#the Jonathan being trapped stuff is bad but doesn’t really scare me

[count-skribula]

God, todays entry is one of the scariest to me

Just the initial sadness of realizing a child was killed, and then seeing the grief of her mother before the horror of her being ripped apart by wolves

And Jonathan not even feeling pity because he felt death was a better date than knowing how her child died

It’s just SO horrific

[fakecrfan]

MAG 155 and Jon’s level of culpability

You know, I have always accepted that The Magnus Archives is a tragedy, which means that the characters (all of them!) 1) make mistakes and 2) their mistakes have grave consequences. And throughout season 4, the idea of Jon having choices available to him and being responsible for his actions even with the Eye or the Web exerting influence on him comes up a lot.

“But if you choose to believe in a free will, then yes: All you have done has been of your own free will. They have all been your choices.” (Annabelle Cane, MAG 147)

“What I’ve been doing to these people, it - it hasn’t been because I was puppeted, or controlled, or possessed.

I wanted to do it. It felt good.” (Jonathan Sims, MAG 147).

And there are certainly actions Jon did that deliberately harmed people (especially in season 4 with approaching people on the street and all) but of all these choices I have always felt like... the one ‘‘choice’‘ that I never felt was fair to judge Jon for was the ‘‘choice’‘ Oliver Banks mentioned when he was in a coma.

The thing is, John, right now you have a choice. You’ve put it off a long time, but it’s trapping you here. You’re not quite human enough to die, but still too human to survive. You’re balanced on an edge where the End can’t touch you, but you can’t escape him.

[...] Make your choice, Jon. (Oliver Banks, MAG 121)

But I mean, how could you reasonably call this a choice? The choice seems to be Jon either embracing his power or dying, but Jon was unconscious throughout this! How can you hold someone culpable for a “choice” they make when they weren’t even awake? Plus, it’s literally life or death. How could you expect someone to choose to die?

MAG 155 has an answer to my question.

MAG 155 is about Tova McHugh, a woman who does not want to die.

You’ve got to understand, I have so much to live for. Oh, okay, that’s not quite it. I know most people have plenty to live for, but what I mean is that my life does good. (Tova McHugh, MAG 155)

Tova McHugh really does not want to die, and that is a sympathetic motivation! But then, a tragic Unfair (as she puts it) accident happens to her, and she dies--she then is only able to continue living by taking other people’s lives. It is then that she starts to twist things. Not only is it okay for her to want to live, but she has to morally justify herself--and the only way to justify herself is to come up with reasons that her life is more valuable than the people she takes from.

And I know that everyone’s life has value, but I just need to be clear that my impact on the world is a positive one. My existence does a lot of good, and that’s only gotten more true since all this started. I’ve given more, spent more time on charitable stuff, and helped more people. (Tova McHugh, MAG 155)

She is clearly ashamed of her actions, on some level, but she really doesn’t want to die. So she decides that if she is a Good Person, and she is donating enough to charity and creating jobs (ugh) then that justifies her actions.

A clear parallel is drawn between her justification and Jon’s current discomfort about his own continued existence.

I’ve - (laughs) I’ve saved the world, the whole world. Does that give me the right to take what I need to survive? I’ve been reading nothing but these old, dry statements for so long, I - I feel weak. (Jonathan Sims, MAG 155).

Jon is only alive because he drew on power from the Eye to survive back in that moment in MAG 121 that was framed as a ‘‘choice’‘ in his coma. I don’t think that makes him as obviously wrong as Tova here, though. After all, the eye causes misery but at the time Jon had no reason to think feeding into the power would actually kill anyone. It wasn’t presented to him as a life-for-life choice--and again, he was unconscious.

But, the statement reveals the truth about Tova ‘‘bringing good into the world’‘ by drawing on the power she has been using. Because it turns out that the amount of life someone will give her isn’t equal. Some give her more, some give her less--and what tends to be the measure?

Eventually I realized it had nothing to do with age or health. It was about connection. About joy. The more friends, family, loved ones the person has, the further out the terror of sudden death spreads from me. The longer it keeps me alive. (Tova McHugh, MAG 155)

Tova can’t bring more ‘‘goodness’‘ into the world than she is taking out of it. Because the power she is using--one of the entities--exists to cause pain and suffering.  The very nature of the power she is using will negate or outweigh any ‘‘good’‘ Tova does to try and justify herself, otherwise it wouldn’t continue to use her.

(Sort of like how Gertrude’s utilitarian balancing turned out to be all for naught, but this is a meta about Jon so I will save that for another time :D)

So does Tova realize the obvious and stop? No, instead she doubles down on her self-justification.

Since this became my existence I’ve thrown myself into philanthropy harder than ever, and the world is so much better for me being in it. I’m not saying how I live is right, or good, but it is the position I have been put in, and a decision I have to make. I never wanted to weigh up the value of a life, to set it on the scales against my own, but that’s a choice that I am forced into. And it is one I will continue to make. (Tova McHugh, MAG 155)

Jon is completely aware of the comparisons between Tova and himself, and for a moment he has a crisis over it.

I find myself hating her, her callous self-deception. But am I so different? Daisy’s chosen to resist in her own way, knowing full well it might take her life in the end, Melanie too. I respect them for it, but I - I don’t know if I can follow their path. (Jonathan Sims, MAG 155)

And you know, I don’t think Jon and Tova are morally equivalent. Maybe it’s just that I like Jon and so am biased in his favor, but his choice seems a lot murkier than hers. He doesn’t get to see direct death as a result of his actions--so that makes it much easier to justify.

But I think the real purpose of this statement isn’t to say Jon is Just As Bad as Tova, but to wake him up to the nature of the powers--they can’t ever be used for permanent good. You might want to use them for such, the possibility of doing more good than harm might be the temptation that draws you deeper in to their use, but by their nature they bring harm into the world and negate the good you try to bring in to the world.

And also, while I dislike Tova and love Jon, morally I have to hold them to the same standard. If the only moral choice for Tova is to quit, even at the cost of her own life... then the only moral choice for Jon, also, is to quit.

(So I guess me going ‘‘you can’t just expect someone to choose to die!’‘ when I listened to 121 is just... me wearing clown shoes and the stupidest clown hat you ever did see, because it turns out that is exactly what I expect from characters I am impartial towards).

Jon might not see direct death as a result of his actions--but on the flipside, it is unclear if he will actually die as a result of quitting either. He says so himself, even.

I suppose I have a way out now. One that wouldn’t even kill me, at least, I hope not. And yet here I am still. Am I a coward? (Jonathan Sims, MAG 155)

He doesn’t think he will die if he quits--not for certain, at least. And yet he continues. He doesn’t know why, because examining his reasons is hard. I am sure part of it is that he enjoys his powers (as he has said) or that he is afraid of dying just as much as Tova is. But he ends on this thought.

I just… what if they need me? What if. (Jonathan Sims, MAG 155).

What if the people he cares about need him? What if they are in trouble? What if Martin needs him?

But, ultimately, this idea that he can use the Eye to defend the people he cares about is just as illusory as Tova thinking she can bring good into the world by killing people to extend her own lifespan. Not that Jon’s desire to protect is fake--it is very much real, but it mixes with his desire to continue for his own purposes, because he likes it and is afraid of dying.

I still don’t think Jon should be held responsible for a decision he made in a coma to save his life when he didn’t see what the consequences were. But it’s not just one decision in a coma that caused the apocalypse--he makes a decision to continue his path every waking moment. He chooses not to quit, even when he doesn’t think quitting will kill him, because being powerless when he and his friends are so often in danger scares him.

And you know, that is a sympathetic motivation, but his choices are still a mistake, and he is still responsible for them. When you make a mistake--even for sympathetic reasons, even when you didn’t know it was leading to such a horrific outcome--you still have to take responsibility and make amends.

When someone speeds while driving, for example, and runs someone over. Maybe they didn’t want to run the person over. Maybe they had a good reason to be speeding, like they were rushing to a friend who needed help. But they are still accountable for the choices they made that led to them injuring or killing someone. Same with Jon and the apocalypse.

Or at least, that is the impression that MAG 155 leaves me with. What do you think?

[cumulativechaos]

The Lanternfly Effect

Martin’s lost his mind.

In his ten years working at the Magnus Institute, Martin’s encountered many unexplainable things. Books that cause horrible things to happen to the people who read them. Artifacts that cause horrible things to happen to the people who touch them. A woman whose body consists almost entirely of worms. Said woman lurking outside his flat for two weeks. He’s seen things that defied nature, logic, and reason. He’s seen nightmare fuel horrible enough to cause him lasting psychological trauma.

None of these things have made Martin question his sanity.

Until now.

Jonathan Sims, Head Archivist at the Magnus Institute, swearing. The stream of profanities flying loudly from his mouth is colorful enough to send Martin’s mother to an early grave. And it’s not just the swearing; Jon is also running around like a madman, head turned towards the ground and feet stomping erratically. He seems to be completely oblivious of the world around him, even when that world stares at him in confusion on their way into the Institute. He’s in the middle of the sidewalk, for heaven’s sake, and he’s cursing like a sailor and running in circles.

“Piece of shit bug,” Jon hisses, voice dripping with malice. “Goddamn fucking shithead worm I’ll fucking kill you you son of a bitch–”

Finally, it gets to be too much for Martin. He has to interact with this strange apparition. He clears his throat, loudly, but Jon pays him no mind.

“Jon,” Martin says. When Jon still doesn’t look up, Martin tries again. “Jon!”

Jon glances up for a moment. “Ah, hello, Martin,” he says, as if it’s a normal morning and what little remains of Martin’s life isn’t falling apart before him. Then Jon goes right back to stomping on the ground and swearing.

“Jon,” Martin tries again. This time, when Jon looks up, Martin doesn’t give him time to say anything. “I think the worm is dead.”

Jon looks down at his feet, where a silvery stain is slowly spreading across the sidewalk. “You can never be too sure,” Jon says. He doesn’t sound even remotely embarrassed.

“Right,” Martin says. “Well, you’ve been stomping on it for a few minutes now, I think you can leave it alone.”

“Hm,” is all Jon says. He stares at the stain for a few moments more, as if daring the worm to reconstruct itself, then nods and heads into the building.

Martin lets out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. He glances down at the worm stain. Part of him, the part that lets spiders loose outside instead of killing them, feels bad for the worm. The memory of those two weeks trapped in his flat reconsiders that pity.

---

The next time it happens, Martin isn’t there. He sees it, though, on the small screen of Tim’s cell phone. The camera is shaky with Tim’s laughter.

“Fuck! Off! You stupid! Shitty! Bug!”

“This is the greatest thing I’ve ever seen,” Sasha says, peering over Tim’s shoulder.

“Right?” Tim says. “He goes on for ten minutes.”

“Guys, come on, we should get back to work,” Martin says, but he’s still peering, wide-eyed, over Tim’s other shoulder. He makes no move to follow his own suggestion. There’s something captivating about watching Jon go apeshit on a couple of tiny, seemingly harmless worms. (Martin knows they’re not harmless, though. Doesn’t stop the video from being utterly hilarious and completely earth-shattering.)

“What are you watching?” says a familiar stern voice, and Martin yelps, leaping away from Tim’s desk with a red face. Sasha hops away as well, but with far less panic then Martin. Tim, on the other hand, swipes a few times on his camera roll and turns to face Jon with an easy grin.

“A video of my mum’s cat,” Tim says. “Do you want to see?”

It’s so brief Martin almost misses it, but for a moment he could swear Jon considers it. “Later, perhaps,” he says. “Get back to work, everyone.”

---

The third time it happens, Martin is there. In fact, Martin is the catalyst.

It’s the early morning, far too early for people to be arriving at the Institute, and Martin is taking a walk. It’s rare he gets to see the outside world, these days. The inside of the Archive is all he ever looks at. It’s a risk, stepping out, but one Martin is willing to make for the sake of what little remains of his own sanity.

It’s on his return back that he’s attacked.

Later, when he breathlessly tells the story to Tim and Sasha, there will be dozens of worms. Dozens of worms, and all of them were suddenly surrounding him, cornering him. In his retelling, they all pounce at once, only to be effortlessly brushed away by his savior, Jonathan Sims.

The truth is that it’s one worm. It does jump at him, though, scaring the living daylights out of him and causing him to shriek loudly, alerting a certain workaholic archivist who is coming in to work at an ungodly hour of the morning. Said workaholic archivist does come running to Martin’s rescue. And said workaholic does deal with the worm in the way Martin is becoming familiar with.

“Die you fucking asshole!” Jon exclaims, stomping firmly on the worm. Its silvery guts gush across the pavement, and Jon stomps on those bits, too. “Threatening my assistants? I’ll fucking eviscerate you and burn you to ash! Tell Jane Prentiss to meet me behind the Institute for a one on one deathmatch, I’ll fucking murder her!”

So, like, the same kind of stuff, really.

Martin can’t get over the bit about “threatening my assistants,” though. Before, he thought Jon’s colorful language was simply due to his unending hatred for the silvery creatures, but it seems as though some of it has to do with protectiveness.

“Martin,” Jon says, snapping Martin out of his thoughts. “Martin, are you alright? Were there any others? Did it get you?”

“I-no, no, I’m fine,” Martin says. “It was just the one, and, er…” Martin glances at the smear on the ground. “I think you took care of it.”

Jon breathes a sigh of relief. “Thank goodness,” he says. “I don’t know what I would have done if–”

Jon cuts off, ears turning red. He clears this throat and turns away. “Anyway,” he says. “Shall we head inside?”

Martin can’t help the giddy smile that spreads across his face. “Lead the way, Jon.”

[overdramatic-queer-antagonist]

Stop The Apocalypse Out of Spite (Pt 8)

Ao3  First  Last  

Sasha couldn't really make sense of what happened.

After Martin had left, she and Jon made their way up to Artifact Storage. It probably should've been a quiet walk, but they actually filled the silence pretty well. Especially considering neither of them were really talkers.

"So..." Sasha started almost immediately after Martin left. She'd grill him later. For now, it was Jon's turn.

Jon groaned, "Oh no."

"Yep!" Sasha was sure she was grinning, "Wanna tell me about it?"

"Not really, no."

"You're impossible, Jonathan."

"Because there isn't anything to talk about. It wasn't like that! We were just talking."

Honestly, Sasha didn't really think it was. Martin was a physically affectionate person. It wasn't an uncommon occurrence to see Tim lying across his lap or Sasha giving him a peck on the cheek. That's just how he was. Still, Sasha would never pass up the opportunity to fuck with Jon, especially in a scenario where the only other thing to do was be afraid, so she asked, "But do you want it to be something?"

It was a joke, of course. Sasha was expecting him to either laugh or sputter out an offended no. She was not expecting Jon to start walking faster, pointedly ignoring her.

"Oh my god!" She exclaimed.

"No. No, we aren't having this conversation. Not today."

"You like Martin!"

"Shouldn't we be focusing on the NotThem?"

"All that would do is scare us. Now tell me about Martin."

"He's my assistant, Sasha! That would be totally inappropriate. If I had feelings for him, which I don't."

"Okay, first of all, I don't think you can fire him. Pretty sure we're all stuck here. Second, everyone has feelings for Martin. He's sexy."

Jon laughed at that."Yeah, sex appeal isn't really a factor for me." He said, gesturing to his ace ring. "Wait, hold on. What do you mean we can't leave?"

"I meant metaphorical sexiness."

"Important stuff now. We can talk about Martin later."

"Martin's metaphorical sexiness is very important," Jon gave her a look. "Yeah, yeah, okay. I've been talking with Tim. We both tried to quit- no offense. We just prefer to have jobs with a little fewer worms- but we couldn't. Not like we wanted to stay or something. We just couldn't."

Jon looked upset by this revelation but nodded, "Yeah, that sounds about right. Martin mentioned something about being stuck here, too. During Prentiss's attack. Then I asked him if he was a ghost, which is the only reason I even slightly remember that conversation."

Sasha gave a surprised laugh, "Damn, Jon, I was rooting for you, but I'm not sure you can recover from that!"

"Okay, in my defense, I just had a corkscrew shoved in my leg, and I'm not sure if you know this, but that hurts."

"Yeah, I'm sure. So what do you think we should do?"

"I don't know if there's anything we can do, really. As bad as it is, I don't think we know enough yet."

"Yeah, I guess that works. I don't like it, but what else could we do?"

----

They had actually managed to keep the conversation going until they got to Artifact Storage. As weird as it is to talk more than you have in months while you're about to die, something was comforting about it. Like, if Sasha was going to die, at least she'd go out with a friend. The moment they stepped through the threshold, though, all conversation died.

Jon held his ax towards Sasha. "Would you like to do the honors?" He asked.

Sasha grinned and pushed it back towards him. "Nah," She said, "I think I'll film what happens. You know. For scientific purposes." Jon snorted but took the ax back.

He stood across from the table and nodded for her to turn on the camera. And- okay, maybe her wanting to film it had nothing to do with science. Maybe she just wanted proof that she really did almost die. That she didn't just forget what her coworker looked like. She knew that was crazy. Other people had seen it, and Tim and Martin wouldn't just placate her like that. This was real. 

