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dwobbitfromtheshire · 3 months

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Eddie Munson's Defense Squad the complete one shot

A/N: Halfway through writing this, I realized that I was accidentally basing Poppy on a girl I went to school whom I admired. I realize now that I had a crush on her. Different name, same personality. Also, there is a Carol in here. Her name is Carol Watson, and she's completely different from Carol Perkins.

Poppy Blake smacked her gum obnoxiously as she listened to her parents rant about Eddie Munson, the three of them sitting around the dinner table as they did so. This was complete and utter bullshit.

"You guys have a lot of nerve for talking shit about Eddie when you have no clue what kind of man he is," Poppy said. "And it's hypocritical coming from a mixed race couple who have to deal with the stares and the comments in this assbackward conservative town who can't seem to tell what year it is."

Her mother's green eyes widened. The green eyes and the freckles Poppy got from her mother. Everything else, including the hair and the dark complexion she got from her daddy. Thanks to her mom, her skin was much lighter than his. Maybe she was a bit of a narcissist, but she loved the way she looked, how she was a perfect mixture of both her parents. She especially loved how her hair had its own personality, and she was grateful that she didn't have her mother's bright orange coloring. Not that she had anything against redheads. It's such an odd shade that whenever Poppy asks if she dyes it, Clara Blake just laughs. She never answers.

"He's a drug dealer," Clara said.

"And so is Daddy," Poppy said.

"Pharmaceutical salesman," Tony said.

"They sound like the same thing to me," she replied.

"Well, Poppy, one's illegal, and one is not," Clara said.

"Weed doesn't kill people, Mom! It's just bullshit propaganda. I mean, not unless it's laced with something, but Eddie would never do that. Some of those drugs that Dad sells should be illegal," Poppy said. "I mean, alcohol is more dangerous."

"You seem to know an awful lot about his weed," Tony said, suddenly amused.

"Dad, I regret to inform you that your precious little girl smokes," she said, and Clara gasped. "Do not act like this is brand new information. You and I both know that bag of oregano that you found was not, in fact, a bag of oregano. Now, tell me why someone would kill his own customers when he could keep them alive and earn a profit?"

"That's true," Clara frowned.

"Mom, I know how scared you are, but I know he would never kill Chrissy, Patrick, or Fred. I know, just like I know that you would never," Poppy said. "Mom, you know I'm a good judge of character."

"We both know that, baby," Tony sighed. "I suppose we both did sound ridiculous."

"Thank you," Poppy said, blinking back tears. "And you know, Hellfire, despite its name, isn't a cult. They're just playing a game like the boys play basketball."

"Well, even we know that. I suppose it's the fear of the unknown that's got us so scared," Clara said.

"I totally get that," Poppy said.

"By the way, why are you so sure?" Clara asked.

"I don't know. It was the look in his eye when he talked about his mom, and it was just like pure love in there when he talked about her. I mean, he can definitely be an asshole but in the way that cousin Mark is and we all still love him. He respects cheerleaders too much to kill them, even the ones that really hate him," Poppy said.

The sound of the front door opening loudly startled the three of them. Kayla Fielding, her best friend in the whole world, ran into the living room. Her blond hair was in disarray, and her bright blue eyes were blown wide with alarm.

"Kayla, we were just about to have dinner. You're welcome to fix yourself a plate and join us," Tony said.

"I, uh, actually needed some last-minute help on a project. I read the directions wrong, and it's due tomorrow," Kayla said. "I was hoping that Poppy would help me."

"Do you mind, Mom?" Poppy asked. "I had a late lunch, so I'm not very hungry."

"Go on," Clara said, her eyes twinkling at them in amusement. "Keep the door open, though."

"Um, okay," Poppy said, looking at her mother in confusion.

They quickly moved up the stairs and into Poppy's room.

"Uh, I think your mom knows, Poppy," Kayla said.

"My mom doesn't know shit," she said, rolling her eyes. "Anyway, what's this about? Clearly, there's no project."

"I just heard that Jason has started a town wide man hunt for Eddie and the rest of Hellfire. I heard that they were heading towards that creepy looking house on Morehead Street," Kayla scowled. "This is so fucked up! Eddie doesn't deserve this, and neither do these kids. I've always hated Jason, but I never thought that he would take it this far."

"We need to do something," Poppy said. "Stop them. We need to gather the others and get some weapons."

"Do you really think we can do this?" Kayla asked.

"My parents always taught me to do what's right, to stand up for people when they needed it. Although, I think they were talking about when a kid gets bullied or something," she replied. "It fits in this situation, too."

Poppy wasn't proud of it, but she ended up breaking into her dad's gun locker to grab a shotgun that her dad taught her to use. He always wanted to make sure she was prepared. Not that he actually needed to teach her. She figured it out pretty quick. Poppy tried to hand Kayla the Smith & Wesson, but she quickly shook her head.

"I don't do guns, remember?" Kayla asked.

"Right, well, I'll just grab it for the other girls," Poppy said. "There's a baseball bat in my room. You can use that."

She zipped up the shotgun and the other gun into a bag as well as some ammo to go with it. They stood up at the same time, reminding Poppy just how much taller she was than Kayla and how much Kayla liked that.

"This is sort of thrilling," Kayla admitted, licking her lips.

"We don't have time for that, Kay," Poppy smiled.

"Right."

They quickly snuck back into Poppy's room and stuffed the bat into the bag. Poppy opened her window as quietly as she could.

"Okay," Poppy whispered. "You're going to go down the trellis first, then I'll lower the guns down to you, okay?"

"Okay, see you on the other side," Kayla said as she straddled the window sill.

She grabbed Poppy's face and pulled her in for a deep kiss. Poppy sighed and leaned into it, kissing her harshly. They both broke the kiss, breathing heavily, their lips swollen. The giddiness never really goes away whenever Kayla kisses her. It always feels like the first time. Poppy smiled as she watched Kayla maneuver down the side of her house. Using her bedsheets, she lowered the bag down to Kayla. She climbed down the trellis herself and followed Kayla into her car, placing the bag in the backseat. When she sat back in her seat, Kayla was grinning at her.

"I guess I'm your partner in crime," Kayla said, grinning. "Get it? Because I'm also your romantic partner, and we're also committing a crime by hunting down a bunch of asshole jocks."

"I fucking love you. Never stop being a dork," Poppy laughed and kissed her. "Step on it, baby."

Kayla tied her hair up with a scrunchie, turned on the radio, and sped off toward the houses of the other cheerleaders. Most of the cheerleaders would be with her on this one, seeing as Poppy was the one to spread the story about Eddie's mother. She had been the one to go to him for drugs when the others were too chicken to do it. He had been nice and funny, a perfect gentleman. Looking into his eyes, Poppy could see how sweet he was. Unlike Jason, whose eyes screamed psychopath and she wouldn't be surprised if Jason had been the one to kill Chrissy. . . and couldn't stop at just one. Patrick was one of the nice ones, the one the girls got along with most as well as the new guy, Lucas Sinclair. Steve Harrington was much the same, but she hadn't talked to him in a while. They didn't hate all jocks but enough of them got underneath their skin. There were other cheerleaders who didn't see it their way. They absolutely loved Jason and hated Eddie. They couldn't see beyond their own attraction. And if Poppy had any interest in men, then she certainly would have gone for Eddie rather than Jason.

Hungry Like the Wolf was still playing in Poppy's head when they pulled up to the creepy looking house. It sent a shiver down her spine as she looked at it. Poppy quickly handed over the bat to Kayla and the other gun over to Taylor, who didn't bring a weapon. A gust of wind suddenly appeared, and Taylor's short brown hair hit her piercing hazel eyes. There was anger there. Taylor took the gun from her and thanked her as she loaded it. Everyone else had their own weapons: bats, crowbars, and someone even had a broom handle.

"Let's kick their ass - "

A scream interrupted Poppy, and they all ran in that direction. Andy was on top of what looked like an eleven year old girl, and he was getting ready to pummel her. Oh, fuck that.

"ANDY!" Poppy yelled and raised her shotgun.

"You've got three seconds to get the fuck off of her before I put a round in you," Taylor snarled as she raised the gun.

If anyone had more reason to do it, it would be Taylor, considering he once put his hands on her without her consent. Taylor didn't even bother counting when Andy raised his fist. She pulled the trigger, and the round went through Andy's shoulder. He fell to the ground with a yell. Taylor ran over to him and pressed the heal of her boot into his shoulder. He screamed.

"I'm sorry. Should I have asked first before stepping on you?" Taylor asked.

"YOU BITCH!" Andy screamed.

"Says the guy screaming like one!" Taylor exclaimed.

"You shot me!" He sobbed.

"Yeah. I did do that," Taylor grinned victoriously.

Poppy went over and helped pull the girl away.

"Are you okay?" She asked, and the girl nodded. "What's your name, sweetheart?"

"Erica Sinclair," she said.

"Are you Lucas's sister?" Poppy asked.

"Yeah, he's inside. I think I saw Jason go in there," Erica said, looking worried.

"We'll handle it. You stay here with Carol. We like to call her Mother Hen. You'll find out why," Poppy smirked. "I'm Poppy, by the way, and that's Kayla."

Poppy and Kayla left just as Carol Watson started to fuss over Erica. They went into the stairs and went all the way up to the attic where Jason was pointing a gun at Lucas. Some girl was sitting on the floor in a trance. Lucas was pleading with Jason.

"You're lying! Chrissy would never have gone to him if she was in trouble! She would have come to me!" Jason exclaimed.

"Well, that's not just fucking true," Poppy said causing Jason to whirl around and point the gun at her. "She came to me, Jason, and then I sent her right to Eddie. All I knew was that she was stressed. She was under pressure from something. It was either her mother or you. I thought that maybe Eddie could help her."

"You sent her to Eddie? You're the reason she's dead?" Jason glared.

"No, Jason. I don't know what happened, but Eddie's not a killer. He's a good man. Better than you are," Poppy said.

"Eddie is a killer, and I'm trying to protect this town from him!" Jason yelled.

"No! We're trying to protect this town!" Lucas yelled out.

Jason whirled around and pointed the gun back on Lucas. Poppy gripped her shotgun and took a step further. Kayla did the same, gripping her bat. Lucas was scared, and all it would take was Jason pulling the trigger once. Something in Lucas's face changed.

"You know, I wanted to be like you. . . popular, but all I see now is a full blown psychopath," Lucas said.

He bent down at the right time as Jason took the shot and dove into Jason's stomach. The gun was knocked out of Jason's hand, and pretty soon, they were both throwing punches. Poppy cursed. She couldn't shoot Jason now without risking shooting Lucas.

"The Walkman!" Lucas exclaimed.

Kayla was quick. She rolled and grabbed the Walkman before Jason could stomp on it.

"What are we supposed to do with this?" Kayla asked.

"Max! Put it on Max! Running up that Hill!" Lucas yelled.

It was difficult for Kayla when Max started lifting in the air. Holy shit! Poppy reacted quickly and put the headphones on her. They stared at Max and didn't notice that Jason grabbed the gun again until he was pointing it at Lucas. Poppy pointed her shotgun at him.

"Jason! Don't do this!" Poppy exclaimed.

"You're supposed to be on my side, Poppy!" Jason exclaimed. "Instead, you're siding with these. . . Satanists."

"There are no sides! There's only living and dying. Which one are you going to choose?" Poppy asked.

Jason paused for a moment, and it almost looked like he was lowering it. His face hardened, however, and he turned the gun on her. He had chosen.

"You're Tigers!" Jason said furiously.

"Oh, honey, no. We're fucking wolves," Poppy said as she thought about the rest of her 'pack' outside. "Who protect their own."

She pulled the trigger. Jason screamed as the gun fell to the ground. He clutched his bloody hand, crying. Max fell to the ground. Lucas rushed to her side and pulled her into his arms.

"I'm okay. I'm okay," Max said, and he helped her up. "Jesus, what the fuck happened?"

"Uh. Poppy Blake shot him," Lucas said, and Max looked at Poppy in surprise.

"Most of the cheerleaders hate Jason, Andy, and Connor, but we love Eddie," Kayla said. "There are a few who refuse to look past their looks. Gah!"

Poppy shared a look with Kayla and her eyes twinkled back at her.

"Well, it's a good thing that we don't like men, baby," Poppy said teasingly.

"Hey, if I were into men, it'd be Eddie or Chief Hopper," Kayla said, and Lucas looked at her when she mentioned Hopper. "Oh, I like tall people. Preferably tall women."

"Lesbian warrior cheerleaders?" Max asked in amusement.

"Yes! I want that on a shirt," Kayla said.

They left the room, and the house with Jason still bleeding out on the floor of the attic. When they walked out of the house, they found a few more jocks had arrived late to the party. Several of them had her cheerleaders on the ground, including Taylor and Carol. Erica was nowhere to be found. Poppy made sure it was clear before shooting her shotgun off to the side. The jocks stopped and dropped them. Every single one of them were bleeding but not too terribly.

"Hey! Your leader is upstairs bleeding to death. I suggest you get him some help and get the fuck out of here before I give you matching wounds!" Poppy exclaimed.

The jocks ran upstairs and came out carrying Jason. Poppy and the cheerleaders all glared at them with weapons drawn until they drove away.

"Are all of them cheerleaders?" Max asked.

"Yeah," Poppy replied.

"Holy shit," Max said. "Does Eddie know he has his own defense squad?"

"He will now," Kayla said.

"Where's Erica?" Poppy asked.

"Shoved her into my car when those assholes showed up," Carol replied.

Erica hopped out of the car, carrying a first aid kit.

"Found a first aid kit, and it looks like some of you are you going to need it," Erica said and looked at her brother. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah."

Carol took the box from Erica and started patching everyone up. Just as Poppy was about to open her mouth to ask Lucas what the hell was all that about, an RV drove past honking loudly.

"Shit! Eddie's in that RV. We have to follow!" Lucas exclaimed.

"Alright, wolves!" Poppy whistled. "You heard him! Move out!"

They all climbed into their respective vehicles, with Lucas and Erica crawling into the back of Kayla's car. They followed the RV to the hospital where the door burst open. Steve Harrington, Nancy Wheeler, Robin Buckley came out carrying a bleeding Eddie in their arms. A crying boy with curly hair was following them.

"Oh, shit," Lucas muttered.

The group followed them into the hospital, where they delivered Eddie to the doctors. They immediately wheeled him away onto a gurney. Nancy, Robin, and Steve stared down the hallway in shock. Lucas approached the curly hair boy who was now crying.

"Dustin, what the hell happened?" Lucas asked.

"Lucas! Max!" Dustin exclaimed before pulling them both in a hug. "The bats. . .they got to Eddie! . . . Who are they?"

"Dustin, Steve, Nancy, Robin. . .meet Eddie Munson's defense squad," Max said.

"What?" Steve asked and then he squinted. "Poppy?"

"Hey, Steve. You look like shit," she said. "Now, who's going to tell me what the fuck is going on in this town?"

Two days later. . .

It was hell getting questioned by the police but in the end, what they said helped Eddie. There was too much evidence against Jason Carver to keep looking at Eddie, especially when Chrissy's diary resurfaced that revealed the bruises that Jason left behind when he dragged her around like a trophy. Chrissy wrote down how he and the other jocks had it in for Hellfire, how she tried to stop them. She even told Principal Higgins, but he didn't believe her, and when she saw the bennies in his desk, he blackmailed Chrissy. Jason Carver was arrested as were the boys who were involved in the manhunt. Principal Higgins was also arrested. It looked like they were going to need a new principal as well as a new basketball team.

