#the weirdest parallel I have come up with

[mr111202]

The Strange Parallel Between Mike Wheeler and Disney’s Mulan (The Mike/Disney Parallels 1/2)

Okay, I know what you’re gonna say: “Wait, Mulan’s a Chinese girl from the Hun Dynasty, and Mike’s an American boy from the 1980s. The hell do you mean??” Admittedly, it does sound strange, but stay with me here. I’m not saying that Mike and Mulan are the same person, definitely not. But, they both do have one big similarity in common:

Their self-confidence issues, and the need to protect those who they love.

In the beginning of her movie, Mulan is shown to have some major self-confidence issues. Most prominent with her thinking that she’s brought shame to her family for not being “the perfect daughter” cause she failed to impress the matchmaker.

Like wise, through season four, we can see that Mike is also struggling with his own self-confidence. The most famous example that people like to use is the Van scene before Will whips out his painting. Mike talks about how he feels inadequate and useless when it comes to his relationship with El (“she’s Superman, and I’m Lois Lane. But even that doesn’t work.�� To paraphrase). And, if we do take in the aspect of Mike being gay as well, it can also be said that he feels this cause he thinks he’s not “the perfect son” cause he likes boys.

Both characters feel inadequate and feel like as if they constantly let people down.

Then, later on in the Disney movie, Mulan decides to disguise herself as a man to join the army. Not cause she wants to or to prove a point, but cause she doesn’t want her father to get killed in battle. She seems to be the kind to risk her life for those she cares for. She does this again when she saves Shang during the avalanche, despite her bleeding from a stomach wound via Shan-Yu’s sword.

Similarly, Mike has been shown to be the kind of person who will risk his life to keep the people he loves safe. There’s the time in season 1 where he was ready to throw himself off the quarry to save Dustin from Troy. Then there’s the time in season 3 when he took a pipe to Billy’s back during the sauna test to save El. Then, also in that same season at the finale, bro threw his skinny ass body at Billy (who’s jacked and possessed) as a way to keep El safe and buy her time to escape the mall.

With all that said, this is something I personally want in season five. I sincerely doubt that the Duffer Brothers would do this, but a girl can dream.

I want Mike to have his Mulan moment.

Much like how Mulan developed confidence in herself thanks to her experience in the army, I want Mike to be able to grow confidence with himself and be able to accept himself for who he is (that he’s great the way his is, and that being gay and loving Will is okay).

And much like how Mulan was able to use her smarts and wits to defeat Shan-Yu, I would like to see a scene where Mike uses his own smarts and wits to come up with a plan to defeat Vecna, affirming Will’s statement in the van scene that Mike is the “Heart of the Party”. Much like how Mulan is kind of the “Heart of the Army”.

Though admittedly, a little montage or a creative time shot of Mike getting buff wouldn’t be too bad.

[sheliesshattered]

this velvet appears to not have a nap and I am. so confused.

[dragonfyre-creations]

I don't think I've ever poured so many of my physical attributes and so much of my heart and soul into a character design before in such a personal way before so fuck it whenever I finish the final design for Faeng and whatever I come up with I'm making her into my sona (dragonsona? Persona? Idk how this works lmfao)

(long dump in the tags and under the cut)

The last time I was even remotely connected this much to a character was when I designed Jaxsu, but honestly never truly made her my sona/main character, she was just the one I used most often in art pieces. I never really actually liked her lore and backstory enough because she was what I wanted to be instead of what I am/was. Jax isnt perfect either, but her parents love her and otherwise has friends and is loved unconditionally. She has a healthy relationship with everyone and everything. This is where the disconnect happened and where I actually started to dislike her despite her being my otherwise favorite character for awhile. Both Faeng and Jaxsu have ADHD and Autism but Jaxsu was able to put that towards a job and becoming a ship captain and winning a colosseum tournament. She's done all of these great things so even if she didn't have a healthy relationship with her parents they'd still love her because she's done something impressive and useful.

Faeng on the other hand, has to fight for everything. Her parents are important and have important jobs, and place all of these unreachable and unrealistic expectations on her and expect her to reach them with minimal effort and be perfect, but she can't no matter how hard she tries. She needs someone to explain it and break it down for her in steps so she understands what do to and how to do it so she doesn't mess it up. She's both strong and smart but it's not in practical "normal" ways or subjects. It's convoluted, It's not in the ways everyone wants her to be, she has no teachers to help her understand how to channel that strength and intelligence into something "useful" so she puts it towards the things she likes and wants to do, and thus struggles in a world that would otherwise be easy to navigate and conquer if she were "normal". Those that do understand her and try to help her are alienated by other people in an attempt to either punish both of them or force her to adapt to be somewhat passing as normal, if not then at least listen to what she's told to do. She does eventually make acquaintances but find that her twisted speech and weird explanations aren't worth trying to decipher and understand so they leave, they don't put in the effort to meet her halfway even though she's struggling and doing her best to speak in a way they'll understand.

Her parents acknowledge her differences but in a way that frames it as flawed and wrong, something that needs to be corrected, and push her to figure out her problems by herself, tearing down any support network she tries to build. She tries her damned hardest but it's not enough, it never is and never will be for them because she's not the perfect child they wanted. She showed promise in her younger years being a "gifted child" so she knows what love and acceptance lies in wait and what could be if she could just be normal and perfect. Her achievements and promise come and show in waves. She burns and fizzles out in one of the most virulent, painful ways possible after getting hurt trying to prove her worth yet again. She holds nothing but criticism, vitriol and contempt for herself because she can't claw her way back to where she was before, this time something happened and something is terribly, horribly wrong this time but she doesn't know that it is and can't figure it out, nor will anyone tell her. Whatever it is, left a mental and several physical injuries and it does nothing but deepen her self hatred and her parent's waning belief in her. She listens to false promises and praise of other people who do nothing but wish to manipulate and harm her but she stays because any form of praise is deemed good, she hungers for more and does worsening things.

She ignores the people who tell her that what she's doing is dangerous and will only end in disaster, because she doesn't believe them. If the people who are saying they're her friends are telling her that the people she hurts deserve it and that what she's doing is good, then surely she needs to believe them over strangers, right? Everything comes to a breaking point and shatters around her leaving her with quite literally nothing but her own self hatred, newfound rage and overbearing mental issues she needs to navigate once again to find out what hell it is and what's wrong with her now. She's scared of everyone and everything with the added bonus of now being hyper-aware and perceptive of people's mannerisms and behaviors, especially those who want to manipulate or harm her again. She wraps every vulnerable part of herself in metaphorical thorns and teeth to bite and maim whoever pries and digs into what she truly is, even people who want to understand her. She suffers at more than her own hand, forcing herself to deal with everything alone, until she finally meets someone that could be considered a true friend. She slowly opens up and helps them as much as they help her before everything comes crashing back down once again upon the reveal that they've been lying to her the entire time about very serious issues, and she's been used as nothing more than an attack dog once again. She burns every bridge and everyone around her in one final breakdown of rage before shutting down completely. One of the groups of friends she's shoved stay comes back and asks if she's ok. She doesn't understand why they're being kind, why they're concerned it why they care and tries to shove them away again. Every single day they still ask, talking even if there's no response from her, until she finally relents and breaks.

She's finally loved and accepted despite every fault and every flaw she has, and every time she tries to pull away out of fear of being an inconvenience they pull back twice as hard and remind her that she's able to just exist, she doesn't need to constantly be useful and that they care. She finally, finally is comfortable enough to let herself be accepted and then becomes the most clingy little shit, just as they do with her. But yeah, my own life has been very much of the same, especially the last part. Every time I go on another self-hatred spiral and drop off the face of the earth my MonHun bros give me a metaphorical slap to the face and remind me that I don't need to constantly prove my worth to everyone and prove that I'm useful, and that existing every once in awhile is more than enough. If that doesn't work then it's "you need to get your ass back over here because we're failing the Safi siege without the absolutely ridiculous amount of DPS your build Switchaxe does". I was not intending for her to be so much like me but goddamnit she's wormed her way into being my favorite now and I guess Mirage is no longer my impromptu sona

[screams-of-the-damned84]

(flops on stage) i now present to you my very silly swap au,,,

essentially jasper is now the co-leader of the society who was bitten by a werewolf and is trying to hide it, jekyll is the uni student who got kicked out due to his experiments and then picked up off the streets, etc. jasper and rachel can’t communicate and jekyll and lanyon are living the world’s weirdest horror romcom you’ve ever seen. more info under cut hehe (feat. bad explanations and doodles)

in simpler terms, jekyll and lanyon swap narrative positions (?? is that the right term) with jasper and rachel respectively. (lanyons and rachels swap doesn’t technically work as well as Jekyll’s and jaspers does but shhhhh). Frankenstein becomes the mad scientist that attacks the society and moreau becomes jaspers idol.

longer explanation but WARNING!! it is 3am when i am typing this and i am terrible at explaining. it may be slightly incomprehensible.

so like jasper and rachel founded the society after jasper publishes his research and gets semi famous. two years before current events jasper is out on a research venture and gets bitten by a werewolf. he doesn’t want to scare rachel or the lodgers so he keeps it a secret (to his own detriment). flash forward to now and jasper gets a call to investigate a “creature” terrorizing the streets of london only to find hyde.

before jasper can process the dumpster man he is looking at hyde transforms back into jekyll. jekyll explains that while trying to prove his theory of spiritual alchemy at his university he may or may not have split his own soul. and got kicked out. and is now living on the streets.

jasper, not really knowing what else to do and kinda relating to the poor guy, takes him back to the society. he introduces his co-leader rachel, who pretty much keeps this entire thing up and running. (rachel and jekyll still become friends but she especially takes to hyde. that little brother shaped hole in her heart is still very much present!) then theres the lodgers (idk how they all swap) and then there’s lanyon, a university student at the society because it was mandatory for one of his courses. he is not enjoying it and would very much rather be breaking boy’s hearts back at school. lucky for him tho, there’s jekyll!

this goes about as well as you would expect. lanyon then spends the rest of his stay at the society trying to understand (and woo) the conundrum that is jekyll and hyde. it’s very fluffy and they learn to communicate like jasper and rachel in canon (yippee!)

unfortunately for jasper and rachel, they have been playing the “just friends” game for the last decade. im having a bit of trouble trying to flesh out swap rachel so i don’t really know if she’s in a lavender marriage like canon lanyon is or is estranged/divorced or just single but whatever the case is she likes jasper but thinks he just sees her as a friend while jasper is madly in love with her and is too scared to tell her. this problem has only worsened since jasper got bitten. everyone else tho is aware of how they feel about each other and are stuck witnessing their tortuously long slow burn.

(hyde and lanyon at some point probably come up with a scheme to try and get them to confess. it goes horribly wrong.)

so yeah. this au has been floating around in my head ever since i read the comic for the first time. it mainly came to be because of how well jasper and jekyll parallel each other and because i wanted to draw stupid fluff and older jasper lol.

if anyone has any ideas/questions/etc TELL ME!!!!! this is just a rough idea if you have a better concept go for it awhdvgevd

[madelynraemunson]

HEY MADDY, WHAT’S ON TV? 📺

𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐭 (…𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐬) part 1/2

🥡 steddie x freaky friday fanfiction • RATED: NC-17 🥡

SUMMARY: Dustin’s science experiment goes horribly wrong and his two ‘bickering besties’ have to suffer the consequences.

WORD COUNT: 11.4k words

CONTENTS CONTAIN: (EASTER) EGGS, WHEAT, METAL, PARALLELISMS, A PINCH OF COMEDY, ANGST, AND LOTS OF SWEARING

ALLERGENS: CHEESY, CORN(Y), SHELLFISH (sorry eddie)

author's note: might put this on ao3 idk this one's a big boi.... hey y'all! i’m a little late to the steddie body swap train, but have arrived nonetheless! also i’m so stoked that jamie lee curtis and lindsay lohan are currently working on a freaky friday 2!! one of my fave childhood movies and i can’t believe we’re getting a parte dos :,) also, jake alan = corroded coffin in this AU

🥠

“Jesus Chr— what did you do to my hair?!”

“What did you do to MINE?!”

Perhaps a rewind is necessary. Metaphorically, of course. Time travel’s not real! ;)

      ◄ ◄ ◄  R E W I N D  🎞️

The year is 1989. Camp Knowhere. And since it’s the last year before he ages out of summer camp, Dustin Henderson is determined to 'WOW' everyone with his newest invention.

“They’re kinda like boner pills.”

“Oh...! WOW...?”

It’s not the weirdest thing Steve's heard come out of Dustin's mouth. In fact, he's practically immune to insanity at this point, having been surrounded by hormone-driven teenagers for a month and a half straight.

“Look I know, it sounds crazy,” Dustin pleads. “But imagine being able to walk a mile in someone's shoes just by eating a cookie. They'd be like the Viagras of empathy!"

Again, not the weirdest thing Dustin has said. 

And for as long as Curly keeps hanging out with Eddie Munson, his Other Older Male Friend (O.O.M.F.) constantly like he has been all summer, it certainly won’t be the last.

Being a volunteer camp counselor hasn’t panned out as expected for Steve Harrington. 

For the past six weeks, Dustin has spent most of his time locked in his cabin trying to perfect his new creation. But he's been MIA for so long, Steve hasn’t been able to teach him how to start a fire, pitch a tent, or even pick Dustin's brain about being his guest for Show and Tell. 

Making s’mores. Canoeing. Telling scary stories in the dark. Dustin and Steve are missing out on actual summer activities. The real reason he signed up to be counselor in the first place. 

But you know who has been able to spend time with Dustin?

"Eddie and I spent almost every night trying to come up with good fortunes," Henderson boasts.

Not the counselor, but the Certified Loiterer.

Steve bitterly kisses his teeth. “That’s awesome, man! But hey, speaking of spending—"

"They are so clever too. You gotta hear 'em!"

"I'm sure they are! But now that you're practically finished, I was sorta hoping—"

“AND,” Dustin adds. “if you get a good one you can add ‘in bed’ after for some comic relief.”

Steve crosses his arms as he finds himself fading back into silence.

“You are destined for great adventures…in bed,” Curly smirks, waving a fortune in Steve’s face. “You will be met with great luck this week... in bed. You are a pleasure to have around…in bed.”

“Agh, please tell me one of Harrington’s lays said that,” comes a voice. “Otherwise this interaction is very concerning.”

Dustin gasps. “EDDIE!”

Speaking of The Devil.

Like nails on a chalkboard, in walks Eddie Munson with his fucked up voice, fucked up rep, fucked up hair, and a fucked up sense of humor to match.

“Hey, Henderson,” Eddie gives a curt nod. “Hey, Steve.”

“Munson.”

“I was just telling Steve about my fortune cookies,” says Dustin. “I can’t wait to win people’s hearts over at Show and Tell, along with my spotlight secret weapon.”

“What’s your spotlight secret weapon?” Steve inquires.

“You’re looking at him,” Eddie quips. “I’m Dustin’s music act for his Show and Tell.”

There’s a pang in Steve’s heart that he wishes wasn’t there. All summer, the Retired Cub Scout had been secretly hoping that Dustin would ask him to be his Show and Tell buddy. He had so many survival skills up his sleeve that he wanted the little twerps to know before they age out. 

But the stars had other plans, he supposes.

“My friend’s friend’s dad is a music scout for Cardinal Records,” Dustin explains. “If he shows up and sees Eddie play, Corroded Coffin may have a chance!”

“Yup,” Eddie nods. “We’re performing our new song Take Me Away.”

He hands Steve a piece of crinkled paper from his back pocket, to which Steve reads after clearing the lump marinating in his throat.

“Don’t wanna grow up, I wanna get out. Hey, take me away,” Steve reads.

“Aren’t the lyrics so metal?!” Dustin beams in admiration.

“They’re uh, very edgy…” Steve shrugs.

“And incredibly fitting, when you consider the circumstances. Just wait ‘til you hear Eddie and his band perform it!”

“I think I’ll be busy with camp duties...” Steve grimaces, handing the sheet back over to Eddie. “Sorry.”

“No worries, they will just perform in your garage. They still gotta practice. Been needing another place to do so too."

Steve's eyes widen.

“What?!” he shakes his head. “Absolutely not. When did we agree on this?”

“Uh, beginning of summer?" Dustin points out. "You said you’d be willing to accommodate any of my needs. Especially since my mom’s gone to her spicy book retreat and basically threw away keys to the house.”

Steve now recalls telling Dustin that. But nowhere did it say babysitting his replacement would be in the cards.

"I'm sorry Harrington, I know I'm kinda butting in…" Eddie acknowledges.

Finally, something he and Steve can agree on.

"But we're kinda desperate at the moment, so it would mean the world. You won't even know we're there."

“It’s still no!” Harrington blubbers. “Okay? With the loud music and Eddie’s screaming, I’ll have the Loch Nora book club moms with pitchforks at my door. We have a reputation to uphold.”

“Who’s to say the Loch Nora moms don’t want in on all the angsty fun?” Eddie smirks. “Corroded Coffin’s an acquired taste, but I’m sure your… progressive… neighborhood wouldn’t mind.”

"It's not that," Steve shakes his head. "Even though we’re ‘progressive’, my neighborhood is still very much suburban-families-with-young-kids. They'd call the cops on us, for sure."

But Loch Nora was just a decoy for Steve’s true feelings. If everyone sees how cool Eddie is, they’re going to make him their Comfort Grown Up. Then where would Steve go?

Especially if they caught a glimpse of those big, brown eyes and the way they glisten in the amber sunset. And apparently Dustin’s caught wind of this Munson Magic as well; because not too long after, he’s imitating Eddie, the coercion-via-cuteness factor ramping higher on his part. And how could Steve say no to his lil face?