And then, just like that, Jon swung the ax down, and she got her "confirmation." The only price she had to pay was everything going to shit.   It turns out, the table was trapping the NotThem. Not sustaining it. Now all because of a fucking miscalculation, Jon was probably dead, and Sasha was too afraid to leave Artifact Storage.

She was lucky enough to be well enough hidden that the NotThem didn't see her. She kinda doubted it would have cared, watching it chase after Jon as it did, Sasha was pretty sure he was it's target. Which managed to piss her off even more. It's not that Sasha wanted to be the victim of some shape-shifting monster, but it nearly killed her, and the idea that there was no reason to it was insulting. But maybe she just read too many books as a kid.

She really should've just gone after Jon. Left that damn place and never came back. But something about her just had to get a look at that table. 

It was ironic, looking at the broken pieces of a table at the centre of so many mysteries. Sasha wanted to laugh, and she wanted to cry, and she didn't understand either of those impulses. She hated not understanding. She picked up a piece to look at it, and those statement givers weren't kidding. The fractals covering it were mesmerizing. She got the sudden impulse to snap it in half. She followed it. Hundreds of tiny spiders came crawling onto her arm, and she couldn't even find it in her to be shocked.

----

Sasha doesn't know how long she was standing there, staring at that broken table. She doesn't know what thoughts were running through her mind. Just that they weren't her own. What felt like seconds later, she heard Martin yell, "Shit! Tim, I found her! Get over here now!"

She doesn't know how long Martin waited for Tim. When he finally came into the room, he let out a sigh of relief at seeing Sasha, but then he saw what she was holding.

"Sasha?" He said, stepping towards her. "What's wrong?"

"Get that thing away from her!" She heard Martin shout. He sounded panicked, but she was too busy being angry. How dare he ask Tim to take- whatever this was, She forgot.- from her.

Tim seemed to agree with Martin, though, and wrestled it out of her hand. She doesn't remember if she put up a fight. 

The second she snapped out of whatever state she was in, she heard Tim ask, "What the fuck is this?"

"Don't! Don't look at it! Just put it down," Martin yelled. He still sounded really panicked.

"Martin? Tim? What happened to Jon?" Sasha asked after a few tries.

Tim laughed bitterly, and Martin's face grew saddened. "On the run from the pigs," Tim answered.

"What? What happened?"

"He killed some old guy."

Martin made an offended sound that would've been funny in a different situation. "As I said, that was Jergen Leitner-"

"Wait, Jergen Leitner?" Sasha interrupted, "Stupid idiot goddamn-"

Martin gave her an exhausted look. "Yes. I get it. I didn't like him either. But Jon didn't kill him."

Tim waved him off. "Yeah. I know, it was daddy dearest." Martin made a face but stayed quiet. "But, I'm not sure the police would believe us. Like-Elias is a millionaire."

"Yeah!" Martin groaned in frustration. "Okay. The police are gonna be here any minute now, and we'll have to answer some questions. This is going to suck, but I need you two to promise me something."

"Of course. What is it?" Sasha asked.

"Don't tell the police it was Elias."

[suckerfordylansstuff]

New Journey (S.H.)  Chapter 2 Season 2

Pairing: Steve Harrington x henderson!reader

Summary: Y/N Henderson joins her brother's little adventure and makes a new friend on the way.

Warnings: swearing

Notes: back with a new chapter. Thank you for all the love and motivation to continue this story. If you want to be tagged just comment. Enjoy!

Not requested

Also gif not mine

Chapter 1 << New Journey Masterlist >> Chapter 3

" No, Dustin. You will not take Dart with you to school." you told him sternly.

It was the next day and when you went to check up on Dustin and Dart you caught him in the act. Right when he was ready to put him back in his ghost trap to take him with him.

" Y/N, come ooon.. The party might be able to help me figure out what he is." he said looking at you with his puppy eyes.

" No, not gonna work, buddy. It is way too dangerous to get him out of here." you said and pointed to the tank. He sighed in frustration and put Dart back to Yertle's tank, mumbling something under his breath.

" Alright, now that that is covered I'm gonna go to the library before class to pick up some books to learn things about slugs, lizards or whatever that thing is." you said and looked at Dart, but something caught your eye. "Hey.. Did Dart get bigger?"

" Um.. A little I think.." Dustin answered you like it was tottaky normal to grow that fast.

" Ok... Well, I'm leaving. Bye, Dustin! And don't do anything stupid." you warned him and he stuck his tongue out to you.

You went to get your backpack and kissed your mother goodbye "Bye, sweetheart." she called out to you and you went outside. But of course the moment you got out of the house, Dustin ignored your warning and put Dart right back to his trap, without you knowing.

You stared your car and went straight to the library and picked up some books that would help you figure out what Dart is. You went to the library lady at the front and put the books down for her to check.

" Hello, miss Henderson. Doing a project at school?" she said marking at her notebook the books you were getting.

" Yeah.. Kind of." you answered her with a smile. She gave you a look, but didn't ask anything else. She handed you the books and wished you good luck. You waved at her and went to your car to go to school.

___

It was now your free period and you decided to take 2 of the books and see what you could learn about Dart. As you were sitting at the back of the school suddenly you heard two familiar voices talking.

" What are you doing here?" said a male voice. A very known to you one.

" What do you think? Where were you this morning? I missed first period." answered him a more feminine voice. 'Was it..'

" I just figured Jonathan would take you." told her the other person and by now you knew who it was. Steve and Nancy were finally talking about what had happened yesterday and it seems like she doesn't remember anything.

While Steve was explaining to her what had happened yesterday, it was clear that he was getting quite irritated from the whole situation and you couldn't blame him.

'This is wrong' you thought. You knew you shouldn't be listening to them, but you were afraid to move. They could hear or see you and that would have been ten times more terrible.

"... Oh yeah, also, you don't love me" he finished. This part broke your heart.

" I was drunk, Steve. I don't remember any of that."

'Yeah, Nance, but it doesn't explain your actions' you thought.

" So that makes everything that you said.. It's what? Just bullshit, too?" Steve told her, like he was somehow reading your own thoughts.

" Yes!"

" Well, then tell me." he pleaded.

" Tell you what?"

" You love me. " Steve told her desperately and by her silence you knew it wasn't gonna end well.

" Really?" she finally spoke up, but was interrupted by a loud noise.

" Harrington! Dude, we need you, man. That douchbag's killing us. Let's go!" said a voice, probably another basketball player.

" Alright!" Steve told him, but you didn't hear any footsteps.

" Come on!" the other guy spoke again, but it still stayed silent.

Finally, you hear walking and Steve saying "I think that you're bullshit." and left.

'Ouch..' were your only thoughts until you heard sniffing.

Nancy was crying. You wanted to badly to go and calm her down, but it would make things worse if she found out that you had been listening this whole time. So you let her be and she eventually left.

But after all of this you couldn't go back to reading about frogs and lizards. Your mind was too set on Steve.. And Nancy. Their whole situation. So you packed your stuff and headed for your next class.

___

" Hey, little guy." you said after entering your brother's room.

"Hi.." he replied softly. Everything looked normal- well.. As normal as it could be. Dustin was on his bed reading a comic and Dart was on the tank.

" I'm sorry for being harsh in the morning." you started sitting next to Dustin " It's just.. If someone saw Dart they might have freaked out or hurt him or God knows what and, even if he's gross, he clearly means something to you. So it would be a shame for something bad happen to him because some idiot is scared."

" You were scared." Dustin answered trying to come out as cool.

" Yeah, true. But can you blame me? He's something we've never seen before and he shows up all slimy at our garbage can?." you said with a giggle and Dustin joined you. "But, tell you the truth, I really think he's kinda cool now." you finished looking at Dart.

" Wish she did, too." Dustin said quietly, so you didn't hear.

" What?"

" No.. Nothing. You're.. You were right. We don't really know what he is and until we do, it's better we just keep him inside. Hey, did you find anything at the library?" he asked you with hope in his eyes.

" I already had my theories about him, but I'm not too sure anymore.. At first I thought that he was a pol-"

" A pollywog, right?" Dustin interrupted me.

" Exactly! But I read that they usually are aquatic. You think that Dart is?" I asked him pointing at Dart.

" No.. I gave him water yesterday, but he hasn't drank any of it." Dustin explained.

" So, he isn't.. However, there actually are terrestrial pollywogs, two types to be exact. The Indirana semipalmata and the Adenomera andreae. One is from India and one's from South America."

" And how the hell did he end up here?"

" Wait. I didn't finish. Dart doesn't stand heat. And reptiles are cold-blooded. They love heat."

" Does this mean..." Dustin looked at you with happy, big eyes.

" You were right.. We might have found a new species." you said, a smile forming on your lips.

" Holy shit." he said with his cute little smile and then turned to look at Dart " You heard that, buddy? You're something new! Everyone's gonna love you!" he said and went to pick him up.

You just watched and smiled. All of this was very exciting and you couldn't wait to tell someone your new discovery.

___

As you were walking down the halls the next day you went to look for Jonathan, but you couldn’t find him anywhere. You hadn't talked to him in 2 days and you were kind of getting worried.

' Maybe I'll go check up on his house after school..' you thought to yourself right before something big crushed into you.

You gasped and took a few steps backwards, but fortunately did not lose your balance. " Hey, watch out a little." you told the person harshly.

" Sorry, doll. Guess I'll have to be extra careful when I come at you again." said the voice of the most insufferable man in the whole school. Billy Hargrove. You shot your head up and saw his smirk and that stupid cigarette between his lips.

" Yeah, maybe you should. " you responded and tried to leave, but he couldn't make it that easy for you.

" Woah, Henderson." he said catching your hand "Why the rush? Take things slow, that way you can enjoy the moment." he told you tracing his fingers on the side of your face, but you slapped his hand away.

" Get you dirty fingers off my face." you said clenching your teeth and a couple of 'oh's ' were heard from his supposedly friends.

" Ohh, getting feisty. I like it." he commented and leaned in closer to you, but before you could make him regret ever talking to you, another voice was heard.

" C'mon, Hargrove, quit it." Steve said out of nowhere and shoved Billy away from you. You weren't used to Steve defending you, actually you weren't used to anyone defending you, you pretty much handled things yourself, but when he came and stood next to you, you felt safe.

" What, Harrington? Little miss perfect left you and now you come searching for a new chick?" Billy smirked. I both blushed and got mad when he said it.' What is wrong with me?'

" You're an asshole, you know that?" Steve said with anger filling his voice, but before he could do anything stupid, you stopped him.

" Steve.. Thank you, but let me deal with this on my own." you said towards Steve, gently pushing him away. He looked at you like you were some lunatic, but realized something was up when you winked at him.

" Yeah, Steve. Let the lady speak for herself." Billy mocked him and looked down at you. You smiled sweetly and grabbed his shoulders. You pulled him just a little bit down, while your knee was making its way up to his crotch, but nearly missing.

Billy let out a sharp breath and gave you a wide eye look. You leaned up and whispered to his ear " Next time you will 'come at me', I won't miss." referencing to his earlier comment and walked away, without looking back and missing his shocked expression.

When you turned the corner a voice was heard once again, but this time a more friendlier one.

" Hey, Y/N." Steve said running to catch you.

' Deja vu' you thought.

"Hi.." you simply answered.

" I have to admit, that was.. That was pretty badass of you." he said smiling softly.

" Yeah, I guess. But he deserved it. He can't just go around thinking he owns everyone and everything. Someone has to teach him some limits and I got no problem doing that." you said and Steve chuckled. You missed that sound. You had actually heard him laugh before that, but this time it was genuine. 'He is getting better..'

" Anyway, have to get to class. See you around, crazy." he said and waved goodbye.

You giggled at the nickname and waved back as went on to your own lesson.

___

Once you stepped in the house the first thing you saw was your pretty upset mother. She was looking around with Mews's food in hand.

" Hey, mom. What's wrong?" you said touching her shoulder. She turned around and looked at you with sadness in her eyes.

" Hi, dear. Did you, by any chance, see Mews outside? I can't find him anywhere."

" Um.. No, but you know him. I'm sure he's not too far away. He's probably out there exploring. Not the first time, he'll come back." you tried to calm her down and kissed her cheek. She gave you a sweet smile and went outside to search a bit more.

You shook your head smiling and went to your room. As you opened the door you were surprised to see your brother with tears in his eyes, trembling. You threw your bag and rushed to hug him. He accepted the hug and after a couple of seconds you spoke up.

