#we're still ~setting the scene~

[badcaseofcasey]

one single thread of gold (tied me to you) | Part 2 aka: my Steddie soulmates au, Eddie's POV (Part 1) (Steve's POV)

a/n: since writing Steve's POV, I've realized that Chrissy specifically mentions Eddie being in Hawkins for middle school, but I already had Tommy/Carol establish that Eddie moved to Hawkins for his sophomore year - so that's what we're going with lol. Canon is just a suggestion anyway.

The experimental chemo had worked - for a time. Eddie’s mom was able to go back to work, and spend time with him outside of the hospital. For a while, it looked like she’d been able to escape the worst of it; but the cancer came back, and this time, no amount of chemo or radiation could bring his mom back.

His mom’s death had been hard on him, but he was surprised by how much it affected his dad. The fun-loving, if irresponsible, dad who had taken him on joyrides and taught him how to repair (and hotwire) cars was gone; instead, a sullen, often-drunk person had taken his place and Eddie had started spending pretty much every school holiday with Wayne.

Eddie didn’t mind at first; the lack of any parental supervision meant he could do basically whatever he wanted. He explored the city’s music scene, went to every venue that would let him in, and soaked up the world of counterculture. He sewed patches on vests and learned power chords on borrowed guitars and found a version of himself that could handle losing his mom to cancer and slowly losing his dad alongside her.

As the years went by, though, his dad’s drinking got worse and worse, and eventually he forgot to be careful when he stole a car and got picked up for grand theft auto. Tack on the possession charges from the weed in his pocket, along with the DUI, and Eddie’s dad wasn’t getting out of jail for a long time.

In hindsight, it was probably one of the best things that had happened to Eddie.

But it came with moving to Hawkins, which, while Eddie loved his uncle, was exactly the sort of backwater town where a guy like Eddie would stick out like a sore thumb. His long hair and dark clothes immediately set him apart from the crowd, and the rumors about him coming to Hawkins because of his screw-up of a father didn’t help.

Hawkins really was the last place Eddie wanted to be, truly; if he couldn’t help the small flame of excitement that lit every time he remembered that Hawkins was where he got his words, no one needed to know but him. The chance of seeing his soulmate again was far outweighed by the rest of it.

Starting at Hawkins High as a sophomore was rare - most of the kids had known each other since Kindergarten. Eddie had resigned himself to being a loner as soon as he’d walked in the doors on day one. That was fine by him - at this point, he was comfortable not fitting in.

He was shoving his textbooks into the locker he’d been assigned by the bored woman in the front office when a shiver rolled down his spine. He jerked his head up to see what had caught his attention and his eyes landed on a slightly scrawny freshman in a butter yellow polo shirt.

Something about him drew Eddie’s attention; maybe it was the way he was so the opposite of everything Eddie was. Or maybe it was that he embodied everything about the mainstream that Eddie had learned to hate.

“Steve!”

The kid’s head turned at the name, called from further down the hall. As Steve passed Eddie, he could feel his heart thundering against his ribs, disbelief and disappointment coursing through him.

Eddie had waited more than five years to see his soulmate again, and this is what the universe had in store for him?

Eddie couldn’t help but stare at Sir Steve, his once-knight in shining armor, as he passed by. Steve was clearly popular - even for a freshman. He drew eyes as he walked down the hallway towards Eddie and more than one girl turned to face her friends and giggled as he walked by.

Steve’s eyes caught Eddie’s, and for a moment, a part of Eddie hoped Steve had recognized him. But that moment passed; no flash of recognition, no bolt of lightning from the heavens. Steve’s eyes drifted on to the next person and left Eddie behind.

taglist (as always, let me know if you'd like to be added/taken off!): @awkwardgravity1 @infinitetrashbag @vampireinthesun @swimmingbirdrunningrock @maya-custodios-dionach @thev01dd @obsessivlyme @a-little-unsteddie @anything-thats-rock-and-roll @spectrum-spectre @red-panderz69 @magpiemuseum @minjintea @finalmoondragonn @thatonebadideapanda @estrellami-1 @freyaforestafay @biatcgh @sadcanadianwinter @im-sam-fucking-winchester @bidisastersworld @justanothergirlwithobsessions @anaibis @thing-a-ling @rosered93 @newtstabber @void-o-chaos @thegingerrapunzel @baron-zemo-trash @katireads @child-of-cthulhu @the-s-is-silent @i-must-potato @hellomynameismoo @lovelylilbadone @theotalksalot @lydi-cyan @background-noise-headache @idontgetpaidenoughforthisshit @slitherynchiken @grapefruitgalaxy @bookbinderbitch @luthienstormblessed @blues-tunes @murdblurdock @grtwdsmwhr @xpaperheartso @anaibis @thedyingwriter

[rebouks]

Previous // Next

Levi: It’s okay-.. you’re okay. Robin: God-.. do you have a bobby pin, Penny? Penny: [sniffs] Yeah…

Jacob: Uh, guys. Tess: Oh my go-… Jacob: SHH!

