#maybe i will play 76 instead

[raiiny-bay]

i should... play fo4

[azurdlywisterious]

My new goal is to find the boozin brahmin so that harvey has a reason to know about indrid cold. The only problem is that i only know that its in the savage divide, i refuse to look up anything more about its location and i have adhd

[fluffypotatoes]

after 76 hours over the span of several weeks, it's finally done! behold, all hermits + emperors + life series members

design notes under the cut:

beef: his classic apron is over his current outfit, except it's paint instead of something that's definitely not blood

cleo: she's got flowers growing out from her seams, also flowers inside her?

cub: i draw him with slitted pupils, also vex :D

false: empires false is less saturated than hermit false

gem: her empires dress is sunset coloured on the inside, also her hair is a slightly different shade

impulse: wasn't a demon initially, made skizz an angel and he had to match

jimmy: empires skin has more saturated skin and hair because toy, also blush

joe: his green hair from last season is growing out (ignore the fact that it'll probably should be more grown out)

joel: did you know his classic skin's pants are orange?? like shrek's pants are kinda orange but it's much more subtle

lizzie: i think i saw it somewhere before but lizzie's ears are hidden by her buns, also she's got big anime eyes and blush on her mask

martyn: he's weirdly angry? maybe it's cause i've mainly watched his life series videos

pearl: her empires self is more tan from farming and being in the sun, also her hair is more golden

pix: he's carrying his regular jacket since he's not really playing a character, official verdict from friend:

scar: he's got a bit of blue in his eyes from vex magic, also it's helping him push his wheelchair but the colour's not very visible

shelby: her hair is messy bc she cut it herself. she seems like the type of person to do that

skizz: same incident scarred his skin and blew up his sleeves, he tore off the sleeves of all his other shirts for fun

tango: he's a shapeless mass under his ice coat, both versions are rocking eyeshadow, offical verdict from friend pt 2:

[eulogium-red]

i'd like to see more of the theme of "family" in overwatch. we see it a lot with ana & fareeha, ram & zen, brig/torb/rein/bastion, genji & hanzo. but those are the obvious ones between playable characters. the ones that are much more clearly written on the wall, even once-in-a-blue-moon players could pick up on. much else is hardly focused on despite how much family (or a lack thereof) has shaped many of the character's lives & identities for better or for worse

i don't like how martina & the unnamed reyes kid are only mentioned in passing, despite gabriel himself visiting often unannounced. clearly they were an important part of his life. clearly, family is an important part of his life — i'm very willing to wager that small passage about the death of his parents in declassified was written very intentionally. his complicated relationship with death, and how it was further affected by his own "death," & how he's now in some warped reversed position with his new family. but we don't get much more than a few voice lines about martina (is she even mentioned by name in-game orrr am i not remembering?)

i want to see how ashe manages the gang throughout the second omnic crisis. or perhaps we could see her mannerisms slightly change with bob. maybe instead of standing side-by-side with him as she is in the reunion cinematic, she puts herself more between him & potential unrealised threats. or maybe she subtly tries to nudge him under awnings whenever she spots ufos, weary they're housing subjugators — little things that are very intentional. maybe her demeanor tilts ever so slightly from confident but guarded, to guarded but confident.

i want to get a better picture of the role sam english played in fareeha's life just from playing the game, especially after ana's presumed death. i want to know more about their relationship other than the christmas dinner they had. i wonder how many players just assume fareeha's father died young, or assume the writers didn't care to write one at all? for a long time, i thought the former. i wonder what sam thinks of some of fareeha's closest friends — has he met cole & angela? what does he think of helix? we hardly even see fareeha's native heritage expressed other than the two skins off the top of my head

what about cassidy & echo? i know this is a more implied one, but cassidy was the first one to nurture her "childlike intelligence." even today, he guides her — he encouraged her to help winston&co at paris when he was still on the fence. one of the cutest things for me is her enthusiastically shouting "hello winston!" mid-battle, presumably not long after cassidy told her to say hi. she probably would've either way, but i also don't want to discredit the role cassidy has had on her development & i really do want to see more of them

or, speak of the devil, how winston views everyone at overwatch as family. how in watchpoint: gibraltar's 1st defense spawn, you can see the little beds he set up for lena and mei, how you can read an email as proof he got the blankets from a small kids blanket business. the way he keeps photos of the gang, years later. how vehemently protective he was of all their locations. i wish we could see it reciprocated a little more, i wish we could see individual sleeping areas for other heroes as the story progresses, or more items on his desk. & that's not even getting into hammond

& i don't think i can have a family post without mentioning dad 76 or how i desperately want to see benicio being the best supportive dad for lúcio more but honestly i'm getting pretty sleepy so either i'll add more later or someone can add more.

depending how you stretch the definition of family here, it can include other dynamics too. baptiste finding a new sense of belonging in the new overwatch, or mei braving the antarctic to not let her team's death go in vain & to help people who can still be helped — from jiayi and her team still on mars, to the people who now need her help on earth. i'd also argue hana's squad in korea. what are niran's siblings up to? are we gonna see more of efi & orisa? moreover, how are all these non-playable side character characters handling the invasion? i guess we got some texts between lena and emily

family is such a powerful motivator, but can also be really complicated, as seen with the amaris and shimadas + kiriko, i wish we got a similar amount of investment some other places too

a major theme of overwatch is moving towards the future, progressing in some way. & that looks different for everyone depending on their emotional readiness to do that, and what they view "progression" as. so it makes sense a lot of characters don't look back on those they lost along the way so much, at least not too openly (zarya comes to mind), but that's what can make their present relationships with others that much more worth preserving & seeing

probably an impossible ask of a game feeling the effects of layoffs that's primarily focused on pvp/bp/shop items but ykn

thank u for coming to my tedtalk

[thelambliesdown1974]

I posted this is comedy yaoi but actually I need everyone to see it because I’m an educator. In lieu of the mass grief following the recent US election here’s my complete unabridged opinion piece on both the RPF and character-based SCTV yaoi-verse✊

Okay so here’s my introduction paragraph for those now in the know — second city television was a sketch comedy show that ran from ‘76-84 originally in syndication, later on CBC and NBC. It was basically the Canadian ‘underground’ version of SNL except the framing for all the skits was a fictitious dysfunctional television station (SCTV) run by a handful of recurring characters and starring Dave Thomas, John Candy, Catherine O’Hara, Eugene Levy, Joe Flaherty, Andria Martin, Rick Moranis, and Martin Short though in various combinations over the years. Oh and also Harold Ramis but only for the first two seasons so no comment.

I’d say Flaherty was kind of the big brother for everyone else in the operation— he was in the original theatre troupe and part of the show since day one. That’s not to say he was at all authoritarian though, Joe was definitely a soft spoken democratic leader. Maybe like Woodrow Wilson. Or Dumbledore, if that’s more relevant to you personally. I wouldn’t say he has any particularly strong yaoi ties to anyone else in the cast except I guess Eugene Levy since they were kind of each other’s creative muses. HOWEVER…. in terms of SCTV characters their respective newscaster personas Floyd and Earl are undoubtedly boning in a toxic nasty way on station property and probably are also the #1 SCTV couple in a Stefon and Seth sort of way (see below)

I almost forgot they also play classic 70s talk show hosts and there’s a lot of fan-fiction about them getting each other pregnant okay that’s all.

NEXT. John Candy was also one of the original members and while he wasn’t necessarily involved in either type of yaoi, his characters were integral in giving especially season 1 a very homoerotic flair. It was mostly his washed up actor-sona Johnny LaRue constantly and publicly struggling against the gay allegations since his segment in the very first episode. While trying to find that clip I actually instead found this SCTV Reddit image with a poorly overlaid huge Ariel caption that I like better. (See below)

I don’t have a whole lot to say about Catherine O’Hara, I think she was too self respecting both on screen and irl to get involved but I love her. She wrote a lot with Joe and Eugene so they were kind of like a platonic power throuple in my awesome mind. Andria Martin…. I am less sure about. She played the butch lesbian A LOT and I think has confirmed actually had sex with another woman (YURI) but I won’t say anything……. See below. Also interesting photo to use for that particular article.

NEXT….. Okay Dave Thomas, I really am not even sure where to begin with him but he was also one of the chief writers and original troupe members who ended up meeting Rick Moranis and bringing him on in season 3. The whole thing was partly his brainchild and he did author a book on the group’s history however I don’t see Dave as being as serious as Levy or Flaherty writing and production-wise. He’s kind of very theatre guy goofy silly on screen but also has an aura of sociopolitical jadedness that starts coming through in his Bill Needle sketches (a fictional miserable entertainment critic slash commentator I’ll discuss later) but especially once Dave started doing Doug McKenzie after Moranis joined.

They met at some comedy-based party in Canada (the gayest place you can meet) and really hit it off and immediately preformed as a musical duo that night (the gayest activity you can partake in. It’s like Simon and Garfunkel). Rick was kind of the new kid of the group after he was brought on but since Dave was a senior member they ended up working together a lot. The Great White North AKA the McKenzie brother skits are for sure no question what made SCTV anywhere near as well known as it is today and that was Thomas and Moranis’ comedy child. Okay and you might be thinking ‘how are they the most real life yaoiful couple on the cast but also are famous for playing brothers’ — that’s a good question and the answer is just don’t think about it too hard. I think Bob and Doug are more a testament to Dave and Rick’s day 1 original pure beautiful friendship that then laid the path for more later on. Like in this except from Dave’s book ⬇️

Anyway yes they’re 70 year old best friends now and still talk on the phone all the time and it’s awesome. But they were probably the closest out of anyone and both had to simultaneously deal with their sudden and overwhelming joint fame after Great White North blew up, which was unpleasant for both of them and involved a lot of travel and hotel rooms. (See below: an interview photo, their radio appearance promoting their comedy album, and whatever’s happening in the last one. Also notice how Dave’s face is a perfect circle he’s so cute)

Okay circling back to Bill Needle — he was a character Dave started doing in early on that went on until he left the show and he’s kind of irrelevant except for a few yaoiful details. He’s constantly having marital problems and has a weird friendship with the sleazy semi-creepy SCTV station president Guy Caballero whom Flaherty plays, and would I say they’re OFFICIALLY a yaoi couple not really but it’s there.