“Just this one time, Steve?” Dustin begs. “Please, please, pleaaase?”

“Dustin…” Steve shakes his head. 

“Pleaaase,” a pouty Eddie chimes in, slyly gazing up at Steve through his long, batty lashes. “We’ll behave, Stevie. We promise.”

But Harrington is standing his ground. Eddie already stole his best friend away from him. His gig. His spot at the Cool Adults table. Did he want Harrington’s life too?

“NO!” Steve insists. "NO!"

“YEAAAH!” Eddie croaks into the microphone while he seductively strums at his guitar. “YEEEEAAAHHHH!”

Performing in Steve’s garage was a YES-go after all. Especially if free bud has anything to do with it.

"This dude and his band are pretty good," Argyle comments as he takes a long, savoring drag from his hefty blunt. "Corroded Coffin, man. They're gonna be big one day."

"Just wait til you hear his guitar solo," Jonathan adds. "Eddie's been working on it all summer for Dustin’s show.”

The walls of the Harrington household are forced to withstand a migraine-inducing bass while everyone — but Steve —  jams out, losing themselves in a song about wanting to stay young forever.

“Don’t wanna grow up, I want to get out. Hey! Take me away…”

Jealousy festers within the host as he watches, taking in the sight of an awestruck Dustin playing his air guitar alongside Eddie, resonating with the lyrics the way he passionately yells,

“I wanna shout out, ‘take me away…away away away’…”

“Someone take me away,” Harrington’s inner monologue spews.

But it’s not that Steve hates the song, nor is he having a miserable time with everybody. It’s not that he hates Eddie or his stupid raspy voice, or the way he makes the guitar sing with every calculated twiddle of his fingers and every provocative buckling of his knees. In fact, it’s the opposite. Steve just didn’t want to admit that Dustin’s O.O.M.F. — and the other members of Corroded Coffin — were actually… pretty cool. 

And judging by the fact that Eddie was most likely Dustin’s first choice for the talent show, there was a cornier, more ominous second thing that Steve isn’t willing to admit: it’s that the exclusion really hurts him.

“Same old SHIT,” Eddie sings. “Never ends.”

“WHOA!” Harrington exclaims, waving his disapproving hands in the air.

The band stops the song immediately, the negative feedback from the amp plaguing the air while they stare around in confusion.

“What?” Eddie demands.

Any chance there was for Steve to try to humble 'The Freak', he took. And clearly this time around, there was no hesitation.

“You’re not really gonna say the S word when you perform at Show and Tell, are you?”

“The S word?” Munson retorts. “What, is this preschool?”

Ba-dum-tss! goes the drummer.

"Gareth," Eddie scowls.

Gareth Emerson digresses with a sheepish shrug.

“No," Steve shakes his head. "But it’s still a summer camp for kids.”

Eddie chuckles at this. “Come on, Harrington. Don’t act like YOU weren’t cussing up a storm at their age. The kids are all in their rebellious phase anyways. They’re gonna love it.”

Eddie’s known Steve since elementary school. This is the same guy who held swear contests, who cussed because he thought it made him look ‘mature’. The same guy that used to call women “bitches”. The same guy who almost got suspended because he and Tommy H. were yelling out slurs during an assembly, but luckily his superintendent mom was there to pull some strings to simmer it down to one afternoon of detention.

Harrington couldn’t possibly choose now to care about profanities.

“I’d rather you not bend the rules of Camp Knowhere.”

Bend the rules?!

It doesn’t take too long for Eddie to figure out that the issue goes beyond Camp Knowhere. In fact, both of Dustin’s O.O.M.F.s know that. 

 “Why the sudden change of character, Harrington?” Eddie crosses his arms. “Huh? After all these years?”

"All these years, what do you mean all these years?"

"You know exactly what I mean."

Captivated, nosy eyes bounce back and forth between the two as they argue... on and on and on and on.

“This happens every time,” Jonathan hisses to Robin at a low whisper so that they don’t hear. “Do you think they ever get tired of it?”

"I actually don't know what you mean," Steve counters. "And quite frankly, I feel like you don't seem to really know me at all."

“Hey, I’m just following your lead,” Eddie shrugs. “You never took time to get to know ME when we were in school. Unless I had something you and your friends wanted of course.”

“So all of this is MY fault?”

“I never said it was.”

It’s almost ritualistic at this point, the arguing. 

Just then, Gareth starts up again, issuing a theatrical drumroll to ease the tension. It only seems to make it worse, judging by how Eddie and Steve hiss at him immediately.

“GARETH!” “EMERSON!” 

The drummer refrains once more. 

Steve is quick to pick up where they left off. “I can read between the lines.”

“Crazy thing to say for someone who’s paid people to write his book reports.”  

“I’m just…looking out for everyone, okay?” Steve snaps, reverting the conversation back to the kids. “The children might not care, but it may look bad on the counselors. And I like my summer gig, spending time with my best friend. I don’t wanna jeopardize it.”

A self-serving response. Eddie knew to not put it past Harrington.

Regardless, Eddie chooses to comply. Not to give Steve what he wants, but because Dustin's happiness is on the line. And if his best friend is happy and Corroded Coffin gets a record deal, then Eddie wouldn’t have to deal with Steve Harrington or Hawkins much longer. 

The band starts up again and, this time, remains uninterrupted. 

Meanwhile, Steve sulks back in his seat, unable to pinpoint why he felt like the issue wasn’t resolved. But he soon realizes that for as long as Eddie Munson is part of the equation, the problem will remain a constant.

“Same old stuff,” Eddie bitterly corrects himself. “Never ends.”

“Fortune cookie, anyone?”

Two hours feel like days when everyone is stoned. And given that everyone’s too tired (and high) to drive themselves home, a sleepover at Steve’s quickly becomes inevitable. 

“Did we get the same fortune?” Jonathan asks Argyle.

“No, we didn’t,” he shakes his head. “Guess we’re not feeling sorry for each other tonight.”

Dustin chuckles.

“What are we feeling tonight? I’m thinking pizza.”

Leaving everyone else to decide on munchies, Steve and Eddie appoint themselves as the Designated Clean-Up Crew, searching for and rounding up any trash they see laying around.

“So, what are you up to nowadays?” Steve questions. “Since we graduated high school.”

“Oh, same old, same old,” Eddie offers a tense chuckle. “Still in The Biz, but the money’s good. Thankfully this time I’m doing it without my pops around.”

It strikes a nerve in Steve. He’d give anything to have his dad around. 

He also wouldn’t be proud to be in the same position as he was in high school. Didn’t Eddie want to grow as a person?

“That’s amaziiing.” Steve lies.

Uncomfortable now, Eddie clears his throat, shifting his attention back to Steve so that he can eat his own words.

“What about you? What’s The Hair been up to?”

“I work at Family Video and then help out at camp right after.”

“Try bringing that to the career fair,” Eddie scoffs jokingly.

“Sorry?”

“I said great gig you got there,” Munson perjures.

Their gazes meet for a brief, charged moment before quickly averting. 

Eddie watches Steve with both curiosity and disdain. 

This is who his best buddy is seeing on the side? It’s hard for Eddie to think of anything Dustin and Steve could possibly have in common. What would they even talk about? Maybe the new Brook Shields movie, hair gel, and their favorite ice cream flavors, but that’s just about it. And Steve Harrington doesn’t seem like the best influence for Dustin anyways.

Steve’s eyes flicker towards Eddie, trying to hide his scrutiny behind a thinly veiled expression of disinterest. 

He notes the way Eddie’s band tee has seen better days, the sleeves ripped and the print faded, and the way he absolutely reeks of Mary Jane and indistinct rubber from a Spirit Halloween store. If Dustin brought Eddie home to Mrs. Henderson, she’d probably stroke out. 

Just then, a very intoxicated Robin chimes in.

“Duuude, Eddie. It’d be awesome if Coffin got this gig.”

“Oh, I know right?” Eddie lights up immediately. “We’d be out of this rugged town once and for all and living life in the big city.”

The distaste for Eddie only amplifies with that statement. 

All of Steve’s life, he’s had nothing but good experiences in Hawkins. To have a “rough” upbringing, you had to be looking for trouble. Which is something Eddie and his father, Al seemed to have been doing since the beginning of time. 

“What’s so rugged about Hawkins?” Steve challenges Eddie.

“Wouldn’t you like to know…” Eddie mutters.

“I would, actually,” Steve taps his feet impatiently. “Go on, tell the class, Eddie. What is so rough-and-tough about this part of town?”

Eddie knows Steve is trying to set him up. He thinks for a moment, carefully crafting his words before speaking.

“There’s just…” Eddie says with trepidation. “A lack of equal opportunity to succeed. Always has been. But in the city, opportunity is everywhere. For everyone. Indy would be a perfect, clean slate for us.”

It’s like a sock to the face. 

Lack of opportunity? Eddie is most definitely looking for problems now. If he wouldn’t consider Steve being nice enough to lend him his garage — even when he didn’t like him — an ‘opportunity’ to succeed, then what would he consider?

“I mean, sure. Hawkins has issues like any other city, but I think there are equal opportunities for everyone,” Harrington protests. 

“Very rich coming from you, Suburbia.”

“Uh oh,” Dustin mutters.

Now Steve is pissed. 

Does Munson think that just because Steve lives in a nice house he’s never had problems in his life? With that logic, Eddie isn’t going to get himself very far. It’s very evident now, given where he currently is.

“Why can’t you accept the fact that life comes for others too?!” Steve spits. “Life is also hard for me, you know!”

“Guys…” Dustin starts.

A bitter laugh expels from the pit of Eddie’s stomach.

“Life is hard for you?!” Eddie exclaims. “It’s hard for you? How can life be that hard? Hey, I’m Steve Harrington. My life consists of Daddy’s money, wearing hair pomade to the ceiling and getting rejected by girls!”

“Hey, why don’t we play that one song again!” Jonathan suggests. “You know the take me away, away, away, away, away!”

But Steve and Eddie are way too locked in, committed to tearing each other to bits because the other one started it. Eddie wanted to play that game huh?

“Well all YOU know is complaining about the consequences of your own actions!” Steve spews in return. “Oh look, I’m Eddie Munson, I’m painfully self-unaware, I’m inconsiderate of everyone around me, and I commit petty crimes then wonder why the cops hate me. AND I still live with my uncle – AT MY BIG AGE.”

“YOU STILL LIVE WITH YOUR PARENTS, HOW IS THAT ANY DIFFERENT?”

“AND! You’re as loud as your guitar. NEW-NEW-NEW-NEWWW. How about you evaluate your priorities if you want a good life, Munson? And make sure you at least have some ammo under your belt before coming for me.”

“Wow,” Eddie laughs. “I don’t know anyone more tone deaf. You think my walk of life was a choice?! Not everyone was handed everything on a silver platter, Steve. Not everyone’s lives are perfect like yours!”

“Sweethearts, anybody?!” Robin butts in, desperately waving the candies in the air. “You are what you eat, and everyone in this room is VERY, VERY SWEET!”

But the boys are only getting started. If this is Robin’s version of sweet, she was about to know what sour is real quick.

“You think my life is perfect?! At least you have a father figure.”

“I want you to assess the room we’re in, Harrington,” Eddie implores. “Family must love you a lot if they’re letting you throw parties and use drugs that a loser like me was nice enough to hook you up with.”

“Leave what I do outside of camp out of this! You know, as a counselor I’m not sure I like my kids hanging out with some loitering criminal all the damn time.”

“Not sure I like them hanging out with someone who acts like an overbearing, insufferable parent.”

“At least I have parents.”

Simultaneous gasps fill the room. 

The color drains from Steve’s face when he realizes the damage he’s done. He watches as Eddie seemingly deflates, shrinking himself down at the shoulders, and then sulking in place. A blank stare overcasts his eyes, lips desperately trying not to quiver while in front of an involuntary audience. 

“That was not cool,” Steve breathes. “I’m sorry.”

But Eddie is past the point of forgiveness. And caring. Steve’s already embarrassed the fuck out of him, so what’s Dignity at this point? Steve won. Whatever game he was playing.

“You’re right, Steve,” Eddie nods, bitterly. “You have everything I want. So why can’t you just give me this one thing?”

Steve really fucked up this time. He doesn’t even know why he even said that. It isn’t necessarily a brag that Steve has parents if they aren’t active in his life. Did he really want the last word so badly, he willingly let his anger steer the direction of the conversation? Sure, Eddie has backed off now, but the thick veil of suppressed tears did not make it worth it.

“Here,” Eddie quips as he chucks Dustin’s invention at Steve’s chest. “You win. You want a cookie for it?”

Before leaving the room, Eddie helps himself to one as well. Steve watches ashamed as Eddie storms away, not seeming to care who he bumps into on his way out. With the intention to make amends, Steve darts after Eddie, following him to the bathroom only to have the door slammed in his face.

“Eddie!” Steve knocks. “Listen, I’m sorry, okay? I thought I’d gotten over my anger issues and pettiness, so I don’t know why I said all that. It’s something I need to work on, for sure.”

No response. Steve tries again.

“You guys sound really good…” he musters. “I wish I had the courage to put myself out there like that.”

Steve gently taps the door with two fingers now. 

“Eddie?”

On the other side of the wall, Eddie is angrily wiping away his tears, upset at himself for letting someone who wears women’s hairspray and Tiger Beat cologne get under his skin. 

Giving up now, Steve sighs to himself and turns around to prop his back against the door. And in case Eddie decides to come back out, Steve decides to wait a while longer, reading the fortune from his fortune cookie in the meantime. 

“A journey soon begins, its prize reflected in another’s eyes. When what you see is what you lack, then selfless love will change you back.”

“What could that possibly mean?” Steve thinks to himself as he takes a bite from the cookie. 

And at the same time on the other side, Eddie also cracks open his cookie. A nice little dessert with some kind words are sure to make him feel better. He reads his fortune.

“A journey soon begins, its prize reflected in another’s eyes. When what you see is what you lack, then selfless love will change you back.”

“…in bed,” he adds with a chuckle.

Just then the ground begins to rumble. 

The sudden JOLT causes Eddie to drop his cookie and latch onto the sink for stability. Meanwhile, Former Cub Scout Steve who knows everything about Stop-Drop-and-Roll dives for the nearest piece of furniture, crawling underneath to protect himself from any debris that may fall onto him.

“EVERYONE GET DOWN!”

“JESUS CHRIST!” Eddie yells.

Hawkins doesn’t get many earthquakes. But according to the news, Roane County was due for a big one. This could well be it. 

But as fast as the earthquake happens, it fades away. And next thing Eddie knows, he’s taking deep breaths, gathering his composure before he swings open that door. 

“Shit — Harrington, are you okay?”

Steve scans the room, looking around for any debris that may block his plight towards safety. 

“Yeah I’m fine, thanks Munson,” Steve gulps. He allows Eddie’s firm hand to hoist him up. “Just a bit shaken up. Are you okay?”

Eddie nods his head rapidly. “I’m fine too,” he insists. “I’m just worried about everyone else.”

Running back over to the garage now, a frantic Steve and Eddie call out to their friends to make sure they’re okay. But when they arrive, they’re shocked to see everyone conversing, laughing, and ordering pizza, almost as if nothing had ever happened.

Steve coughs to make his presence known. “Did you guys feel that?”

Everyone turns to them.

“Feel what?” Dustin inquires.

“There was an earthquake.”

“No, there wasn’t?” Robin cocks an eyebrow.

“Yes there was!” Eddie insists in agreement with Steve.

“Are you sure?” “An earthquake?”

“There wasn’t an earthquake.”

“What earthquake?”

“A chicken bake?” Argyle questions, clearly high as shit.

“An earthquake,” Jonathan repeats for him.

“An Earth Cake?!”

“QUAKE!” Jonathan hollers. “EARTHQUAKE!”

“EARTHQUAKE?!” the startled stoner yelps.

“No no no!” everyone yells out, doing their best to contain Argyle’s panic. “No, no, no!”

———

“You’re an asshole, Steve Harrington. I wish I could hate you.”

Eddie winces as his neck partially kinks, due to the fact that Steve was too short-fused to get him a pillow for tonight.

At least the futon is comfortable. After flopping around like a fish out of water for a few minutes, Eddie finally feels completely relaxed. And as he flips through his mental catalog of Dream Scenarios, the aspiring rockstar begins to drift off to Dreamland, envisioning his guitar solo and jamming out with his favorite herd of sheep.

Meanwhile upstairs, Steve is too emotionally uncomfortable to hit the hay.

“Get a grip, Munson,” Steve grumbles, angry at the thought of the freeloader below him. “If you stopped thinking the world is out to get you, maybe you’d actually see some progress in your life.”

After one last fluffing of his pillow, Steve reaches into his drawer and pops a gummy into his mouth, bracing himself for more Camp Knowhere shenanigans that lie ahead and having to deal with the Freakazoid-With-a-Victim-Complex in the morning. 

12:00 MIDNIGHT

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧ [insert creepy, grandfather clock noises here]

8:00 AM

Obnoxious, fluffy duvet covers stir Eddie awake.

Maybe Steve did come with some goodies after all.

Munson begins to execute his morning routine: a gangly-limbed stretch followed by an exaggerated bellow and blissful smacking of his lips.

BONK.

A lamp on the nightstand interrupts his ritual. It is then that Eddie realizes.

He’s in a bedroom. 

“What the—” Munson mutters.

Sitting up slowly now, Eddie takes a moment to assess the room around him.

Trophies and medals. Cologne and hair gel. A work desk with a basketball net over it, and a Tommy Hilfiger pop-up shop in the closet.

He’s in Steve’s room.

But where is Steve?

Curious about the time and day, Eddie instinctively goes to consult his watch that normally rests on his wrist.

It’s not there. 