Robin: What is it?! Aster: [whisper yells] You might wanna hurry up. Robin: I’m trying!

[Robin’s palms began to sweat as Tess screamed and several heavy footsteps thudded down the hallway, though his frantic efforts to force the doors locking mechanism eventually paid off]

[static crackling]

Penny: Robin, what the fuck. Levi: What is it? Robin: [hisses] How should I know?!

[icewindandboringhorror]

I have a big google doc thing where I keep track of media and stuff (putting everything in loosely ranked categories), which is mostly just for my own reference so I know what tv shows I've already seen before, etc. and I never really look back through it, typically just a quick "okay, watched two movie in the past 8 months, need to quickly slap them somewhere in the lists. okay. done. save document. exit". But today I was actually reading through some of the old notes and there are like... MULTIPLE places where my comment is basically "It would have been good if it were about elves" or "I wish there was a fantasy show made in this same style" or "It's well made, but I just keep thinking about how I would like it more if everyone was an elf or was in old 1700s costumes" or etc like...... lol.... Most biased media ranking system on earth blatantly made by someone with an extremely hyperspecific range of narrow interests. It'd be like if a food reviewer only had 5 foods they actually liked, so they'd just go to a pizza place and be like "eh, the pizza was okay, but I just think it would be better if it was cereal instead. :/ ...2 out of 10"

[thelawsofdaylight]

There’s so much to enjoy about 1.1.2 but here are some of my favourite things:

The immediate contrast we get between the lavish, detail-ridden, paragraphs-long description of the palace versus barely even a sentence about the hospital. I know we mock Hugo a lot for his digressions but the man DOES know how to be concise! He uses short sentences for effect all the time and this is one of my fave examples because it’s also just very funny in its bluntness.

The Bishop questioning the director of the hospital and saying some variation of ‘I know’ after every response. We saw it in the last chapter as well with how he addresses Napoleon but again, the sheer confidence!! The boldness!! Bishop M does not fuck around!!

“There is some mistake, I tell you; you have my house, and I have yours. Give me back my house” ICONIC ENERGY, ABSOLUTELY UNMATCHED

The Bishop filing absolutely everything under household expenses to the chagrin of Mme Magloire. On that note, the extent to which that house would fall apart without her and Mlle Baptistine because the Bishop is determined to give absolutely everything away (’and still I am cramped with it all!’)

’Expenses of carriage and circuit’ *goes on to list things that have nothing to do with carriage and circuit to the value of 3000 livres* this part always cracks me up there’s just something about the way Hugo writes which is almost tongue-in-cheek during these chapters, especially with the set up beforehand where the rich senator rants about how Bishop M is swindling money he doesn’t need for his own selfish gain. Once again, Les Mis is a comedy!!!!!!

“As there is always more wretchedness below than there is brotherhood above” what a raw line. And we’re only in the second chapter!

Also, whilst we’re here: this is the point!!!! I know we all joke about the ‘the following has no direct bearing on the story’ thing but these first few chapters do such a good job establishing the thesis of the novel. Bishop M is literally the most altruistic guy ever to the point where it borders on parody and there is still more ‘wretchedness’ than he can ever possibly solve as an individual, even just in the small town of Digne, even with donating the majority of his income to the poor and taking the principle of abnegation to the extreme. It feels like Hugo is anticipating criticism to the tune of ‘we don’t need structural change we just need more charity/inidividual change/philanthropy/etc!’ and immediately rejecting that as a solution before the novel even gets properly underway by showing how no amount of selflessness will ever overcome the power of systemic violence. (Also for more on this here is a really good post by @secretmellowblog​ about Bishop M but do be aware it has small spoilers for future chapters if you’re doing a first-time read and want to avoid those!)

In summary:

[randomnameless]

Regarding to the negative character development in Nopes. How do you consider Supreme leader's route to be worse than the original route? I wanna know your thoughts on her character and the route itself.

You mean on Supreme Bullshit?