"Maybe we can fill it with more nerds," Poppy nudged Lucas. "Change it from the Tigers. We can be the Hawkins Dragons or some shit."

"No, honey, we're the fucking wolves," Lucas said and Poppy laughed.

They were surrounding Eddie's hospital bed as they waited for them to wake up. They were only just now allowed back in. Of course, they allowed Wayne to spend time with Eddie, but now they were guarding his bedside along with the party. To Poppy's dismay, they hadn't been allowed their weapons. Even though all had been dealt with, Poppy still felt unsettled. She knew the court of public opinion would be the hardest to sway. She was worried that they would go after him.

"So. . .you did all of this for Eddie?" Steve asked.

"I know what you're thinking, but I'm not into dicks," Poppy said.

"Eddie's not a dick!" Steve said defensively, his cheeks turning red. "He's a great guy!"

Poppy and Kayla shared an amused look before giggling. Kayla nodded at Poppy, who nodded back.

"Steve, we're lesbians," Kayla said. "I'm her girlfriend."

"Oh, shit, sorry," Steve said, his whole face heating up.

Robin shoved her knuckle to her mouth, laughing. Meanwhile, Poppy gave Steve a knowing look.

"Me too," Robin said. "Lesbian."

"Nice," Kayla said. "Tall lesbians are the best."

"So are short ones," Poppy said.

"I'm not short, I'm just vertically challenged," Kayla said. "Gravity hates me because I'm so cute. It just keeps pulling me down."

"Idiot," Poppy said affectionately, kissing her.

"Your idiot," Kayla said.

"Well, I guess since we're all being honest," Steve said. "Bicycle. Goddamn it, I mean bisexual!"

"I don't know. Bicycle works, too. If you're into that, there's definitely riding involved," Poppy said with a smirk.

"Children present!" Dustin exclaimed.

"Hm, on the way here, you were saying that you didn't need a babysitter anymore. So which is it? Child or grown-up?" Steve asked, and Dustin closed his mouth. "Yeah, that's what I thought."

Suddenly, Erica popped her head in.

"Jock out on bail incoming!" Erica shrieked.

The squad immediately jumped into action and formed a wall around Eddie's bed. Meanwhile, Steve and Robin stood in front of Lucas, Max, and Dustin at the door. Erica looked out the door while Robin kept a hand on her back.

"Coast is clear!" Erica exclaimed, closing the door.

"Am I dead or alive? What is this?" Eddie's called out, and everyone jumped. "Why are there cheerleaders surrounding my bed? Oh God, Jason sent you to finish me off."

"First of all, if we wanted you dead, you'd be dead before you woke up," Poppy said. "And second of all, Jason is rotting in jail for his crimes and Vecna's. No bail for that asshole."

"They're your defense squad, man. They heard that Jason and the others were going to come after us at the Creel House, so the cheerleaders came and kicked their ass for you. The cheerleaders like you, man," Lucas said.

"Seriously?" Eddie asked.

"Yeah, Poppy shot Jason, and Taylor shot Andy," Lucas replied.

"You did this for free drugs, didn't you?" Eddie joked.

"Ass, I did it because I like you. Platonically," Poppy said. "You're a great guy. Bit of an asshole but a great guy."

"Why?" Eddie asked.

"The speech about your mom told me all I needed to know about you," Poppy said. "Plus, after your little meeting in the woods, Chrissy wouldn't shut up about you."

"She wouldn't?" He asked.

"Look, she's been unhappy for a while, and we've done everything we could do to help her, but when she came out of those woods, she was the happiest that I had ever seen her. You did that for her. You made her happy in her most darkest and cursed moment of her life," Poppy said, tears in her eyes. "She was our friend, and you did that for her."

Eddie was crying now, his bottom lip trembling as his eyelashes grew wet.

"She made me happy too," Eddie said. "I played for her down there, I wanted. . . I wanted her to hear me play, and a little part of me hoped that it would somehow bring her back. Stupid, huh?"

"Not at all," Poppy said.

She took his hand and ran her fingers through his hair as he cried. She would do whatever it took to protect this man and judging by the looks on the others' faces, they would too.

"Thank you," Eddie whispered.

For the first time in his life, instead of fighting against him, people were now fighting for him.

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lockedtombbrainworms · 6 months

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OK so I'm not the first person to say this, but there is some pretty nasty racism involved in the way this fandom talks about Gideon the First, and if even I can fucking see it, as a white person who's on this site relatively intermittently, it's pretty intense.

Like, I know he repeatedly tries to murder Harrow, but like, this is the Everyone Is A Fucked Up Person book series. People are very happy to go "oh, I know Ianthe did war crimes, that's why I love her" (and believe me I'm 100% down with that), but you don't then get to turn round and point at one of the relatively few characters actually described as dark-skinned in the text and say "ew, nasty stinky bastard man, he sucks!" and make meta posts ascribing all sorts of malice to him as a character just because he occasionally ran a spear through Harrowhark Nonagesimus.

Look at the guy. He salutes Harrow with a cigarette after she tries to kill him (yes that's him, nobody notices his eyes changing like they would if it was Pyrrha), he got kissed by Commander Wake at some point and apparently just fucking leaned into the fact that the enemy commander was trying to tongue him. He argues with John about what he's been told to do with Harrow and then John tells Harrow that it's all happening because G1deon has promised something to someone, somewhere and even John can't talk him around. He sits at the table with the other lyctors and when John, Mercy and Augustine start unspooling their repression all over each other over fuck knows how many bottles of wine, he shares a look of something close to solidarity with Harrow before justifiably getting upset and leaving after Augustine brings up Pyrrha. The fandom should be all over him.

And yeah, he's a mess. But that's what the lyctors are. He's a ten-thousand-year-old necrosaint who's spent most of that time either alone or with other ten-thousand-year-old necrosaints. He's gonna have a slightly skewed view of death. He's probably seen other lyctors gore each other to fuck all the time. You can't straightforwardly apply our morality to his actions any more than you can to any of the other lyctors, that's kinda the whole point of them as characters. So why have I seen several posts about how him sticking a spear in Harrow from behind is some sort of metaphor for sexual assault when there is a canonical example of fucky consent stuff in the form of Dios Apate Major to discuss if you really want to bring up that sort of stuff in your analysis?

For fuck's sake he's not even the first person in HtN to stab Harrow (that's Ianthe, in the oath scene), or to try and kill her (that's... whoever it is on the Erebos, which is definitely not ol' G1d). I appreciate this is The Big Book Of Freaky Lesbians and that a lot of the fandom isn't especially interested in the dudes, but give the man a break - I don't see people acting this way about Augustine or Magnus or Naberius.

Rant over. Knock this shit off.

#tlt meta #the locked tomb #not posting in the tlt discourse tag even though I know there probably is one because that tag is gonna be full of all manner of horrors

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nex-ture · 1 year

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Kisaki Tetta x male reader

Where they are childhood friends and Kisaki always had a crush on him but thought the reader would be disgusted so he never confessed

Until kisaki is in the hospital after Tenjiku (let's pretend he survived) and the reader storms into the room full on crying

Kisaki x Male Reader

Sometimes I forget I have a blog..this request is over a year old. When I got this request, I was an anime only, and now I've read the whole manga. I do love Kisaki, though, so I'm excited to write this!

This is my first actual fic in like..a year so, I'm sorry this is shitty. I also might have accidentally switched from 2nd person to 3rd..I did that a lot and had to fix it, though might have missed some.

MAJOR SPOILER WARNING: Tenjiku Arc

Y/n wasn't someone who really stuck out within a crowd of people. His grades were average, and nothing was really exciting about his homelife. Yet he was somehow friends with the overachiever of his class, Kisaki Tetta. Everyone knew who Kisaki was. They just didn't care. He was the nerdy little kid who's only personality trait seemed to be cowering away from any and all problems.

Kisaki and y/n were very close, and it wasn't rare for Kisaki to invite y/n over to his house for playdates or to help y/n study for the upcoming quiz. Kisaki yearned for the awaiting "Yes" every time he asked his friend. He loved hanging out with y/n more than he loved hanging out with Hinata. It was a strange feeling for him. He knew he "loved" Hinata, but, y/n?

It took a long time for Kisaki to finally come to terms with the fact that he truly did like y/n as more than a friend. He'd never really had a crush on a guy before. He never even considered two guys dating.

Even though he'd figured out his feelings, there was no way in hell he'd tell y/n how he felt. Y/n has been with him through everything. He didn't want this stupid crush to be the reason he lost his best friend.

Y/n was there for him when he was banned from Toman. He listened as Kisaki ranted about how this ruined his plans. His plans of getting Hinata and ruining Takemichis life. It saddened to y/n hear him gush about all the work he was putting towards some girl he barely even knew, but y/n would always listen.

Kisaki loved the way y/n would always listen. It seemed like y/n would follow him to the end of the world, and all he had to do was ask and ask he did. Kisaki asked y/n to join Tenjiku with him and take down Mikey. Of course, y/n didn't even give it a second thought. He immediately followed behind Kisaki.

Though the events of Tenjiku vs. Toman were not in Tenjikus favor. The death of Izana came, and to the blame of none other than Kisaki. He didn't mean to shoot Izana. He swears on it. Kisaki stayed down on the floor as Hanma came around with his bike. Y/n watched as they road off, Takemichi in tow.

Y/n quickly ran off, knowing an ambulance, and the police would be there soon. There was no point in sticking around. He had to wait patiently to hear what happened with Kisaki, after getting back home he had texted the blonde but got no response.

He knew Kisaki had the gun with him. There was no way he was in any danger. He was also with Hanma, who was well known for fighting others with no good reason.

Yet the same week, he got a dreadful call from Hanma. He could've sworn he stopped breathing when he heard Kisaki was in the hospital. He was hit by some distracted driver. If Takemichi hadn't called an ambulance, the doctors were sure it would have been fatal.

As soon as the call ended, y/n hopped off his bike and headed over to the address Hanma had sent him. Making his way through the hospital and check-ins was stressing him more out by the minute. The only thought in his head was, "Is Tetta okay?".

Finally, he could go in to visit his friend after what felt like a year. Kisaki laid staring up at the ceiling, and now the door as y/n walked in. He couldn't describe in words how happy he was to see the boy. He was fighting back tears as he tried to read what the other was thinking, how pitiful he probably looked.

Broken bones, he was broken, in body and in spirit. Y/n didn't even notice he was crying until the tears fell. He quickly went over to Kisaki, closing the door behind him. He placed his hand on Kisaki's shoulder as he saw the condition the other was in. It was hell for him. "I'm so sorry.. I wasn't there for you."

The only words he could muster out came in a low whisper as he laid his head in the crook of Kisaki's neck. Tears filling up his own eyes at the sight of y/n crying...over him? They'd been together so long that he didn't realize how much y/n actually cared about him.

His breath grew heavier as he cried loudly. He was never one to be quiet when crying. It was like he was 8 again, crying over some half asses delinquents who came to beat y/n and him up. They never even got to lay a finger on him. Yet he cried every time because they were hurting...y/n.

Y/n had always been there to protect him. He wanted to protect his friend, but the only thing he seemed to have focused on was Hinata Tachibana. When y/n was there for him the whole time. She was the only woman who spoke to him, but y/n was the only guy who cared about him.

"I.. I'm sorry.." he spoke slowly, the accident didn't come without its permanent damages. His crying slowed as y/n lifted his head to look at his. "I..I love.. you, " Tetta muttered out the phrase as the tears started up again.

His mind started racing. Why did he say that? He was going to lose his friend. He was a freak, yet why was y/n smiling...why was y/n laughing...why was y/n still touching him? "I love you so much, Tetta." Y/n always knew exactly what to tell him. He needed y/n in his life to be happy.

He turned his head slowly in y/ns direction as they stood up from his hospital bed. "R... really? This..whole time I...I thought you would leave m...me for saying that.." his words slurred as his stutter, he couldn't tell if it was from the accident or the fact his heart was beating out of his ass.

"I wanted to confess for so long -" Y/ns laughter died down as they spoke. "-but you were always talking about Hinata, so I never knew how." Y/n looked down at Kisaki with a soft smile. Tettas tears slowed as he grabbed onto y/ns hand. "I'm so h...happy." Tettas' smile was faint, but it was there. Maybe something good did come out of this terrible situation..

#tetta kisaki #kisaki tetta #kisaki x you #kisaki x reader #tokyo revengers kisaki #kisaki x male reader #hanma shuji #hanma #tokyo revengers x reader #tokyo revengers x male reader #x male reader #tenjiku #Izana #izana kurokawa #spoilers #tr spoilers #Tenjiku x reader

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acowardinmordor · 9 months

Text

My brain won't shut up about this, so maybe if I write it my brain will let me finish working and get this massive work project off my plate.

Warning for Accidental Drunken Pregnancy

Fandom loves, correctly, the idea of Girl!Steve Harrington, either as an 'always a' or trans, we're a fan. And that's good. No arguments from me there.

But I was thinking about Always a Girl Eddie. And the impact that would have. Because see, Eddie is already Wrong in a lot of ways. She's poor, she's loud, she's a freak, she sells drugs, and starts shit with bullies. She's too much in every way, and she refuses to be a girl properly. Has ever since she was old enough to express an opinion.

She didn't want to play with dolls or play house. She wanted to run through the park chasing dragons. When her parents fought, she wanted to run away and get found by the Addams family where no one would be mad at her for liking black and reading about blood and fights and monsters.

By the time she's in high school, everyone's decided she's a lesbian. She isn't. She thinks she isn't, but she doesn't get a chance to try or test or find out before the whole damn town has made it Known. Eddie doesn't wear skirts, and she doesn't style her hair, and she doesn't listen when the counselor sits her down to talk about her behavior and how she needs to try to be a bit more like other girls if she wants to get married one day. That's her junior year, which is when she snaps and, true or not, goes on a rant about being a carpet munching butch who never wants to have a husband.

Her friends don't care. They've talked to her and agree its all bullshit. Her only regret about it is that her outburst becomes fodder for the kind of bias that makes her fail two classes her senior year. It makes her fail four her second time around. PE is one of them. The teacher won't let her participate if she isn't 'dressed appropriately' which suddenly requires that all the girls have their legs shaved. Surprise surprise, Eddie is the only one that has an impact on. Wayne gets into a shouting match over it, and he wins, but not in time for Eddie to pass.

And every time someone pushes her to be more ladylike, Eddie doubles down on being a freak because she's a lot of things, but she's not a quitter. The one good she knows she manages is that barely any other girls in Hawkins get bullied all that much. Eddie pulls too much attention, and Eddie is so far off the end of the scale, it makes the minor mistakes easy to ignore.

All her friends are guys because the girls of Hawkins are scared of the witch/lesbian/succubus/whatever bs they came up with this week. There are some girls who Eddie thinks want to come talk to her, thinks she'd be friends with if she could, but any girl willingly hanging around the Freak is going to get painted with the same brush.

