#Local Party

[axvoter]

Blatantly Partisan Party Review XXIII (federal 2022): The Local Party of Australia

Running where: SA and TAS

Prior reviews: None, this is a new party

The Local Party is a Tasmanian-based grouping who are also surprisingly running in South Australia. Their purpose is to “put real people into parliament”, as if everyone in Canberra is a lizard person (look, I agree; Craig Kelly appears to be the embodiment of sweat and Peter Dutton is more vampiric than actual vampires).

This party has been depicted as generally centrist, perhaps leaning left. Their candidates must commit to support action on climate change, seek action on a federal ICAC, and implement the Uluru Statement. Their website's tone is fairly predictable: they don’t like career politicians. They try to pitch their candidates—who, as I said, have committed to a party platform—as independents who “won’t be told how to vote”. Why form a party then? Parties imply discipline.

The Local Party are very keen on citizens’ juries. It's one of their main planks, which is a shame because it's a thought-bubble from direct-democracy types that just absolves politicians of doing their job (i.e. making decisions) rather than providing a meaningful solution. Some other policies are very particular to Tasmania, such as agitation about commercial salmon-farming. At times I get a NIMBY Trojan horse vibe, such as the “not all wind is good” policy on wind farms. At times this seems to be the “we want progressive change, just so long as it doesn’t change our daily lives in any way” party.

I think this is a fairly unremarkable party that has recognised some issues with climate policy and government transparency and has no meaningful solutions.

My recommendation: Give the Local Party of Australia a middling preference.

Website: https://www.thelocalparty.net/

#auspol #ausvotes #ausvotes22 #ausvotes2022 #Australian election #Australia #Election 2022 #Local Party #The Local Party of Australia #Tasmania #Local Party of Australia #centrism #NIMBYs #middling preference #decent preference

[frankenstein-ate-my-left-shoe]

just a little something for the darling @yournowheregirl to wake up to! it sounds kinda dumb and insignificant, but i always appreciate your tags in the fun tag games that come across your dash and for always being one of the first that ask something from those ‘ask me’ posts i reblog! it makes me feel appreciated and i am super grateful every time 🥰🫶🥹

There was meant to be two beds.

Steve specifically got a double king room for the goblins, and another room with two queens for him and Eddie.

So of course as soon as they got into Milwaukee the night before the D&D themed nerd fest, the (actually very nice) woman at the front desk says: “We had to swap around the rooms, but the two will still sleep all you boys, don’t worry!”

Whatever. That’s fine, right? They’ll all have a spot to sleep the next two nights they’re here for the kids’ (and Eddie’s) dragon game convention.

He gets back to their rented minivan and passes the key cards to Eddie in the passenger seat.

The van was just the first point of contention between him and the kids’ beloved Dragon Meister, followed closely by…everything else.

The first thing Eddie said when Steve showed up in the rented van was “King Steve is coming along on our journey?”, to which Steve could only respond with “This ‘super cool’ guy you assholes have been going on about this whole time is Eddie “The Freak” Munson? Really?”

Following closely behind are: the tapes and tapes of loud garbled ‘music’ Eddie insists on playing, his absolutely tragic way of unwrapping Steve’s burgers for him when they stop for lunch, the wariness Steve has in the first place about this being the guy Dustin wouldn’t stop talking so highly about…this nerdy, obnoxious, third-time senior…great.

“204 is the Hellions’ room, 207 is us.”

Eddie bends an arm backwards into the feral beast enclosure the second two rows have become over the last six hours and Steve’s surprised he still has his hand when it returns to the front.

Steve gets the van parked in the hotel’s garage, and they head up to their rooms.

“Alright, assholes,” he says to the somehow still rambunctious masses, “This is you guys, Make sure you’re up by eight so we—“

“Yeah Steve, we got it,” Dustin scoffs, “As if we’d risk being late to this.”

Steve rolls his eyes with a “Fine, goodnight.” and shuffles the few steps across the hall to his and Eddie’s door, leaving the troops to file into theirs.

The only thought in his head is of laying down and getting the fuck to sleep. It wasn’t even that late but—

“Oh you’ve got to be shitting me.”

So that’s what brings them here. To their one barely queen sized bed.

“I guess I’m on the floor then, huh?”

“I’m not about to let you sleep on the floor.”

“Oh, the King has chivalry does he?” Eddie rolls his eyes and throws his duffle onto the armchair in the corner.

