#or when Joyce found the Demogorgon lab in Russia???

[jonathanbyersphd]

I think the most unrealistic part of stranger things to me is that the Byers family doesn't say fuck more

[will80sbyers]

so I just rewatched the Vecna monologue, I literally am bored when he talks idk I can't stand him at all... anyway I do think they basically explained almost everything this season except:

if when El opened the portal the Other World in which Vecna was living... was already like Hawkins or not...?

why or even IF he took Will on purpose (probable because the lock of the house was moved with powers before Will was kidnapped.... unless the lock is not connected to Vecna but to a time loop and it's someone else trying to open the door with powers)

why he killed Barb (he says he did to Nancy)

why he brought Will to the library but then he let Jim and Joyce save Will (we can assume it was because he wanted to posses him?)

the upside down is stuck like that since the day Will was taken either

casually because when El opened the portal UD Hawkins was formed naturally with the light passing into the gate

or because of Will being taken there by Vecna (or someone else?)

or by Henry himself making it like Hawkins

the rest of the stuff they basically explained was that

El sent Henry in that world but immediately closed the gate she had opened

years passed, Henry changed and fused with the mindflayer and the Hivemind of the animals in the UD, trying to find a way to go back in his original world

Eleven opened the gate at the labs by mistake because Brenner made her look for Henry in the void, they connected because Henry was fused with ALL the creatures in the upside down with the Hivemind, when she touched the demogorgon she connected with Henry, he's the brain and he formed the psychic connection with El that kept the gate open until she closed it again in s2

Henry says he did not have the powers to open gates before he stole Eleven's powers in s3

so if he was the one to take Will he had to have come into the normal world through the laboratories and it checks out because that's near Will's home... but also Will was taken in the upside down because the Demogorgons can open portals somehow AT LEAST when the Main gate (opened by El) is open

in s3 the Russians open the Main gate again after El closed it so Henry could come through again with the powers of the demogorgons that he controls

Henry takes over all the people and flays Billy and builds the monster because he wants to take Eleven's power and he needs something strong to fight her

he takes El's power not by going himself in the Right side world but by using the Hivemind and Billy, he's safe in his house basically... after he took El's power it was sent to him through the Hivemind

the portal closes again thanks to Hopper and Joyce

the demogorgons can't open portals anymore but the Russians have captured some and taken them to Russia and they have found a way to capture the mindflayer particles

Henry is stuck in the upside down again but he can reach the other side with his mind because him and El and Will and the demogorgons are all still connected

Henry starts maybe (?) making monsters and waits before starting his plan to use Eleven's powers that he successfully stole to open the 4 gates and decides that he wants to target Eleven's best friend Max for this because he wants to make El suffer making her watch Max die to have his revenge on her

I think that's it for now... tell me if I have missed something pls (?)

[marypsue]

Third (I think? Maybe fourth?) watch of Stranger Things season one completed in one four-episode sitting tonight, and some things clicked that hadn't come together for me on previous watches, primarily character motivations.

I have struggled with the general canon portrayal of Hopper as A Guy We're Supposed To Be Sympathetic To juxtaposed against his decision to sell El out. I got close to figuring it out after the last watchthrough - in season one, it's not about El metaphorically standing in for his daughter, it's about saving Joyce from the pain of losing a child - but I really think I've cracked it this time. Between episode 3's “Please don’t be my kid", and the parallel in episode 7(? 6 and 7?) where Brenner tells Karen Wheeler that he wants to help her find her son but she has to trust him and almost the exact same words come out of Hopper's mouth in the same situation to Joyce, and the way David Harbour plays the moment Hopper cuts open Will's fake body and everything that comes after that - like cutting into what might be a child's corpse is The Line, and he knows it, and once he's crossed it, well, he's already done that, he's capable of anything - and how he initially tries to keep Joyce from coming with him to the lab and how he doesn't even seem to be trying to come up with a plan other than 'break in, wing it'?

I'm pretty sure now that he was planning to sell El out from the moment he walked out of the gym. It's all about saving Will, it's all about Will metaphorically standing in for the child he couldn't save, and do you know what he'd do for that? For a chance?

Anyway. Apparently I was wrong when I said that trying to engender sympathy for Brenner was undermining season one, since apparently 'feel bad for the guy who does abhorrent things to children because he was sad for unrelated reasons!' has been baked into the show from episode one and I was just too busy concentrating on the abused child who escaped captivity and discovered the world and found friends and a family for the first time and gave up everything to protect them, who is the real heart and soul of this show, ask literally anyone who's watched it, you fucking walnuts to see it.

I'm good. I'm good. I'm so normal about this television show you guys.

Speaking of Brenner, the other thing that struck me this go-round was just how much his primary motivation seems to be curiosity. I really struggled with this, too, especially when I was working on the road goes ever on (yes I'm going to link to it every time I mention it on here, it's still the thing I'm proudest of writing), and I don't think I'd quite nailed his character down by the time it got posted. Like I don't think what's in that fic is implausible for his character, necessarily, but I really leaned on pride and a desire for control (and a certain arrogant sense of invincibility) as motivating factors for his character in that fic. And while they're all definitely built into him, I think now that they actually come second to the curiosity.

The Gate gets opened in the first place because he immediately and without question gives up on spying on Russia (theoretically the whole point of this exercise) to go off on a wild goose chase for a scary noise that spooked his psychic spy. He 'dies' onscreen because the Demogorgon comes out of a wall and while everyone else is shooting at it (and getting murdered for their trouble), he just wanders on up, unarmed, unafraid, slightly awed, for a closer look! I'm quite sure that's why he actually lets Hopper and Joyce go after Will - he's not expecting them to come back out, but if they do, think what they could tell him about what's on the other side! He just wants to poke things and see what happens! Sometimes what happens is that whatever he's poking bites his finger off! Science is neat, but I'm afraid it's not very forgiving! Man I wish I'd figured this out before posting the monster longfic because I could have made his entire arc so much better and more convincing with this in mind!

I don't know if that's consistent with how they show him in season four, and frankly, given the degree of character drift (or outright assassination) everyone else is showing in season four, I don't particularly care.

Also, importantly, his primary power - and weapon - is trust. He wields authority to command trust, which he absolutely does not deserve, and it's notable that in the finale he asks Joyce for her trust and she refuses to give it to him. And she's the first and only person to refuse to give it to him. She's been lied to, mistreated, disbelieved, written off as crazy, and she is the only person on the entire show who can see right through him.

And yet, then there's that parallel drawn between Brenner asking for Karen's trust and Hopper asking for Joyce's, and she does place her trust in this man who ultimately gets her what she was looking for all along - and she never asks what the price was that was paid for it. I have to ask myself, now, does she ever wonder? Is that part of the distance between them in season two, the reason why neither of them acted on what was clearly supposed to be attraction between them? Because choosing to trust is not the same as trusting?

Season one really did have levels, and lots to chew over, and new things to find in each watch. When this show is good, man, it is good.

[thestrangestthing89]

Junkyards and Broken Down Cars

I'm not really sure where I'm going with this. It definitely means something but I haven't seen any other analyses of what the broken down cars could represent. Other than it occasionally meaning that someone is stuck. But it seems to mean more than that.

S1

El misleads the boys and messes with the compasses when they are trying to find the gate to the Upside Down. They get in a big fight here. Mike and Lucas fight because Lucas calls El a traitor and Mike tries to defend her, but then realizes she did lie. El accidentally hurts Lucas and knocks him out and Mike gets mad at El. She gets scared and runs away. The junkyard here is a place they weren't intentionally trying to go, El directed the compasses there because she didn't want them going to the gate.