She showed up to every single class in her third go around, daring her teachers to fail her again when she was getting perfect scores on anything with a straight answer, and doing so well on the subjective stuff they were giving her passing grades. She had a new flock of sheep who didn't care about the rumors because she ran Hellfire for them.

After Spring Break, after they accuse her of seducing and murdering Chrissy, after Eddie walks into Mordor and is dragged out the other side. After Eddie gives everything she has for a town that hates her, the school gives her the diploma. Maybe its just because they're terrified that she'll come back for a fourth try if they don't, but she has the damn thing.

Or maybe they don't want the new freshmen to start crying when they see her scars.

After the hospital lets them all leave, and after El and Will do whatever it is they do and promise it's over for real this time, Robin, Eddie, and Harrington sit around and watch crap movies and talk. It's still June when Robin comes out to her, and Eddie has to awkwardly explain that she isn't. Supportive, in favor of it, but not sure if she's like Robin.

"But everyone heard about what you said to--"

"Yeah, she was telling me I should start curling my hair and wearing makeup so I could find a husband."

"She did not."

"Yeah. I kinda snapped."

A few minutes tearing apart that kind of thinking later, and Steve asks, "So you like dudes?"

Eddie shrugs, because she's never tested that either. A bit of leftover enmity from when he was the King and she was the Freak keeps her from admitting she's a virgin. Instead she gestures to her face and neck, the part of her chest visible around her tank top.

"Don't think that's going to matter, Stevie, not now that I look like the Wicked Witch midway through melting."

There's nothing either of them can say about that. Between her status as a murder suspect, the infection from Upside Down dirt, and how efficient the demo bat fuckers were, her scars are ugly. Not the sort of thing she's read in books that a hero learns to take pride in. Just a mess. Her smile is jacked up on the left, and while she does have both of her nipples, the one boob is significantly smaller, and lumpier than the other now.

But they're friends, and its nice. Robin didn't find a fellow lesbian, but Eddie can understand the way she feels, and they bond over it. Where Robin goes, so goes Steve, so intentional or not, Eddie and Steve get close. Help each other with scar cream type close. It would be weird if there was any universe in which Steve would ever be interested in her. Instead they're good friends, and co-conspirators against the gremlins.

Robin is starting college in the spring semester in Chicago. Steve is going with her. Obviously. Eddie hasn't agreed to anything, but she's considering it.

They have one last party at Harrington's place. The kids leave around seven. The Hellfire guys leave around nine. By eleven, all three of them are plastered, and Robin is lamenting that she's leaving Hawkins and still hasn't kissed a girl. Eddie rolls her eyes and smacks one on her. Get it over and done with, right?

After an hour of Robin flustered and babbling about 'yes, yes, yeah, I do like girls! Kissing! Kissing girls is great! Steve! Steve-o! Did you know kissing girls is great?" she passes out on the couch.

Steve and Eddie, just sober enough to know that they're all going to be hungover in the morning, close blinds and lock doors. They leave water and asprin by Robin, then chug down a glass each.

"So, did it help you figure it out? Kissing my Soulmate with a capital P? Did you figure out if you like kissing girls more than guys?"

Eddie giggles instead of answering.

"I know Rob's not kissed anyone, but if you liked kissing her you probably could tell, right? So if you liked kissing her as much as you like kissing guys, or if its not like kissing guys, then you know!"

Steve's not a dumb as the kids joke. When Eddie doesn't answer, he puts it together. "Oh. Oh shit. Eds. You and Robin were each others' first kisses? Thats so -- you didn't have to do that! And now you don't know if you like kissing girls or guys or both or neither or -- Oh!"

Eddie watches Steve come to his decision and turn, and she decides to let it happen. Steve is the only guy her age who doesn't wince looking at her face. This is probably the only chance she's got until she's old enough her skin gets all wrinkly and no one can see the scars are there anymore.

It's better than kissing Robin. There's a lot of reasons why that might be true, but none of them matter, because after that first one. After a few seconds pause. After she leans a little closer like she's asking, they don't stop.

She wakes up naked and sore, with a blinding headache and the tight-skin pain that comes from forgetting the scar cream.

Awkward doesn't cover it when they look at each other in bed. When Robin trips on her way to make coffee, it gives them an excuse not to talk about it. It's bad enough that Eddie keeps thinking about it, and excavating the fragments of memory she's got. Probably the only chance she's going to get, and she remembers barely half. She does remember liking it, and Steve liking it, and neither of them being weird about the scars because they've been helping each other with them for months now.

Once they're sober enough for it, they talk, both of them apologizing, but not really. Neither of them regret it, even if it wasn't their best idea, and Eddie starts quoting Robin's rant about antiquated concepts of virginity when Steve tries to apologize for that. It's definitely weird, but they're not going to freak out about it.

By Wednesday, when Steve and Rob are loading up the beemer to drive north before the holidays, so they could get a place with a rental discount, everyone turns out to say bye. Eddie winks at Robin again, because it still makes her blush, and it still makes Eddie and Steve laugh when she does. She gives Steve a hug, and a promise to make a decision soon about moving up with them.

Six weeks of scheduled phone calls with them, and uncomfortable talks with Wayne, Eddie has finally, finally decided to go for it. She'll still be a freak, but according to Steve, no one in the city will bother her about it unless she asks them to. He's working at a diner, and swears the bookstore across the street will totally hire Eddie if she applies. Robin loves her classes, and her part time hours at the library on campus.

It's while Eddie is looking around and opening drawers, trying to plan how to move with more detail than 'throw stuff in the van' that she notices. There's a box of pads, mostly empty, in the corner of the bathroom cabinet. It's been mostly empty since November. And yeah, her period has never been predictable, and this isn't the longest its gone, and Eddie has never cared since she wears black all the time -- but. This time she had sex.

The odds are tiny, and the image of it is ridiculous. Eddie isn't any kind of a mom. Harrington is more a mom than she is. Anyway, all that shit in sex ed about it only takes once is crap. And she remembers Steve getting out the box of condoms. She doesn't remember anything between that and getting fucked, but she definitely remembers how concerned he was about opening the foil. So there's no way. No chance. Absolutely none.

The test comes back positive, and the nurse at the planed parenthood in Indianapolis asks if she wants to hear about her options.

It's pretty easy to choose as it turns out. Easier than quitting smoking cold turkey is for sure. Hell of a lot easier than telling Wayne. It's not something she ever wanted, ever thought about or considered, but Eddie knows this is the only chance she's got. Well. Sperm donors maybe, not that she'll ever have the money for it, unless she paid a guy to keep coming around until she got knocked up.

At first, she keeps it quiet because the nurse told her about the potential problems, especially with how much Eddie drank and smoked. It's not certain, so she stays quiet. Stalls the topic of moving up. She waits an entire day for the doctor to slip her in between appointments to get an ultrasound and check. Everything looks good. Healthy. and Eddie gets on their weekly scheduled call, hears Robin and Steve laughing as they tell stories, and Eddie breaks it to them.

"What do you mean? You said you were going to move up here. I thought you said you -- Eds, what the hell? You're going to leave me alone to watch Robin's attempts at flirting? You - I thought you promised."

"Excuse you, Dingus, she needs to come up so we can watch your attempts at flirting. I'm great."

"Fun as that sounds, me and Wayne are getting out of Hawkins. Wayne has some family in West Virginia, and I can't leave him at the mercy of all those spinsters. I'll still have a phone, you know."

They move before she's showing, and Wayne never asks, and Eddie never tells, but her uncle knows who it has to be. They land in Summersville, which is a damn lie since its a blizzard when they arrive. It isn't hard to use moving as an excuse to cancel a few phone calls. Then uses a boss moving her hours working at motel as an excuse when hormones means she knows she'll start sobbing if she gets picks up the phone.

Steve gets accepted to a community college. Robin aces her exams. Eddie finds out she's having a girl. She wouldn't have spent the money to find out since it wouldn't change anything, but the planned parenthood was still worried because of the alcohol at the start.

Wayne brings it up. Eddie considers it.

Steve gets a girlfriend. Eddie stalls.

Robin calls solo because Steve is on a one month anniversary date.

Eddie abandons the idea.

She never makes a choice to hide it from anybody. It's always one moment at a time, needing to get through one more thing, one more problem, one more checkpoint, then she could say it. By the end of July it's been too long, and it would be too weird. They didn't have some great tragic romance. They were good friends who got drunk one night. And Eddie is just living up to the warnings all the guidance counselors scribbled down about her.

She's never going to be anything special. She's not going to go chase her dreams and become the Joan Jett of metal music. She's coming up on eight months pregnant, can't hide it or pretend its something it isn't. She's still loud and obnoxious. She still wears all black and chained pants and refuses to style her hair in anything more complex than a ponytail. She's still mauled by monsters and scarred.

She's never going to be marriage material, and never wanted to be anyway. She can be a good mom though. Not a normal mom. Or a traditional one. She's probably going to end up punching someone at a pta meeting. But she can be a good mom for her daughter, whoever her daughter wants to be as she grows. And if that means she has to learn about ballet and glitter and my little pony, then she will.

Steve and Robin ask about a visit before their classes start since they'll have to do calls every other week now. They offer to drive to West Virginia, or buy Eddie a bus ticket. Eddie manages to dodge that bullet.

She dodges another when she starts contractions while on the phone with them, and plays it off like she has heartburn. She cries when she holds her daughter thirty hours later, smiling broad enough that the scars on her face hurt nearly as bad as the rest of her.

She gets good at sewing together a patchwork lie. Gets Wayne to take Lulu out for a walk during calls. Swallows the guilt when Steve talks about his girlfriend, Amy, who wants to have kids. Stares down the pediatrician who raises an eyebrow at her daughter's name.

It's awful. It's wonderful. It hurts more to do it alone than Eddie could have imagined, but she still can't bring herself to say it. Not because she thinks Steve would hate her for it . He wouldn't. One look at Stephanie Luthien Munson -- Lulu -- and Steve would know. And Steve would stay. And Steve would give up his classes and his girlfriend and his hope for his perfect family. Eddie has always known she's not what anyone is looking for.

So Eddie gets good at dodging questions, and explaining away noises in the background, and finding very reasonable excuses not to come out to visit. Very good at it.

She makes it to June of 1989, when her best friends decide it's been too long, and show up for a surprise visit.

Eddie was right though. It only takes a glance at the toddler on Eddie's hip as she opens the door for both of them to know.

#Female Eddie Munson #apparently #this is neither the thing I wanted to be writing (FTB)#nor the thing I needed to be writing (Massive Spreadsheet)#so file complaints with whatever muse popped in with this infection #and if its your muse who did this to me #come collect them #I do have strong feelings about Eddie as a girl though #bc the extra layer of societal expectations she would flip off?#the layer of predatory lesbian they'd paint her with #also im pretty sure this Eddie's gender is “Why does everyone care so much?”#and her sexuality is somewhere on the ace spectrum #Accidental Pregnancy #Pregnancy

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nnnyxie · 1 year

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if tumblr eats this, i will personally get Very Serious. (threat)

here's raphala's role in the saga through my brainstormin'! i hope you do enjoy my little poetic tidbits here n there - - i'm unfairly (/lh) hooked on the dumpster child contatenation jsjsj

‧₊˚ ☁️⋅♡𓂃 ࣪ ִֶָ☾.

raph ❤

Raph, who worries that his hulking stature will frighten you even further when you arrive at the Lair and into their lives.

Raph, who has to subdue his quickly surfacing anger when he spots all the wounds you're mottled with; not just physically, but mentally. No child's eyes should be so dim.

Raph, who swears on all that he is, has, and will ever be that he will protect you.

Raph, who has the final decision in what to do with you; he wanted to take you in just as much as his siblings did, no doubt about it! But ultimately, it was your choice. So, with crossed arms and a set expression, he resolutes the discussion. All they had to do was wait for you.

Raph, who glares at Leo and Mikey arguing over preparing your meal in the kitchen as April and Donnie lead you into the living area, and snips at them to cut it out and hurry it up, they're COMING!

Raph, who gives you one of his stuffies in hopes that it will bring you a comfort they somehow wouldn't be able to provide, and grins brighter than the sun when you accept it with a small "thank you, mister" instead of cowering away from him like he half-expected you to.

Raph, who doesn't try to hide the thumping of his tail behind him, the sound of it echoing through the living area when you agree to stay with them, even if you seemed hesitant — that just makes him want to protect you all the more.

Something in his chest warmed as he gazed at your small figure, something like pride and recognition. His ninpo seemed to glow for just that moment. Whatever this was, it ran deeper than all of them primarily recognized. You ran deep past surface level. And despite everything, he was okay with that.

Raph, who – even when you're fairly settled in – walks on eggshells around you, on-edge at the intrusive thoughts that he may somehow hurt you. Always treating you gently, as if you were made of glass. You were a barely sprouted flower bud, a lot like one of his more delicate plushies. Something— someone to be treated with care.

Raph, who positively blanks and sputters at your upfront [yet wonderfully respectful] attitude when you confront him out of the blue one day about this wrong, to right. You make him realize that he's not going to hurt you.

The whole clan is remarkably gentle with you but Raphie's really the only one who treats you as significantly fragilely as he does— maybe it was more significant given that he was an actual giant but. To you? It was no different from the way your own father used to hold and protect you. Protect you from every bad thing if he could help it. But he protected you from other things. Outside dangers. Ranging from the monsters in your closet to the sketchy dudes that hung around too close at the park and falling debris caused by rampaging evil chewed-up bubblegum robot aliens. Raph? Raph was 'protecting' you from himself. Raph wasn't a monster. —and in your young, passionate eyes, it isn’t fair! Not to you, and certainly not to him.

Realistically, you know he’s just being cautious; you weren’t stupid. Far from it, incidentally. And maybe you were a little more wary around him first time round, but then. You got to know him. You spent time with him. He was so, so kind to you. He made you feel safe. They all did.

–but Papa Raphie was different too. Just that little bit.

He deserves to take up space, you rant on —arms gripping the very plushie he had gifted you the day you met— he's just fine the way he is, he can relax. He was here long before you came around, so. So- so he can do whatever he wants! He doesn’t have to act like that! You want him to be comfortable, whether it be around you or not, and you’d rather not see him finally keel over backwards just because you decided to stand close to him! He was just right and needed to act like it! … Please?

Raph may have given you a wobbly smile and hearty laugh, rubbed your head and agreed wholesomely, if only a bit taken aback, before taking you and the rest of the gang out for pizza. But don't be fooled! He wept real crocodile (BAHAHAAAA ) tears that night. He didn’t know who you were or where you came from quickly remedied by Donnie’s nosy techie self and his myriad of specific tracking apps, more of less which would be considered illegal in most places , but he felt it. You were just right too. Here, with them? It was just right. And he was mighty fine with that.

Raph, who carries you and will let you lead him around whenever and wherever you please!!; he'll read you bedtime stories while you rest on his chest because the deep rumble of his voice lulls you to sleep; he immediately recognizes if/when you (are) get(ting) overwhelmed and takes charge to ensure your comfort so you can have a moment to yourself; needlessly said— he spoils you absolutely rotten.

. . . but he also gazes on with pride and fondness as you stay true, humble, and respectful to a fault. You truly were a good kid.