“As much as you, asshole; I just want you to have the energy to corral the gremlins tomorrow.” Steve scrubs a hand down his face. “Look, we’ll just deal with it tonight and I’ll get another room tomorrow.” he lies. As if he’s got the cash for that.

Eddie looks him over, and seems to come to whatever conclusion he needs to because he says “Fine, but you better not be a blanket hog.”

Eddie’s the worst blanket hog Steve’s ever had the displeasure of knowing.

He thought Robin was bad, but this is something else.

Eddie’s fully a burrito within an hour of laying down. After a hearty, but silent, game of tug of war over the worn duvet.

Steve falls asleep angry and cold, and wakes up on a cloud.

He’s so warm and so entangled in the comforter, he can’t help but snuggle deeper into the pillow he’s clutched onto.

The pillow hums back at him and scoots itself under his chin with a sigh.

Steve squeezes tighter onto the pillow momentarily, but his curiosity of why his pillow’s making noise gets the better of him.

He cracks his eyes open, looking down at the thing in his arms.

It shifts as well, and Eddie Munson blinks up at him with those (holy shit…beautiful, deep, dark) doe eyes of his.

“Hi.” Steve breathes.

Eddie’s eyes flutter shut, and shuffles himself back into Steve’s neck.

Steve chooses to blame the still sleepy bit of him for curving himself back around Eddie.

“How’d you sleep?” Steve whispers into the now-bared hairline under the other man’s bangs.

“Fucking amazing…” Eddie mumbles, snaking an arm over Steve’s waist and settling a hand in the middle of his back. “How ‘bout you, Stevie?”

“Stevie, huh?” Steve chuckles.

It’s only then that Eddie seems to come to his senses, his head shooting up before he scrambles away, falling straight onto his back between the opposite side of the bed and the wall with an “Oof!” and a “Fuck!”

“Oh shit!” Steve shuffles off the bed and helps Eddie back up, ”You alright, Eds?”

“Yeah..yeah, I’m fine..” Steve gets Eddie back on his own two feet and (reluctantly) lets him go once he’s stable.

‘Reluctantly? Why reluctantly? What the hell??’

“Sorry I was all over you, not the greatest thing to wake up to, huh?” Eddie says, huffing a sardonic laugh under his breath.

Steve hums nonchalantly, “It wasn’t all bad, I slept pretty fucking amazing too.”

Eddie hums an acknowledgment, then: “I wouldn’t—“ Eddie starts at the same time Steve says “I should—“

“You go ahead,”

Eddie’s hands come up between them, spinning the rings on his fingers nervously. “I was going to say that…I.. Iwouldn’tmindifyoustayedtonight..too.”

Steve blinks. “Good thing I was going to say that I really should save my money.”

Eddie’s smile is slightly nervous, but there’s a hopeful tinge to it that Steve can only assume means what he thinks it does (hopes it does).

“Leaves me with more to spend on the Gremlins, right?” he shrugs.

Eddie beams. “Glad to know we’re on the same page, Harrington.”

also, if you haven’t heard it recently: Alice, YOU’RE DOING AMAZING SWEETIE 🤩

#and there was only one bed #oh nooo what ever shall they doooo #be pleasantly surprised by the company of the other in that bed 😏 #that’s what #also ps i looked it up so it’s accurate #gencon is the dnd convention and between 1985 and 2003 it was held in milwaukee #about 4 hours from indianapolis #so +2 hours for hypothetical additional time from hawkins #in my head this is a trip just before school starts in 1985 since gen con was aug 22-25 that year #dw about the logistics of the party’s parents letting them go lmao #maybe the party meet eddie at a the local game store and somehow convince steve and their parents to let them go before the year starts #steddie #steve harrington #eddie munson #stranger things #st #st ficlet #steddie ficlet #noelle writes

[ao3-crack]

(x)

#archive of our own #ao3 quotes #ao3 stuff #archive of our own quotes #fanfic #fanfic quotes #funny #ao3 #ao3 notes #shows up to the party 10 mins late #covered in plot bunny bites #with a home-brewed hot chocolate #because the local starbucks is closed from the plague #covid mention #covid ment tw

[notbecauseofvictories]

My best friend and I had a call recently---she’s back with her family for a bit helping out with some hometown stuff. As part of the stuff, she’s been going through a (deceased) relative’s scrapbook, compiled in the American Midwest circa 1870-1900 and featuring mostly cut-out figures from the ads of the day.

