiped a frustrated hand over your face.

You had the hots for Eddie Munson. You had the hots for Eddie Munson, your brand new neighbour.

[broodygaming]

Literally crying over this time capsule I found on my latest play of Subnautica.

Shoutout to the brilliant Lulu the boneshark T_T

"Lulu the Boneshark.

When I got lost, I felt lonely.

One day I found a weird egg. I put it in my Alien Containment, it ended up being a boneshark egg. I call her Lulu, and she was my only friend, she protected my base, I gave her Peepers. Now is the day I am finally able to return home, but is also the same day I have to say goodbye to Lulu...

I really hope she lives a happy life without me."

Fucking love this game yall I tell you.

[lonely-lorddominator]

#258

Remember to never be in front of a laser while it’s being repaired.

So the 2nd Big Run event is happening this weekend and just like the 1st Big Run I have to do mandatory overtime at work...I swear if it happens again for the 3rd Big Run then it’s a conspiracy against me getting that gold trophy

Done in 3 hours with Colorpencil/Ink