Eddie then looks at his hands…his palms… Not a single blister, callous or hangnail. Those are not his hands.

“Those aren’t mine…” he thinks to himself.

Eddie then runs some stressed fingers through his hair, only to discover that its length is half of what it was when he fell asleep last night.

“That’s not mine either.”

Eddie shoots up immediately. When he finds himself standing, Eddie notices his food belly is gone, and that six pack abs have taken its place. Eddie then stares down at his feet, which are now exponentially larger. And hairier. And his thighs, now they’re a lot bulkier.

Suddenly Eddie’s hands explore his thighs, grazing his quads shortly before going to grope the two plump mounds of tissue behind him, both cheeks comparably twice the surface area of his palms!

“That’s DEFINITELY not mine.”

Absolutely panicked now, Eddie releases his grip on the butt that isn’t his and dashes out the room.

It appears that he is somehow not in his body. And the only person in Loch Nora with a dump truck for an ass — that Eddie knows of — is Steve Harrington.

But if he's Steve, then where is Eddie’s body?

The couch.

Eddie bolts over to Steve’s living room in search of his corpse. And to his surprise, he does find himself there, the chest that was his – but not his – at the same time rising and depressing as he watches himself sleep. 

“Christ if that’s not Steve in there, then I’m dead,” Eddie thinks to himself. “And quite frankly, I don’t know which one is worse.” 

Eddie clears his throat.

"H-hello? Steve?”

Nothing.

“Steve?” Eddie attempts again. “Hey. Steve. It’s Eddie. Wake up!”

Nothing.

“This is an emergency, Steve. I need you to wake up now, please.”

He gets a good snore out of the entity. Completely frustrated now, Eddie does not hold back.

"This is alarming, Steve! WAKE UP!”

Eddie unearths the bottom half of Steve's…his… body by pushing the blanket aside. When he tugs at his legs, Presumably Steve retaliates, grabbing onto the arms of the sofa to keep him in place.

“EARTH. TO. KING. STEVE!” Eddie screams.

"Whaaat, dude?!" the host in Eddie’s body grumpily demands.

"Aha! So you are Steve!"

"Duh, who the fuck else?" It demands. "Are you still high?"

"If I was, then that would better explain this."

Steve must’ve really done too much last night. Because for a while there, the person who he assumed was Eddie sounded a heck of a lot like him.

"That’s fucking weird," Steve shakes his head, turning over to look at Eddie. "For a second there, you sounded a lot like m—AAAH OH MY GOD!"

Palms clasping his… (well, Eddie’s) mouth now, Steve can only gasp in horror.

"WHO are you?” he demands. “WHAT are you?"

"It's me! It's Eddie!" Eddie gulps. "I'm... I’M INSIDE OF YOU!”

There’s a pause.

“I don't like how I worded that,” he admits.

"Yeah, neither do I..." Steve agrees. Suddenly he squints. "Is that a zit on my forehead?"

He reaches to swat it but Eddie swats him away. Through Steve's gritted teeth, Eddie hisses,

"THAT'S what you're worried about right now? What in the sane hell is happening?!"

“This isn’t the first weird dream I’ve had after taking an edible,” Steve remarks.

“Harrington, this ISN’T a dream. Okay? This is real life.”

“Yeah, okay Munson,” Steve scoffs, finally hoisting himself off of the couch to pace around. “I know a dream when I’m in one. I just gotta… pinch myself or slap myself around and I’ll be awake.”

But Eddie wastes no time.

“OW!” Steve yelps. “You just pinched my nipple!”

“You mean my nipple?”

He does it again.

“OW! Quit it dude, that’s harassment.”

The two make their way over to a mirror in the living room. To test out the impossible, Steve raises his right hand. The mirror shows Eddie doing it. Eddie begins to touch his face. The mirror responds with Steve doing it. 

It’s the confirmation they were too in denial to come to terms with. They somehow switched bodies.

“Oh god, I’m…” Steve stammers. “Wow…”

“Oh…GOD!” Eddie shrieks. He inches closer to the mirror. “I’m like an off-brand George Michael!”

“HURTFUL—”

“Harrington!” Eddie exclaims, turning back around to face himself. “What was the last thing you remember from last night?”

“Uhh,” Steve stammers. “A-all I remember was us arguing during dinner time and going separate ways after. And then there was a big earthquake that everyone insists that they didn’t feel. And then…we all went to bed, and I forgot to get you a pillow.”

“It’s okay, I’m over it,” Eddie pants. “Way bigger issues than a pillow right now.”

“And now we’re here.”

The two frantically pace around the living room. How can something like this possibly happen?

"Okay,” Eddie exhales. “Yesterday we were here with everybody. All of us were seemingly having a good time until we got pretty into it. Then the earthquake happened, we went to bed, and woke up sober… but in different bodies. Is this like…a rare phenomenon…some kind of medical emergency?”

“I don’t know, dude,” Steve shrugs. “This has never happened to me before. There has to be a scientific explanation for this."

Suddenly their two brain cells click.

"Henderson," they utter in unison.

“It was probably Dustin’s Empathy science experiment,” Steve infers. “Although I'm not sure how a fortune cookie would take walking-in-another-person's-shoes so damn LITERAL."

"God, we’re cooked!” Eddie groans. “And we can’t tell anyone but our friends about it or else we’re REALLY gonna end up as test subjects!”

Eddie starts biting his new nails and frantically pacing back and forth. Meanwhile, Steve centers in on his breathing before emotionally responding to the situation in front of him.

“Okay…” Steve exhales. “Let me just gather my thoughts… You’re in my body and I’m in your body.”

“...Right,” Eddie nods, annoyed since they’d already established that. “Does it seem less scary now that you’ve said it out loud?”

“No,” Steve shakes his head.

“Alright, cool,” Eddie shrugs. “Just checking.”

They look at each other, absolutely petrified of the reality that has now sunk in. And before they seek any other forms of help, there was one more final thought the two needed to share alone… one O.O.M.F. (Other Older Male Friend) to another, in the comfort of Steve’s living room.

“AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”

[cue panicked guitar rift here 🎸⚡️]

“This is so not cool, man, this is SO not cool!”

Argyle, Jonathan, and Robin are the first ones at the scene. Along with Dustin, of course, who is now evidently spiraling. 

“I need some air,” Dustin sighs. “Oh my god oh my god oh my god.”

The scientist darts outside for a very reasonable and private mental breakdown. Meanwhile in his absence, everyone else attempts to get their Thinking Caps on.

“I mean…” Argyle pants. “It’s one thing to have a funky acid trip, it’s another to have an out-of-body experience…but this is…this is…”

“Freaky,” Jonathan finishes for him.

“It’s FREAKY!” Argyle agrees. “And it’s not like we can go to the cops, I mean, they'd never open their minds to something like this. They'd just ship us to the Kerley County KOOK HOUSE.”

“Or worse,” Eddie gulps. “The Lab.”

The room is drowned with frantic rambling once again as all the young adults talk over each other.

Will this be the new normal? A head-banging Steve and a preppy Eddie? It sounds like pure nightmare fuel. A disaster waiting to happen. And Dustin only programmed his fortune cookies for this… unintentionally. He didn’t program a way to undo it. 

Everyone is running out of ideas. That is until…

“Wait!” Robin exclaims. “What if you guys just…combined?”

The idea is met with retaliation.

“I beg your finest pardon?” “WE WHAT?!”

“Wait!” Eddie exclaims. “No, no, yeah! I get it. What if we… what if we just… RAN… into each other and the force will be great enough to switch us back?”

“Right! Right!” Steve frantically agrees. “Right, the greater the force, the greater the impact, and we’ll be back in our bodies in no time.”

Steve and Eddie are on opposite sides of the room before anyone else can register it. Kicking his foot around like a bull, Eddie warms himself up while Harrington takes deep breaths, grounding himself before the ordeal.

“Are they really about to…” Argyle begins.

“Sh.. sh..” Jonathan stops him.

“I really wanna see how this goes,” Robin adds.

“Okay,” Eddie huffs before he lets out a battle cry. “EN GUARDE!”

“OH GOD!” Steve shrieks.

“AHHHHHH!” 

“AHHHHHH!”

SMACK! PLOP!

Luckily the floor breaks their fall. The commotion grabs the attention of Dustin, who had just finished his meltdown. But at the sight of seeing his two friends attempt to combine, he could feel himself being launched into yet another one. 

“Okay,” Dustin sighs as he walks back in. “What the hell?!”

———

“Language, Dusty!”

The next brainiac to consult on the list is Suzie, Dustin’s girlfriend. Spawning from the Mormon Capital of the world (Salt Lake City, Utah), Little Miss Beauty and Brains is known to have a solution for just about anything. Until now, it seems.

 “I’m sorry for the language, Suzie. I’m just freaking out,” Dustin blubbers. “It’s not every day my best friends switch bodies and I have no idea how to change them back.”

“So let me get this straight…” Suzie sighs. “Steve is inside of Eddie, and Eddie is inside of Steve.”

“Okay, can we please stop wording it like that?!” Eddie pleads.

“Sorry, Steve.”

“I’M EDDIE!”

“Jiminy Cricket, this is so confusing.”

And what a sight for confused eyes it also is.  But as painful as it is to admit, it’s interesting watching “Steve Harrington” stomp at the ground muttering “Jesus H. Christ!” while “Eddie Munson” nitpicks everything about his hair in the mirror.

“Okay, let’s start from the beginning,” Suzie suggests. “How did this start? What did you use for your ingredients, Dusty Bun?”

“Passionfruit and cohosh,” Dustin answers firmly. “Well-known, NATURAL stimulants of oxytocin.”

“And you said they ate the cookies containing these ingredients?”

“Yes, and they got the same fortune which I programmed for them to feel empathy for each other when it happens. Their bodies should’ve released an immense amount of oxytocin. Instead, they uh well, they switched bodies.”

“Dusty Bun… there is no such thing as an oral oxytocin!”

“Why not?” Steve questions.

“Because it would just get destroyed in the GI tract,” Suzie explains. “Meaning there wouldn’t be any ‘stimulants’ to absorb into the bloodstream.”

“Meaning oxytocin would’ve never been released in the first place,” Eddie’s breath hitches.

“It’s also notorious for being unable to cross the blood-brain barrier,” Suzie adds. “Something always happens before it’s able to. This may as well be that something.”

“But… if it gets destroyed in the stomach…” Dustin wonders. “Then how the hell did Steve and Eddie still end up switching bodies?”

Suzie shoots Dustin a dirty look.

“How the heck…” he corrects himself.

Suzie softens up immediately. “I don’t know. Our Heavenly Father works in mysterious ways. This may have happened for a reason. I’m not sure what it is yet, but I’m sure it serves a Divine purpose.”

“Well, can it SERVE a little faster?” Eddie grumbles. “I’ve got a Show and Tell to practice for and Harrington’s got children to babysit. We obviously can’t do that for each other. People are going to think we’ve gone crazy.”

Suddenly a light bulb goes off in his head.

“Wait. Henderson! Give us a couple more cookies. Maybe if we get the same fortune again, we’ll switch back!”

“NO! No more cookies!” Steve butts in. “Who’s to say you won’t end up inside another person whose body you didn’t wanna be in?”

“Wouldn’t be the first time.”

“Okay…” Dustin stops him, disgusted at the fact. “Enough.”

“Dustin is right,” Suzie nods. “Enough arguing for now, and no more fortune cookies with matching fortunes until we can find out what’s wrong!”

The boys watch as Suzie walks back towards her desk and returns with some papers and pencils.

“Here. My homework for you two is to write down every little detail there is to know about each other. This includes your day-to-day, your hobbies, and even habits. No one can know what is really going on behind the scenes.”

“Whoa whoa whoa, wait,” Eddie shakes his head. “I don’t like what you’re implying. We don’t have to… live life as each other… do we?!”

“In the meantime, yes. You do.” Suzie confirms. “And it will be uncomfortable, I’m not going to lie. But what else can we do?”

“Uh, go through all of Dustin’s fortune cookies until we find a pair so Steve and I can ingest THOSE!” Eddie points out.

“Yeah, and there goes BOTH my Show and Tell items!” Dustin hollers.

“Dusty, don’t worry,” Suzie speaks again. “You will get to showcase your friends and fortune cookies at Show and Tell. I’ll be doing my own research to ensure that this happens. This includes talking to some monks, priests, and rabbis. We WILL get to the bottom of this.”

The three leave Suzie’s cabin feeling absolutely defeated. 

Of course this would happen the summer Steve finally got his hair under control. And of course this would happen the moment Eddie has a potential record deal at the palm of his hands. Any other circumstance would have been okay, despite the freakiness factor. This was just shit timing if they ever did see it.

And if Suzie can’t fix it, they’re screwed.

When they get far enough away from the girls' cabins, Steve excuses himself to the nearest water fountain. In contrast, Eddie shows himself to the closest Porta-Potty, the safest place for him to have a conversation he wouldn’t be caught dead having.

“Hey God,” Eddie grumbles. “Me again.”

———

Adapting to each other’s lives certainly wasn’t easy.

It started with switching cars.

Steve’s BMW has sensitive brakes. Eddie’s beloved van, Halen, on the other hand requires more force, more aggression, something Eddie believed Steve would bust his toe doing.

And Eddie can only hope that when Steve is running around town as him, he doesn’t embarrass him all too much. He’s already not off to a good start, with a stupid Thundercats t-shirt on and his hair up in a bun.

“And when you’re outside with the kiddos, make sure they wear sunscreen,” Steve advises him. “You're a camp counselor, after all.”

“Got it.”

“And that an epipen is with you at all times,” Steve adds. “Some of the kids have bee and nut allergies and those reactions can be lethal.”

Make sure this. Make sure that. It’s odd for Eddie to be hearing it all in his own voice. Has Steve always been this annoying?

Eventually Eddie gets tired of it and consults his Walkman, blasting “Take Me Away” through his headphones to drown out Steve’s rambling. Rambling on and on and on and on… on and on and on and on….

“Eddie!” Steve shouts. “Are you listening?”

“Don’t wanna grow up I wanna get out,” Eddie sings. “HEY! Take me away.”

Eddie was listening. In fact he listens and pays attention more than Steve knows. He just doesn’t want to give him that satisfaction.

“I’m gonna get you a real job,” Steve says to Eddie.

“A real job?” Eddie tuts. “My job is real. I sell real drugs and bring in real money to help my Uncle afford our really real rent.”

“But I’m not gonna be the one doing it.”

“Sure you are. You’re me.”

“Munson, no!”

“Harrington, yes.”

“I’M NOT SELLING KETAMINE TO MINORS, EDDIE.”

“Aw. But you fit the stereotype,” Eddie smirks, rather cheekily. “Now chop chop, Rick’s expecting royalties on said sales.”

“Maybe I can land you a hospitality job. Or maybe a front desk job. Something that comes with benefits. Something practical.”

“A Munson with a normal job in Hawkins?” Eddie can’t believe his ears. “Yeah, good luck with that.”

Perhaps there is a silver lining in all of this. 

For the average Hawkins resident, getting a job is no issue. It was never a choice for Eddie. Given his father’s less-than-cookie-cutter reputation – and Eddie being an involuntary extension of him – he couldn’t believe Steve couldn’t grasp that getting a conventional job is hard. And Eddie always thought Harrington needed some humbling. This is the perfect scenario for it.

“Take your feet off your dash,” Steve grumbles. “Steve Harrington doesn’t do that.”

“AyAy, Captain.”

“And stop head-banging in my body, will ya?” Steve begs. “You’ll break a sweat and un-pomade my hair.”

“God, you’re so anal about everything, Steve!” Eddie scoffs. “I feel sorry for those kids, I really do.”

If Eddie’s going to be walking around in Steve’s body, he at least wanted to relax first. But even that was impossible, given that Steve is a talker and alleged goodie-two-shoes-who-discovered-empathy-on-drugs-and-that’s-all-he-preaches-now (with the rules of a mother whose son was allergic to everything but water).

The car ride is more tense and quiet as the two approach Knowhere. Eddie is quick to scurry out when Steve approaches the drop-off curb, a little speech already prepared from the first nerve Harrington managed to get on in the morning.

“Loosen up that manbun,” Eddie commands once he’s out of the car. “You look like the Buddha went thrifting in Chicago. You also need to unclench your asscheeks a bit more if you wanna be me. And to put more fiber in your diet. How’s that for advice?”

SLAM! goes the door. Steve normally would’ve been pissed, but since he’s driving Halen, he’s lenient about it. So he watches Eddie walk away, in a stride that looks like he's constantly got a wedgie, over to the camp and towards the kids he is to watch until Show and Tell Day.

“WEAR SUNSCREEN!” Steve hisses, one last time. “…I don’t play about my skin.”

———

“Hey, Steve!” a group of campers greet Eddie as he makes his way into Knowhere.

God, this is so weird.

“Hey…kiddos?” Eddie greets them in return.

“We’re gonna go diving in the lake, just letting you know.”

“Thanks for the invite,” Eddie tuts. “Sounds like a lot of fun. Just uh, wear sunscreen.”

“Well, we try to invite you but you never wanna come with us.”

“Says who?” Eddie demands. “It’s summer, everyone goes to the lake.”

“Everyone but you,” a kid points out. “You turn us down every time.”

“I do?”

“All the time,” another kid confirms. “You say it ruins your hair.”

"I was...joking," is all Eddie can come up with.

"Really? Because it doesn't sound like you were," another child counters. "You already don't like that the UV rays have the potential to damage your hair cuticles, which aids in your fear of dryness and breakage. Furthermore, swimming in a lake filled with miscellaneous, unidentified bacterium is another concern, apart from the warm water having the potential to dry your hair out even more. Also, at windy temperatures of about 80 degrees, typical for a Hawkins summer, your hair when damp will start to frizz. Which is where your pomade and Farrah Fawcett spray come in handy. And on summer days, you give your hair 32 hours before the next hair wash rotation, to which the cycle starts again. We know the drill, Steve. You've explained it multiple times. And we get it now that you don’t like the lake."