Raph, who is just about ready to utilize any and every dangerous aspect of his mutated being when you're put in the slightest compromised situation. He'll snap and snarl and roar at any and every potential threat, then when all is said and done, will turn back to you with a warm smile and serene gaze. Head pats and snuggles galore.

He's terrifying. Try him. He dares you.

But what's so great about him is that he can do both. He can turn and defend you from every evil thing (and teach you how to hold your own as well! He knows he won't be there forever) just as well as he can scoop you up in his arms and cradle you in an all-encompassing hug, murmuring sweet comfort and promises all the same, if only to lift your downed spirits. As much as the thought that he won't be around to shield you from everything forever pains him, he knows it's inevitable, and he knows just how brightly you shine. You will thrive, with them and then all on your own. He doesn't want to stifle that.

He'll always be with you, he murmurs into your hairline. Papa will always be right here for you. Your family will always be here for you, okay?

Raph, who cries and squeezes you in one of the safest, tightest, warmest, biggest hugs of your life when you surprise him with an adorable plushie that you sewed all by yourself for the holidays! ((Father’s Day, Valentine’s Day, or his Birthday/Mutation Day - you pick whatever you like! ;3 ))

… Well, the others might have helped a bit a ton but it was your idea! He loves you so, so much.

Raph, who's prime Mama Bear material when it comes to you. You're his precious cinnamon bun who could do no wrong!! . . . But when you do make those oopsies from time to time because we’re not perfect and make mistakes and that’s okay 😌, Raph’s the one you think of right after April.

He instills very strong principles in you early on; you already have such an unshakeable sense of justice with a nigh-unbreakable spirit to match, so he doesn’t have to do much. He's there to gently but firmly correct any minor misbehavior and give you that strong shoulder to lean on when you need it.

Arguably, he's one of the main reasons your sense of justice is even more solidified, and you carry his lessons long after you grow up and venture out and become your own person. He adores how strong you are. Tough, playful, and unique, you never fail to make him proud. And yet you're never too old or "cool" (as they like to gently tease) for Papa Raph to love and dote on.

You love and dote on him too, and he tears up at the wonder of how they were blessed with a miracle such as you.

"Raphie loves you, little one. You know that, right? . . . Yeah, that's what I thought. Cheeky little slugger."

✎﹏﹏﹏﹏

*bawls in desperate need for a bear hug from raphie*

₍ᐢ . ̫.ᐢ₎♡₍ᐢ. ̫ .⑅ᐢ₎ CEEEJEEEE BAEBAYYYYY I HOPE YOU LIKE IT!!!! tell me your thoughts i need them like a good piece of buttered toast :3 (/hj)

ITS THE WAY I CRIED WHILE READING THIS /GEN

raph would treat you as if you were a piece of expensive art work !!! he’d treat you as if you were the mona lisa (hahah see what i did there) and protect you with all his might !!!

he keeps the plushy you made him with him at all times. he carries it with his weapons and always gives it a light squeeze before going out on patrol or fighting.

raph is just the best father figure to you and you utterly adore him !!!

#rottmnt x reader #tmnt x reader #rottmnt raph x reader #raph x reader #rise raph x reader #rise raph #kid reader

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banjomelodies · 6 months

Text

Spoilers (since I recently rewatched Scaras videos and saw comments about the Nameless Child) (+unintentional Ei rant)

I remember seeing a lot of people question Scaramouches whole thing about holding a grudge on a dying child, but, honestly, as an immortal being that was still learning for the most part at the time, I think it makes sense. He mentions in his character stories that he wasn't aware a human could deteriorate and pass on in a single night. To him, he believed he had so much more time. They had made promises, he cared for that child, showed him the home that once imprisoned him. And if you really think about it.. he didn't really witness death like this until now. He never saw Niwas body, and I don't know if he ever actually saw the bodies of the various workers in Tatarasuna when they finally passed away, as he also mentions that he didn't expect to be flooded with a negative emotion upon witnessing death (though granted, his relationship with the Nameless Child would obviously be drastically different than the random acquaintances of Tatarasuna, so there's just a chance that he really didn't get hit by heavy emotions).

All that he was aware of was that he was alone again. Ei abandoned him, and he only knew that Niwa supposedly ran away and left him alone, and then the child he treated as family left him too. Grief forms in so many different ways, and anger at things around you, or the person who is deceased, can be a common part of it. There's anger at being abandoned, anger about how life suddenly changed.. so many different factors go into it. And instead of being able to handle that anger in better ways, he found himself burning down a building, and attempting to off himself in the flames, and when he lived and tried to keep going with a newfound fear and hatred towards humans who only ever broke his expectations, or had the potential of only hurting him more, he landed in a group that took advantage of and fed that anger.

Scaramouche never had the chance to properly grieve or figure out how to handle emotions that were still new to him at the time. Him having a grudge on Niwa, Ei, and The Nameless Child makes sense, as it's all he knew. There was never anyone there who actually tried to properly help him. In his brain, he was abandoned again, and again, and again, and it eventually just spiraled into a hatred for other people.

I know a lot of people don't usually go for the "I'm going to try to analyze the characters emotions!" route when watching videos about things like this, since, obviously, why would you. But, there are legitimate reasons as to why Scaramouche would be mad at someone for dying, and it's a sucky situation all the way through. But the best thing is, he probably finally got over the anger he had on Niwa and The Nameless Child upon becoming The Wanderer (I don't care what anyone says he doesn't owe Ei any forgiveness - Her situation was straight-up just child abandonment. Which, yeah, sure, she was doing it because she didn't want to control him, and wanted him to live his own life without her interference, but you couldn't just like.. leave him a note explaining that? Check on him once in a while? Hell, even drop him off in civilization that'd love and care for him? You imprisoned him for who knows how long in a domain that probably just felt mind-numbing as everything was always the same until he was finally broken free from it. You say you didn't want to interfere with his life, but then threw him into a situation where his life would've sucked and been non-existent as he could only just stare at walls and trees. Unless she was just gunning on humans to break him out to give him an actual meaningful life, considering he didn't have his strength at the time. But this isn't a Raiden Ei being a shitty mom rant post, so uh!!)

Ignoring my Ei rant for a second. I hope this was. A decent read. Despite how short it is. I always loved analyzing Scaramouche as a character, so making posts about his backstory is very fun.

#genshin impact #scaramouche #wanderer genshin impact #wanderer #I don't really know what else to do for tags but #I still find it interesting that Scaramouche did genuinely view the Pavilion as a 'prison'. He calls it that multiple times.#he considers it home #but he also fully recognizes the fact he was not there of his own will. and that he was in fact locked away #(correction: i actually think he only refers to it as a prison once my bad)#(i don't want to delete all my tags to correct it)

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ihavenocluedude · 2 years

Text

Lost in admiration

Eddie Munson x Gender Neutral!reader

Link to reading this on Ao3 Link to my main masterlist

A/N - I don’t mention any pronouns as far as I know so I think I can call this gender neutral but what the heck do I know. Title sort of taken from the song Head over Heels by Tears For Fears. Although not really inspired by it. Except maybe the vibes?? I’ve seriously been working on this for days now and my brain is beat. I am so in love with Eddie Munson though so it’s worth it.

Sort of inspired by these two tags I wrote in a reblog of an Eddie Gifset :

Warnings - Swearing (a lot of internal anxious swearing especially I guess but also in dialogue, which is also mostly in the anxious dialogues), crushing on someone for years, mentions of drugs and alcohol, drinking, I’m kind of scared this is OOC... so like hoping it isn’t but warning that it might be

Word Count - 5.7k

”So, you’re having a party on Friday?” This had been going on for 3 days now, the near-constant questioning.

Several people coming up to you at any time they themselves figured was a good time to ask this very question. And now even fucking popular douchebag star of the basketball team Jason Carver was speaking to you. Seemingly trying to work some sort of charm that you bet several of the cheerleaders had fallen victim to.

”There’s no party.”

”That’s not what the entire school is saying y’know? Parents gone, a whole house to yourself, don’t be selfish.” As if any of that would change your mind to actually liking parties and wanting to have a bunch of strangers in your home.

”I know.” You chuckled sarcastically before continuing ”But, y’know… no one in this school except for me actually lives there so, it’s my right to decide. No party.”

”So… no party?”

”Exactly. Spread the word, jock.” Thankfully, he stepped away from your lunch table after that. ”I hate this.”

”You don’t hate this.”

”Robin. I hate this. Someone literally almost stopped me in the grocery store yesterday, with my mom next to me! They’re not even away yet. And it wasn’t even me who told the masses that I’d be home alone this weekend.” You ranted in anguish before letting out a small groan, your volume rising slightly during your rant, making several of the students in the cafeteria look over at the two of you.

”I am sorry for telling Steve…”

”I know.”

”I didn’t think he’d-”

”Robin, it’s okay. It’s fine. It would’ve spread around anyway. Apparently, Steve was not the first to start spreading the word. Someone heard us talking the other day and didn’t hear all of it, so they assumed, like they always do.”

Your parents had told you the weekend before they were going to be away. Told you that they trusted you not to do anything stupid, have at most just three friends over, and to try not to mess up the house whilst they were gone. They hadn’t told and taught you the wise lesson that it’s wise not to mention this information in school or to tell your best friend not to tell anyone including her still somewhat new friend Steve Harrington.

Formerly known as King Steve. More recently known as the guy who had a thousand dates lined up but nowhere to take them to. Hawkins wasn’t exactly the most… eventful place unless you count the horrifying events that you’d thankfully and unthankfully gotten to know about through Robin’s rants to you about it after she got pulled into it all.

And Steve couldn’t possibly bring all his dates to the makeout spots like Lovers’ Lake or Skull Rock. No no no, that would be completely ridiculous. So when he heard Robin mentioning you being home alone for the weekend, aka a possibility for a party he could take a date to, he’d just ran off to the phone to start calling numbers. He isn’t the guy to force a party upon you but… he ’accidentally’ was anyhow.

”Would it be that bad if you had a party?”

”Are you offering to clean up the house with me the day after?” You asked mostly sarcastically. Even with trying to turn everyone and anyone away from the idea that you were having a party… It was sort of starting to grow on you anyway.

The ’classic’ high school experience was just there right in front of you, why not appreciate it? Besides if you didn’t you’d have to open your door every five minutes on Friday and tell them ’no, there isn’t a party here, listen for a second… you hear that? complete silence’ anyway by the way this had spread… so why not instead actually just let them in.

”Sure.”

”Really?”

”Why not?”

”Am I really going to have a party just because of group pressure?” Robin’s smile was ridiculously infectious and even as you said it you felt your lips quirking up into a small smile.

”Not just. He would totally come.” AND she’d won you over completely. You knew exactly who she was talking about, because who else would she be talking about with such inflection in her voice.

Before you knew it you had stood up on the lunch table dramatically as he himself has done before. Clearing your voice in a showy way before almost screaming to the cafeteria ”I CHANGED MY MIND! MY HOUSE THIS FRIDAY, PEOPLE!”

You should’ve known to regret those sentences by the way the basketball team table started cheering. Fuck. But then whilst you were getting down off the table, desperately averting your eyes from the popular table, your eyes just quickly locked on him for a second. The usual jean vest & leather jacket duo, and the Hellfire club shirt proudly presented under them. But more importantly, his eyes on you too.

”Well, that was nice.”

”Do you think he’ll still come if Jason and his league of basketball douchebags come?”

You knew that he wasn’t that into parties in general. But he showed up sometimes. You weren’t really a party person yourself but if Eddie ’The Freak’ Munson came to the party, you’d hear about it the day after usually. Some of them he just attended because he knew he could sell a lot, bringing along his little lunch box-y thingy.

But… in this situation, you also sort of had a contact that could perhaps convince him to come. Hopefully.

The video store wasn’t necessarily your favorite place in Hawkins, but it wasn’t all that bad. You’d hang out with Robin whilst she worked sometimes, which led to actually getting to know Harrington a bit. There were movies galore, you had a pretty good friend discount, and Robin would tell you when something you’d maybe want to rent or buy would come in. But none of those reasons were why you entered the video store along with Robin right after school that afternoon. Almost rushing up to Steve Harrington, a somewhat pleading look in your eyes already.

”I need you to pass on a message. Well, not a message per se… I just-”

”Out with it.”

”I want you to make Dustin convince Eddie Munson to go to my party. Without making it all- fucking- obvious.” You were jittery, nervous, and still just a tad on edge from your earlier announcement at lunch. And Steve’s immediate reaction to start laughing at what you just said did not help your on edge behavior. ”Steve, I’m serious.”

”Eddie ’The Freak’ Munson?” He scoffed once he’d calmed down his laughing enough to get words out, but then turned quiet for a few seconds as he saw your anxiousness. ”Are you… No way! You’re into Freaky Eddie?”

”Steve! Shut up!” You muttered with wide eyes, quickly glancing around the store to thankfully see no customers your age in the store at the moment. ”Can you do it?”

”It’s up to Dustin but I can ask him.”

— ~~~ —

All in all… it wasn’t a big deal. The thing about Eddie, your thing for Eddie. But it had started years ago.

It could all be traced back to middle school. But you wouldn’t call what you felt back then a crush. It was more like… an admiring kind of intimidation and jealousy.

He was just so himself.

You felt like you were still deciding if you were an actual person and there he was so… fully formed. He’d already started his rock band with his friends, been so passionate about music it almost made you sick, and had a sick buzzcut at the time. And he was older. He seemed so mature and grown sometimes although he was probably nothing of the kind.

It wasn’t like you ever talked to him, the intimidation was just… too much. He went off to high school whilst you were stuck in middle school for two more years without him and by then he’d slipped away from your mind a little. Well until you saw him again at least.

Once you caught up to high school with him he was in his junior year. Just two more years until you’d probably never see him again, at least that’s what you thought.

Freshman year was… easy. It wasn’t quite the same awestruck admiration you’d had for him when you were younger. And you hadn’t yet quite seen him like you would come to see him the year after. Once entering your sophomore year, the year of his first senior year, you realized that the feelings you felt towards him had definitely developed more… romantically?

Without ever speaking to the guy, without ever actually interacting with him, it had still developed.

He had started growing out his hair from the buzzcut the year before, the shaggy curly hair growing quickly and just almost reaching his shoulders at that point. And you noticed that you’d never really noticed his eyes before. For a guy who seemed so unreserved and called a freak, his eyes were just really calm in a way. Yet so expressive, warm, and just beautiful. And although you’d never really mention it to anyone, not even Robin, he was adorable. And hot.

But you had to be honest with yourself after all. That was his senior year. He’d leave Hawkins and probably never come back after that, at least that’s what you’d heard the plan was. And you were… glad.

Maybe you could stop feeling like some school girl with a silly crush on the ’bad boy’ of the school. Maybe you could stop feeling as if he was just everywhere you went in Hawkins, just because your brain seemed to feel like it meant more seeing him than seeing any other schmuck in this school or person in this world. Maybe you could stop fantasizing about joining his club just to get the courage to actually talk to him.

Then he was held back.

And it all just snowballed. The feelings grew more intense and testified to the fact that you really never were going to speak to him out of your own volition. Not even if you tried joining The Hellfire club, because how on earth were you going to speak to him whilst under the pressure of the game too?

And now you had agreed to host a party partially because Robin told you he’d come. It wasn’t even guaranteed. It was just speculation and your heart jumped out of your chest and told your brain it was a good idea, even when in afterthought it felt like the most stupid thing you’d ever done.

