#what's the fucking point of playing the game anymore

[lovecla]

TAKE YOUR PAIN AWAY | quinn hughes.

00.2. the first time quinn invited you over

➴ warnings: mention of a restrictive diet, almond mom kinda?

➴ word count: 1.1k

➴ author’s note: i am a mushroom hater till the day i die. fuck mushrooms.

౨ৎ

2013, OCTOBER.

THE first time Quinn invited you over, it was on a Sunday morning.

Your parents were at work, as they always were, and you were trying to make some food for yourself and Peter, who was currently laying on his bed and playing video-games.

It wasn’t like you were used to cooking, after all, you were just eleven and you had so many sitters growing up that you didn’t have to do much. But you’d manage to convince your parents that you didn’t need an old, ugly lady taking care of you anymore— you knew how to take care of yourself. And it was true, until you had to cook something that wasn’t microwaved popcorn.

It was ten a.m. and the doorbell rang, the song ricocheting through the empty house. You immediately looked at the digital clock sitting on the kitchen counter, frowning because you knew your parents wouldn’t be home until some time after six.

Carefully, you got off the chair you were on top of trying to reach the pancakes mix, and walked towards the door. Looking at the camera (because you knew how to take care of yourself and because you should never open the door to strangers!) you saw Quinn there, with his hands in his pockets.

You smiled, opening the door.

Your friendship with Quinn bloomed just like flowers did during the first week of spring. He was nice to you, listened to all of your questions and thoughts, and was kind enough to explain things you didn’t really understand (he seemed to know everything). He didn’t let you paint his nails, something about his brothers, Luke and Jack, making fun of him for it, but he always let you play with his curls.

He played with you for hours and to your ultimate surprise, he never complained. Not even once. And he was much better at throwing the ball than Peter ever was.

“Hi, Quinny!” You greeted him, wrapping your arms around his waist. He patted you on the head awkwardly, like he always did. “Why are you here?”

“I just made breakfast for Jack and Luke,” he mumbled. “And you told me once you like pancakes. So do you wanna go eat some?”

You were so happy in that moment that it felt like Christmas all over again. Thinking of your empty stomach, you nodded.

“Only if there’s enough for everyone and,” you bit your lip, suddenly embarrassed. “Can I bring some for Pete too? I didn’t cook him breakfast.”

Quinn frowned at you, like he sometimes did whenever you mentioned Peter. “Why are you cooking? Isn’t it dangerous for a kid to be in the kitchen?”

“I’m eleven. ‘M not a kid anymore.”

“Sure,” he laughed, nodding. “Come on.”

You both left your house and you closed the door behind you, as you followed Quinn to his house, yapping his ears off. You were excited about a new cooking show you’d been watching and you needed to tell someone how the guy in there had baked the prettiest cake you’d ever seen.

Opening the door, Quinn let you in first before entering the house himself. You looked around, noticing how different his house was from yours: simpler, but so much brighter. There were family pics everywhere, the sight momentarily overwhelming you. A huge living room to your right, and an even bigger kitchen to your left.

Sitting on the couch, you could see two other boys, who looked a lot like Quinn.

“Those are Jack and Luke,” Quinn explained, grabbing the boys’ attention. “Lukey is ten and Jack is twelve. Come say hi.”

He grabbed your hand and dragged you towards them, as you shyly hid your body behind his. You were naturally shy, not a fan of attention on you, which was exactly what you were getting, with both Jack and Luke’s bright eyes on you.

“Is this Madison?” Jack asked, pointing at you.

“Yes, actually,” Quinn said, getting out of the way so you could see them. “She’s having breakfast with us today.”

“Does she like chocolate chips on her pancakes?” Luke asked, looking very serious. You didn’t know much but it felt like that question was going to determine his entire opinion about you. And you understood him, that’s how you feel about people who put mushrooms on their pizzas. You hated them.

“I don’t know,” Quinn looked at you and smiled. “Do you like chocolate chips, Maddie?”

Maddie. Quinn would sometimes call you that, and it made your heart flutter. It felt nice to know that someone liked you enough to give you a nickname.

“Mom doesn’t let me eat chocolate,” you mumbled, looking at your hands, still intertwined with Quinn’s. “She says it will make me fat.”