Even the kids think Harrington's insufferable. Eddie can only shake his head in disbelief.

"I'm not who I was a day ago," Eddie shrugs. "...literally."

"Huh?"

"You gonna let me join or what?"

Suddenly, the kids’ eyes begin to light up. Steve Harrington joining them at the lake? It was going to be the most fun day they’ve ever had!

"Sure!" the kids cheer excitedly. "Al-right! Steve is joining our party!"

Eddie smiles to himself, proud of the reaction he got from the eager children. Excited cheers? Smiling faces? Now THAT is how you Camp Counsel.

And now that Eddie thinks about it, he realizes something. He’s spent most of his youth in survival mode that he never got to let loose and have fun. And while he has Steve’s body and physical activity levels, he is certainly NOT about to let that go to waste. Pomade? Eddie thinks to himself. Meet Trash Can.

“Hey guys! Wait for me!” Eddie calls after the campers. “CANNONBALL!"

Meanwhile Steve sets off to find Eddie a job.

A real job.

He tries Hawkins Mart. The roller rink. The movie theater. The coffee shops. Something that involved social interaction and hard work. 

"Hi there," Steve grins politely. "I'm Eddie Munson, and I'd like to apply for a job."

But Hawkins is anything but receptive to it.

"No."

"Nope."

"Sorry."

"Munson, eh? You related to Al Munson?"

"NO!"

Apparently misdemeanors and run-ins with the law make it impossible to land a good gig. It was no wonder now why Eddie stayed where he was comfortable.

Though, it's unconventional.

Steve is just about to lose hope when those looking for help didn't even want him.

But he wasn’t giving up. There has to be something Steve can do to increase Eddie's chances of landing a good job.

Just then, he realizes. 

Maybe it’s not Eddie’s past, but his demeanor. The way he carries himself. If he didn’t dress like a vessel for Satan every single day, this conservative town would probably take him more seriously.

It's one of life's twisted games. Steve didn’t make the rules. And he sure as hell can't change it. 

But there is one thing he can help Eddie do. He can help Eddie play the game. Master it.

And that’s when Steve sees the scissors.

———

So you can say sunscreen is the least of everyone’s worries.

“Jesus Chr— what did you do to my hair?!”

“What did you do to MINE?!”

“I had to let her breathe man,” Eddie explains. “God, Harrington. No wonder you’re always in a mood. Holding your hair up with so much gel, MY HEAD FELT HEAVIER THAN A BOWLING BALL.”

“Oh yeah?” Steve challenges him. “Well your hair was so greasy, I could’ve pat it down with a paper towel like it’s PIZZA.”

The two are at it again, reaching at each other’s hair and then swatting each other away like flies. Suddenly Robin butts into the quarrel, emerging from the kitchen with amusement spread all across her face. 

“Oh…my…god…” she says.

Steve and Eddie simultaneously stop their bickering and pan their gazes over to her. Unable to contain her laughter, Robin releases a hearty chuckle in front of them.

“Holy shit, this is the greatest thing since disposable cameras,” Robin tsks. “On that note, let me go get mine.”

“NO!” both Steve and Eddie refuse.

“This is so humiliating!” Steve whines. “I look like someone literally mopped the floor with me!” 

“You're embarrassed?!” Eddie exclaims as he points to his own, original body. “Whose Peepaw died?! Why am I wearing a grandpa sweater sourced from the crusty back bins of Goodwill?!”

"I thought it'd be fitting attire for your library job that I got you."

"You got me a job at the LIBRARY?!” Eddie shrieks. “Out of all places?"

"No other place would hire you!"

"Can’t say I didn’t warn ya."

“And why does my hair LOOK LIKE THAT?!” Steve demands. “You went into the lake with the kids, didn’t you? DIDN’T YOU?!”

Eddie shakes his head at him, baffled. “God forbid, I – the camp counselor — do camp counselor things! I did exactly what you told me to do.”

“WHERE DID I SAY YOU COULD MESS UP MY HAIR?”

Steve takes a moment to mourn his glorious mane. Meanwhile, Eddie starts brainstorming how he’s going to rob a high end salon for all their hair growth serums. 

Just then, Robin reemerges from the shadows with her camera, panning it directly at the two of them, as if she were some eager journalist fighting for her spot on the front page of National Geographic.

“Say cheese, freaks!”

———

Eddie was having a hard time being Steve.

Being Hawkins’ most desirable male apart from Billy Hargrove was harder than he thought. Because while women worshiped the ground Steve walked on, it was hard for flight-risk teens to take the Pretty Boy seriously.

“Christopher!” Eddie hisses. “I told you to stop domesticating the raccoons, you little shit.”

Living in the trailer park, Eddie’s no stranger to those feral, yet adorable, beady-eyed beauties. And while they were cute, holding your hand, refurbishing your trash, and performing for crackers, there was an unspoken agreement when it came to those kinds of animals: you are to never take them in.

“But it’s for research!” Christopher pleads.

“I wouldn’t care if it was for the Nobel Peace Prize,” Eddie scolds him. He places his angry hands frustratedly on his hips. “Those things can be rabid, violent, and aggressive when you least expect it. Trust me on this. Raccoons are better left alone in the wild. They can’t live with people like us.”

A low, miserable groan furls at the base of the boy’s belly. He kicks at the dirt beneath him.

“Ugh, you ruin all the fun, Steve,” Christopher whines. “Eddie Munson would never treat us like this.”

That statement just about nipped Eddie in the soul. Was this what being a buzzkill is like? Little did Christopher know that it’s actually Eddie scolding him. And that the kids were not only hurting Steve’s feelings but his as well. 

Meanwhile Steve wasn’t having a grand time being Eddie either.

“HEY! WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING BOY?!”

He almost died. Quite literally. And if it hadn’t been for Wayne launching himself across the room to stop it from happening, the odds of he and Eddie ever switching back would’ve gone from unlikely to zero.

“What?!” Steve demands.

“What do you mean, what?!” Wayne demands. “You eat that thing you’re going to wound up in the hospital! Again!”

Steve’s eyes trail down to the delicious shrimp tacos he had bought for takeout from Estrella’s. 

Eddie is deathly allergic to shellfish. And with just a single bite of that shrimp taco, he would be in the back of an ambulance with hives and a closed-up throat. And judging by the fact that Eddie and his uncle didn’t necessarily bring home the ‘big bucks’, an invoice from Hawkins Memorial Hospital wouldn’t be an ideal situation to put him through.

“We’re already two months behind on rent,” Wayne grumbles. “You eat those tacos, kick the bucket, and rack up them bills, I may as well join ya six feet under.”

No tacos, no time and a half at work, and no solution to the problem at hand. No wonder Eddie was always an angsty mess. It definitely showcases in those lyrics too.

———

“Take me away, away, away, AWAY”

A killer guitar solo rips through the Harrington garage as Eddie strums away at the chords. 

In hindsight, it looks like Steve is the rockstar. But the feral energy is unmistakably Munson’s, to which Dustin can’t help but get lost in, dancing along as a one-man-mosh-pit to the brilliance of Corroded Coffin’s discography.

“Same old stuff, it never ends.”

“The song sounds so cool hearing it in Steve’s voice,” Dustin beams. “And I can’t believe you put him in a crop top.”

“It’s like dressing up a Barbie doll,” Eddie jokes as he puts his guitar away. He then turns his torso towards Henderson’s field of view. “Look… Harrington’s an innie.”

Dustin cackles at the sight.

“Hahaha, no way!” he cheers. “I’m an outie.”

“Me too.”

The garage lets out an insulated hum as Steve strides in with the tacos. He cocks an eyebrow, confused at the sight of Dustin and Corroded Coffin comparing navels with each other. 

“What did I just walk into?”

Eddie’s eyes light up at the sight of Steve.

“Ooh, is that Estrella’s I smell?” he inquires.

“All yours,” Steve grumbles. “Found out today that I can’t have shellfish.”

Eddie smirks at the realization.

“But I can,” he sings. “Because I’m Steve Harrington.”

Eddie rushes over to Steve to acquire the food. Steve goes over to greet the rest of the boys and to issue Dustin a long-awaited high five.

“Mmm…” Eddie coos. “Take a good look at these washboard abs, Innie. They’ll be gone for as long as I can have these tacos.”

Steve makes a face. “I can’t believe you put me in a crop top.”

“I can’t believe you cut my hair,” Eddie shrugs.

But he seems to have gotten over the fact. Hair will grow back. There were larger issues at hand today. Like how exactly Eddie is going to perform with Corroded Coffin at Show and Tell.

“Listen,” Eddie wipes his mouth. “Harrington. I have a favor. If worse comes to worst and we can’t switch back on time, I need you to perform as me for Show and Tell.”

“And why exactly would I do that?”

“Because it’s our one shot to make it big.”

“Again, why would I do that?”

“Because you love me,” Eddie sneers.

But his face drops when Steve doesn’t return the energy. 

Nowhere in the fine print did it say ‘Steve Owes Eddie’. So why would Steve bother? It’s a lot for Eddie to ask of someone he’s openly mocked for years. But now that he needs something, suddenly Steve is the coolest person in the world? It doesn’t work like that. 

“Hey…” Eddie begins. “I know you don’t like me, okay? Whatever animosity you have towards me, I hope we can move on from it one day.” 

Steve refuses to meet Eddie’s eyes.

“If you do this for me, I’ll be eternally grateful,” Munson adds. “And maybe just maybe — when Corroded Coffin makes it big and we start touring around the world — I’ll be out of your hair forever. Literally.”

“Seems transactional.” 

It leaves a bad taste in Eddie’s mouth. It was always ‘Terms and Conditions’ with Harrington. Never has he ever considered the other person’s feelings. Never has he ever done anything out of the goodness of his heart. It was always, “What do I get out of it?”. Always some sort of fucked up business move. Just like his father.

“You view everything as a transaction, don’t you?” Eddie scoffs. 

“Why would I do favors for someone who’s done nothing but disrespect me? I value my time and energy. I’m not wasting it on you.” 

“But you can waste it on being a camp counselor, right? The kids aren’t so hot about you anyways, so I don’t know why you keep showing up.”

“Because Dustin is there. Because I’m a good friend. You wouldn’t know sacrifice and loyalty if it hit you in the face.”

“Ah, there it is. The performative activism in plain sight. We all know that this is about Dustin. AAAAlways been that way.”

“Of course my summer is about Dustin,” Steve argues. “You’ve had him all year. Spending every second with him and breathing down his neck.”

“I’M the one spending too much time with him?” Eddie scoffs. “Breathing down his neck?! You’re the one who got a gig to be closer to him.”

“Does it register with you that it’s because I DON’T SEE HIM MUCH AT ALL ANYMORE?” Steve shouts. “He’s always at your stupid D&D games and never wants to hang out with me! You’re taking the spotlight, like you always seem to do!”

“That’s IT!” Dustin barks. “I have HAD it with you two fighting all the time.”

Finally, it’s quiet. And normally the two would be stoked about it, but seeing Dustin on the brink of tears does not make the last word worthwhile at all.

“Not even a life-changing catastrophe will make you guys stop! You’re in each other’s bodies for Christ’s sake and still going at it like cats and dogs.”

Dustin starts back towards the house, kicking at the chords beneath his feet that are blocking his dramatic exit. All Dustin has ever wanted from those two – and quite literally every adult in his life – was co-existence. A notion so easy, yet no one has ever been able to give him that. Not even with his damn empathy cookies.

“It all makes me feel like a failure. Locking myself in my cabin for six weeks to have my fortune cookies yield THESE results? My last year at camp too.”

“Dustin–”

“And if you guys keep this up, then I don’t wanna spend the rest of my summer with either of you. How’s that for compromise?”

“Hey. Buddy…” Steve starts again.

“Henderson!” Eddie calls at the same time.

But it’s already too late. Off Dustin goes, Camp Nowhere notebook in his arms, walkie in his pocket, and car keys jingling furiously around his fingers. Nothing worth displaying at Show and Tell if the grown ups were going to act younger than the campers there. And if Dustin’s anger wasn’t already prominent, the way he backs out of Steve’s driveway is a dead giveaway, judging by the screeching tires and the pop of the engine as he steps on the gas.

“Damn,” Jeff comments. “Taco ‘bout a tough crowd…”

Ba-dum-tss! the drum sounds.

“GARETH!” Steve and Eddie growl.

"Scott Clarke."

Hearing that name nearly gives Eddie whiplash. Especially because it came out of Steve’s mouth.

"Huh?"

Steve repeats himself. "Scott Clarke? Our middle school science teacher?”

Steve is perched at the bottom of the stairs, wading aimlessly around in guilt. Eddie watches as he props himself against the rails of his fancy staircase, almost as if to serenade him with an apology song of sorts. 

"When we were kids, he headed the Hawkins Middle AV Club,” Steve recalls. “Nancy was in it, and so was Mike and so was Sinclair, Baby Byers, and Dustin.”

“Go on…”

“Well…whenever they ran into trouble, Mr. Clarke was always there to help,” Harrington shrugs. “Always been very personable, non-judgmental, and most of all, he’s knowledgeable.”

“Okay…”

 “And with his degree from MIT, he’d be the one most likely able to get us out of this mess,” Steve emphasizes. “Just in time for Show and Tell.”

“What makes you think he’d want to help former students like us?” Eddie demands. “We weren’t in the AV club or anything.”

“Because he cares, Eddie. Current students or not.”

There’s a pause.

“Remember that one time you came into homeroom with a black eye?” Steve reflects. “And Clarke made you stay after class so he could ask if everything was okay at home?”

Attempting to mask the mushy feelings underneath, Eddie simply shrugs. Steve persists.

“Other teachers would have assumed you got in a fight or something. Even if that was the case, none of them cared to look further into it. No one except Mr. Clarke.” 

“Yeah,” Eddie admits, choked up now. “Yeah, I almost forgot about that.”

It actually was a fight that happened that day. Some random kid at school. But there were also times Eddie has gotten in scuffles with his father, typically when Al Munson stumbled home too drunk for his own good and tried laying a hand on either him or Uncle Wayne. And Mr. Clarke, having grown up with Al, knew what he was capable of. Meaning it was his unspoken civil duty to look out for (Munson) Junior.

“And,” Harrington sighs. “I’m kinda really desperate here. I want you to be able to perform at Dustin’s Show and Tell. You and the band have a shot at this. I wholeheartedly believe that. And I don’t have much faith in my ability to perform as you. Neither does Dustin, it seems.”

“Steve…” Eddie begins. 

“And sure, I was upset about not being Henderson’s first choice for a while,” Steve rambles. “But I’ll be okay. The kids can learn survival skills another time. ”

Grateful tears start to form in Eddie’s eyes. He’s never seen this side of Steve before. 

“My hopes and dreams don’t depend on Show and Tell,” Steve mumbles. “And if it means a producer from Cardinal Records is going to be there, then getting Wayne and yourself out of debt does.”

Their eyes meet again.

“I can’t take that away from you.”

Suddenly the rocker feels his knees buckle.

It feels as if Eddie’s soul is about to leave his body. Or Steve’s in this sense. Struggling to keep his composure, the ever-so-rugged Eddie Munson clears his throat.

“…I didn’t think you paid attention to any of that, Steve.”

“I pay attention more than you think,” Steve counters. “And if my observations are right, Mr. Clarke might have the answer.”

Steve shrugs, dangling the keys to Eddie’s van around his fingers. He hula hoops them around as Eddie remains floored, pondering above him.

“Well?” says Steve. “You just gonna stand there and gawk, ‘Harrington’? Come on.”

Perhaps walking and gawking would be more productive. Without further hesitation, Eddie races down the steps and follows closely behind Steve before shutting the door to the house.

“Wipe your feet,” Steve commands as he unlocks the doors to Halen.

“What do you mean wipe my feet?” Eddie snaps. “It’s MY van!”

“Yeah, but I’m the one who’s been driving it,” Steve counters with a glare. “And I’m saying wipe your feet.”

Nonetheless, Eddie sighs and does as he’s told. But he’s not happy about it. 

Never in a million years did he think Steve Harrington would tell him how to run his own van. Nor did he think Harrington would actually end up being a good dude. Both were very humbling experiences. And while King Steve drives them off to Hawkins Middle, willingly blasting Metallica and doing his best to head-bang, Eddie crosses his arms and stares blankly out the passenger side window.

“I’m never eating anything Dustin makes me again.”

———

"So..." Eddie prompts. "Can you fix us?"’

“If it isn’t broken, then do not fix it,” Mr. Clarke advises. 

There was only so much that could be disclosed to their former teacher. Being an educator also meant being a mandated reporter, and it’s without a doubt government officials would bust down the doors of Camp Knowhere and run a freak raid on Dustin’s science experiment had they known the truth. Steve and Eddie had to gloss over practically everything.

“I appreciate and am honored to know you two trust me with your dilemma,” Mr. Clarke nods. “That being said, it is normal for gentlemen your age to go through an identity crisis after experimenting with recreational drugs. It will subside, but only if you don’t fight it.”

A decade can certainly change things. Steve and Eddie never expected their most logic-driven teacher to embrace his heart, dressed in a brown linen robe, as he calmly kept them on standby with soothing, meditative “Ommm”s while they spiraled into desperation in his ‘BACK TO (S)C(H)OOL’ classroom.

“But what is the science behind this?” Steve demands. “Is something happening in the…the… what did Suzie call it? The blood-brain barrier? Why would… Harrington and I both feel like we are living the life of the other person?”