The same group (Lucas, Dustin, Mike, El) go to the junkyard when they are hiding from Brenner and the lab people. It doesn't provide them safety though. They are found and almost get caught by them. But Hopper contacts them and they tell him where they are and he saves them.

We get to see into the Upside Down at the end of the season when Joyce and Hopper go there to get Will out. All of the cars are broken down.

The only other reference to cars this season is when Jonathan checks the trunk of Lonnie's car for Will. This car isn't broken down though, but they draw attention to it which is why I'm mentioning it here.

S2

Jonathan's car gets messed with by the lab people. Him and Nancy are trying to get caught by them because they want to get evidence against them. The lab takes something out of Jonathan's car so it won't start. They fix it later when they are leaving the lab.

They once again hide out in the same junkyard as S1 (Steve, Lucas, Dustin, and Max this time). They deliberately lead the demogorgon there. They build a shelter in the broken down bus to protect them. But they thought it was only one demogorgan when it's several. They quickly are out of their depth and in danger. But the demogorgon get called away.

S3

Jonathan mentions to Nancy that they are lucky his car still runs at all.

A possessed Billy messes with Nancy's car so the group can't escape the mall. They fix the part he took out by taking a part from the model car in the mall. The model car technically runs but it's just for show. El uses telekinesis to attack the Russians with it. So that ends up broken too.

Hoppers police car gets shot at and catches fire in the woods. He tries to fix it so they can keep running away from the terminator dude but he's unsuccessful.

Another car reference is Joyce and Hopper stealing Todd's (the todfthr) car. This happens shortly after Hopper's police car catches fire and they need a mode of transportation. Hopper pretends it's for official police business. They use this car to get to Murray, to drive to the carnival, and then to the mall. Steve ends up crashing it here saving the group from Billy.

There aren't any junkyard visits this season and no visits to the Upside Down.

S4

Jonathan's car is broken down. It's an old car that was about to break down over the summer. This is a pretty clear reference to Jonathan being stuck and not knowing what he's doing with his life.

Jonathan and Argyle golf in a junkyard. They are discussing what Jonathan is doing with his life and hitting golfballs at the broken down cars.

Mike, Will, Jonathan, and Argyle bury the body of the government agent that died protecting them. Here it's a place of shelter. It protects them from being followed and allows them time to figure out what to do next. Will is also blending into the background here. His clothes are the same color as a lot of the scenery around them. This combined with the burying the body seems like a reference to him hiding and burying his feelings.

Not a car but the group in Russian tries to escape and the helicopter they need is broken down and in need of fixing. Obviously they are stuck in Russia without it.

The cars in the upside down don't work. Nancy, Robin, Steve, and Eddie need to find bikes to get around.

Eddie on the Lover's Lake - the boat is broken down

There is a tire in Lover's Lake when Steve swims down to the gate. Not sure if this has to do with the whole run down car theme but it was noticeable.

When Steve get's pulled through the gate on Lover's Lake, the boat is broken down and covered in vines on the UD side. No water.

The Stranger Things stage production had an interesting line. Hopper's car won't start. It's significant enough that they include it in a brief blurb about the show.

The cars not working in the UD might have something to do with the atmosphere. Maybe it causes them to break down and rust. But it's an interesting parallel to all the junkyards in the right side up. I'm curious what other people think of this.

[willel]

Wrt the events of S1, a detailed map would be relevant if it’d show others houses between the lab and the place where the demogorgon found Will. Bc we know Will was its first victim (outside the lab) and the demo actually chased him inside his house, so if he didn’t do it with other people closer to the lab, it could mean that he was chosen.

The Demogorgon and Will met in the street on the way to Will's house. It's within walking or biking distance since Will ran all the way home after the encounter through the woods.

The Byers live near the Hawkins Lab perimeter gate since we see a glimpse of it right as Will rides his bike past it (the camera focuses on that detail)

The perimeter fence probably extends out quite a bit from the facility. I was going to say a mile but maybe that's too far? Lucas was able to climb a tree near the gate and see inside with binoculars.

The street Will and the Demorgon met is definitely closer to Will's house than the lab. The Byers seem to live in a heavily wooded area with no nearby neighbors. It's also not close enough for Joyce to have found his bike even though her and Jonathan searched the woods.

We've seen plenty of other Demogorgon encounters and typically, it doesn't not chase people that far.

It didn't chase Joyce twice.

It didn't come out and chase Holly or Joyce or Karen.

It didn't chase Nancy or Jonathan (in the woods)

Every other chase scene we've seen is when the Demogorgon is in an enclosed place like a building.

It chased the scientist to the elevator. Easy prey.

It chase Joyce, Hopper, and the others in Russia. Again, easy prey (or so it thought)

It chased El and the gang in the school (super easy prey there was no escape)

The only odd one out here is Will and the Demogorgon seeing each other for a split second on the road. Will ran away for yards and yards and even hid inside his house. The demogorgon did not run to catch up, it walked and followed. The Demogorgon didn't bust down his door or rip a portal into the wall like every other case. It just tried unlocking the door. When Will escaped out the back of his house, the demogorgon didn't bust down the weak shed door, it opened a portal behind him and got the jump on him.

No matter how close or far away the lab is, Will's kidnapping is extremely out of place.

[beepboop358]

"S4 Sneak Peek" Teaser - FIRST PART

I have a lot I want to discuss so I'm splitting up the discussion into 2 posts. This is the first post, regarding the first half of the sneak peek teaser. - The second part, regarding the second half of the sneak peek teaser with the new s4 images, can be found here.

The first half of the teaser includes footage from the previous 3 seasons, and the "Eleven, are you listening?"(002/004) teaser. I was thinking about why they chose the specific footage they did to include in this teaser - and I think it's mostly foreshadowing what's to come in s4.

Staring with these shots of Hopper:

There are several shots of him, one from s3 with the gun in the funhouse where he faces off with the Russian who is hunting them down, one from s2 where he is in the lab approaching the gate, and another one from s2 where he discovers the tunnels of the upside down running through Hawkins. All of these shots show particular moments of his bravery, and "Indiana Jones -ness". These shots allude to how Hopper will become more hardcore and badass in s4, which David Harbour has kind of hinted at in various interviews as well.

This shot of Joyce:

We know Joyce will have a fairly important storyline this season from the below stranger writers tweet. This tweet was 1 out of a series of 4 posted on the same day, all titled "4." featuring Hopper, Eleven, Will and Joyce. So far we have received teasers for Hopper and Eleven (001/004 and 002/004), but we are still waiting on the 003 and 004 teasers featuring Joyce and Will. They chose to include and image of Joyce surrounded by Christmas lights she uses to comincate with Will when he is stuck in the upside down and refuses to accept that he is dead - I think this hints at a possible connection to her communicating with someone else through the upside down (possibly Hopper) and/or her investigative, "I will never give up on and I will do anything for someone I love" side of her.

Steve and Dustin with the green goo from the secret Russian base under Starcourt:

We already know the Russians experiment with new technology that allows them access to the upside down/ new weapons, and Russia will be a big storyline in s4, are they going to explain what this green goo is and what the Russians intended to use it for?

The Lab being referenced (we know it will be a big part of El's storyline this season):

These shots of Eleven:

All of these images reference El's personal storyline, and her own individual development with her processing her past, growing her powers and becoming stronger, and experiencing/interacting with the upside down. These themes will most likely be very prevalent in s4 (following the even/odd season patterns) and these past season images allude to that.