“What’s the problem with that?” One of them, probably Jack, asked and you furrowed your eyebrow.

“Mom says people won’t like me if I’m fat.” You shrugged, repeating the thing you’ve heard your entire life.

Luke stood on the couch, jumping around. “That’s b-bullshit!”

“Luke!” Quinn yelled, making the boy stop jumping and sit back on the couch, head down. “We don’t say that word.”

“Sorry.” He pouted and you wanted to squeeze his cheeks.

“It’s fine if you eat chocolate once in a while, and people shouldn’t like you just because of your looks,” Quinn whispered, poking your forehead. “Do you want to?”

You thought about it for a long time, staring at Quinn’s gentle, kind eyes for a while before saying yes. Yeah. You did want chocolate.

So he cooked more pancakes for you, making sure to put chocolate chips in all of them, while you sat between Jack and Luke on the couch, watching as they watched some kind of weird cartoon and talked your ears off, acting like they’ve known you for years.

Maybe that’s why Quinn never complained about your yapping sessions; Jack and Luke were the Kings of Yapland themselves.

“Here you go.” He placed a big plate in front of you, with at least five huge pancakes on it.

“Thank you,” you said, quietly, as you cut a piece and ate it.

You closed your eyes, sighing, and enjoying the sweet taste on your mouth, licking your lips right after that. Holy cow. Not wanting to waste any time, you dived into the world of chocolate chip pancakes and ate all five of them, not even stopping to breathe.

When you finished the last bite, you put your fork down and sat back on the couch, patting your belly, not even caring about the lady manners your Mom loved to remind you of.

Only then you realized that all of them were staring at you.

“Hum,” you started, feeling your cheeks burn. “Did I do something wrong?”

“No, of course not,” Quinn said, giving you a smile. “We’re just happy you liked them. I can make more if you want.”

“No, I’m full,” you mumbled. “Thanks.”

And just like that, Luke, Quinn and Jack resumed their conversation about Hockey and games. You didn’t understand a thing, but it was funny to watch Jack trying to prove a point while his brother shouted over his words and Quinn asked them to be quiet.

That day you felt welcomed by them. Jack, Quinn and Luke made you feel wanted, in their own little weird way.

It felt nice.

[ladykailitha]

Eddie and Nancy

Just giving my brain a break from the Secret Tunnel (aka the game show) story. I still have two chapters to get through and my brain needs a cool down.

I've seen a lot of headcanons that Eddie is the Wheeler children's older half brother because of how much they look like each other.

But may I propose instead: cousins.

Hear me out.

You have first born, Elizabeth. Absolute hippie child. All about that free love, sex, drugs, and rock and roll. She learns how to play guitar, falls in with the charming and cool, Al Munson. They plan to tour the country his beat up old truck. But before that can happen, Elizabeth gets pregnant with Eddie. So she marries Al.

Then you have Karen, the younger sister. Bright, demure, absolute golden child. She dyes her hair and blows out the curls to more like waves so she doesn't look like Elizabeth anymore.

She does what she was raised her whole life to do. Get married to a good boy so they can have good children and pay taxes and never do anything fun.

When Elizabeth dies, Karen refuses to go to the funeral, hates that her name is even in the obituary at all. Then three years later when Al is sent to prison, CPS calls her first.

She's the boy's aunt. She has a comfortable home, and bringing him in would barely dent their finances. But Karen refuses. She won't have that delinquent anywhere near her children.

So they go to Wayne. Wayne who really doesn't have the space or the money to take care a little boy almost teenager. But he looks into those big brown eyes and can't say no.

They keep apart until the murders in town start in Wayne's own god damn trailer. He keeps his mouth shut when Nancy comes up to him asking about Eddie. He would like to throw it in her face that he knows who she is and that he knows full well that Karen would throw a fucking fit if she found out where her daughter was. But he won't. It's not the girl's fault her mother is a bitch.

After Vecna (and Eddie NOT dying) Nancy is sent to the attic to see if she can find some of Mike's old things to donate as a lot of Nancy's went to Holly. She finds an old trunk and though locked it comes apart in her hands. In it she finds dozens of pictures of her mom with beautiful girl with flying dark brown curls and sparkling eyes.

She smiles as she reminds her of Eddie.