“To question everything is to not know peace,” Mr. Clarke soothes them.

He’s saying this while criss-cross-apple-sauce on his desk, by the way.

“Sometimes, it is best to simply let things be,” the educator warns. “By going against the grain of the water, you are blocking the potential you can reach if you had been in a flow state.”

“Good God, you choose NOW to go on a spiritual retreat?!” Eddie hisses. “When we need science and your genius mind the most?!”

“If not now, then when?” Mr. Clarke mumbles. “If not you, then who?”

For the first time in his life, Eddie feels plagued with academic regret. He wishes he paid attention in Clarke’s class. Meanwhile Steve is considering having a word with his superintendent mother, because no way in hell is some barefoot, most-likely-vegan lunatic about to indoctrinate the future kids of America. 

“If not you… then who?” Clarke repeats. “If there's one thing I learned during my time in research… and mindful meditation…  it's that sometimes the answer is right in front of you. Or within."

Steve and Eddie look at each other.

"The world is full of obvious things," Mr. Clarke says. "...which nobody, by any chance, ever observes. Sherlock Holmes."

Accepting the absolute bust, Steve and Eddie storm out of the door and back down the stairs of their prepubescent alma mater. 

“Son of a bitch,” Eddie curses under his breath. “The damn hippies got to him before we did.”

As the two walk down the stairs, Steve sneaks a few quick glances Eddie’s way. Seeing him upset didn’t necessarily make him feel so hot. The answer is clear: they need to venture beyond a Mormon child and a middle school science teacher. They need to consult the big dogs. 

“We can go to the Indianapolis Science Center,” Steve suggests. “And maybe ask some people there. There’s also the university. If we flag down a professor from the physics or chemistry department, maybe they can offer us some insight. Or…”

“Just give it a rest, Steve,” Eddie surrenders.

“What?” Steve questions. “No! We’ve got to figure this out before Show and Tell. It’s in a couple days.”

“What’s a couple days?” Eddie demands. “We’ve been like this for nearly a week. What makes you think it won’t last another week? Or indefinitely.”

Eddie kicks at an empty carton of orange juice at his feet while Steve watches with an overwhelming sense of guilt. He didn’t want Eddie to give up. Not yet, at least.

“Hey I’m not going to let you blow this shot, Munson,” Steve demands firmly. “I know how much this means to you. This could finally be your ticket out of Hawkins. You guys were meant for the Big City.”

“No,” Eddie disagrees, absentmindedly. 

Eddie’s gaze veers off to the side, a sadness in his eyes so profound that Steve almost starts tearing up as well. 

“All… the answers… point…to no,” Eddie continues. “Can you imagine what the world would be like if everyone followed their dreams? We’d have no one doing the conventional jobs. It's not in my cards, I fear. Maybe I was always meant to stay in Hawkins, being everyone’s weed man and no one’s first choice.”

“Eddie…”

“But thanks for trying though, Harrington. Doesn’t go unnoticed.”

———

To be continued…

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[amaryllis-sagitta]

DATV more thoughts about Solas [after I saw More Crossroads Stuff]

Not gonna lie, I'm seriously struggling to stay sympathetic towards him. The sadboy shtick got tired in that note from The Missing #3 if not earlier, and the pestering messaging from the game feels like a setup. "Look! He has REGRETS. HE REGARTS, OKAY????". Cool. But then, the seemingly common sense response from both Rook and the NPCs around is to go on an angry rant about how performative and hollow Solas's regret is, and how he will 100% without all doubt go full Farquaad on the world as soon as he breaks free.

His characterization in this game feels like BioWare tries to pander to stans and haters at the same time, but moreso to the haters if you haven't entered the game with an already Solas-favorable attitude. And yet, I don't feel like I have any room to make up my own mind when trying to fill in Rook's shoes because someone's always breathing at my neck repeating HE'S THE GOD OF LIES AND TREACHERY. LIES AND TREACHERYYYYYYYYYYYYY. It makes a principled Rook, who wishes to understand Solas without the ulterior motive of outwolfing the Wolf, look dangerously naive. Being understanding towards Solas is no longer portrayed as a choice of open-mindedness and mirroring but one of... a leap of faith that borders on folly and forbodes a bad ending (*cough cough* parallel to Varric *cough cough*)?

On the other hand, there is an attempt to portray Solas as a victim of toxic codependency, but what does it matter? It's truly an accomplishment for Mythal's appearance to obliterate not one but TWO arcs about breaking the cycles of abuse and untangling from poisonous influences that instill a toxic sense of duty. Morrigan's eyes were pried open too, and she moved past the "mistake" of defiance towards her mother. Solas remains the #1 Mythal Stan even if it implies him basically regretting he has ever existed, because every step and every decision since he joined the world makes him complicit in unspeakable evils.

All in all, despite using Solas to reach her own goals and maintain her own position, Mythal is vindicated by the narrative if not straight up absolved by the weirdest clapback from the assumed moral objectivism of the Fade spirits so far -- she was driven by Benevolence in the beginning and not sheer greed or hunger for power. This is supposed to be evidence to support Mythal's special place in the universe as "the best of them all". Meanwhile, she is responsible for the Blight. For the sake of survival of the first elvhen on the Earth, she would destroy the Earth's very primal creative force. But letting the other Evanuris have the Blight would take things a step too far. Okay? Yay? Are we supposed to consider this growth?

Where is this supposed benevolence? The Mythal we saw showing benevolence towards the elven People was FLEMETH, the one who prevailed in the post-Veil world and "grew wiser". It's the Asha Bellanar. It might be MorriMythal who keeps watching over the Veil Jumpers in Arlathan. Not the shard we petition for help supposedly consumed by the nature of Retribution, that dwells on the hurt and reproach of all the betrayals she experienced, and replies with cynicism to a Rook who tries to come off and principled and show that they care for injustice whenever, however and to whomever it happened.

My greatest gripe with the Mythal thing is that all of this could come together somehow if that encounter was a beginning of a true arc of reflection, moral change and tangible reparation.

I haven't completed the game yet but I have read about the potential implications of this for Solavellan and... ughhhhhhhhhhhhh

I've always been kinda lukewarm about this romance personally, but it looks like the version of a Solasmancing Lavellan that is strongly hinted by the narrative is... either a sycophant or kinda done dirty by the Mythal thing? I'm going to see once I reach the endgame (I'm building up towards the "good" Solavellan ending because I don't have the patience to explore what "bad" Solas means considering how he is characterized at his best).

[blue-grama]

The Sign finale probably should have disappointed me, but... didn't?

It's been a heck of a run lately with Thai BLs that haven't quite stuck the landing, and it's got me pondering why The Sign worked for me despite sometimes feeling like a storyboard for a longer, better show.

I don't think they pulled off the emotional payoff they needed, despite that last reunion scene being so pretty and well-acted, simply because too much happened offscreen, from Khem's recovery from a gunshot wound to the entire multlifetime Tharn/Chalothon dynamic getting resolved without us seeing any of it. But somehow I wasn't that mad about it? And ultimately I think it's because this show did so many things well and so many things I'd love to see more of that I'm just like, yep, I enjoyed that ride sirs, please show me something this gorgeous again. In that sense it's joining something like Manner of Death or Kinnporsche where it's like, plot holes? Yes. Bizarre tonal shifts? Absolutely. Occasionally insane writing choices? Uh-huh. Love it anyway? You betcha. So here's what really, really worked for me:

Premise

I am always going to be onboard with QL that isn't solely coming-of-age or coming out. I'm not against those stories, of course, but give me gay romance with adult characters who know themselves and are doing adult things. I'm also a partisan for romances with high external stakes, so the mixture of crime and reincarnation was catnip to me.

Do I care that none of this training makes any sense? No.

2. Setting

Listen. Is The Sign the reason I have a document on my laptop titled "Imaginary trip to Thailand without ever seeing a beach?" Not exactly. But it's also not not the reason.

I am being willingly manipulated by the Thai Tourism Authority.

Kidding, kidding, but I do love when my Thai shows feel Thai or my Korean shows feel Korean, etc etc. I want to be driven to Wikipedia to learn more! Half the fun of watching stuff from not your own country.

3. Chemistry

I think @biochemjess covered what was underwritten about the romance in The Sign. Billy and Babe carried it on their backs and it was hard to dislike their romance, even when the series skipped over key beats.

Any time the pink lighting came out, you were gonna be in for a good time.

4. The camerawork

I don't know enough about film to speak intelligently about this, but the camerawork and aesthetics of this show were just so lovely to watch. It was really doing a lot. @chaos0pikachu wrote about it better than I ever could.

LOVED THIS. LOVED IT. So good.

We had some really lovely storytelling and visual parallels, too, like the first episode and finale both having a big action warehouse scene, or the multiple times that Phaya and Tharn ended up overlooking the Mekong river.

5. It was always kinda off the rails

I know some people felt this show started out with a strong premise and didn't live up to it, but I gotta say, I didn't have that experience. It was always kinda a bonkers watch for me. There were long training montages, random bodies in the shallows, missing genitals, extended performance art, that comedy flashback to Khem and Thongthai's college years... I never knew what I was going to get each Saturday. And I kind of loved that? I'm into unhinged. I was comparing this in my head to Last Twilight, which did disappoint me in the end, and I think it's because Last Twilight was NOT always bonkers and DID set itself up to tell a straighforward story, then dropped the ideas it had been juggling in the last episode. The Sign always felt chaotic to me, so a chaotic ending was par for the course. This is where I'd compare it to KinnPorsche, which had the weirdest fucking ending, but like, okay??? Why not!

End result? I see the flaws, but I'm giving this show tender forehead kisses anyway. Here's hoping for more like it.

[senespera-ffxiv]

Bakooling His Ja Ja's

Okay so this entire thing started when my friend and I started seeing posts about how Bakool Ja Ja would have two Ja Ja’s. And so I was like “hmm I wonder what lizards actually have” and here I am at the bottom of this rabbit hole wondering how I got here

I’m gonna split this into roughly three sections

The sexual anatomy of lizards (as explained by someone who knows about it through wikipedia)

The potential neural circuitry of a two-headed individual’s nads (as explained by someone who refuses to look up case studies that could elaborate on this so this is largely speculative)

The implications of the first two sections on what certain activities with Bakool Ja Ja would be like

//NSFW TEXT AND CARTOONISH IMAGERY BELOW THE CUT

//There's no actual things there, just badly drawn Ja Ja's lol

Section 1: The Sexual Anatomy of Lizards

Our journey starts with a thing called a Hemipenis. Now, when I first looked this up I was also severely confused cuz I was like “what the fuck is a hemipenis, is it like half a penis, like a fucking cylinder that got cut in half or something” well turns out they’re a little bit more fucked up than that

They are essentially inverted dicks that are pushed out by erectile tissue, and lizards will typically have two. They can also be ornamented with shit like spines, it all looks very weird unfortunately they very much do look like dicks on lizards so I’m gonna include one from a rattlesnake instead which just kinda looks like a spiny blob that way tumblr admins don’t kill me

The weirdest part is that the tube through which semen flows is Outside (unlike in the human penis where the urethra should be inside the penis) and is instead called the Sulcus Spermaticus. I can only assume this translates to “cum groove” in Latin.

I should also mention something about the spines cuz there’s multiple theories as to why they’re there. Cuz a spiny dick seems somewhat counterproductive to sex.

Theory #1 is that it’s involved in a lock-and-key mechanism to ensure that no one else that isn’t a lizard of that same species can fuck it. Female lizards have been observed to have cloacas with similar structures to male lizard hemipenes, etc.

Theory #2 is that the spines are there to promote longer and more successful reproduction for males. Make of this information what you will.

There’s also theories as to why there’s two dicks and it has to do with how female lizards can just kinda store semen for later, which does mean that it’s possible that even after fucking a male lizard won’t be able to actually have children. Thus, the two dicks come in for multiple consecutive fuck sessions, that way if one starts running out of juice the other one can sub in while the first one recovers.

Section 2: The Potential Neural Circuitry of a Two-Headed Individual’s Nads

I’m not looking up case studies for this so you’ll get my neurobio undergrad speculative theories on this shit, but there’s two possibilities I can think of for Bakool Ja Ja’s specific situation, and it has to do with how bifurcated his two heads’ nervous systems are.

Their nervous systems are only really differentiated at the neck up (implies that their spinal cords merge at or just below the neck)

Their nervous systems are bifurcated across the entire body (implies that their spinal cords either don’t merge at all or only merge at the very bottom)

As an additional note I should mention that by spinal cord I mean the nerves themselves. Most likely even if their spinal cords didn’t merge, they’d be running in parallel and be shaped in such a way as to resemble a normal spinal cord, just with a gap maybe right down the middle

So there’s a concept in neurology known as a “Dermatome” which is essentially a region of skin that is innervated by sensory neurons from dorsal root of any given spinal nerve (of which the major dermatomes are defined by the spinal nerve they originate from).

Using this concept, we can maybe define the Dermatomes on Bakool Ja Ja similarly, and this is where the organization of his spinal cords matter. If scenario #1 is correct, then his dermatomes will look similar to that of a human. Sensory information is also most likely copied and sent to both heads, meaning that both heads will be able to sense what happens to their entire body

If scenario #2 is correct, however, then we have something slightly more interesting and it’s that each head receives somatosensory information from the contralateral (opposite) side of the body, similar to how the brain’s two halves receive somatosensory information from the rest of the body. Here’s a really low quality diagram from my kinesiology class that shows the ascending pathways for discriminative touch (orange) and pain/temperature/affective touch (brown)

You can see that no matter where specifically they cross over, both pathways do end up crossing over to the other side. Here’s a rough diagram of how this would work out for Bakool Ja Ja that I drew myself with the relevant “dermatomes” (these aren’t actual dermatomes I just highlighted which dick is wired to which head) highlighted

The three testicles were added for sexual effect, I don’t think lizards actually have testicles but I added them to Bakool Ja Ja. For you. Please recognize my sacrifice.

Suffice it to say I’m going with Scenario #2. Not because it’s scientifically accurate or anything (scenario #1 makes more logical sense in like every single universe), but because it has funnier implications. Speaking of implications—

Section 3: The implications of the first two sections on what certain activities with Bakool Ja Ja would be like

This section is going to get NSFW real fast so you have been warned

Using our conclusion from Section #2, we can see that Bakool Ja Ja’s two Ja Ja’s will only send sensory information up to their respective head. This means that if you’re doing anything to one of them, only one head will be feeling anything, meaning that this legendary tweet by @kwehzy is now mandatory so that you don’t accidentally blue ball one of the heads

Also DP or at the very least two consecutive fuck sessions will also be mandatory to avoid blue balling one of them. Unless if that’s your goal in which case more power to you.

However, the entire universe will be working to try and stop you from fucking that two-headed lizard man because his dicks have a decently high chance of being hooked and/or covered in spikes. This has stopped exactly 0 people from trying to fuck lizardmen anyways so I don’t know why I even mentioned this, just try not to break anything.

Given all of the evidence in Section #1, whatever you decide to do with Bakool Ja Ja’s Ja Ja’s will probably end up taking a really fucking long time, so enjoy I guess

That’s it, that’s all the analysis I had. tl;dr Bakooling his Ja Ja’s will be a lengthy and potentially dangerous affair with high potential to accidentally fuck over one of the heads. Have fun.

[csolarstorm]

Thoughts on Agatha All Along - Finale!

Well, I've managed to piece together a post from the notes I took after that awesome two part finale. I enjoyed it a lot, so this is gonna be a long one! So follow me, my friend, as I give my thoughts on Episode 8 and 9 of Agatha All Along.

Now this is one of the most interesting character redemptions I've seen in young adult/family media, because it isn't really a redemption! 

Agatha's redemption goes just as far as her motherly bond with Billy, but other than that, the show is less about redemption and more about retribution.  We thought when Episode 5 said "Punish Agatha", that would be an outlier, a temporary obstacle to the coven coming together.  Nope.  There's too much red - I mean, purple - in Agatha's ledger.  Agatha is who she is, and the show never rewards her for her treachery.  In fact, her cynical, callous worldview costs her everything…even her death.  Agatha is literally reduced to a ghost because she rejects the literal embodiment of the life cycle.  (And she can't face Nicky.)

She's literally "mommy Voldemort"!  That is one of the weirdest things I've ever written!

The only thing Agatha doesn't lose at the end of the series is her bond with Billy - and that's even a close one.  He almost banishes her! That's a fun inversion of the beginning where he deliberately seeks her out. But in mentoring Billy, Agatha has a sort of second chance at parenthood after losing her son. So she is given that grace.

Okay, technically the show does kind of give Agatha the anti-hero treatment, or else she wouldn't end up Billy's mentor.  Clearly Agatha has something to teach Tommy about the nature of power and ruthlessness of the world.  Billy's chaos magic is unfathomably powerful - like his mom, he was bound to accidentally hurt people at some point.  And Agatha was absolutely right about this: "get used to this feeling if you're going to be a witch".  That's unfortunately what being powerful is like.  Think of all the collateral damage the Avengers have caused.  Heck, Wanda at Lagos.  Billy really does take after his mother.

It's the same way in the real world. Any decision a politician makes, money a billionaire invests, has ripple effects the victimize somebody, a shadowy cost to match the reward.

It's one thing to trample others on accident when you swing around your power, but hurting others on purpose actually does actually hurt you, and I think this show expertly portrays that.  It doesn't fall into this trap of making Agatha some amoral badass that people idolize for giving them permission to be assholes.  The power of virtue is not a metaphor, not just a moral gimmick meant to promote societal adhesion.  The callousness of treachery actually affects your ability to form meaningful relationships, which is part of living a satisfying life. Under that facade of bravado and villainy, Agatha is suffering deep inside.  Of course, your mileage may vary, only the good die young, yadda yadda.  There's plenty of happy monsters and sociopaths in the world.