" What happened, little guy?" you asked stroking his hair. And what he would tell you next was not what you had expected.

~~~

Tag list : @bookscoffeandotherstuff @i-am-the-coffee-queen @a-hoe-for-vanya @stiles24ever

[diyunho]

The Joker x Reader- “The Work Wife” Part 6

You’ve been working for The Joker for the past 10 years: you speak and act for him and no matter the circumstances, Y/N is always there to take care of everything he needs.  The King of Gotham might not be married, yet he has a perfect partner: his work wife.

Starts HERE

After 1 Month

The Joker circles the warehouse, inspecting the boxes and crates full of ammo and smuggled goods received with last night’s shipment.

“Hmm…” he eyeballs a decorative vase engraved with gold and silver, wondering if the extravagant object should become part of his collection at The Penthouse. His cell start vibrating and J takes it out of pocket, impatient to hear about his wife’s routine checkup:

“ ‘ello,” he kicks two packages out of the way.

“Hi,” you greet your spouse. “Just got out of my appointment; the doctor said all seems fine. He ordered some lab tests to make sure my blood levels are within the normal range; I should get the results in about 3 days.”

“That’s awesome!” he grumbles while bending over to grab some papers scattered on the floor. “I’m glad you’re ok, I should have come also for moral support.”

Y/N smiles at the confession, choosing not to disclose it makes her happy:

“You have to sort out the cargo; the buyer will be there shortly.”

“Yeah, but this could have waited.”

Your smile gets wider as J fumbles around with several items. 

“Tell you what: I’ll finish up some stuff here and I’ll drive to pitch in.”

The King of Gotham wouldn’t normally decline yet he’s actually worried after everything that happened.

“Nope, I want you to rest; you’ve been too active lately and you need to slow down. Why are you giggling?” he smacks his lips, displeased four trunks look like they’ve been tampered with.

“Nothing in particular,” the bubbly Y/N keeps the best for last.

“I’ll see you home; I found something I don’t like,” The Joker grunts as the heavy lid is lifted from one of the containers. “Stay put and relax!” he orders and you nonchalantly drop the bomb:

“Maybe I will,” and after a small pause: “Oh! By the way, I was given green light for sex.”

“ ‘kay, see you in a couple of hours,” J struggles with the box and waits for your long “Byeeeeee” before hanging up. A few seconds into his task and it hits.

“Holy shit!” he exhales and holds his breath, startled. “Jesus!!” he abandons the precious merchandise, running towards the exit. “Froooossst!!!” he gets his henchman’s assistance. “Take over!!”

“Yes sir!” Jonny emerges from one of the SUV’s parked inside, not understanding why his boss is in a hurry. “Anything wrong?”

“No!!! I have a personal emergency!!” The Joker shouts and pushes the heavy metal door to the side, wishing he was already at his destination.

*************

J enters the code on the pin pad and he is granted access into your apartment. He went to The Penthouse first: you weren’t there and he figured you must be on the 29th floor. He storms inside and rushes towards the bedroom when his enthusiasm is abruptly halted by no other than Jonathan Crane coming out of the kitchen.

Scarecrow almost drops the fresh coffee mug you brewed for him; The Clown Prince of Crime was certainly not informed you had company. Doesn’t matter though, he’s not one to be embarrassed by his current situation:

“May I help you Crane?” a high and mighty J sassily blurs out wearing nothing but his birthday suit.

“I doubt it,” Jonathan is quick to respond. “I dropped by to bring you extra ampules of Liquid Dream like you wanted and pain killers refill for Y/N in case she needs more.”

You suddenly pop up from behind Scarecrow, not being able to stop the question:

“Why are you naked?!”

The Joker opens his mouth because he has a cool explanation, yet the guest doesn’t care about it.

“I think I should bail,” he smirks as he passed by J. “I’m taking the cup, I’ll bring it back next time,” he announces and can’t contain a smartass remark: “Nice attire.”

Your husband bitterly growls and as always, you have to be the catalyst for a better outcome:

“Thank you, Jonathan!”

Scarecrow waves without adding extra comments, 100% positive you’ll burst out laughing as soon as he vacates the premises.  

And he’s correct.

“Oh my God,” you snicker since you didn’t expect such a funny coincidence to unfold within today’s schedule. “That was hilarious!” the amused Y/N finds herself in The Joker’s arms moments after Jonathan’s departure. “Where are your clothes?!” you kiss him and he yanks at your waist, purring.

“The jacket and shirt in the car, pants and boxers in the elevator,” he admits while guiding you towards the couch in the living room. “The socks and shoes are somewhere on the hallway.”

“I was wondering when you’ll realize about the news I shared,” you whisper in his ear as he takes off your summer dress, aroused.

The two bodies plunge on the sofa, Y/N enjoying the intimacy as much as he does:

“J… … J…” you cling to him when his left hand slips in your bikini.

“Mmm? Does something hurt?” The Joker pecks the tip of your nose, ready to quit if you say yes.

“No… it’s not that,” the seriousness in your voice makes him pay attention.

Maybe you shouldn’t bring up the past in these circumstances; here it comes anyway:

“If the Las Vegas events repeat themselves… I won’t forgive you again,” you stare in his eyes without blinking. “I won’t return… ”

The Joker is silent and you wonder what’s going on in his mind; it’s not a secret he was miserable after being abandoned in the City of Lights due to his despicable conduct.

“They won’t.”

“Are you sure?” the doubt in your tone forces him to reveal:

“I’m sure because it felt horrible when you weren’t around.”

You caress J’s hair and remind him you won’t compromise for less than his total commitment:

“You’re either mine or you’re not, ok?...”

“I’m yours,” he grumbles and it’s not very difficult since the woman asking is no casual fling but the only one he ever wanted to marry for reals. “I want the special treatment,” the immediate request makes you snort: it’s so like him to articulate crap like this in the middle of a serious discussion. 

“Do you?!”

“Yes!!” The Joker nibbles on your neck and underlines his affliction: “I’ve been so horny I’m not sure how I still function; I behaved though, I swear!” he’s fast to emphasize while pulling on your bra strap. “You know why?” J throws the question out there, aware the statement will please his wife. “I tolerate you… even if you’ve been nagging me for almost 12 years.”

“Careful,” you admonish. “Uttering such words makes you sound like you’re in love.”

“God forbids! You think so?!” the painful grimace on his face prompts more teasing from your part:

“Yeap, no cure for this terrible disease.”

Your bra ends up on the floor and he’s not content with the epilogue.

“I’m screwed then.”

“Noooot yet,” you wink and his purring intensifies when your teeth sink into his shoulder. “We’re getting there.”

************

Same morning, 11:47am

“There you are!” J exclaims discovering you on the terrace. “You disappeared on me Y/N: I thought you said we’ll have lunch,” the hyper spouse recalls. “What’s wrong?” he frowns seeing you wiping your tears and doesn’t stress the lack of an answer when he notices the ultrasound picture. The Joker quietly sits by you on the swing, kissing your scared cheek in the process. “You ok?”

“U-hum,” you nod. “I wish I didn’t have the miscarriage, you know?...” your bottom lip quivers while placing the image in your robe’s pocket. “I really wanted a baby…”

“My poor old girl…” he sighs and doesn’t expect you to agree.

“I am old!” you keep sobbing and he squeezes you closer to him. “It was probably my last chance to have a child and I blew it!”

The King of Gotham sucks at cheering; he attempts nevertheless:

“Mmmm… You’re supposed to say you’re not old and then I reply that you are old for my standards, which should prompt you to fight back and highlight my standards are crap. Am I to carry on these sort of conversations meant for two by myself now?!” he huffs. “People will think I’m crazy!”

You snort at his monologue and it’s the perfect opportunity to make it clear your opinion is unchanged:

“Your standards are crap!”

“There you are,” the delighted Joker reckons. “I got nervous for a moment,” he chuckles and you elbow him, smiling through tears. “What about we eat something and then we can plan our location for the honeymoon we didn’t get to enjoy?”

J’s plan is working: the little surprise proposition is distracting Y/N and she carefully weighs in his sentences.

“Would you like to elope?” he pushes for a decision and you play with your wedding ring, mumbling:

“I don’t wanna go to Vegas.”

“No Vegas!” he’s fast to consent. “Where to then?”

“Well…” you sniffle, “…what about Reno? We could stay at Solaris Casino; Mark Nessi would accommodate us.”

“He would. If we pack and leave, we can make it there by 7:30-ish pm.”

“You want to leave today?! What about your meetings? You actually have one tomorrow.”

“Meh, Frost can postpone them,” The Joker dismisses your concerns. “I vote we bail and have fun, hm?” he lifts your chin up. “Let’s get the hell out of here, yes?” the impatient Clown wiggles next to you.

“OK…” Y/N elects to grant his plea because escaping town couldn’t have a better timing: it will be nice to spend time together and try to get over the disappointment of his past mistake.

**************

Reno, 8:42pm

You and The Joker are strolling towards the gambling area, excited to have made it here an hour ago. The traffic wasn’t bad and you took turns driving, that’s why you had dinner first and then changed clothes in order to enjoy the night properly.

“I liked the lobster,” you pull at his arm since he’s distrait. “How was your stake?” you seek to chat when he suddenly opens the door to one of the storage closets and shoves you inside. You get trapped against the wall as J claims his special request for the evening.

“I want the special treatment,” he growls and you smirk.

“You didn’t do anything to earn it! This morning I made an exception because it’s been weeks since we had sex. Don’t let my lenience trick you!”

“Don’t nag me!” J cuts you off. “This backless red dress of yours is doing things to me so I want the special treatment,” he slides his arms around your waist.

“Surrounded by shampoo bottles and toilet paper?!”

“It’s quite sexy,” The Joker grins and you compromise a tiny bit:

“I’ll only do the first part! That’s it! I want to go and play poker.”

His face comes close to yours and you start kissing every inch of it, ogling the door instead of paying attention to him.

“You’re not doing it right!” your husband complains. “You’re supposed to look at me!”

You switch your concentration and keep staring in his eyes, abandoning the project when you consider it done.  

“Where are you going?” J stops your movement. “Thanks to you I can’t walk now,” he lifts up your short dress and you dodge his touch, opening the door in order to escape.

“Of course you can! Come on, stop sulking,” you drag him out and he follows, bickering at your indifference.

“You’re mean!” The Joker admonishes and you intertwine his fingers with yours, guiding him in the direction of the VIP room.  

“No, I’m not,” you defend your actions. “I’ve been around you for so many years that those blue eyes and long lashes don’t have any powers over me,” Y/N teases. “I’m immune.”

“Bullshit!” he mutters and you steal a kiss, inviting him to enter the poker room.

“Do you want to sit by the bar?” you point and J doesn’t oppose the choice. “I’m getting a cocktail. Grape juice?”

“No,” he pouts and makes himself comfortable while you fetch your drink.

“Hello Mister Joker,” one of the dolled-up girls swiftly pops up at the table. “I didn’t see you in forever!”

“I’ve been busy,” he avoids the subject and barks when she tries to collapse on the chair next to his. “This seat’s taken!”

“Oh,” she straightens her back. “By whom?!” the envious Ella inquires.

Did another girl get to him first?! It’s common knowledge he’s generous with his flings and she can’t believe another will cash in the benefits.

“My wife,” he taps his fingers on the table, annoyed the interrogation continues.

“You got married Mister Joker?!” the woman doesn’t hide her astonishment: it’s not that his nuptials were broadcasted on the news. Plus… he’s a very weird man, totally not husband material.

“A few months ago,” he sneers and she’s not smart enough to take the hint.

“Who did you marry Mister Joker?” she giggles, more and more convinced he’s bluffing: The King of Gotham is probably messing around to make her jealous.

“My best friend and main nagger,” J bitterly mentions. “Isn’t this what people do? Marry their best friends?”

“You almost got me Mister Joker,” she laughs at his strange acknowledgement, reassured he’s messing with her: an individual like him would pronounce such nonsense only to initiate flirting.

“Excuse me!” you bump into her on purpose, aware why she’s there. “I got you grape juice on ice,” you place the glass in front of your spouse and he opens his mouth in amazement.

“I was literally about to order this! How did you know I changed my mind?!”

“Best friends know,” you bend to kiss him and J pouts, annoyed you overheard his childish affirmation.

“You have such a cool tattoo on your back!” Ella exclaims. “Is that Japanese?”

Y/N turns in her chair, confused to notice the lady is still standing behind them.

“Yes.”

“What does it say?”

You take a deep breath, fed up by her unwanted presence.

“It says that if you don’t get lost, I’ll make sure your body is never found again! And if it’s eventually found, it surely won’t be identifiable!!”

You reprise your position at the poker table, patiently waiting for the dealer to finish handing out the cards.

“I’m so hot and bothered,” J brushes his lips on yours. “Your attitude begs for my undivided eagerness to peel you out of this dress,” he lustfully glares at your cleavage.“What do you say we leave and have a party on our own? We can play strip poker in the honeymoon suite.”

“We just got here minutes ago,” you fix a rebel strand of hair then whisper: “Table seven, white shirt guy.”

“Do you ever take vacations?” The Joker grinds his teeth, nonchalantly gazing at your suspicious target.

“I like to mix business with pleasure,” you wink and accidentally spill a little bit of your cocktail on his pants. “Oops, pardon me; I assume you have to come with me if you need help stepping out of your wet garment.”

“As that old Arkham report specifies: I need all the help I can get,” The Clown reveals to an amused Y/N, excited she’s receptive to his innuendos.

**************

You emerge from the walk-in closet in your skimpy purple lace attire and The Joker gasps, enticed at the view.

“Oh my God! Com’ere!” he gestures for your company and you crawl in bed, pushing aside the items scattered on the sheets:

“What’s with the shampoo bottles and toilet paper rolls?!”

“I’m attempting to recreate the seductive atmosphere in the storage room, maybe it can convince you to continue the special treatment.”

“You don’t give up, do you?” you scoff and straddle his lap, conflicted if you should grant his wish.

“I usually don’t… Are you gonna help like you promised and take off my pants?” J gropes you and the knock at the door interrupts your answer.

“Room service!”

“Did you order from the menu?” you ask and your husband purrs:

“More champagne.”

“Maybe our new friend has arrived,” you wink, hopping out of bed.

“Why don’t we find out?” The Joker spanks your butt as you cover your body with the bathrobe.

Y/N grabs the bottle of champagne from the ice bucket and hides around the corner while he shouts:

“Come in!”

The waiter pushes in the rolling cart in the middle of the lobby, greeting his grouchy customer:

“Hi Mister Joker, would you like one bottle or two?”

“One!”

You creep beyond him and smash the glass against his skull; the man falls on his knees and you take advantage of his dizziness to switch him face up: it is the guy from table seven!

“Who send you?” you ferociously punch him and he struggles to escape when The King’s gun ends up one inch away from his temple. “Who send you?” Y/N shrieks and she’s so absorbed into her job she can’t discern the mesmerized Joker staring at her. It’s not that he didn’t see you in action before, but it finally clicked:

It sure pays off being married to your work wife!

Also read: MASTERLIST

You can also follow me on Ao3 and Wattpad under the same blog name: Diyunho.

[okaybutlikeimagine]

Ticklis

Ah yes… Ticklis……. Beautiful. ♥

(just kidding, dear, you’re so cool and so sweet for liking and reblogging so much of my stuff and i love you♥)

Here’s the REAL ask:

And honestlYYYYY I WAS THINKING ABOUT THIS RIGHT BEFORE YOU ASKED. And i just…… i jUST

Hi, Billy is ticklish. ♥

I debated it a bit in my head when i was thinking about this before this ask got sent. Bc I’m like….. So ticklish it’s actually ridiculous?? and it’s bc my skin is just really sensitive and we don’t need to go into this but yEAH i was thinking about how maybe after all of the abuse he went through he got kind of desensitized? but then i was like maybe he got even more sensitive, y’know??? Like…. He’s very large and in charge and brazen, yeah, sure, but i get the feeling he doesn’t like random, soft touches. They confuse the fuck out of him and he just doesn’t trust them. I’ve said it before but i’m gonna say it again, i think this boy flinches at any and all contact people make w/ him that he isn’t prepared for.

And actually, y'know what?? Doesn't tickling elicit a fight or flight response? So I think the sensitivity Billy has already would definitely go from him flinching at touches he can't see to being ticklish as FUCK by touches he can see and trust.

Like, he'll be leaning up against the kitchen counter, drinking his coffee, standing right in front where they keep the glasses, so when El needs to get past him she'll poke his stomach and-

Billy squeaks.

Like… full on squeaks.

El jumps a bit bc she’s never heard that sound come out of Billy before. She looks at him w/ wide eyes and a little smile and he looks back w/ fear bc guys, being tickled is scary, esp when you’re insanely ticklish, so he’s freaked and El giggles and reaches out to tickle him again and he moves so fast to get away from her. El just gets her glass and pours herself some milk.

And i just??? AUGH. Hop will put his hand on Billy’s shoulder when he passes behind him on the couch, just bc, and one of his fingers will accidentally brush Billy’s neck and Billy will shriek and jump and giggle just a little and Hop is scared to all hell bc he thought it was okay to do that but maybe he scared the boy??? And Billy will just wave Hop off when Hop goes to ask what’s wrong.

Billy will be helping Joyce w/ dinner and she’ll do that thing where she puts her hand on his back lightly so he knows she’s passing behind him and he’ll squeak and giggle a little and get super close to the counter to get away. She puts her hand on his shoulder to ask if he’s alright and he’ll say “I’m fine!” in a real high voice through a small giggle. Joyce just smiles but lets him be.

El will brush his hair out and try to braid it but her fumbling fingers will brush the skin of his neck and he’ll squeak every. time. His shoulders will be up by his ears and he’ll start to giggle so much that he’s bent over where he’s sitting, laughing too hard and begging her to stop. And El’s concerned, wondering if she hurt him or something bc Billy like… almost never laughs. Not like that. So she leans forward to look at his face and ask:

“Are you alright?”

He nods. “Yeah… just… tickles.”

“Tickles?”

He nods again, face flushed real hard bc, even though this is El, he’s still embarrassed. “Yeah. Like… it feels funny.”

“Feels funny?”

Billy nods and turns around. “Yeah, like this.” he says before reaching out and tickling her arms and stomach. She laughs a little, kicking out and reaching out to tickle his arms but literally the slightest touch has him keeling over with laughter, jumping away and putting distance between them. She laughs harder at that than she does at the tickles.

The next time that Max comes over and they’re all doing their hair together, El begs and pleads Billy to let her do his hair. He’s reluctant to say yes, but he does. And when she does, fumbling fingers once again brushing his neck, Billy ends up wrapping his arms around Max in a hug (foregoing the braid he was giving her) and squeezing her in a tight hug. She shrieks, pushing away.

“Billy get off! What’re you doing, hugging me?”

Billy shoves her instead, scrambling to get off the bed and away from El, who’s giggling like crazy.

“What’s wrong with you, you spaz?” Max asks to Billy, but El answers.

“Tickles!”

Max is confused. The Billy she knows is not ticklish.

“What?” Max asks. Billy’s giving El a scared as hell look, shaking his head at her, but she doesn’t understand.