She talked about how painstaking this relative’s work was. (Apparently the relative was careful to cut out every finger, every cowlick; this was by no means carelessly or hastily assembled.) But she also she talked about how---the baby on the baking soda ad is ugly, it is so ugly, why anyone would clip this heinously ugly illustrated baby and paste it into a scrapbook? Why would you save the (terribly told, boring) ghost story that came with your box of soap?

(Why include these things in the first place? we asked each other. ”There’s a kind of anti-capitalism to it,” she mused.)

And we discussed that for a bit---how most of the images, stories, artists, and ads were local, not national; they’re pulled from [Midwestern state] companies’ advertisements in [Midwestern state] papers, magazines, and products. As a consequence, you’re not looking at Leyendecker or Norman Rockwell illustrations, but Johann Spatz-Smith from down the road, who took a drawing class at college.

(College is the state college, and he came home on weekends and in the summer to help with the farm or earn some money at the plant.)

But it also inspired a really interesting conversation about how---we have access to so much more art, better and more professional art, than any time in history. As my bff said, all you have to do to find a great, technically proficient and lovely representational image of a baby, is to google the right keywords. But for a girl living in rural [Midwestern state] of the late 1800s, it was the baking soda ad, or literal actual babies. There was no in-between, no heading out to the nearby art museum to study oil paintings of mother and child, no studying photographs and film---such new technologies hadn’t diffused to local newspapers and circulars yet, and were far beyond the average person’s means. But cheap, semi-amateur artists? Those were definitely around, scattered between towns and nearby smallish cities.

It was a good conversation, and made me think about a couple things---the weird entitlement that “professional” and expensive art instills in viewers, how it artificially depresses the appetite for messy unprofessional art, including your own; the way that this makes your tastes narrower, less interesting, less open.

By that I mean---maybe the baby isn’t ugly! Maybe you’ve just seen too many photorealistic babies. Maybe you haven’t really stopped to contemplate that your drawing of a baby (however crude, ugly, or limited) is the best drawing of a baby you can make, and the act of drawing that lumpen, ugly baby is more sacred and profoundly human than even looking at a Mary Cassatt painting.

And even if that isn’t the case....there was this girl in [American Midwestern state] for whom it was very, very important that she capture every finger, curl, and bit of shading for that ugly soap ad baby. And some one hundred years later, her great-something-or-other took pains to preserve her work---because how terribly human it is, to seek out all the art we can find that resonates with us, preserve it, adore it.

It might be the most human impulse we have.

#I of course went on a tangent about henry darger because I love darger and he was also pulling/tracing/finding inspiration in local ads #I was also thinking of the scenes in banshees of inisherin where gleeson plays the fiddle in the bar and the woman sings #clearly not professional! nowhere near mozart. #but you know what? those people are making art. they are engaged in the most human thing you can possibly do #my mother once talked about how when she was growing up in the chicago area the irish immigrants would sing and play at parties #and her mother (one generation removed from immigration) would scoff #because who did they think they were! they weren't professionals. they were making a spectacle of themselves. #''and then it died out. no one sings and plays at parties anymore'' she said quietly #celestial emporium of benevolent knowledge

[p4nishers]

crowley is about to pull some "if i loved you less i might be able to talk about it more" shit im literally telling u

#while aziraphale is living his best life going to tea parties and matchmaking the local lesbians crowley is once again in his pinning era #only this time with some homelessness involved. they're so emma by jane austen coded god #good omens #ineffable husbands #azicrow #crowley #crowley good omens #aziraphale

[jakeperalta]

the tories crashing and burning in the local elections

#we love to see it! #my area is yet to be announced although it will almost certainly remain conservative #however the place i used to live (which i'm planning to move back to soon) has always been a VERY safe conservative seat #and they've now lost it and it's gone to no overall control which is huge #this is why we vote in the supposedly less important local elections!!! #make the tories have to claw back areas which have clearly lost faith in the party for the next general election!!!! #talking #uk politics