This show has some really interesting parallels with Loki.  You can even argue that Agatha ended up with a parallel but also opposite fate to Loki: a ghost to the world, cut off from life and death.  Only unlike Loki, she can still interact with others.

Agatha All Along DEFINITELY follows Wandavision's footsteps when it comes to flipping audience expectations.  Only this time it's not as simple as Ralph Bohner or those "devils in the details".  Agatha All Along is deliciously character driven, so all the devils in these details are character-related.

The Coven and Sisterhood

Let's start with the biggest "twist": around the middle of the show, the story was about sisterhood: four wayward witches and one familiar setting aside their differences and learning to work together as coven. 

That all goes to hell with Agatha kills Alice and Billy yeets everyone into the mud.  (In retrospect, that's definitely part of why I was disappointed with Episode 5. I could feel the change in direction in the awkward writing.) Sure, Lillia embraces the coven before her death, but Jen definitely does not find kinship with Agatha in the end.  In fact, Agatha screwed her over a hundred years before the show began, and Jen's final challenge is getting away from Agatha's toxic influence. 

And then the whole coven plot definitely goes to hell when it turns out that not only was the road not even real, but the legend of the road itself was just Agatha's lie to lure witches into her coven to murder them over and over again!  Granted we knew that Agatha wanted to kill the coven from the beginning, but this is a whole other layer of deception.

I know this pisses some people off, because obviously it feels like Alice and Lillia died for nothing now - or at least died for a cause they never signed up for.  This was all about resurrecting Tommy, not working together for sisterhood!

Even though the coven didn't last, I think it still matters that it was part of the show, and it was explored. The theme of sisterhood is there. And like Vision said, something is not beautiful because it lasts. 

But I know a lot of people wanted to see this conventional story where everyone survives, and Sharon learns analog witchcraft and her skills come in handy in the last trial when she saves everyone from a sticky situation, and the newfound coven of sisterhood teams up to defy Death and save Agatha and Billy.

That's why we have fanfiction.  *sigh*

Defied Expectations

Speaking of fan disappointment, there's no moment where all is revealed about Agatha's relationship with Rio, at least not all that the fans wanted to see.  Instead, we get an admittedly cute and emotionally compelling flashback to Agatha raising Nicky that shows us exactly how she started the legend of the Witch's Road, and how the ballad started as their song as mother and son.  I'm not disappointed that they went this route instead of a more Rio-centered flashback - I think it brings the story full circle.   

I could tell people were going to be disappointed when Agatha didn't end up in a fulfilling relationship with Rio/Death.  Their relationship had such rich chemistry and it was so intriguing - but to me, the writing was on the wall that it would not be a particularly positive relationship.  I don't imagine Marvel would show a relationship between a serial killer and the embodiment of death and make that a happy, healthy relationship.  My condolences to shippers who wanted this to be a positive representation of lesbian relationships.

And on that note: I'm not sure why Agatha tells Rio that the truth about Nicky's death is too terrible.  Was she absorbing life to keep Nicky alive, and once he refused he finally died? Is that why she says to baby Nicky "You like that? I think we're going to work together just fine."  If this is what they were going for, then yeah that truth is terrible enough for me. Obviously Agatha isn't going to tell the coven she needed to kill other witches to keep Nicky alive.  There's no use trying to rationalize serial murder, even if it's to support your son.

I like how Agatha's name for Nicky follows the "Namor" rule. Since they changed Namor's origin, instead of his name being "Roman" backwards, they made him "N'Amor - the one without love!" So sure, sure, Nicholas Scratch isn't named after Nick Scratch, an old name for the devil, perish the thought! Agatha names him Nicholas Scratch because she made him from scratch. Aww, that honestly was adorable, name retcons aside.

We don't flash back to Agatha's first coven.  The Salem Seven and Evanora originally seem like they're going to be a bigger part in the story, but they're a footnote by the finale.  And although I'm glad they chose the story of Nicky and the origin of the Witch's Road, it would have been nice to commit to actually explaining some of Agatha's actual origin. 

Did Jen's trauma bind her magic?  Nope, Agatha did it.  I mean it doesn't exactly rob us of Jen's trauma narrative - it was still there, implicitly, it's just funny that everything in the series really is Agatha All Along, except for that one big time it was Billy All Along.

Oh, and I guess that one time it was Lillia All Along.  But that's different, that's Patti LuPone.  You have to get Patti Lupone in on the fun.

There are always some editing mistakes in TV shows, but it seems like Marvel needed to go back and tweak some (alleged) discrepancies in the story that don't match the final version of the series, or at stop and clarify things more often.  (For instance, how was Rio "torturing Agatha" throughout the years?  Was she responsible for all the disasters around Agatha, hoping to break her into finally accepting her death?) 

This lack of clarity is a problem with the series overall, to the point that Jac Schaeffer had to keep explaining things that the narrative didn't make clear.  But I have to say, the fact that we were so on the edge of our seats wanting to know means that the story was doing its job.

All Roads Lead To...

So in the end, I think that just like Wandavision, the show went in a direction that a lot of fans weren't expecting - but unlike Wandavision, in some ways I think that's to its benefit.  The coven may not have lasted, but damn that is a richly emotional character study of Agatha Harkness, and I am excited to see "The Ghost and Billy Kaplan" return in Vision Quest, or maybe Young Avengers. 

There were some (alleged) plot holes from Marvel's trademark editing process, and they should have been clearer about some things - but holy triple goddess was this an amazing series nonetheless.  Pound for pound, I think it's the best series Marvel has to offer right now.

Follow me my friend, to glory at the end.

[abyssal-author-and-artist]

ramble about noelle. now. no choice. now.

I mean it's 6:30 am for me and I'm at the point in the all-nighter where I might just pass out so... of course I will!

She's honestly probably my second favorite character. (First is Berdly my favorite boyfailure) Like yeah Kris is cool and all but first Noelle's design is just so good. I note this in some of my older drawings that I haven't posted but her design can very easily be adjusted to echo the Delta Rune - the horns can mimic the wings, and I give her three freckles on each side and then her nose is prominent to be the three triangles. Make her face more heart shaped instead of oblong and boom! Delta Rune face!

Second the Snowgrave Route has me by a chokehold and always has. I have an au that plays with it but I really wish I had leaned harder into her being manipulated because her whole headspace in that route is so fascinating to my angsty little heart. She suffers and I'm here for it.

In all seriousness, though, I like looking at her through the lens of her being expected to know everything and have it all together when she's thrust into this strange world with no preparation and no prior experience. As the player, you're handed control of her mental state. In a normal route, you help her be more confident in all encounters, help her learn how to navigate social situations more easily and let her embrace silliness similar to how you help Berdly. In the Snowgrave Route, you teach her to black out and do horrible things. You tell her to give all her control to you and she does, but it ends up making her terrified of giving up control because she doesn't want to hurt people, doesn't want the shutdown and blankness that comes with her giving over control.

Side tangent, that leads into Kris Noelle parallels! In the Snowgrave Route, you force Noelle to give over control and, at least in my opinion, it makes her act a lot like Kris in some ways once you leave the Dark World. She's quieter, seems to carry herself differently, is more defensive and possessive. She's terrified of giving up control. At the same time, she's also still acting in ways you've taught her to. Reminds me a little of certain Kris behaviors/headcanons - they're very possessive of Susie at times, and I personally love to headcanon Kris as having no filter when the soul isn't possessing them because they're so used to having a forced filter. Truth be told, any parallels here are mostly conjecture because Kris can't act super independently, but i do enjoy thinking of them as playing up their weirdest quirks to still be themself, which I just love.

Another thing involving Kris - I'm very decidedly neutral on Kriselle (at least normal Kriselle, Snowgrave toxic fucked up Kriselle is my shit) but I love looking at Kris and Noelle's relationship platonically. Estranged best friends who still care for each other but don't know how to anymore. Kris playing Noelle's piano means so much to me you don't even know. I want to make a young Noelle design so I can draw her listening to them play. They both mean so much to me as friends who want to reconnect but can't. Pulled apart by the same connections that once pulled them together (Asriel and Dess). There's so much there and it makes me feel things I'm just now delirious enough to express.

Okay Kris-related tangent over they can go back to their moss corner now. Let's talk about Noelle and gifted kid burnout! Because she is going to hit it so hard honestly. Bear with me since it's been a while since I've seen a playthrough and I'm about to ho into the arguably more "pay attention or you die" part of the game that I never paid attention during so I might get stuff wrong.

If I recall correctly Noelle's actively a star student. Doesn't seem like she struggles too much, either. She's a great student - always answers questions, always gets good grades, etc. I've seen a lot of takes with her mom pressuring her to study constantly, which is a good take, don't get me wrong! I just find her more interesting - to me - if she's coasting through without trying, because if she's anything like me when I was in middle/high school, she knows a huge burnout is coming. She can tell she's starting to have to care about little and she's about to crash and burn so hard. Imagine having paralyzing anxiety and also knowing you're about to hit gifted kid burnout lol (<- the words of a man who was like that a year ago. Now I just have the burnout proper!)

Her relationship with Susie is fascinating to me too. Have you seen that meme of Timmy Turner from Fairly Oddparents (i think that's who it is) praying going "please God let this happen it would be so fucking funny" except "this" is "suselle not be canon"? Because I unironically love that from a writing standpoint. I am a Suselle shipper through and through but honestly I think they have a lot of potential outside of it being canon. I love the idea of Noelle struggling to get over her crush and failing. Their relationship warping into new, unseen flavors of gay pining. Something just west of queer-platonic, where it's inherently romantic but neither is able to acknowledge it as such. Nothing actively toxic, just Noelle begging for Susie to hold her hand so hard it hurts - partially because sign of affection and partially because Noelle has a pattern of wanting Susie to hurt her which I could unpack but would have to at least touch on topics I don't really feel comfortable infodumping about in this otherwise sfw post at - wait it's already 7:30? So that's enough Susie and Noelle for now! Although I still think they should go on gay little dates.

Is it Kris tangent part 2 if it's Player tangent? Because Player tangent time! Mostly a bunch of points i touched on in Kris tangent. You can control her a lot. Ruin her psyche forever etc etc. This is honestly my Snowgrave Kriselle toxic mess tangent because let's be real, it isn't even Kriselle. It's not Kris x Noelle. It's Player x Noelle. You manipulate her and break her and make her scared and dependent on you and then you give her a Thorn Ring and she bleeds and gets stronger through pain and the whole time she is forced to do whatever you want and I. I just. There's so much symbolism there and it's so pretty. (Which leads into my catholic guilt tangent later which is already written but I might as well add to it.) So messed up. A part of my Gravity Falls infected brain wants to say "it's a little Billford" because I know you would understand what I mean. So I will! Snowgrave Kriselle is sorta Billford with more catholic guilt to me. Like Noelle's like "ah my best friend Kris! :) We've grown apart recently but I trust them implicitly and will not consider what they want me to do! :D Oh no, they betrayed me? :( That's not good. I'll just back out now- what do you mean the religious iconography built directly into our relationship means I am directly tied to them and they're allowed to order me as they choose while I am forced to listen because I am simply a servant of our God figure who is controlling Kris. What do you mean there's catholic guilt woven into my bones and I cannot escape because my whole situation is extremely easy to see as a metaphor for religious trauma. Stop it. Stop making my symbolism indicative of real-life situations I don't want you be trapped because of the guilt and shame associated with leaving being so intense and ingrained into my character that I can't leave. D:"

Also, taking a deeper look at the Angel iconography surrounding her? The robes and the Thorn Ring and the everything? Oh yeah, I could write some religious trauma into that girl. (Well I already did because I wrote this out of order and my religious trauma rant got out of hand.) Bonus points because she's canonically queer - bless you Toby Fox writing lesbians into everything you touch - and double bonus points if you headcanon her trans! Imagine having your religion held against you to make you hate yourself as you just try to live and then also you go to a terrifying magic world and also get kidnapped while dressed like the icon that's used to guilt trip you into thinking you're irredeemable. So terrifying and fascinating I could just blend her in the Blorbo Blender. Trademark.

And Snowgrave Route? Whooooo the catholic guilt metaphor is strong with this one! I already mentioned the Thorn Ring - a reference to crucifixion and the crown of thorns? Not sure, I never got that far in the Bible (wasn't raised religious but was forced to read the Bible as punishment once or twice). She gives herself over to a sort of savior, a godlike figure, Kris. Something something parallels between Kris and Chara/Frisk Undertale means parallels between Kris and the Angel that the Undertale children represent and therefore Kris can be regarded as a sort of messiah like figure in accordance to that and therefore Noelle gives herself over to a messiah (Kris) and suffers because of it. Not even overtly. Kris never hurt anyone else. They only hurt her. And really, they made her stronger. Sure they guilt her into killing a non-believer (Berdly), but they also make her stronger, stronger than they could ever be. She's now reliant on them and a wreck without them, but they pulled her out of one of the worst times of her life - heedless of the pain they inflicted on her - and they haven't ruined Susie. Isn't it her fault they hurt her? Did she not devote herself enough? Did she make a mistake somehow? Some small, imperceptible slight against them? Or maybe she simply isn't strong enough to receive their wisdom and she's paying the price of not being enough for them? Not being worthy of her messiah's "unconditional" love? Angel, she got enough of this in the Light World, now she's got two entities breathing down her neck. Extra powerful as a metaphor for religious trauma when you consider Kris as being functionally more of a prophet and yourself as the god in this situation. Because like. You are. If I ever write this into a fic I might just tag you if you're chill with it because I loved the catholic guilt rants so much.

It's been an hour and a half and I am on my phone and my finger hurts because phone evil wants to eat me and also I am running out of perfect haven't-slept-in-over-18-hours clarity so I'm going to. Probably brainrot over my newest obsession in the stupidest way possible. Maybe eat breakfast in an hour because I will evaporate without coffee and it's 7 am anyways. Thank you for an excuse to do this lol I love Noelle so so so much and I don't think about her enough. I'd like to stress i did nothing but write this, with a small break to draw the Noelle enclosed. Anyways I have like. Ten(?) Deltarune fics, about there, maybe more maybe less, not sure and not opening another ao3 tab to check right now. If you wanna check my fics out my user is the same there and also my ao3's linked in my pinned. Frozen Tears is my Noelle centric AU but I might rewrite it because wow I forgot how much I loved Noelle and. Kinda hated writing that fic. All my favorite details of the comic (because it was a comic first, made when my style first turned to what it is now) get lost which is a shame. I was so proud of the single panel of Kris's wallet.

Anyways here's a shitty Noelle for your troubles. Every time I draw her I do it differently I swear and also I haven't drawn her in like. Six months. So.

Fun fact my Tumblr didn't want me to post this post! So it was finished yesterday and it's early so I'm not editing it to remove the time markers

[lu-is-not-ok]

the thing I find the most interesting about Walpurgis Night is how in Dante's Notes, it says that Faust explained that the IDs and E.G.Os extracted are of those that are important to not only the sinners but also to Limbus Company as a whole. Which is interesting for 2 our of 3.

Faust makes sense, she made Mephi, she is sorta the leader of the sinners, she works with Vergil and was there for his "recruitment" and has high level access than Dante. She is very important to both the sinners and the comoany.

Hong Lu at first might not make sense but could. Obviously he is a sinner, but I think it's his connection to the company that makes him "relevant" as the notes say. His family. I dont remember where its said but I believe Faust mentions that the company has multiple sponsors. It could be possible that Hong Lu's family is one of these sponsors, and that's how he became a sinner, similar to how K Corp Hong Lu ended up there because of his grandmother.

But the weirdest for me is Meursault. How is he relevant to the company? We know he worked at N Corp. But we also know he wasnt an inquisitor and I doubt he was a member of the new League of Nine. So for him to be important, I think he was probably a high ranking member of N Corp, not only considering that he is "relevant" to the company but also because he has dealt with distortions in the past. Maybe he is where Limbus got some of their own information on distortions....but other than that, I cant really think of any other ways for Meursault to be "relevant" or important to the company.

Iiii think it's less literal/direct like that, personally.

The exact wording of the relevant point is as such:

"Though the timelines and the worlds we can access are expanded during this period, it's not like we'll be extracting random Identities and E.G.O from all over the place. Faust explained that whoever we end up extracting will be relevant to all of us. Relevant... to Limbus Company's current state in some way."

The most obvious interpretation of this (and one most will immediately get) is that while the Walpurgis Night expands the range of the Extraction, it's not a completely random expansion. We won't be getting some random Backstreets Rat Identity, but ones that would be of interest to Limbus Company.

I assume it's sort of an in-universe explanation of why the things that can be extracted here come from the other games specifically. Limbus Company clearly has an interest in what happened at Lobotomy Corp, Vergilius has made it clear in 4.5 that he's interested in the Library, and it's not out of the question for Limbus Company to also have an interest in Moses' Office from Distortion Detective due to their own dealings with Distortions and E.G.O (though that one might be more relevant later on in the story, seeing as it's something that isn't available now but might be later).

That being said, it obviously can't be that simple. This is Project Moon we're talking about, and Faust is outright pointed out to be hiding info on Walpurgis Night in the cutscene.

Now, I don't think it's the Sinners themselves that are the relevant part here. After all, the specific quote is explaining the event as a whole, not just the current iteration of it. If it was about the Sinners and not the specific Identities and E.G.O we'll be getting, then Walpurgis Night would be a kind of shitty Extraction event, cause it would mean those three would be the only Sinners that would get stuff in it, and I highly doubt that will be the case.

Rather, I think the actual thing we should be looking at is the Context and Themes of the E.G.O and Identities in each event.

