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imfinereallyy · 2 years ago

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Deja Vu

for @mira-jadeamethyst and their request for a deja vu soulmate au, I had so much fun writing it. I hope you like it. ˚ʚ♡ɞ˚

Steve Harrington wasn't sure about a lot when it came to life, but he was sure that this wasn't his only one.

It had been small things at first. The sense that he had seen the face before of a businessman his father worked with, despite them meeting for the first time. How many steps are on the stairs to his room the first time they get to the house in Hawkins. The way he knew that his favorite color was yellow but couldn't exactly explain it. It was just that it has always been yellow; like he was born with only knowing two things: how to breathe and that his eyes would always wander to things bathed in the color of sunshine.

Then it had been bigger things, like knowing his parents would never love him, even before the first strike of his father's palm. The way his body ached once and a while with an injury that he wouldn't receive until years down the line. How once he got them for real, the aches were then every day.

The biggest had come in the form of him fumbling for his keys, running from the Byers' house. The deep seeded curse of knowing that he couldn't run away, that this was important. That he had been here before, time and time again, but this was the only way it work out. So without thinking too deeply into it, as he had with most things he felt he had done once before, Steve Harrington ran back inside to face a monster of an unknown world.

It was hard to ignore after that.

Steve wasn't exactly sure what any of it meant. Why he had this constant feeling of Deja Vu. He didn't know if it was that he was doomed to live the same things over and over, as if he was stuck in a loop. That one didn't feel likely, though. He was always moving forward, making mistakes, unable to undo. Before the Upside Down, he had believed that maybe it was his past lives haunting him. That he was the same kind of person no matter the period of time.

After the Upside Down, he started to think maybe there were a bunch of different versions of himself in different universes, echoing off of each other.

Steve didn't really understand the science behind that one. He had thought about seeking Dustin out and had even buttered him up with a king-sized 3 Musketeer. When it came down to asking, though, Steve backed out. This time it hadn't been a feeling telling him he had done this before, that he had to do it right. In the end, it had boiled down to the simple ideas of he didn't want to seem silly, and he wasn't entirely sure Dustin would believe him.

Because maybe it was none of his theories; maybe it was nothing at all.

So, Steve moved throughout his life with a constant feeling of exasperated "this again?", in his gut.

Still, Steve had learned a few things along the way.

The first was that in every life, his parents would remain the same. There was no version of him good enough. Their love was conditional, temporary if it existed at all. In this lifetime, it did not. Some days this comforted Steve, knowing he wasn't the source of the problem. On other days, he thought desperately to himself that maybe this time, he could get it right.

He would not.

The second was that in every life, Steve Harrington will love Nancy Wheeler, and in every universe, she will love him differently than he wants. Steve figures this out in Tina's bathroom when Nancy drunkenly slurs "bullshit" to him over and over. With each punishing word, Steve feels an ache in his chest that feels like burned skin once again over an open flame: The hurt was already there, healed over, only to be opened again. Most days, Steve is bitter about this one. It seemed to Steve that every version of him was destined to be lonely and unwanted for a long time. On the odd day, though, Steve was strangely happy about this occurrence. For Steve had learned to love Nancy differently, too. That perhaps he never even loved her in the way that he needed. Not in the bare, all-encompassing way he craved. During their relationship, they both wore masks, never really themselves around the other. Steve wasn't sure if Nancy could have ever really loved the real him.

Nancy and Steve were not bound together by love, care, or kindness. Instead, they were strung together with broken strings dipped in steel-coated camaraderie.

The third thing Steve learned along the way was perhaps his favorite of all. In every life, Robin Buckley and Steve Harrington are best friends.

Steve had a feeling when he met Robin for the first time, buried under all of the irritation he had for the stupid uniform, that she was something special. He felt it there with his feet planted on the cold tile, that Robin and him had done this before. They were supposed to be in this room together.

Robin, unfortunately had not felt this way at first. Steve had thought maybe, for once, he had gotten it wrong.

But then there was Russian code, secret underground bases (both of which Steve had not had the feeling of doing before), and torture (this, unfortunately, felt like a repeated event), and suddenly they are both on the tile floor of a movie theater bathroom high off their asses, and Steve knew.

Steve knew that in every lifetime, Steve Harrington lives, breathes, and dies for Robin Buckley. And he knows that Robin would do the same for him.

Steve, for the first time, wasn't gutted by his deja vu. He wasn't licking the wounds of rejection. Instead, he felt a little bit like his favorite color, bright and warm. Burning from the inside with the kind of happiness only connected to friendship.

Steve thought maybe now he would be able to tell someone why his favorite color was yellow just as easily as he could explain why Robin Buckley was his favorite person.

Despite all the learning he'd done, all the recollections he had, Steve never told anyone. It wasn't like it was important. It wasn't like he had the power to change things or know when or where things would happen. Most of all, Steve was pretty certain there was no one he was meant to be with. That his cursed feelings of "this again?" were his warning enough that he would never truly belong to anyone. The closest thing he would get to that all-encompassing sort of love would be from Robin, from the party.

Steve had convinced himself that he was okay with this because it was simply meant to be. So, he never said a word.

Steve learned the hard way the truth cannot long stay hidden, that eventually, he would have to face what it all meant and why.

It started like this:

With Steve's back being crushed against the boathouse wall and a broken bottle pressed against his neck. A wild Eddie Munson in his face, everyone around them yelling, screaming at one another. Each of them was so distracted with calming Eddie down, and getting Steve to back off they didn't notice Eddie lean in carefully.

With a harsh whisper that Steve was surprised he could hear over the roaring of his ears, Eddie snarled, "I would think before you speak next, Harrington."

Instantaneously Steve felt it. That drop in his stomach, the head rush, the ringing in his ears. Steve felt it stronger than ever before, like a siren in the sea; something called him to this moment, to this man before him. Steve had felt Eddie's swipe of his thumb across his chest before. Had smelt this smoke and sweat over and over again, despite never being this close. Steve knew, with every fiber of his being, Eddie had asked him this many times before.

And all Steve could think, stripped bare of any other feeling except the all-encompassing need behind the words of his only thought, "You again."

***

this was so fun to write and more of a snippet than anything. Like most things, let me know if I should write more to it. This feels like more of an ao3 potential piece.

anyway, keep a look out for more of the request game responses; they are on a posting schedule right now :)

#steddie #stranger things #platonic stobin #soulmate au #there was so much build up to this but aaaaahhhh it was so fun to write #steve harrington #my writing #eddie munson #robin buckley #ficlet #steve x eddie #stobin #platonic soulmates stobin #steve and robin are soulmates too #but so are eddie and steve #just in very different ways #soulmates #twin flames

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gatheringfiki · 11 months ago

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AUpocalypse - Summary

Thank you so much for all your responses - I had a blast with this event and I hope you did too! Please don't forget to comment and reblog, if you've enjoyed the entries ;)

We've given it a few extra days just in case, but it's time to do the summary of all responses:

Week 1: Drama, Action or Adventure

Memoirs of Hadrian AU by @youuuuegg

The Mummy AU by @silvermoon-scrolls

The Bourne Identity AU by @i-am-still-bb

Brideshead Revisited AU by @i-am-still-bb

Three Musketeers AU by @linane-art

Dracula AU by @youuuuegg

The Mummy AU by @king-on-carven-throne

with bonus The Mummy AU ficlet by @linane-art

Civil War AU by @i-am-still-bb

Moodboard by @stelly38

Week 2: Historical, Fantasy or Sci-Fi

An AU by @stelly38

Memoirs of Hadrian by @youuuuegg

Hawkins AU by @king-on-carven-throne

Sherlock/Watson AU by @metztlilua

Star Trek AU by @silvermoon-scrolls

The Mummy AU by @lazysaturdayonthebeach

Week 3: Comedy, Romance or Fairytale

Guardians of the Galaxy AU by @silvermoon-scrolls

Little Mermaid AU by @youuuuegg

Everafter AU by @king-on-carven-throne

Cinderella AU by @linane-art

Sense and Sensibility AU by @king-on-carven-throne

Please let us know ASAP if we’ve missed anything!

Coming up next: FiKi Week 2024! Stay tuned ~

~gatheringfiki

#GF AUpocalypse 2024 #Fili/Kili #FiKi #Durincest #the Hobbit #Mitchers #Britchell #DarkHawk

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pyramidofmice · 1 year ago

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top 5 cornetto trilogy scenes

The World's End argument between the five musketeers at The Crossed Hands. There's such a journey in tone from all of them genuinely getting along at the beginning of the scene to everything falling apart after Shane Hawkins walks in. Each member of the group gets the chance to show their stripes and I love it so much.

Opening sequence from The World's End. The flashback doesn't even feel like a "scene" to me, it feels like its own mini-movie. I really like the music, the editing, and the subtle character establishment. The same goes for the montage of the five musketeers starting their days after the title card. If you count all of this as one opening sequence, that's👌👌perfection for me.

Nicholas saying goodbye to Janine in Hot Fuzz. I find it so funny, and the dialogue is such a fun mix of genuine character development and great jokes. I think it's really great for introducing Nicholas as a character, so enjoy it a lot. I also think him pointing out the broken window is one of the best moments ever.

The party after Romeo and Juliet in Hot Fuzz. I really love the small town vibes clashing with the seriousness of Nicholas' investigation (and Nicholas himself😄).

The fight sequence in the bathroom from The World's End. The choreography and the sci-fi reveal are so fun. The conversation after the action is so hilarious while also being so good at building the mystery and tension. I also really really love how little moments of character and relationship development are so seamlessly sewn into the whole scene (Peter hiding in the stall, Gary saying "Andy, did you see that?", etc etc).

These are somewhat off the top of my head, but I'm going for it because this ask is over a year old. Thank you @andrewknightley this was very fun 🫶💫

#pyra speaks #twe #hot fuzz #blood and ice cream #cornetto trilogy

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millenniumdueled · 1 year ago

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Day of Judgement: Part 1

Something had to give. Too many people were getting hurt, getting caught up in what should have been his fight. His friends were one thing. But now, Professor Hawkins...

Yugi shifts against a sleeping Joey, where the two of them rested against each other in one of the bench seats of the Hawkins' RV. Across the table, Tristan and Duke snooze in a smiliar fashion.

The conversation between Yugi and his Other is quiet, spoken inside their hearts, communicated with feelings more than words. They both know what it feels like to worry about their Grandpa. Yugi glances over at the door to the RV's little bedroom at the back, where Téa and Rebecca sleep. He owes it to her to find him. To bring him home. To do so without endangering anyone else.

Yugi moves slowly, slipping out from under Joey's arm, careful not to wake the other man. He dons his jacket, his shoes, his Duel Disk, and quietly leaves the RV.

He has to Duel Doma's Three Musketeers. He has to win. Even if that means condemning his opponent to the cruel fate of the Seal of Orichalcos.

Those three have been with him through everything. They've seen the Shadow Games. They knew him at his worst.