But yeah anyway in conclusion Rick and Dave show up in a bunch of each others sketches throughout the series and they write together and talk together and have play dates together and kiss and everyone else on SCTV absorbs their faggotry either by free will or by association and I think that’s what’s really important to remember and also I love them and I love you too. Oh and also Martin Short’s there near the end but he’s irrelevant except for inventing Ed Grimly and being Steve Martin’s de facto wife later in life. THE END

[queenie-official]

Chapter Sixteen: ‘Great big Race’ Bridgerton Au!Anakin

previous chapter: 15

The royal heart series masterlist

a/n: who’s ready for a race 🏇🏇 honestly took me forever to figure out how i wanted it to go😭 otherwise all these chapters would of been out like yesterday but i couldn’t write 🥲 anyways enjoy huns Xx<3💋💋

you were honestly glad you’d told Anakin to stay with his family for the day because it took you way longer to finish going over everything then you initially thought. you didn’t even get to eat dinner with everyone. instead eating in your study as you looked over paper after paper. who knew a race would take this much work to put together.

at the very least you’d finally finished for the day, slouching back in your chair to take a much needed moment to yourself. letting your mind run blank before your anxiety took over.

tomorrow was the big day, the entirety of Alderaan would have their eyes on you and Anakin. only it wasn’t just Alderaan, with the unity of the two kingdoms for the events youd now have the additional eyes of Tatooine on you.

thousands of people watching your every move. thankfully the race would keep them occupied but the ball- maybe it wasn’t your best decision in all honestly. not only would you have to do a welcome speech but everyone will be expecting you to address what happened however brief it may be. you can only hope you don’t tear up as it would probably undo all the progress of showing the Ton all was well you’d put in.

if you can get through without crying, then perform the first waltz with Anakin you could call the entire day a success. silently you prayed all the work you were doing for this would pay off and there would be no slip ups.

to say you slept good that night would be a lie, in all honesty you found the bed felt rather empty without Anakin in it alongside you. the previous night was only the second time he’d shared a bed with you and somehow you’d already grown used to his company. you couldn’t blame him for sleeping in his own room though, not when you were up so late and he’d probably been too occupied with his family to notice.

just when you finally thought you’d be able to rejoin everyone for the day you found yourself isolated once more. Three carriages had been waiting in front of the castle, you’d almost forgotten about that stupid safety protocol rule. but now here you are riding alone. Anakin was in the second carriage behind you, Ahsoka and Obi-wan with him. his parents were riding in the third together, lucky them.

the carriage ride there felt everlasting, bored out of your mind with no one to talk too. it felt like the universe was playing a cruel joke on you, mocking the fact you weren’t truly a part of their family by physically reminding you of the space between you and them. at least when you arrived at the racing grounds you’d be with everyone, then you could pretend like that wasn’t the case.

despite all of the negative thoughts and feelings that plagued your mind there was an overwhelming excitement that tingled throughout your body. Anakin had gone on and on about the races throughout the whole preparation period. he’d explained each rule, and even had his old race horse from Tatooine brought over so he could use it in the race. R2-D2 was the horse's name, you found it an odd one but didn’t want to question him. R2 was a beautiful horse, and looked strong. no wonder Anakin always won.

there was three rounds overall, the fun part was even if you won the first round there was no guarantee you’d participate in the final round. the winner of the first round gets put into the second round alongside a whole new set of people and if they lose that’s it. of course it was also optional if they wanted to participate a second time or not to begin with.

Anakin had said he’d participate in the first round before and won all three a few times, which didn’t surprise you with how passionate he was about the hobby. you both agreed that since he was the king however, he shouldn’t participate till the last round in order to give people of the Ton a chance to win.

looking out the carriage window as the sounds of a crowd began to fill the air, the excitement bubbling even more as you saw the racing grounds come into view. you knew there would be a lot of the Ton here but to see just how many had shown, both warmed you and scared you. you could hear the booming voice of someone announcing your arrival shortly followed by cheers of the Ton.

Braeden had opened your carriage helping you out and onto the ground, you’d actually grown quite fond of him. it was still odd to have someone constantly five paces behind you but you couldn’t deny the convenience, plus after what happened with Valorum it brought you a feeling of safety.

“y/n” Anakin’s voice drew your attention away from your valet, turning to look at him instead. Ahsoka was at his side but seemed to linger behind and stay with Obi-Wan when she’d noticed he was walking over to you, it was a little disheartening but you did your best to push the feeling away.

“are you ready for this?” he asked you, a big goofy smile on his face from how happy he was as he now stood in front of you. you couldn’t help but mirror his expression, he has such a perfect smile. one that always seemed to brighten your own mood, he held out his arm for you to link with yours so you two could walk together.

you didn’t hesitate to link your arm with him, now walking side by side as he gushed about the race and who he thought would win each round. of course confidently bragging about how no one would beat him come the third round. god did you love him, you could listen to him talk for hours about any subject you were sure.

as you guys walked through the back of the stands to go to the special stall designated for the royal family you couldn’t shake that feeling again. like someone was watching you, obviously your people were but this was different.

looking briefly behind you to see if you could spot the source, and sure enough a familiar pair of brown eyes were locked onto you.

you turn back to Anakin refocusing on him but this time you weren’t really listening to what he was saying, your mind was too busy wondering if Ahsoka really disliked you so much. anytime you were in the same place her eyes were on you, tracking your every movement. honestly you felt more judgment from her then you have most people in your life.

the sound of a gun going off rung in the air to signify the first round of the race had begun, silencing the crowd but only for a moment before everyone began shouting and cheering for the respective player they were rooting for. the track was huge, some points of action would be covered from trees but only briefly.

if you thought the crowd was loud you couldn’t believe how loud Anakin was, somehow his voice managed to boom overtop of everyone’s.

well him and Ashoka’s, though even her shouts where significantly quieter than his. it was almost more amusing then the race, Obi-Wan seemed to be more of a silent enjoyed along with Qui-Gon. both men standing silently and only cheering when the contestant they where routing for managed to surpass the other players. Shmi was silent in general as she watched, that didn’t shock you considering how Anakin said she never really was a fan of the races to begin with.

from what you remembered Anakin also said that both Qui-Gon and Shmi disproved of him participating in the races so you could only imagine what their reactions would be like when he’d leave to go join in the third round.

you flinch back slightly as everyone’s voices raise, the first round coming to an end and the first winner of the day emerging. it was nice to see both kingdoms getting along so well for this but boy did you not take into account just how loud the whole event was going to be.

your ears would be ringing for the rest of the night that’s for sure. shockingly Anakin seemed to have noticed, you truly thought his attention was solely on the race but he always seemed to find a way to surprise you. pulling you to stand in front of him and gently cupping your ears to block out the noise of the crowd as the next round was being set up. it was still loud but definitely more manageable than before, everything muffled just enough for the ringing to stop. it truly was the little things that had you falling helplessly in love with him.

the next round began just the same, another gun shot to the air and off all the players were. the difference this time was Anakin didn’t cheer, looking up to see his face he was definitely watching it. a big smile still plastered on, occasionally puffing his cheeks out when he wanted to cheer. he was holding back for you.

Ahsoka’s cheers still went on, now cheering for both herself and her brother since they were routing for the same player.

you lean back into Anakin, resting your back against his chest and he moves forward slightly. resting his chin on the top of your head, his hands still pressing firm but gentle on your ears.

there it was again, the feeling of eyes on you. you didn’t bother to check this time, already knowing who it most likely belonged too. at this point the only thing you wanted to know was why.

to say that Anakin’s family was shocked when he left the stands, walking down to go join the third round would be untrue. if anything you were more shocked by their lack of reaction, you didn’t show it though.

he hadn’t told them you knew that for sure, he’d said it himself he wanted it to be a secret. but you suppose they were probably used to this from him.

the crowd was probably the loudest they’d been all day when Anakin joined the lineup on his horse. the previous winner from the second round wasn’t competing this time, probably having seen Anakin’s name on the list and decided to take the win he had not wanting the possibility of losing to the king.

you wanted to cover your own ears to block from the noise as Anakin had been doing before but decided you’d much rather cheer for him and clap. it would only be for a small amount of time after all, Anakin had done a test run of the course when first trying to find where the race would take place.

he’d taken three minutes to complete it and that was without R2, you had a feeling he’d run through this one much faster with his favorite horse.

the cheers were so loud as the gun went off, to your surprise the entire crowd was pretty much rooting for everyone but Anakin. it was all good fun you could tell, still you couldn’t help but laugh.

you, Ahsoka and Obi-Wan being the only people to cheer for him. his mom and dad watching quietly, though to be fair it was already clear who was going to win. Anakin was significantly ahead of the other contestants, his brows were furrowed in focus. occasionally glancing behind to check if anyone was catching up. there was one person who’d somehow managed to get close but just as quickly he managed to go even faster, R2 getting a second wind as he galloped along.

Just like that he’d won. a bright smile on his face as he held up both arms in a cheer of his own as everyone else cheered, screamed actually.

you were elated. this was definitely the most fun you had in a while, you almost wished it could go on longer or happen more often. of course once a year was still better than nothing. the day wasn’t over yet though.

you now had a ball to get changed for.

Part 17

Tag List: @luvvfromme @gatekeepingirlboss @bimbo-baggins86 @iluvanakinskywalker @bby-imasociopath @curlycarley @burnthecheshirewitch @misscaller06 @sweetcheesecakesblog

alright and that’s three 🤭🤭 next chapter is going to be the ball 😋 it’s going to be out soon but not as fast as the previous three chapters where posted- but don’t worry cuz i promise it will be out today lol💃 anyway hope you all enjoy the cute moments happening between reader and Ani🥰 love you all 💋💋

[corrodedbisexual]

Hear your heartbeat

Steddie | ~2.1k | T for this part | AO3 link w/Explicit part

Nurse in training Steve is hanging out with Eddie in his room, trying to talk him into helping Steve practice the different ways of measuring a patient's heart rate.

"Please?" He pouts, making the best use of what Eddie often calls his big dumb doe eyes. "We're finally getting trained on real patients next week, and I just don't wanna look like a total loser. Everyone's been practicing on someone back at home."

It's not exactly a lie, per se. It's just that Eddie doesn't need to know Steve's already spent weeks practicing on Robin. 

(She let him run a full physical on her, anything that didn't involve needles. He even, with permission of course, checked her breasts for lumps through a training bra: something he felt awkward about at first, but in the end, it wasn't weird at all. It didn't feel one bit sexual. Apparently, when you grow out of your perpetually horny teenage stage, boobies by default are just another normal human body part. It was an interesting revelation.)

But you see, Steve has a theory. One that he's not completely convinced of, even though Robin keeps insisting it's 100% solid. But if there's a way to be completely sure... would be pretty stupid not to use it.

Eddie laughs at first, like he thinks Steve's joking; when Steve takes the stethoscope out of his bag and raises an eyebrow, he falls silent, then sits up on the bed and shrugs.

"Uh, okay, sure. Go ahead."

Smiling triumphantly, Steve sits on the bed next to Eddie and reaches for his hand, pulling it into his lap. Eddie flexes his fingers briefly, then stills.

Steve begins by pressing his thumb against the pulse point and counting as he watches the seconds ticking by on Eddie's wristwatch. 76 is slightly higher than the average, but everyone's got a different resting heart rate, after all. It doesn't mean anything. He needs more data.

Letting go of Eddie's wrist, Steve turns a bit to place his hand on his friend's neck. He feels Eddie swallow against his palm, but otherwise, Eddie keeps still, eyes darting between Steve's face and some point behind his shoulder. 