[sakasakiii]

for quite some time now ive wanted to redesign some of my existing maiar designs as well as give proper designs to some ive never really bothered with before, so here's some updated fullbody concepts! im happiest with mairon's honestly, but i really like the idea of olorin being a haggled, minimalistic shepherd who walks around valinor covered in dirt HAHAHAH

i also wanted to explore some of their potential dynamics with each other 😙 esp eonwe-ilmare and mairon-arien as siblings so these are just some quick doodles cuz my neck is in pa i n

compiled fullbody ref sheet under the cut 💃

#silmarillion #maiar #mairon #sauron #eonwe #the silmarillion fanart #this week: local dark lord tries to fight the sun (for the 8277th time) #idk but olorin/gandalf as the eccentric old guy who pops into everyones house uninvited is such a prevalent concept in my head #eonwe is a sweet summer child.... but ilmare is the foreboding one who ruins parties and reminds the teacher about forgotten homework #arien and tilion take on their original elemental forms #but they do have more physical fana like everyone else #silm #the silmarillion #olorin #gandalf #valinor #osse #uinen #arien #tilion #curumo #saruman #ilmare #character design #silm art #sibling dynamics #lotr #year of the trees

[luckthebard]

It’s been weeks since I saw the post that prompted this, but I once was reading a post critiquing Matt’s worldbuilding cause, you know, curiosity, and also I’m interested in critique if it’s well-argued, but one of the main points was “Hupperdook doesn’t make any sense, a town where everyone parties after work every day?” and I just thought “Ah. Someone who’s never been to several major US cities”

#my first thought was Philly but also New York #LA #I went through like 3 more before I remembered Vegas #which weirdly I feel like actually doesn’t count in that it’s the inverse and the tourists party while the locals are annoyed

[montypng]

child safety 101: no smoking indoors

[ID: a greyscale three panel comic: in the first, party poison sits slouched against a wall, smoking and reading a magazine. two text bubbles read “slam!”, then “Poison, we’re back!”. in the second panel, poison looks up at jet walking by, holding the girl in his arms, and asks “decent haul?”. jet replies “Good enough—Oh, Witch’s sake! Put that nic-stick out. We just child-proofed the diner, and you’ve got a whole fire risk going on!” with an annoyed expression, while the girl happily says “Hi, Pois!”. in the third panel, ghoul and kobra walk by, both covered in dirt and leaving behind a thick trail of smoke. kobra has his motorcycle helmet under his arm and his bloodied katana leaning against his shoulder. ghoul is holding a huge bazooka, with grenades strapped across their chest. grinning, they say “Yeah, Pois! You’re a goddamn safety hazard!” poison’s expression is now mildly pissed./end ID] 

#danger days #mcr #my chemical romance #the true lives of the fabulous killjoys #ttlotfk #killjoys #party poison #jet star #fun ghoul #kobra kid #the girl #my art #mcr fanart #TRAGEDY: local artist puts way too much effort into a shitpost

[feralsteddie]

where that one post about Steve accidentally inventing pastel punk because he wanted to be edgier for a Corroded Coffin gig, but wasn’t willing to part with his soft colors

#steve harrington #steddie #imagining Steve putting little spikes on the shoulders of a jean vest he bleached and dyed either pastel pink or that soft yellow ie sweater #he likes soft acid wash jeans and had Eddie help him tear them up #he has a Corroded Coffin shirt (a white one with just the band name in that scratchy font) #and Robin helps him dye it a soft color #they add slashes they put safety pins through #and he buys a pair of steal toes he adds charms through the eyelets of #sorry thinking of our local prep get edgy in his own way and accidentally create a subculture #which- honestly Eddie would have mixed feels bc metalheads and punks are two distinct alt cultures already #so he’d be like ‘Harrington how could you go PUNK on me????’ but also he’d be so proud bc Steve is finding what he enjoys and embracing it #OOH Steve commissions Vickie to make CC patches for each of the party members and it’s the first patch he puts on his own vest #pyreposting

[artbyfuji]

Hope you all had a frightful STRQ-o-WEEN 🎃👻

#rwby #strq #summer rose #raven branwen #qrow branwen #taiyang xiao long #my art #ah yes strqoween. #the timeless holiday celebrated every november. huge fan <3 listen. halloween isn't over just because halloween is over 🤨 #please show your support to your local undead lumberjack‚ frankenstein‚ vampire and..... scareqrow 🪓🔩🦇🍂‼️ #just know that summer did everyone's make-up 👍 and def used a whole bottle of fake blood for her costume 😁🩸 #not shown but tai would have a shirt that says “i got the electric chair and all it did was turn me blonde” #anyway. after the party you will find them all in a 7eleven at 3am raiding the taquito stand. still in costume 💪😤

[axvoter]

Blatantly Partisan Party Review XL (federal 2022): The “Teal” Independents

Running where: 6 out of 8 states and territories—not NT or QLD. Most are in specific lower house seats; see full list below.