“He said it tickles when I do that.”

Max looks to Billy with confusion. “You’re ticklish? Since when are you ticklish?”

Billy shrugs and shakes his head at the same time. “No. Nope. Stop.”

Max is grinning hard now. “Seriously?” She asks, devious as all hell, walking towards Billy with her hands behind her back. Like she’s hiding something.

“Stop, Max, no-!” Billy shrieks in vain because soon Max is attacking Billy with tickles and Billy is wriggling like a little kid, running away and trying to hug the wall as he runs out of El’s room and towards any kind of safety but the thing is, the cabin is small and there’s just not a lot of space to run so he’s running around the coffee table and he’s trying to avoid any traps like the couch or his bed. He ends up running Max around the outside of the house and loses her, only to get caught on the couch when she finally heads back inside after searching for him. He punches her arm enough times to get her to stop. (you fucking bet she’s gonna use this against him though)

Jonathan laughing quietly when he passes the joint to Billy and their fingers accidentally brush a little too much and Billy pulls his hand away fast, flinching with a little giggle.

“A little ticklish there?”

“Shut up.” Billy growls, huffing on the joint.

Will sitting on the couch w/ Billy and kicking Billy’s ankle with his foot (which is propped up on the coffee table) bc he wants to ask him a question and Billy jumping and giggling a little, moving away. To which Will smiles real wide and Billy shoves his head away lightly.

And then STEVE. Ohmygod guys Steve.

With Steve, it doesn’t always get too bad bc he’s used to Steve’s touches. At the very most just feels really intensely good. But sometimes Billy is near cackling, wiggling away and bending over with laughter.

Steve notices it first when they kiss. Bc he wraps his arms around Billy’s neck and his bare forearms are touching Billy’s skin and Billy’s knees bend and he’s shaking from his giggles and Steve is honestly worried??? Like????? His boyfriend just broke. He’s 100% sure the boy is broken. So he bends down to look Billy in the eye and ask if he’s alright and he finds Billy’s breath is a little labored and he’s like: “Fine. I’m fine.”

“You sure? ‘Cause-”

“I’m fine.”

But then the next time when Steve wraps his arms around Billy’s waist and Billy’s got his arms around Steve’s neck, Steve squeezes at Billy’s sides with his hands and Billy’s gone. Giggling up a storm, moving away and rubbing his sides to get the sensation to go away and Steve is like: “Seriously! What’s wrong?”

Billy’s facing away now, forcing his giggles to stop, and that’s when Steve notices.

“Oh my god, are you ticklish?”

Billy turns on Steve quickly. “If you tell a single soul.” Billy growls, as if his family hasn’t already caught on. Steve laughs.

“I won’t, I won’t!”

And he doesn’t tell anyone. (except Robin, who makes a point to tap Billy’s shoulder to ask a question, or poke his side when she walks past to “bother him”. She’s incredibly entertained by the way this big, touch, muscled dude giggles.)(When Billy gives Steve a harsh look for going back on his promise, Steve just shrugs with a “we all know best friends don’t count!”)

Anyway, we also all know Billy and Steve get into tickle fights. it might only be when they’re alone but I’m fuckin serious here, the boys are tickle fiends and it’s the cutest thing. Billy says he hates it when they first happen but really, he ends up loving it and instigating it because it’s a rush and we know our boy is a thrill seeker. And being tickled is honestly kinda thrilling!! So it’s a lot of wriggling and laughing and hands flying everywhere and in all sincerity, it’s mainly Billy getting tickled and Steve laughing just bc he loves Billy’s laugh and will never get enough of it, but that’s also part of why Billy loves this. Because Billy laughing makes Steve laugh and Billy loves Steve’s laugh. ♥

(also just FYI, this might get a bit NSFW here so beware: in being this ticklish also means that Billy is sensitive as f u c k. I’m talking Steve grazes his fingertips across Billy’s bare chest and he’s goddamn gone. He’s breathing hard, heart beating faster, pupils dilating bc every touch is a spark. And Steve could honestly get drunk off of how responsive Billy is. Billy can come from just having his nipples played with and it’s an absolute gift for Steve. There’s nothing more erotic for him than Billy getting off just from being touched. Like, there are specific erogenous zones on people, sure, but for Billy suddenly everything is an erogenous zone. Steve runs his fingers up and down Billy’s forearm up to his bicep and back and Billy is shaking, breath getting light and airy, whining a little because it feels like his body is turning to molten gold or something. He’s strung up and melting at the same time. Like… fuck dude, Billy being hypersensitive is like a dream for both of them)

ANYWAY I just?? GUYS. Ticklish Billy!!!! ♥ I! Love! it!

[prompts-of-a-dreamer]

I'd like to request a jjba matchup please! Any character from any part is fine. I'm a straight gal. :) I'm glad my last comment about your headcanons made you happy.

At first I'm shy and introverted and it takes a while for me to open up. I feel like my resting b*tch face scares people away sometimes, haha. After a few months, I finally show my true colors: goofy, very weird, tomboy and down-to-earth. If my friends had to describe me, they'd say I'm the goofy idiot of the group. I like laughing and making other people laugh. Hell, I even make corny dad jokes. I'm a very honest person, also super sarcastic and overprotective. I have a sailor's mouth lol. At times when I'm upset, I don't know when to shut up and I say hurtful things. I overthink things a lot and it really slows me down to the point where I get depressed and I completely shut down. I hold a strong passion for art and music because they're the only things that get me by. People tell me a lot that I'm a pretty girl, so my confidence is on point. However, on rare occasions I find myself wishing if I could just get rid of my naturally chubby cheeks. I'm 5'6', leo (INFP-T) and I get along with most people. I get along with a lot of geminis, aquarius, libras, aries and tauruses. When something isn't right between me and another person, I want to talk things out and understand their side. I'm a good person to come to when people need to get some weight off their chest and I'm especially generous to friends and people I love. I often come up with the dumbest questions/scenarios to talk about when I'm bored. I like the idea of going around and pulling harmless pranks on people. I've never had a boyfriend before, but if I did have one I'd be very affectionate and clingy. I'd cause play fights and give him stupid nicknames. He's the only one I'd ever show my soft and girly side to.

thank you!

Hi, this is my first time doing matchups, so I’m sorry if this doesn’t fit, but here’s what I think. JJBA has a lot of characters, but I’ll narrow it down from parts 1-5 because I haven’t fully read the manga yet. 

I have some character headcanons for this, and I’ll rank it by compatibility:

1. Joseph Joestar (Part 2)

At first you two would bicker and quarrel a lot. He’d note your shyness and how quiet you are, practically taunting you to say something, even if it is out of annoyance towards him.

He’d do some goofy stuff, pulling pranks on people, but you caught him while he was on his hideout. With a displeased look on your face, you pursed your lips. He tried explaining his elaborate prank on Caesar.

At first, you were trying so hard to keep a stern look on him, so that he’d stop goofing around. You didn’t dare to show him your ‘crackhead’ side yet, you two just weren’t close enough for you to do that.

But his weirdly appealing ridiculousness soon got the best of you, and you couldn’t help but laugh at him.

He was surprised by your laugh. “Oh my god!”

It was a long and slow progress, but you were finally ready to show how amused you were, at first by witnessing his pranks, soon followed by you giving ideas and suggestions. Before you knew it, you started helping him set them up, taunt Caesar, and hide with Joseph near the trap, spying on the unknowing Caesar.

Caesar seems really irritated at you two, trying hard to not let his guard now whenever either of you are around. If he catches you two together, a funny, ironic confrontation happens, because it’s two against one.

One of the most memorable moments of you and him is when he made you try ink spaghetti.

He seems like he doesn’t care about little things, but he gave you a silent compliment when he accidentally encountered you singing and playing music.

You have a competition on who’d make the worst (and by worst I mean best, corniest) jokes. Caesar hates it when you hold one of those competitions around him, he’d just get up and leave the room.

He might unintentionally tease you about your cheeks (sorry! chubby cheeks are cute, don’t feel bad!) but when he sees that it bothers you, he’ll try so hard to lift your spirits up again.

“Hey, (y/n)! I didn’t mean it like that, I’m sorry! Your cheeks are cute, if they were asses I’d slap them.”

He’d pinch your cheeks to make you stop sulking.

“Your cheeks are fine, now cheer up.”

The relationship between you and Joseph could be entire platonic, one-sided, or romantic, though I’d advise you to stay friends. You two make a great duo, but Joseph is emotionally shallow, he doesn’t show much affection, at least not until you die a tragic death, crushed by a stone, leaving him behind. Only then will he show how valuable you were as a person to him.

If he’s into you, he makes a lot of sexual innuendos. The Barney-Robin type of chemistry from ‘How I Met Your Mother’.

He doesn’t like cuddling.

But he likes play fights and weird nicknames. 

2. Josuke Higashikata

Josuke would be the best friend type of boyfriend. The one you can talk to, play games, but also share sentimental moments with.

It might be a little awkward at first between you and him, but once the ice cracks, the conversation doesn’t tire out.

Congratulations, you unlocked an achievement: Josuke’s bed head. 

Do not tease him about his hair, unless you need a quick, free way off the planet.

He enjoys seeing you do your hobbies. He might sing with you.

If you were upset, he’d be shocked a little bit, but tries his best to be understanding and to comfort you. He’d let you lay your head on his lap or ask if you wanted any food.

He won’t force you to talk, if you don’t answer his “What’s wrong, baby?”, he’ll just rub your shoulder and stay next to you, an ear ready for consolidation. But he’ll leave you alone if you ask him to.

Fights do happen, but you usually talk it out after a couple days.  

He rolls his eyes when you say one of your corny dad jokes.

But he likes the harmless pranks.

Playing video games together, with you wearing his hoodie/clothes.

He’s not afraid to show some vulnerability, though at first he might try to stop the tears during a sad movie.

During horror movies, he’ll show little to no reaction. Not out of toxic masculinity, but he just needs a little more to actually get him scared.

He’s really glad to show you his nephew. He thinks the age difference is cool.

3. Jonathan Joestar

You and Jonathan would make a good couple.

He would be understanding and would compliment on how beautiful you are.

Loves to see you draw, paint, or hear you sing. He doesn’t join in on it, though, he’s a little shy.

Would never make you cry. If he did, he’d never forgive himself for being so ungentlemanly. Let him repent his sins for a while.

5′6″ is by no means short but Jonathan is BUILT. He’d pick you up, bridal style, and carry you around.

Doesn’t mind cuddling.

Doesn’t like your dad jokes. He doesn’t hate it, but he could live without it.

Other headcanons with random characters:

Art rivalry with Kakyoin. You don’t even get to talk to Rohan, he hates you if you were around Josuke.

Polnareff would definitely flirt with you.

Doing weird, random, goofy shit with Mista and Narancia.

Abbacchio either hates your dad jokes or joins you in making them. His retorts are horribly unfunny.

And that concludes my assessment of these characters. Thank you for reading.

[tibby]

Can you speak more on Steve Harrington's trauma? I've never seen anyone address it, seemingly dismissing his character as just a "dumb mom friend" or whatever...

sure! i’ll stick to the show with this, because even though i have a lot of thoughts wrt steve and his life and why he acts the way he does, it’s all personal interpretation and not actual canon (though would happily discuss those more anytime.)

before i get into any specifics with regards to what steve has been through during the show, i do want to discuss a little about what we can assume of his relationships pre-nancy, and pre-everything: 

canon doesn’t give us a lot to work with in regards to steve’s parents, but based on what we do know, it doesn’t seem good. we can assume that they’re somewhat neglectful and have an unhappy marriage, presumably featuring adultery. he only refers to his father as an asshole or a douchebag and seems reluctant to follow in his footsteps. it seems like he has a slightly better relationship with his mother, but we also don’t know much about her outside of her following his father on business trips because she doesn’t trust him. regardless of how people personally interpret how bad it is, at the very least, he seems lonely and uncomfortable with his family.

up until the final two episodes of season one, we know that steve is king of the school and uses this power to his advantage. but despite his clout, he doesn’t seem to have any actual friends outside of tommy h and carol (and nicole, i guess, but she appears in like three scenes and we don’t really know much about her.) and tommy and carol aren’t good people. it’s not just that they’re horrendous bullies to jonathan and nancy, but they’re not great to steve either, given how quickly tommy turns on him. how quickly he threatens him, and how scared steve is in that moment. and given that tommy participates in mocking steve with billy a year later, it clearly was never that healthy of a friendship. your only friendships being with toxic people who don’t care about you as a person is always going to be damaging, regardless of how “popular” you are.

(steve’s unpleasant family/friendships pre-nancy seem backed up by a quote from the duffers that i can’t read because it’s behind a paywall but is referenced in the wiki: “what kind of family life [Steve] comes from and maybe this girl Nancy is quiet and listens in a way that other people haven’t listened to him at this point.”)

which brings us to the show. steve finds someone, maybe the first person who’s ever really cared about him, the girl he really likes. and he’s protective of her and wants to be with her and ends up fucking up in the process (i maintain that steve had every reason to go after jonathan for the photos, but he was absolutely in the wrong for the slutshaming and the alleyway fight.) 

but the fight shifts something in him, makes him want to right his wrongs, so he finally dumps his toxic friends (one of whom physically threatens him in the process) and goes to apologise. and walks right into a monster trap.

steve gets no context as to what’s happening when the demogorgon shows up, doesn’t get any explanation from jonathan and nancy (not that they’re at fault for that, given the circumstances,) and is basically just confronted with the sudden knowledge that monsters are real. and he ends up saving nancy and jonathan from it.

in an ideal world, the trio would have helped each over with their trauma together and would’ve been friends and would’ve had more natural progressions of their relationships. i don’t like reducing nancy and jonathan’s traumas to Just the monster thing, but it’s how the show tends to handle it, and i really feel like steve’s own trauma with what happened that night should have been addressed even slightly, particularly in relation to the two of them.

(quick sidenote: my issue with the way the show handles jonathan/nancy and their “shared trauma” is a whole other thing, but i really don’t understand how the show can basically reduce it to the fact they fought a monster together, and then leave steve out of the equation entirely. i wouldn’t have an issue if the show actually looked into the trauma both jonathan and nancy have outside of the monster stuff, but since it refuses to develop that, it…bothers me that steve’s role in what happened and resulting trauma is shoved aside, and they both now just ignore his existence entirely.)

but the show didn’t do that, so let’s get into season two, and steve harrington’s very rough week:

gets dumped! it should be noted that i don’t blame nancy for the breakup, nor do i think she was a bad person who set out to harm him. she’s a confused seventeen year old girl dealing with the loss of her best friend, and i don’t think she deliberately led steve on for a year or knowingly lied to him about her feelings. but it’s still going to be hurtful when your significant other reveals that they didn’t love you, they only thought they did. and steve loved nancy, cared about her, took comfort in her - she was the first person to listen to him, to care about him, to like him for who he really was, not for the mask he put on. i wish they’d gotten a proper conversation about their relationship in either season two or three, particularly as the destruction of the high school fairytale (the relationship between the coolest guy in school and the girl next door) is an important element to both their characters. i know steve says that he’s over her in season three, but i still know that that’s an incredibly heartbreaking thing to go through, even if it wasn’t a relationship based on an illusion - the kids that they were before.

gets involved with more monster hunting stuff, this time with a bunch of bratty middle schoolers! overall, i think stranger things handles the collective trauma the entire gang have like…terribly. i find it weird that it’s been three seasons and the only time the party/the teens/jopper are ALL together is in the final two episodes when it’s Boss Battle time. and i know i shouldn’t expect much from a show which barely lets separate people handle their trauma, but i feel like…maybe they should all like, sit and talk and comfort each other? keep an eye on each other? i don’t know. i think the trauma steve has is trauma he would share with all the others, especially since season two properly involves him with all the monster stuff (plus fighting them is hard enough without also having to deal with his past experiences, a big head injury, and the lives of a bunch of thirteen year olds in his hands.)

gets beat up! again! this time it’s not deserved! i really don’t understand why the fandom acts like steve’s repeated injuries each season are a joke and not like…a genuine cause for medical concern within the universe. i get that it’s basically played for laughs in the show and this incident in particular is used to once again highlight how violent billy is. i don’t have much to elaborate on here but i feel like someone needs to check in on steve and all the head related trauma he’s suffered through in the past eighteen months.

and after all of that, steve is just…left on his own to deal with it. he gave up his friends for nancy, and they weren’t particularly good friends in the first place. nancy left him. he and jonathan don’t ever talk. all he has are the kids and it’s not as if he can really talk about his trauma with a bunch of fourteen year olds. out of all the main cast, he’s the one that has the least support when it comes to this. nancy and jonathan have each other. joyce and hopper have each other. the party has each other. the byers family has each other. el and hopper have each other. but steve doesn’t have the same support system, and there’s nothing to suggest in canon that he actually interacts with the other teens/adults.

steve’s left alone in general, really. he maintained somewhat of his social status following the events of st1/st2, since he mentions being prom king to robin, but does he really…have any friends his age? he lost tommy and carol when he chose nancy, and those two latched onto billy (who, again, is someone who hurt steve and who steve does not like.) he and nancy broke up, and considering he shared about ten words with her and jonathan in st3, it’s safe to assume he’s not really friendly with them. and we don’t ever see any acknowledgment that steve has friends his age, even if it’s just…normal people who don’t know about the monster stuff.

it’s not until he meets robin that he really finds someone he can talk about any of this with, and even then it just comes with more trauma. i feel like steve’s experiences tend to get played for laughs and i really got that vibe in season 3. steve was tortured and drugged. he took another beating, arguably his roughest one yet. he and robin both thought they were going to die down there. it’s not really handled at all within the show, but it’s a lot for someone to go through, especially when combined with the past year and a half of steve’s life.