Steve presses two fingers against the carotid artery on Eddie's neck. After half a minute, Steve multiplies by two and pauses to think. Eddie stays perfectly still, no movement to justify the increase to 90. 

A flicker of hope lights up in Steve's chest, but a stubborn part of his mind keeps playing devil's advocate. Maybe it's the cigarette Eddie smoked just a few minutes ago? Steve tries to remember what he read about the effects of nicotine on the body. He doesn't recall the exact numbers, but yeah, that could be it. 

"Can you lift up your shirt for me?" He asks, putting in the earpieces of his stethoscope. Eddie chuckles awkwardly, looking down, then mutters something inaudible through an exhale, and complies.

Steve presses the chest piece to the left pectoral; Eddie inhales sharply and jerks away, but then leans back in, giggling.

"Sorry. S'cold."

"That's okay." Steve grins. "But stop laughing, I can't hear anything".

"Sorry," Eddie says again, biting his lower lip, and the chuckles die down.

Steve closes his eyes so he can focus on listening instead of looking. He realizes immediately the spot is wrong, the sound of Eddie's breathing drowns out his heart, but Steve keeps listening for a moment anyway. He shifts his hand a bit to the right, his pinky finger brushing the nipple; an honest accident. There's a quick, sharp inhale in his ears, a pause, and then the rustle of clothing as Eddie's shirt slips out of his fingers and falls over Steve's hand. 

"Shit, sorry," Eddie mumbles another apology, lets out an awkward laugh as he scrambles to lift his shirt again. "Maybe you should have picked someone less clumsy."

I don't wanna pick anyone else, Steve doesn't say, placing his other hand to the right of Eddie's chest, fingertips pressing against the bunched up cotton to keep it up. Another hitch in Eddie's breathing. Steve bites back a smile and moves the stethoscope further towards the center of his chest.

He can still hear the background whooshing of the lungs, but mostly, it's now the rhythmic thudding of the heart valves opening and closing. Steve's heard it a bunch of times by now, and yet it keeps fascinating him. The ultimate proof of life, something akin to magic, even though he knows all the science behind it. The sound he shed tears over finally hearing, almost a year ago, as he pressed his ear directly to Eddie's bloody chest, after long and desperate minutes of CPR.

Steve absentmindedly traces the edge of a scar beneath his thumb at the memory. He looks down at Eddie's watch; he doesn't really need to, so accustomed to the rhythm now that he's already aware the brief silences between the thuds in his ears got even shorter. Still, he lets the full 60 seconds tick by as he counts 102 beats.

Steve looks up. Eddie's looking to the side, his expression clearly aiming for indifference, almost boredom. Only Eddie doesn't look like that when he's bored. He fidgets, taps his foot, rolls his eyes, rubs his face, keeps looking around the room for anything to entertain him. Steve had enough classes with Eddie in high school to know.

Noticing Steve's staring, Eddie flicks his eyes towards him, a strange, forced smile on his lips. Steve can barely hear his words through the thudding in his ears.

"So, what's the diagnosis, Nurse Harrington? Am I going to live?"

Steve doesn't reply right away, eyes flicking between Eddie's and mentally flipping the pages of his class notes. Causes of pupil dilation: light (the room's lighting the same as when they started), certain medications and drugs (Eddie didn't take any), eye or brain injury (thankfully not), and... 

Oh. Oh.

Oh, thank god.

Steve removes the ear pieces, hooking the stethoscope around his neck and removing his hands from Eddie's chest. Eddie lets go of his shirt, too, and it drops down over his torso. 

"Well." Steve takes a deep breath and looks Eddie straight in the eye, a playful smile on his lips. "Your resting heart rate is definitely elevated for your age. Your breathing rate is abnormal. Your pupils are slightly dilated. Oh, and you keep doing that, too," he says as Eddie visibly swallows. He puts his hands on Eddie's neck again and presses his fingers down, moving in tiny circles, feeling the shape of the glands.

"Your throat doesn't hurt, does it?" Eddie shakes his head, still staring at Steve like a deer in the headlights. "Well then," Steve stops pressing down, just lets his hands rest on Eddie's neck. "My professional medical opinion would be…" His eyes flick down to the lips; Eddie licks them. "You're attracted to me."

"W-what?" Eddie jerks back, Steve's hands falling off his neck. Eddie's brows furrow. "Jesus Christ, Steve. What the hell."

Steve giggles, despite feeling a little bad, because Eddie looks almost panicked. But he gets stupid when he's nervous, can't help it.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry." He reaches for Eddie's hand and pulls. "Come back here."

"Why?" Eddie frowns, his tone cautious.

"Cos you're too far away to kiss." He watches Eddie's eyes widen.

"What?" Eddie all but squeaks. 

"I've got a serious case of Crush-on-Munson disease." Steve presses his hand to his chest dramatically, struggling not to laugh. 

Eddie's face shifts through several different expressions, settling on utter bewilderment. "Huh?!"

"Might be deadly," Steve tries to say seriously, but he can't stop grinning at this point. "There's only one known cure. You gotta save me, Eddie."

"What the fuck," Eddie mutters, the corners of his lips slowly lifting; a hysterical giggle escapes his lips, then another, and then he drops his head, shaking with silent laughter. 

Steve shuffles closer, and Eddie doesn't move away; the opposite, in fact, curling in towards him and resting his forehead against Steve's shoulder as he groans. 

"You're a dork." Eddie lifts his head, tilted to the side, as if studying Steve's face. His smile is beautiful. Steve can't resist leaning in and pressing his lips against it. 

Eddie gasps against his mouth, but responds immediately, his whole body coming alive, arms around Steve's waist, leg thrown across his lap, getting closer, closer, until their chests are pressed together. 

Suddenly, Eddie breaks the kiss and narrows his eyes at Steve, feigning annoyance.

"I can't believe you tricked me with the whole 'playing nurse' thing."

Steve laughs, pulls him in by the back of his neck, and kisses him again.

A kinky follow-up on AO3

[kadextra]

Alright let’s talk about q!Fit lore, long post

Recap: He remembers his life before the island unlike the others- being in the warzone and the reason he accepted the train invitation to Quesadilla Island. q!Fit’s mysterious employer had sent him to the island to obtain/retrieve an unknown “something” there. However, they had no clue that the island was already occupied by The Federation. q!Fit has been stuck here the past 76 days, but has overall enjoyed this time and the happiness, love and peace his egg child Ramon gives him. But now that so long has passed he’s feeling pressured to return back to his mission. q!Fit knows the island is dangerous with the Federation, the Codes, and is scared for his son. He is also worried for his new friends who are suffering, but whatever this “something” he needs to retrieve is, it grows in value proportional to suffering. He bypassed the Federation’s firewall to send a message to his employer about what he’s learned, saying “I hope you find what you’re looking for.” But the message failed to connect…

Yeah there’s another organization out there. They want something from the island, but apparently had no idea the Federation has taken it over. This kinda proves that the Federation has not always been on the island, they occupied it at some point. Perhaps 20 years ago…?

Anyways there’s at least 4 organizations we know of at play

The Federation - keep residents happy, prevent them from leaving the island

The Codes - make residents want to leave the island

Masked person’s - ???? unknown, gave Sofia to Max

Fit’s - obtain something on the island

oh q!Fit, the character you are. imagine living in a war torn place for years, a mercenary for hire, being given a mission like usual. When you go to that place you instead find true joy for like the first time in your life. But your obligations are pulling you back, and what you’re doing could endanger your newfound friends and son which is the LAST thing you want to happen, because you’ve learned to open your heart and love so much. gah. ow.

I’ll speculate a bit on what Fit needs to obtain on the island now. All we have to go off is this vague hint: what could grow in value if there is suffering/conflict?

Data. maybe like personal information collection of things from the players like human emotions, or the island

Resilient people. those who can grow through suffering, handle tough situations, potential warrior material

The island itself. there might be something here that is geographically important, and as more people settle it will be uncovered

The dragon mother, if she’s even real. idk maybe an angry dragon would be helpful to them?

Something else supernatural/scifi. remember, the island is canonically located in the middle of point nemo- the most inaccessible location on earth. no life grows there. it’s used for crashing space vessels. theorized to be the home of Cthulhu in mythos. why send someone to this weird place?

That’s all I got rn, can’t wait to find out more

[chain-reactor]

I made a finding friends/moots post on my cyberpunk blog already but i shoulda done that here instead since this blogs so new 😭

But hiii im Briar :) looking for fallout moots!!!!

I've only played Fallout 4 but im gonna start fnv and plan on playing 76, maybe 3?

Favs are MacCready, Hancock and Deacon if tjat tells u anything lol

Heres some low quality pics of my sole Danny <3 ft. One (1) cool one of MacCready

[spiribia]

I never played Fallout 76, so this is at best speculation pieced together from "environmental storytelling" (player discussion and my memory of official information around the game's release), but to my understanding, in the early days of the game:

- There were intentionally no *human* NPCs, so if you saw another human being in the world, you knew they were another player. The lore was set up to justify this exclusion. The hope was that players would fill in NPC-like roles for each other, ie. becoming merchants or 'quest' givers

- There was allegedly little to no narrative NPC presence overall. Quests primarily came from recorded tapes and notes from humans, or from robots.

With player feedback, they eventually added alive *human* NPCs and NPC-driven storylines. A lot of discussion conflates the two things - as in, there were *no* NPCs until they finally added long-requested *humans*, and before then we could only talk to *robots*. You will not be surprised to learn I still believe there was potential in their original concept of No Human NPCs for something fun and kind of unique, provided the series' track record of quirky, sentient robots & supermutants & ghouls (for all intents and purposes, just crinkly humans), but I wonder if people were truly jockeying for specifically humans. I did see a comment about how it was pretty rare for robot NPCs to deviate from default program routine, & so weren't really conversational partners, but if this was the case I think my go-to fix for that void would be to have more personlike robots you can chat with and help out rather than to bring back humans, for example. I heard mention of someone that the generic raider NPCs you would expect from other fallouts were instead ghouls in 76 to maintain the no humans rule, but ghouls can still just be people, no? Couldn't those give you quests? Although maybe you should not listen to me. I would have turned this place into Portal 76

[tornadoyoungiron]

TRAINTOBER | DAY 19 - Revolutionary

Gordon discovers that he has a cousin who is electric.

~~~

“Don’t be preposterous!” Gordon sniffed as he gazed at the large black A4 Pacific before him. 

Said A4 Pacific just chuckled in response. 

���You have my word of being named after Sir Nigel Gresley himself,” the engine declared but Gordon just humphed in response. 

“You’re in league with my brother, playing tricks on me as usual,” Gordon scoffed. 

Sir Nigel frowned and gave Gordon a hard stare of disproval. Had he been an engine that actively worked on the mainland and knew well of the structure of their leadership system, Gordon would have faltered but Gordon was not of the UK’s mainland. 

“You can try and intimidate me all you like, but I will not fall for one of my brother’s hair-brained schemes!” Gordon scoffed at him and Sir Nigel just stared at him dumbfounded.

“You really have no idea what happened on the LNER do you?” The A4 Pacific considered, shocked.

“I was on the other side of the country on an independent Island, why would I?” Gordon blustered and Sir Nigel seemed to relax and accepted the A1 Pacific’s reasoning. 

“I suppose you have a point,” he accepted. “But you have my word that I am not engaging in the foolishness that your brother does.”

Gordon frowned but said nothing. 

Sir Nigel Gresley had designed an electric engine? How utterly ridiculous! He’d never heard of such rubbish! Still, he didn’t know this A4 all that well and the only other two he knew were complete, well, one could have less than appealing words to say about either of them. Especially Bittern.

Sir Nigel seemed pleasant and had been nothing but proper and gentlemanly, much like a true express engine should act. And so, Gordon considered his options.

“Prove it,” he dared the A4 and Sir Nigel just gave him a humble smile. 

“But of course. But for that we’d have to make our way back to the National Railway Museum,” Sir Nigel informed him. “Would you care to double-head with me, my good fellow?”

Gordon was taken aback by the courtesy. 

“Why, of course!”