— ~~~ —

You’d thought about if you’d actually get the courage to speak to Eddie at the party. Would what people call ’liquid courage’ actually give you courage? You weren’t a party person yourself, you didn’t know the proper etiquette, and you definitely didn’t feel like you had whatever you thought you needed to speak to Eddie Munson. Which felt silly considering Freshmen speak to him daily.

You hadn’t ever talked to him thus far, why would it happen at the party?

This was the question you were both asking yourself as much as you also were protesting it. You obviously wanted to speak to him. And hey, why not? It would be more casual at the party, perhaps liquid courage is actually courage, and hey maybe unicorns do exist?

It all just felt so ridiculous that you questioned why you were thinking about it this much anyway. A loop in your head with the intermittent ’you should think about all the other great things about this party!’. And still, it was on your mind the whole Thursday school day.

”Hey!-shit. Hello?” The question had been clouding your mind enough to first not even notice the person who’d called after you. ”Can you stop walking please?” Or at least seemed to be calling for you. You turned around before answering, hoping to see that it wasn’t yet another person asking about the party and instead someone calling after someone else.

And there he was. Seemingly actually calling for you.

Taking a breath and clearing your throat before answering, ”Y-Yeah?” if you hadn’t it probably would’ve sounded more like a whisper.

”You’re having a party tomorrow right?” A quick nod in response as you don’t fully trust your words, barely even trusting your facial expressions in this moment. ”Could we talk for a minute?”

”Yeah sure absolutely.” You were talking to him. What the fuck was going on.

”Not… in school preferably.” He clarified, hoping that you’d get what he was signifying. You gave a slower nod before gesturing with your thumb over your shoulder towards the way you were headed out of school, him giving you a nod back to say that he’d follow you. Walking up beside you as you then walked side by side through the halls.

”I could… I could drive you home or something and we could talk about it on the way?” He suggested sort of stumbling through the sentence, your shy and quiet demeanor because of being flustered evidently being somewhat contagious.

”Uhm… well, my friend is supposed to pick me up. But… yeah sure?

”Oh, I should’ve known, you can still go with… them. We could just talk tomorrow?”

”No, it’s fine, really.” You insisted whilst simultaneously trying as hard as possible not to constantly look up at him. To get to see his eyes up close or see if he had that smile you’d only get to truly see when he was making a spectacle of himself somewhere in the school. Instead, you allowed yourself a few short glances before averting your eyes to the way you were going.

Whispers from other people in the hall somehow already started going around about the two of you as they saw you. But soon enough Eddie’s voice cut through them as he spoke to you again.

”So, Steve right?”

”Huh?”

”The friend picking you up?”

”How’d you know?” Your eyebrows furrowed slightly in response although quickly trying to unfurrow them to not seem as desperate for the answer as you actually felt. Running your fingers anxiously over your forehead lightly before running your hand over your hair and then dropping it to your side again.

”Well he picks you up sometimes right?”

”Well yeah but-”

”And I know Dustin who knows Steve so…”

”Right. Of course.” Somehow it had never truly come up in your mind that Eddie could know who you were. That he had heard about you from Dustin or others, that he could’ve had thought about you too whenever you two saw each other around Hawkins the last couple of years. ”I just have to tell Robin that I’m going with you instead and then we can go I guess.” You sort of sighed out when the two of you stepped out of the school, trying to take deep breaths but still feeling like you were somehow failing.

Once outside Robin was thankfully the first thing you saw. Not that she was close by but rather that your eyes knew just as well as your brain to seek her out when anxious. Your safe person.

”I’ll just go wait in my van.”

”I- I don’t know which one’s yours.” It wasn’t completely true, but it wasn’t false either. You’d seen him arrive at school once or twice at the same time that you did and although you had picked up that it was a van… you’d mostly been focused on the driver rather than the car or really trying not to look.

But even though you knew you’d embarrass yourself more by trying to find it later without knowing what it looks like… you found yourself regretting saying that anyway. Because right after you said it, he got closer to you, made sure he was on the same eye-level as you, and then pointed it out before noting; ”It’s… that one.”

Shivers. down. your. spine. Mouth slacking slightly open before quickly snapping it shut. Breathing in deeply through your nose, although regretting that instantly as well.

He was barely doing anything but being somewhat close to you, body heat radiating from him, his arm pointing over one of your shoulders towards the van that sat just a small distance away, his head lingering quite closely by yours on your other side.

But considering you’d pined for him for over two years, been admiring him, and been intimidated by him for even longer, it felt like… nothing else. Not to talk about the fact that you got a heavy dose of what he smells like, heavenly by the way, when you breathed in through your nose.

”I- I see it. I think. I’ll be right over. I just- see you later.” You managed to get out before directing your eyes back to Robin and walking quickly towards her. Her eyes were wide and already looking at you, definitely having seen what just happened, your eyes instantly shooting daggers back at her as you knew that Eddie would be able to see her expression if he looked over.

And although she was your safe person you once again couldn’t stop the incessant overthinking going on in your head as you walked towards her.

Eddie must think that you’re terrified of him or something by the way you’ve averted your eyes, stumbled and stuttered your way through the conversation, and the anxious behavior overall. OR he knows, he’s noticed and he knows. Either way; Fuck fuck fuckity fuck.

”So, what the hell was that?” Robin asked a teasing grin on her face that probably wouldn’t stop even if you begged her not to smile like that ’because it’s making it obvious’.

”I- uhm… he wants… Eddie- he wants to talk about the party, I think. He’s sort of driving me home.”

”What?”

”You can literally not make a big deal out of this right now, I’m freaking out and he’s probably looking at us or something. I can’t look-” You started ranting, your last few words catching Robin’s attention as she decided to glance his way instead, your hand immediately going up to her jaw to push her eyes back to you ”Robin! You can’t either, are you crazy?”

”Somewhat.”

”What the fuck do I do.”

”You think I know anything about that?”

”I don’t know! Where the fuck is Steve when we need him?” And almost as if summoning a demon, you apparently summoned Steve by just saying his name, his car rolling into the nearest parking spot to you and Robin before quickly half getting out one foot in the car and the other on the asphalt. ”Oh, thank fuck.”

”How did you do that?” Robin chuckled before looking over at Steve. ”Hi Dingus. Look like it’s just going to be the two of us.”

”Really? You don’t need a ride?” Steve asked, directing the first question to Robin before looking at you and tilting his head the way it feels like he always does when asking something.

”Getting a ride by Eddie Munson.” Robin answered, louder than needed and with the same teasing grin as earlier. Throwing her stuff in the back seat before assuming the Steve Harrington Position of one foot in and one foot out.

”I thought you’d never spoken to him before?” Steve questioned, thankfully much softer and not as loud as Robin. You walked closer to the car hoping that fewer people might be interested in the talk the three of you were having and not having to talk as loudly. Or at least not as loudly as Robin thought she needed to for you to hear from that small distance away.

”I haven’t. Not until today, he was sort of waiting on me outside the classroom by the end of my lesson I guess?” And it still felt like one of your dreams or fantasies, although with a lot more anxiety.

”And you’re getting in a car with him?”

”I trust him. I mean hasn’t he like driven Dustin sometime or something? He trusts him too! But uhm… I need… Like- What the hell do I do? Like how do I act?”

”Why are you asking me?”

”Because you know about these sorts of things! I’ve seen you at the video store. C’mon now Harrington, lay it on me, tell me how I’m supposed to act.”

”Haven’t you been there during all the talks we’ve had with Robin about her crush? Be yourself!”

”Yeah fine whatever, but you can’t just do that, right?” The former king of Hawkins High had to have some sort of advice other than the totally cliché thing that Robin had said first.

”What, do you mean flirting?”

”I guess?” Although the nervous feelings from before weren’t gone, you found yourself a lot calmer around Robin and Steve. Eyes not averting as much except looking over at Robin from time to time and once or twice glancing over at the van to see that it’s still there. Just looking at the hulk of the van though and not even daring to look through the front window of the car in fear that you’ll lose all your calm within just a microsecond or something.

”Listen. Calm down. Go sit down in his van and just talk for now. You can save the flirting for when you’re drunk, it’s easier.”

”That last bit sounds sort of like bad advice, but what the hell.”

Robin and Steve drove off and you made your way over to the car, sparing one single glance through the front window to make sure it was Eddie sitting there, which thankfully it was. And thankfully you didn’t lose your complete cool by just looking at him, progress.

”Hi. Sorry that took a while.”

”It’s okay.” Eddie’s answer was short and simple, his voice as smooth in tone as you’d always thought it was. ”That conversation looked intense?” shit

”Uhm… yeah, no. It was nothing.”

”So, not about me?” Eddie questioned that wonderful smile on his face, obviously lightly teasing you. Testing the waters.

”No, no. About the party.” You chuckled back in response with a shake of your head, it wasn’t technically a lie, the party was sort of mentioned. Steve had told you to leave the flirting to the party. Eddie still hadn’t started the car. The two of you talking in the quiet of his van although with the echo of the conversations of students getting out of school just outside.

”I know Harrington doesn’t like me.”

”Harrington doesn’t know you.” It came rushed out before you could even stop yourself, ”Not that- not that I do… I just-”

”No, I get it. That’s… sweet.” Finally, albeit your feelings were a bit mixed over it, he started the car and started getting out of the parking lot, driving out into Hawkins. ”So, about the party. I was thinking that I’m gonna go.”

”Great.”

”Yeah?”

”Do you want to come?”

”Do you want me to come?”

”Yeah. Sure.”

”Could I- You do know about my ’part-time job’, right?” You didn’t know where to look but looking over at him, you found your eyes meeting his just as he was gesturing the quotation marks with his right hand, nodding in response once again. ”Can I sell at your party?”

”Why not? I won’t be- But I don’t mind.” You explained with a shrug and a shake of your head, once again stumbling through your words. Kept your eyes on him for a little while, appreciating the moment whilst you could, and finding out that he glanced over ever so often. But when looking out the front window you realized you were getting pretty close to home. ”Do you know where I live?”

”Everyone’s sort of been shouting your address all over the school the last few days. It would be hard not to.”

”That’s really… uncomfortable honestly. The whole thing of everyone knowing where you live? I felt pretty much invisible before all of this.” You winced, had people at school really been that vocal about a party? ”I won’t get like… weird shit happening to me right?”

”They’ll probably forget as soon as they’re there.”

”Really?”

”Absolutely, you’ll be safe.”

— ~~~ —

”So this is going well so far, right?” You asked with your back leaned up against a wall in the entry hallway next to Robin, drink in your hand. The door stood wide open and ready for the next horde of teenagers to come in and crowd your living room, kitchen, and whatever else they wanted it seemed. ”I mean… we’ve got a crowd, Steve seems pretty happy over there with Heidi or whoever, they all seem to enjoy the music? And I’m like… tipsy for the first time in a long time.”

”You’re past tipsy, but yes. Everything seems pretty good. Except for one thing. You haven’t talked to him.”

”I said hi?” You defended yourself. But you couldn’t even defend yourself that much cause you knew you wanted to, you needed to. If you had been sober you would’ve felt completely ready to go somewhere else and hide from the situation, but the drinks had pulled something out of you. Neediness, something you had both sort of hoped for and dreaded.

Neediness that made your eyes linger on him every time you peeked around the party, neediness that felt like it was pulling at your heart, neediness that felt like it was pulsing through your blood.

”Dude, go and talk to him.”

”Sure, fuck it. Wish me luck.”

”Good luck!” Robin chuckled and gently pushed your shoulder as you separated yourself from the wall.

The living room was completely crowded, just as expected. What you hadn’t expected, however, was the way most of the people in the living room still hung out in their cliques. Sure they weren’t all in their separate little groups, some were on what had become the dance floor not giving a shit, some were playing drinking games whilst sitting on the couch, and all in all, it wasn’t that bad.

But the basketball team was almost standing in a line, all in their letterman jackets as if the jacket was a uniform. Stood all together as if they were trying to intimidate the whole party. Meanwhilst, the seniors of the group they call freaks were all spread across the room, none of them in their hellfire shirts.

”That looks weird, right?” An icebreaker was always a reliable way to enter a conversation. At least that’s what you hoped for when you came up to Eddie, gesturing towards the team. ”It looks almost horror movie-esque.”

”Yeah definitely.” He laughed out, and just like you and Robin had leaned against a wall in the hallway, you leaned against a wall with Eddie Munson. What you hoped was one of the normal positions at a party that wasn’t sitting or being in the way of others. ”You’re okay with them being here though?”

”Yeah it’s fine. At least I know who they are, if any of them breaks a lamp… I know whose parents to call.” Popping the ’p’ and sighing a little before averting your eyes from the team and instead to Eddie who definitely seemed to be in a laughing mood. Looking away from him a second later though when you realized that you currently couldn’t look at his eyes this closely without your mouth just slightly opening. ”I’m not like that uncomfortable with it but… there are a lot of people here that I feel like I don’t know.”

”You know me.”

”Do I?” It felt like it was just minutes ago when you had sort of excused yourself by saying that you didn’t know him in his car.

”Eddie Munson, Freak of Hawkins High. Nice to meet you.” He stretched out his hand with a smug grin on his face. With a playful tone in his voice and expressing a demeanor you’d only seen from afar before. You took his hand without much of a second thought but almost froze up when you could feel the rings on his fingers. The rings almost shocked you as if something knocked on your brain and just reminded you that this was Eddie Munson. The Eddie Munson.

”Oh, you’re that guy, well of course.” You teased with a chuckle, playing along.

”Told you that you knew me!” He chuckled and clapped his hands together once after your little shake. ”Y’know Dustin was talking so much about the party I thought he was gonna come here. That he was dropping hints that he wanted me to chaperone him to his first party or something.”

”Really?” You might have to smack the back of Dustin’s head a little next time you see him… ”Is that why you came?”

”No… Not at all.” Eddie remarked calmly, holding eye contact with you whilst he said it but then moved his eyes to look over the party around the two of you. ”Could we get away from this for a while?”

”For sure.”

You tried going outside at first but there were a lot of people outside too. People who’d probably had the same thought as Eddie. To get some air or just get away from being surrounded by people for a second or two at least.

”I have an idea.” You said before without a thought taking his hand in yours and leading him to the kitchen. Opened one of the drawers, and there they were; the key you’d locked the bedrooms with and a bag of snacks you’d saved for either when everyone left or for when you felt you needed to retreat to your bedroom. Almost like this moment turned out. Except you’d thought it would just be you, going up into your room, changing clothes and eating snacks, and then falling asleep.

Took the key, took the snacks, filled up your drink, and walked upstairs with Eddie in tow. As soon as Eddie made it into the room as well you shut the door as quickly as possible, set down your things and walked over to the windows, and opened them. Letting the fresh air in, but also thankfully some background noise. Took your things again and slumped down next to your bed, using it as a backrest.

”Better?”

”Much.” Eddie chuckled, his also refilled drink stretched out to toast with yours, ”Cheers.”

”Cheers.” He was sitting close enough for you to feel the heat of him radiating off of him once again. If he was so warm all the time you had no clue how the hell he constantly had on that leather jacket and jean vest combo. But you weren’t going to complain about any of that.