But he can't let them see that side of him again.

He glances at Duke's Cadillac, considers for a moment. But he's never driven before, and the roar of the classic engine would surely wake everyone. He wanders from the RV, past the charred remains of the Professor's house and to the stables behind.

They don't need to speak, they share the same memories of that horse camp in middle school.

It's awkward, especially at first. But somehow, some sort of instinct takes over as the Other Yugi does too, sitting there on Rebecca's beloved horse Billy. But awkward as it is, he manages to coax the horse out of his stables, and into the desert, chasing the location left for him by Doma's Musketeers.

The ride seems to go on forever, but his heart keeps him going, even as the ranch falls far out of view behind him. He's not sure how he knows the way. Maybe it's destiny guiding him, or Timaeus on his deck. Maybe it's that little stone he's been wearing around his neck since that Duel back in Domino City.

But eventually, he sees another person. The tallest member of the trio, the man who called himself Raphael, standing expectantly across a rickety suspension bridge.

Yugi's heart pounds in his chest.

He brings Billy to a stop, nearly tumbling to the dusty ground as he dismounts. But that little fumble hardly deters him, as he turns to fix an icy, piercing glare on the man across the chasm.

"This ends here, Raphael," he growls as he marches, confidently, across the precarious bridge.

#ooc #plot #arc: what the doma?!#I'm going to try and do this in 3 parts #I'm at work tho so they might be kind of slow coming #also thanks jasper for tagging yugi in that post earlier and inspiring the title of this bit

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ausetkmt · 1 year ago

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The Battle of ‘Negro Fort’ – Inside America's Forgotten Slave Rebellion - MilitaryHistoryNow.com

A year after the Battle of New Orleans, runaway slaves armed by the British occupied a stockade in Spanish Florida. The so called “Negro Fort” became a mecca for other fugitives from Southern plantations. In 1816, the U.S. Army arrived to crush the settlement. (Image source: WikiCommons)

“The Battle of the ‘Negro Fort,’ marks a critical moment when the federal government took a decisive stance in support of slavery and its expansion.”

By Matt Clavin

THE TIDAL MARSHES of Florida’s Apalachicola River were still under the authority of the Spanish crown in 1816, yet the events that took place there would go on to become a forgotten yet tragic chapter in the long and bloody history of American slavery.

It was during that year that an army of fugitive slaves, armed with foreign weaponry and united by dreams of freedom, would fight and die against a legion of American troops and allied Creek Indians dispatched by a future U.S. president bent on their destruction.

The Battle of the ‘Negro Fort’ marks a critical moment when the federal government took a decisive stance in support of slavery and its expansion.

What would become known as Negro Fort actually sprung from the War of 1812, one of the United States’ most misunderstood conflicts. During the contest’s third and final summer, Britain landed hundreds of troops on Florida’s Gulf Coast in preparation of an invasion of the southern United States.

Still Spanish territories at the time, East Florida and West Florida were neutral in the second war between the American Republic and the United Kingdom. Yet, the uncontested arrival of British troops there suggested the local authorities had ostensibly sided with the redcoats.

Americans’ fears of a Spanish-British alliances only increased when a detachment of Royal Marines erected a sizeable fort on the eastern shore of the Apalachicola River in the Florida Panhandle. Commanders of the new outpost then called upon Native Americans and fugitive African American slaves from across the region to join the British at the fort and together take up arms against the United States. Eventually, more than a thousand Creek, Choctaw, and Seminole Indians, along with several hundred runaways from southern plantations, accepted the invitation.

Following the final ratification of the Treaty of Ghent in the spring of 1815, the British withdrew their forces from Florida. With their powerful allies suddenly gone, most of the Indians gathered at the Apalachicola fort returned to their homes. But the hundreds of fugitive slaves inside the stockade had no place to go and so remained at the abandoned British post. And with the fort’s massive earthworks, wooden palisades and stone buildings at their disposal, along with an arsenal of hundreds of muskets, swords, bayonets and dozens of cannon, the runaways chose to remain there come what may.

Under an informal system of government that can best be described as martial law, this militant black community organized daily for its defence. At the same time, it established important relationships with the neighbouring Choctaws, Creeks, and Seminoles, who provided food and other sustenance in return for weapons and ammunition.

Negro fort was, in a word, formidable.

One British officer who, following the Treaty of Ghent, set out to assist some of the fugitive’s former owners regain their valuable property offered a curt assessment of fort’s inhabitants.

“The blacks are very violent & say they will die to a man rather than return.”

In the coming weeks and months, Hawkins and a number of prominent frontier citizens and officials flooded Washington with reports of rebellious slaves and their savage Indian allies running wild across the southern frontier. The accounts were almost entirely exaggerated.

Although clashes between Indians and settlers on disputed lands throughout the American south were commonplace in the early 19th Century, aside from inspiring an exodus of fugitive slaves from the southern states into Florida, the Negro Fort posed no threat to the United States.

None of this stopped the commander of the United States’ southern army, General Jackson, from taking bold and aggressive action against the settlement.

Through a careful and calculating correspondence, Jackson ordered General Edmund Gaines, a hero of the War of 1812, invade Florida with 100 regulars, destroy the fort and return all of its black inhabitants to their American and Spanish owners. To ensure an American victory with as few friendly casualties as possible, Jackson secured the assistance of hundreds of Creek warriors by promising them a cash reward of as much as $50 dollars a head for every black slave returned to captivity.

Over the course of the next two weeks, hundreds of pro-American Creek warriors clashed with black rebels in the dense woods surrounding the fort, which at times descended into bloody hand-to-hand combat.

With American troops watching from a safe distance, the number of casualties went unrecorded—though it must have been considerable.

When a failed sortie by the fort’s defenders was repulsed, an American eyewitness suspected it was only a ruse.

“Many circumstances convinced us,” army doctor Marcus Buck wrote to his father, “that most of them determined never to be taken alive.”

With a pause in the ground fighting, American army and navy vessels on the river exchanged cannonfire with the fort’s defenders for several days.

The bombardment continued to the morning of July 27, when a heated cannonball, or “hotshot,” fired from U.S. Gunboat 154 flew over walls of Negro Fort’s massive inner citadel, landing directly on a gunpowder magazine.

The response of American officials to the destruction of Negro Fort was muted, largely because the entire campaign was illegal. After all, with neither congressional nor executive authority, the United States armed forces had invaded a foreign territory.

By contrast, southern slave owners hailed the battle’s outcome as the dawning of a new day. A Georgia writer expressed this view when reporting “the capture of the Negro and Indian Fort, on Apalachicola.” He explained that because of the efforts of his “brave countrymen,” the southern and western frontiers were now free of the “predatory incursions” posed by black and Indian bandits “whose numbers were daily augmenting; and whose strength and resources presented a fearful aspect to our peaceful borders.”

Within two years of the Battle of Negro Fort, Jackson and the American army again invaded Florida. The resulting First Seminole War would be the first of three wars between the United States and Florida’s black and Indian population who simply refused to submit to their northern American neighbours.

Though Negro Fort survived for only a year, its memory endured in the hearts and minds of hundreds of its inhabitants who had abandoned the outpost prior to its destruction. By fleeing to the Florida peninsula and aligning with the Seminole Indians, most of these former slaves carved out difficult but free lives on the outer edges of the American republic.

As many as one hundred of them were even more fortunate, finding not only freedom but peace and tranquility in the West Indies. By boarding trading vessels and escaping to the Bahama Islands several years after the Battle of Negro Fort, they completed the improbable journey from American slaves to British subjects.

#The Battle of ‘Negro Fort’ – Inside America's Forgotten Slave Rebellion #florida #negro fort #negro abraham #Freedmen #seminole indians #florida enslaved #history of slave settlements in florida

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longhairedboybracket · 2 years ago

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Long Haired Boy Bracket All Contestants

The polls will start this tuesday the 2nd

Bracket A

1 - Ling Yao Fullmetal Alchemist vs Will Turner Pirates of the Caribbean

2 - Chigiri Hyoma Blue Lock vs Kasanoda Ritsu OHSHC

3 - Squidward Tentacles Sponge Bob Square Pants vs Link Legend of Zelda

4 - Heimdall Mcu vs Enoch Drebber Ace Attorney

5 - Izuru Kamukura Danganronpa vs Silver Pokémon

6 - Wei Wuxian Mo Dao Zu Shi vs Hua Cheng Heaven's Official Blessing

7 - Wataru Hibiki Ensemble Stars vs Akoya Gero Binan Koukou Chikyuu Bouei-Bu Love

8 - Su Honkai Impact 3rd vs Reyson Fire Emblem

9 - Vanitas Vanitas no Carte vs Athos 3 musketeers

10 - Destruction The Sandman vs Eliot Stardew Valley

11 - Neightan Rot Monster High vs Haruka Hashida Blue Period

12 - Kian Stone Just Roll With It, Show vs Aion Show By Rock

13 - Shulk Xenoblade vs Antonio Identity V

14 - Beelzebub Granblue Fantasy vs Kiun Noragami

15 - Alex Harvey-Iniguez Magical Warrior Diamond Heart vs Fabian Blush Blush

16 - Lord Cedric W.I.T.C.H vs Eithan Aurelius Cradle Series

Bracket B

1 - Korekiyo Shinguji Danganronpa vs Hong Lu Limbus Company

2 - Alucard Castlevania vs Finn The Human Adventure Time

3 - Sakurayashiki Kaoru "Cherry" Sk8 Infinity vs Rosado Fire Emblem

4 - Geralt Of Rivia The Witcher vs Elrond Lord Of The Rings

5 - Inigo Montoya The Princess Bride vs Fire Lord Zuko Avatar The Last Airbender/Avatar The Legend Of Korra

6 - Natural Harmonia Gropius "N" Pokémon vs Loki Mcu

7 - Samsom The Old Testament vs Aramis 3 musketeers

8 - Interdimensional Prince Monster Prom vs Furanui Binan Koukou Chikyuu Bouei-Bu Happy Kiss

9 - Ichirota Kazemaru Inazuma Eleven vs Lucas Rune Factory 5

10 - Helia Winx Club vs Gunpowder Tim The Mechanisms

11 - Shinjiro Nozomi Entropic Float vs Dia Akedia Court of Darkness

12 - Jareth The Goblin King Labyrinth vs Br'aad Vengolor Just Roll With It

13 - Little Creek Spirit vs Bigby Wolf Fables

14 - Terry Bogard Fatal Fury vs Prince Phobos W.I.T.C.H

15 - Dyuradyura Show By Rock vs Noah Kawaii Mansion

16 - Howell Wizard Bee and Puppycat vs Zero Megaman

Bracket C

1 - Inuyasha Inuyasha vs Lucius Fire Emblem

2 - Legolas Lord of the Rings vs Greg Universe Steven Universe

3 - Melli Pokémon vs Shatterstar Marvel

4 - Klavier Gavin Ace Attorney vs Lan Wangji Mo Dao Zu Shi

5 - Chewbacca Star Wars vs Cousin it The Addams Family

6 - Captain Hook Peter Pan vs Edward Elric Fullmetal Alchemist

7 - Tarzan Tarzan vs Razor Genshin Impact

8 - Gerard Keay The Magnus Archives vs Deidara Naruto

9 - Yan Qing Fate Grand Order vs Porthos 3 musketeers

10 - Yue Cardcaptor Sakura vs Headmaster Precure

11 - Kurama Yu Yu Hakusho vs Gillion Tidestrider Just Roll With It

12 - Sitka Brother Bear vs Lord Cob Tales Of Earthsea

13 - Kidou Yuuto Inazuma Eleven Go vs Takumi Ichinose Nana

14 - Peter Cook W.I.T.C.H vs Alec Swordspoint

15 - Peking Duck Food Fantasy vs Karurusu Binan Koukou Chikyuu Bouei-Bu Happy Kiss