~~~

“The Class 76’s held a strange place on the LNER I must say,” Sir Nigel explained as they neared York. “Most of us weren’t sure what to make of them. They were Gresley’s yes, but they weren’t Steam Engines and so they wavered on the line of being ridiculed and respected.”

“I didn’t think Sir Gresley wanted to dabble with anything other than Steam!” Gordon huffed. “The man I knew wouldn’t have anyway!”

“Times change and people must adapt to them,” Sir Nigel refuted. “Sir Gresley was always experimenting, always wanting to improve upon what came before. It was inevitable really that he would turn to more officiant ways of transport.”

“But to abandon steam!” Gordon croaked out horrified. 

“Oh no!” Sir Nigel quickly assured Gordon. “He always thought of Steam as a viable competitor. But it was him who pushed for the electrification of the LNER. It was he who pushed for a national plant where engines could be proofed instead of going to France. He was a revolutionary man in more ways than one, but he never, not once forgot his roots.”

Gordon was silent for a long while. 

It made sense, all of it did. Sir Gresley was the type to look for constant improvement, constantly trying new ideas, not being afraid of suggestions and considering alternatives. Maybe Sir Nigel wasn’t trying to trick him. Maybe he spoke the truth. 

“There were 58 of the Class 76’s made,” Sir Nigel explained. “Thirteen of them were named and named for Greek Gods.”

“Well, at least it wasn’t birds,” Gordon snorted and Sir Nigel just gave a soft hum at that.

“Only one remains as an exhibit, although parts of others also remain,” Sir Nigel ignored Gordon’s comment. “Would you like to meet them?”

More and more Gordon began to believe the A4 as they drew into the museum.

“Wait, I recognise this place, isn’t this-”

“This used to be the York Locomotive Depot,” Sir Nigel explained with a smile. “A familiar home to many a LNER engine.”

“I didn’t know it got turned into the museum let along the National Museum,” Gordon breathed as he gazed around at the place. “It’s… so different.”

Sir Nigel did not say anything, simply allowing Gordon to reminisce on the past until they reached a strange very box-like engine with a black polished livery with red lining and yellow lettering, almost like an LMS engine. 

“Gordon, may I introduce Darnell, he is the Class 76 I was telling you about,” Sir Nigel introduced the engine and Gordon stared at him with a critical eye.

“Ah, you another one that doesn’t believe I’m a Gresley now do you?” Darnell gruffly accused and Gordon frowned.

“Well, you definitely sound like a North East Engine,” Gordon muttered.

“Ay ay, look down here,” Darnell invited the Blue A1 Pacific to look at something and Gordon glanced down at the placard before the electric engine. “Those are my designs yes? Look at em! Really look!”

With a frown, Gordon did as the engine asked but then gave a gasp as he saw the signature down the bottom.

Sir Nigel Gresley.

Gordon’s face turned red and he glanced at his A4 companion in embarrassment. He’d been right after all.

“I owe you an apology,” he confessed and Sir Nigel simply gave him a kind smile.

“You have no need to Gordon,” he praised his elder cousin. “Though, keep that suspicious eye on your brother. He does tend to be rather… childish at times.”