Prior reviews: None, this is not a party

(This entry is a bit long. The first section covers the rise of the indies this past decade and what they stand for. If you are primarily interested in whether a teal is standing in your seat and a recommendation if so, scroll down to the candidate list and recommendation sections.)

Australia has seen a resurgence in independent politics the past decade. In 2010, the only indies in the House of Representatives were men who had been first elected to public office as Nationals MPs and since left the party. At that year’s election, Andrew Wilkie ran a successful independent campaign for the Division of Denison (now Clark): in a remarkable four-cornered contest, he came third on first preferences and won after the distribution of preferences. Next, in 2013, Cathy McGowan ran an impressive local campaign to unseat Sophie Mirabella, a terminally unpopular Liberal who had steadily turned one of the safest seats in the country into a loss. As a friend with relatives in Indi quipped to me, “every time Mirabella met a voter, she lost a vote”. McGowan in 2019 then successfully handed over to another local indie, Helen Haines, the current Member for Indi, while Zali Steggall defeated Tony Abbott in Warringah. Kerryn Phelps also briefly held Wentworth after winning as an independent at a 2018 by-election but she narrowly lost to Dave Sharma in 2019.

This election, independent campaigns have been especially well organised, receiving significant funds from clean energy activist Simon Holmes à Court’s organisation Climate 200. There are plenty of indies not funded by Climate 200, including a couple of competitive ones (e.g. Dai Le in Fowler, Rob Priestly in Nicholls), but by and large the indies getting attention are those with Climate 200 backing. These indies have become known as the “teal indies” for the colour many use in their branding or as the “climate indies” for their policy focus. Holmes à Court had formerly participated in Liberal Party fundraising activities for Josh Frydenberg, but was expelled after writing an opinion piece in support of closing the Liddell coal-fired power station. He promptly began supporting independent and minor-party candidates with more progressive climate agendas than Liberal MPs.

Because this is not a party as such, the teal indies are a diverse bunch. Some are running on distinctively local issues, and if you are in one of their electorates you probably know them and the issues much better than I do. I would largely define the teals as centre to centre-right. A few clearly lean left (e.g. David Pocock, Kim Rubenstein) while some belong to a lost generation of Liberals: professional women who two decades ago would have been moderate Liberal candidates, but who have been put off by the party’s notorious sexism problems and its inability or refusal to act on climate ()e.g. Allegra Spender, Sophie Scamps, Kate Chaney).

Three issues unite the teals. They want much stronger action on climate change, guided by scientific advice. They want integrity in politics—you can read this as a federal ICAC. And, as implied by the end of the last paragraph, they want gender equity. The specifics of exactly what sort of policies they support on climate, integrity, and gender vary between candidates and each campaign has been resolutely focused on their electorate’s expectations—and on tying incumbent Liberals to Scott Morrison and Barnaby Joyce, no matter how nice and moderate the local incumbent might be.

Climate 200 has contributed to twenty campaigns this election. Four are candidates from parties I have reviewed: Leanne Minshull of The Local Party (TAS Senate), David Pocock of his eponymous party (ACT Senate), Rebekah Sharkie of the Centre Alliance (Mayo), and Kim Rubenstein of Kim for Canberra (ACT Senate). Of those four, only Sharkie is the incumbent; the other three are challenging for Senate seats. Three more people in receipt of Climate 200 support are incumbent independents who are likely to be re-elected: Helen Haines (Indi), Zali Steggall (Warringah), and Andrew Wilkie (Clark).

The remaining thirteen are independents challenging sitting members for a seat in the House of Representatives. They are varying degrees of competitive. I think Zoe Daniel should win Goldstein over toxic cesspit of a person Tim Wilson, and Monique Ryan (Kooyong), Allegra Spender (Wentworth), and Kylea Tink (North Sydney) are all in strong positions too. I would suggest 2–3 of those four will unseat the incumbent. I am also tipping one other indie, not necessarily a teal, to unseat an incumbent somewhere in the country. There is buzz around Kate Chaney here in the west for Curtin, although I’m not yet persuaded it’s enough to get her over the line. I suspect David Pocock is going to fall just a few percent short of defeating Zed Seselja for the second ACT Senate seat.