”I didn’t bring my stash.”

”Huh?”

”The… I asked if I could sell, y’know the other day. But… I didn’t bring it.”

”I don’t want to buy or anything-”

”No, you’re- I just… I didn’t want to sell. I just wanted to be here.” Eddie admitted with a sigh as if he absolutely needed to tell you that. His ’here’ sounded as if he really meant here, alone with you.

”That’s… sweet.” You chuckled as you heard yourself practically quoting him from the other day. Your heart felt as if it was going to beat its way out of you. And as a distraction… you decided to make it so much harder on yourself. Pulling your legs closer to yourself before picking up his closest arm and resting it on your angled lap as you decided to get a closer look at the tattoo near his elbow. Angling your knees slightly more in towards him as you stroked your fingers over the bats that decorated his skin.

You knew his eyes were on you as you started to trace them with one of your hands, whilst the one closest to him sort of just supported his arm. Or at least that’s only what it was doing until he took that hand in his own. However, you still didn’t dare look at him just yet. But you could still feel how close his head was to yours, how close you truly were now.

Your breathing had become kind of heavy, mostly in anticipation. This certainly felt like something was about to happen. And surprisingly you found yourself being the one to make it happen. Looked at him and took a deep breath in before you picked up your hand that had now just rested over his tattoo and guided it to his jaw instead. And then guided him to you.

Turns out, that having a crush on Eddie Munson leads to pretty amazing things. Like seeing the way he looked at you before you kissed. Feeling his free hand rest on one of your knees and guide them even closer to him. And the harsh feeling of several years of crushing on him, being intimidated by him, and admiring him softened severely.

”I’ve been wanting that for… too long.” Eddie sighed out dreamily once the two of you parted, which almost made you laugh in his face.

”You? I’ve been-” You started before your eyes widened and started over, ”Yeah no… way too long.” Your head bumped gently down on his shoulder forehead first and rested it there.

”What were you going to say?” His voice was quite hushed still but you could hear the smug and happy tone in it so clearly. Although he seemed to try not to sound so obvious.

”I uhm… I’ve sort of had this crush on you… for a while.”

”Really?”

”Yep.”

”Dustin trying to convince me to go makes a lot more sense now.” Eddie chuckled although his voice sounded more confused than enlightened. ”I sort of… figured out it was something behind it but I didn’t believe it when he said it was Steve who’d asked him to. I never figured out that there was a chain of command.”

”Oh god. Sorry. I was just… I didn’t think you’d come with the way the basketball team pretty much yelled their acceptance of the invite. And… y’know, crush. So I figured it was worth a try.” You shrugged lightly and placed your chin on his shoulder instead so you could look at him. Those big soft brown eyes looked right back at you.

”I was gonna come anyway.”

”Well I didn’t know that.”

”But now you do.”

#eddie munson #stranger things #stranger things x reader #Eddie Munson x reader #eddie munson x you #stranger things fanfiction #Joseph Quinn x reader #eddie munson fic

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inlocusmads · 4 months

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I'm sure this opinion might be unpopular but I just think PB is trying to Lord of the Rings-ify Blades a lot, by introducing so many characters and relying on standard character archetypes to drive the story forth.

Of course, yes, you can only do so much with 18 chapters, but Blades is, like most Choices stories, memorable because of the characters and how they interact with their surroundings more than the larger overarching plot (though it comes a close second.)

Rant follows below, spoiler alert if you haven't read the latest chapters:

@choicesbookclub

I'd love to have Willow, Cherta and the Shadow Court members again for a chapter or two and maybe, y'know Kade?? Since he's our literal brother?? And he's constantly sidelined even though he is the reason why MC bothered with the whole Shadow realm thing in the first place??

I feel like a lot of times we could have had the characters react to certain things that aligned with their beliefs more. I loved the arc of Tyril questioning how convoluted magic can be and it isn't the one-dimensional thing he is used to or Nia standing up and taking risks against her sheltered upbringing. I feel like a lot of times all of the LIs had some really choppy writing given to them, besides the paywalled scenes because I personally believe if you have to paywall scenes to drive the characterisation forward, it lowkey sucks and very money-grabby. It comes with the writing! Paywalled options shouldn't gatekeep them!

Mal's apathy is never really addressed, even though the fandom lost their minds over it. Tyril has some golden moments here and there but it is glossed over completely and sometimes inconsistent at parts (where did the battle-mage Tyril go??). The only thing driving Nia's personality now is just her Shadow alter-ego being this wowie contrasty thing to her 'golden retriever' personality. Imtura's just the muscles and they gave her a semi-character arc-ish to take over from her mother, which completely skids through her complicated relationship with her (at least they could have given her some time to think if she wants to rule over or at least figure out the semantics of a ruling council until after the battle).

And Aerin and Valax have the forbidden-romance route to them. Let's not even like, talk about how Aerin's been missing for a chunk of chapters for reasons beyond why and Valax's route is also weirdly written where in she had no time to acknowledge MC's feelings?? Even when she's so new to romance, relationships and so on? Or like, even a friendship. For someone who doesn't trust easily, I can't really bank on the probability MC is just so alluring enough to rope them into a friendship within days to spare in Ironbreach.

Which comes to the problem, Blades stuffs a lot of characters in.

In Book 1, it felt a little balanced considering the overarching plot was for them to just get to the Shadow Realm to rescue Kade and the friends made along the way were instrumental in that success. Even if we don't know a lot about Adrina or Scholar Vash or Kaya or any of the side-characters, it made it very clear that this was the Party and we'll only be focusing on these people. And even then, taking an example, Adrina got a full story on her own. She helped Tyril with House Starfury's doings, taking over his shoes in the wake of his departure and ensuring things ran smoothly, Adrina helped the Party recoup and recover, even giving them drakes to get to Whitetower and she ended up being the next head(?) heir(?) of the House. Her efforts weren't wasted and it still felt like we got a promising story for her.

In the case of Cherta and Willow, they were "added" to our Party roster -a mechanic that previously wasn't used for the likes of other people, say Aerin, even (even though he did travel with us for a brief chapter and a half in Book 1) and we sort of expected they'd get a side-LI treatment or at least, a character arc like Adrina's, but their stories kind of fell.. flat in my opinion. We leave before Cherta is able to process her grandmother's passing. Willow and her story is just a one-off problem and she's now living her life in the Light Realm.

I don't know exactly why PB added the "__ added to party" game mechanic because it wasn't really necessary in my opinion because it is unlikely we'll see these characters again at least until the final battle (if the final battle involves literally everyone - light versus shadow cagefight and becomes a TC&TF Book 2 scenario) but it does feel weird to have bought their loyalty by doing them favours instead of actually getting to know them. I don't know, it's just my personal opinion.

I do know that 18 chapters is very little to work with, but it can be improved with pacing. PB has a bit of pacing issues going on with Book 2. The woods chapter and Zaradun didn't need to take like, 6 CHAPTERS to make a point! And that's covering the two rifts! If Cherta and Willow were supposed to be one-off characters, why not have one 15 or 17-minute chapter for each one of them and one for the journey from the woods to Zaradun?

I also think that PB doesn't really follow up with how the characters interact to the lore. A lot of times the lore is just wasted upon extra dialogue material or social quests, but if it had some impact on the Final Puzzle we solve to unlock Shadow secrets or whatever or at least a lore callback, it would have been so much fun. Like dwarven culture is so important they dedicated like ONE FULL CHAPTER to it (or at least half a chapter) and they never revisit it, besides Cherta's storyline.

And the lore tablets - ughhh my problem with the lore tablets being, they don't offer any ammunition to the storyline. They're just.. there as "additional info" to spare characters from doing infodumps. Apart from their collectible mechanism, they're just no fun from actually doing the exploration part. The Party's quest to look for Zaradun is a million times more interesting than slapping it on a lore tablet! Like why can't we have bonding sessions like that more often? Or the pit-stop at Riverbend (we'll ignore Kade wasn't even mentioned there).

I also think PB has a problem with the Chekhov's gun rule in writing. They set up these brilliant character arcs for characters and let them down later. I'd say Tyril's whole beef with magic could have gone to Nia, who has dedicated her life to magic and is under the whole 'Light heals, Shadow ruins' impression. Mal's apathy clashes with his whole motive for opening up an orphanage. If he cared so much about MC to open up something so thoughtful with his money in their favour, why does he act like MC's dead or something? Apathy could have gone to Imtura - the person who is the only one who actually expresses her emotions and it would be interesting to see her go all quiet and numb throughout the story, only for her to feel like herself and take on a new responsibility after her mother's passing.

And Aerin and Valax, godddd, way to half-ass romance routes PB. If it weren't for fandom digging into all the subtext and making up subtext, the story would be far less interesting. (this is just my opinion once again) Aerin had so much potential as the cat-on-the-wall character and him journeying with MC and the Party could have actually made him more perceptive and understanding. He could have even bonded with Tyril and Imtura even - them being 'heirs' to houses/kingdoms and coming from a different lifestyles and life obligations.

Valax's storyline felt so last-minute. I definitely feel like we could have added her to the Party long before Chapter 13 when she joins us in the flash flood. It could have made the Watcher character more fulfilling considering how MC would have to make a choice between being on the Light or Shadow side in the debate. Valax could have had her own reasons for closing rifts (or opening rifts) to get to the other side (maybe put in a collectible mechanic there) and not closing rifts/closing rifts could have had some long-term consequences.

I know, it is hard to program it, but this is the same company that brought you old books where your choices did matter and take you down different routes. I just wish they were more adventurous in their programming or at least, fixed their pacing issue because while I still enjoy Blades 2 for what it is, it is kind of a.. mild let down after waiting this to be 3 years in the making.

okay that's it lol.

#blades of light and shadow #mads rants about stuff

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welcometojackass2022 · 1 year

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Being A Female Jackass Member Who’s Childhood Best Friends With Bam and Ryan Would Include:

@faiiryteenz sorry this took so long, you’ve probably already forgot you even requested this. I’ve just been so busy, so again, I’m sorry. Enjoy :)

Warnings: Female Reader, Cursing, General grossness cuz this is the Jackass and CKY boys we’re talking about, Don Vito

@asskickedbygirl @butttxray

Meeting Bam, Ryan and the rest of the boys around 1993 or 1994, right as they started high school. Maybe you were a witness to one of Dico’s absurd pranks, maybe you watched Raab shit on one of the lockers at the high school, or maybe you ran into Bam at the skate park while he was practicing a trick; no matter how you met them or who you met first, you hit it off with all of them right away, and you quickly became the first (and only) permanent female member of the little group. With most friend groups, it takes a while for new people to become fully integrated into the group and to be invited to hang out with everyone else regularly, but in your case, it barely took a day. Almost immediately, the guys would start inviting you to come with them everywhere, from filming stunts to watching Bam do tricks at the skatepark to accompanying them to concerts, and soon enough it would feel like you’ve always been a part of their little group. They would pull pranks on you and made fun of you just as much as they did to each other, but if you were ever in a tight spot or were getting messed with by someone outside the group, they’d all stand up for you without question (by stand up for you I mean start a fistfight and then film the whole thing for CKY 1).

Almost immediately being dragged into the filming of clips for CKY 1. You’re already in a lot of stuff just by virtue of being present for it (such as the infamous bee incident and most of the street fights), but the guys would also want you to actually do stuff, so you would get to participate in a lot of the pranks, star in some of the skits, attempt skate tricks with Bam’s help (usually those would end with you flat on your ass on the pavement, but if you actually landed it everyone would go wild), and also be the unfortunate victim of a few practical jokes, usually from Dico or Bam. Dico goes for the more psychologically torturing stuff, like calling you at 3am every day for a month with a creepy voice telling you he’s watching you through your window, while Bam goes for the painful stuff, liking throwing bricks at you. After a while, the guys wouldn’t even have to ask or tell you to do certain things; they carry cameras around everywhere so they can start filming if anyone does anything interesting, and after being with them for a while you’d start cracking funny jokes and pulling good pranks and doing little stunts of your own without being told what to do or how to do it. Being around the guys does that to a person. I can picture you pulling a prank on Dico for the first time or attempting to do a prank call without his help and pulling it off perfectly and him just being so genuinely proud.

Being super close with all of the guys, but especially close to Bam and Ryan. Dico, Raab, Rake and all of the others are awesome and funny and you get along with them great, but you and Ryan have a special relationship where you can joke around with each other while still coming to each other for advice and to rant about serious stuff, and you and Bam switch between acting like siblings, acting like best friends, acting like an old married couple and acting like rivals. Sometimes the two of you hang out for days at a time (to the point of staying at each others houses), laugh at absolutely everything together, and hype each other up like no one else (no one hugs Bam tighter after he completes a hard skate trick than you do), but then other times you bicker and fight and butt heads to the point of dramatically declaring that you’re never speaking to each other again and giving each other the silent treatment for an entire week. People who aren’t aware of the relationship you and Bam have and who only witness the fights you have probably assume that you hate each others guts and don’t care about each other, but that couldn’t be farther from the truth; you and Bam know each other better than anyone else, and you wouldn’t argue so intensely if you didn’t care about each other so much. In contrast, you and Ryan almost never argue because of how well you understand each other and how patient and compassionate Ryan can be. He gets a little snippy when he’s in a bad mood, but you never take it personally, and he almost always apologizes later if he thinks he was too mean.

Becoming one of the main Jackass members (and the first and only female member at that point) due to how close you are with Bam and Ryan and how talented you are with pulling pranks and making jokes and just overall being really entertaining. Some of the other CKY boys, like Dico, Rake, and Raab, became more of the background guys for one reason or another (Dico wasn’t super interested in the spotlight, Rake had an actual job, and Raab was in a decent amount of stuff but not to the extend of Ryan and Bam by any means whether by choice or otherwise), but because you’re pretty much always hanging out with Bam and Ryan and able to pull off interesting stunts and pranks on your own, Jeff really pushed you to have a prominent role in the series and eventually in the movies. You have a great rapport with the rest of the Jackass guys, easily joking around with them and making them laugh, and you’re not afraid to volunteer for stunts and pranks no matter how gross or potentially dangerous they are.

Getting tons of injuries, both mild and severe, while doing stunts for the show and for the movies. The guys all get hurt pretty often, and you aren’t exempt from this. You’ve broken bones, needed stitches, gotten cut up, gotten bit by random animals, and nearly passed out several times, as well as sustaining at least a few concussions and needing several hospital visits, some longer than others. The guys usually don’t freak out too much, since you’re just as capable of dealing with pain as the rest of them, but Ryan does get a little more worried than the rest, and Bam gets pissed at you if you agree to shit that he thinks is way too dangerous for you or if you actually get seriously injured. Seriously, he’ll throw a total fit, argue with you about it for hours, ignore you for days at a time to teach you a lesson, and say “I told you so” if you do get hurt like he said you would. To his credit, though, he’s always the first to congratulate you and even apologize if you pull the stunt off successfully and don’t get hurt too badly, and he only gets so upset cuz he genuinely cares about you. If you ever came up with an idea that was way too dangerous, to the point where even Jeff and Johnny were against it, and you decided to do it anyway and got hurt, Ryan probably would get at least a little upset with you and tell you off, but again, it’s out of concern for you, and he’s usually pretty chill about stuff like that and doesn’t hold it against you for too long. Ryan and Bam are always the first ones to visit you in the hospital and the first ones to volunteer to ride with you if you ever have to be taken in an ambulance, and they get you gifts for your hospital stay, too; Ryan will buy you flowers and come by often to talk to you and watch shows on the hospital room TV with you, and Bam will get you a nice little card (which he writes a slightly mean but also heartfelt message on in his messy writing) and stay with you for hours to show you new music and tell you about whatever’s going on. Half the time, he ends up falling asleep on the hospital bed with you cuz he stays so late.