16 - Blue Knight Tokyo Mew Mew vs Yakari Yakari

Bracket D

1 - Asakura Hao Shaman King vs Soren Fire Emblem

2 - Sesshomaru Inuyasha vs Christopher Yugioh Zexal

3 - Lord Farquaad Shrek vs Katsura Kotaro Gintama

4 - Jesus The Bible vs Sephiroth Final Fantasy VII

5 - Aoba Seragaki Dramatical Murder vs Basil Hawkins One Piece

6 - Kamui Gakupo Vocaloid vs Nahyuta Sahdmadhi Ace Attorney

7 - Jon Snow Game of Thrones vs Grusha Pokémon

8 - Terumi Furo "Aphorodi" Inazuma Eleven vs Joseph Identity V

9 - Nahobino Shin Megami Tensei vs Kite Hunter x Hunter

10 - Ogron Winx Club vs Niklaus Just Roll With It

11 - D'artagnian 3 musketeers vs Monmon Show by Rock

12 - Xie Lian Heaven's Official Blessing vs Olivier Vanitas no Carte

13 - Xiao Yin Dislyte vs Thane Bauer Watashi no Oshi Wa Akuyaku Reijou

14 - Toki Wartooth Metalocalypse vs Madmartigan Willow

15 - DJ Grooves A Hat In Time vs Jae-ha Akatsuki no Yona

16 - Nezumi No.6 vs Ashe Bradley Witch's Heart

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artaxlivs · 2 years ago

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Hello me again because I feel like being annoying and I'm a slut just for the words Fireman Steve.

So please? 🥺

Saaaaame. Just the idea of Steve in those cargo pants and polos the firemen wear when they're on duty but not at a fire?? Jesus. Anyway - thank you for asking! Happy to oblige with the full opening of the fic so we know just what kind of shenanigans are happening here. (Also, this JUST happened in my neighborhood which is what gave me the idea)

"Who was that?" Steve asks when Dustin groans and hangs up the phone. Rolling his eyes, Dustin sighs but starts toward the bay, "Mrs. Click. She says there's an alligator being chased down her street by a cat." Lucas and Mike both slide down the pole so close together that it's a genuine miracle that neither of them beans the other in the head. "An alligator? In Hawkins?" Lucas pulls a face. Mike jogs over to the common room couch, dropping a kiss on the top of Will's head, "You okay to hold down the fort while we go battle whatever suburban dragon is eating cats on Maple Ave?" Will scoffs but doesn't even look up from his book, "Yeah, you guys go ahead. As fun as that sounds, I think I'll stay here." "You want us to bring you back something? Boots? A purse? Maybe a nice belt?" Steve calls out to Will as he grabs his sunglasses from the counter and heads toward the bay and the already idling rig. Poking his head back in, Dustin screeches, "Absolutely not, Steve! We don't make jokes about making accessories out of animals!" "Calm down," Steve bitches, "I was only kidding. Did you at least remember to bring a Three Musketeers to bait it with like you did the last dragon we got a call for?" "Shut up, Steve."

#fireman steve #it's not an alligator

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dynastymuses · 1 year ago

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now you're just a page torn from the story I'm building

selective, mutuals only indie rp blog. i am over 25, so anyone under 21, i prefer not to interact with

all I gave you is gone tumbled like it was stone

canon divergant pirate based colin bridgerton @pirtecolin edits blog @dynastymusesedits resources such as gifhunts, psds, and templates blog: @dynastymusesresources II rules II what i do II

thought we built a dynasty that heaven couldn't shake

as such all muses are over 18 (some have been aged up)

thought we built a dynasty like nothing ever made

i am very open to crossovers, as well as oc’s, but plotting must be done. if i am not following you, please do not send me in character memes. i am mutual only!

thought we built a dynasty forever couldn't break up

fandoms include: bridgerton, various period drama, star wars, lord of the rings/rings of power, wheel of time, shadow&bone/gisha verse.

It all fell down, it all fell down, it all fell down

all of my characters as of now (🍊 is high muse) (🌊muses i want plots for) (🧁new muses) starter calls open starters

Bridgerton Verse

anthony bridgerton 🍊

benedict bridgerton 🌊

colin bridgerton🍊

daphne bridgerton🌊

francesca bridgerton🌊

gregory bridgerton🍊

penelope featherington🍊🌊

philip crane🍊🌊

michael stirling🍊

brimsley🌊🧁

sophie baek🌊

kate sharma🍊

gareth st.clair🍊

prince freidrich hohenzollern🍊🌊

king george freidrick 🍊

lady agatha danbury🌊🧁

queen charlotte of mecklenburg-strelitz 🍊🌊🧁

felicity featherington🌊🧁

posy reiling🌊🧁

lucy abernathy 🧁

viloet bridgerton-ledger

shadow&bone/grishaverse

alina starkov 🍊🌊

kaz brekker🍊🌊

inej ghafa🌊

nina zenik🌊

wylan van eck🌊

genya safin🌊🧁

nikolai lanstov🌊

tolya yul bataar🌊🧁

matthais helvar🌊

lord of the rings/rings of power

galadriel🍊

elrond🌊🧁

bronwyn🌊🧁

aragorn🌊🧁

samwise gamgee🌊🧁

wheel of time

rand al’thor🍊🌊

lan mandragoran🍊🌊

siuan sanche🍊

egwene al'vere🍊

elayne trakand🍊

Star Wars

luke skywalker🍊🌊

qui gon jinn🌊

obi wan kenobi🍊🌊

padme amidala🍊🌊

finn🌊

poe dameron🌊🧁

han solo🌊

Rey of Jakku 🌊🧁

osha 🧁

mae

master sol🧁

the musketeers

d’artagnan 🍊

athos

aramis

queen anne of austria🌊

Sanditon

charlotte heywood (sanditon)🌊

lord babington (sanditon)🌊

young stringer (sandtiton)🌊

Marvel

Yelena Belova

Kate Bishop

Tandy bowen

Karolina Dean 🍊

Marcos Diaz 🍊

Esme Frost 🍊

John Proudstar🌊

Hank McCoy 🌊🧁

Chase Stein 🍊

Scott Summers 🍊

Charles Xavier🌊

Jennifer Walters

Sersi 🍊

wade wilson

DCEU

Barry Allen 🍊

Beth Chapel🌊

Barbara Gordon 🍊

Dick Grayson🍊

Mary Hamliton 🍊

Virgil Hawkins 🍊

Pamela "Poisin Ivy" Isley 🍊

Kate Kane🌊

Clark Kent (dceu) 🍊

clark kent (smallville based) 🍊

jenny kord🌊🧁

Selina Kyle 🍊

Dinah Lance 🍊

Gar Logan🍊

M'gann M'orroz 🍊

Tommy Merlyn🌊

Sophie Moore🌊

Yolanda Montez

James Olsen 🍊

Anissa Pierce🌊

milagro reyes🌊🧁

Donna Troy 🍊🧁

Bruce Wayne🍊

Courtney whitmore 🌊

Jinx🌊

Komand'r🌊

hank hall/hawk 🧁

dawn granger/dove 🧁

oliver queen(non arrowverse)

ollie queen (smallville)

garth (titans/dceu)

TVD Verse

Marcel Gerald 🍊

Elena Gilbert 🍊

Jeremy Gilbert🌊

Tyler Lockwood🌊

Elijah Mikealson 🍊

Hope Mikealson🌊

Lizzie Saltzman 🍊🌊

Shadowhunters

Magnus Bane 🍊🌊

Clary Fray 🍊🌊

Simon Lewis🌊🧁

Alec Lightwood🌊

Fate:The Winx Saga

Terra Harvey🌊

Bloom Peters 🍊🌊

Beatrix 🌊🧁

Flora🌊

Musa🌊

Riven🌊

Sky🌊

Stella🌊

Narnia

Edmund Pevensie 🍊🌊

Lucy Pevensie🍊🌊

Peter Pevensie🌊🧁

Jill Pole🌊

Eustance Clarence Scrubb🌊

the umbrella acaddemy

Deigo Hargreeves🌊

Five Hargreeves 🍊🌊

Klaus Hargreeves 🌊

Sloane Hargreeves 🍊🌊

Lila Pitts🌊

one tree hill

Julian Baker

Jake Jagelski

Nathan Scott 🍊

Clay Evans

Degrassi

Sav Bhandari 🌊

Fiona Coyne🌊

Clare Edwards 🍊🌊

Jake Martin🌊

Drew Torres🌊

Wednesday/Addams Family

Wednesday Addams🌊

Enid Sinclair

what we do in the shadows

colin robinson 🌊🧁

Guillermo de la Cruz🌊🧁

nadja of antipaxos🌊🧁

laszlo cravensworth 🌊🧁

nandor the relentless 🌊 🧁

the boys/gen v

hughie campbell🌊🧁

annie january / starlight 🌊🧁

billy butcher🌊🧁

kimiko miyashiro🌊🧁

queen maeve🌊🧁

other period drama muses

francis valois (reign with some historical influences) 🍊

Sebastian de poitiers (reign)

tom jones (tom jones 2023)🌊

henry tudor (7th) (the white queen/the white princess/the spainsh princess with some historical influences) 🍊

richard plantagent (the white queen with some historical influences)🍊

elizabeth woodville (the white queen/the white princess with some historical influences)

elizabeth of yorke (the white queen/the white princess with some historical influences)

anne shirley cuthbert (anne with an e)

marie antoinette( marie antoinette (itv/pbs 2023) with some historical influences) 🍊

(king) louis bourbon (16th) ( marie antoinette (itv/pbs 2023) with some historical influences) 🍊

captain henry ossroy (mr malcom’s list)🌊

selina dalton (mr malcom’s list)🌊

dido elizabeth belle (belle 2013)🌊🧁

john Davinier (belle 2013)

camlia dunne (daisy jones&the six) 🌊🧁

tim laughlin (fellow travelers) 🌊🧁

jane bennet (pride and prejudice) 🧁

elizabeth bennet (pride and prejudice) 🧁

emma woodhouse (emma) 🧁

nan st.george (the buccaneers)