We also see this shot of El when she defeats the demogorgon in s1. She sacrifices herself to save the boys who are there with her, all in danger, but she disappears into thin air. Perhaps this image references a possible sacrifice El will make to save her friends from dying, that could result in her death, OR it could reference Eleven being the E.T. of the show.

Danger in Hawkins:

This image is from s2; the Mindflayer is shown looming over the town, ready to continue to terrorize Hawkins in s3. This alludes to how the forces of the upside down are still reaching into Hawkins, it's not over yet, there is more danger in hawkins, and the worst is still to come. The upside down monsters are not done with everyone yet, not only hawkins but the world, they are looming everywhere.

[suffering-and-happy-about-it]

Stories, Tales & Facts (Part 1.) (Sriracha, Part 36.)

Series description: A problematic college student gets the worst summer job of the ‘83 - Jim Hopper, the Chief of police in your hometown will have you as his secretary since his old lady Flo has two months lasting holiday. It was agreed so Hopper could let you far away from all the trouble.

Part Summary: Hopper was about to speak up about his past - from where his trouble had started to where it ended just before few weeks. But you didn‘t know how much shit he was through.

A/N: Let‘s face it. This chapter contains huge spoilers for Hopper‘s which is completely named in novel Darkness on the Edge of Town. So it should be at least partially cannonical.

Word count: 3.8 K

Tagging:  @nemodoren​, @creedslove​, @missdictatorme, @ysljordy​

Master list: H E R E

The next morning, you had woken up pretty early in the morning. At least, you fell asleep - Hopper was awake the whole time, just staring into the ceiling before he got out of the bed to eat something, make you a coffee and breakfast. Which made you smile a bit. He was still as thoughtful as he was before.

But you didn‘t even let him take a short breath before you asked the first question of the day.

“So, you said there‘s a lot.” - You mumbled and gave him a look as you sat down, gently pulling a bit away from him. - “That means you have to start from the beginning. Every tale has a beginning, the middle, and an end. Do you understand that friends don‘t lie?” - You asked Eleven‘s most favorite sentence. This sentence was bugging Jim off a lot back in the day. When you told him the sentence, you made him feel a bit better. It was a thing so known and nice.

“If you want to start from the beginnin‘ of my trouble, we will go way down back to the sixties.” -  Hopper told you honestly. At that, you chuckled.

“Jim, I already know that you were in Vietnam. That isn‘t anything new.” - You told him ironically. At that, he looked into your face.

“You know that I was there once. Wrong. I was there twice. The first time, it was in ‘62.” - Jim told you straight in your face. At that, your breath hitched in your throat. He was... Eighteen. He was fucking eighteen when he first was transported to that hell. - “And for your information, I went there voluntarily. Nobody asked me to go.”

You were looking him into the eyes. The questions in your eyes were completely vivid. Your lips were just opening and closing as you tried to tell him something back, but nothing hit your tongue.

“You don‘t understand how was it like in here back in the sixties. I didn‘t know what to do here, I was kinda... Lost. You‘re a psychologist, you should know what I was feelin‘. I wanted to feel like I‘m useful, not like I‘m just spendin‘ my life in the biggest asshole in the USA.”

“Then I went back for turnus number two in ‘68. After that, I met Diane. And believe or not, I was really happy with her. Not too long ago, in ‘71, Sara was born. And we left for New York, but you already know what I‘ve been doin‘ in there.” - He said without explaining to you any further.

Yeah, you‘ve heard that story already. How he was the big detective in Brooklyn‘s sixty-fifth district and how he went after something he called the card-murders, He almost killed a man back then. After that, Sara had died and Diane left him. Except for the Vietnam news, you hadn‘t known about any of that, you knew about everything. But the biggest shockers were just coming your way.

“I was hurt. Hurt. And then you came by and for a small while, everything seemed to be right. I felt good about myself for a time. That was when Will Byers disappeared." - Hopper took a deep breath, giving you a look. - "Promise me that no matter how crazy everythin' seems to be, you'll believe me. I won't ever make up anythin' like this. You promise?"

That was when you got quiet again, only drinking coffee while eating the mashed eggs he had prepared you. - "Friends don't lie. Tell me and we'll see how crazy this seems to be."

So Hopper did as you wished and told you about the November of '83. About Eleven, Papa, and the Lab. He didn't leave out a single detail. Jim didn't leave out any gore, he told you all about what Eleven can do, which was the first thing you weren't able to come around.

"Jim, she's a normal kid. I had raised my daughter for more than just a week. If there would be any red flags, believe me, I would notice." - You said a bit more aggressively than you anticipated. But you were sure that Jim is just fucking around with.

“You remember that one time we had a fight in the cabin and I fell flat on my ass? You thought I just lost balance.” - He told you rather seriously and you uncomfortably shifted into a different position. How would you be able to forget that argument? You were yelling, screaming, crying that night until Eleven came out of her room. - “Blood was drippin' out of her nose, which made you worried, remember?” - Jim whispered and you needed to look away for a second. You haven't noticed a single weird thing about your baby, she was just a normal, twelve-year-old girl when you met. But it all checked in, according to what Jim had told you.

After that, Jim proceeded to another part of the story - explaining why Will was getting worse and worse (that was because of a thing called the Mind Flayer), which you had noticed, what happened with the veins under Hawkins, the Demodogs, what Steve Harrington did which resulted in him and children being best friends, which you also knew. In detail, Jim described what happened underneath the Lab and that Eleven went to see Terry Ives, her biological mother. In the middle of the story, you had to take a short break to think about everything and to have another cup of coffee.

You started crying when you finally got to know what even happened to Joyce's Bob. You didn't believe a thing Jim said, it was so surreal, but you finally got an explanation. It didn't mean that the explanation would make you satisfied, but it was a piece of information with which you could fill the blanks you had in your head. He was eaten by some fucking Demogorgons, whatever that thing was. You had an idea of how did the monster look - once, you played D&D with the kids and something like that was in the game.

And when the Russians came to play, you couldn't understand anything anymore. You were just sitting there, listening to Hopper talking about Starcourt mall being invested with Russians living in an underground base. At the same time, the Mind Flayer got Billy Hargrove, that son of a snake who was Max's brother. It was literally - Mind Flayer got him. Because of the beast, the boy was dead. Jim didn't know that Billy was dead, but then you told him with a terrified expression.

When Jim finished Billy's part of the story, he proceeded to tell you what happened to him. The events happened to both you had met at one point - the moment when Eleven got out of the mall. Each one of you was there - you were hugging El in front of the mall while Jim and Joyce were trying to blow up the massive generator under Starcourt. That was the moment he had presumably died. That was something which Dr. Owens had come up with since they didn't find a single clue that Hopper had died in the generator room. For Hopper to have some time to catch some breath, Owens had decided to pronounce Hopper dead for the time they were searching for him - he found himself being in Russia, working in a gulag. He told you about how he had got out and contented Owens again, Sam helping him back into Indiana so Hopper could start a search for you once again. And because he was in such mental and physical state when he came back, he was taking Tuinal again.

You were back to the square one. Hopper was taking drugs, he was a stranger and on top of that, he was lying to you for almost three years in a row, which was quite impressive. You were slowly getting fed up and mad when you realized that three years, basically thirty-six months, every time something unnatural happened, every time some monster appeared, he figured out some lie to tell you. He was wrapping you in a silver lining after silver lining, again and again. Which had blown you away.

It was almost midday when he had finished - you were preparing some lunch so Hopper would have to eat something. You were just cooking some meat with vegetables, while Hopper let you get your mind sorted.