Hanging out with all of the Jackass guys in different ways. Steve-O will take you out for a wild night on the town, Knoxville will invite you over to watch a movie or listen to music, Pontius and Dave England will take you out for bowling, Wee Man will show you some cool skateboarding tricks, and Preston and Ehren are fun to just chill out with at a bar or a restaurant. Bam and/or Ryan will often come with you to hang out, and sometimes the entire Jackass crew will go out together to celebrate something or even just for the fun of it. You also hang out with the CKY crew a lot, also usually with Bam and Ryan, since they’re always fun to be around and since you still film stuff with them pretty often, such as episodes of Viva La Bam. Dico, Raab and Rake may not be in Jackass that much, but they’re still childhood friends of yours, and you’re not gonna give them up or stop being close with them just because you’re a bigger part of Jackass than they are. Often, they’ll all come to Bam’s house with you and the whole group will watch comedies together or throw parties or go out and look for trouble or even film movies such as Haggard and record episodes of Radio Bam.

Speaking of Radio Bam, you are 100% a main part of the show, appearing in pretty much every episode alongside Bam and whoever else decides to come on. A lot of interesting things happen whenever you come on, and so you’ve become a favorite of many listeners; you’ll tell tons of interesting anecdotes with Rake and Raab and make jokes with Dico that have everyone in laughing fits, you’ll get into bickering matches with Bam about god knows what, you’ll have sweet moments with Ryan about your friendship (and even occasionally have sweet moments with Bam when he’s in a more sentimental mood and gets vulnerable enough to tell you how much he genuinely cares about you), and you’ll gets tons of fans calling in to either compliment you or to tell you weird sexual shit that makes everyone in the room lose their shit. For one reason or another, you seem to attract all the weirdos and sexual deviants as intense fans. Episodes like this are also pretty much the best way for fans to see how you interact with the guys who aren’t prominently featured in Jackass or Viva La Bam, like Novak, Frantz, and Jess. Novak in particular has a very interesting rapport with you where he very clearly wants to bang you and always has a flirty remark or innuendo to make, but you always flatly shoot him down or make a joke that has everyone laughing at his attempts.

Being a main cast member on Viva La Bam, because why wouldn’t you be? Similarly to Radio Bam, Viva La Bam is where a lot of your funny interactions with Bam, Ryan, and the rest of the CKY guys take place, and where the fans really get to see your friendships with all of the guys. You’re there for basically every big moment, from finding jobs with the guys to pay off the heating bill to being involved in competitions to being Ryan’s lawyer during the State of Bam episode to witnessing Raab getting married to a Russian mail order bride. Bam also makes sure that you get plenty of moments of your own, and you often come up with a lot of the weird ideas for fun stuff that you and the guys can do to make the episodes more interesting. One of the best things about you being in Viva La Bam is your interactions with Bam’s uncle, Don Vito. Don Vito is known for being extremely obnoxious, and often gets loud and incomprehensible when he yells. When this happens, you often end up yelling right back at him just as loudly and incomprehensibly as he does, and this is usually extremely hilarious since no one has any clue what either of you are saying (plus it’s hilarious to see an old drunk man getting into a yelling match with a woman in her early twenties). Both of you throw your arms around and yell gibberish and just generally get all pissed off with each other and it always gets included in the actual episode because of how funny it is. The odd thing is that Vito actually seems really fond of you despite how often the two of you yell at each other; he always seems to talk you up and defend you when Bam is being a dick to you or when whoever Bam’s dating at the moment does something Vito doesn’t like (“Why can’t your girlfriend be more like her”, etc etc).

Getting to meet all kinds of musicians and famous people through being introduced to them by Bam. Bam’s an absolute fanboy for bands he likes, and he always insists on you meeting all his favorites, like HIM (Ville Valo seems to come over at least ten times a month and you’ve wondered if Bam has an actual crush on him at least a few times), Turbonegro, and Jimmy Pop of Bloodhound Gang. He insists on you listening to all of these bands with him, but if you actually start to become a fan or even date one of the many musicians he introduces you to, he gets all smug and insists that you wouldn’t have known about the band or musician without him and therefore he deserves the credit. He expects you to attend every concert with him, meet every musician with him, and rock out to the music with him whenever he plays it, and he’ll throw a little fit if you don’t. As much as it can be annoying, it’s also a little fun to get to meet so many fun people like Jimmy Pop who are always a blast to hang with, and it’s nice to see Bam to happy and excited.

Spending a lot of time chilling out with Ryan. Ryan’s super laidback and fun to be around much of the time, and the two of you have plenty of fun together without having to do anything crazy. You’ll talk for hours at a time while sitting on your front porch, you’ll watch TV together, you’ll help Ryan work on cars or just listen to him talk about cars in general since he loves them so much, or you’ll go out to a restaurant or a bar with him and just laugh and enjoy each other’s company for a while. Hanging out with him is as peaceful as it is fun, and he’s always there to listen to any problems you have while also keeping the mood light. You always try to find time to hang out one-on-one with him, whether it be between filming scenes of Haggard and Viva La Bam or during a free weekend. Even if you and Bam and the others are all in another country to film something, you still find time to sneak off with Ryan and hang out alone together. He’s your best friend for a reason.

Getting to have roles in all of the movies that Bam and the CKY guys do together; you’re one of them, after all, so of course they’re gonna give you significant roles. Filming stuff like Haggard and Minghags is a lot of fun because you get to laugh and joke around with the guys and work on various accents and costumes for characters while putting together something fun for the fans to watch. Bam and Frantz always seem to write really odd characters for you, from weird costume choices to weird quirks and habits to having to make out with at least one of the other guys in the friend group for comedic scenes. You even get cameos in some of the stuff Bam has bit roles in, such as Grind (2003).

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inthehausofholbein · 4 months

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002 :)

002. a shopping mall, crowded and loud

autistic! ludmi is very personal to me

It’s the 25th of June and Ludmila still doesn’t have a gift for her step-sister. Normally, she would’ve rolled her eyes at everyone lovingly greeting Violetta on her special day, but things have changed.

Change is scary, though… and sometimes weird. Very weird. It was like just yesterday, she was determined to destroy Vilu emotionally. Now, she’s stressing over whether Violetta would even like her gift.

Ludmila felt pathetic. She went from not caring about what other people said to doing exactly that. What a downgrade, she thought.

She just needed to find something cute and girly — exactly Violetta’s taste in girls. The mall would probably do.

As she stepped inside, the footsteps and voices of the hundreds of other people there along with the plethora of clashing sounds became louder than her thoughts. It was as if she had super-hearing.

Thank the lords she brought her airpods, though — the noise-cancelling kind. They prove to be helpful when your mother scolds you for the nth time. She put them on and felt relief.

Now, time to search for a gift.

She found a clothing store filled with feminine pieces. Puff sleeves, sweetheart necklines, pastel colors, and a whole lot of chiffon and tulle. Where do you even begin? This shop looks like Violetta’s closet! Though, if it does, it means that she must already own clothes like this…

As Ludmi was searching through all the sections, she failed to notice the sales ladies asking her if she needed help. The song playing in her earphones was just too good to pause.

As she thought to herself that Germán probably bought her a whole pile of cute clothes before, she redirected her attention to a stationary store. It’s not Japanese stationary level, but there’s some good stuff there.

Does Violetta even use stationary that much? She writes in her diary all the time, yes. She does draw sometimes, yes. Does she paint? Ludmi doesn’t know. Does she scrapbook? Ludmi doesn’t know. Does she read often? Ludmi doesn’t know. This is when she fully realized she barely knows Violetta at all.

As she was about to leave the store, a two small kids ran inside and bumped into her legs while chasing each other. Their parents were trying to calm them down, but that's when her airpods died. They were at around 30% when she entered the mall.

One of the kids was hiding behind her "because she's tall" and the parents started apologizing to Ludmila and scolded their kids.

"Oh no, it's fine," Ludmi replied as she felt like kicking the children then and there. Of course, she didn't. This is a public area, after all. But every single noise in the mall rose in volume again and she was getting impatient for her airpods to charge.

Ludmila passed by the food court and instantly walked away. The combination of talking, loud eating, and crying kids immediately threw her off.

As she was walking to another shop that had items Violetta might like, she felt like a ghost walking amongst a crowd of people. Some were bumping into her shoulders and she looked somewhat ridiculous avoiding all of it. It just felt like the amount of people doubled every second.

She found a toy store - a peculiar place to find a gift for someone who's nearly 20. Maybe a bit insulting.

Her eyes locked on a giant plushie of a cat holding a heart saying "I love you". Cheesy as fuck!

But she then remembered a moment where Violetta randomly ranted about her childhood. She mentioned how her father always told her he loved her, but always showed it in shallow ways such as expensive gifts. She couldn't help but compare it to her own upbringing where her mother would manipulate Ludmila by buying her whatever she wanted in exchange for obedience.

At that point, they were just warming up to each other, so it caught Ludmi by surprise how Vilu could open up like that. Not to mention how Ludmila had never said anything remotely vulnerable to anyone before.

Her airpods were finally 100% charged, so she put them back on and happily approached the counter with it and a gift bag. After paying and leaving the store, she felt relieved as she went back home to have some alone time before the Castillos would inevitably hold a dinner party for their sweet little girl.

Bonus Scene

"What?!?!" Violetta yelled as someone was knocking on her door repeatedly.

"Violetta!" Ludmila obnoxiously replied. “I have a little something for you!”

Violetta tiredly opened the door early in the morning to find Ludmila smiling widely. It was creepy, to say the least.

"Woah! Little thing?"

"Well, it is quite big" Ludmi said as she handed her step-sister a gift bag that could fit six volleyballs. "Open it!"

"Wait." Vilu replied teasingly, "Where's my birthday greeting?"

Rolling her eyes, Ludmila reluctantly said, "Happy birthday.”

"And my birthday kiss-"

"Oh my god, fuck off!" Ludmi yelled while the two started laughing. "Germán will definitely kiss you too much, but you can't make me do it once!"

"Come on! We're sisters!"

"No!"

"Whatever you say." Violetta then took the bag and was surprised at how light it was for its size. "What's in here?"

"I literally said to open it."

Vilu did and her eyes lit up like fireflies. "Oh my god, this is so cute!" Ludmila couldn't help but smile at Violetta hugging it and beaming brighter than the sun. Though, she wouldn't show it, of course.

"Read what's on the heart."

"I... love... you– Ludmila, did you really buy this?"

"Are you really doubting that I would buy you a gift like this? I'm very nice, if you didn't know!"

"Really-“

"Shut up!"

Violetta giggled. "So are you the one saying I love you to me?”

"Violetta, shut-“

"Say it!"

“No-“

"Say it!" Vilu then held the plushie as close to her face as possible as a way to tease her more.

Pausing then sighing as loud as possible, Ludmila finally said, "I love you, hermanita."

Violetta then hugged her. At first, Ludmi flinched a little, but she couldn't escape one of Vilu's tight hugs. As Vilu was about to let go, she whispered to Ludmila's ear.

"Best birthday ever."

Ludmila kept hugging Vilu then tickled her.

Violetta immediately let go and teased back, "Ah, you love me!"

#drabble #violetta #ludmila ferro #the sisters!!!#the best sisters!!!#we deserved more episodes of them happy and wholesome!!!

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beevean · 1 year

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I always used the Media Factory manga to talk about Hector and Isaac, because it goes much more in depth (and it’s far easier to read), but that doesn’t mean I don’t like the Prelude to Revenge manga! It’s much, much denser, but it has its interesting moments too.

I like this exchange a lot, for example:

I’m glad that it’s been confirmed: Hector did try to reason with Isaac, asking him the very obvious question “how can you, a human, be okay with Dracula’s genocide?”... and he was rejected without any hope for conversation. It says a lot about both of them.

I talked a lot about Hector affirming his own humanity in the face of Dracula and the people who shunned him, but Isaac’s non-response is just as interesting.

Just to double check, in Japanese he uses the word 賢くない, the negative of 賢い, which means “wise, clever, smart”. So Isaac is saying that he’s not as smart as Hector... And clearly he’s not talking seriously, because no way this guy would honestly admit to be inferior to Hector in any way :P

No, he’s dodging the question, and I think the English translation nails the point. Isaac is smart, his plan in CoD is well thought out, but he doesn’t want to think for himself.

Isaac is clearly happy to be nothing more than Dracula’s servant. No higher aspirations on his part, other than probably being his favorite instead of Hector. He doesn’t care about what he’s doing, really: he waves the deep question away with “if you have a good weapon, shouldn’t you use it?”. Question is, what is this “weapon” he’s talking about? Hector and Isaac’s powers, which should be used at their fullest demonic potential because, well, they have them for a reason? ... or Hector and Isaac themselves, for Dracula...? If Dracula has two talented Devil Forgemasters at his beck and call, why shouldn’t he use them to spread his reign of terror? And really, what does it matter what they personally think of it? It’s not like they can do anything about their situation. At least, from Isaac’s point of view, who likely finds unconceivable that someone could just leave.

Another point. Unlike his Netflix counterpart, who wouldn’t shut up for a whole season about how much he hates humans, Isaac rarely mentions his resentment against humankind.

And these pages depict the same moment: Isaac directly confronting Hector after he ran away. In this context, this is more of a way to convince Hector to give up. And of course, he doesn’t make a mention of it in CoD itself, when he was at the peak of his hatred and insanity.

(btw, while sadly we never see a full flashback of Isaac’s childhood, it’s implied that it was nearly identical to Hector’s, and ngl I buy “the whole village hated me and hurt me, including my own parents” over “my master abused me” as a motivation to become misanthropic. As a child he was already bragging over turning his back on God, so I think he has suffered something even worse than what Hector went through and I wish I knew what :( )

My point being, Isaac isn’t mainly motivated by misanthropy. It’s there, but it’s just... there. This is just a corollary to his principal motivation: serving Dracula. That’s all he cares about. Look at the MF version: he puts “they turned their back on Lord Dracula” before “they chased us away”. I could even say that he’s just repeating words that Dracula put in his head, and there is nothing in canon that contraddicts it.

I also want to bring back this great scene from the MF manga, that I analyzed at the bottom of my long rant against Netflix!Isaac and Hector :P Isaac is more than capable of disobeying Dracula to get what he wants, but even after going all the trouble to kill his own underlings to get his way, he’s still convinced he’s 100% loyal. He’s deep in denial. His identity is wholly wrapped around being “Dracula’s servant”.

I also think that Hector being the “favorite” influenced how they diverged. Isaac was most likely single-mindedly focused on keeping up with Hector, which frustrated him and made him double down to be as perfect as he could be for Dracula. Hector, from his “privileged” position, could step back, look at the situation, and think “what am I even doing? All this effort for this?”.