Other Scifi/Fantasy

lucy carlyle-lockwood&Co🌊

Anthony Lockwood-Lockwood&Co🌊

Wendy Darling-Peter Pan/Disney 🍊🌊

Elinor Fairmont-First Kill🌊🧁

Juliette Fairmont-First Kill🌊

Kat Harvey-Casper🌊

Harvey Kinkle-Sabrina The Teenage Witch/Archie comics🌊

Wyatt Logan-Timeless🌊

Arthur Pendragon-Merlin🌊

Scott mccall-teen wolf 🌊

marnie piper (halloweentown)

percy jackson (percy jackson & the Olympians)

Luna briggs (wolf pack)

Blake navarro (wolf pack)

prince eric (the little mermaid)

fiyero tigelaar (wicked)

OUAT/Fairytales

david nolan/prince charming-once upon a time 🌊🧁

graham humbert/the huntsman-once upon a time 🌊🧁

mary margret blanchard/snow white-once upon a time 🌊🧁

Rapunzel (various media)🌊🧁

other medias

Alexander Clearmond Diaz-red, white, & royal🌊

Lacey Porter-Twisted🌊

Henry Stuart Fox -red, white, & royal🌊

Glimmer-She Ra🌊

comedy

Haley Dunphy (modern family)🌊🧁

Alex Dunphy (modern family) 🌊🧁

Janine Teagues-Abbott Elementary🌊

Clare Devlin-Derry Girls🌊

Gregory Eddie-Abbott Elementary🌊

Jim Halpert-The Office🌊

Ben Wyatt-Parks and Recreation 🌊

chidi anagonye (the good place)🌊🧁

eleanor shellstrop (the good place)🌊🧁

janet (the good place)🌊🧁

original characters

elisabeth barlowe 🍊🌊🧁

jacquetta covington 🍊🌊🧁

maxwell danbury 🍊🌊🧁

dylan lyons 🍊🌊🧁

#&&pinned post #&&do not interact #&&do not like

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dynastymusesarch · 2 years ago

Text

now you're just a page torn from the story I'm building

selective, mutuals only indie rp blog. i am over 25, so anyone under 21, i prefer not to interact with

all I gave you is gone tumbled like it was stone

canon divergant pirate based colin bridgerton @pirtecolin edits blog @dynastymusesedits resources such as gifhunts, psds, and templates blog: @dynastymusesresources

thought we built a dynasty that heaven couldn't shake

as such all muses are over 18 (some have been aged up)

thought we built a dynasty like nothing ever made

i am very open to crossovers, as well as oc’s, but plotting must be done. if i am not following you, please do not send me in character memes. i am mutual only!

thought we built a dynasty forever couldn't break up

fandoms include: bridgerton, various period drama, star wars, lord of the rings/rings of power, wheel of time, shadow&bone/gisha verse.

It all fell down, it all fell down, it all fell down

all of my characters as of now (🍊 is high muse) (🌊muses i want plots for) (🧁new muses) starter calls

Bridgerton Verse

anthony bridgerton 🍊

benedict bridgerton 🌊

colin bridgerton🍊

daphne bridgerton🌊

francesca bridgerton🌊

gregory bridgerton🍊

penelope featherington🍊🌊

philip crane🍊🌊

michael sterling🍊

brimsley🌊🧁

sophie beckett🌊

kate sharma🍊

gareth st.clair🍊

prince freidrich hohenzollern🍊🌊

king george freidrick 🍊

lady agatha danbury🌊🧁

queen charlotte of mecklenburg-strelitz 🍊🌊🧁

felicity featherington🌊🧁

posy reiling🌊🧁

shadow&bone/grishaverse

alina starkov 🍊🌊

kaz brekker🍊🌊

inej ghafa🌊

nina zenik🌊

wylan van eck🌊

genya safin🌊🧁

nikolai lanstov🌊

tolya yul bataar🌊🧁

matthais helvar🌊

lord of the rings/rings of power

galadriel🍊

elrond🌊🧁

bronwyn🌊🧁

aragorn🌊🧁

samwise gamgee🌊🧁

wheel of time

rand al’thor🍊🌊

lan mandragoran🍊🌊

siuan sanche🍊

egwene al'vere🍊

elayne trakand🍊

Star Wars

luke skywalker🍊🌊

qui gon jinn🌊

obi wan kenobi🍊🌊

padme amidala🍊🌊

finn🌊

poe dameron🌊🧁

han solo🌊

the musketeers

d’artagnan 🍊

athos

aramis

queen anne of austria🌊

Marvel

Yelena Belova

Kate Bishop

Tandy bowen

Karolina Dean 🍊

Marcos Diaz 🍊

Esme Frost 🍊

John Proudstar🌊

Chase Stein 🍊

Scott Summers 🍊

Charles Xavier🌊

Jennifer Walters

Sersi 🍊

DCEU

Barry Allen 🍊

Beth Chapel🌊

Barbara Gordon 🍊

Dick Grayson🍊

Mary Hamliton 🍊

Virgil Hawkins 🍊

Pamela "Poisin Ivy" Isley 🍊

Kate Kane🌊

Clark Kent 🍊

jenny kord🌊🧁

Selina Kyle 🍊

Dinah Lance 🍊

Gar Logan🍊

M'gann M'orroz 🍊

Tommy Merlyn🌊

Sophie Moore🌊

Yolanda Montez

James Olsen 🍊

Anissa Pierce🌊

milagro reyes🌊🧁

Donna Troy 🍊🧁

Bruce Wayne🍊

Courtney whitmore 🌊

Jinx🌊

Komand'r🌊

TVD Verse

Marcel Gerald 🍊

Elena Gilbert 🍊

Jeremy Gilbert🌊

Tyler Lockwood🌊

Elijah Mikealson 🍊

Hope Mikealson🌊

Lizzie Saltzman 🍊🌊

Shadowhunters

Magnus Bane 🍊🌊

Clary Fray 🍊🌊

Simon Lewis🌊🧁

Alec Lightwood🌊

Fate:The Winx Saga

Terra Harvey🌊

Bloom Peters 🍊🌊

Flora🌊

Musa🌊

Riven🌊

Sky🌊

Stella🌊

Narnia

Edmund Pevensie 🍊🌊

Lucy Pevensie🍊🌊

Peter Pevensie🌊🧁

Jill Pole🌊

Eustance Clarence Scrubb🌊

the umbrella acaddemy

Deigo Hargreeves🌊

Five Hargreeves 🍊🌊

Klaus Hargreeves 🌊

Sloane Hargreeves 🍊🌊

Lila Pitts🌊

one tree hill

Julian Baker

Jake Jagelski

Nathan Scott 🍊

Clay Evans

Degrassi

Sav Bhandari 🌊

Fiona Coyne🌊

Clare Edwards 🍊🌊

Jake Martin🌊

Drew Torres🌊

Wednesday/Addams Family

Wednesday Addams🌊

Enid Sinclair

what we do in the shadows

colin robinson 🌊🧁

Guillermo de la Cruz🌊🧁

nadja of antipaxos🌊🧁

lazslo cravensworth 🌊🧁

nandor the relentless 🌊 🧁

the boys/gen v

hughie campbell🌊🧁

annie january / starlight 🌊🧁

other period drama muses

francis valois (reign with some historical influences) 🍊

Sebastian de poitiers (reign)

charlotte heywood (sanditon)🌊

lord babington (sanditon)🌊

young stringer (sandtiton)🌊

tom jones (tom jones 2023)🌊

henry tudor (7th) (the white queen/the white princess/the spainsh princess with some historical influences) 🍊

richard plantagent (the white queen with some historical influences)🍊

elizabeth woodville (the white queen/the white princess with some historical influences)

anne shirley cuthbert (anne with an e)

marie antoinette( marie antoinette (itv/pbs 2023) with some historical influences) 🍊

(king) louis bourbon (16th) ( marie antoinette (itv/pbs 2023) with some historical influences) 🍊

captain henry ossroy (mr malcom’s list)🌊

selina dalton (mr malcom’s list)🌊

dido elizabeth belle (belle 2013)🌊🧁

camlia dunne (daisy jones&the six) 🌊🧁

tim laughlin (fellow travelers) 🌊🧁

Other Scifi/Fantasy

Lucy Caryle- Lockwood&Co🌊

Anthony Lockwood-Lockwood&Co🌊

Wendy Darling-Peter Pan/Disney 🍊🌊

Elinor Fairmont-First Kill🌊🧁

Juliette Fairmont-First Kill🌊

Kat Harvey-Casper🌊

Harvey Kinkle-Sabrina The Teenage Witch/Archie comics🌊

Wyatt Logan-Timeless🌊

Arthur Pendragon-Merlin🌊

Scott mccall-teen wolf 🌊

david nolan/prince charming-once upon a time 🌊🧁

graham humbert/the huntsman-once upon a time 🌊🧁

mary margret blanchard/snow white-once upon a time 🌊🧁

other medias

Alexander Clearmond Diaz-red, white, & royal🌊

Clare Devlin-Derry Girls🌊

Gregory Eddie-Abbott Elementary🌊

Jim Halpert-The Office🌊

Ben Wyatt-Parks and Recreation 🌊

Lacey Porter-Twisted🌊

Janine Teagues-Abbott Elementary🌊

Henry Stuart Fox -red, white, & royal🌊

Glimmer-She Ra🌊

Rapunzel (various media)🌊🧁

Haley Dunphy (modern family)🌊🧁

Alex Dunphy (modern family) 🌊🧁

original characters

elisabeth barlowe 🍊🌊🧁

jacquetta covington 🍊🌊🧁

maxwell danbury 🍊🌊🧁

#pinned post #do not interact

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dani-luminae · 8 months ago

Note

*Poke* Pirate101 Ask Meme returned: 1, 2, 6, 9, 22 and 24

1. Favorite crew member/companion?

Ooh this is a hard one. I'd say story-wise, as in their promo quests, it's probably either Bonnie Anne or Sarah Steele. Personality-wise, I love Ratbeard as the pirate's grumpy old chaotic neutral uncle-figure. Battle/skills-wise, it's the Haywire Armada units - the Musketeer and the Battle Angel, most specifically.

2. Favorite world?

Honestly, I actually found Cool Ranch kind of fun. Of course the portrayal of the bison/ Natives could have been done far better, but aside from them, I really liked the parodies of all the Wild West like the Magnificent Seven, the Lone Ranger, etc. Also really nice music.

I just wish my Musketeer didn't have to dress like a Confederate soldier lmao.

6. Who is your LEAST favorite crew member/companion and why?

Personality-wise, Wing Chun; he's so harsh and insulting. I've just gotten to a point in his promo quests and stuff where he comes across as less harsh, like he's grown more respect for the pirate, but still. Don't like him.

Powers/battle-wise, I'm gonna say Old Scratch. He fizzles so much, he's just plain unreliable. (Honestly... most of the Witchdoctor companions fizzle a lot.) Love his promo quest stories though.