“You don’t have to tell me twice,” Gordon chuckled in turn.

~~~

Sir Nigel Gresley and Sir Nigel Gresley

[bratshaws]

through the hourglass 107. brb x oc

a/n: 👀👀👀👀

pairing: plus size!oc x rooster

warnings: none.

goodness gracious (pls read this one to know more what this fic is about!!)

chapter

1/

50/51/52/53/54/55/56/57/58/59/60/61/62/63/64/65/66/67/68/69/70/71/72/73/74/75/76/77/78/79/80/81/82/83/84/85/86/87/88

/89/90/91/92/93/94/95/96/97/98/99/100/101/102/103/104/105

/106

(pls let me know if you want to be added to the taglist! )

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-

Beatrice tried to mask her grimace once she showed up at Marcus’ studio. It wasn’t because of him, but she was feeling really ill and nauseated from last night, maybe they shouldn’t have eaten that chili, maybe she should’ve gotten something lighter instead.

Because her stomach was making her see double, and the bright colors surrounding her were only making her situation a bit worse. She tried to hide her discomfort as Marcus explained everything, sometimes even putting a hand in front of her mouth because that nausea was intense and she feared she’d just blow at any second.

Nicole was happily playing in the playpen Marcus set up in his office, something he really didn’t have to do but he adored her as much as Bea and Rooster did. He was the honorary uncle, the honorary rich stylist uncle who gave her daughter tiny brand toys he got from PR packets over the years.

The Valentino rubber teddy bear was probably the cutest thing she had ever seen…and it was the first time ever too. Black with pink eyes and a bow tie with the ‘V’ on each side, in gold thread that shone whenever Nikki moved it. Her daughter just vocalized when playing with it, she didn’t have a lot of stuffed toys - in fact Rooster’s blue teddy bear was the only one that Beatrice kept in her room since she was so young - so when Marcus said he researched what babies her age could have,Beatrice was more than honored to know that he found something safe for her daughter.

And seeing Nicole have so much fun while playing was enough for her too.

She hoped it’d make the nausea pass, but it was a bit complicated. She also was having a hard time focusing on what Marcus was saying, because she was trying to not die right in front of him. Maybe it was something they added? She never had this issue with chili before, it wasn’t like there was something that happened.

Plus Rooster was feeling so good, maybe it was something in her making her feel so sick.

Marcus, who was very observant, removed the bright colorful glasses from his eyes and furrowed his brows, “Bea,what is the matter? You appear…” he moves the frame in the air,trying to find words, “You appear…confused, or upset…or both.”

“Huh?”

“Are you okay,darling? What’s wrong?”

“Oh, ah,I’m sorry Marcus.” she laughs softly, “I just..I think yesterday’s dinner is kind of messing with me,so…I’m okay.”

“Do you want to sit down?” his whole demeanor changed, “Tea? I can get you tea- Trinity! Bring us my personal selection!”

“W-No!” Beatrice holds her hands up, “No,no! No, water is fine, in fact I prefer it,Marcus. Please.”

The stylist narrowed his eyes but sighed, “Very well, get us the Swedish one.”

Beatrice almost told him there was no need, but chose to just sit down on the chair closest to Nicole’s highly expensive playpen, blinking when she saw her daughter playing with a Versace rattle now, “Um…Marcus.”

“Yes, darling.”

“I…could be very wrong.” she laughs nervously, ‘But um,brands don’t do baby stuff, do they? I mean,from what I’ve seen with you and from what you told me?”

Marcus places his glasses back on the bridge of his nose, pushing it up to his brows with a elegant finger, “Well, they don’t darling.” he says casually, “But I told them that I have a lovely little girl whom I adore and I’d be more than happy to see her enjoying the best in life.” he smirks at Beatrice’s face, confusion slowly turning into surprise and then absolute shock. He holds up a hand, “Ah ah ah! No take backs,darling. I adore you three, you know that.”

“But–”

“Sssh, no no,” he taps her nose playfully, “No take backs,it won’t hurt me to give my favorite people gifts…besides,I don’t have nieces or nephews and since you and Evelyn will be the first of my friends to have children, why not?”

“Does Evelyn know?”

“Of course not,she’d be worse than you if she found out.” he laughs gleefully, grabbing the teal colored bottle from Trinity’s gloved hands alongside the long flute that would usually be filled with champagne, “There you go,darling.” he pours the water and Beatrice blinks at how clear it really is, she could almost see her own past with how beautiful that water looked, “Enjoy it.”

“Thanks,Marcus.” she grabs the flute delicately, bringing it to her lips and blinking at how expensive water could taste. But besides that, it did help her stomach because it slowly settled once the cold water hit it, her eyes closing as a sigh of relief broke out of her.

Marcus crosses his legs once he sits down on the velvet chair in front of Beatrice, “Better?”

“Yes, thank you,Marcus. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry, darling.” he waves his hand off, rolling his eyes, “We all get sick…you said there’s something you ate,yes?”

“That and some personal stuff.” she laughs gently, placing the flute on top of the mahogany desk as she leans back on her seat, the papers filled with her own designs were fixed together almost as if it was a Tetris game, “And I got,” she moves her hand, “I got nervous I guess, and my stomach is now feeling it.”

“Oh, goodness, you cannot stress darling. You know it gives you wrinkles.” he pats the corners of his eyes for emphasis, “And makes your brain scream. We already go through so much in our daily lives, there’s no need for more.”

Beatrice smiles thankfully, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear and sighing once her body feels comfortable enough for her to speak, “Well,I’m sorry about that, um…so, from what you said everything is good,right?”

‘Yes, darling.” he points a manicured finger to one of her drawings, “It’ll be marvelous and remember: there’ll be no photographers, no paparazzi,nothing, there’ll be only us having a good old time as friends and to celebrate the launch…and obviously,show you the pictures.”

She flushes a bit but smiles more, “Thank you,I know it’s not what you are used to but-”

“Darling,I’m so tired of the vultures that surround me.” he tilts his head fondly, “I am almost forty, I can decide what and who I want in my party.” he looks down when he hears Nicole vocalize and shake a shoe that looked like a small Louboutin, “I can arrange a baby area if you so wish as well.”

“Oh,no,no, she’s staying with her nonni.” Beatrice smiles, gently combing some of Nicole’s hair back when she looks up at her mother, “Plus,I don’t think it’d be such a good idea to take her there, might be too much for her.”

She says as if her daughter couldn’t handle sleeping through a storm.

Which she did. Twice already.

“Oh,very well, I’m just saying…which brings me to my other idea!”

“Other?” Beatrice blinks when Marcus disappears under his desk, his gleeful laughter being the only answer as he messed with something she can’t see, “Marcus?” more laughter and this time he pushes a small box on top of the desk, pushing it towards her, “What’s this?”

“My new plan! I was heavily inspired by the little princess.” Nicole turns her head when she hears, even if in her mind she had no idea what that word meant she knew it was used to refer to her, “And because I adore her so,I am working on my own baby and kids line!”

“Wait…what?!”

“Yes!Oh it’s so fun! Smaller sizes! SO small! And tiny,tiny socks!” he is elated when speaking, “And I’ve never did anything like this before, so I think it’s so fun and out of my comfort zone,I don’t know why I hadn’t tried.”

Beatrice was so surprised that Nicole, in her six months of life, managed to make pretty much everyone around her feel either inspired or happy. The Dagger Squad loved her - and she didn’t want to tell anyone, but it was obvious her favorite people in the squad were Payback and Phoenix because of how much she liked when they held her - Maverick absolutely adored that little girl to the point that she was sure he’d break someone’s arms if they talked about her. Penny wasn’t that far behind and Shells was doing a great job being the crazy wild aunt that could possibly kill anyone who looked at you wrong while Evelyn was the cool, hip, savvy aunt who knew what to give you when you least expected.

To say that their baby daughter was a light of joy was pretty obvious.

“And of course she’ll be one of the first to receive a full batch of clothes.”

“Oh, ah,” Beatrice laughs softly at Marcus, “There’s no need,Marcus, she’s growing so fast I don’t know if it’d be a good idea to…send her more clothing. I even bought some more since she’s already so big.” Nicole chews more on the rubber Louboutin and then looks around for anything else to play with.

“Oh…” Marcus frowns, then his grin returns, “Very well,I’ll save it up for the next babies.”

“HUh?”

“I mean,” he props his chin on top of his interlaced hands, “You do plan on having more kiddos,right? You and your pilot.”

Beatrice’s cheeks flushed red, an embarrassed little giggle breaking out of her as she retucks her hair behind her ear, “Um…” she clears her throat, feeling the words get stuck in there while looking to the side, “One day,maybe. We aren’t in a hurry, Nikki is just six months too and Roos is busy with the Navy and such.”

Marcus hums, pursing his lips as he smiles, “Okay! Well,I’ll still keep them saved up for you!”

“Mama!” Nicole breaks the conversation, and Beatrice is so thankful for the distraction, to show her mother the other toy she got, “Abuuh buh ah!” it was a monkey, of course it was a monkey, from Moschino with bright colors and a huge head that undoubtedly made Nicole think of her own monkey back home.

Beatrice smiles, picking her daughter up when she crawled over to the small gate that held her back, being sat on her mother’s lap as she nommed on the new rubber primate, “Thank you,though. I really appreciate it, you don’t have to but…you know.”

‘Oh darling,you have to stop saying that.” he smirks,”I adore your little family.”

“I know…we appreciate it.”

“And I adore how in love your husband is with you, you two are a fairy tale in real life!” he clasps his hands together, “It’s adorable!”

He wouldn’t be the first one to say that either.

Beatrice just laughs again, still blushing, “Well, he does make me feel that way-” her alarm goes off and she sighs, “Oh,I gotta go Marcus,I have to meet with Penny and Shells at the bar reall quick.” she looks back at him in question, “We ah, we are finished,right?”

“Yes, we are.” he smiles, “But oh, let’s just wrap it up.” she thought he meant the papers and the meeting, but no he meant the many brand toys that Nicole played with. His several assistants just flocked into the room and started packaging everything, everything in front of them with the exception of the playpen.

“There’ll be more when you visit me the next time,”

‘Wait,more?Marcus!”

“Sssh, darling,” he smiles, “Those are gifts for the little princess.” they are all inside beautiful sleek black boxes with large red ribbons and Beatrice could only stare wide eyed.

“I-I don’t even know how to take all of those home.” she murmurs, “I-I mean you–” the knowing look from Marcus was enough to answer, “You are going to send the ones I can’t take over to me.”

“Hmhm! “ he bites the end of his glasses while holding his arm up, then gestures to her body, “Oh I need to send you the dresses too, I know you’ll love to see them. Trinity! Please write that down! Bea needs her dresses.”

Beatrice could only watch wide eyed. Never in one million years she’d ever think she’d be here, standing next to Marcus Beverly - who is her friend now -, helping him with the new launch and being one of his models. One of his favorite models that is.

And that she’d still work at the Hard Deck and be happy doing it.

She bites the inside of her cheek to hide her smile as she follows Marcus and his flurry of assistants out of the building to her jeep. One of the male assistants even holds her bag for her as she unlocks the car, both her and Nicole watching as they put everything inside - almost perfectly aligning each box - and closing it once they are done.

They all say their goodbyes to her and Nicole, the little baby smiling happily when theirs voices get higher when referring to her. Marcus stands outside next to Beatrice, inhaling happily before turning to her, “Well, darling, you must go and so do I.” he air kisses her cheeks while holding her shoulders, “I will give you a call before the launch party, yes?”

“Yes, of course Marcus.”

He smiles fondly at her, before turning his gaze to Nicole, “Goodbye little princess.” he coos, gently kissing her tiny hands and smiling at her happy giggle, “You enjoy your time with mommy, yes?” Nicole laughs louder and Marcus drops her hands from his, “Goodbye darling, have a good day!”

Beatrice watches as Marcus flourishes back into the building, his clothes shining and hair still in place even with the wind outside. She gives him one final wave before the doors closed and she’s left standing with Nicole next to her car “...well…” she laughs, looking down at the little girl in her arms, “That was fun,huh?”