"I think that the drugs made something to your brain, Jim." - You snorted all of a sudden. It was one of your typical, ironical snorts. You put the potatoes into the oven, put your elbows over your chest, and looked at him. - "Because a single word of what you've said... These are all illusions and hallucinations. If you plotted all of this the six months you were God knows where it's really impressive. Hands down to you, my dude, you got me in the first half."

Jim looked at you. You weren't even crying. But... You cried when he told you what happened to Bob, you believed him, right? If you wouldn't believe him, why would you cry?

"And bringing almost everyone into that, the kids, Joyce, Steve, Bob, Powell, and Callahan... Dear Lord, you even put it onto a precise timeline. You are sitting here, in front of me, looking me dead in the eyes, telling me... All of this, expecting me to believe. Oh, God, James Hopper. You have disappointed me." - You put your palms on your hips, turning away from him with a burst of unbelieving laughter.

"You don't believe me? Fine, let's visit Mike and ask him. Ask Harrington about it. Even that Henderson boy would tell you that this is the truth. Not enough? Fine, Imma take you to the Lab. I will show you everything. Imma ask Nancy Wheeler to give me the photos of Demogorgon." - Hopper stood up in front of you, having his faces just inches from yours. His face was deadly serious and for a second, you thought about if you had poked some sensitive spot or what did you even do. You thought he went mental in the last six months.

"I hadn't told you because the government would be after you and if somethin' happened to you or her... I mean... Anythin'... How would someone like me even come across losing his loved ones? Once again?" - He took your shoulder to his palms, making you look into his eyes.

"In New York, a special agent of a secret state organization named Gallup showed me, how easy is for someone to disappear in a manner of an afternoon. And I'm sure that he would make Diane and Sara disappear the same, just as he told me he would in case I wouldn't want to cooperate with them in the Card murders case." - Hopper shook your shoulders, making you furrow a little.

James wasn't aggressive at that moment, no, he was just making you listen. And not just to register information that was coming out of his mouth. He wanted you to listen to what he was saying with the tone of his voice. It was really important for you to understand. But he was shaking your body as if you were a rag doll.

"And I know that if I would tell you a single thing of what have I told you just now, they would make you disappear, maybe they would deport you into the Russian hell I was in, they would get rid of you just like that." - One of his fingers snapped, making you even more scared than before. Your heard was pounding loud and quick, you almost didn't hear a word he had told you.

Was he serious? Was some secret state services spying on you and him, on your home, even your family perhaps? You haven't noticed a thing. Nobody ever had followed you, your phone wasn't monitored, there weren't any weird guys or women in your neighborhood. Ever. But... Jim seemed kinda serious, which made you gasp for air.

"I couldn't do that because I love you. And trust me, Tuinal didn't cause any of the things I've just told you. I'm not shittin' you, I'm not sayin' weird shit, it's just how it is." - Jim slowly let go of you, letting you step away from him as you started to panic again, covering your mouth with your palm. It wasn't the usual panic attack, this was... You were horrified.

It was hard to believe since what he had told was straightaway King-novel fanfiction shit. Hardcore eighties sci-fi and horror at its best. But... What would you do if Hopper had a chance to prove each of his points? What would you do then?

A fucking creature from which crawled another dimension was getting your girl, who had telepathic abilities by the way, and her friends in danger. And your fiancé was there both times, trying to keep your world and family safe.

"Look at this from my point of view, Jim. This is... Wild. This is more than fucking wild. Even if it would be a work of your imagination, which would be kinda incredible when I think about your imagination, it still would be wild. But you told me that there is... Proof, right? You can show me, that what you said?" - You asked again, pushing him away from the stove to continue with cooking the lunch.

"It is slightly illegal and can be called a trespassin', but I can show you everythin'." - Jim nodded and lit up a cigarette, taking one out of the pack you had there. You knew that you'd have to open up the window since both your mom and your dad were non-smokers. They wouldn't be very glad if they'd somehow find out that you or James smoked inside.

"I'm gonna give you the benefit of the doubt and I'm willing to go there... Whenever your damn Lab even is. But if it turns out to be all just one big lie, I swear to God, Jim. You're on thin fucking ice and if that ice breaks under you..." - You rose your eyebrows, looking out of the window. Jesus, you were torn apart into two halves - one wanted to believe him, you wanted to believe Jim so, so, so fucking bad. You were still in love with him, which was undeniable.

In the end, you lived together for... About two years? You couldn't even count it since Hopper was disappearing rather frequently and was gone... For sometimes a week, something three months, sometimes half a year. It was hard to establish how much time from those three years, two and a half years specifically, you had a normal relationship. Were you even in that phase? In the phase of having a normal relationship?

The other half inside of you was fucking sure that Jim had gone insane. Because using shit from D&D, tying up all the people you knew into the story, telling you that it always happened only when you weren't around... Jesus fucking Christ. You took in another deep breath and lit up a cigarette too, trying to keep your head straight. You were shaking. Your muscles were spasming and letting go at a pace so fast that your body was burning up.

After serving Jim the lunch, you both dressed up to be at least warm and able to move in the winter outside. Jim had taken your dad's splitters along with an old flashlight and put them on the backseat while he made you sit behind the steering wheel. You were a bit nervous, which was leveling up adequately with your inability to start the car.

"God fucking damn it, this dumb old car, I swear." - You mumbled under your breath when the engine didn't want to start working. Without further ado, Jim got off the car and opened up the hood, looking inside of it. He still had the same expression had when he was trying to start your car. Your car was a moody machine, especially in winter. Hopper breathed out a bit of fog on his fingers, trying to warm them up before he started to play with the cables.

"Kick it." - He looked at you with his eyebrows risen. You did as you were told and turned the engine key, making the engine yell loudly. You would be lost in the winter when it wouldn't be for Jim. Nobody except him and your dad had the skill to start that old crap. Jim sat back to you with a shit-eating grin, making you grin as well.

You were driving while he was telling you where to take a turn and where you should drive in the woods. Not too long after that, you were parking the car near an old facility which seemed to be empty and abandoned for quite some time. The snow was reaching up to your waist and thighs, so it was quite hard to even get in front of the Lab. The glass door were shattered, from squatters or someone like that you assumed, so getting wasn't too much trouble either.

That was when you saw it - blood on the ground and walls. That made you cover up your mouth and hope that you won't throw up.

"That's where Bob had died. Owens had to leave the place so quickly they barely packed everythin'." - Jim said behind you quietly in a mourning voice. That made you stand up. There was no body, but the tracks of blood, even if someone was trying to cover them up with paint, were still visible. - "You doin' good?" - His palm gently patted and then smoothed your back, making you a bit more comfortable. Tears were coming up to your eyes again when you watched the spot.

As you told, you didn't know Bob that well - you knew that man only from Jim's and Joyce's stories and from meeting him less than five times. But the man was a genuine good person. That was why you were so fucking moved by seeing the exact spot where he... Passed away. Or where he was eaten to death. Dear God.

When you nodded, Jim took you further into the facility. The windows were shattered so the ice-cold winter evening wind was howling through there, the walls were graffitied, but to your surprise, some of the lights were still working.

Documents marked as super-secret were scattered in the ground, even if most of the text was blacked with a marker. There was a lot of equipment left behind, medical and research tools just scattered around on the ground and in the empty rooms. Jim really meant what he told you; the government basically made Owens clear the building in two days - which was why there was all the stuff still here. Owens only packed the necessities, pushed them into three loaded military trucks and left the place as if nothing ever happened there. Or that was at least what Murray was telling.