Her mother calls out for her to hurry and slips one of the pictures in her back jeans pocket. Nancy closes the trunk and hurries back to her mother.

Then because Nancy can't leave a mystery well enough alone, she goes digging. All while Eddie and Max are in a coma, Nancy works on her mystery.

She finds her answer in the most unlikely of places. Joyce Byers's year book. She had it out showing her boys the outrageous hair styles they had in her day.

There two rows down from Lawrence Byers is an Elizabeth Childress. She's got ribbons in her hair and smiling brightly at camera. So full of life.

Childress.

She closes her eyes. There is no doubt this is her mother's sister. A sister Nancy never knew anything about.

She points her out to Joyce. "Oh, I remember her. Such a sweet girl. It's really too bad she fell in with that Munson boy. Or rather the wrong Munson boy."

She flips the pages and on the same row as her, is Wayne Munson staring up at her. So happy and free. The Vietnam would too soon take that from him. "That's Wayne. Such a good boy. Elizabeth would have thrived with him. But Wayne was shy and more interested in getting good grades than girls."

Joyce flips back to the seniors with Jim and Lonnie and began searching for the M's. "There." She pointed at another boy. Alan Munson. "He was trouble from the moment he was born. But he had a motorcycle and a leather jacket. Lizzy fell hard. They got married right out of high school, I heard."

Jonathan and Nancy share a look of shock.

"What happened to her?" Jonathan asks.

"Cancer," Joyce says sadly, "poor thing."

Armed with her knowledge and a borrowed yearbook, Nancy marches right up to her mother and slams the yearbook in front of her. The picture Nancy took from the attic serves as bookmark and she shoves both at her mother.

There is no denying it now. All the proof is right there in black and white.

"This is why you didn't want to join the D&D club my freshman year, isn't it? Because it was Eddie's club?"

Karen buries her head in her hands. And the truth just starts spilling out.

"And that boy is just like his father!" Karen cries. "He might have not have killed those kids but he was a drug dealer."

"To keep the lights on his trailer!" Nancy yells back. "If you and Dad had taken him in maybe he wouldn't have turned out the way he did. Maybe he be a better person."

"Or maybe he would have dragged you other children with him!"

"If you really thought that Mike wouldn't have been allow in Hellfire either!"

It's at this point Mike walks in and suddenly Karen is caught.

She breaks down and explains that Eddie had helped her with her car right before Mike started high school. So as a way to return the favor she let Mike join.

Nancy heads to the hospital and manages to get into see Eddie.

Wayne tells her only family is allowed to see him and Nancy smiles.

She knows.

Then Eddie wakes up, falls for Steve, the whole party teases Steve about keeping it in the family and Karen gets her head out of her ass and everyone lives happily ever after.

The end.

[nexus-nebulae]

wow.

[ahalliance]

qsmp francophone cubitos and their dynamic drive me wild, they all know they’re mutually lying and obscuring the truth to one another, they all know they’re keeping each other at arm’s distance, they all know they’re not as open as they once were when it was just them and the aftermath of a plane crash, but the love is still there. the worry and the concern. they pry information out of one another in supposedly subtle ways that really just convey how much they still care about each other. what’s your stance on the federation. how’s your code arm doing. even if in the end you don’t turn to me, please call out to someone. maybe looking out for yourself is looking out for others as well. i don’t know you anymore but i will protect the unknown anyway

[foxgloveinspace]

I know that it isn’t as popular as it once was, but I’m a little surprised that overwatch isn’t trending with the shit blizzard just pulled lmao.

The whole point of OW2 was that they where gonna introduce a story mode and they announced today that they are completely scrapping it. It was already Playable. People Played The Story Mode/PvE mode back in 2019, and they have decided to Scrap It.

[scalpelsister]

what if i lost the will to live like. as a joke. what then.

[reichtan]

What's my little dictator, if it's an anime I NEED to watch it NOW

its some shitty (but somehow very entertaining) dating sim where basically all the important ppl in ww2 are anime girls. it fucking sucks and i love it.

anyways it costs like 17 euros on steam. its horrible. you need to play it.

[blupengu]

Y’all is Hollow Knight hard or do I just suck because oh my god??