9. Any headcanons for your crew?

Most of the first few - Wing Chun, Bonnie Anne, and Louis Le Crab, or equivalents among other crews - started out joining as in "holy Spiral someone's gotta be responsible for this small child!" only to then see the Young Pirate in battle and go "oh nvm, they're competent... and terrifying!" About by the time Ratbeard joins there's a lot less underestimating the Pirate, because clearly they're doing something right if they got these companions.

My personal headcanon for Noble James Hawkins' crew in particular is that he has a habit of collecting broken pieces of Armada enemies after fights. This is how he built/repaired the Musketeer, Marine, and Battle Angel on his crew.

And yes, at some point we do remove the Crown of Command from Monkey King, but he finds the crew and our wacky adventures too entertaining to leave immediately.

22. Do you trust Captain Avery?

I wouldn't say that I trust him, but I do respect him. He clearly appreciates the young Pirate to some extent (like the quest where he's captured by Thresher sharks and he's like "I knew you were coming! What took you so long? Now let's show these sharks how big a mistake they made!") He'd probably stab us in the back if it benefitted him, but I mean. The man's a pirate. That's kinda a given.

24. Would you make any improvements to the story? (Fill any plot holes?)

Honestly I'd try and straighten out the timeline a little, especially as does it match up to Wiz or take place after??? Because in Xol Akmul, the Aztecasaur city above Blood Shoals, we're led to believe that Morganthe already destroyed Azteca... and then in Cool Ranch we meet Desmond Argleston, Wizard City Librarian, looking a little older than he does in W101... but then we get to MooShu and it seems like we are actually concurrent with the Wizard because the Emperor is weakened from Malistaire's attack, leaving chaos to run wild.

Has the Wizard not actually fixed everything in MooShu? Has it just taken forever for news of the Emperor's recovery to reach all across the world? Or is this another case of the whole "time passes so weirdly in different worlds across the Spiral" so Azteca is already destroyed long before the Azure Shining One ever steps foot there, and is still sprinting around MooShu chasing Malistaire? Not to mention we get Valencian horses in Novus in Wiz, sort of implying the disastrous Armada days are behind them...

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california-munson · 8 days ago

Text

Fireworks: Ch 2. (Steddie Fic)

heyyy here's chapter 2 of this story. you can probably skip chapter one of you want, the story is gong to be told in multiple POV's. i already had the first 3 chapters in my google drive ready to go!

___________________

Fireworks: A Steddie Fic

Eddie

I fell in love with Ruby Rivera when I was six years old.

And how could I not? Her golden curly hair, big brown eyes that lit up the room. She was wearing a sparkly dress and trying to braid her doll’s hair on the Harringtons’ front steps like it was the most important job in the world. Steve had dragged me over after t-ball practice, promising pizza and cartoons, a respite from the chaos that was my parent’s arguing, caused by my dad’s shady business practices (that I would later discover was selling drugs).

I was sweaty, bleeding from both knees, and already halfway through a retelling of how much I dreaded running and how slow that game went when I saw her. I stopped mid-sentence.

She looked up at me, all curls and curiosity and big glasses, with this don’t-mess-with-me energy that I didn’t expect from someone so tiny. But it hit me like a baseball to the ribs: I wanted to be her friend. The second I saw her sitting on Harrington's front stoop, I knew I was in for it.

“Hi, I’m Eddie. I’m Steve’s best friend,” I told her.

She stood up, hands on her hips, chin tilted like she was royalty. “Actually, I’m Steve’s best friend.”

That made me laugh, loud and real. Most kids might’ve backed down from that challenge, or argued back. Not Ruby. She stood her ground like her glitter shoes were metal-toed.

“Well, we can both be, if you want,” I offered, like we were brokering a peace treaty. “And then maybe we can be best friends too.”

She squinted at me, sizing me up like I was some kind of bug she hadn’t decided whether to keep or squish. Then she shook my hand. Her name was Ruby, she lived next door. And just like that, she was in my life.

She never left.

The Harringtons and the Riveras became my second home. After practice, after school, after everything, I was either at the Harringtons, the Riveras, or outside with Ruby and Steve causing some kind of trouble. I never felt like a tag-along, though. We were a unit. The Three Musketeers.

Steve was the golden boy. He always had perfect hair and a way of saying the right thing, even when he didn’t mean to. And Ruby? Ruby was the spark in the middle of everything. The glue. The chaos and the calm all wrapped up in one sparkly little package.

They welcomed me like I belonged. Like I was their missing piece.

And I needed that. Even when I didn’t know how much.

When my mom died, everything went dark. One day she was there, singing the blues in her Memphis accent that she never got rid of, spinning me around the living room of our house, nurturing what would become a lifelong obsession with music. The next, she wasn’t. Just gone.

My dad, Al Munson, bailed faster than anyone expected, though honestly, no one was surprised. Grief gave him the excuse he’d been looking for to disappear. That’s when Uncle Wayne stepped in, told me to pack my things, and took me to live in the trailer park on the edge of Hawkins.

It could’ve been awful. Should’ve been. But then Ruby and Steve showed up. Just…kept showing up. They didn’t care that I lived in a trailer. They didn’t care about my incessant ramblings about the intricacies of JRR Tolkien’s magical world. Or that the kids at school whispered about my dad being a thief. They didn’t flinch. They didn’t run. They just kept pulling me back into the light.

After I moved in with Wayne was when I met Ronnie Ecker. Ronnie was like steel. Strong, quiet, sharp, but tall and thin. She lived in the trailer down the way, when she saw eight-year-old me walking around the trailer park alone, she came up to me, introduced herself, pulled me right in, and we’ve been friends ever since.

I knew Ronnie was smart right away. Smarter than me. Maybe even smarter than Ruby, and that was saying something. She joined us slowly, then all at once. She seemed shy around Steve and Ruby, reveling in the playdates we would have in their big, fancy homes. She didn’t ask permission to join us, she just showed up, and we made room.

Ruby and Ronnie had this weird push-pull thing. I don’t know if Ronnie thought Ruby was soft or fake, or maybe she just didn’t get her yet. But the moment she carried Ruby across a creek after Ruby got stuck in plastic heels…I knew they’d be fine.

As we got older, people in Hawkins started looking at me differently. I didn’t understand it at first. I was still the same kid—comic books, t-ball, a million scraped knees. But suddenly I was “that Munson boy.” The one with the dead mom. The one whose dad stole things. The one whose uncle worked nights and didn’t show up to parent-teacher conferences.

Adults whispered. Kids followed their lead. Steve’s parents, who used to feed me spaghetti and let me sleep over on school nights, started locking the liquor cabinet when I came around. I heard the way Ruby’s mom talked about me when she thought I wasn’t listening.

It didn’t matter what I did. I was already written off at the ripe age of twelve.

But Ruby and Steve never wavered. Not once.

Ruby’s world fell apart a few years after mine. Her dad took off. Her mom started drinking and popping pills. I remember one night, she called me sobbing because she had burned the grilled cheese she was cooking for her six year old sister, Stella. I got on my bike and showed up twenty minutes later with a stick of butter and half a loaf of bread.

“Low flame, lots of butter, and patience,” I told her. I held her hand as she flipped the sandwich with the spatula. I remember the proud look in her eyes when the bread was golden brown and not charred black.

She looked at me like I was some kind of hero. Like I’d saved the world.

But I was just a kid who knew how to cook because he didn’t have a choice. I knew what she was feeling, because I’d been there. Because I was there. Because maybe I still am.

We were survivors, me and Ruby. Bonded through the mutual failings of our parents.

Steve started drifting around then. Not on purpose. He was still our guy. Still stepping in when things got really bad. Still showing up. But sports took over. Girls. Status. All the stuff that came so easy to him.

I didn’t blame him. Not really.

But Ruby and I? We were in the trenches together.

And maybe that’s when things shifted. Maybe that’s when I stopped thinking of Ruby as just another friend, the girl I liked but who I told myself I never had a chance with.

Maybe that’s when I started falling in love with her for real. Not the puppy love that had bonded us in childhood, but really loved her. This was different. It was quieter. Slower. It crept in like fog, soft at first, barely there, until I looked up one day and realized I couldn’t see anything else.

It was over the Saturday mornings I spent helping her and her sisters do their laundry, making pancakes, and dragging Wayne’s crusty old Victrola suitcase record player to play the blues records my mom left me. It was watching her twirl Stella around the living room to Muddy Waters, Stella's little feet on Ruby’s bigger ones, their giggles and humming wafting into the kitchen, just like my mother and me six years prior.

It was over the late nights, helping Stella with homework (not that I was much help), Ruby’s tired eyes trying her best to grasp common core math to help her sister. I’d sit across from her, pretending to be useful but mostly just watching her work. The way her brows furrowed. The way she bit the inside of her cheek when she was frustrated. How she whispered affirmations to Stella even when she clearly had no idea how to explain common core math.

It was dinner every night. Wayne worked overnights, so I was on my own anyways, happy to spend the time with the Rivera girls. Most of the time, it was Hamburger Helper or boxed mac and cheese with a side of steamed veggies or a bagged salad. Ruby begged Stella to eat her food as Stella talked and played at the table. Eventually, she made it a game; Stella was a celebrity, and Ruby was interviewing her about her famous career as an artist, or pop star, or the girlfriend of Justin Bieber. Everytime Ruby asked a question, Stella had to take a bite. It was funny, watching the two of them.

It was watching her cry on the phone with her mom, her voice a weak whisper, trying to convince her to come home from whatever rendezvous she was on with whatever boyfriend she was with that week.

At school, she was a different version of herself. Still Ruby, but shinier. She’d wear her curls straightened and swipe on lip gloss she borrowed (stole, according to her sister) from Laney. She was friends with everyone; the drama kids, the jocks, the weirdos, the loners. She had this magic about her, this way of making people feel like they mattered. Like they were worth her time.

She’d ask the lunch lady how her day was going. Offer her last granola bar to the quiet kid in the back of class. Compliment the cheer captain’s nails even though the girl never once said thank you.

She saw people.

And maybe that’s the moment it really hit me. I didn’t just love Ruby Rivera because she was beautiful or kind or fun to be around. I loved her because she was good. Because she tried. Every day. Even when she had every reason to stop.

But things got rocky when people started to see her back.

One minute, Ruby was just Ruby. My Ruby. The girl who danced barefoot in her living room and snorted when she laughed too hard. The girl who wore band t-shirts with holes in the sleeves and beat up Converse. But then one day, she walked into school in this denim skirt and lip gloss that shimmered like the inside of a seashell, and everything shifted.

Heads turned. Whispers followed her down the hallway. And I wasn’t the only one watching her anymore.

It started with little things...a jock offering her a seat at his lunch table, some dude from the swim team carrying her books to class. Guys who wouldn’t have spared her a glance last year were suddenly memorizing her class schedule and finding excuses to talk to her.