Also, also. I am just so fascinated by those three years Isaac spent alone after the fall of Castlevania. What did he do in the meantime, how did he survive? The PoR manga... doesn’t give us the best picture:

Pictured: Isaac Not Doing Well Alone.

And I recently noticed another detail. Look at that. Look at where he’s sitting.

Ruins.

He never left Dracula’s fallen castle.

If we take Kojima’s words (art) for it, Isaac rotted three years in what was left of Dracula’s and his old home.

This is just a complete refusal, if not inability, to move on.

He had the freedom to go as he pleased, to do as he pleased. He was free from Dracula’s orders, free from being under Hector’s shadow. He could have travelled outside of Wallachia, where he wasn’t known, and started over. In fact, had he had done that, he would have not died so young.

(this is not confirmed anywhere, but I suspect that this is where his misanthropy comes into play: why would he completely avoid human civilization, were he not still suffering from the trauma of being chased away? Hector embraced his humanity despite all. Isaac rejected it a long time ago.)

But freedom is so, so terrifying, for someone who doesn’t want to be his own person.

I just... really like the idea of Isaac being utterly alienated by freedom, a concept too vast to analyze and that would force him to reflect on how much of his life he has wasted, and retreating into his comfort zone, which is acting on behalf of Dracula. No thinking. He’s just a weapon, and he’ll be the best one he can be. Even if it means going insane for three years. Even if it means being used and discarded without any dignity.

In this, he’s both a great counterpart to Hector, who finds pride in his independence, and to Trevor, a natural born leader.

Isaac is a tragic, pitiful villain, and this is the hill I will die on.

#castlevania #curse of darkness #prelude to revenge #isaac laforeze #one day i'll stop vomiting words about a character only 10 people appreciate #that day is not in sight yet #i'm doing what warren ellis should have done and i'm doing it for free :^)#this is how i cope with sadness at this point

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cinna-bunnie · 7 months

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long personal (?) rant bc im stoned and I Wanna Talk About It because i never get to talk about it !! 😤

i feel better now that i talked about it :3

i wish people who grew up with, or at least encountered, ghosts were a lot more common. i feel like u get so many more interesting questions once you've moved past a simple "do ghosts exist?"

they were a v regular thing from when i was in 4th grade up till i moved out at 18, and even then i still come across stuff sometimes here and there a decade later. i also had a friend who was a medium and my prev landlord was a witch and the world is so interesting!!

like just w ghosts it's crazy to think about how there's this barely perceivable reality that overlays ours but in some places/circumstances u interact with it and it w you, but there's layers 2 it bc ghosts r everywhere all the time but u wouldn't notice it. u just do Sometimes.

and my mom would do readings for ppl and do a questions n answers sorta thing where she'd let something/someone control her arm 2 write the responses n they'd b p specific and were 100% accurate. and my medium friend just straight up could See them and we actually met bc my guardian spirit jumped out at her and Needed 2 tell me something, and we stepped aside n actually had a long personal chat akdjfkak it was a good life changing one tho i was lowkey suicidal n needed to hear it. (i got better after btw and a gal's loving life (❁´◡`❁) i was just in a really rough place 16-18 (⁠´⁠-⁠﹏⁠-⁠`⁠；⁠))

but like! on top of ghosts, there really is a whole guardian spirit system i know nothing about besides the fact that it exists.

and then there's psychics of various kinds that interact w The Universe™ in their own ways. i haven't tried to do the automatic writing thing since i was a teen but i do have my own divination system i made up w a normal deck of cards, I used a pendulum too but my cards r just comfier n faster paced :3 and then there's qi and i remember doing an exercise that's supposed 2 introduce u 2 manipulating it and i remember my hands felt weird n warm afterwards and when i ran them over my arms it felt like static from a balloon n made my hairs react to it 0:

and my witch friend could do distant healing n reiki, but she could do a bunch of other stuff too n had her whole belief system/framework she was working with. she was a rly sweet old gal (⁠✿ ‚‚⌒‿⌒‚‚) very private about her practices though she was kinda ostracized for it growing up so she doesn't actually Talk about it much. i asked her 2 teach me a few times 😹 the distant healing session was fun n she told me when she found me in the astral plane i was like o hey!! and gestured 2 her like i was inviting her into a party and let her right in.

she got a rly interesting visual of me i have written down in detail somewhere from when we talked about it after, and it's just crazy to think about the different ways people interact with *gestures vaguely* like?? we connected in a way i wouldn't have imagined was a thing.

as a space nerd i love thinking about how the universe is So Big and the concept of alternate universes, but then i remember that just being Here on Earth is so interesting!! what is going on w these subtle realities, how r we interacting w them, how do u get to go deeper here. I've been slowly chipping away at it since my years at home trying 2 understand but sm of it has been through observation and interaction and reading, Mostly reading as an adult since i don't get to observe directly as often.

by now i have a p good framework 2 work with for making sense of everything i know so far, but i feel like a huge hole in my research is doing and learning stuff on the witch side of things. Like daoism was a lot easier to dive into and is the closest to how i understand things but i wanna know more about being a witch and being a psychic and i want to be more interactive.

I am forever just wanting 2 learn (⁠〒⁠﹏⁠〒⁠) this has been something of a lifelong journey i pick up at different times in my life. like u can't go from experiencing a childhood like that and be satisfied with leaving it at that, I have so many questions!! my overarching goal has been getting far enough to be able 2 actually Ask a question and figure out how 2 get more info frm the source ykwim.

and then another thing is how under specific circumstances i unintentionally conjure (or attract?) malevolent spirits and it happens like once every five years (⁠￣⁠ヘ⁠￣⁠;⁠) i kind of understand what initiates that so i know how to avoid it, but what about the opposite? how do i conjure or attract something benevolent? why is this a thing that i do at all?? what r The Mechanisms behind this.

the tinkerer in me is going mad at knowing all of this is Right There but i don't know how to do much with it 😹 YET anyways 😼 a gal's been busy!! just kinda waiting for life 2 settle down a bit and i think when I've moved into my next place I'll have the capacity/time for it. i wanna learn about witch stuff but it's so hard lol. conversations I've had w them in passing have been crazy but if u try 2 look online without knowing What To Look For there's sm new age garbage ajdjdjak. i don't want some superficial bs i want The Framework babes i wanna go A-Z w it and fully rotate it in my mind and reconcile it w my current understanding. i want to make things less abstract!!

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pearlaqua-eevee · 1 year

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TLOU EPISODE 1 "WHEN YOU'RE LOST IN THE DARKNESS" LIVEBLOG

IS THAT JOHNATHAN CARNAHAN

“Viruses can make us ill but fungi can alter our very minds” OH MY GOD THERE ARE LAYERS TO THAT. THE WHOLE PREMISE OF THE STORY RIGHT THERE GENUIS FUCKING WRITING RIGHT OFF THE BAT

#oh im gonna love this #this remains one of the best stories of the modern age BECAUSE of writing like this #yes yes yes

also the subtle commentary with the shots of the host’s bemused face and the people on set not paying attention, eating...the brilliant thing about this story is the subtle and not so subtle ways it comments on society and that...theres apathy and almost arrogance. Like “this guys ranting, this is crazy, will never happen” and then of course it does much like 2020

ooh. the deniers HATE this, dont they?

HAVING THE FUNGI GROWING AND LOOKING LIKE A CITY AND THEN LOOKING LIKE THE WEBS OF LIGHT SEEN FROM SPACE ON CONTINENTS AND THEN HAVING IT FORM THE SILOUTTES OF JOEL AND ELLIE HOLY SHIT. NOBODY IS GONNA TOUCH THIS SHOW, ITS BRILLIANT

also the themeeee

I think they changed it slightly for the show, maybe a bit of percussion? But otherwise its EXACTLY like the game, I can hear Marlene narrating

(also I believe Merle is reprising her role as Marlene and FUCKING FLAWLESS ALREADY

im fangirling so hard because I know whats coming and I dont wanna think about it

SARAAAAAAAAHH (Destiny’s Child, the Clash and Avril?? Girl has music TASTE) Her room feels so LIVED IN I love this

PEDRO HITTING THAT TEXAS DRAWL PERFECTLY, I AM YELLING

#Joel's accent is one of my fav things dont @ me #the fact that Troy Baker is FROM Tx so he played up his actual accent #idk much about Pedro but if that accent is put on its INCREDIBLE

AS a Texan and someone WITH a drawl, I LOVE it when you can tell actors did their work when it comes to the accent. (And here in Tx theres like 6 different regional accents and its the CORRECT one for the Dallas/Austin area!) like it’s the same I’d imagine for Brits or Australians when someone doesnt just default to Stereotypical British and actually does the right one. It just makes the character-details part of my brain SING. It just shows a lot of care for the character

nope. no. the emergency vehicles going by NOOOPE. CAN I EXIT OUT NOW. I REFUSE TO ACKNOWLEDGE

NOPE. Fuck THAT

the kept the Its Not Working fake out. fml

THE NOKIA DAD PHONE. JOEL PLS

oh my god that exchange Joel and Tommy have it sounds DEAD ON like the game. Except in the game the call was to Sarah but like this is PERFECT

“Which jail, Travis County?” “Yeah the one on 10″ idk I just love these lines when you can tell the people know what theyre talking about. Subtle little awesome thing as someone who lives close by (And yeah, very Texan to ask which jail or which official building by the county and not the city, which is apparently how people in other states do it)

oh god. the lights and noises and IMAGINE what Sarah must be going through, Joel isnt there...even if you dont know whats coming thats gonna be really upsetting.

This is actually worse and more ominous than in the game

holy fuck the look on Sarah’s face when she turns the tv on to see the alert...Nico Parker is a KILLER actress, I can SEE her blood running cold

SARAH THE ALERT SAID STAY INDOORS. BRING THE DOG IN AND LOCK THE DOOR. DO NOT GO WANDERING AROUND.

NOOOOOO

FUCK. THAT.

THATS DISGUSTING AND HORRIFYING

“You killed her” “Baby Im sorry” And that right there is the horror

OH MY GOD THAT SHOT OF THE NEIGHBOR GOING TO HELP THE INFECTED JOEL RAN DOWN WITH THE CAR AND THEN GETTING ATTACKED

holy shit everything about this is....its like shot for shot, the dialogue is perfect...this is...like its horrific but its done so fucking well. im in horrified AWE

that fear from Sarah, trying to reason it through..."but you'd have to go a lot, right" just. ive been there. This is so...obviously it hits harder after covid but. They hit the visceral FEAR of the unknown..."are we sick, how do you know" just. 2 lines. they expanded on this idea by TWO LINES. and it makes it so much more chilling

this is so. I cant even get words. Im not even 30 minutes in

Sarah being the audience surrogate and having the camera literally from her pov, following HER and where SHES looking, exactly like the game mechanic...we’re with her the whole way through and we experience everything through her eyes, not Tommy or Joel...so the fear is MORE

just holy shit the DIRECTION in this. Everything si done so rihght

there are just no words. that 10 minutes that follow Sarah’s death and the jump to 20 years later...gut wrenching

the way Ellie kicks that tray like the PAUSE as she puts her foot down...such an intentional thing and I LOVE IT ts SPOT ON

BELLA IS PERFECT AS ELLIE HOLY SHIT

“seven...eight...fuck...you” AMAZING

people commenting on “she seems to angry/too quick to attack” like...the live action Ellie goes to attack Marlene but thats about the only added on this. Everything else she did IN THE GAME. I think its the fact that Bella actually LOOKS young that makes people realize

like I dont understand people like “she got tougher over the story” No. She got more TRAUMATIZED and yes got more capable at fighting. But she STARTS OUT hard and tough and SOFTENS. She runs parallel and also counter to Joel. SO much of her attitude at the beginning is just a show and I think people miss that

technically speaking Tess and Joel's relationship didnt NEED more screentime, you knew exactly their relationship with what we got but I love these new/expanded scenes with them

MARLENEEEEE.

“...You my fucking mom or something?” “Do I look like your mom?” “Nooo, you do not.” lmao AMAZING (I mean TECHNICALLY no...)

“was Riley a terrorist?” DO NOT-- if we get that flashback I’ll CRY

GOD. For people who dont know the endgame, they have no idea how hards Marlene’s “you will die” comment to Ellie hits but NOBODY IS BLACK OR WHITE MORALITY ITS ALL SHADES OF GREEEEYYY

ELLIE JUST ATTACKING JOEL RIGHT OUT OF THE GATE AND HIM OWNING HER LMAO

“IM not going with them!” oh my god she sounded like game Ellie

“Kim you dont have a fucking ear on your FUCKING HEAD could you please!?” oh my god

“What are they capable of?” going back to what I said before: Ellie is still a KID. She talks and acts tough (and she is!) and she grew up at the end of the world but shes still a KID who lived her whole 14 years in a military school and got pinged by Marlene the second she left. And it becomes more clear if you know HOW she got infected...she doesnt know ANYTHING about what the world is like outside the QZ. And thats the most heartbreaking part of the story is her going through those horrors. It’s why her and Joel’s relationship is important add to that that shes LITERALLY in the middle of everyone looking back and forth and being traded and called cargo shes CLUELESS and I wanna hug her

“Asshole!” thats no way to talk to your dad

also her knife I cry

“yall talk it through but please remember that I’m bleeding out” I FUCKING LOVE MARLENE OK

“Joel. Dont fuck this up. Please” I mean if you told him WHY....

ok but AGAIN. Ellie knows a smuggling code because SHES LITERALLY BEEN RAISED BY THE MILITARY but its just this childish way of blurting it out--something that you dont say out loud out of an abundance of caution--and so easily. Really hammering home that she may KNOW the way the world operates but she doesnt know the how or why...

that “okaaay sorr-y” kind of handmotion lol

“your watch is broken” GOD thats some subtle acting from Pedro. FUCK

also whereas in the game it felt like an idle observation, here it kinda feels like its a tiny bit spiteful. Like shes pointing it out to annoy him.

“you know where to go. so we’re gonna be ok?” parallel that to Sarah asking if theyre sick...the daughter figure looking to the father figure for reassurance that everythings gonna be ok. when deep down they both know it isnt goddamnit

“code broken” that was SO MEAN but I love it and Joel was about to dad lecture but AGAIN Bella NAILED Ellie’s mannerisms, the way she draws out words or the little head tilts

“Holy shit Im actually outside” AGAIN. the childish excitement. because shes a kid seeing something new and has no clue how serious things are about to get

THE PIPE. FROM RIGHT BEFORE THE CUTSCENE

...does the shot of the officer feel a little like...too much like Bumbling Cop...?

BELLAS ACTING, ELLIE STEELING HERSELF LIKE 3 TIMES BEFORE ACTUALLY MOVING THIS CAST IS WAY TOO GOOD WHAT THE FUCK

also that scream when she does it. You KNOW this girl has never been in a real combat situation like this

....so I figured they might lean a little heavier on Joel’s PTSD and explore it but I didnt expect them to draw that parallel. SHIT

the look on Ellie’s face

Idk how I feel about that ending. like the show itself spectacular and I love the tie in with the 80s song = danger so its a callback but it feels a little like. Upbeat Hm. Anyone else feel like its a bit out of place?

#TLOU #The Last of Us #TLOU HBO #When Youre Lost In The Darkness #TLOU ep 1

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