[butch-chastity]

one of my writing classes has us outline our stories before we can start writing and is2g my professor and i have gone back and forth like five times

[northwest-cryptid]

I literally feel like I'm dying and I need to see a doctor, but I can't worry about that right now because

My bank account is literally in the negatives because I'm too disabled to work and can't make money but I can't worry about that right now because

I'm months overdue on getting my car new tags, but it won't even start if I could drive it so I need to jump the battery and get gas which I don't have money for, but I can't worry about that right now because

People are still expecting me to be social across numerous friend groups and it's pulling me in so many directions that I'm stretched so thin I'm running on no social battery for the last month, but I can't worry about that right now because

I still need to actually clean the house, do the dishes, clean the cat litter boxes, vacuum, and do my laundry... but I can't worry about that right now because

I still need to actually set up my new desk so I can stream since I haven't been able to do that for weeks and streaming is unfortunately my only source of income for how little I make every month, but I can't worry about that right now because

My partner is going through a really hard time right now and I need to be there for her and do what I can to make sure she's okay.

[silverselfshippingchaos]

.

[peachlit]

can’t wait for the day i can get away from my parents

[rackartyg]

romancing astarion with sorrow, who by level 12 had 22 charisma and +14 to insight, was very funny.

him, 10 cha and +1 to insight: i am a master manipulator

her: yes dear

[vounoura]

the maister system and the new 'find vocations out in the world' system is...ok, but I prefer the old colour system

[mercymaker]

chilling vibing getting stuff done and then suddenly getting hit by 'why do you try so hard to make something new and good and bend yourself backwards pushing for quality when that stuff is mostly discouraged and low effort quantity-over-quality stuff is constantly rewarded'

[monty-glasses-roxy]

Bsjdhdi oh my god Eddie being like "FUCK IT" and grounding Roxy in Meteors for the first time. She just pauses, mid-crime committing, turns to look at him and just says "I'm what?"

He just said it. He didn't think too far into it at the time but once she's been arguing with him on what the fuck he's talking about for a bit, (he can't ground her! How dare he!) and she's eventually sent back to her room to cool off, he realises how fucking hard it's gonna be to actually ground her. She's had nothing her entire life! How do you meaningfully use taking something away on a (kind of) kid when said kid is only just starting to get used to having something to take away? He doesn't wanna impose any kind of old restrictions that she's still learning she doesn't have anymore! He wants her to feel like she does have freedoms, that she does deserve them and that nobody is going to take them away ever again! And taking them away again so soon, even if just temporarily, wouldn't exactly help!

Like!!! He can't just stop her from going out on the grass by the tower block to play with Cassie!!! She's lived most of her life never knowing what grass looks like or what the sunshine feels like!!! It'd be cruel to deny her of that again, even for just a day!!!! He can't take away any of the toy cars she's been excitedly digging through cereal boxes for either, cause she's only just grasped the idea that something other than her keytar can belong to her (nevermind does) and that she doesn't have to give her stuff away to nearby kids!!! Limiting her video games??? She's lived her life lacking the dexterity and strength control to play any of the arcade games she's been surrounded by constantly!!! He can't do that to her again!!!

What's left?? Deny her of her favourite cookies when Fazbear denied her adequate food and time to actually eat it during her short time in their custody as a biological being??? Stop her from going to the Plex that she's pretty much one hundred percent emotionally reliant on going to pretty much every single day??? Don't give her the pocket money she's only just learned she can use to get things she wants??? That she earns herself on the paper round she and Cassie share???

How is he supposed to follow through with this and actually ground her now that he's said he's going to? He can't bare to give her a repeat of what she's already had when she's supposed to be safe from all of that!! But if he goes back on it, he's just telling her she can get away with everything and never face the consequences of her actions. Sometimes she just wants to be a troublemaker and he feels it's good progress that she feels she has that choice, but it's his job as her guardian to somehow teach her about consequences to being a little shit and a half, he can't just let her get away with it! Especially when Cassie doesn't! It wouldn't be fair!

Eddie sat at the table agonising over what to do for ages, eventually coming up with a possible solution. The next morning, when Roxy is about to rush off to the Plex like always, she stops in the hallway. Eddie's just sat there, on a chair, against the front door, reading the paper like this is perfectly normal. She stares at him for a sec and then asks what he's doing. He explains that he promised a while ago that he wouldn't mess her around and that he'd always keep his word, which unfortunately for her, means he wasn't joking when he said she's grounded.