The following are the candidates to whom Climate 200 has contributed funds. They are alphabetised by seat contested, which is named in brackets. In square brackets is party affiliation, if they have one. Italicised candidates are sitting incumbents.

ACT: David Pocock (Senate) [eponymous party]; Kim Rubenstein (Senate) [Kim for Canberra]

NSW: Nicolette Boele (Bradfield), Kate Hook (Calare), Caz Heise (Cowper), Georgia Steele (Hughes), Kylea Tink (North Sydney), Hanabeth Luke (Page), Zali Steggall (Warringah), Allegra Spender (Wentworth)

SA: Jo Dyer (Boothby), Rebekah Sharkie (Mayo) [Centre Alliance]

TAS: Andrew Wilkie (Clark), Leanne Minshull (Senate) [Local Party]

VIC: Claire Ferres Miles (Casey), Despi O’Connor (Flinders), Zoe Daniel (Goldstein), Helen Haines (Indi), Monique Ryan (Kooyong), Alex Dyson (Wannon)

WA: Kate Chaney (Curtin)

My recommendation: In all instances I recommend you preference a teal above a Liberal or National candidate and the various far-right crackpots (this favourable recommendation applies to Rob Priestly and Dai Le too). Just how strong a preference you give them will vary based on individual, but it will be generally a decent or good one—especially given how many dire candidates are on some ballots.

I want to go into more detail than I usually do in giving a recommendation, as there are strategic considerations to make in some cases. If your priority is unseating the sitting Liberal, you should ponder who is likely to end up second and third as preferences are distributed. If there are three candidates left in the count and none has 50% (or, in the Senate, none has reached a quota), the third one will be eliminated. and their preferences will decide which of the remaining two wins the seat. Where will their preferences go? If the third candidate is Labor or Green, the easy majority of their preferences will flow to the teal and might get them over the line if the margin is close enough. If the third candidate is a teal, however, some of their voters will likely break back to the Liberals to give the Lib the win ahead of Labor or the Greens.

This means that if your main goal is defeating a Liberal and the count is likely to end up a three-way contest between the Liberal, a teal, and a party candidate you might otherwise vote for, consider your vote very carefully. In such a situation, if you decide that Labor or Green (or another desirable candidate) is likely to finish in the top three but cannot defeat the incumbent Liberal on preferences, while the teal is also likely to finish in the top three and could defeat the incumbent Liberal on preferences, then you might wish to give the teal a better preference than Labor/Green/other-desirable-party. I do not normally recommend tactical voting, and our system is designed to avoid it, but in this case it’s relevant.

Website: https://www.climate200.com.au/candidates

#auspol #ausvotes #ausvotes22 #ausvotes2022 #Australian election #Australia #Election 2022 #teal independents #teal indies #climate independents #climate indies #Climate 200 #Simon Holmes à Court #independent politics #Centre Alliance #David Pocock #Kim for Canberra #Local Party #Monique Ryan #Zoe Daniel #Allegra Spender #Zali Steggall #Andrew Wilkie #Helen Haines #Cathy McGowan #Kylea Tink #Sophie Scamps #Kate Chaney #Rob Priestly #Dai Le

[stevieschrodinger]

Just imagine Alpha Steve after everything that happened. Alpha Steve who was King Steve, not just because of the money and the popularity and everything else that came with it, but King Steve because he was also Alpha. How aloof he kept himself from everything, simply because he knew, deep down, that it was all empty and meaningless and what was the point of being the most popular kid in the school if literally no one actually liked him. Just wanted him because of what he was and what he had and what advantages his friendship gave.

And then, after Vecna, after everything, Steve who had a group of people who knew him. Actually knew him, and suddenly he had pack. Learned what it was to make a family, to have people he would fight and die for because he knew they would do the same. Knew the deep satisfaction of caring for the people in his pack.

Alpha Steve who checks in with everyone. Alpha Steve who has to leave his scent on everyone, every time they part. Even Argyle, despite no one being able to smell it over the weed. Steve who has to mark and protect his people, finds that it soothes his soul. Alpha Steve who always has food in the house, knows the likes and dislikes of everyone of his pups, even if he would never call them that out loud.

When Eddie finally wakes up, Wayne sheds a few quiet tears, puts his book away, gently grips at Eddie's hand and calls him a stupid, stupid, brave boy. Because Alpha Steve couldn't tell Wayne many of the details, but he told him Eddie was a hero who saved the world.