And she took it all in stride, smiling that soft, polite Ruby smile, warm, like she didn’t quite know she was lighting people up when she did.

She deserved it, of course she did. She deserved to be seen. To be adored. To be picked first after all the years of being the one holding everything together behind the scenes.

But God, it killed me.

I watched from the sidelines; holding Stella’s backpack, tying her shoes, peeling oranges on the grass while guys with better hair and shinier futures lined up to make Ruby laugh. The guys were clean-cut, confident. They didn’t live in trailers or carry the scent of cigarette smoke on their jackets. They didn’t come with baggage. They had moms who made dinner every night and futures that didn’t feel like question marks.

I was the friend. The helper. The guy who kept her siblings entertained and made her laugh when she was crying in the pantry. I was safe. I was known.

But I knew every one of those laughs. I knew which ones were real, which ones were polite, which ones were only half there because she was thinking about something else.

What I didn’t know, couldn’t have known, was that sometimes, she was thinking about me.

Because even as other guys tried to inch closer, she always circled back to me. She’d come sit next to me at lunch, happily conversing with Hellfire members, arms brushing mine like it was the most natural thing in the world. She still texted me first, still made me her emergency contact for Stella’s school forms, still called when her mom bailed again. Still fell asleep on my shoulder during movie nights.

She’d wave off invitations to parties, saying she already had plans, then show up at my door in sweatpants, holding a pizza and a worn-out VHS of Heathers on the nights Laney graciously took Stella with her to the Wheelers.

It didn’t make sense. None of it did.

Because Jason Carver had started sniffing around, all charming smiles and perfect hair. He’d flash those teeth, call her “Ru,” like he’d known her since third grade.

And maybe part of her liked it. Maybe she liked being seen. Who wouldn’t? He had a college fund, was a budding basketball star as an incoming freshman at Hawkins High, and parents who sent him money just because. He was easy. Polished.

I was the opposite of polished. I was scraped together. I was loud and weird and came with a shadow that hung over everything I touched.

And still…Ruby never let go of me.

I saw it in the way her eyes found me in a crowded hallway, like she was making sure I hadn’t left. In the way she laughed harder when I said something dumb. Even the way her hand always found mine under the table during those rare, quiet moments, like some secret we weren’t ready to say out loud yet.

But I didn’t know what to do with that.

So I did what I always did: I ignored it. Shoved it down and tried to convince myself that being close to her, even as just a friend, was enough. That I could be the guy who caught her when she fell without ever hoping she’d fall for me.

Then one night, I came home to Wayne's, guitar slung over my back, fingers aching from practice with mine and Ronnie’s band, Corroded Coffin. We were gearing up for the school talent show, a dreaded tradition that every Hawkins Middle Schooler like myself had to undergo. I found Uncle Wayne sitting at the kitchen table, half a cigarette still smoldering in the ashtray.

“Night off?”

He nodded, not looking up, “Yup. Night off from Ruby?”

I gave him a small smile, “Girls night at the Hollands.”

“Boy,” he said without looking up from his paper, “you ever gonna ask that girl out, or you gonna keep mopin’ around here like a kicked dog?”

I froze, guitar still halfway off my shoulder. “What girl?”

Wayne snorted. “Don’t insult me, Ed. I might be old but I’m not blind. Ruby’s got her heart written all over her face when she looks at you.”

I dropped into the chair across from him, suddenly ten years old again. “She doesn’t look at me like that.”

He flicked ash into the tray and gave me one of those long, level stares he usually saved for when I’d done something real stupid. “You sure ‘bout that?”

I didn’t answer. Couldn’t.

“Kid like you,” he muttered after a beat, “you got a heart bigger than your damn head. Always tryin’ to do right by everybody else. But you can’t keep sittin there lettin’ life pass you by ‘cause you think you don’t measure up. That girl’s already picked you. She’s just waitin’ for you to catch up.”

I wanted to believe him. God, I wanted to.

But the voices in my head were louder. They sounded like the teachers who called me a waste of potential, like every person who’d ever looked at my ripped jeans and dirty nails and decided I wasn’t worth the trouble.

“She could have anyone,” I said quietly.

“Yeah,” Wayne said, gruff but not unkind. “And she keeps showin’ up at our door with pizza and VHS tapes. So maybe ask yourself why.”

Then he stood, stretched his back, and padded off to bed, leaving me alone with the soft hum of the fridge and a heart beating like it was trying to break free of my ribs.

She was waiting for me. And I didn’t know how much longer she’d keep waiting.

Wayne wasn’t the only one who noticed how things between Ruby and I changed…Steve decided to throw his two cents in too.

It was the dress rehearsal before the big talent show. I was in eighth grade, Steve in seventh, and Ruby in sixth. Ruby avoided the talent show that year, but Steve, wanting to get it over with, joined me, Ronnie and our other bandmates in our misery. Eighth graders…the last year to do the show.

It was late after school, around five, and I was starving. Ruby walked into the cafeteria where we were all gathered, a small baggie in her hand, her eyes flicking to me, a nervous smile on her face. Stella stood in the doorway, impatient, watching Ruby maneuver through the crowd of kids. I gave her a small wave, but she just rolled her little eyes.

Ruby held up the bag as she walked over. After giving her polite ‘hi’ and ‘hello’ to Steve, Dougie, Jeff and Ronnie, she turned to me, handing me the bag.

“Steak and cheese sub. From Subway,” she said, handing me the bag. I smiled at her, my heart fluttering.

“My favorite…thank you.”

Ruby smiled and hugged me, wishing us good luck, and left quickly.

“She always like that with you?” Steve suddenly asked after Ruby has disappeared out of sight.

I shrugged. “I guess.”

He snorted. “No guessing about it, man. She’s into you.”

“Yeah, anyone with eyes can see that.” Ronnie chimed in.

I didn’t say anything, just took a bite of the sandwich. Steve watched me for a second, then looked away, fiddling with the strap of my guitar.

“Y’know,” he said, too casually, “I used to think maybe she and I had a thing.”

That caught me off guard. I looked up. “Yeah?”

He gave a little half-shrug, like it didn’t matter, like he hadn’t just dropped a grenade between us. “I mean, who wouldn’t? She’s… Ruby. She’s got that thing where everyone thinks they’re the only one she’s shining on. Makes you feel like you matter.”

“She does,” I said before I could stop myself. “Make people feel like they matter.”

I could see Ronnie’s eye roll from the corner of my eye.

Steve nodded slowly, lips pressed together like he was chewing on something he couldn’t swallow. “Yeah. But it’s different with you.”

He said it like a fact. Like he hated how true it was.

“She looks at you like she already chose,” he added, quieter now, more honest. “Even if you haven’t said it out loud yet.”

I didn’t know what to say to that. So I just sat there, fiddling with the sleeve of my jacket while Steve went back to reading over his monologue from Ferris Bueller he was doing for the talent show.

After a minute, he cleared his throat. “You should ask her out.”

I looked at him. “You sure?”

He gave me a look that was something between exasperated and fond. “Yeah, I’m sure. Don’t let someone like Carver beat you to the punch because you’re too scared to swing. And…don’t screw it up, Munson.”

The day I asked her to be my girlfriend was the scariest day of my life. I remember it so vividly. Putting on a collared shirt, picking flowers…well, weeds, really…on the outskirts of the trailer park. By the time I biked to her house, the petals were all messed up and my sweaty hands had wilted the stems.

But when she opened her front door and smiled at me, taking in the sad little bouquet like it was a dozen roses, I knew I had made the right call.

I remember following her into the house like a puppy. I watched her put the flowers in one of her mom’s fancy vases as she went on about how much she loved them.

“These are so cute, Eddie,” she cooed, putting them in the vase that was much too extravagant and much too large for the little trailer park weed-flowers.

“Just like you, princess,” I smiled. She looked at me then, and I knew that she knew that the way I said princess wasn’t condescending and mocking the way I had said it thousands of times before, but genuine.

It was like she saw through my body, like she was looking at my rapidly beating heart, seeing the way my pulse picked up every time I saw her.

She squinted her eyes at me, her glasses moving up her nose, a small smile playing at her lips.

“But why?”, she asked.

“Cause…that’s what boyfriends do for girlfriends,” I say, trying to play it cooler than I was feeling. She laughed, and it sounded like the doorbell at my childhood home—familiar, warm, electric.

“I’m not your girlfriend though,” she said, glancing down, suddenly shy. I stepped closer and took her hand, even though I knew mine was sweating.

“But…but do you wanna be?”

I smiled awkwardly, breathless, as the question hung in the air. She stared at me, confused, like I was joking.

“Are you…are you serious?”, she asked.

I nodded rapidly. “Well I mean, we already spend most of our time together…and you’re like, really pretty. Like really pretty. A-and I like you, Ru. In a way I never liked anyone…not Ronnie, or Nancy, or any girl, really. Or boy. Just you.”

Her expression softened. She didn’t say anything, just smiled. And of course, my stupid, nerdy, dumb-ass kept talking.

“I mean, we’re old enough, you know? You’re almost thirteen, I’ll be fifteen…it wouldn’t be weird. Nothing would really change. Except maybe like…kissing. Not that we have to! I mean, if you think that’s gross…not that I think that! Kissing you wouldn’t be gross. I’d love to. A lot. Really badly. But that’s not the only reason I want you to be my girlfriend! It’s just…,” I nervously clear my throat, “I get these butterflies in my stomach every time I see you. I’ve been getting them for eight years now. It’s like you cast a spell on me or something. Are you a mage? ’Cause you could totally join me and Dougie and Ronnie’s campaign and be a m—”

Before I could launch into a full D&D rant, Ruby’s lips crashed into mine, her arms wrapping around my neck.

I closed my eyes, leaned in, shocked but grateful. The kiss only lasted a few seconds, but when she pulled away, she was grinning that goofy grin I loved so much, crooked teeth and all. I knew my face matched hers.

“Yes, I’ll be your girlfriend,” Ruby says.

I feel my already impossibly big smile get bigger. “Really?!”

“Yes, but I’m not joining your campaign,” she adds, her arms still around my neck. “But I do want to kiss you. A lot. Really badly.”

I cupped her face, still trying to catch my breath.

“Okay…that sounds good,” I said with a laugh. “But I’m still gonna try to get you into Hellfire. I will break you, Ruby Rivera.”

She laughed, throwing her head back, curls bouncing wildly.

“I would expect nothing less from you, Eddie Munson.”

And so, the beauty queen fell in love with the freak.

At fourteen, my reputation as the freak and the felon of Hawkins was just gearing up. Everyone knew me as Al Munson’s son. Everyone knew my dad’s reputation as a thief, a druggie, and someone constantly on the run from the law, leaving his poor son in the dust. A few fights with jocks in high school and the start of Hellfire, I solidified myself on Principal Higgins and most of the Hawkins PTA’s shitlists for life.