"What do you mean I'm grounded?! Are you just gonna sit here all day?!" Haha of course he's not gonna do that! He promised he would never stand in the way of her going home to the Plex! It would be wrong of him to do so and he can accept that! But she is still grounded...

So he's just gonna sit here for an hour and slow her down instead. If she can get through the door? Well, she earned it so good job! But otherwise? She's gonna have to wait.

Listen, she is not fucking happy. How dare he!! She'll just make him move!! He didn't say she couldn't do that so it's fair game!!

This does NOT go to plan. Eddie planned for this. His chair has been weighted with every heavy item he could cram into the bottom of it. He's hidden the key to the door in his pocket so even if she does move him on the weighted chair, she'll still have to get the key off him, which he knows she's more than capable of doing, but also knows she wouldn't think he'd have it for a good ten minutes at least. And the deadbolt at the top of the door is locked and she can't reach it unless she gets something else to stand on.

Roxy tries every trick in the book but there's fucking tungsten cubes in this chair man, she's strong as hell but that chair's not budging. How did he even move this here?! She's so frustrated with it, she's tried pushing it, pulling it, biting it, tying rope to it and pulling on that with her teeth like tug of war, getting Cassie to help, scratching at it, getting in the tiny gap between it and the door, and finally, whining with the sad puppy dog eyes as she sadly nuzzles him and tries her damn hardest to look like she's going to cry. He doesn't budge. At all.

He and Cassie are kind of enjoying this ngl. Cassie had originally been annoyed at this plan because, well, she would have had something confiscated or not been allowed out to play with Roxy later. It didn't seem fair that Roxy wouldn't get the same punishment, but nah she gets it's now. Roxy's too impatient for this not to work lmao

She's so frustrated and annoyed with it, complaining about how unfair it is while Eddie just sits there, cool as anything, and patiently explains again that it's just until the hour long timer runs out. Literally as he's automatically started reassuring her that he's not preventing her from going anywhere, just slowing her down, she suddenly yells really loudly, then shouts to Cassie at the other end of the hall that her dad sucks, dramatically falling backwards on the floor to sit there and sulk about it.

She's got a whole week of this ahead of her and she's so fucking mad about it. She's taken to just seeing how much of her annoying the shit out of him can he take before he caves and gives up. She started small by flicking elastic bands at him, hitting him with a pillow and throwing a few eggs at him. By the end of the week with him still not budging on this, she threw a bucket of paint on him, then the bucket at him in sheer frustration. This is after her master ice water plan failed along with several contraptions she came up with to move the damn chair. She's taken this as a challenge and she's throwing everything at him, but he's just not fucking budging!!

She has until the end of the hour on the last day to successfully move him and she tries everything, right up to the very last second. The timer goes off. The grounding is over. She screams in frustration, she's genuinely devastated she's lost this battle. She can't stand it! She's free to go again, and just like every other day of this, she rockets away to the Plex again to take her anger out on random shit over there.

When she's cooled down and she's back at the flat several hours later, they have to have a long chat about it. She ends up with one more day of this because of the absurd lengths she was going to all week, so she spends half of it sulking in her room and the other half whining all sad and mopey Eddie won't let her out just a little bit early, come ooonnn Eddiiieeee it's just twenty minutes it's basically nothing, pleeeaaassseee let her out now please please please she'll never dunk him in ice water ever again she pinky promises so pleeeaaasssseeee-

This man is like steel. Never in all her life has she known someone so unwilling to cave to her. Fazbear Entertainment were awful, but she knew she could make them cave if she didn't let them break her. This guy though? Not even wasting any energy trying to break her. He's just fucking sat there. He's not hurting her, he's not taking anything away from her, he's not threatening to scrap her, he's just sitting there. She can do whatever she wants, she just has to wait sixty minutes first. Not even a day, it's just one singular hour, that she could easily fill with something else if she so chose too, but she's too fucking committed now. And that was the god damn plan.

The consequences of being an asshole are that she's now actively choosing to throw an hour away on this every single day for no reason. Her efforts even mean she ends up adding to that hour in clean up. She's caught by her own hubris. By her own stubbornness. The sunk cost fallacy has claimed another victim. She's gonna win eventually, it's just a matter of when.