“Ah!’ Nicole’s vocalizations were only sounding more and more like actual words as time went by, “Come on, let’s…” Beatrice frowns when she feels the nausea again, “...not eat Mexican food again so late, oof, I feel awful.’

-

Rooster talked to Maverick, because he wanted to solve this once and for all. They sat away from everyone while in the cafeteria, because they needed privacy and needed to talk about things over.

It was a quiet conversation, as private as they could have, but he knew his uncle appreciated it. Pete’s eyes glazed over with tears but he was trying so hard not to cry, only offering the younger pilot a tight smile and a tap to the hand to show that it was solved, he didn’t need to worry anymore.

And things went back to normal, well, as normal as it could be.

“You are coming to the Christmas party,right?” Rooster asks after taking a bite of his pizza, while his uncle sips his soda “At Bea’s parents.”

Maverick slowly places the soda down, tapping his fingers on the table’s surface as his jaw moves, “I…I mean yes,” his nephew arches his brow at the hesitation, “I don’t know,Brad. I hadn’t…been to a Christmas party in…a very, very long time.” he licks his lips, “How many people will be there?”

“Well, let’s see.” Bradley looks to the side as he things, slowly unfurling his finger as he voices out the family members, “Her parents, her siblings, her nephews and nieces, the dogs, it’s possible her aunt will be there, and maybe her uncle Roberto with his wife and sons…so…” he counts each finger, “Around twenty-five people?”

“Twenty five?”

“You saw most of them at our wedding,Mav.” he shrugs, “Plus, you like parties. And music.”

“Twenty five people,” his uncle rubs his forehead while looking wide eyed to the side, “I…I can’t buy all of them presents, Brad.”

“I told you don’t have to,Mav-”

“Yeah, but isn’t that the polite thing to do?”

Bradley chuckles a bit, “Listen,it’ll be fine and…” he looks down at his hands, “We’d really appreciate it if you showed up…even if it’s for a little bit, you know? Bea especially wants you to go because she thinks it’d be good for you…and Penny said yes already.”

“She did?”

“Way before you.”

Pete huffed softly, in a way it was supposed to mean how annoyingly happy he was because of that woman. He just tsks, then tosses his hand up, “Yeah,well, okay…I’m going.” he huffs, “But are you sure I don’t need to bring gifts?”

“One hundred percent.” he says with a grin, “It’ll be like the first time I met them too,Mav. I didn’t bring a lot and I got…a lot…so you better be ready for that.”

‘What,wait, I am going to get gifts?” Rooster nods, “But I can’t give them back, that doesn’t make much sense.”

Rooster laughs, “Well,” he looks down when his phone starts to ring, “Well, you better get used to it and– it’s Bea,I’m going to answer it Mav. Give me a few minutes.” his uncle just looked stupefied by that, not even looking when Rooster walked away.

“Hellooooo gorgeous.” he drawls, leaning his shoulder against the wall, “You rarely call me, is everything okay?”

“Everything is fine! Well,a little,I’m a bit sick.”

“Sick?”

“I think eating chili so late was a mistake, blegh.” she laughs softly, “I’m okay though,lying in bed a bit, just got back from talking to Penny and Shells and Nikki is keeping me company. How are you though? You okay? Did you talk to Mav?”

“I did,gorgeous.” he looks back to where his uncle was, “We’re good.” but before she could exclaim how happy she was, he cut her off, “Wait, you are feeling sick, do you need me to bring you something? Some meds?”

“Ummm…I dunno…maybe? I just hope I get better until I go to the bar. I’ve never had issues with food like this before. I’m not throwing up or anything, but you know, it’s really annoying.”

“I know,gorgeous.” he whispers, “I’m going to Rizzo’s then, get you some pastries,” she makes a noise of discomfort, “Something light?”

“I might just have juice, I’m not feeling like having anything.”

“I can–oh. Oh. Oh I had an idea.”

“An Idea?”

“I can’t tell you yet but…I will…have to stay with Nikki tonight.” she makes a confused noise from the other side, “Can’t tell you why, but I know you’ll feel a lot better once I do what I have planned.”

“...you know, you can be very dangerous.”

“Yes,gorgeous.” he laughs, “Yes I can.”

[mobpsychomakes]

MASTERLIST

Hi! This is an incomplete masterlist trying to compile every single mob psycho omake because good lord some of these things are hard to find. Like, "end up skimming through several chapters because you vaguely remembered it being in World Domination Arc" hard to find. All of these will either be posted or reblogged here just in case the original poster happens to delete because that seems to happen a lot. They will be linked with their names and a brief description. All omakes will also be tagged with the characters present (Body Improvement Club omakes will be shortened to "body improvement club" instead of every individual character) for quicker searching.

OMAKES:

Reigen Shits Himself: serizawa asks mob to tell him about a dangerous situation he and reigen were in and mob tells the story of the time reigen shit his pants and almost got arrested

Ritsu's Nepotism: mob tries to get extra money for the body improvement club's budget

Serizawa continues to be the backbone of Spirits & Such: a lawyer appears at spirits and such and threatens to sue

Reigen needs a dog: a dog spirit attaches itself to reigen and he keeps it as a pet named "uu-chan"

The power of spider webs: mob uses his powers to stop a soccer ball midair so it doesnt crush a tulip and ritsu blames it on "really strong spider webs"

Magic > Psychic powers: mob has a dream about getting put in a fantasy world

Perseverance > psychic powers: a flashback of mob and tsubomi as kids where tsubomi keeps asking him to do difficult tasks and he keeps trying to impress her

Teaching Mob basketball > anti-terrorism: teru puts a hold on stopping psychic terrorists to teach mob how to play basketball

Reigen goes to hell, maybe: reigen gives advice to a fortune teller

Bullied & Such Consultation Office: mob and serizawa reflect on their childhood experience with bullying

Bigfoot Hunting: reigen and mob try to find bigfoot but instead find every other possible cryptid

Reigen dies: reigen nearly chokes to death

Meat: reigen takes the kids out for barbeque

Summer Vacation: reigen takes the kids to the beach

At Long Last, Revealing Their Full Name: the full names of a bunch of minor characters who didn't have them before as well as a couple biographical details for some of them

All Nighter: a scary closeup of reigen's face

Haircut Swap Series (To Not Be Continued): mob and ritsu switch haircuts

Baked Sweet Potato: mob bakes a sweet potato on an open fire

Content: mob looks at the sky because ONE ran out of ideas

Deadlines and HP: ONE tries to refill his health bar

Prime: the yokai guy tells a story because ONE was 40 minutes from his deadline and had no omake

Character Profiles: infographics sharing some fun facts (birthday, blood type, hobbies, etc) about mob, reigen, ritsu, teru, and shou

Valentines Day: the boys receive chocolate for valentines day

Lifting: tome advises mob to use his powers to play soccer

Esper Hoshino the Show Off: hoshino uses his powers to "help" his classmates

Fire Master Asahi: asahi uses his powers to light a man's cigarette

Snot Bubble: mob falls asleep and a snot bubble from his nose enters orbit

His Favorite: mob shows off his frog umbrella

Chapter 74 (unnamed?): reigen gets stressed out about his endurance being worse than mob's and tries working out

Sense of Crisis: reigen gets stressed out about mob getting stronger than him and tries working out (again)

Salt Mid Marathon Rankings: what places a bunch of characters ranked in during the 5k

Chapter 76 (unnamed?): mezato discusses with the psycho helmet cult how to find their founder

Last Nightmare: mob has a nightmare about breaking into tsubomi's house dressed as santa claus and getting arrested

Exception: the claw espers sent after mob discuss how easy he looks to kill while he flies to their location to kick their ass

Numb: teru and mob go shirt shopping

Horror Story: reigen gathers the kids to tell horror stories

Breeze: mob's umbrella gets blown away in a storm

I Understand: serizawa meets a friend from his class

Coming Up: there's a three day weekend coming up

Bug: various characters react to a bug

Reveal: edano asks how teru's hair grew back so quickly

Honesty: ritsu talks about what he wants to be when he grow up

Monkey Dream: dimple dreams about fighting monkeys

What does a ghost piggyback ride look like to people who can't see ghosts?

Greeting: Hoshino re-introduces himself for the third time

[thessalian]

Thess vs TLOVM S3, Ep 10

I was thinking about some more Silent Hill 2, but by the time I was ready to settle and maybe play, it felt like a bad idea. I have work tomorrow and playing until midnight is probably a surefire way to fuck up my sleep patterns entirely. So I'm going to watch more TLOVM instead. Not sure that'll be any better, but we shall see.

Ah, tiny rewind.

Yeah, our sentiments exactly, Grog.

Keyleth... I get it, I do, but what the fuck could they have done differently? Even you were doubting your own thoughts on the matter at the end. I mean, if they hadn't trusted Raishan at the beginning ... what would have happened? Apart from Raishan probably kicking their asses right then and there, I mean.

Oof. Greyskull Keep looks rough.

...And so does Scanlan.

Vax, are you eating yourself alive with guilt some more?

Oh, Vex. Not sure if Percy'd be up for that.

Heh. This is kind of what Vax thought would happen before the dragons attacked. In the campaign, I mean. Vax was all, "What's our purpose now, as a team?" and Matt was inwardly bouncing up and down squeaking, "Just wait ten more minutes..."

"I GOT BOOZE! AND NAKED LADIES! AND NAKED LADIES COVERED IN BOOZE!" I do like how they do very occasionally remember that Scanlan and Grog did the brothel circuit together. (Well, not together-together. I don't think Grog swings that way and there are some size-related logistics and... Okay. Mind. Gutter. EVICT.)

Huh. Interesting take on Scanlan's resurrection in the campaign, and why Kaylie had to be involved.

Pike ... you know Grog by now. PLEASE come back and tell him you didn't mean literally...

...There ... are ... worse things to find suddenly coming into your bedroom while you're in nothing but a towel? Maybe? Still wanna know why they didn't teleport direct to Kaylie, but ... I'm sure there's a reason.

ALLURA OMG.

Oh, Pike.

Okay, where're you off to, Kiki? Oh. Home!

Fred Tatasciore - who you? Anything I've seen? ...THAT'S Soldier 76?!? BENZO was Soldier 76?!? .........MASTER GNOST-DURAL?!? Wait - what happened to Lance Henriksen?!? He's still alive and hasn't retired, so ... wait. They got the voice actor for TANNO VIK to do MASTER GNOST-DURAL?!?!? ...Also Dr Ogurrobb and I am learning so much about one of the last MMOs I ever played seriously... *ahem* Beyond that, a lot of Star Wars in general (including Vader a few times, and Qui-Gon in Clone Wars), he's done the Hulk in a lot of things, seems to specialise in "creature vocals" ... including a lot of zombie voices in Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare 2 ... also apparently fluent in Simlish. And some Bioware - Jade Empire and Mass Effect 2 and DA2 and... HE WAS THE FUCKING POETRY TREE?!?

Sorry, this deserves a blip all its own for all you Bioware fans out there. Saren Arterius voiced the fucking DA:O poetry tree.

Well. I did not mean to go that far down the rabbit hole. Just to say that Fred Tatasciore has been voice acting a long time - probably longer than most of you have been alive. (I'd feel really old now, but I was only like five when he started.) Now, OFF IMDB, THESS.

Heh. I feel you, Korrin. Gardens ... are a learning experience.

Korrin, you know she's gonna.

Oof. I forgot what a shithole Stilben is.

Wait, the Ashari did that?!? I forgot that.

Ooh! Hi Matt, and hi TABAXIIIIII!

Tabaxi with a pepperbox.

Nobody ever looks up.

So ... where'd Vax get the money? Did I blink and misss it?

Huh. So she's going to get the ritual from the wind?

That ... was ominous, Matt-baxi...

Ah. No, she's going to make someone listen.

She has not earned?!? Lady, you're an ass.

Ah. That's where that line in the trailer come from.

YES. LISTEN TO THE EARTH ASHARI; IT'S THEIR FUCKING RITUAL.

Lady, what is up your ass?!?

Vex. You are a ranger. You know from stalking. Patience is a huge part of a hunt. I get it, but chill the fuck out?!?

Aaaaand that's all the people who didn't make it-- yep.

Waitwut?!? Oh...

Veeeeeeex ... chiiiiill... Oh fuck no.

That looks ... strategically precarious.

Yeeeep.

Ohfuck.

KENKUUUUUU! Also OFUCK.

C'mon, Keyleth...

Cmooooooooooooon, Keyleeeeeeeeth...

Nonononononono...

Hi, Vax.

Well. If they ever do the vow renewal, this'll be a bad flashback for her...

N'awwwwww, Veeeeex...

OW OW OW...

Niiiice shot. Also, sorry, Vex.

C'moooooooon...

YES!

Whooooooooa.

Hold on to yourself, Keyleeeeeth...

She's seeing Ripley. She's seeing the twins OMG. She's too tied to Vax!

NEVER TRUST "IT LOOKS CLEAR"-- Yeah there we go.

...I. Will feed. The writer(s). BEEEEEEEES. So I must identify the writer(s). Well, Meredith I-cannot-prounce-that is staff writer, but lead writer iiiiiiiiiis ... Suzanne Keilly. And IMBD saaaaays... Warrior Nun, Ash vs the Evil Dead, and some horror stuff like Slumber Party Massacre and ... Leperchaun Returns?!? They made a sequel of fucking Leperchaun?!? Or, sorry -- another sequel of fucking Leperchaun?!?