anyway. i don’t think the show will ever actually address steve’s trauma (or anyone’s, really) which is sad because like the others, he’s been through a lot and i think some acknowledgement/discussion of it would further help his character development. but i guess that just isn’t as funny as writing him off as an idiot and a loser.

[writing-blog-iguess]

Part 1 Part 2 

Pairing: Steve Harrington x Henderson!Reader

Summary: The love story between Dustin’s sister and his favourite mentor/best friend. Acquaintances to friends to lovers. So burn I guess?

A/N: I was gonna wait until Friday, but I figured I’d forget about it. So where’s part 2!

Side note: Requests are welcome!

—————————

Season 3

Summer here and the nightmares stopped being so bad

You didn’t know what to do

Dustin was gone for the month

And your kids being all teenage-y and stuff you got a job at the new mall

Your breaks always at Scoops Ahoy

Knowing Robin from school but never hanging out

You wish you did cause she’s pretty cool

So you’re making it up now by being best friends

Helping Robin make fun of Steve

A lot

Heart breaking every time Steve tried to get a date

Robin notices but not saying anything

“Hey (Y/N)” they would greet you very time they went to Scoops to sneak into a movie

You giving them a smile and wave

“Hey dingus! You’re children are here!”

“Again? Seriously?”

Picking your brother up from camp

Smiling as he talks about Suzie

Both being sad that you won’t be able to talk to Suzie

Promising Dustin you’ll drive him to the mall tomorrow

Helping them translate the Russian message Dustin recorded last night

Leaving when you did

“You’re not going to help decode it?”

“Nope! If by some chance it ties in to what happened last year, I want no part of it.”

And again, you get sucked into it

This time by Max and El

Listening to Will talk about the Mind Flayer

Worrying about Dustin and Steve because you haves seen or heard from them in awhile

Helping them trap Billy

Helping at the hospital

Meeting Nancy and Jonathan later

Being there for El as she goes into void

Is terrified for her and everyone else when she repeats what Billy said to her

Fixing El’s leg at the store

Going to the mall because that’s where Dustin is for some reason

Hugging Dustin once the Russians are down

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, (Y/N). You might want to check on Steve though.”

Looking up and shook your head when you see Steve

Dustin pushing you towards him

“I thought you didn’t want to be apart of it?”

“Yeah me too. Turns out I can’t run from it. You look like shit by the way.”

Steve snorted then winced

“You should see the other guy.”

Not very amused, you still take Steve’s face as you examine him

Sighing, you let go and punched him in the arm

“Ow! What was the for?”

“For kidnapping Dustin and apparently Erica?”

“I did not kidnap Dustin. And with Erica, that’s a different story. Ow!”

You punched him again.

“That’s for making me worried!”

“(Y/N)! We need your help!”

Dustin brought you back to your senses

“Her leg! It’s her leg!”

Your about to turn and go towards her

But Steve grabs your hand and spins you around and kisses you

You’re so in shock that you don’t kiss him back

“I’ve been wanted to do that for awhile.”

“Guys! Now is not the time for your love story!”

Dustin brings you back to your senses

“We’ll talk about it when it’s all over.”

Rushing towards El to see what’s going on

Your about to bark orders but all of a sudden you catch her leg move

Blood? No problem

Broken bone? That’s fine

But when something fucking moves in the body

That’s where you say no

And so does your stomach

Because the next thing you know is rushing away and puking

You barely pay attention to the commotion behind you

Barely notice Steve’s standing beside you making sure your okay

By the time you finish, so has Jonathan

“You okay?”

“Will be when this is over.”

Turning to see Jim, Joyce and Murray standing there

While everyone has their reunions

You stay with Steve

“So that kiss huh?”

“I-uh-sorry. I probably shouldn’t have kissed you.”

“Don’t worry about. It was nice.”

“Nice? That’s all you can say?”

“Well, I won’t mind kissing you again Steve.”

Steve’s a blushing mess and all he can do is nod his head

“Okay!” Jim’s voice boomed gaining everyone’s attention

With everything sorted, you decided to go with Nancy and Jonathan and the kids

Telling Steve and Robin to be careful and watch over Erica and Dustin

Running back inside when the car won’t start and Billy’s waiting for you

Helping with the car

Hiding with Mike, Max and El

Running with them

Getting knocked out by Billy

Coming too and realize El’s not there anymore

Racing to find her

Only to stop in terror when you see the Mind Flayer near El and Billy

Definitely gonna have nightmares.

Watching in horror as Billy defends the Mind Flayer

Watching him die and hold Max back so she won’t get attacked either

When the Mind Flayer collapses, you let go and ran to El with Mike and Max

You stand there as Mike and El hug

Feeling sad for Billy

When the malls in flames

You sit on the back of an ambulance with a blanket draped around your shoulders

“This seat taken?”

You shake your head and feel Steve sit beside you

“How you holding up?”

You shrug and lean your head on his shoulder

“Okay I guess.”

You can feel the tears coming

You don’t want to cry not yet anyways

“Gets going to be okay, (Y/N)”

Steve wraps an arm around you and kiss your head

You almost want to believe him

And you do

You stay like that for awhile

“Really Harrington? My sister.”

And for the third time, you want to kill him

You wonder if it’s normal

“Geez Henderson. I like your sister get over it.”

“Already have. It’s about damn time too.”

You put her face in your hands and shake your head

“Steve?”

Your voice is small, and you hate it

He turns to you at the sound of his name

“Can I sleep over at your house? Not like, that. Just to sleep. I don’t think I want to be alone tonight.”

Steve nods in understanding

He doesn’t want to be alone either

“Yeah so. We can have a sleepover.”

At this, nearly everyone turns to face the two of you and asks if they can join.

You both don’t have the heart to say no

So you say yes

And that’s how you found yourself in Steve’s living room

With a giant bed made up of blankets and pillows

And having a big cuddle session

And sure, you might have nightmares for awhile

But your with Steve and he doesn’t mind scaring the nightmares away

[willel]

Will and El Centric Fic List (November 2018)

Here is a list of some Will and El fics! These are centered around Will and El, not just fics that happen to include them, of which there are many. I’ve created an archive for them on Archive of our own with a few of them already there.

If you know of some fics that should be on this list, let me know! I’m excluding mine from the list. Everyone writes way better than I do, heh. If more fics pop up in the future, I’ll definitely make another compilation post!

Alive again by @gazyrlezon

Summary: Will breathed in, deep. He smelt the sweet, untainted smell of the forests, of the bark on the trees and the needles on the few evergreens that grew in the woods around Hawkins. Even the slight smell of corruption and decay which mixed itself into that felt right and almost refreshing.... 

Review: A cute little short fic. Will decides to go visit El and Hopper in the cabin... on foot... by himself... and he probably didn’t tell anyone he was doing that either. A small hijinks ensues since he doesn’t know of the trap to alert of intruders. 

Your Hand Next to Mine by AlabasterInk

Summary: While everyone is asleep, Will Byers and Eleven take a moment to be children.

Review: A sleepover with pals where the two most affected members of the party (Will and El, of course) bond over reading a little bit of Lord of the Rings. Eventually, they decide some drawing would be a fun way to pass the time while everyone slept. But, Will ends up having a mini-episode leading El to worry. And then she remembers a line I believe Will told her once, I’ve always liked this line. “Sometimes, friends lie because the truth is too scary. Not all lies are bad, and truth doesn’t always fix things.”

Sunflower Sister by Kenya_Illian

Summary: "Despite all the awe and mystery that surrounded her in his eyes, there was a strange connection between him and her that was somehow comforting."  Nightmares are a permanent part of Will's world. Tragically and fortunately for him, they're a part of El's world too.

Review: Another sleepover premise and Will has a horrible nightmare. Luckily, El is there and is able to stir him awake. Will contemplates all the things he knows about her (which isn’t very much at this point) and he notes how everyone treats her pretty gently or sometimes even fragile, but to him she was possibly the strongest person in the world. They both go to chill since it’s like 2am in the morning, and so Will draws. Betcha can’t guess what. It’s SUPER CUTE. Honestly, this might be my favorite Will and El fic.

Smallest Light by callunavulgari

Summary: In the summer of 1986, Will’s mom marries Jim Hopper. OR, Will and El learn how to be real people again.

Review: This is a really cute snapshot of their lives kinda deal. It starts off with Joyce and Hopper’s wedding. Everything is going well, but Will is having a bit of a heat flash/panic attack and wanders off into a bathroom to relax. Of course, eventually, El notices he’s missing and easily finds him in the bathroom. It’s really sweet. Next it goes through some stuff involving school and growing up of course. Doesn’t adventure too far into the future/

MTV Punk by @gazyrlezon​

Summary: “You ran home crying that day, and after that you never saw that freak again. Maybe you even convinced yourself that she wasn’t real, that it was Mike who broke your arm and you just misremembered it. But you didn’t. And in that week, this one freak scared you more than anything else —”Here she turned round, and was satisfied to find him suitably terrified at her knowing all this.“And that freak was me.”

Review: Simply put, and excellent little revenge story. Troy gets his just deserts for messing with her little brother all this time. Doesn’t go too far, but I could certainly see something like this happening if El joins public school eventually and finds out people are messing with Will. Even if she doesn’t join public school, she’d probably show up to school just to do this

that which fate binds together by Whitherward

Summary: Whatever souls are made of, his and mine are the same.

Review: First of all, I already love the summary. This one is similar to Smallest Light in which it is little snippits of Will and El growing up, but it goes a little further into the future and is more detailed. It’s a 7000+ word juicy read full of feels. There’s two pieces in here I really love that I always remember from time to time. To help her learn how to read aloud and read better, Will “forces” her to read to him as practice. SO AS TIME GOES ON, EL LEARNS TO READ BETTER AND WILL FINDS IT STRANGELY EASIER TO SLEEP THROUGH INSOMNIA LISTENING TO HER READ. EL NOTICES THIS AND CONTINUES READING ALOUD TO HIM LONG AFTER SHE’S LEARNED TO READ BETTER ALL THE TIME. HOW CUTE IS THAT. The other is how Will realizes he’s gay. A+. This is probably my favorite Will and El fic as well. Please READ IT. Squeal about it with me.

Not The Monster by Robertdoc 

Summary: Three weeks after the gate is closed, and one week before the Snowball, El finally gets the chance to meet an awake and well Will Byers for the very first time in our dimension. A bonus chapter also gives her the chance to catch up with his mother as well.

Review: Their first meeting <3 It’s so cute. They’re both awkward angels. Will is a bit more excited/energetic than I’d write him to be, but it’s still good. 

Introductions by WriterGirl128

Summary: A Will/Eleven friendship drabble that's made up of some headcanons, some speculation, some fic, borderline meta. Post-S02. "They’ve never had a proper introduction, but they really didn’t need one."

Review: This is kinda a plot bunny fic of what they want out of Will and El.

Bang Bang Bang 'til My Feet Do the Same by Barkour

Summary: Will Byers met Jane at the Snow Ball.

Review: Cute little drabble of the kids awkwardly meeting. 

it's hard to be brave when you're alone in the dark by cdocks

Summary: after the gate is closed, the splintered remains of a family come back together to make a whole || eleven and mike come to visit will and joyce. hopper is there too. primarily eleven-and-will centric.

Review: A wholesome fic where Will isn’t feeling great and El and Mike come to visit. This fic also has one of my favorite lines. “ Out of all the people she’s met -- and there are only a few, few enough that she can count them and not run out of numbers -- it is this boy she’s barely spoken to who she is most like.“

Guys. I love it when Will and El holds hands. It gets all my feels working. Let them hold hands forever.

More Than Okay by EvieSmallwood

Summary: It’s March 22nd. Will Byers takes a walk.

Review: Certainly fluff, they must be well into high school here. Will wonders off alone at night after nightmare and of course, his sister El is the one who finds him pretty easily. I love the idea in pretty much all of these fics that if one or the other is missing somewhere (especially if Will has wondered off somewhere), El will always be the one to find him. And when he’s cold, she’s one of the first ones to warm him up.

painted new by byzinha

Summary: Will wants to teach El some Byers summer traditions.

Review: A very short but very SWEET little fic <3 Will paints flowers on her hands and it’s TOTALLY SWEET, MY FLOWER SUMMER CHILDREN, PROTECT THEM. Ah, you know what. I drew a fanart referencing this without realizing. I want to do a proper fanart for this fic.

Feels Like Home by Aceofstars16

Summary: A fic focusing on Will and El’s friendship developing and growing, changing from knowing of each other, to being friends, to becoming siblings. A bit of a future AU/what I'd love to see happen in the show.

Review: This fic covers their first meeting and beyond. One part I really love in this fic is when El is hanging out with Will the first time, Will isn’t sure what to do. But Jonathan steps in and handles all the awkwardness between them and then after that, Will takes care of the rest. What a good big brother, leading his little siblings down the right path. And this fic has one of my favorite headcanons, El and Will drawing together~ THERE IS THE CUTEST BIT OF DIALOGUE AT THE END. MUST READ

[villainau]

both aus / general

very soft hair when it’s not styled but you can’t touch it unless you’ve caught him when he’s sleepy and/or just waking up because you will be assassinated

his uncle’s surname is trumble so tbh valeska probably wasn’t lila’s real surname. she’d have changed it to sound more “exotic” in the circus. but let’s thank god for that and the fact that the twins are valeskas

doesn’t tend to lie because he’s more the “cruel honesty” type, but is a very good liar when he does - not as good as jeremiah because lying was always jeremiah’s forte, but jerome can easily put on an act or think up a story on the spot with enough detail to make it convincing 

can easily go days without sleeping, and when he does fall asleep it’s only in his actual bed like 40% of the time

throws all of his red clothes in with jeremiah’s white clothes for washing constantly

swears so often. can easily say “fucking” twice in one sentence and throws one use of “shit” in there for good measure

no short sleeves outside ever. in private maybe, but not for long

his favourite colour is red, but he actually kinda likes pink too, especially hot pink

his first word was “miah”

villain au

lowkey hates being touched from behind e.g. pats on the back, a hand on his shoulder, etc, especially unexpectedly (and just hates the feeling of being snuck up on in general). he’ll stiffen like hell and the only people who can get away with it without him reflexively whacking their hands off of him are jeremiah and bruce, but they tend not to do it anyway because they can tell he doesn’t like it

absolutely had a super embarrassing doodle of a heart in his diary with “j + b” inside it, along with some v crude scribbles of things like him and bruce holding hands and them stabbing someone

Scary Kinks tbh. knives, pain (both others’ and his), blood, whatever, he has very little sense of limits. he is honestly not above even sticking a gun in your mouth if that’s what he’s feelin’. he’s only done that with bruce once, during the rebellious phase and the early days of the physical stuff, when he was still pushing limits and seeing how far bruce was really willing to go here and there weren’t a ton of Romo Feelings involved; he’d straddled bruce on a chair and he put the barrel of a pistol to bruce’s mouth, expecting nervousness or panic or some kind of reaction along those lines - but bruce just maintained steady eye contact and opened his mouth slightly, with no fear and watching him right back, which basically resulted in jerome thinking oh and yep, brucie’s something alright, grinning and throwing the gun off to the side to be ignored while they got on with Things. he wouldn’t do that with bruce anymore though - as dangerous as their lives generally are and as much as he loves that, he’s far less willing to go carelessly pointing loaded guns at bruce himself these days

does not like being tied up during NSFW Activities because he hates feeling confined/trapped and not being able to move his arms and not feeling in control because it’s too vulnerable, but bruce being tied up is Another Matter Entirely

lowkey praise kink. will either tell you to shut up or find Ways to distract you from talking if you actually try it, but is secretly kinda into it because he requires positive feedback in Most Things

identifies as bi but really couldn’t give a flying fuck about gender. if you’re fun and you can give him a good time, the rest is background noise

is annoyed when people are taller than him, so he avoids standing directly next to people who are too often (but on the other hand really likes standing next to shorter people because he likes to make it obvious that he Wins)

takes the fact that jonathan is the only person in the team taller than him as a personal threat. once idly mused to him about the possibility of sawing off his feet so he could be superior and just got a very deadpan try it. look and decided “…….maybe some other time”. it was probably a joke anyway. like 90%.

despite having a boyfriend who wears black almost exclusively, he pretty much never wears black himself. he’ll occasionally wear dark suits or one item of black clothing or whatever, but he always has something in his outfit with colour and tends to go for brightness over anything else

sends awful memes in the team group chat at 3am and no one thinks they’re funny except him and jervis. sometimes ivy does, and she occasionally sends a nice response even if she doesn’t just to be polite, but other times they are just Too Bad even for her

does also pm ivy Nice Things that remind him of her though, and these she does like. he also sends her random pictures of animals and flowers w captions like “is it just me or does this beanstalk kinda look like jonathan” and she can’t help giggling a lil at some of them and then feeling bad for it

master of the ironic “UWU” and “OWO” emojis and everyone else hates it

him and jervis are the only people jonathan actually responds to on the phone (other people can call him but he’ll just silently listen to what you have to say and then hang up, so it’s in the air whether he even heard you or not) and he finds it disproportionately funny that jonathan once answered the phone with “whomst.” instead of “hello”

he never self-harmed in the sense of cutting, but he also doesn’t have the same reservations about causing himself pain that others do, so he’s done things like put out cigarettes on his wrists/hands, test the sharpness of knives on himself, etc. and physical pain can be something of a release for him

generally fearless, but he was genuinely scared of his mother, uncle and the men his mother had over - killing lila and zach helped with a lot of this and made him feel like he’d won. he still gets a little on edge when someone reminds him of them in speech/appearance/personality, but he’s more likely to use it as an opportunity to prove to himself that he has power over the memory of lila/zach and that they can’t hurt him anymore by getting one over on the person in question too