It didn’t matter though. It didn’t matter what they thought of me. It didn’t matter that I was the baseball, basketball or football team's choice punching bag. It didn’t matter how many teachers kicked me out of class, how many detentions and in school suspensions I got. All that mattered was that I had the full faith and backing of my one true North; Ruby.

Everyone in Hawkins would have told you I was headed nowhere fast. To most people, I was just another lost cause, the kind of kid you’d see drifting through the halls of school, barely scraping by, or hanging around in the back of the local dive bar, too young to drink but too old to be anywhere else.

Hell, the Hellfire Club, the one thing I actually gave a damn about, was seen as a waste of time, a dangerous distraction, and to some, the Devil’s work. People didn’t get it. They never did. To them, Dungeons & Dragons was just a game, and a kid who spent his nights pretending to be some chaotic sorcerer or a rogue thief was clearly someone with no direction, no real future.

My shitty garage band was just that…shitty and garage. We were nothing special. We couldn’t even land a real gig; the only crowd we could muster up were three drunk dudes who stumbled in after their nightly pub crawl, usually too hammered to care about the music, only there for the cheap beer that I had served them right before getting on stage. But, in a town like Hawkins, that was all you could expect.

And my grades? Forget about it. They were in the toilet, and I couldn’t bring myself to care. Every test, every paper was just another hurdle I didn’t have the energy to jump over. Ruby and Ronnie tried to help by passing on their notes, sharing their homework answers, but they couldn’t sit exams with me.

But here’s the thing no one could see, the thing they’d never understand about me: I always knew exactly where I was headed. Even if the rest of the world wrote me off, I had a map, a destination in my mind, subconsciously since I was six years old, and consciously starting at fourteen, and I wasn’t blind to it.

It wasn’t the kind of thing I’d put into words for anyone else, because they wouldn’t get it, wouldn’t see what I saw. I was headed straight into the arms of Ruby, and as many kids as she wanted to give me. I didn’t need fancy grades or a real career path. I didn’t need a well-established reputation. All I needed was her, and in my mind, she was my future.

Ruby was everything. She was the sun around which my whole world revolved. I couldn’t imagine a future without her in it…hell, I didn’t want to. She was the constant in my life, the one piece of certainty amidst all the chaos and noise.

And the best part? I had her, or at least, I thought I did. I had figured her out, mastered her. She wasn’t just the girl I loved; she was part of me, a perfect extension of myself. Our lives were woven together in a way that felt unbreakable. We didn’t need anyone else to understand us. We didn’t need anyone’s approval.

It wasn’t a fairy tale, not in the way people might think. It wasn’t about some grand, romantic vision. It was more like...an understanding, a connection that was so deep, so raw, that it felt like I was living in tandem with her, like we were two halves of the same whole. When we were together, we were more than just ourselves. We were a force, like we could take on the world.

Ruby was never some fleeting high school crush or a girl I’d eventually grow out of. No, she was everything, the one person who made all of this…this small town, my shitty band, my failing grades…seem like it was all part of some bigger plan. I was already living my dream, and it wasn’t about the music or the Hellfire Club or what anyone thought. It was about us.

I knew what people said behind my back. I knew they thought I was a lost cause. But they didn’t get it. They couldn’t see that my path was already laid out. And it was perfect, because it led straight to Ruby.

No one had to approve. I was perfectly fine with that.

The first year we were together felt like living inside one long, golden hour. The kind of feeling you try to bottle up because you know nothing’s ever going to taste that sweet again.

Nothing changed, really. We were still Ruby and Eddie…still trading off who made dinner, still lying on her bedroom floor arguing over my lack of interest in school work, still quoting bad movies and pretending we were cooler than we were.

Except now, there was kissing. And a lot of it.

We eased into that part like it had always been waiting for us. Soft and slow. Her hands in my hair, my fingers tracing the edges of her spine. It wasn’t rushed. It wasn’t about proving anything. We were already each other’s.

And for a while…that was enough.

It took us two and a half years to finally pull the trigger and sleep together. We were both so young, it was not only because we weren’t ready. But because it was important.

Everyone else was doing it. Steve definitely was, racking up his legendary body count with the kind of confidence only he could pull off. Ruby and I joked about it all the time, teased him until his ears turned red. He got back at me by calling me the eighteen year old virgin, even though I was seventeen. But with us…it was different.

I wanted her in every way, not because I had to have her, but because I wanted to give her everything. All of me. Even the parts I wasn’t proud of. I wanted to know her in that way, and let her know me. Completely each others.

So we did it. On a rainy evening when her sisters weren’t home. We lit a candle for no real reason except that Ruby said it made it feel more “cinematic.” She smiled at me like she trusted me with her whole life. And I loved her. God, I loved her so much I thought my chest might cave in.

It wasn’t some wild, frenzied thing. There wasn’t music playing or fireworks going off. No dramatic declarations or movie-script lines.

It was soft. Careful. A little awkward in the beginning, because of course it was. We were figuring it out together. Laughing through nervous touches, whispering things we were too shy to say out loud in daylight. But none of that mattered. Not when it was her.

She looked at me like I was something good. Something safe. And I remember thinking, If this is the only time, if this is all I ever get…it’s enough.

Her hands trembled a little when she took off her shirt, but mine did too. We took our time, like we were memorizing each other. She kept her eyes on me the whole time, so steady, so sure. And when she kissed me, it wasn’t urgent. It was gentle. Sweet. Familiar. Like she already knew every part of me.

We didn’t say much. Just little things. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah. Are you?”

“Yeah.”

Smiles. Soft breaths. Her fingers tangled in my hair, my arms hugging her back. My name falling from her lips like it was the only thing she knew how to say.

There was no rush, no pressure. Just this shared, sacred feeling that we were stepping into something bigger than either of us had ever held before.

And afterward, we didn’t move. We stayed tangled up in her bed, the rain tapping softly against the windows. Her head tucked under my chin, her fingers tracing lazy circles on my chest. I remember thinking I could stay like that forever.

It wasn’t just about sex. It was about trust. About finally letting the last wall come down between us. It was the safest I’d ever felt in my life. And it wrecked me in the most beautiful way. Because I didn’t just love Ruby. I belonged to her. And in that moment, it felt like she belonged to me, too.

Little did we know, that was the beginning of the end for us. Little did we know the world of shit we had just put ourselves in.

#eddie muson #steddie #steddie x reader #steve harrington #stranger things #stranger things fan fiction

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glennriley49 · 10 days ago

Text

The Dead Sea Part 3

By Glenn Riley and Lady Eckland

Part Three: Echoes in the Necropolis

The Ironclad drifted deeper into the maritime graveyard, a ghost ship navigating a sea of ghosts. The colossal silhouette that had momentarily revealed itself was once again veiled by the oppressive fog, yet its presence weighed upon them, a constant, unspoken dread that resonated in the unnatural stillness. Around them, the wrecks grew denser, a grotesque tapestry woven from the ambitions and failures of centuries.

Thorne, Abernathy, and Davies stood on the forecastle, peering into the gloom. The sheer variety was staggering, defying history as they knew it. Skeletal Viking longships, their dragon prows gnawed by time and strange growths, lay entangled with the high, broken castles of Spanish galleons. The elegant curve of a Roman trireme, its oar ports choked with pale, fleshy weeds, rested against the sturdy, barnacle-encrusted hull of what looked like a Hanseatic cog. Further off, the delicate, shattered remnants of Greek biremes mingled with the timbers of ships whose design predated any known civilization, their forms hinting at voyages undertaken when the world was young and the seas held different terrors. It was a museum of maritime nightmares, each vessel a silent testament to having breached the veil into this lost sea.

"By all the Saints," Davies breathed, his usual gruffness replaced by awe and horror. "How long has this place… been collecting ships?"

Abernathy, spyglass pressed to his eye despite the limited visibility, scanned the spectral fleet. "Centuries. Millennia, perhaps. Time… doesn't seem to flow naturally here. Look there, Captain." He pointed towards a shape looming larger than the others, distinct even in the mist. "That vessel… it’s unlike the others. And unlike anything I’ve ever conceived of."

Thorne followed his direction. Abernathy was right. This ship was vast, easily dwarfing The Ironclad, but built entirely of… metal? Not plates bolted onto wood like their own experimental hull, but seemingly solid iron or steel, its lines stark and utilitarian, lacking masts or sails, possessing instead strange, tower-like structures and massive, rusted booms. Its immense hull was streaked with weeping rust and coated in the same disturbing slime and fleshy, fungal growths seen elsewhere, yet its fundamental construction spoke of an alien technology, far removed from the age of sail.

"Iron," Thorne mused, his voice tight. "Completely iron? Or steel? And no masts… propelled by steam alone, perhaps? A design far bolder than our own." He lowered his glass. "It seems less decayed than some, though clearly derelict. An opportunity, perhaps?"

Davies looked sceptical. "An opportunity for what, Captain? To join this fleet of the damned?"

"Information, Bosun," Thorne replied, his eyes fixed on the metal behemoth. "Supplies, perhaps, though unlikely. But mainly, answers. What befell these ships? Is there a pattern? A way out? That vessel is an anomaly even within this graveyard. It warrants investigation." He swept his gaze over the terrified, exhausted faces on deck. "Remaining here passively means waiting to be picked off by the… entity below, or whatever dwells in the fog. We must seek knowledge, however perilous the path."

He made his decision. "Mr. Davies, prepare a longboat. Armed party. You will lead. Mr. Abernathy, you will accompany him – your analytical eye is needed. Riggs, Sutton – you’ve faced the darkness below, now face the unknown ahead. Take Hawkins and O'Malley too. Armed with muskets, pistols, and cutlasses. Extreme caution. Report anything, no matter how small. Your objective is reconnaissance, assess the vessel's state, search for logs or charts. Engage only if necessary."

Riggs nodded, his face grim but set. He checked the flint of his pistol, the trauma of the Bathyscope descent overshadowed by the need for action. Sutton’s eyes burned with a mixture of fear and vengeful energy. The other two sailors, Hawkins and O'Malley, looked terrified but gripped their weapons tightly.

The longboat was lowered into the still, grey water. Rowing was an eerie experience, the oars dipping silently into the thick, almost oily surface. They navigated between the ghostly wrecks, the silence amplifying the soft creaks of decaying timber, the sigh of water moving through skeletal hulls. On the deck of a nearby galleon, something white gleamed – bones, picked clean, lying amongst rotten ropes. Strange, shelf-like fungi, pulsing with faint bioluminescence, clung to the waterline of a half-submerged caravel. The air hung heavy, cold, and stagnant.

They reached the flank of the metal giant. Up close, it was even more imposing, its riveted steel plates stained dark red and black, pitted and scarred. A name was barely visible beneath layers of rust and grime near the bow: USS CYCLOPS. The letters meant nothing to the 18th-century sailors, but the sheer scale and alien construction filled them with unease. Finding a boarding point was difficult; the hull plating was sheer in most places. Eventually, Davies spotted a gash low on the waterline, possibly from grounding, where plates were buckled inwards, offering precarious handholds.