(Side note: they're fucking rebooting Leperchaun at some point in the future?!? Gods, some things really do not need that many sequels. Leperchaun is, like, eight of them.)

Okay, I won't feed Suzanne Keilly bees. She wrote a Leperchaun sequel. She's suffered enough.

Yeah. Should've known that one episode of TLOVM was still going to fill me with adrenaline. Still, probably not as much as a first turn-around in Woodside Apartments.

[eriquin]

Cat's in the Cradle, part 9

I haven't posted any of this in a while, but I'm hitting my WIP self-imposed limit, so here's the next part.

When we last left them, Eddie had been found hiding in Dustin's closet. They didn't believe who he was, so he ran for it.

(master post)

Steve caught Eddie in the living room. The kid couldn’t get all the locks on the front door undone fast enough before Steve wrapped him up in a bear hug, lifting him off the ground. “No, get off,” he said, kicking his feet as Steve carried him into the middle of the living room. He was scrawny but scrappy, and Steve made sure to keep him far enough away from anything breakable. 

“Calm down,” Steve said. He shifted his grip until he had Eddie hanging sideways under one arm. His legs swung out but couldn’t kick him, and his arms were still pinned to his sides. “We just need to figure this out. Dustin is overreacting.” 

Robin ran into the room a moment later, but quickly retreated to the doorway. “Oh, you got him,” she said. “Have you got him? I really don’t want to tie a preteen to a chair, no matter what Dustin says.”

Steve swung Eddie around as he kicked some more. “I’ve got him,” he said. “He doesn’t really weigh anything.”

“Fuck you,” Eddie spat out. 

“Language, you toddler,” Robin snapped back. “Now, explain yourself. If you really are Eddie, why do you look like this?”

Eddie stopped kicking and looked back and forth between the two of them. He was panting and straining against Steve’s arms, and Steve could feel the rapid patter of his heart against his chest. “Put me down first,” he said.

“Not until you calm down,” Steve said. He pulled Eddie back up from where he’d started to slip and turned him around so he was facing the ceiling instead of the floor. “Think you can do that?” 

Eddie stared at him, his face flushing from the blood rushing to his head. “Yes. Maybe. I’m freaking out over here. I really thought you’d all be happy to see me.” 

“And we are! Sort of,” Robin said. “But we also think you might be a trap, you know.” 

Steve signed. “What happened to you, dude?” 

“I don’t know!” Eddie yelped. He kicked his feet weakly. “I mean, I know, but I don’t know why. Or how.”

“Start with what you do know, then,” Dustin said as he turned the corner. He was limping more now, but brushed Robin off when she tried to help him. He took a seat in one of the armchairs. “I got on the walkies and called a code orange, but no one is answering.” 

“What, not a code red?” Robin asked.

Dustin shook his head. “He tried to run instead of attacking us.”

“He bit me!” Robin pointed at her arm, rolling up her shirt sleeve to show faint teeth marks. 

“Relax, you’re fine. He didn’t even break the skin.” Steve looked around the room. “Okay, how are we gonna play this? Am I just holding him like this while you two interrogate him?” 

“Can we not call it an interrogation?” Robin said. “Little too close to the Russians, you know?” 

“Please put me down,” Eddie said quietly. He looked like he’d calmed down but Steve could feel how fast his heart was still going. 

Dustin was shaking his head, but Steve lowered Eddie enough to let his feet touch the ground. The boy wasn’t heavy, but Steve was getting tired of holding him up. It had been a long day. He readjusted his grip to keep him still, though. Steve wrapped one hand around both of Eddie’s wrists and used them to keep him pinned to his chest. 

“Okay, explain now, then we’ll figure out what to do with you,” Dustin said. He met Steve’s eyes and tried to communicate something, but Steve didn’t understand what he was trying to say. 

Eddie huffed a few times. He twisted as much as he could to look around the room, but most of the fight had gone out of him. “I’ve done it before,” he said. “Changed age, I mean. It’s happened twice before.” 

“What?” Robin asked. “When?” 

Eddie chewed on his lip and looked up thoughtfully. “In, uh, ‘76 and ‘79.” He looked down at himself again and aimlessly scuffed his foot against the carpet. “I don’t know for sure, but I think I’ve gone back to being thirteen again.” 

“Wait, you got younger twice?” Steve said. “How old are you really? Like, thirty?” 

“No!” Eddie shook his head. “I’m nineteen. Twenty in June. I got younger the first time, then got older again the second time.” 

“Okay, but that’s before any of the Upside Down stuff started,” Dustin said. “Are you seriously trying to tell us this—” He gestured up and down at Eddie. “—is unrelated?” 

“Not... Exactly.” Eddie looked up at them and his chin quivered. “You’re gonna be mad.”

Dustin scoffed and held his hands out. “Breaking news! I’m already mad!” he said. “Just spit it out.” 

“I was in the lab,” Eddie said. He was shaking, and his heart started hammering again. “Hawkins Lab. I was there. Like your friend. Except I can’t—”

“Hah! No! That’s bullshit,” Dustin said, swinging himself to his feet. He hobbled forward looking furious. “See? He’s not really Eddie. If Eddie had been like El, he would have told us when we told him about El! Or Vecna! He would have said something.” 

Eddie squirmed, pressing his back into Steve as he faced an angry Dustin. Robin got between them, pushing Dustin back. “I can’t do anything!” he yelled, voice cracking a bit. “I didn’t tell you because it wouldn’t have mattered. This is the only thing I can do and I don’t even know how it works!”

“If you were in the lab, you would’ve had a number tattooed on you,” Robin said. 

“They disappear!” Eddie twisted around in Steve’s grip again, going nowhere. “They all disappear when I get younger, like injuries.”

“Isn’t that convenient,” Dustin said. He looked smug and angry. “You really have no proof, do you?”

“That’s why I didn’t tell you,” Eddie said, his voice rising in pitch as he struggled. Steve had to put his arm around his waist and pick him up again to keep him from falling down. “I can’t move things with my mind and I can’t make the bulbs light up and I can’t read minds and I can’t, I can’t...” He gasped and kicked his legs again. Steve braced himself to hold him up. Eddie wasn’t fighting to get free, but it felt like he was fighting just to breathe. 

“Eddie still would have told me,” Dustin said. His forehead wrinkled into a heavy frown. “Maybe he is one of the kids from the lab and he stole Eddie’s memories.”

“I’m not,” Eddie gasped, closing his eyes. He tried to curl up and Steve had to step back and balance against the edge of the couch to keep a hold on him. “I’m me. I’m me. Dustin, you know me.” 

“Dustin, you’re freaking him out,” Steve said. “Back off.” Dustin ignored him.

“We need to get in touch with El and have her check him,” Robin said. “She can do that, right?”

Dustin nodded and crossed his arms. “We have to tie him up in the meantime.”

“I’m not tying up a child, Dustin,” Robin said. 

“Guys!” Steve said. Eddie twisted his wrists out of Steve’s grip and covered his face. Steve put him down on the couch and sat down on the edge near him, keeping one hand on his back and bracing in case it was all a trick. Eddie curled up into as tight a ball as he could, tucking his face into his knees and covering his head with his arms. He was shaking. “Will you guys stop yelling for a minute, please?” 

“We’re barely yelling,” Dustin said. His face was pinched, and he took a step back when he saw the way Eddie was panicking. “He’s just trying to get your sympathy, Steve. It’s a trick.”

“And it’s working,” Steve said. “Dustin, if he is—”

“He’s not Eddie,” Dustin frowned deeply. It looked forced, and his voice wavered as he spoke. “Eddie is gone. You didn’t see him, Steve. You weren’t there.” 

“But if he is!” Steve said, snapping his fingers at Dustin. “If he is, and he came back and then you start treating him like this—” 

“Shut up,” Dustin said. He took another halting step back. Steve could see him starting to tear up. “Just... He’s not.” 

“Maybe we can just talk to him for now,” Robin said. “Ask him some easy questions. Calm him back down until we can reach El and find out for sure.” 

Dustin sat back down on the armchair. Robin sat on the other side of the couch from Eddie and Steve. “Fine,” Dustin said. His voice was laced with bitterness. “Fine. We can talk. Let’s talk.” 

Steve laid his hand on Eddie’s back. The boy was twitching slightly, like he was hiccuping or crying, but not letting any sound out. “Hey,” Steve said, rubbing a little circle on his back with his hand. “You all right in there?” 

Eddie picked his head up just enough to peek out from over his knees. His eyes were wet. “Y-yeah,” he mumbled, rubbing his snotty nose off on his pants. “‘M fine. Whattaya wanna know?” 

Dustin sat back and crossed his arms. “Your tattoo is gone, but you had one, right?” he asked. Eddie nodded slightly. “So what was your number?”

Eddie wrapped his arms around his knees and stared down at the seat of the couch. It took him a long time to answer, and when he did he said it so softly that Steve had to repeat it for Dustin and Robin to hear. “Seven.” 

“What does that mean?” Robin asked Dustin.

“No idea, but El will know. She can confirm it when we talk to her,” Dustin turned his attention back to Eddie. “When did you get out of the lab?” 

Eddie sucked on the cuff of his sleeve a bit before answering. “‘76,” he said. “I don’t remember a lot about it.” 

“Same year you first deaged?” Dustin asked.

Eddie nodded. 

“How did that happen? What caused it?”

Eddie shrugged. “I’unno.” 

“You don’t know?” Dustin leaned forward. “Or you don’t want to tell us?” 

“I don’t know,” Eddie said more clearly. “I was ten and brain dead and then I was three and fine and we went into hiding.” 

“Jesus,” Steve said softly. He paled a bit and covered his mouth with his hand.

Dustin looked a little contrite about asking, and then his brow furrowed in thought. “So now you’ve gone back to being that age, plus ten years?” 

“Makes sense,” Robin said. “Kind of? Obviously this time it happened because he was dying, right?”

Dustin gulped and covered his mouth. “Right. Obviously.”

“Wait,” Steve said, holding up his hand. “What do you mean, dying? Nancy said he was dead. She said you guys checked for a pulse.”

Dustin and Robin gave each other a look, something unspoken passing between them. Robin spoke up first. “She did say that, yes,” she said, fidgeting with the hem of her vest. 

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Steve asked. He rested his arm on Eddie’s back. The boy was watching everything but hadn’t uncurled from his protective little ball. “Did you not check? Why would you not have checked?”

Dustin was staring at a spot on the floor. “It’s not her fault,” he mumbled. “He was dead. I know he was.” 

“It’s not your fault either,” Robin said. She moved closer to Dustin and held her hands up like she couldn’t decide if she could touch him. “It was just a shitty situation, okay?” 

There was a crackling static sound from the back of the house as someone tried to get in contact over the radio. Dustin leapt to his feet, wincing as he put too much weight on his bad ankle. “I need to—” He cut himself off and started hobbling towards his bedroom. His voice was breaking. “Robin, you tell them.”

Robin shut her eyes and clenched her fists. “Right,” she said shakily. “I’ll just... Do that.”

“You guys didn’t come back,” Eddie said quietly. “You really did leave me there.” 

Robin looked up. “We didn’t mean to,” she said. Her voice was equally quiet. “It was just me and Nance. We had to leave Steve at the hospital, and we kept trying to radio you and Dustin but neither of you were answering—” 

“The hospital? Like, the real world hospital?” Eddie looked confused as he started to unfold himself. He turned to get a better look at Steve. “How did you get there?”

“We were at the Creel house when the earthquake hit,” Steve said. “So we knew something had happened to Max. We ran up to the attic and there was a gate there, so we went through it.”

“Max was there,” Robin said. “She was so hurt. Lucas said she’d died, but then her heart started beating again. We had to get her to the hospital, Eddie. We didn’t know...” 

“You were supposed to run if it got bad,” Steve said. “You and Dustin. You said you weren’t going to be a hero.” 

Eddie looked back and forth between the two of them. Steve was staring at one of the couch blankets like he was trying to see some kind of explanation in it and Robin had wrapped her arms around her middle protectively. He couldn’t tell if they were upset with him or with each other or just tense. “I didn’t plan it,” he whispered. “The bats... The bats started coming through the vents in the trailer. And Dustin was through the gate and you guys needed more time and they weren’t stopping and they were just going to fly through the gate after us if I didn’t—” He hiccuped and realized he was crying again. 

Robin flailed her hands out to grab a box of tissues off of the coffee table. She pushed it into his lap. “Here!” she said frantically. 