in the very early stages of the abuse, he coped with it by believing that his mother loved him no matter what and clung to the hope that it would all stop one day and she’d sober up and love him properly. it sinking in that she didn’t love him at all and that it was never going to change was one of the things that ended up contributing to his eventual psychotic break

what is a stable self-esteem? jerome doesn’t know. can go from calling himself garbage to calling himself a god in .0002 seconds

tried to strangle an arkham therapist once because she brought up his childhood abuse and kept pushing him to talk about it and he just lost it. after that, all attempts at therapy for him were dropped

has an uncomfortable amount of knowledge about how to set broken bones and put in dislocated joints because there were times in the circus when things got really really bad and he should have gotten hospital treatment, but obviously nobody would have taken him, so he had to learn to do even the serious shit himself. early on, he came dangerously close to seriously fucking himself up and making his injuries worse more than once thanks to his amateur first attempts at fixing them

people in the circus were kinda-sorta aware of what went on with his mother, but basically just didn’t care; it wasn’t their business

touch-starved. one of the reasons he reacts so strongly the times when bruce is super gentle with him is because literally no one has ever just touched him softly before (and generally he isn’t used to being touched at all without pain immediately following) so at first it’s almost too much

generally isn’t affected by his facial scars and isn’t self-conscious about them at all, but is very used to other people finding them scary/unpleasant so was genuinely thrown off-balance the first time bruce traced them and called him beautiful

surprisingly, he can actually cook - he had to make his own food a lot in the circus when he was younger, it was either that or scrounge from the circus food stalls, bc lila sure as hell wasn’t making him meals - he just chooses not to anymore because, frankly, he can’t be bothered 

he and bruce don’t really ever say “i love you” in so many words. they know what they have going on, so why would they need to verbalise it all the time when they already know it’s there? jerome’s really not into that kind of thing anyway, and honestly bruce isn’t the most emotionally open person either. bruce was the first of them to acknowledge and accept how he felt, and never denied it when asked by someone else, but he knows jerome and his background and thus never said it first in order to avoid pushing him into territory that may be uncomfortable for him. but the first time either of them said the words to the other, it came, surprisingly, from jerome, spur-of-the-moment - one of the nights he spends in the city with bruce alone, doing the dark shit they do. at one point, bruce slit a man’s throat in a particularly vicious way; jerome was at his shoulder, watching how he did it, and it came out without him really meaning it to: “god, i fucking love you.” bruce might not need to hear it, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t feel good when he does - he made sure jerome had no chance of trying to play it off as a joke by turning around and promptly distracting him with a kiss. ...blood-covered and all.

has some experience with sleeping rough because sometimes lila would just kick him out because she didn’t want to see him that night, so he had to crash with someone else in the circus if they took pity on him or find somewhere else on the grounds/surrounding streets. he’d venture back a couple of days later when he knew she was out, and she’d come back and see he was there - she wouldn’t say anything and would basically just blank him, and that was the cue that he was safe to say

used to cry a lot and got called a crybaby by other kids in the circus when he was very young. over time, he taught himself to laugh whenever he felt like crying, and it got to the point where it was just an ingrained thing, so instead of breaking down and crying, he would get half-involuntary laughing fits instead. he got into a mindset of “everything is hilarious if you just think about it for long enough” as another coping method, because why should he be sad when everything in the world and everything that is happening to him is so damn funny? 

doesn’t happen often, but very occasionally he sleep-talks and says some weird shit and bruce is just like “……..Alright.” he never remembers this in the morning

sleeping position varies depending on the time period. he’s either curled up on the very edge of the bed and taking up as little space as possible without falling off, or he’s sprawled out over the entire thing, and there’s no in-between. the ‘taking up no space’ thing is left over from childhood, but bruce notices this and the longer he’s with bruce and the more comfortable he gets with him (and the more it sinks in that, no, there will not be Consequences if he just lets himself relax - because he does a great job most of the time of not showing any vulnerability over his childhood, but when it comes to night-time and sleeping with someone else there, old habits and fears kick in a little at first), the more he just becomes The Most Fidgety Sleeper Ever. bruce gets smacked awake by his arm in his face a few times, but he has figured out a Solution - if he intertwines his fingers with jerome’s or shifts jerome’s arm down to his waist or something, jerome will just latch onto him in his sleep because warmth. no mentions of this in the morning allowed though, and he was definitely not cuddling, never call it that, he can’t control what he does when he’s asleep, BRUCE  

still has nightmares sometimes - nights are when he’s at his most vulnerable basically, so bruce knows damn well that jerome letting him see that side of him is a gesture of trust

is lowkey intimidated by ecco because that girl picked his ass up when he was unconscious and dead weight, so she could absolutely pick him up while he’s fully awake, and that’s just too much strength for such a tiny woman. he will never admit this. tries to scare her instead because he has a reputation to uphold and is eternally annoyed about the fact that she doesn’t seem at all affected (but he’s convinced that she’s just hiding her fear really well)

high school au

climbs through bruce’s window a lot unnecessarily because he doesn’t want alfred to open the door. alfred usually finds out he’s there anyway, so he would be perfectly fine just going to bruce’s house the normal way, but he likes to pretend that he’s being sneaky and thus cool 

watches a lot of stand-up comedy but is also the world’s worst critic and constantly makes comments about how he “could have made that joke better” or “there was a better way to word that”, which is what originally kickstarts the idea of going into comedy himself

………hm………. concept………. jerome w a pierced tongue………

watched twilight “ironically”. team edward if he had to choose, but thinks both edward and jacob are idiots and will get into an argument about this. will also legitimately debate about vampires vs werewolves. thinks that there should have been a big bloody fight at the end where everyone died, because if there is no violence/gore it’s a shit movie, this is a non-negotiable rule of his

has a fondness for gross/creepy creatures. he’s not at all scared of spiders and will kidnap the bigger ones in glasses and attempt to keep them until jeremiah (and later bruce) makes him put it outside. he’ll straight-up pick up a spider and let it run across his hands while other people scream about it

before bruce and elijah come along and before things start to change, he’s essentially living for jeremiah. if it weren’t for the fact that he has to look out for jeremiah and would never leave him in that environment alone and the fact that they promised each other they would always be there for each other no matter what, jerome’s lack of self-preservation would be a lot worse than it is bc without that to keep him tied to something he just wouldn’t care

when they were very little, the twins had a habit of sneaking into each other’s beds to sleep at night, usually after it had been a bad day with their mother and something had happened. they grew out of it when they got a little older, especially jerome once he stopped being so open with vulnerability/affection, but it was still a comfort that they slept near each other thanks to their caravan being too small for anything else so they knew the other was close-by. once jerome developed a habit of sneaking out at nights, this was also how jeremiah would often hear him leaving or would wake up and immediately notice he was gone

no one will play mario kart with him anymore because he gets ridiculously competitive and ruthless and he has no honour. he will shove you off of your seat so he can overtake you while you’re still getting up.

the only people who can tell him and jeremiah apart by voice alone are bruce and elijah. if anyone else calls their apartment, it’s just impossible to immediately work out who’s answered the phone at first unless they throw in a really obvious mannerism. if the person who picked up the phone is speaking with their mouth full and answered with “yo wassup”, it’s probably jerome. that or jeremiah’s finally broken.

speaking of phone calls, jerome is a nightmare when jeremiah is expecting a work call. if jerome gets to the phone first, it’s just: “is - is this mr. valeska?” “…you’re gonna have to be more specific, pal.” “…the j. valeska that i was supposed to call–?” “nope, pause, do better than that.” then the caller has to wait on the line while they hear “[muffled voice in the distance] JEROME, IS THAT THE CALL I SAID WAS IMPORTANT” “i dunno, maybe. i wasn’t really listening” “i SPECIFICALLY TOLD YOU NOT TO ANSWER THE PHONE IF IT RANG WHILE I WAS SHOWERING” and then vague sounds of clattering and voices before they get a flustered jeremiah on the line like “i am so sorry”

jerome is by far the messier twin, so his room is always a heap of dirty clothes and food packets and empty bottles/cans, but jeremiah can get really fixated on his work so his computer desk and his work-spaces are just full of papers and documents and empty coffee mugs. whenever he gets on at jerome about cleaning up after himself, jerome’s like [WILL SMITH POSE @ JEREMIAH’S DESK] WHAT ARE THOOOOOOSE

jerome and elijah have been to the hospital so many times because of the stupid shit they do that they’re basically on a first-name basis with a bunch of the doctors and nurses. whenever they come in, it’s like “oh, what have you boys done now?” (but really the nurses all love them bc they’ve charmed them and their stories about what happened this time are always hilarious)

bruce cooks sometimes and jerome “helps”, by which i mean he sits at the kitchen counter and just gossips to him, plays on his phone and/or watches him without actually lifting a finger to do anything - until he gets bored and things end up burning because bruce gets Distracted. eventually bruce enlists him to help chop vegetables and stir things because if he’s here, he can be useful, and jerome’s like “hmm what do i get in return?” so they develop a barter system where [x] activity gets jerome [x] amount of kisses and thus things actually get done while satisfying both of them without too much distraction. the only issue being that jerome keeps a) raising his prices and b) insisting on getting rewards for the most ridiculous shit now, like passing a bag of carrots over the counter because it’s just “SO MUCH UNPAID LABOUR, BRUCE” 

still has moments where he reflexively flinches if someone significantly older/bigger/taller than him moves too quickly or suddenly, though people around his size/age or less are fine

is actually more self-conscious about his burnt hand than he lets on. he puts on a front like it doesn’t bother him, but the fact that he’s usually wearing fingerless gloves or has a bandage wrapped around it or has his sleeves pulled over his hands when he can’t have either of those says something. he actually managed to keep bruce and elijah from seeing it for quite a while, since that would have been harder to explain away than other things - they noticed he usually had his hands covered but didn’t think it was for a particular reason beyond it being a Jerome Quirk. one of the most notable things that happens in the future when things start to improve is that he stops wearing the gloves and eventually actually lets bruce hold that hand, whereas before if bruce tried he’d usually pull away and switch sides so bruce could hold the other

the others convinced him to see a therapist after he was officially diagnosed and unexpectedly he agreed (mostly to get everyone off his back), and he was assigned to a relatively young woman called bee. he didn’t expect it to accomplish anything and basically spent the first few sessions being an uncooperative shit and turning everything back on her and giving her smartass answers to her questions. it took a long while, but she eventually proved to be Cool and Funny enough for him to start warming up to her - which didn’t mean he was any more cooperative with the therapy side of things, but it did mean he started to use the phone number she gave him to text her about completely unrelated things in the vein of “holy shit bee you’re not gonna believe what miah just did”. she went along with it and their sessions morphed into jerome mostly giving her Gossip or them having casual conversations - but girl knew what she was doing. he gradually started to talk about bruce, jeremiah and elijah, about his relationship, about school, about the circus, and eventually opened up more about certain things that happened. he never quite got to the point of discussing his feelings about the abuse in-depth (though he did end up telling her a fair amount abt how he felt about bruce) but all in all therapy ended up having a positive effect on him, though bee was v talented at letting him think he wasn’t really giving her much info and that every realisation he came to during their sessions was down to him alone and not because he was talking things through with someone

likes hugs/cuddling/hand-holding much more than he will ever let on

never completely stops smoking, but he does tone it down after they all leave high school. he’ll smoke with other people and sometimes when he’s really bored or waiting for someone, but it’s not one of his first methods of passing the time anymore. trying to get him to stop drinking is a lost cause, though.

[weapon13whitefang]

if beth comes back this season, what episode do you think she'd come back in?

S8E5 or S8E8

Why? Well, time for some delusional rambling thoughts I’ve had.

Y’all can blame @bethgreenewarriorprincess and @bethgreeneishopeunseen for this because sometimes I go through and see just what has the Team Defiance people so damn excitable and I think “I can kinda get behind that” or “I get what you’re saying but I feel like you stepped to quick into a sinkhole, friend”.

With TD, I keep seeing stuff about Mirrors. And mirrors keep sticking to me because I have a fascination with the use of mirrors in films, in history, and in superstitions. Mirrors are just fascinating.

I’ve talked about these before, but here are some things I like about Mirror superstitions

If a mirror falls and breaks by itself, someone in the house will soon die.

Someone seeing their reflection in a room where someone has recently died will soon die themselves.

Breaking a mirror will bring seven years of bad luck. This superstition dates back to the Romans, who believed that life renewed itself every seven years and that breaking a mirror would thus cause damage to the soul it was reflecting at the time for that duration. It was also inforced by the rich in the 1700s due to mirrors once being extremely expensive to afford and was meant to scare a worker from breaking the mirror or they’d owe the owner seven years of their life to pay it off.

Some ancient cultures believe that mirrors reflected the ‘shadow soul,’ and could show the true nature of the person being reflected.

In the Jewish religion, it is important to cover all mirrors in a house where someone has died while the family is sitting Shivah (the seven-day mourning period). It is said that if the mirrors aren’t covered, the spirit of the deceased may become trapped in one and not be able to move on to the afterlife.

Some cultures insist that mirrors should be covered at night and when people in the house are sleeping, to make sure that a dreamer’s wandering soul doesn’t get trapped in one. In Serbo-Croatian culture, a mirror was sometimes buried with the dead, both to prevent the spirit from wandering and to keep evil men from rising.

One legend says that viewing a mirror by nothing but candlelight will show you your reflection – and that of any entities inhabiting your home, be they ghosts or otherwise (Hence the whole Bloody Mary thing).

Ideally, no mirror should be hung so low that it “cuts off” the tallest household member’s head because doing so may cause headaches.

Mirrors were often used in magical and psychic rituals for scrying – remotely viewing another person or place – and communicating. They could also be used in magical rituals of divination – fortune telling and reading of the future. 

Ancient Chinese believed that mirrors frightened away evil spirits who were scared by their own appearance. If the mirror was broken, the protection was lost.

Mirrors have also been used in many cases of literature. Here’s to name a few:

Snow White by The Brothers Grimm

The Queens Magic Mirror

The Lady of Shalott by Alfred, Lord Tennyson

Lady is condemned to watch the world indirectly, via a mirror that exhibits to her the shifting scenes of Camelot.

Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll

Alice steps through the mantel place mirror into a reverse world. 

Dracula by Bram Stoker

Jonathan Harker realizes he’s in trouble when he can’t see Dracula’s reflection in a mirror.

Richard II by William Shakespear

Richard calls for a mirror to smash just before he’s about to be removed by Henry

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by J.K. Rowling

The Mirror of Erised (The Mirror of Desire) is mentioned by Dumbledore to show the “deepest, most desperate desire of our hearts.” and has been known to drive men mad.

Mirrors are used in films, television, songs, art, books, and common objects found around many households. There are superstitions and legends and all kinds of shit that float around mirrors… And to me that’s fascinating. So you can imagine why the concept of mirrors speaks to me in all this craze.

Now you asked, which episode do I see as being the return episode. I gave you two answers, but my first one is the main belief because of the fact that 8x5 is episode 5x8 backward… Episode 5x8 was “CODA”, the episode where Beth was shot down. Episode 8x5 is supposed to be called “THE BIG SCARY U” (Very odd name they have coming for these next few episodes in fact - “Some Guy”, “The Big Scary U”, “The King, The Widow, and Rick”, and ”Count to 5″)

I say 5x8 because everyone wants to talk about “Alice Through The Looking Glass” - a book I mentioned above - where Alice walks through the mirror above the mantel place and ends up in a world that’s a reverse (a backward) world of the one she knows.

Which would play into this theme of “what was isn’t what is”, to put it in simple terms. We saw that with Morales’ return. Morales was a friend of Rick and Daryl’s, but now he is Negan (Well technically he ain’t shit now cause he’s dead but you get what I mean).

Basically, I’m thinking that Beth coming back could play out as a reverse of the last time we saw her. The last episode we saw Beth alive was in 5x8. What could happen is that in 8x5 we get a full on, no doubt about it, reveal of Beth being alive. I don’t know what she’s doing or where she is… But we get this shot that openly proves to everyone watching, that we are seeing Beth Greene. No words are said. And it’s not a long enough shot to give us too much. But it’s her. We see Beth shot down at the end of CODA… What if we see her standing up and alive at the end of THE BIG SCARY U? That is a reverse of what we saw in 5x8. 

8x8 is me wondering if they’re going to play Beth as a Coda again. At the end of season 5A, Beth died. But at the beginning of 5B, Beth appears again as a sickness mind trip of Tyreese in 5x9. S5E8 was the 59th episode overall of TWD. 

S8E8 will be the 107th episode of TWD overall. That’s 48 episodes between them… For those of you who find significance in the importance of numbers and their meaning, here are a few things about 48 you can read (x).

The overall thing I took from that is the following:

The number 48 is especially adept with visual and auditory artistic expression — painting, sculpting, decorating, music, and so forth.

Although business oriented, 48 is even more a social number. It supports and encourages the creative expression of others. And it tends to raise the level of optimism when participating in activities of a group.