I prefer her in CF - even if we have the "lel professor Supreme Leader was mourning you for 5 years while you were absent (and no one conveniently thought to explore that damn ravine where you fell to see if maybe you were still alive) but now that you've returned we can maybe stop being in a stalemate against Faerghus and finally roll over Derdriu!" pandering shit, because even if it came with wonderful Supreme One Liners and Replies, in CF, Supreme Leader kills her enemies herself!

Sure it comes at the cost of the most badass Shonen Explosion I've ever seen in the FE Series, and yet, for her, that explosion meant her role was ultimately reduced to the role of a mosquito : sure it's annoying and you want to smash it, but when you look around to find someone/something to smash it, you happen on an agressive venomous snake, who cares about the mosquito now?

We know how fandom is about Supreme Leader and her actions and her uwu agency - in Supreme Bullshit, we're left in the vague about what her MAGA plans entails because she doesn't finish her quest - Nopes ends before the epilogue - and it's almost as if the Nopes!devs didn't want her to deal final blows herself, or have her hands be "as clean" as possible as the ones who are erased are either peons or secondary/tertiary characters : Supreme Leader isn't the one who splits Rhea's head open in this route, Rhea and Thales take each other out, heck, she doesn't want to liberate Fodlan from inhuman monsters anymore, it's Claude who parrots to whoever wants to listen that Rhea has to die (and yet, Supreme Leader still wants to make Garreg Mach Rhea's tomb... maybe it's a considerate gesture on her part, to have her reunite with her family?) Speaking of him if conditions are reunited, he "forces her" to kill him, because he betrays her first :'(

In CF, Supreme Leader - when she finally has the means (aka Billy!) to do so - attacks all of her enemies, even turning against the Agarthans (rip cornelia?) and it's only because the plot is held by duct tape and chewing-gum that she somehow avoids retaliation because Uncle is too stupid and wasted his nukes on Arianrhod instead of nuking Firdhiad when both Supreme Leader and Rhea would be there !

However, the facts still stand : Supreme Leader dealt a blow at the Agarthans, ended the Nabatean presence in Fodlan, personally erased Faerghus' line of Kings and conquered the Alliance.

Sure she tells Balthus she will crush everyone who doesn't side with her, but when it comes to Lords/Main antagonists... when CF had her swing Aymr - even against defeated characters who fell on their knees and aren't fighting anymore - SB brings out convoluted circumstances to either has her fight because she is attacked and thus on the defensive (which is rich when she's supposed to be the invader!) by an ally whose motivation never made sense but who is now suddenly betraying her and all of his former allies who joined with her (GG Clout) or... Rhea gets her Big Damn Hero moment, fulfilling the initial promise/oath she swore on that route (help humans to get rid of Agarthans) and supposedly dies in the process, while Supreme Leader - the oathbreaker - pulls out her best impression of Tuxedo Mask "my job here is done - but you didn't do a thing" ending on a High Five.

Imo it's very telling that the only main character who can be alive at the end of SB is Dimitri - because he is the character Supreme Leader wants dead at all costs, and if the Nopes!Devs wrote Zarhofl as they did, I wonder how they could and might have justified a metting between the two that doesn't end up in Supreme Leader Aymr'ing him (maybe Cornelia would have conviently warped there and stabbed him to death, so her hands would still be "clean" ?).

In short, I prefer CF!Supreme Leader (or her FE16 version sans the pandering) because she is determinate and wants to achieve her goals, even if she has to be ruthless to do so - and we see that ruthlessness (even if it's poorly executed) in CF, Supreme Leader kills named and main characters to MAGA (and to free humanity from those vile subhumans).

In SB, she is always... put in situations where she "has to" protect herself from either backstabbing allies, or, when push comes to shove, her enemies are conveniently at the same place at the same time and take each other out : FFS, it's Rhea who takes out the leader of the Agarthans, and it's Thales who removes Nabateans from Fodlan. What is all that determination good for if, in the end, she's not the one solving the issues?

Oh, and because I'm petty like that : why the fuck the sailor fuku, seriously - sure her red dress (the one from her legendary version!) isn't as, uh, battle compatible as, say, Queen Elincia's battle outfit, and yet there's something really disturbing about the Sailor Fuku. Supreme Leader is regal, commanding, even with the red dress. Her final outfit (Willy's armor retrofitted with boobplates?) is, well, a full suit of armor, Supreme Leader is a warrior and leading her troops to victory, she will battle and fight herself even in melee.

The Sailor Fuku is... just some generic Anime design, I know she has a plate but come on, comparing this to her Emperor battlesuit, it's almost as if we're not in the same genre anymore - it's war phase now, Supreme Leader is dead serious about her plans and her ambition, she's not the "school girl who will also go to war!" - compare the three outfits, which one doesn't scream "Emperor" to you?