It maybe was looking scary, but it still wasn't anything unusual. It was just the vibe of the place that was off. Until you tripped over something. Before you fell into the ground, Jim caught you, but your eyes widened in realization. You tripped over a pile of bones. Something had died and rotted there.

But it was too small to be an adult human bones. First, when you squated, took a paper from the ground to cover your fingers, you thought that maybe it could be bones of a child. But when you picked one up and looked at it closely, your breath hitched once again. Back in your day on highschool, you studied medicine and anatomy a lot, since you didn't know if you want to be a normal doctor or a psychologist when you grow up. You liked to have a back up plan and medicine was quite interesting as well. So you knew how human bones should look like; you once even saw some.

But that structure, shape, the color... Nothing seemed to be even close to how should human bones look like. First, you thought that maybe, it could be some animal bones of an nimal which was dragged there or tried to escape to safety - you would be sure since veterinary medicine wasn't really you thing.

Then you noticed it. It just hit your eyes - small spikes on the bones. You knew that birds had their bone structure practically full so they could fly... But an animal with spikes on their bones? No. Any known animal had spikes on its bones as far as you were informed.

"This... Jim..." - You gasped for air and put the bone back on the pile. Slowly, the things he told you about Bob, these Demogorgons and shit... It seemed to be more and more real with each passing second.

"We ain't endin' here." - Jim told you and led even further into the facility; specifically under it. You needed to take a few staircases which were quite long, but you were at least one or two levels under the surface of land. The door was locked with a chip reader, so Hopper just broke in after a few tries.

That was where the shit got wild. Some lights were working, some were just lighting up just to go dark in the next second, flickering and making the atmosphere darker and darker.

You were in something that could be called an observation station with a few machines. There was a monitor that was showing something when it was working, a lot of buttons and a microphone. A wheelchair was thrown on the ground just few feet away from you. The place was giving you chills.

On your left, something like a decontamination chamber could be seen, the automatic door now being opened and not powered by the electric circuit.

"Where are we, James?" - You asked in a whisper, being really unnerved at that second. Jim didn't respond, the only thing he did was that he walked further in.

So you followed him.

[theonewiththefanfics]

Hawkins’ Charm (Part 4/?)

Synopsys: They had gotten out of Hawkins. After all the shit that had happened, all the heartache and pain, Billy and the Reader had gotten away from that hellhole, building their life in California as he had dreamed. But when Max’s graduation rolls around and they go to celebrate, it’s as if the Upside Down was just waiting for all of them to return. And it has a bone to pick.

Pairing: Billy Hargrove x f!Reader; platonic!Steve Harrington x f!Reader

Genre: angst

Warnings: blood, mentions of injuries and death, fighting, swearing

Word count: 3345

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT CONDONE BILLY’S ACTIONS AND THE THINGS HE’S DONE! THIS IS BASICALLY AN AU, WHEN REALLY LOOKING AT IT! SPOILERS FOR S3! READ AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION!

Y/N’s heart felt as if it was about to break out of her chest, her arms clutching onto a crowbar she’d found under one of the bus’ seats. Steve’s back was just as tightly pressed against the inside wall, as was hers, his own fingers wrapped around a sturdy looking piece of wood, yet she still felt like there was nothing separating them from the Demogorgon.        Tears had started to stream down her face pretty much instantly when they both dropped down to hide inside the hull of the vehicle.        “Do you think it heard us?” Y/N whispered, trying not to move a muscle in her trembling limbs.        Steve shook his head. “I don’t think so, but I’m not about to ask it.”        “We have to get out of here.”        “Yeah no shit,” he hissed, extending his neck to see out the front window where the Demogorgon was still lurking, moving at a snail’s pace and sniffing each and every corner.    It looked about a hundred and fifty feet away, but it was still a risk to leave. They could slam up against something sharp, and if the sound wouldn’t give away their position the scent of blood definitely would.

       Y/N was desperately trying to look around the interior for anything they could use against it. She remembered that it hated warmth, despised it, so fire would be a sure way to incapacitate it for a moment, if not even gravely injure it.        Her Y/E/C eyes befell on a graffiti can.        “What are you doing?” Steve asked, hands gripping his weapon tighter.        She just shushed him with a look and passed her crowbar to him. Barely breathing, Y/N leaned to stand on all fours and crawled her way down the aisle. Just as her fingers were about to reach for the can, she heard the Demogorgon approach.        Y/N completely pressed herself against the floor as Steve did to the side of the bus. The fear was all consuming by that point. Sure, she’d fought one of those pieces of shit before, she had fought even bigger monsters, but there was something about the Demogorgon, that Y/N couldn’t quite shake.        Maybe it was the fact it had been the thing that started it all – taken Will, killed Barb and had turned her life upside down. Quite literally.        Or maybe it was the fact she was no longer fighting for herself or for her friends. Y/N had a family. A husband and a daughter that meant the most to her in the world, so the fact that the Demogorgon could so easily rip it away was not something she liked to consider.        They could hear the weird noises it emitted, as it walked around the junkyard, slowly moving further away from where Steve and Y/N were hiding.        He stretched his neck a bit further out to look at where the Demogorgon was, and after deeming it safe, Y/N crawled forward a bit more and got a hold of the can. She couldn’t tell if it was half full or completely empty, at least not by the weight of it, so the only way they’d be able to check was if she shook it and pressed on the nozzle.        “It’s gonna be loud,” Y/N muttered, looking at Steve.        He nodded. “I know…" then something dawned on him. "Wait, do you have a lighter or something?”       Shit. She hadn’t even thought about how she’d light it up. Y/N’s main concern had been getting the can and now testing it, not figuring out if by the lucky chance it was usable, they had anything to flame the paint up with.        Instinctively Y/N patted down Billy’s jacket, for the first time ever hoping to find either matches or a lighter, but of course, there was nothing. He hadn’t smoked in years.        Her mind wheered with the possibilities of what they could do.        “Do you think there’s something here we could use? There’s no way kids don’t come here to smoke or drink,” she muttered, scanning the bus again.        “Maybe,” Steve whispered back, still tracking the Demogorgon’s moves, the crowbar his new best friend until he could get his hands on his trusty nailed bat. “And there could be some stuff of use in the other cars, but are we sure we wanna risk it?”        “Steve,” Y/N whisper-yelled, “we’re gonna have to risk it either way. There’s zero chance we can take it on with a rusted crowbar and a wooden plank. Fire’s our best bet.”        “And if it’s empty?”        A pregnant pause passed.        “Then we run like fucking hell.”