Steve rolled his eyes at her but Eddie grabbed a tissue and blew his nose. He gave her a grateful look as he did so and shuffled down the couch so he wasn’t tucked so tightly into the corner. “I just did it without thinking, is what I mean,” he said softly, and blew his nose again.

Robin was nodding now, and biting her lip. Steve pinched the bridge of his nose and spoke up. “I get it,” he said. “I’m not, like, happy about it, but... Jesus. Okay. I can’t even fault you on that, ‘cause I know I would’ve done the same thing.”

“Have done,” Robin said. Steve frowned as he looked up at her, and she shrugged. “Unthinkingly thrown yourself into danger so that Dustin would be spared? I was there, dingus. I did it, too.”

“Oh, the Russians. Right.” Steve took a breath and let it out slowly. “We didn’t die, though!”

“Almost did,” Robin said. “They were definitely going to kill us.”

Steve groaned and ran his hands through his hair. “Robin!” he hissed. He gestured with both hands at Eddie. “Eddie! Was he dead, or not? You said that you checked.” 

“We were going to! Me and Nancy went back to get Dustin through the gate and he was crying about... About Eddie and everything, you know? And we went out there to look and there were bats everywhere and there was so much blood and then N—” She flinched and bit down on her clenched fist. “I freaked out. I started, just, panicking about it all. You know how I get, right? It was bad. So bad. I can barely remember it. Nancy had to drag me back to the trailer.” 

Steve put his head in his hands. Eddie glanced at him briefly, but turned his attention back to Robin. She gave him a wide-eyed look and started babbling again.

“And then when we got back to the trailer, Dustin basically took pity on my traumatized state. Which is terrible, you know? Because it’s not like he wasn’t traumatized, too. But he told us that it was too late, and that he’d seen you die, and then I—” She bit her lip. “We had to get him to the hospital, right? For his ankle. So we—I pulled myself together and we piled up the furniture on the Upside Down side and got him across. He made us promise to go back for your body, and we did! But there were soldiers and—”

“Robin,” Steve said as he looked up from behind his fingers. 

“I’m sorry,” Robin said, ignoring him and turning to Eddie. “It’s my fault. If I hadn’t freaked out so bad, we would’ve checked. We wouldn’t have left you behind. Please don’t blame Dustin for this.”

Eddie continued to stare at her as Steve reached out and put his hand on her shoulder. “Robin,” he said again. This got her attention. “Go figure out what Dustin’s doing, will you?” 

“Sure,” she said, gingerly getting up. She gave them one more backwards glance before leaving the room.

After she left, Eddie pulled his knees up to his chest and rested his chin on them. “I know I don’t know her that well, but she was lying, right?” 

Steve sighed and stretched out across the other side of the couch. “Yeah, no shit,” he muttered. 

“Why does she want me to blame her, though? I don’t get it.” Eddie sniffled again. “I mean, I don’t actually blame anybody. I was definitely dying. Just because I’m okay now—”

“That’s debatable,” Steve said with a snort. Eddie’s hand shot out and punched him in the arm. “Hey, watch it. Those tiny little fists hurt.”

Eddie wiped the tears away from his cheeks. “Asshole.” 

Steve looked up until the back of his head hit the back of the couch. “Do you, uh, want to know my theory?” 

“Sure, Harrington.”

He sucked on his teeth. “I know it’s only been a couple of days that you even got to know either Nancy or Robin... But can you imagine Nancy letting that happen? Letting any amount of Robin freaking out stop her from doing something she thought she needed to do?” As Eddie slowly shook his head, Steve continued. “I think the only thing that stops Nancy is, well, Nancy.” 

“You think Nancy is the one who freaked out?” 

“I think she’s been blaming herself for everything and trying to hold it together, but I’ve seen her fall apart.” Steve leaned back and rubbed his forehead. “I’m not sure why Robin’s trying to cover for her, though.”

“Maybe seeing Nancy breaking down really spooked her..” Eddie rubbed his runny nose against his knees, wiping it off on his pants. “I know it’d spook me. Like, she barely cried after Vecna cursed her and then five minutes later she was ready to kick his ass.”

“Yeah, she’s like that.”

“But she freaked out over me? Why? She barely even knows me.” Eddie wiped his face where the tears threatened to leak again. “Shit, and I thought it was just Dustin that I traumatized.” 

Steve reached over and smoothed his hair back. “I think we all got kind of attached to you,” he said. “You know, when Nancy and Robin had to leave me behind in the hospital, I gave them my house keys. I told them to hide you in my house until we could clear your name, ‘cause my parents are in Europe and no one would look for you there.” He sighed and stretched his legs out under the coffee table. “If my house is even still standing, I guess.”

“You haven’t been back?”

“Not yet,” Steve said. “They kept me in the hospital overnight. Gave me rabies shots, which hurt like a bitch by the way.” He poked Eddie in the side. “Be glad you don’t have to deal with those.”

“I don’t have to deal with any of it,” Eddie said. “I heal up completely when I change. Wish I had some control over it happening so I could change back, though.” He pulled the sleeves of his shirt over his hands and started chewing on the end of one. 

Across the house, Dustin’s door opened up and they heard him talking. He came limping down the hall with his walkie in his hand and Robin at his heels. “Okay, I have El here,” he said as he looked up at Steve and Eddie. “You’re not going to believe this.” 

Robin cut in. “Chief Hopper’s alive!”

“I was gonna tell them that!” Dustin yelled. “But yeah, the chief’s back. I don’t know what the story is there.”

“What, really?” Steve asked, sitting up straight. He grabbed Eddie gently by the scruff of his neck and gave him a little shake. “Holy shit. We’re gonna have a back-from-the-dead club in Hawkins.” 

“Maybe,” Dustin said. He sat back down in his chair with a tired sigh. “We still have to figure out if he’s in it, or if he’s something else entirely.” He clicked on the walkie and spoke into it. “El? You there? Over.”

The walkie buzzed and El’s voice came through. “I am here,” she said. “What is your question?”

“It’s about the other kids in the lab,” Dustin said. “Specifically number seven? Over.”

Eddie curled up and scooted back on the couch to hide behind Steve again. “I failed out,” he whispered. Steve might have been the only one who heard it, but he sounded terrified. “I don’t remember a lot about the last few months. They kept trying to do something to my brain to make it work.” 

Before Steve could ask Eddie what he meant, the walkie came back on. “Henry killed Seven,” Eleven said. “I remember that. Henry killed everyone there. But Eight, Kali, she had already escaped by then.” 

Dustin frowned and looked at Eddie. “When did that happen? Over.” 

“I do not know the date. I think it was three or four years before I escaped.” 

Without clicking the button on the remote, Dustin said, “El escaped in November, ‘83. So this would be 1980 or ‘79. You said you left in ‘76?” Eddie nodded, and Dustin shook his head and looked disappointed. “That doesn’t add up.” He clicked the button on the walkie. “Was Eight the only one to escape? None of the others did before her? Over.”

The walkie stayed silent for half a minute. “Kali was the only one that stayed gone,” she said. “But sometimes, my brothers and sisters would go away for a while and come back very different.”

“How different? Over.” Dustin asked. 

“Very, very different. Papa said they might not remember us, but they were still our brother or sister.” El paused again. “Papa did not always tell the truth.” 

There was another long pause. Dustin looked at the three of them on the couch and frowned deeply before sending another message. “Did Seven change like that?”

“You didn’t say ‘over’,” Robin said. Dustin made a face at her and flipped her off. “You also aren’t telling Eleven to say ‘over’ and you always tell me—” 

“Girls with super powers get to say whatever they want on the walkie talkie,” Dustin said. 

It wasn’t El that came back on the walkie, but Mike. “What is this about, Dustin?” he asked. “Why did you call this a code orange? We’re busy. Over.” 

Dustin let out another sigh. “I really need to talk to El about this, Mike. It’s really important. Over.”

“She says that yes, Seven did change. It was a long time ago, and she doesn’t remember it very well because she was small.” The walkie clicked out, but Mike’s voice came back a second later to say, “Over.” 

Dustin rubbed his forehead. He let the walkie drop to his side before he spoke again. “Yeah, if she’s our age, she would’ve only been three or four in ‘76. That is probably too small to remember.”

“I remember stuff from when I was three,” Robin said. “My mom used to sing me Puff the Magic Dragon while we made lunch.” 

“Thank you, Robin. Very helpful,” Dustin said. “Okay, so it’s possible, I guess, that there’s a lot more psychic kids out there.”

“He said he failed out,” Steve said. Eddie, still hiding behind him, grunted and poked him sharply in the back. “Well, you did. He said that they did something to his brain.” 

“Wait, when you said braindead you meant literally braindead?” Robin asked. Steve heard Eddie let out a little whine and curl up behind him. 

“But that doesn’t make sense,” Dustin said. “If he really has age-related shapeshifting powers, then he wouldn’t be a failure. Once they saw he could do that, the scientists would’ve run experiments on him to figure out how it worked.”

Steve turned around and saw that Eddie was shaking his head. His hands were still wrapped around his legs, and he had his eyes shut. “It happened after,” Eddie said. 

Steve got off the couch and squatted down on the floor in front of it. “After what?”

Eddie tried to steady his breathing. He kept his eyes shut. “After they got me out. I changed after. I don’t remember a lot until after I changed.” He put his hands over his ears and scrunched his face up.

The walkie crackled to life again. “Hey, butthead, you’re supposed to say over and out if you’re done,” Mike said. “Over!” 

Dustin whipped the walkie back up and yelled back, “I’m not done!” He took a breath. “But I need to talk to El, preferably alone. I need her to look for someone. Over.” 

“She’s tired,” Mike said. “It’s been a long fucking day.” In the background noise, they could hear someone protesting his language. “Just tell me what you need already. Over.”

“God damn Mike,” Dustin said without activating the walkie. “He’s going to hate this. He was so fucking mad that Eddie got involved in the first place, much less that he...” Dustin swallowed hard and limped over to sit down on the armchair. 

Robin held her hand out for the walkie. “I’ll ask,” she said. 

“He’s not going to listen to you any more than he will to me,” Dustin said. “And he’s already mad at me.” He clicked on the walkie. “Mike, we need El to look for Eddie. Over.” 

Mike screeched back in anger, as Dustin had predicted. “What the hell, Dustin?” The walkie speaker squealed with feedback. “You said he was dead. Are you telling me you think he’s alive? Did you assholes leave him there?” 

Robin reached over and snatched the walkie from Dustin’s hand. She grinned before clicking the button. “You didn’t say ‘over’, smartass,” she said. “Over.” 

“Put Dustin back on, Robin,” Mike said. “Over.”

“Put El back on, Michael,” Robin said. “Nobody wants to talk to you. Over.” 

The walkie went quiet again. Robin held it out of Dustin’s reach, and he quickly gave up and appealed to Steve. “Will you tell your girlfriend to give me my walkie back?” 

“I’m sorry, my what?” Steve asked. “I know you know better than that.”

Dustin rolled his eyes. “Please ask your platonic-with-a-capital-P-friend-who-is-also-a-girl to give me my walkie back?” 

The walkie crackled to life again. “Hello,” El said. “I will look for Eddie. Mike will relay what I see. Over.” 

Dustin smiled and took the walkie back from Robin. “I guess now we’ll see,” he said. 

[copdog1234]

Imma be honest, as someone who was trying to give Starfield a fair shot, who was cautiously excited to see Bethesda return to form, who enjoys Skyrim, Fallout 3, Fallout 4, and Fallout 76 despite their flaws for their easy-going and relaxing nature, and is nostalgic for the first 3 mentioned because they cultivated my love for open world rpgs in the first place,

Starfield is extremely boring.

Part of that may be my typical disinterest for space settings (with two exceptions, really). Or maybe my taste in games has matured over the years and I just need rpgs that have more pizazz to hold my interest.

Or perhaps it's the fact that I'm only 3 hours into a game that takes on average 10 hours to get good according to most players (from what I've heard). But I gotta say. That's a ridiculous amount of time to invest into a game to wait to actually enjoy it. Bethesda never had a problem with keeping me interested before. The intros to their games are typically very good -iconic, even, so why does Starfield drag on and on without rhyme or reason???

I'm honestly baffled about it. I'm disappointed. It was going to be my game to take break from BG3 with. To be able to lie back on my couch and play. And it just

Makes me wanna replay older Bethesda games instead.