So yeah, short (short) story : while I like SB for Shonen explosions and more exposition about Adrestia, imo, this route is worse for Supreme Leader's agency than any other route in FE16 (AG takes the cake in its last part though!) because while she has it, in the end, she doesn't do a thing with it :

MAGA? Dimitri cannot be killed in the game, she leaves the task to Clout who doesn't do it and worse, who can betray her :( so she has to kill him :(

Frre Humanity from the sekrit nabatean illuminati and the agarthan terrorists? She just kicks them from their homes (Agarthans managed to infiltrate Adrestia, she kicks them out of her land) and they managed to take each other out.

Sure, she knows how to highfive at the end of this route, but was it really worth all those sacrifices, aka, to get rid of conqueror and determinate!Supreme Leader to have instead sailor fuku!Supreme Leader who knows how to highfive?

I know they're not meant to be compared because different circumstances and all, but can you imagine a second, a Jugdral spin-off AU much like Nopes is, where Arvis wears a high school uniform but Siggy, Manfroy and Travant accidently kill each other so he gets the continent on a silver platter without having to do any fighting or planning himself?

That's Supreme Bullshit for Supreme Leader, and that's why I think this route doesn't paint her in the best light, especially compared to her FE16 version.

[shrews-art]

I'm literally itching to draw something for arcane s2 but I'm completely buried under university stuff, man I wish we had 14 days a week 😭

[sysig]

Your Weekly TV Guide

On Monday you can expect:

2:30 PM: Handplates

And Tuesday:

2:30 PM: Handplates

Wednesday:

2:30 PM: Star Control II - Helix +4:20 PM Bonus!: Helix shitpost

Thursday:

2:30 PM: SCII - Helix

Friday:

2:30 PM: SCII - Helix

Saturday:

2:30 PM: SCII - Helix

Sunday:

2:30 PM: SCII OCs

Thanks for tuning in! (Patreon)

[ace-malarky]

anyway scenes finished 7/100 let's hope this set doesn't take the next nine years lmao

[the-busy-ghost]

Warning- this is a very petty post, but I think I'm entitled to at least one petty, pissed-off reaction every time I finish a classic novel that hit harder than I expected so take this as my quota for the year.

Also spoiler warning for a book that came out over a century ago but still, I didn't know the plot going in so don't want to ruin it for anyone else, if you haven't read it shut your eyes. (Also Local Tumblr User Going Wild Over Book Published a Hundred Years Ago That Everybody Else Already Read should probably be categorised as akey part of indigenous tumblr culture at this point).

Anyway I just finished the War of the Worlds and in between studying I've thinking about Themes and Motifs as you do, and idly looking for further analysis. I then accidentally ran into an article called 'A Quiet Place II Succeeds Where the War of the Worlds Failed' and:

Now I haven't seen any of the Quiet Place films, this is not a rant against them and of course everyone is entitled to their own opinions. But re: the ending of The War of the Worlds, I have to ask, did this guy somehow miss, uh, the entire point of the book or am I just utterly insane?

[currentlyonstandbi]

[t-u-i-t-c]

idk when i'll finish these boonboomger sets 😮‍💨

[anonyanonymouse]

btw I decided that two fics the mallesil tag MUST have on ao3 are an omegaverse fic and a soulmate au fic. Like just to be a respectable ship in my eyes there MUST be one. I have had it on my to-do list for a YEAR and I am still barely into the idea-phase, but on my honor there will be omegaverse smut and the most cringe soulmate au your heart could ever ask for in that damn tag

[artificer-dice]

What's in the Shop?

Quite a few liquid-core chonk d20s at the moment! All of them are currently 20% off from now until May 14th!

There are also a few new things Coming Soon! These are some limited-run dice and some production sets are in the works!

Also some raw mystery dice may be coming soon! I still have to work out the logistics of that one, but it looks like it would be 2 standard d20s and a d6. These would be straight from the molds, so some mold lines and minor defects may be visible, but all that they would need to be usable would be some paint in the numbers if you don't mind some minor defects (this is how a lot of my personal dice are!)

I'm also hoping to re-open commissions soon! My goal is to have them open up again in the beginning of May!

[perenlop]

kudos to the xy anime at least for a) using zygarde in a genuinely really interesting and fun way and b) not trying to be like “ohhhhh lysandre has a point thoughhhhhh hes just extreme about itttttt”

[mashmouths]

so when do i stop feeling like the world's most useless 17 year old

[percyjacksonfan3]

Okay I will admit I was nervous going into Chalice of the Gods but I did love it