The energy the number 48 represents includes imagination, effective communication, tolerance, joyfulness, optimism, and dynamism.

Take what you will from that… But if we wanna be fair to 8x5, that’s 45 episodes between them. And from the same link above, reading about 45, here;’s the things that stuck out to me:

If the number 45 is in the heart’s desire position of the chart, it means the person really, really wants to do something with a large positive impact on the welfare of humanity.

If the number 45 is in the personality position of the chart, it means the person tends to present themselves as a tolerant and humanitarian individual.

With a number 45 prominent somewhere in a person’s environment, interpret the situation as if it included humanitarianism, idealism, getting things done, and/or whim.

These two numbers both represent tolerance and encouragement of getting something done and helping out a group… Seems pretty accurate for what is going down and what is needed.

Anyway, what I see possibly happening is that in 8x8 we hear Beth’s voice or we see a distorted image of her. Kind of like how she’s not really there when Tyreese is dying. How she’s not the one driving the truck, but Rick. Someone may see Beth but instead of it being her, the person thinks it’s just them going crazy or hearing/seeing shit. In 8x8 could be 5x9′s reverse/backward world and then in 8x9 we have a full shot of Beth and then 5x10 could be a flashback series… Basically it could go backwards. We last saw her in Sasha’s flashback and before that it was as Tyreese’s delusion and then before that it was Coda as a limp “corpse” in Daryl’s arms. Maybe this time it’s all backwards.

Im starting to ramble.. Sorry, Nonny! This was longer than i meant it to be. Didn’t mean to dump that on you!

[ts1989fanatic]

Taylor Swift’s Video Director Joseph Kahn Has Something to Say to Her Haters

The Swifties who’ve watched Taylor Swift’s “Look What You Made Me Do”video 704 million times since it came out on August 27, may or may not recognize the name Joseph Kahn. But they’ve likely been freaking out about the auteurist videos he’s made with Swift for years. 

Ever since he and Swift first teamed up in November 2014 for that epic, four-minute, insane-girlfriend saga “Blank Space” (2.2 billion views), Kahn has been the director the singer has turned to most often to help her visually express her id — such as zombie Taylor digging a grave for her own reputation in “Look,” or sitting on a throne of snakes that represent her conquering of Kim Kardashian’s diss of her. Kahn did four out of six videos from her last album, 1989 (“Blank Space,” “Bad Blood,” “Wildest Dreams,” “Out of the Woods”) and the only two videos off of Reputation so far (“Look” and “…Ready for It”). He’s also a wildly outspoken 45-year-old Korean-American with a philosophy of answering any question that’s asked of him and a penchant for stream-of-consciousness tweeting — and has somehow become Swift’s de facto spokesperson in her post-snakes-and-receipts era of never giving interviews. Every headline you read that’s like, “Taylor Swift Director Claims Beyoncé Copied ‘Bad Blood’” — that’s him.

He’s also a pretty dope filmmaker. And at this week’s AFI Festival in Los Angeles, as Swift’s Reputation is on track to being her biggest album ever, he screened Bodied, an outrageous, politically incorrect battle rap movie he directed — as only his third feature film in 26 years in the business. 

Bodied comes to AFI still without a distributor. But at the Toronto International Film Festival midnight screening I attended back in September, the reception was through the roof, and I’m not just talking about the end of the movie, I’m talking throughout. Indiewire dubbed it “the most subversive hip-hop movie ever” and it took home the Audience Award in its category, before winning the Audience Award at Fantastic Fest. 

The story is like 8 Mile turned on its head, as a skinny white Ph.D. candidate, Adam (Calum Worthy), stumbles into the underground rap-battle world and discovers he has mad skills for spitting racist one-liners and skewering his own white privilege. 

Don’t worry, Adam may be the center of the movie, as he goes up against other battlers such as black philosopher and father Behn Grymm (Jackie Long) and Korean-American Dumbfounded (Jonathan Park), but he’s far from the hero. Kahn co-wrote the script with actual Toronto battle rapper Alex Larsen (a.k.a. Kid Twist), and Eminem is a producer, for that dash of extra cred. Vulture talked to Kahn about his working relationship with Taylor Swift, and how Bodied was inspired by “Wildest Dreams.”

You’ve had a lot of trouble getting distribution for Bodied. We all thought it was going to get sold out of Toronto because it was literally the biggest hit of the festival. A lot of the major distributors didn’t understand it. I heard Netflix just didn’t like the way my protagonist wasn’t really a protagonist — which is the entire point of the movie! I’ve had offers that want me to chop up the rap, make the protagonist more likable. None of that is happening on my watch. But we’re close to cutting a deal.

What’s the disconnect? Bodied is an indie film that has no stars and is not a horror film. People talk in ebonics for three-quarters of the movie. It’s hard to market. It’s a battle rap movie, but it has elevated concepts, so you’re looking for a smart audience who may not listen to battle rap at all. How do you market that?

Well, Get Out didn’t have a natural audience either. Get Out is child’s play compared to Bodied. At the end of the day, that’s a horror movie, and when you have a horror movie, all it has to do to work is do one thing: Can it scare you? With Bodied, what are you promising? You’re promising people screaming at each other in rap.

Fighting words for Get Out. No, it’s true! People don’t know what a battle rap movie means. It’s not a genre film. It does not fit into a slot.

I feel like Bodied is a movie you really want to see in a theater. I think that distributors don’t understand why people go to movies. They think the only reason people go is to see spectacle, right? They think that the only way to trap them in a seat is to thrill them with a bunch of superheroes hitting each other and lots of special effects, and the audience feels like they get their money’s worth. It’s a really absurd thing to ask an audience, to willingly put themselves into a black box, filled with other people they don’t know, and force themselves not to be able to go to the bathroom, eat expensive food, and not look at their phone or check texts for two hours.

I don’t think special effects is the reason they’re [going]. When people go to Bodied and have this shared experience of laughing, being offended, and questioning things on an emotional roller coaster, that’s a reason for people to sit in that black box and not check their phones. Bodied supplies a catharsis. In a world where you’re not allowed to say anything offensive, this is a chance for people to share an open release for things that are not allowed in society. That’s an event.

Do you think it plays differently every time, based on what kinds of offensive things the president has said before people see it? I find that the temperature of the politics affects the movie, because people have different hot topics in their head, and Bodied runs the gamut of everything. If you’re worried about racism, it’s in there; if you’re worried about sexism, it’s in there; if you’re worried about harassment, it’s in there. Either way, the movie never gives you an answer. It’s a box you throw problems in, shake it up, and listen to how it sounds. It may sound different, but ultimately, the shaking is what you’re experiencing. I think it just depends on what people are perceiving about the movie at that point. It’s a Rorschach test.

Do you think sexual assault in the news will change the way audiences react to the misogynistic one-liners — which are really skewering misogyny? It’s not like sexual assault didn’t exist before last month. It’s not a surprise to women that sexual assault exists, and they watch the movie and love it. I think what’ll end up happening is that there will be males who probably overcompensate, because now they’re more “woke” than they were before. But one of the things I think the movie explores is that you can be “woke” but not understand what you’re “woke” about — it’s a superficial understanding. I think there may be a lot of people out there who go, “Oh, now I need to overcompensate to show how correct I am about this particular topic [harassment],” and they make an inauthentic interaction with the movie, because that line between actually thinking about something and wanting to think about something can be very bad.

Can we talk about the videos you just directed? So we’re going from harassment to Taylor Swift? [Laughs.]

Ha, sorry, that was a rough transition. How did that relationship begin? This is now six times that you guys have worked together. It just started as any other relationship, where a pop star asked the director to direct a video, and we just clicked. We had an immediate understanding of how we both perceive music videos, and our tastes are very similar. It’s just been a very fruitful collaboration, and it really has been a collaboration. None of these music videos are just me going off and doing my thing. They are very much mapped out between her and me at the beginning and through the whole process. And when we’re on set, we’re always throwing ideas at each other, trying to mine and figure out — I know it sounds pretentious because these are pop videos, but we really try to do every scene from a truthful POV, like, “what makes sense and what feels authentic for that particular scene.” She’s very good about that, and that’s what I seek out when I do these things.

Was she a longtime fan of yours? She’s what, 27 now in 2017? By the time she was 14, she would’ve been watching “Toxic” and videos like that. She is a pop-culture sponge. I can’t confirm this stuff, but I can hypothesize, knowing her and how vast her knowledge is of music and pop culture, that she was very aware of my work.

What is the give-and-take and dynamic of your collaboration? Like, how did you guys figure out the concept for “…Ready for It?” She called me up and pretty much had the idea mapped out in her head. It’s almost like she gave me a gift, because what she was thinking was right up my alley in terms of my fascination with Japanese pop culture and sci-fi. I really do suspect, on a certain level, this is a thank-you note to let me get my rocks off on my sci-fi fetishes! Wrong word, by the way! [Laughs.]

Were Blade Runner or Westworld influences? Well, obviously the whole gamut of sci-fi.

When that’s happening, are you breaking out all your references? Does she have a vast knowledge of sci-fi that we don’t know about that she brings out for you? She doesn’t talk in terms of “this looks like that,” or “I want that.” She just tells me a story of her battling robots and things like that, and then I have to frame it within the context of the sci-fi knowledge that I have and interpret it. Then I go back, pitch her images. It’s a very collaborative process.

How does it differ from making movies? With Taylor, it actually feels like we’re shooting movies. You would never get that with other artists, but she’s just so fluid in her language of cinema. She understands what a close-up does, what a medium shot is. She understands an edit, and she’ll watch me edit as I shoot. She loves filling in the gaps. We might shoot two scenes and there may be an empty blank in the edit as we’re going along, and when she sees the blank get filled up with another shot, her eyes light up. I find it very gratifying to work with someone who is so edit specific.

How has the working relationship evolved since you started working on “Blank Space?” I think we’ve gotten easier with each other’s language in terms of how we talk. Quite frankly, she has always been a very approachable person. Right off the bat, you can just text her and she’ll text you back. You give her an idea, she’ll respond immediately. What’s more amazing about the working relationship over this few years is how little has changed. As big as she’s gotten, she’s still the girl you can text and get answers back from immediately, which is very rare for an artist.

There was all that criticism for the “Wildest Dreams” video about it being racist, in that it’s supposed to be on a 1950′s movie set in Africa and there are hardly any black people … One thing I have noticed, being in Taylor’s world — god, this really is turning into a Taylor Swift interview!

People are interested! Besides we’re talking about the work you do together, not her personal life. The thing I’ve learned over the last couple years working with her, and I’ve worked with everybody — I’ve been doing music videos for nearly 30 years now — I have never seen anyone else get the amount of criticism she gets for the slightest thing. It’s really odd, especially because she’s an anomaly: She is genuinely a nice person.

I’m telling you, this is the most insane thing I have ever seen. She is genuinely a nice, cool, well-rounded, totally stable person, and society doesn’t know what to do with a woman like that! They really don’t! They need to knock her down! I feel what’s happening is, they see this incredibly stable, super-secure, super-smart, eloquent woman who can talk for herself, which is very odd because most artists, male or female, can’t talk. And she can do it! She’s a writer! That’s what she is! She’s a poet, and she has very clear thoughts. I find that people are intimidated by it, and people resent it for some reason! They need to see her bleed, and they’re trying to make her go crazy to see her come down.

It’s the old story. You’ve seen it happen a million times before — and they don’t do it to guys, it’s always women. You take a girl who gets a certain amount of power, like a Britney, a Madonna, a Mariah or whatever, they get to a certain level of success, and then the media — I’m sorry, but it’s literally the media — write these horrible stories and insinuations. They want to tear the artist down to the point where they want to go to a hospital, and then they want make money on the comeback story, too. They do the celebration and say, “Oh, Britney is back!”

Taylor refuses to let that happen. She does not want to be another one of those stories of a girl getting who gets torn down by the media and suddenly rises on her feet again on the backs of everyone writing their think pieces about how great she is again. She’s not letting that process happen, and I applaud her for that. Fight! Keep your sanity and integrity! You don’t need people to tear you down and bring you back up to sell records. Just be you. I think that’s what’s cool about it. When it comes to criticism and things like that, I’ve been through the process many times myself, and I’ve been criticized over many, many years, but I’m a 45-year-old guy, and it took me longer to figure that out. She’s 27 and she’s already figured that out.

So there was all this recent backlash when Taylor’s attorney apparently went after a blogger who’d linked her with the alt-right. Your response was to tweet a photo of Kanye and Trumpand said, “Let’s remember there’s one major recording artist who has publicly endorsed a white supremacist.” Yeah, there’s this whole hullabaloo right now about Taylor supporting Trump — which she never has— and being accused of being a white supremacist, and meanwhile, that guy [Kanye] gets a free pass. And he’s the one that has been attacking Taylor for years! We treat men and women completely different! Can you imagine if Taylor had a photo of herself smiling with Trump? Donezo! Done! [Laughs.] Meanwhile, we look at Kanye and think, “Oh no, he was just a little sick at the time,” and then he comes onstage going “I love Trump,” and it’s, “Oh, we really don’t believe him.” How many passes do you give to guys over women? It’s the same thing with Trump! How many times has Trump done completely insane things for which we keep giving him passes, and meanwhile, Hillary — and I was a Hillary supporter, I’ll make no bones about that — I don’t think she did anything. The double standard was super crazy!

You’ve become almost like a de facto spokesperson for Taylor. Yes but not by choice, and this is the reason why: My Twitter has always been there and I always speak my mind. I’ve done that since the beginning of Twitter and I’ve gotten in trouble for it. People who have followed me for years know that I just literally say what’s on the top of my head. Taylor, this album cycle, has not given one interview so the media is thirsty. They’re looking for any way in so they just go to me because I made a couple videos with her and they’re just mining my Twitter, or anything I say, for anything. If I go into an interview on Bodied which is — you said to me, “It’s the biggest hit of TIFF” — and people are asking me about Taylor Swift because they know that if they put Taylor Swift in the article the hits go up.

How interested are you in shaping the public perception of Taylor, especially through the videos? Are you throwing tiny references into the videos because you know they’ll go under a microscope? Yeah, of course. Quite a bit of that comes from Taylor. I don’t give the message. We’re just trying to figure out clever ways to express the metaphors in the songs. But we go into it being aware of what the video’s agenda is. The think pieces you write about them are earned.

You’ve dealt with a lot of high-profile artists before. Have your videos ever been as scrutinized as much as they are now? No, but I’ve been doing pop videos since before they were cool. Right now, people look back on “Toxic” and go, “That’s one of the greatest videos of all time,” and people write think pieces on it hailing it as a work of art. That would have never happened in 2004! Back in 2004, Britney was not cool. She was just a popular artist who was crazy and about to go into a hospital. I was this hack director just doing videos for her and Sisqo, right? I did not have any critical respect until, literally in the last four to five years, something happened where people suddenly started thinking that pop is art. I think social media and Twitter had a lot to do with pop getting intellectualized.

I remember putting my work onto a website in 2005 so that people could, for the first time, track how this one director did all these disparate videos. Somehow, with the collated version of the internet, there’s just been much more research being done on pop. I didn’t get my respect until things like Wikipedia, Facebook and social media became big and people could connect the dots. So there’s two things going on. One, the internet didn’t exist to the degree it does now so people couldn’t track my work, and two, in this sort of hyperbolic version of pop analysis, Taylor’s the biggest pop star in the world, so people are taking some serious microscopes into anything that we do.

What, exactly, is going on in “…Ready for It?” Here’s the one thing I won’t do: I won’t speak for Taylor. I have to give her the right to express or not express what she wants to feel about these videos. At the end of the day, as strong of an artist as I am, it’s a collaboration with Taylor, and she is the ultimate artist in these videos. They’re her songs, her stories, and I am a great paintbrush, but she is the canvas and the paint. So when it comes to interpretation, I’ve got to let her control that.

Can you give me the timeline for when you started working on Bodied? I’m curious how it was influenced by the music videos you’d done with her before you shot it, and how it influenced the videos you did with her that came after it. Believe it or not, Bodied was actually inspired by “Wildest Dreams,” the controversial video I’d done with Taylor.

Really? Well, for the longest time, I wanted to make a battle rap movie because I love the art form. I love its freedom of expression, and the cleverness of the poetry being flung at each other as insults. As someone who loves competition, that’s fun for me. But I didn’t want to make a sports movie, which is what it would normally be. I reached out to Alex, the writer, who was a battle rapper himself, and I was going to write a comedy or a horror film with him. It wasn’t going to be about battle rap. But anyway, I did “Wildest Dreams,” and having been in the fold with Taylor and knowing how quick the media is to judge her on anything, we were trying to predict what would go wrong with this thing.

There were criticisms of it being racist and you issued this response that said that it was a video about a tortured love story between Taylor and Scott Eastwood, who plays her movie-star boyfriend, but that pretty much everyone behind the scenes had been a person of color. There were two things we mapped out that we were pretty clear were points of controversy: one is that it was Africa in the ’50s, but it’s not like there haven’t been a ton of Hollywood movies about Africa in the ’50s, like The African Queen. (Note: The African Queen takes place during World War I, although it was made in the 1950s.) We knew that any time you go past the Golden Age of Hollywood, there’s segregation. It’s just a part of American life. Does that negate Citizen Kane or every other movie made before, say, 1969? No, that’s impossible. This is just part of the cinematic history of America and the world.