***

       The junkyard might’ve been a twenty-minute walk through the woods from Tina’s, but with a car, with having to weave their way through the town, no matter how small Hawkins was and no matter how fast Billy was driving, it was still way too far away.        “Take a left!” Robin yelled, as he almost missed a turn, the tires screeching against the road and leaving black marks in their wake.        She looked to the side, watching as Billy’s knuckles on the wheel turned from white to almost translucent, eyes boring into the street like he could see invisible marks Y/N had left there that would lead them to Steve and her.        “They’re gonna be okay,” Robin tried to somewhat soothe him, but his grip only tightened, and his foot pressed on the gas pedal harder. “They’ve dealt with this before.”        “That doesn’t make me feel any better,” Billy grunted and quickly looked in his rearview mirror to see Nancy practically decimate the path behind them, her headlights shining brightly before they disappeared as she took a quick right to pull up on the other side.        “They’re alone, in a junkyard with whatever the hell kind of a monster the Mind Flayer has released now. No weapons,” he slammed a hand on the wheel, and Robin tightened her hold on the shotgun. “And it’s my fault,” he let out a bitter chuckle. “I called her a mood killer and told her to go home, ‘cause I just fucking needed to prove to fucking Tommy H, Tommy H! that I was still the King of Hawkins!”        “Look,” Robin started and then pointed to where a forest road led to the junkyard, Billy quickly turning that way. “Yeah, you were a dick, when she just wanted to relax with her friends, and your ego might’ve gotten in the way, but this is not your fault.”        “Really? Then whose is it?”        “I don’t know!” she practically screamed. “Probably whoever opened the Gate!”        Whoever.        Opened.        The.        Gate.        “Fuck,” they breathed simultaneously.        The Gate was open. Had to be. There was no other way to explain how something from the Upside Down could be here.        “Do you think it’s the Russians again?” Billy asked, trying to think of something else other than his wife fighting off a monster, and maybe, potentially, losing the battle.        “I don’t know,” Robin shook her head and loaded two rounds into the gun. “It wouldn’t make any sense, cause the people Hopper called to help us out four years ago made sure to lock everything up.”        “And do you trust what they said?”        “I mean given how they poured cement over each and every door, and Joyce was there to oversee it, yeah. I trust her.”        It didn’t make any sense. The only other option was that the old access point in the Lab had been opened.        “I mean, the Russians did apparently have their own Gates,” Robin suddenly remembered a conversation she’d had after the whole thing had gone down, hands slightly shaking at the thought of what was to come. Would it be as bad as it had been the first time around?        Billy’s eyebrows furrowed. “What like in Moscow or something?”        “I don’t know. All I know is that the last time Joyce and Hopper grabbed some commie dude, and he told them they used to have their own Gates, but something always prohibited them from fully working, so that’s why they came to Hawkins. This is like the source of all that Upside-Down shit.”        Of course, there’d have to be something completely wrong with this already godforsaken town.        “So, you think they did what?” Billy bitterly chuckled, “hopped on a boat and sailed here? Or did they send ‘em through the post?"        Robin was not on board with his attitude despite understanding where he was coming from. “Look, I said I thought I saw a weird humanoid thing with a flower for a head. Nance said that means it’s probably a Demogorgon, and the last time, that shit could make portals wherever the fuck it wanted. So, maybe there’s a Gate open somewhere in Russia, and it just decided to move on its own to where the pull is the strongest?”        They had slowed down to a crawl, headlights turned off before Billy had to kill the engine. They’d make the rest of the way on foot as to not give away their position.        “There still has to be a gateway open in Hawkins,” Billy whispered opening up the trunk and taking out a bat he kept there. Clara was a huge fan of baseball for some reason, and he had decided for her fourth birthday they’d go to a game and ask a player to sign it. “It might be able to survive with a Gate open so far away, but it wouldn’t be able to function. Trust me,” he gave Robin a painful look. “I’d know.”        “We need to see El,” Robin muttered, whispering as they neared the junkyard. “Maybe she can help us find out what the fuck is going on.        “After we save my wife.”        “And Steve.”        Billy just gave her a look of dejected confirmation before they stepped out into the dark woods. Y/N would always be his first priority. Her and their kid.        His grip grew tighter around the bat.

***

       They had miraculously managed to evade the Demogorgon, up until that point. Together Steve and Y/N had made their way across the junkyard and towards the tiny path that led into the forest but not before scouring every possible car. She was still holding onto the graffiti can like it was her last lifeline, which it might as well have been.        “The one time his disgusting habit could’ve been useful,” Steve had muttered to Y/N after they had searched the third car for something to ignite the fumes if there were any left in the can.        Their feet moved against the gravel with way too much noise for their liking, but the Demogorgon seemed to be far away enough, it wasn’t picking up on it or didn’t deem the prey noteworthy if it did hear them.        “Quiet,” Y/N hissed with a motion to the trunk as Steve popped the back open. It seemed to be a relatively new car in the yard, at least it hadn’t been there when they were teenagers, the paint was still shiny, the light from the moon bouncing off its sides, compared to the rusty beasts lying around.        A trash bag, what looked like a ripped-up sheet with stains littered across the fabric and a can of gasoline was what was inside.        Gently, Steve grabbed the handle and lifted it up. Clear as the day, they heard liquid slosh around the cannister. And yet, still, with the additional fuel they could use, there was no way to ignite it.        Something in the woods behind them cracked, and their heads whipped around. A low rumble echoed across the field. It was a rumble that Y/N would recognize even dead before it disappeared.        “Billy,” she whispered, hope lacing that single word, but during the little moment of happiness, she had let go of the trunk's hood, as had Steve for he had grabbed onto the crowbar with both hands thinking it was the Demogorgon when it closed with a loud slam.        The monster whipped its head around from where it had been sniffling, opening up its grotesque mouth and releasing a screech.        Her first instinct was to drop down and hide, but someone from the opposite side yelled ‘hey!’, and they took it as their opportunity to flee.        “Run!” Steve yelled, setting off in a dead sprint.        A gunshot rang out, the bullet whizzing past their heads, and Y/N instinctively ducked, the graffiti can rolling out of her hands and under a pile of metal scraps.        “Shit!”        Y/N scrambled towards where she thought it could’ve gone but had to recoil when something sneered directly into her face. It seemed to be a Demogorgon, but it wasn’t big enough, more so the size of a big cat or a small dog.        A hand grabbed at her collar yanking Y/N back, the crowbar in Steve’s hand meeting the back of whatever that thing was.        “Watch out for Demodogs!” he yelled, and a bullet from the shotgun Robin was holding met its head, the beast recoiling away but not dead.        Y/N’s eyebrows scrunched up. “Demowhatnow?”        “Demodogs!” Steve was gripping at her hand and pulling her away to the bus to take cover, as more and more of those things surrounded them. “The year after the first incident, Dustin found this weird lizard thing, and it turned out it was a Demogorgon, only not fully evolved.”        “So, you’re saying that those things,” Y/N pointed at one of them, “become that?!”        By that, she meant the Demogorgon making its way towards them but being fended off by Nancy who had made a Molotov cocktail from a whiskey bottle she’d snatched from Tina’s, the end of her blouse and a lighter.        A lighter!        “Nance!” Y/N yelled. “There’s a can of gasoline in the trunk we were looking in!”        “On it!”        The Demodogs were pressing in on them. She could hear the yelps from them when the thud of a crowbar or Billy’s bat met flesh, Robin taking as many out with her shotgun, Johnathan keeping Nancy safe by creating a wall of flame as he spilt another bottle of whiskey around them and lit it on fire.        It was unmistakably Billy’s arm that wrapped around Y/N's middle and pulled her behind him.        “Get to the car! Now!”        She wasn’t going to argue, seeing as she was the only one without a weapon, and where she was stubborn, she also knew how to read the situation. With one last look at Steve to know he was going to be okay, he nodded giving her the green light, and Y/N was running.          But she didn’t get far. Pain exploded all across her back, and a metallic taste invaded her mouth as she was slammed onto the ground. Bright spots danced across her vision, and it was hard to take in a breath. It was like a belt was slowly being tightened around her neck.        She thought she vaguely heard someone yelling her name. Someone vaguely sounding like Billy.        Y/N tried to answer, to call out for him, but her tongue was made out of cotton, and lips wouldn’t move. Her fingers went to grab at whatever was prohibiting her from taking in a breath when she was met by fingers with razors for nails.            Y/E/C eyes instantly sprung open to see the Demogorgon leaning over her, its mouth open as if waiting for her to give him permission to eat. Of course, that was not going to happen.        With as much strength as she could muster, Y/N kicked at the knees of the Demogorgon, and for a brief moment, she had taken it off its balance, allowing air to start flowing once more.        Quickly she turned on her stomach to crawl away, but her oxygen deprived limbs were too slow, and the agonizing feeling of claws digging in her back and dragging her away made her vision go black.        For a moment, Y/N opened her eyes and saw the junkyard illuminated by a circle of fire and a horde of Demodogs surrounding her friends and the one person she could never live without.        Then everything turned to darkness.

