#she is not a fucking republican why the fuck would they doooo thhaaaaatttt dumb shitttttksjdhsksbd@(&:&;!:&;;€:’dm

[eddiemunsonbignaturals]

erica sinclair and eddie munson radicalize each other, actually.

erica is a nonconformist not by philosophy, but by nature. she’s too unapologetically herself and too dedicated to the whole and unfiltered truth to be conned by conservatism once she’s old and curious enough to start actually reading history, outside of IPS sanctioned sources.

she learns what mass hysteria looks like— satanic panic. that time in the gym, after munson has to go on the run, when she’s surrounded by ‘sensible,’ ‘responsible,’ educated people who are meant to be her protectors, she witnesses the real grownups of her town decide to hunt down some of the most kind and vulnerable people she knows, just because some blond w a booming voice and and vendetta he can barely justify gets his hands on a mic and confirms their meanest assumptions. no proof, no sense. no truth at all.

erica realizes then just how stupid and easily cowed others can be, how cruel and careless people with means often are, and it infuriates her. she vows to never act on fear, promises herself she won’t be like the sheep in charge.

her know-it-all sass calcifies into what just looks like a blind rebellious streak, but she’s too smart for that. the rebellion matures into a radical politic, the care, the kindness and determination, that she learns from her big brother luke, joined w her own wit and hunger for truth. she decides that justice, that using that unwavering voice for the voiceless, has always been her calling. all it takes is a nudge in the right direction.

eddie munson, without even meaning to be, is that gateway. eddie comes back from hell so scarred but surrounded by friends, and the newest induction into the family shares his penchant for argument and alternative music. metal wakes erica up to anger in art, and then leads her to punk. there, she finds home. erica hones her anger into something righteous, sharper than ever.

as erica learns more all through high school and after grad, the know-it-all in her just gets stronger.

eddie has known he’s different forever, his sense of self is bolstered and buoyed by this fact. he’s against the mainstream, against yuppie vapidity and hate for its own sake. but then, erica asks him harder and harder questions about what he does believe, what he does ascribe to. is it really rebellion, really “counterculture,’ to anything, if you’re only going against it for the sake of being against something? she asks, doesn’t that just make you a different flavor of follower?

erica pushes him to look deeper, at himself and at the world, asks that his sense of righteous justice finds real systemic targets. not just ‘society,’ or ‘the man,’ he starts to read and really listen, starts to kill his heroes and darlings when he realizes how the aesthetics blind him to the damage they can do.

i think they grow up together, and challenge each other in ways only your scariest sibling can, and they both come out better for good trouble