So I, myself, was trying to figure out how I incorporate, not African-Americans, but Africans, because this took place in Africa. One of my ideas was to make it with an African director, but we knew what was going to happen: It would be accused of whitewashing history and pretending apartheid didn’t exist. So on the flip side, I was thinking, “Maybe I should put the crew [in the video] somehow…” but then it’s like you’re running a plantation! It’s just a no-win situation all around. So what I did was, I just put a few crew members, like, as guards and things like that, who looked more authentic to what it was. So they’re in there. But anyways, what ended up happening is, you see white people in Africa in the ’50s, like Bogart or whatever. And it just hit at the right moment with #BlackLivesMatter and every particular issue going on at that particular moment in that three-month span, and it became a target of being called colonialism and racism and all these hot keywords that were being flung around at the time.

No matter what you would say, it would always seem like your argument would get negated, and people wouldn’t have it any other way. It got to a point where someone would write an essay about how “Joseph Kahn never puts black people in his videos,” or “Joseph Kahn doesn’t do any black videos,” which is absolutely absurd! Half my videos are hip-hop videos! All these accusations were going around that were just not true, and I found the social-media bullying fascinating, where facts didn’t really matter, it was just whoever could shout the loudest, right? That gave me the idea of, “Well, I know a venue where people shout really loud and the truth may not matter, and that’s battle rap.”

So you said you and Taylor tried to anticipate what controversy would come out of “Wildest Dreams.” Sounds like you went into it knowing it was a minefield. The other thing was that Cecil the lion had just been shot, so we needed to make sure nothing looked like Taylor was in Africa shooting lions! We made sure there were photographers and things like that. You can anticipate what the Zeitgeist is going to do up to a certain point, but you can never truly know what it’s going to do at any particular moment, especially when it’s negative. You just don’t know how big it’s going to blow up, ever.

And it sounds like both of you have an attitude of, “I’m going to say what I want to say, and I’m going to go forward because it’s going to get shot down no matter what, so why not?” Yeah, and the reality is, as negative as the social-media aspect of it was, in reality, it wasn’t really that big of a deal. It was just the media fanning a fire, and people who never would’ve bought her albums in the first place screaming really loud. Meanwhile, the video now has almost 600 million views and the song did extraordinarily well. It’s not like it made her poor! She did extremely well off of it. But that’s the way social media works: You can literally have 100 people retweeting each other, and some person at BuzzFeed can go in there and say, “The internet has spoken,” and they’ll collectively take ten quotes from random people and write an entire article about this. It is the laziest form of journalism there is. It’s not even journalism. I don’t know what that is! And by the way, there’s not even that many words in the article. It’s all pictures! So it’s a person going, “The internet hates Taylor Swift,” and then they show ten tweets from ten random people who might be a person with ten different accounts. You don’t even know! It’s a completely absurd situation.

I think it’s so cool that that video inspired Bodied. Has Bodied inspired your new work since you finished shooting it? Will fans of Bodied someday be able to look back and find new connections? It goes deeper. Bodied, for me, was an expression of a thematic idea, in terms of freedom of speech, the nature of language, and the nature of truth and art itself. But underneath that, there is a systematic approach I had towards raising my craft, making it look a little more organic than my previous film, [teen horror film] Detention, where the craft was so surface-level that people could see it and react against it. Bodied is a bit more restrained. It’s literally about where I place the camera in terms of an over-the-shoulder shot. It’s a bunch of nuances I was working on for the last three years. Then, since I actually learned that those certain techniques work, it has informed me on my next set of videos. If you’re looking at “…Ready for It?” there’s a certain geometry to the way close-ups and movements work. This is stuff I don’t really want to talk about, because they’re secrets of my trade. I’m not here to tell every filmmaker how to be successful, because I’m still figuring it out, and it’s a competition, quite frankly. But yes, it has completely informed my filmmaking.

The opening shot of Taylor coming in in “…Ready for It?” reminded me of going to battle in Bodied. Well, “…Ready for It?” is a confrontation video, so it’s definitely informed by the physical geometry of Bodied.

Do you have a good on-set story from the last two things you’ve shot with Taylor? Yes! Speaking of the way we interact — on this one particular sequence in “…Ready for It?,” we were trying to figure out what her reaction should be, how she should perform as the camera comes towards her, and what is the intent of her character in that particular moment. The line was, “He can be my jailer / Burton to this Taylor,” and I said, “That’s a really clever metaphor,” and she goes, “I know. That’s why I wrote it.”

There’s so much physical stuff she has to do in these videos. Has she ever gotten hurt? I’ll tell you one thing: Whenever I do videos with her, I am 100 percent all about her safety. I am not going to be the guy who gets Taylor Swift hurt. Then I will have a million Swifties try to kill me! She is completely protected when I work with her. I will literally throw myself in front of a car because I would rather get hit than her, because the Swifties will hit me with a car anyway.

ts1989fanatic This is why we love  @JosephKahn and exactly why he got one of these for his own damn self.

[blitzdrake]

Paranatural Things

Ok so like twice a week I like to come up with a weird crossover AU idea.  and I already snagged a BNHA/Voltron AU this week so for number two...warning STRANGER THINGS 1 and 2 spoilers may come up in this...Paranatural characters in Stranger Things AU!

(Big thanks to @iamwhelmed who is often a partner in crime and helped come up with a ton of this in back and forth)

So lets start with the older kids...we need a misguided but redeemable(spoilers end of Season 1 and all of Season 2) Bully character.....Johnny has to be Steve.  Just imagine Johnny applying Farrah Fawcett hairspray, giving bad dating advice to kids, screaming in the back of a car, and all the stranger things 2 Babysitter Steve/Johnny adventures.)

Only one person can be both the smart girl and the kick ass girl at once, so Nance, I ace my classes, run the school, booby trap a house, and also find time to charge a monster when the boys are frozen and scared, has to be Isabel. [This means early power couple Johnny/Isabel which some of you may hate...depending on your preferences for them...but bear with me...cause Nance-Isabel means...]

The shy, quiet, artistic photographer Jonathan, who is also a little weird, gets nerdy game things, and can stand up to Steve and actually get Steve in bully mode to back down, and idolizes Nance?   Ed.  That’s right....switch out a paintbrush for a camera and you got yourself an Ed. (And depending on how you like your couples in Stranger things 1/2 you either have endgame edsabel, or edsabelohnny IS there a name for that...has that ever been posited as a ship, if not I just rule Whatevered that.]

Now get your tissues ready, cause here comes the crying.  Nance’s bookwormish, nerdy friend who disappears in Stranger things 1 as a victim of the monster.....Barb, whom we all love and adore for her devotion to Nance and cry over her untimely fate.  Who....do we adore for loving Isabel who suffered an untimely fate and would be bookwormish (or perhaps...bookspiderish....) Yup...Eightfold in human form is Barb.  CRY for me, my kiddies...CRY!

So the kid, kids.....There was a brief time where I debated like Zoe and PJ...but I ran out of kids...so I figured easier to drop some of the Pnat cast down an age level....we need an established group of friends with weird hobbies and no fear of spying, breaking and entering, or jury rigging some electronics if needed.  Move over AV club for Journalism-AV club.  Collin, Suzy, and Dmitri...and for our fourth, their most unwilling member most of the time....MAX!  The only rough fit is maybe tone down Suzy’s lawlessness to more like Dustin levels.  (well Dustin season 2 might fit Suzy better anyway.)  I particularly like Max as Mike Wheeler cause Isabel would be a great older sister he can be sarcastic too...and they have a canon younger sister, Holly Wheeler, so Zoe doesn’t have poof into nothing in this AU!

For Eleven there’s a slew of options.  Personally it should come as no surprise I lean Isaac. (everyone knows most of what I have written for the paranatural verse ends up being Imaax.)  He already has inherent tool-less powers and that means the monster can be a cloud lion type monster for fun. Also this removes the potential for Isaac/Isabel conflict and I love them both too much to put them in a place where the fandom can make me cry or choose betwixt them in an AU I thought up.  However if you need Isaac and Isabel to disagree Isaac can be her younger foster sibling, a member of journalism/DandD/AV club and Max can be Eleven (levitation though magnetics rather than telekinesis) or switch in a new fourth for AV club and Eleven could also be selected from the background cast (Violet could kick some ass for example) though right now Paranatural hasn’t defined the other kids as well as the ones I’ve selected above.  Still if you wanna take this idea and run with it you can make it whomever, in my head I see wind summoning Isaac/eleven, but I am always willing to encourage people to take my weird thoughts and expand in new fun directions!)

So lastly, the ADULTS who matter...There’s Ed(Jonathan) and Collin(Will)’s soon to go insane mom.  Which I totally vote foster dad-mom Mr. Garcia.  He looks like he could go off the deep end and just sn-----aaaaaap into decorating his living room with X-mas tree lights.  

From here I go a little left field......I think Mash AV club teacher who helpfully gives them useful...ish...advice on the Upside Down when he’s not being confusing AND Stranger things 2 BOB who can be clever and helpful and smart and into Jonathan’s mom(Mr. Garcia) into ONE dude, call him AV/Journalism club teacher, Mr. Spender, and up his season one presence/involvement and build some Garcia-Spender stuff up.  And to maintain our much needed female character presence after dadding out the will’s mom role, I totally need Dr. Zarei as the Sherriff.  she can be WAY GRUFFER than Spender anyway.

So yeah...that’s my 2 cents...anyone who likes paranatural and Stranger things can take this and do what they will with it! ^_^  

There are alternatives of course REALLY mesh Season 2 into Season 1, and bring in new girl/kid skateboarder Max, as...well...Max. :-p which means find a new fourth for EV or a new eleven, and unleash theship, Dmitri/Max which is such a rarepair someone might know of it.  But Personally....I’d love to see Violet as MadMax with Dmitri and Suzy both crushing hard as .  Anywho that’s my two cents...take whatever bits and pieces you liked of this and feel free to run with it!  Just let me know if you ever do something with it with a friendly tag so I can come GUSH and praise your fun takes on it! ^_^  Muah.

[fishylife]

Stranger Things Season 1 Episode 8

Alright! Finally done :)

Joyce is handcuffed to the chair in this interrogation room.

In the other room, Jim is being beaten up, and the Hawkins lab threaten to fake his death like an overdose.

Nancy and Jonathan set up the bear trap in the Byers house and prepare other tools for the impending monster attack.

Jim and Joyce are given the deal that they’ll be allowed to go to the Upside Down if they never real to another soul the existence of the alternate dimension. Boss man is comfortable with this deal because he doesn’t think they’ll make it out alive.

Joyce starts to have a bit of a panic attack, so Jim tries to calm her down, telling her to breathe. Jim is reminded of the old days. He was playing with his daughter when she seemed to have an asthma attack.

Jonathan and Nancy cut their hands to lure in the hunting monster with the scent of blood.

At a very untimely moment, Steve shows up, wanting to make things right with Jonathan. Nancy answers the door and tells him to go away.

This may have been my favourite part of the entire season lol. 

So Steve barges in because he feels that something is very not right. Nancy threatens Steve with the gun and tells him that he needs to leave right now. However, the lights start blinking and so Jonathan and Nancy have to brace themselves for the monster.

Nancy fires a few bullets at the monster but they run into Will’s room to lure the monster into stepping on the trap. 

But the monster seems to have vanished. They leave Will’s room and find the trap untouched.

Joyce and Jim make it to Will’s hideout, finding it completely blown to bits. In the rubble is Will’s teddy bear. 

Jim is once more reminded of his time with his daughter, when he was reading Anne of Green Gables to her in the hospital, and little Sarah was clutching to her stuffed animal. 

Steve finally decides it’s a good idea to leave the Byers’ house. However, just when he’s about to get in his car, he sees the lights blinking in the house again.

This part was hard to screencap because of all the movement and the dark lighting so I’ll try to describe it best I can.

The monster catches Jonathan by surprise and overpowers him. Nancy shoots at the monster but soon runs out of bullets. Luckily, Steve comes back in the house and he beats the monster with the bat a few times, pushing it into the bear trap. Once the monster is in the trap, Jonathan lights it afire, and here he is putting out the fire. After they put out the fire though, the monster is gone. We do find it that it is at least injured though.

The lights start blinking and the three follow the lights. Jonathan calls out to his mom, realizing that she’s the one who’s making the lights blink.

Joyce calls back out to Jonathan, assuring him that she’s still here, albeit on the other side.

Yo I was so not ready for this part. 

Dustin and Lucas grab some chocolate pudding from the fridge, leaving Eleven and Mike alone. Basically, Mike tells Eleven that after all of this is done, she can live with the Wheeler family. But he doesn’t want to be her brother because of reasons he doesn’t want to say, and it ends with Mike kissing Eleven and inviting her to the Snow Ball, which is the school dance.

Afterwards, Mike runs outside and see the government vehicles pulling up to the school. They search the school for the kids and eventually are able to corner them.

However, Eleven does what she can to kill them.

But that only gets rid of the first wave of bad guys because Eleven is extremely weak now. Papa finally gets to her and tries to convince her to come home with him. Eleven doesn’t really respond to that question because she’s distracted by the monster that she knows is nearby.

The kids carry Eleven to a safe spot.

While boss man is eaten by the monster.

Joyce and Jim finally find Will, with some sort of eel in his throat. Jim is reminded of his daughter when she was in the hospital. 

Anyway, Jim pulls the eel out and shoots at it to kill it.

Mike, Lucas, and Dustin bring Eleven to this room. Mike tries to comfort Eleven, telling her that the bad man (i.e. her Papa) is gone, and that she can live with the Wheelers and they can go to Snow Ball.

Eventually, the monster catches up to them. Lucas tries to slingshot rocks at it but it’s doing minimal damage.

Eleven knows what she needs to do.

And musters up the rest of her energy to eradicate the monster.

After pulling the eel out of Will’s mouth, Jim and Joyce try CPR to save Will.

It didn’t work for Jim’s daughter Sarah.

But luckily Jim and Joyce are able to save Will.

Will wakes up in the hospital to the sights of Joyce and Jonathan.

Mike, Dustin, and Lucas rush in and bear hug him, telling him about all the cool stuff that happened, including his funeral, Eleven, etc.

Outside the hospital, a car pulls up, and Jim gets in. I have no idea what this means, but I’m assuming those people are from Hawkins lab.

Time skip!!!!!

A month later, the boys are playing some more Dungeons and Dragons and this time they win their campaign. 

Mike looks over at the pillow fort for Eleven. It’s obvious he misses her presence.

Jonathan comes by to pick up Will after their game of Dungeons of Dragons.

Before the Byers leave, Nancy has a Christmas gift for Jonathan.

Ok, this was pretty cute. (Nancy gives Jonathan a peck on the cheek.)

In the car, Will opens up the box and it’s a camera!

Ah, I see ;)

Chief Hopper ain’t one for Christmas parties. He grabs some food in a container and dips.

He goes to a place in the woods where there’s a chest. He puts the food in there and also a couple of eggos. 

Meanwhile the Byers are also having their own cozy Christmas party.

Will excuses himself to wash his hands, but he actually coughs up a bit of eel. 

For a split second, the washroom flickers between the present world and the upside down world.

But Will brushes it off and joins his family for dinner.

Whew, that was certainly adventure.

I think the story was definitely well executed, how the different parties are dealing in different ways with the problem. You have Mike, Lucas, Dustin, and Eleven, who are just trying to find Will. You have Nancy and Jonathan, who are also trying to find Will and Barb, but they’re also figuring out how to combat the monster. And then you have Joyce and Jim, who are not only investigating Will’s disappearance, but also the background behind the Hawkins Lab. 

One thing that sort of irked me was how omnipotent Eleven seemed. Not only does she have telekinesis, telepathy, but she can also communicate across dimensions? The powers just seem very hand-wavy and don’t seem to stem from any sort of technical theory. Not any that the audience are shown though. Maybe I’m just being a hater lol.  Other than that, the world building was interesting. 

Another thing that sort of irked me was the kids’ relationships. I get that Eleven and Mike have a bit of a closer relationship because Mike’s always believed in Eleven, and also extended hospitality to her. But it doesn’t seem like there’s much of a relationship between Lucas and Dustin and Eleven. I know that Lucas and Dustin have always been a bit skeptical, but after the events of those days, I would think that Eleven would say bye to Lucas and Dustin in addition to saying bye to Mike. Maybe I’m just being kind of petty lol.

Also I’m pretty glad the Nancy/Steve/Jonathan romantic subplot didn’t turn into a cliche. Just a side note, but I’m glad it turned out the way it did.

I loved Winona Ryder’s performance as Joyce. I know she seemed really jittery, but in the end, she’s a really strong character and even though she’s scared and worried, she takes the steps she needs to save her boy. 

The direction and the story telling aspect of the show was pretty good as a whole. Most things followed pretty logically. I’m interested to know what story line they’re going to follow for the second season (but at the current, I’m not sure if I’m interested enough to actually bring myself to watch it). 

I recognize that this show is very well done and well produced, but I didn’t love the show as much as other people did. But I can definitely see why this show appeals to a lot of people. (Like I said, maybe I’m just a hater...)

I want to end this show on a positive note but I don’t know how, so I’m just going to leave this here like this because I’m awkward lol.

Edit: Another thing that just came to mind. I would have wanted to see a bit more exploration of the relationship between Eleven and her Papa. In the end, she totally recognizes Papa as an evil person who must be avoided. However, she was kept in captivity since birth and he was the only authority figure she had ever known. He has been both stern and kind, though more often the former than the latter. I would have expected her to have a bit more Stockholm Syndrome than she did, but perhaps the writers didn’t want to focus on that as much.