***

       Robin didn’t have any more bullets, and she was fighting the Demodogs off by simply slamming them with the shotgun. But the fight didn’t last much longer.    In a way, it was a miracle, as the surviving Demodogs retreated back from where they’d come from, hissing and growling. But at the same time, it didn’t feel right. Sure, they were battered and bruised and tired, and they had no complaints about no more fighting, but that’s when they were the weakest, the easiest to be killed.            Billy was sporting a nasty cut on his shoulder from one of the paws of the Demodogs, and it was hard to keep ahold of the bat the pain making bright white spots dance across the inside of his lids whenever he blinked.        “What are they doing?” Johnathan asked, completely confused as they’d stood back to back while struggling to defend one another.        “They’re retreating…” Robin stated the obvious, but it seemed so improbable it was needed for it to be pointed out. “Why – why are they retreating?”        “Guys?” Steve butted in, “where’s Y/N?”        “I told her to get to the car,” Billy responded, and it was those words that made him dash towards where he’d parked the Camaro by the junction.    He’d never been a religious person, the Virgin Mary that always hung against his chest had been his mother’s, but for the third time in his life, he prayed.        The first time had been when the Mind Flayer had injured him. He had prayed for death to come quickly. The second time had been when Y/N was in labour. He had prayed for everything to go as smoothly as possible. Now he was praying to find his wife in the safety of his car, but when he was fifty feet away, he didn’t need light to know she wasn’t there.        “Y/N!” Billy roared but was only answered by the silence of the forest. “Y/N!”        Four pairs of feet joined him and looked at the distressed man as he pulled at his hair and kept yelling her name    “Maybe the Demogorgon was chasing her, and she decided to run,” Steve threw out the idea, hoping for it to be true, but everyone had a gut feeling it wasn’t. Nothing was ever that easy.       “No! Fuck it took her! I left the keys in the car! If she would’ve made it, she would’ve slammed on the gas pedal.”            Billy chucked the bat against the door, and it left a sizable dent in it. He didn’t care about it anymore, he didn’t care about anything else anymore. His wife was gone, missing, and it had been his fault.        His fault she was hurt, his fault their daughter could possibly have to grow up without a mother.        His fault.        “Let’s go,” Johnathan’s voice brought him out of his self-loathing.        “No,” Billy shook his head. “I gotta find her.”        But he had nowhere to start.        Nancy tried to reason with him. “That’s what we’re gonna do, but it’s pointless to scour the woods in complete darkness with barely any protection. We don’t know where the Demodogs are or the Demogorgon. El’s at our place with the rest of the Party… She can help. She can find her.”        “Do you promise?” Billy asked through tears that he could barely keep at bay. “Can you promise me she’ll be alright?”        “I can’t,” Nancy’s lip quivered at the admission. She couldn’t lose another friend, but she also couldn’t swear that they’d find Y/N alive. “But El’s our best option.”        He kicked the dirt by the wheel of the car but nodded.        El was their best option.        “Come on,” Billy wiped his face down, a trail of dirt and tears left in the wake of his palm. “The sun's coming up.”    With the first scarlet rays of the new day, Billy and Robin climbed into his car as Nancy and Johnathan went back to theirs. He'd find her. And if he didn't he'd burn Hawkins to the ground.

Tags (crossed out wouldn’t take): 

Hawkins’ Charm tag list: @genius2050 @aiifandomsunite​ @ashleymarieriffle​ @littlefool-smalljester​ @infinitelycharmed23​ @llcalumllhoodll​ @benevolentgemini @rxmanovbby​ @euphoniumpets​ @krazykatykat456 @believerofall​ @cracked-sidewalk98 @ccidk​ @babechief @meganmj​ @blackhood5sos​ @fml9603​ @noodlenerd101​ @universefinds​ @kuroidesuchloe​ @im-a-stranger-thing​ @grxxn-gardxns​ @springholland​ @beforethebraces​ @robinisourlesbianmom @queeneliza108​ @neenaw-neenaw @lexisntthatweird​ @choicesismylife​ @mckenzie2020 @kcd15​ @snuggleducky​ @reckless-sofia​ @didyouseetheflair​ @silver-winter-wolf​ @jay-ta-blog​ @hopeless-lovex0​ @anyasthoughts​ @robinismyqueen​ @yeah-butyourenot-dacremontgomery @mcrganstarks​ @psychoticobsession @cutehipstergirl25​ @sbfandom @mickmoon​ @jackyfrost01 @txhmine @dark-princess99​ @morgangrice18 @changingmylifestyle367​ @graveyard--baby--666 @sweetdayme4427

Forever tags: @lumelgy @palaiasaurus64 @supernaturalbaesduh @breezy1415 @crazy--me @thatawkwardlittlefangirl @sea040561 @staryeyedgirl @deathbyarabbit @s-c-a-r-e-d-po-t-t-e-r @reblogger-not-a-blogger @m-a-t-91 @dalilx @i-need-a-hero-i-need-a-loki @maladaptive-ninja-returns @averyrogers83 @in-the-end-im-still-trash @gallifreyansass @dewy-biitch @avxgers @unlikelygalaxygiver @sweet-ladyy @magicwithaknife @ollyoxenfrees @bnhvrdy @tvwhoresblog @celebsimagines @thatkindofgurl @sj-thefan @teenwolflover28

A/N: I apologise for any grammar mistakes, I’m pretty tired, but I wanted to put out this part :D

P.S. my tags are always open :)

[nerdyvocals]

Hopper Is Alive

Spoilers for The Battle of Starcourt, read at your own risk

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So everyone knows the theory that Hopper is “the American” in the Russian Parisian shown in the end credit scene, but the show basically confirms that he is. How, you may ask? Let’s take a look at season one.

Chapter Eight: The Upside Down. The gang has split up. Joyce and Hopper head to the lab to look for Will, Nancy and Jonathan (and later Steve) go to the Byers’ house to lure in and kill the Demogorgon, while the kids hide out at the school and try to keep El safe. Mike kisses El, revealing his feelings for her, and they make plans to go to the Snowball. Plans they don’t get to follow through on.

The Bad Men show up, as does the Demogorgon. El takes down the human adversaries and uses the last of her strength to fight the Demogorgon while the others (specifically Mike) look on unable to help. It’s at this point that El realizes that she probably won’t make it through killing the Demogorgon. She turns around and says goodbye to Mike before finishing what she started. There’s no body, but she’s presumed dead.

Hopper leaves the Christmas party to hide food in a drop box in the woods. He leaves eggos, confirming for the viewers that he’s leaving them for El.

Now let’s look at Chapter Eight: The Battle of Starcourt.

The gang has split up once again. Joyce, Hopper, and Murray are headed to the Russian lab to blow up The Key and destroy the gate. Steve, Robin, Erica, and Dustin head to the radio tower to navigate. Nancy and Jonathan are tasked with getting the kids to Murray’s bunker and keeping El safe, but Billy and then the Mindflayer trap them in the mall.

Murray splits from Joyce and Hop to set off an alarm that will give them a clear shot at the Key. During the calm before the storm, Hopper and Joyce finally confess their feelings and plan to go on a date when it’s all over. A plan they never get to follow through.