Look at what we got this Walpurgis Night:

An E.G.O of the Forsaken Murderer with focus put on being restrained, yet that restraint not being enough. It seems to parallel what we know of the Sinners' situations, how becoming one restrains them yet is not enough to completely stop them from acting out.

A LobCorp ID coming from the HQ branch, with focus put on Faust knowing way more than she lets on. This, of course, parallels Faust in the main world, how she clearly knows more about how Limbus Company operates than she lets on.

A Hook Office ID with focus put on the possbility of the Office failing and it not giving enough work to the ID. It might parallel Limbus Company's current state, how it's not yet influential enough to be a for sure success, while at the same time only giving a seemingly small amount of jobs towards one of its most important departments - the Sinners.

If my interpretation is right, then it's likely we're going to see different focuses in the next Walpurgis Night events depending on what information we learn about Limbus Company or how its status changes over the course of the main plot. Though, it is just speculation on my part.

[pianocat939]

Celina! I just had the weirdest idea!

Coralline au!

M/c lives in a world identical-if not exact- to ours…

But!

There is a small door in m/c’s room that takes them to the rottmnt dimension.

The turtles are the ‘beldams’ of the story, the only difference being their world isn’t a fake trap used to kidnap children and devour their souls. Their world is literally rottmnt only they are yanderes with button eyes. Also every other character that isn’t one of the turtles is strangely not there-

M/c’s home dimension- to help follow some of the plot from Coraline- kinda sucks. Neglectful parents who are so strung up in their work, they don’t notice m/c. M/c would live in a two-story small house (mainly because I don’t know how I would fit the other characters into this, so they don’t exist here).

M/c loves rottmnt, and so finding a doorway that leads them to a parallel universe with the rise characters only they have sewn on button eyes would surely make m/c really happy at first, given her current circumstances. Yeah sure, they act a little different and kinder compared to the show, but they seem really nice! What’s the worst that could come from staying a little longer?

I can imagine the turtles seeing m/c as their own kin- but not in the delusional “ I am related to you by blood way. More in a “you are our adopted sibling/child” kind of way. They believe they should be the ones to take care of m/c because, clearly, their parents aren’t doing that good of a job at it.

I also wanted a huge motivator for the turtles going platonic yandere on m/c, so I decided to add a bit of angst to this au. Everyone but the turtles is dead, minus background characters.Either by the Shredder or Krang, they are all dead. Or they never existed in this world! Either way, m/c still has no answer as the turtles never talk about them.

Also, Donnie has most likely already stalked m/c before their arrival in their world, which allows the other turtles to already have crucial knowledge on m/c that will aid them in their goals. Poor m/c still hasn’t noticed the cameras-

Once m/c realizes what is going on, it would be far too late to stop it. M/c’s only contacts in their world is their parents, and they won’t believe m/c! Though, it may not be too hard to convince them, seeing as they are already kidnapped and locked away-

The only thing m/c can even do to escape is run and hope to find a new caretaker, because they ain’t getting their parents back from the turtles. I guess the other option is to re-enter the other-world, which would most likely result in m/c being tied down whilst Mikey stitches buttons on their eyes don’t worry, Donnie has already gave them something to make them go numb. They don’t feel a thing physically!

Now, let’s say m/c somehow freed her parents and escaped. Now, m/c would have to burn down the entire house and find a new place to live, because they WILL find a way to get through the door if it is intact. Though, this may not even save m/c, because Donnie could easily make another one in their new home…

(Is this good? I hope it is. I love how we both just torture m/c with fictional mutant turtles with superpowers-)

Yes, it's very detailed! It's great.

Tw: restraints, implied forced surgery(?),

"Look at you! So pretty with your button eyes!" Mikey holds your face in his hands. "Now you're officially a member of the family!" His grin is wide, and a sense of glee is evident on his face.

"Yeah, you have a nice pair of buttons, bud." Raph also smiles at you, kneeling down to be closer to your eye level. His onyx, dead button "eyes" stare back at you. "I'm so happy to have you as our new member."

Leo strokes your head, "No more having to go back to the place...That wretched place where your so-called parents harboured you. But it's alright, no more having to be neglected by them! You'll just be coddled with all the brotherly and parental love you deserve!" His expression darkens when he mentions your parents, malice seeping through his words.

"And as a celebration and in memory of this wonderful event-" Donnie turns his back to you, his metal spider arm holding his phone, "Say 'Buttoning!'" Everybody poses as the camera clicks, cheering the word 'Buttoning!' alongside Donatello.

But you...You weren't smiling in the picture, you had a look of horror. Restrained in Mikey's chains, unable to speak in fear of what they would do.

[mysticstarlightduck]

Siblings and Questions Tag!

I saw this tag floating around here on Tumblr (notably this post) so I thought I'd give it a try! Let's go with some siblings from Supernova Initiative!

1. Who looks the most like Dad?

Jack & Cassie (biological)

Undoubtedly Jack. He has his father's bright red/auburn hair, tan white skin and brown eyes, though his clothing style (causual, typical "pilot style", with simple white shirts, leather jackets and cargo pants & boots) and general build (tall and athletic, rather than average height and very skinny), is more similar to that of his mother. His personality also strongly differs from his father's, and though he inherited his soft-spoken, bleeding heart nature, his rebellious, impulsive, and leadership tendencies come from his mother as well.

Ethean & Pax (adoptive)

Because Pax was adopted into Ethean's family by the latter's parents, there isn't a biological tie in their appearances, though Ethean & Pax do share some similar traits, mostly due to coincidence and upbriging. Despite that, because of Pax's constant efforts/need to feel like he belongs in the family, the younger boy subconsciously - and at times consciously - emulates his adoptive mother's way of dressing (formal, impeccable) and even some of her personality traits.

2. Who looks the most like mom?

Jack & Cassie (biological)

Cassie! She has their mother's voluminous, curly brown hair, warm white freckled skin, and face shape, though her eyes are brown like their father's eyes. HOWEVER. That's about it for similarities between them. Out of the two siblings, Cassie took after/imprinted on their father way more than with their mother (mostly because both Cassie and Florian, their dad, shared a passion for engineering and making robotic inventions), while Jack took after their mother and bonded more with her (because he wanted to be a rebel and a pilot like her). Not that Cassie wasn't close with their mother - or Jack with their father - but there are some clear parallels/similarities between Cassie & Florian, Jack & Lauriel, that are undeniable.

Ethean & Pax (adoptive)

Ethean longs to be the "perfect Junction soldier", much like their father, who is a respected figurehead of state in Station Nexus. He wants to make their father proud more than anything, and indeed does look like him quite a bit - dark hair, tan skin, strong features - rather than like their mother.

3. Who eats the most?

Jack & Cassie (biological)

Cassie! She's always snacking on something at any given time, from fried chips to crispy waffles, to pasta or fish sticks, there's always some kind of food/snack in her surroundings, especially when she's working on an invention. Jack doesn't eat a lot, a habit he developed during their tough childhood, and even though now they have all the food they can eat his appetite remains little, and he usually only eats some protein bars and chocolate milk between meals.

Ethean & Pax (adoptive)

They both eat a lot in different circumstances, but Pax definetly has the wildest and most voracious appetite between the two brothers.

4. Who has been on the weirdest situations?

Jack & Cassie (biological)

Both of them lol

Ethean & Pax (adoptive)

Definetly Pax!!! That boy is a trouble magnet, and Ethean is the poor soul that has to drag him out of danger most of the times, and who is also just as confused as anyone else as to how Pax got into those situations.

5. Who sleeps the most?

Jack & Cassie (biological)

Neither! They both have a tendency to go to sleep late and wake up early. Depending on the day, Cassie tends to be a bit grumpier in the morning, but not always.

Ethean & Pax (adoptive)

Pax! He loves sleeping, and often goes to sleep early and wakes up late. He is like a zombie in the mornings, especially when he has to wake up earlier than usual.

7. Most stable romantic life?

Jack & Cassie (biological)

Both of them have pretty stable/healthy romantic lives with each of their respective partners (Cassie with Artemis, Jack with Lyorna).

Ethean & Pax (adoptive)

Ethean has never dated before, because he is far too focused on his career as a fighter pilot, though most of the girls around him crush on him (he is oblivious) he has never even kissed anyone before. Pax used to be too awkward to date anyone, but then he met Tarah, who is just as awkward as he is, and now they (Pax + Tarah) have a very much lovely but awkward romance lol.

8. Worst habit of each one?

Jack & Cassie (biological)

Jack: Selfless/Self-Sacrificing to the point of being Self-Destructive, has seriously low-self esteem and lives for others

Cassie: Needs to prove herself to others (namely to her brothers) to an extreme, to the point she becomes frazzled

Ethean & Pax (adoptive)

Ethean: His sense of duty is stronger than his sense of personal identity, he wants to be an honorable soldier and that sometimes gets in the way of his personal life

Pax: Is too reckless and tends to act on impulse before thinking things through, and then panics when he gets stuck in a dangerous situation

9. Who's the most dramatic?

Jack & Cassie (biological)

It depends on the situation. Jack tends to be very chill/calm and rarely lets emotions get to him, but if he wants to he can and will put up a dramatic show, especially if it is to annoy his friends or siblings. Cassie tends to have a more dramatic streak, but similarly to Jack, only in light-hearted situations.

Ethean & Pax (adoptive)

Definetly Pax! Ethean is very down-to-earth, while Pax has a strong love for theatrics. Plus, sometimes Pax is actually, unironnically, dramatic by accident due to his anxious nature.

10. Who had a weird phase?

Jack & Cassie (biological)

... Eh, neither, I think. They didn't really have "phases" while growing up, and usually just adapted really well to different situations as time passed. However, Cassie did have a more angsty/angry/upset phase when she was around 14-15, because she was feeling betrayed by Deimos, after he left them, and subconsciously became obsessed with "proving that she was good enough", but for the most part, Jack was able to help her out of that midset. However, when Deimos returns to the group when she is 18, that aspect of her personality which she thought she'd gotten past/buried came back strongly whenever she and Deimos interacted, though it did not change her other relationships in that time of the story.

Ethean & Pax (adoptive)

Not really a "weird phase", but when he was a teen, Ethean became obsessed with philosophy and existential questions, etc. He also developed a love for conspiracy theories and a desire to navigate the unknown. He wanted to travel to new planets, and started to question if he really wanted to join the Junction's armed forces. He almost planned on running away to have a "vacation" travelling to new planets, like a backpacking year, but he decided against it because he didn't want to disappoint his parents (who were actually caring though strict and narrow-minded) and couldn't bring himself to leave Pax behind. His "free-spirited Era" was then completely quashed when he joined the Junction's Void Program to become a military fighter pilot, and he started to conform/obsessively follow the status quo in order to become an "examplary soldier" and uphold his war hero reputation.

11. Best cook of the family?

Jack & Cassie (biological)

DEFINETLY JACK. Cassie could BURN WATER if she tried. She absolutely cannot cook. Its so bad that once she ended up "banned"/grounded from cooking in their spaceship's kitchen because she burnt two sandwiches so badly the whole ship was flooded with soot and smoke. Jack isn't any Michelin-grade chef, but his cooking is actually good and while he only knows simple, more basic receipes, they're definetly edible and tasty. Meanwhile Cassie's cooking is... charred to a crisp at best and lethal at worst lmao.

Ethean & Pax (adoptive)

Neither of them are great cooks, but Ethean is actually pretty good at baking sweets, while any and all savory dishes he tries to make are either painfully bland or overseasoned. Pax probably knows the basics of the basics too, like, "how to fry an egg" or "how to make instant noodles", but that's about it.

12. Best memory together?

Jack & Cassie (biological)

Quite a few! They tend to have a "enjoy every waking moment of life" kind of mindset, which means they usually find fun in any and all situations if they try. I think that some of their best memories are their first off-world heist job with Deimos (their adoptive brother), which was the beginning of their intergalatic thieves career. They've had some pretty amazing memories after and before that too. One of those memories would be Cassie's 12th birthday, which was one of the first real birthday parties they've had since their parents died - and it was especially great for them because: 1. it was the first year Jack was able to afford giving Cassie the birthday gift she wanted, 2. Deimos, their adoptive brother, had never experienced what a human birthday was like and he had a lot of fun (Zatrians, Deimos' species, have Name-Day celebrations but they're usually solemn and very simbolic moments, very different from the way humans usually celebrate birthdays).

Ethean & Pax (adoptive)

I think that one of their best memories together was the day after Ethean returned from his first sucessful mission as a pilot - they had never been apart for that long ever since Pax was adopted by their family (the mission lasted six months off-world), so they decided to celebrate their reunion by sneaking out of the gala hosted by their family and going to an amusement park in the other side of Station Nexus. They had a lot of fun, and it was honestly one of their greatest moments together, especially since they didn't have to be perfect like they had to in front of their family and got to just have fun like proper teenagers.

13. Worst memory together?

Jack & Cassie (biological)

They grew up on the streets of Cethea III, one of the most dangerous, downtrodden and crime ridden moons on their planetary system, with no one to look out for them but each other. This means they've been through some pretty serious hardships together - especially since, destitute as they were, there was a time period where they could barely afford food or shelter. I think one of their absolutely worst memories was when Jack got very sick - and since they couldn't afford medical attention, he almost died. Deimos managed to steal some medicine for him - which did save Jack's life - but then, after delivering the medicine to Cassie, Deimos ended up caught by some Sentries and beaten up to an inch of his life. So yeah... not great times.

Ethean & Pax (adoptive)

This is a bit of a spoiler but here we go: during the events of the story, after Ethean decides to secretly disobey his orders for the first time in order to help Pax and his newfound friends, he ended up betrayed by his superiors, who had found out about his "treason" and had pretended not to know - until they sent him to a doomed mission on the Khosmonian galaxies, which was purposefully set up by them in order for the mission to go wrong and Ethean end up captured (the Junction did so because, since they didn't want to overtly kill him and get in trouble with his rich family, they decided to set him up so they could pretend he was "killed in action"). Only at the last minute did Ethean realize there was not going to be any rescue mission and that he'd been betrayed, but by that time, he ended up captured by the Khosmonian Council - who decided to interrogate him for information on the Junction (which, despite having been betrayed, he still refused to give - mostly because he knew there were innocent citizens in the Junction + his whole family and friends lived there and he couldn't possibly put their safety on jeopardy). Pax realized what had happened, and despite his friends' warnings, decided to try and rescue him alone. Which was a very bad idea because he then ended up captured himself and forced to witness Ethean's torture (and the aftermath) - which was, even by Khosmonian standards, pretty gruesome (so much so that Ethean permanently lost a leg because of it). Luckily their friends were able to rescue them both alive, but the event left the duo (especially Pax) seriously traumatized and took a lasting toll.

14. Dream trip together

Jack & Cassie (biological)

Exploring both galaxies and visiting new, uncharted planets, as well as some known ones. As the story progresses, they end up doing precisely that, though while attempting to stop a civil war and being hunted down by a dystopic regime. Still, travel is travel, right lol?

Ethean & Pax (adoptive)

When they were teens, they always planned on leaving Station Nexus and just roaming around the galaxies freely, especially to visit/see some far away nebulas in the neighbouring planetary system.

15. Would you rather not being able to shower for a month or have the same clothes for a month?

Jack & Cassie (biological)

They have already done both in the past (again, they were street urchins for a huge chunk of their childhood), and they would probably absolutely hate even the thought of doing something like that again. If they had to choose, I think they would choose the "same clothes for a month" because then they can still wash said clothes every day and take showers everyday, while the alternative would be much ickier in their opinion.

Ethean & Pax (adoptive)

I think Ethean would also choose the "same clothes for a month" option in a hypothetical scenario, because in reality he is always prepared and always packs at least 5 changes of clothes when he travels. Meanwhile, Pax would probably start overthinking the question and eventually trail off into different topics without finding or choosing an answer lol.

16. Who's the older one?

Jack & Cassie (biological)

Jack is 7 years older than Cassie. When they were orphaned he was 13 and she was 6. In the current timeline of the story, Jack is 25 and Cassie is 18. (Jack raised Cassie on his own ever since they were orphaned, because they had no living relatives to take care of them. When he was 15, they met Deimos Soll, who was 16, and who became his best friend and their adoptive brother, helping him raise Cassie)

Ethean & Pax (adoptive)

Ethean is 8 years older than Pax, and in the current timeline of the story Ethean is 27 and Pax 19. When Pax was adopted by Ethean's family, Pax was 4 and Ethean 12.

17. Describe each other in three words

Jack & Cassie (biological)

Jack would describe Cassie as: Bubbly, Energetic and Smart

Cassie would describe Jack as: Kind, Protective and Stubborn

Ethean & Pax (adoptive)

Ethean would describe Pax as: Reckless, Anxious and Funny

Pax would describe Ethean as: Popular, Righteous and Empathetic

18. Role model?

Jack & Cassie (biological)

Jack's Role Model: Their late mother

Cassie's Role Model: Jack is her number one role model and someone she looks up to greatly/wants to make proud. Another role model of hers is their late father.

Ethean & Pax (adoptive)

Ethean's Role Model: His parents, especially his father, whom he looks up to and often tries to emulate.

Pax's Role Model: Their mother, someone he subconsciously wants to be like and is always trying to get her approval. He also looks up to Ethean a lot, who is kind of like a hero to him, especially because of his reputation as a literal war hero.

19. Who usually has the worst ideas?

Jack & Cassie (biological)

Both of them, in different circumstances lol. HOWEVER - while Jack occasionally has bad ideas and is reckless with his safety, he is usually the more responsible one, and Cassie definetly takes the cake as the most gremlin-like of the two when it comes to causing chaos. She has a very "oh I wonder what this does" attitude to anything in life and no common sense whatsoever.