"Riggs, Sutton, give me a back," Davies ordered. With considerable effort, the powerful Bosun hauled himself up, finding purchase on the torn metal. He then helped the others scramble aboard onto what seemed to be a vast, open deck space, cluttered with enormous, rusted machinery – winches, cranes, strange covered hatches – all unfamiliar and menacing in their silence.

The deck was coated in a thick layer of rust dust mixed with the ever-present, greyish slime. The fleshy, fungal growths were even more prevalent here, clinging to every surface, some resembling deformed, bloated starfish, others like pale, veined sacs that seemed to contract slightly as they passed. The air stank of decay, metal corrosion, and something else – a faint, musky, animal scent.

"Spread out, cautious," Davies commanded, his voice low. "Abernathy, what do you make of this?"

Abernathy ran a gloved hand over a rusted bulkhead, his eyes wide with disbelief. "Steel, Captain Davies. Thick-rolled steel. The craftsmanship… it’s beyond anything I imagined possible. No forge we possess could produce such plates. And this machinery… its purpose is unclear, but the scale… This vessel wasn't built in our time. Perhaps not even in our century."

"Future ship?" Hawkins whispered, looking around nervously. "Or… something else?"

"Let's find a way below," Davies said, ignoring the speculation. "Logs, charts – that's the goal."

They located a heavy steel hatch, slightly ajar. Prying it open revealed a dark companionway ladder descending into blackness. The stench wafting up was overpowering. Davies took a lantern, checked his pistol, and led the way down, the others following closely, weapons ready.

The corridors below were nightmarish. Coated in the same pulsating fungal growths, slick with slime, they twisted at angles that felt subtly wrong. Lantern light flickered, casting deceptive shadows. Water dripped incessantly, echoing in the metallic confinement. They moved as a tight knot, muskets raised, the scrape of their boots loud in the oppressive silence. Abernathy occasionally stopped to examine the growths, muttering about cellular structure and parasitic symbiosis, but fear kept his analysis brief.

After navigating a maze of identical, decaying corridors, they found a section that seemed relatively intact. A heavy steel door, warped but still sealed, blocked their path. Working together, they managed to force it open, revealing what looked like an officer's cabin, surprisingly preserved. While rust and grime coated the metal desk and bunk, the strange fleshy growths were less rampant here. Scattered on the floor were oddments that made the sailors pause – remnants of brightly coloured synthetic fabrics, strange plastic containers, items utterly alien to their experience.

And on the desk, lying open beneath a cracked glass paperweight shaped like a dolphin, was a book. It was bound in faded blue leather, but its paper and print were clearly modern. Abernathy picked it up gingerly.

"A journal, Mr. Davies," he said, his voice hushed. "Written in English, but… the script, the phrasing… it’s recent. Very recent." He carefully turned a brittle page. "Listen to this."

He began to read, his voice echoing slightly in the dead air of the cabin.

"October 12th. Still no idea where we are. One moment, clear skies south of Bermuda, the next… this fog. Thick as soup, dead calm. Radio's silent, GPS dead. Arthur is trying to jury-rig the auxiliary generator, but the saltwater intrusion was bad. The Wanderer took a beating in that squall before the fog hit. We’re adrift."

"October 14th. Drifted into… God, I don't know what to call it. A graveyard. Ships everywhere. Old ones. Ancient. Like ghosts in the mist. Saw a Viking longship right next to a galleon. Arthur thinks we've somehow slipped through time. I just think we're lost. Found this huge metal ship, looks like a collier or something, derelict. Cyclops, the nameplate says. Seems marginally better than staying on our crippled yacht. We're going aboard."

Abernathy paused, looking grimly at the others. "This confirms the temporal displacement. This ship, the Cyclops… it vanished in the Atlantic, early 20th century, according to certain speculative Admiralty reports I once glimpsed."

"Twentieth century?" Riggs breathed. "God preserve us."

Abernathy continued reading, his voice growing more strained.

"October 17th. This ship is vast. And wrong. There’s this… growth everywhere. Fleshy, like tumours. It pulses sometimes. Arthur thinks it’s just some kind of deep-sea fungus, but it feels… watchful. We found some tinned food in a galley, surprisingly preserved. But the silence… it presses in. And the feeling of being watched never leaves."

"October 20th. Arthur went deeper into the engineering sections, looking for parts. He didn't come back when he said he would. I went looking. Found his flashlight… and blood. Heard something skittering in the darkness. Not tentacles. Something… chitinous? Fast. I ran. Sealed myself in this cabin."

*"October 21st. It found me. Got in through a ventilation duct. Small at first, like a… segmented crab made of shadow and bone. It didn't kill me. It… touched me. Punctured my skin. Injected something cold. I can feel it… inside me. Changing me. Oh God, the pain… but worse… the thoughts… not my thoughts…" *

Abernathy’s hand trembled as he read the next entry, the handwriting becoming erratic, looping, almost alien.

"October ?? Lost track of time. The change… is profound. My legs… so many legs now… move with such speed. The hunger… it overrides everything. Arthur… poor Arthur… he came back, finally found me. Didn’t recognise me at first. He screamed. He tasted… divine. The joining is almost complete. I am… We are… becoming."

The final entry was scrawled hastily, dated only hours ago, judging by the freshness of the ink.

"Fresh meat. Smelled them coming aboard. Young… strong… terrified. Such flavour. We are hungry. We are coming."

As Abernathy read the last words, a chilling screech echoed from the corridor outside the cabin door, followed by a rapid, clicking, skittering sound, impossibly fast, moving on metal.

"Barricade the door!" Davies roared, shoving the heavy desk against it. Riggs and Hawkins added their weight.

SLAM! Something heavy hit the door from the outside, the steel groaning. SCRAPE… CLICK-CLICK-CLICK…

"It's on the ceiling!" Sutton yelled, aiming his musket upwards, his face a mask of terror and fury.

Another SLAM against the door, harder this time. A thin crack appeared near the warped hinges. Through it, they could see a glimpse of movement – pale, multi-jointed limbs ending in needle-sharp points, scrabbling for purchase.

"Fire through the door!" Davies ordered. Riggs and Hawkins fired their muskets point-blank into the steel. The roar of the shots was deafening in the confined space. A high-pitched shriek answered them, followed by the sound of something heavy slumping down, then more furious scrabbling.

"It's still coming!" Abernathy shouted, drawing his own pistol.

CRUNCH! One of the chitinous legs punched clean through the weakened steel near the top of the door, flailing blindly. Sutton fired his pistol, shattering the limb in a spray of ichor that hissed where it touched the metal floor.

"Reloading!" Riggs yelled, frantically working with powder and ball.

The door buckled inwards further under a renewed assault. They could hear wet, guttural sounds now, mixed with the clicking – a voice, distorted, layered, hideously female and yet utterly alien. "Hungry… join us… become… more…"

"We can't hold here!" Davies shouted over the din. "Through the other passage! Move!"

There was another doorway at the back of the cabin, leading deeper into the ship. Davies kicked it open. "Abernathy, take the journal! Riggs, cover our retreat! Sutton, Hawkins, O'Malley, with me!"

They scrambled through the doorway just as the main cabin door burst inwards. Standing there, silhouetted against the gloom, was the horror described in the journal. Eleanor's upper torso and head were still vaguely recognizable, but grotesquely fused into a segmented, insectoid body made of glistening, pale chitin. Her arms ended in wickedly sharp claws, and she moved with terrifying speed on at least eight long, multi-jointed legs that carried her across the floor and onto the walls with equal ease. Her mouth opened in a screech, revealing rows of needle-like teeth.

Riggs fired his reloaded musket, the ball striking the creature's chest with a sickening thud. It staggered back, screeching, but didn't fall. He drew his cutlass as it surged forward again.

"Go! Now!" Riggs bellowed, engaging the creature, his blade scraping uselessly against its armoured carapace.

Davies and the others plunged into the dark corridor beyond the cabin. "Riggs! Fall back!" Davies yelled.

They heard Riggs cry out, a sharp yell of pain, followed by a wet tearing sound. There was no time to look back. They ran blindly through the twisting, fungus-coated corridors, the skittering pursuit echoing behind them, sometimes seeming impossibly close, sometimes fading as if the creature were taking shortcuts through vents or unseen passages.

Lanterns bobbed frantically, casting wild shadows. Hawkins stumbled, screaming as a sharp leg lashed out from a side passage, gashing his arm before O’Malley pulled him onwards. Abernathy clutched the journal, his face pale, gasping for breath. Sutton fired his pistol back into the darkness whenever the skittering sounded too close, the shots echoing endlessly.

They burst out of a different hatch onto the main deck, gasping in the relatively open, fog-filled air. The longboat was still where they left it, bobbing gently against the hull far below.

"Down! Quickly!" Davies urged, hustling them towards the torn section of the hull they'd used to board.

As Hawkins and O'Malley scrambled down, the creature appeared at the deck railing above them. It moved with unnatural fluidity, clinging to the vertical surface, its multiple eyes glowing faintly in the gloom, its distorted human face twisted in a rictus of hunger. It shrieked again, a sound that promised pain and assimilation.

Sutton, Abernathy, and Davies slid and scrambled down the hull plating. Sutton paused at the bottom, turned, and fired his last pistol upwards. The shot went wide, but the flash and bang seemed to make the creature hesitate for a fraction of second.

"Row!" Davies bellowed as they tumbled into the longboat, Abernathy landing heavily, clutching the journal. O'Malley and a terrified Hawkins grabbed oars, pulling frantically away from the towering metal hull.

The Eleanor-creature crawled down the side of the Cyclops with horrifying speed, reaching the water's edge just as the longboat pulled out of immediate reach. It shrieked in frustration, long claws scraping against the steel hull, leaving deep gouges. It glared after them, a promise of future torment in its glowing eyes, before retreating back into the shadows of the derelict vessel.

The row back to The Ironclad was made in terrified silence, punctuated only by Hawkins' pained groans and the frantic splash of the oars. They were hauled aboard, Davies quickly reporting the nightmare to a grim-faced Thorne.

Abernathy held up the journal. "Captain… the graveyard… it’s not just the entity in the fog we have to fear. The ships themselves… they harbour their own horrors. Things that… change people."

Thorne looked from the traumatised faces of the boarding party towards the looming shape of the Cyclops, now fading back into the fog. They had sought answers and found only deeper layers of horror. Not only were they hunted by a god-like entity from the depths, but the very resting place of its previous victims bred new abominations, parasites waiting to transform the unwary. There was no sanctuary here, not even among the dead. The Ironclad was not just adrift in a monster's lair; it was adrift in a sea of metamorphosing nightmares. The third part of their ordeal was over, leaving them facing not one, but multiple horrors, trapped between the colossal watcher in the fog and the festering evils within the graveyard itself.

#horror stories #cosmic horror #horror #howard phillips lovecraft #dead sea #tim curran #eldritch horror #lovecraftian

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