Terminator-guy comes out of nowhere and Hop fights him off, getting closer and closer to the Key. In the end, he kills the Terminator, and the Key lets off an electric surge that he can’t pass through. Realizing they’ve run out of time, he locks eyes with Joyce. He smiles and nods, telling her to go through with it. The Key is destroyed. There’s no body, but Hopper is presumed dead.

Three months later, in a Russian prison, an American prisoner is mentioned while a man in a different cell is dragged down several flights of stairs, locked in a cage, and left to the mercy of an adolescent Demogorgon. (It looks bigger than the Demo-Dogs but smaller than the Demogorgon in season one).

Let me list out the parallels here.

A character and their love interest confess their feelings and agree to go on a date

Said character fights an antagonist that showed up unexpectedly

They must sacrifice themselves to defeat the Big Bad of the season

Before doing so, they turn to their love interest to say goodbye

There were no remains of any kind

Months after the fact, there’s a sprinkle of hope: eggos on the woods, an American in Russia

Switch El and Mike with Hopper and Joyce and it’s the same scene. The same scene.

I wasn’t paying attention to these details and I’m too emotional at present to rewatch and confirm, but someone pointed out that when the Key in Russia blew up at the beginning of Suzie, Do You Copy?, those that were killed were reduced to a bloody goo, and supposedly the same thing happened to the Russians killed when the Hawkins Key exploded. But Hopper didn’t have any remains.

This last bit of evidence is a bit of a stretch, but I’m counting it: in an interview the cast confirmed (it was Gaten I believe) that “a main character would die this season”. A main character. Singular. We know Billy died because a body was left behind. No remains, it can’t be a confirmed death.

Now, onto my theory as to exactly how Hopper survived.

When the American army rushed in, we see the charred remains of the Key. None of the building was destroyed in the blast. Only people. This has led me to believe that it would only destroy organic material. Look at the scene placement. Hopper is standing between the Key and the gate. Say a piece of the machine flew off, hit him, and shielded him from the more certain-death part of the blast.

And what if the force of the explosion shoved him through the gate?

I don’t think the Russians already had the Demogorgon in Hawkins. They hadn’t been able to open a gate anywhere else at this time, Hawkins was the closest they had gotten so far, but there was nothing to suggest that they had captured something. There was the cage Erica and Dustin found, but it was empty. Plus, there would have been talk of something so huge through the lab, even if it was coded. This means they opened a hate elsewhere. That’s when they caught the Demogorgon. That’s when they found Hopper.

They couldn’t let him walk. He knew too much. But he knew much more about the Upside Down than they did. So they kept him in a prison in Russia.

I have no idea how they’ll bring him back in season four, but I am certain that he is alive.

[nobadboydj]

Stranger Things

The last episode of season three when hopper 'died' and El was reading the letter a song called 'Heroes' by Peter Gabriel played, when the song played I recognized it but I didn't know where until my brother and I were talking about it..

Think back to season one when they found 'will's body' in the lake, they played the song heroes then when we thought a character had died but when they were actually still alive..

'Keep the door at least three inches open' I assume you will recognize this line from Stranger Things? remember when they were in the lab, we saw hopper for a few seconds before we saw Joyce and then we watched as the scientists all blew up and as the gate was closed..

But it wasn't entirely closed?

Three inches open, the gate was three inches open in which hopper could have found his way inside or been sucked into the upside down, then as you start to watch the credits a minute later the show takes you to Kamchatka Russia, where yet again they are trying to understand the upside down, you also hear them say "No not the American" well Hopper was American..

Annnnd if he was sucked into the upside down and Russia's military is studying the upside down and trying to find ways to open it's gate(s) they could have found Hopper and kidnapped him bringing him back to the military base in which we saw, also the Demogorgon I originally thought was dart, but it's not a dog, it's a human Demogorgon, it at first looked like dark walking on four legs before standing up to have the frame as a human?

Back to the song heroes, when they played it when finding wills fake body, he wasn't dead, then they played it again where we somewhat assume hopper could be dead but why would they play the exact same song?

[shoepolishpolice]

Stranger Things 4 Storyline (spoilers maybe)

California

Eleven still hasn’t regained her powers and is not fitting in at school. She’ll defo try using them against bullies and when they fail she’ll be teased more

Owens will have her surrounded when they return from roller skating/police custody and convince her to let them test her again to get her powers back and save the day. Instead she’ll be kidnapped by the desert bad men and relive trauma and flashbacks and memories of the lab and the other children but happy memories too like the snowball- and then shaving her head again

The cali boys will find out she’s been taken and take it upon themselves to find her, getting Suzie’s help along the way

Pretty sure the boys will be on the run as well because of that scene in the teaser where they’re being fired at. Pretty sure a new character will join and help them (and Karen and Holly look under attack too)

I’m guessing a new gate will open in cali when eleven gains her powers back and blows up the new lab

Hawkins

Lots happening here… Lots of new and old locations being used like lovers lake, the counsellors house, graveyard, trailer park where Eddie lives and does the guitar sesh, hops cabin, penthouses, prison, police station

Max is Struggling, she defos is the one who gets Vecna’s curse. Pretty sure that’s gonna kill Chrissy too or her past is involved somehow- or perhaps it targets random Hawkins folk and shes one. Pretty sure Lucas’ bad boi friends will be targeted too.

Max will get flashbacks a little like Eleven but it’s more of a possession than her actually gaining power

So I think they’ll find out about the Creels because someone has become a suspicious person recently and they want to solve the crime themselves as they have more insight than the police also probably because it’s someone they know or they smell bullshit

Obviously this will unravel into everything Creel and Vecna related and these guys will uncover the gate and all it’s new features

I think a lot of the Hawkins folks are gonna be effected and dragged into this, Hawkins is definitely gonna be the biggest and most chaotic

Pretty sure the kids personal lives are all over the place too and no one quite fits in like they used to and new friendships blow up too- I think the last day of spring, the basketball game and whole police/Creel drama happen the same day and maybe they skip the basketball game to solve it

The more I think on it, the more likely Billy returning in some shape or form becomes and I truly do not know how to feel about that

Also some time spent in ye olde Hawkins with the creels and penthurst - hope they give us random fun snippets to our older characters youths too

Russian kiddos

Spooky packages and cryptic messages for Joyce are gonna lead to her and Murray finding Hopper but you bet hop is already making his own prison break and it is one big ol mess

Defo getting inside help from a Russian dude- Yuri I believe- who has a fish shop???

Nice lil cage fights for hopper and the other prisoners when they’re not building train tracks? And he’s gonna find some weakness in the og demogorgon

Lots of explosives in Russia too but I think each location will get some of that boom boom too tbf

Defo a jopper reunion as I think HE is wearing HER coat, it is far too 80s American to be laying around a prison and his weapon of choice this season is FIRE lovely

I think they will use the gate as a quick journey back to America- break back into Russian prison? and all the teams will collide there

I think memories are going to be a key theme this season: Max with Billy, their shared past and his death. Eleven at the lab and her found family- why is she making these choices ‘ I can save them’ vibes. Would love some baby Jopper memories. Maybe Steve and Nancy mems too cos he is definitely reevaluating his life. Everyone is bringing up Lonnie too and I would actually quite like his return and maybe that connects to Will gaining power which I think would be shweeet

I think vol I is going to be a very detailed set up for volume II and i don’t think the main situation will be solved at all but all the little pieces will be achieved: elevens powers return, hopers return, the past and truth of the gate/lab, all the different relationships will heal. This way vol II can be one big team up of chaos and fighting like a four episode finale