Ethean & Pax (adoptive)

PAX. DEFINETLY PAX. ALWAYS PAX. That boy is the human embodiment of an orange cat with a Single Braincell TM, and that combined with his need for approval and adventure is like a time bomb for chaos, especially since he ALMOST NEVER thinks things through before acting out his plans. He should not be left unsupervised lol. Ethean is super responsible, down-to-earth and pragmatic, and Pax is basically his opposite, which makes Ethean really struggle to keep him out of trouble - think like, an Anakin & Obi Wan dynamic except without the betrayal and angst.

20. A GIANT insect is on the wall, who's taking care of it?

Jack & Cassie (biological)

Oh, 100% Cassie. Jack has some serious insectophobia and he especially hates flying insects or uncanny ones. If he walked into the room and saw one he would just go "NOPE" and walk out of there so fast he'd basically teleport somewhere else, fully ready to be like "the spaceship is now yours, insect!". Cassie will probably get one of her robotic creations to smack the living crap out of the offending insect so they can carry on with their lives normaly afterwars.

Ethean & Pax (adoptive)

... None of them are very brave when it comes to bugs and insects, especially roaches and beetles, except they don't really mind spiders and scorpions. If its the latter, they'll probably scoop up the insect and kindly yeet it outside without squishing it. If its a roach or a moth however... that's a whole different issue. Pax would probably goad Ethean into killing the bug like "oh, so you're a war hero but can't handle a roach?" while hiding behind a door or wardrobe. Ethean would be determined to prove him wrong like, "fuck it, Imma kill this bug" then walk towards the insect with the hesitation of a thousand anxieties, wielding a broom. If the bug doesn't fly, he'll probably be able to squash it. But... if it does fly, oh both of those boys are ✨RUNNING AS FAST AS HUMANLY POSSIBLE✨ out of that room and will probably wait until the bug leaves on its own.

Tagging (gently): @kaylinalexanderbooks, @smol-feralgremlin,

@oh-no-another-idea, @littleladymab, @winterandwords, @eccaiia,

@the-letterbox-archives, @illarian-rambling @agirlandherquill, @anoelleart,

@ray-writes-n-shit @writernopal, @anyablackwood, @unstablewifiaccess, @topazadine

@forthesanityofstorytellers, @finickyfelix

@cauliflowermaterial @thepeculiarbird,

@clairelsonao3, @memento-morri-writes, and OPEN TAG

Taglist for Supernova Initiative below the cut! 🌠

Supernova Initiative Taglist (-/+): @ray-writes-n-shit, @sarandipitywrites, @smol-feralgremlin, @kaylinalexanderbooks,

@diabolical-blue @oh-no-another-idea

@cakeinthevoid, @clairelsonao3,

@thepeculiarbird

@the-golden-comet, @urnumber1star, @ominous-feychild, @anyablackwood, @amaiguri,

@lyutenw @finickyfelix

@elshells, @thecomfywriter

[destiny-in-the-universe]

RC9GN Role Swap AU

This is a very standard age/role swap AU but uh, with a twist because I'm extra like that! So, for starters we do have Randy and the First Ninja switching roles right from the get-go (as that's kind of what this idea is meant to be about-)

Also fair warning, this is an extremely long post-

But okay, let's start with the obvious- the characters that get swapped are literally just Randy -> First Ninja and Howard -> Plop Plop/Hinata. As for the rest of the canons, like Norrisville High students- I don't think they're necessarily being swapped but they might just be from a different time period hahah. McFist, Viceroy, and the Sorcerer (alongside the Sorceress) are still the main antagonists and villains because there's no way I'm coming up with entirely new enemies right now-

Now, onto Finja because he is the title lead!

His entire family, and they are a big family, are immigrants from Japan. They moved to Norrisville after a promotion at one the jobs Finja's parents work at- which leads to the move and Finja is not exactly happy to be there because he thinks Norrisville is a Speck of Odd(TM)

The closest equivalent I could find to the rest of his family still being something similar to ninjas is by, well, having his parents run a dojo- it's honestly massive tradition for their kids (and they literally have nine of them) to train at the dojo. Finja is one of the youngest in his family, so he's about to start being a freshman at Norrisville High. The weird timeline has them moving in early/mid May and classes start around September

Finja's not vibing with anything in the town, so he's kind of not really made friends with anyone- except for a boy in his block named Hinata who just decided to speak to him one day and didn't leave. Within a month or two of him arriving, Finja receives the mask and the Nomicon- making him the Ninja of Norrisville. He's not fully happy with this, but since he was thrust into the role- and it's now his responsibility, he decides to accept. Thankfully, his parents having the dojo helps him adjust with being the Ninja

Now Finja has... the shortest level of patience one has ever seen- he's a fast learner, at least, and always makes sure to do what's right but he's very short-tempered. He's also known for his disregard of following certain rules, purely out of the intent to prove his own worth. Unlike OG Randy however, he understands the lessons a little faster but still struggles at times because he's... literally fourteen but moving on-

Much like canon, McFist and Viceroy make their debut appearance on the first day Finja attends Norrisville High- and Finja has less patience dealing with a whole rampaging robot than Randy does, and that's even with the fact Randy loved being the Ninja

Shenanigans continue taking place as you would expect from the show, but at some point- we have the shift from McFist and Viceroy to the Sorcerer taking center stage and Finja is probably about to go fucking feral. I want to say that there's a parallel episode to 13th Century Ninja in this role swap AU where Finja goes back and officially meets Randy- because if I can't have mentor-mentee with canon, I will have it here!

So, then we have Randy and Howard-

Things branch off after this where Randy is quite literally, an ageless being that currently resides in the Nomicon (not that Finja's aware of this until much later-), and Howard, uh- is more gray area and I don't want to reveal too much but let's just say that Howard is permanently linked to the tengu! You'll find out what tha means later, but neither Randy nor Howard are normal- if it isn't because of the fact they're literally immortal and connected to the Nomicon, it's also since they are the weirdest flavor of queer one has ever seen

Similar to OG Finja, Randy was part of this smaller clan that would protect various towns, villages, and areas from monsters and the Sorcerer, but of course- all of it ended in tragedy. Left the sole survivor, Randy sobered out after a while but still did his part until eventually something went a little south and he was soul-bound to the nomicon he made

Leaving the rest vague because I am mean and, well, it'll all be revealed later. (today's literally become of a question of how many more au's will i be making until i get sick and tired of making them- the answer is all of them /lh)

but okay, so- the Sorcerer is much more of a threat because I will be as self indulgent with this AU as I can, and i just want this to be slightly more serious! Also, there might be more 'seasons' depending on the direction I want to take with the verse!

Though to keep going-

This role swap isn't strictly an age/role-swap! What this literally means is I might genuinely be imploring my own lore when it comes to Finja's entire family- and the fact I have to make them actual characters for this, so

I am personally of the belief that the Norisu clan are tied to back to the origins of the Ninja- (and if this purely about referencing how I do believe Randy's a descendant somehow, I have no idea what you're talking about-) but also, I sort of?? wanted to make something with the rest of Finja's siblings though I'm not entirely sure what that's going to be yet since it may contradict canon (however this is an AU and I will write this how I want to hahah)

Anyway,

Some More Infodumping + Headcanons

Finja has literally no interest in the Sorceress but due to how Sorcerer in Love works- something will likely happen anyway. The First Ninja just feels ace-coded, so he's not crushing on her; however due to plot reasons, he's kind of going to go through it anyway

Despite Hinata being the parallel to Howard, they're obviously different character-wise. Hinata worries constantly over Finja but he also acknowledges there was a reason he got chosen and, well, I have plans

Is Hinata also going to be linked to the tengu? Maybe- despite Howard being perma-bound to the tengu, this doesn't mean others can't also be linked. There's... lore for this but I have to be careful with what I say for now

I think I might do a parallel episode to Nomirandy-

We'll see what more I can come up with later to be honest! I don't have much else right now, and the constant brainrot has me wanting to write another thing soon-

[klevxander]

Watching Nimona for the 2nd time after reading tons of posts and the comic. A thread:

[SPOILERS AHEAD SO GO WATCH THE MOVIE ALREADY]

* Knowing how things play out in the end really captures just how ridiculous the title sequence mythologizes these kids and what fear really does to people

* originally when the squire comes up to Ballister I thought that he wanted a selfie with him and was nervous about it. The facial expressions show that he's confused about handing the "sword" off to him and Ballister's face in response just ahfhsjbd. Also I noticed immediately that Ballister could just /feel/ something was off.

* "Ballister, today the kingdom will see you for who you really are" was SUCH A DAMN TWOFACED COMMENT FROM THE DIRECTOR YOU EVIL EVIL SHITFUCK

* Nimona's face as they discover someone that has been shunned just as they were just MMMMMPH *chef's kiss*

* Nimona's expressions are wonderful and when they ask about Ballister keeping the arm just makes me giggle in the weirdest way. I need screenshots at some point because emotes at some point are going to become a must

* THE DRAMA AND ENERGY NIMONA BRINGS

* "This guy looks extremely punchable" "You're right. He is actually extremely punchable."

* I kinda love the transition from the comic to the movie from Blackheart to Boldheart. A villain on purpose to a villain by someone else's doing. The similarities and parallels and themes!!!!

* We just threw the murderer in jail. "Wanna get some lunch?" "Yeah! I love lunch!"

* Nimona the rat sneaking into the cell as the Director leaves Ballister

* "Wait. How did you get out?" "I know the code."

* Nimona's intro to the escape music. I love this beatboxing gremlin. And then just breaks stuff while following after Ballister who is trying to sneak out carefully. "He is a murderer!... of fun"

* "Something something something... we win!"

* The way Nimona lands in the hero pose and stands triumphantly while Ballister slides in on his face, defeated by the overwhelming everything that just happened

* "Metal"

* Nimona absolutely loves fucking with Ballister. Just messing with his head because he's just so gullible. Making the lair more evil lair-y with lights on strings and making tacos. THE HANDS AS NIMONA SAYS MEATBALL!!!

* Comic Ballister is definitely more clearly defined as a scientist, and the only reference we get to movie Ballister being scientific is just that he MAKES HIS OWN ARM. It's a little more understandable to see where he's coming from. He's a man of science. Science has reason and explanation and definition and Nimona... Does not. Not to say that any of his actions are necessarily forgivable, as he definitely hurts Nimona by being this way. Nimona gives him one question out of his million, and thankfully, he chooses the correct one. "Why are you helping me?"

* "You need the squire? Then let's go kill- Get him"

* The way Nimona Super Mario hops bouncing off the couch AND KEEPS TELEPORTING FOR COMEDIC EFFECT

* "rhinoperos"

* "Would you please unclench your mustache?"

* Nimona constantly questions all of Ballister's actions and tries to have him question things for himself. Question everything. Including the system.

* Something therapeutic for Ballister in the way Nimona portrays him.

* "He hates freestyle jazz"

* pizza rat pizza rat pizza rat

* The random commercial transition with Dragon Krisps

* "Easier to be a girl? You're hilarious" Nimona is all about expressing who they are and questioning the status quo. Questioning what everyone else wants you to be. What is normal? Fuck being normal. I'm Nimona.

* The wishing well story in the movie vs the witch in the hole in the comic.

* Ballister and his constant puppy dog eyes

* The squire has such Kuzco energy. "Ohhh nooo. Let me go ahead and pass this problem on to someone else."

* Nimona's slander on pineapple pizza. How dare

* Comparisons to other memes and media are EVERYWHERE. "There's an arrow in your (butt) leg!" Also, the arrow in the leg from comic to movie makes such a defined difference. "I'm not a people." That's right sweetheart. You're a Nimona. I also love this scene because of the character growth from Ballister and the recognition of said growth from Nimona. He's got these assumptions and expectations that are constantly breaking around Nimona and they just watch him make mistakes and learn and grow. And BECAUSE Nimona can SEE this growth and change, they decide to share something a little more personal about themselves.

* "Who'd protect Todd?" Bro. I know.

* The squire dabbing in Ballister's armor. Secondhand embarrassment at an all-time high.

* "ARM-CHOPPING IS NOT A LOVE LANGUAGE" and then because of his training and his love BALLISTER PROCEEDS TO DEFEND THE GUY WHO CHOPPED OFF HIS ARM

* The parallels, the comparisons, the brainwashing, the questioning of everything!!!!

* Ambrosius watching as the future he could have had being wiped away quite literally depicted by a billboard being painted over, as he sits in the car with the person who's fears caused the incident in the first place. AND THEN THE FREAKOUT ABOUT EVERYTHING that only happens in his mind as he just simply responds with, "I'm fine, Director."

* Another person already said this, but the "devil and angel" over Ballister and Ambrosius comparison is just wonderful. "Says the miscreant, whispering in his ear." Bitch who the fuck are you!? Look in a goddamn mirror and reflect for fucking 2 seconds!!!

* They give Ambrosius a chance to do the right thing and trust the man he supposedly loves. Instead, he asks the wrong question, escalates the situation, and ends up with his hair looking like a paintbrush, getting booped on the nose by a gorilla. Also DINGING THAT KNIGHT IN THE DINGDONG WITH ARMADILLO NIMONA THEN USING THE KNIGHT'S SHIELD THAT IS STILL ATTACHED TO THE POOR GUY!?!? "Sorry not sorry" "Of horse I do" The pure elatement and joy Nimona expresses while fighting the Institution. *chef's kisses everywhere*

* The confusion over what kind of otter Nimona takes form as a callback

* This movie subverts expectations CONSTANTLY jumping rope with drama and comedy.

* THE SEVERE TRAUMA THAT NIMONA HAS over saving the little girl's life and having her in turn raise a sword at Nimona. The parallel to Gloreth just broke them.

* "I don't know what's scarier. The fact that everyone in this kingdom wants to run a sword through my heart... or they sometimes, I just wanna let 'em."

* The way Nimona lights up when Ballister says that they are together. "You changed the way you see me."

* The director bases all of her fears on a myth and old papers and nightmares. Projecting her fears in a way that only hurts the people around her.

* The DRAMA that Nimona exudes after being STABBED in the form of Ambrosius. It's also not exactly explained in the movie, but in the comic, the reason Nimona apparently heals so fast is because every time they change forms, the old body (cells) dies and the new one takes its place. Which is why Nimona just questioned what the fuck Ballister was doing when bandaging their leg and being all worried about the arrow.

* "You didn't tell me you could breathe fire." "Ohhh" "Metal" love how he just accepts Nimona at this point. The board game, Nimona shape-shifting into the Director to spook Ballister and so many other bits from the comic, either being pulled directly or inspiring new ones. It's all just so good.

* "Nachos! And hold the olives. He's allergic"

There is so much to this movie. I love the stories it speaks for and that so many people connect to it. So many other conclusions to be drawn and analysis to be made. Definitely one of my new favorites.

[zukoromantic]

I don't actually think phoenix thought miles edgeworth was dead post aa1

- gumshoe must have been way too suspicious (and not crying enough)

- no funeral, nothing, no details, way too secretive

- he literally says that miles was dead "to him" and that he "never wanted to see him again"

- this just makes a lot more sense for his arc i am begging you, aa2 is NOT about phoenix being a poor little guy who is unrightfully betrayed by his friend, aa2 is about phoenix coming to terms with the reality of things and that not everything is always black and white

He WANTED to it to be black and white. He thought miles left me, he's dead to me. But it's NOT. He's in DENIAL, that's the point, that's the whole point. Miles managed to get by on his own. He managed to be okay. Without phoenix

Phoenix had his major i can save him attitude in aa1 and he NEEDED this reality check. He was kind of obsessed with edgeworth (wether romantically or not is entirely irrelevant) and he Literally said he's the only one who can save him. And while he was actually RIGHT, that wasn't the point. The point was that it's not that simple and while he changed miles' life, miles was able to continue living it on his own and phoenix needed to realize that

Yeah the way miles left fucking sucked, but i think they kinda needed that. Phoenix depends a lot on other people, he literally falls into a depression after maya leaves post aa1. Plus, his miles thing was sort of.... Done? Or at least on halt. This was the Reason he became a lawyer and now there was neither a goal (miles) nor someone to walk the path with (maya). This kind of dependancy is Not good. So miles leaving, while it was extremely harsh, way absolutely necessary

And i think erasing the psyche behind this in favor of a dramatic fake death is... Kinda sad

Phoenix was so MAD at miles, That was the point. He was heartbroken because he was left, because he felt betrayed and not because he lost someone. This is a big difference and you can see this SO CLEARLY in the game

Sure, phoenix has a right to be mad at miles, to an extend. But this wasn't about him having a right to be mad, this was about phoenix feeling entitled to miles' personal life and personal development. If you say he thought he was dead, then you erase the whole aspect of Phoenix letting himself be lead too much by his emotions and not thinking rationally enough. WHICH IS THE WHOLE POINT OF HIS ARC IN AA2.

Sure. Grief is also a theme in this game. And i'm not saying phoenix ISN'T grieving miles. And i know that it also parallels the cases in the way of grieving people being consumed by anger. But it's different with phoenix because he's mad AT edgeworth. So it only makes sense for this to be combined with the theme of phoenix Being Wrong because he's Extremely Emotional

If he ends up just being mad bc he fakes his death, what's wrong about that? Of course he's also entitled to being mad at miles for leaving like this, but like i said - it's not black and white (like it would be in a fake death scenario). Miles had his reasons for what he did, he wanted distance and even though the way he left wasn't nice, the idea was truly his right (not saying that miles is not to blame here. I'm just saying they do the weirdest shit but it just always Works)

It also parallels franziska feeling left behind by miles, but that's a different story

Basically yesh i think it's implied that he didn't really think miles was dead and also it would make so much more sense for their relationship and devlopment as phoenix learning to see things with more nuance is literally an essential part of the second game and his entire character arc