Once he's been checked over and the hustle settles down again, the doctor finally clearing out, Eddie starts to realise why he's relaxed, why he's stayed so calm through waking up.

"Smells like Steve," Eddie says, as every thing comes down and his senses slowly warm back up. There's soft blankets under his fingertips, definitely not hospital cushions stacked around his head. Under his shoulder, comfortably soft, a yellow polo, folded up neat.

"Yeah," Wayne agrees quietly, "he's here...a lot."

"What's all this?" Eddie shifts, finding another shirt and a plaid woolen throw wedged between Eddie and the bedrail.

"Steve," Wayne answers simply.

"I'm not an Omega," Eddie answers weakly, bringing the soft corner of a blanket up to his nose.

"Doesn't seem to matter to Harrington."

Eddie doesn't want to be hopeful, not about this. That way lies heartache, "he's such an Alpha, got his wires crossed. I got hurt, that's all."

Wayne hums quietly in answer, "recon' he wouldn't be scenting stuff like this for just anyone, Eds."

"Nah," Eddie laughs brokenly, "not anyone, just every Omega in Hawkins."

Wayne looks at him, gaze too knowing but full of sad understanding, "still, he's clearly very fond of you Eds," it's a nice thing to say, warms Eddie's chest. And then Wayne completely ruins it, "that boys so territorial of you, reckon' he'd piss on you if he thought he'd get away with it."

And that sets a fire in Eddie's guts. Not the pissing part, because, gross, no, but what Wayne means by it. The implication.

"Wayne," Eddie says, and that's enough, because Wayne's always been good at boundaries and he knows Eddie, probably better than Eddie knows himself.

"He'll be here in a minute, knows I've got a shift. Won't let you be alone if he can help it."

And Wayne just drops that bomb and leaves Eddie to deal with it, like it's nothing. Like it's normal that King Steve has been building a nest around Eddie while he sleeps.

Like they summoned him, there he is, sucking in a shocked breath and dropping the bag he was carrying, "Eddie," it's a soft exhalation of surprise, and then Steve is at his side, pushing Eddie's hair out of his face and shifting his blankets. Steve moves on autopilot while he talks, touches Eddie with a sureness and familiarity that Eddie knows, in his soul, means that Steve's been doing the same while he was out cold.

"I'll leave you boys too it," Wayne says on his way out of the door, and while Eddie looks over and responds with a weak wave, Steve doesn't even acknowledge the other man. Can't seem to look away from Eddie.

"I have more, uhm, stuff, if you're uncomfortable.". Steve pulls more soft things out of the duffel he's retrieved from the doorway, "and..." Two shirts also make an appearance.

"I'm not an Omega, Steve," Eddie says again, like this time he will get an explanation.

"I'm ...very aware of that, Eds."

Eds. Steve called him Eds. He has been spending time with Wayne then. Jesus, they would have talked about him, Eddie would have been the only thing they had in common at the start.

"Right, well, I'm awake, doc says I'll get better, so you don't have to..." Eddie starts to shift, weakly lifts the plaid blanket to offer it back to Steve.

Steve grips the blanket, not letting Eddie give it to him, pushing it back towards Eddie. Steve's grip is white knuckle tight on the material, "I want to. I really, really want to.". And he stares Eddie down like he's desperately trying to make him understand.

"Oh," Eddie says weakly, heart all twisted up. He doesn't know what his face is showing, can't control it in the moment, but Steve, whose scent has always been strong and appealing to Eddie's weaker Beta senses, is speaking loud and clear. "Oh," Eddie says again, like it'll help. Letting Steve tuck in blankets and and generally fuss over him some more, touches featherlight when he tidies Eddie's hair yet again.

"Is that...okay, how do you feel about...this?"

"About us?" Eddie clarifies, he has to be absolutely certain he's not misreading the intention in Steve's scent. He's not an Omega, he isn't built to pick up the nuances, he has to ask. Even if Steve's scent is kind of a battering ram of want and need and longing and fierce protectiveness.

"yeah, about there being an us," Steve looks uncertain in a way Eddie's never seen before.

If this is Eddie's chance to reassure Steve that he's on board, he's going all in, "kind of like I won a gold medal and got to play on stage with Metallica and I saved the actual wold but like...better and all at once."

"That good, huh?" Steve runs his fingers through his hair, hiding his face a moment, all bashful despite the big grin that's split his face in half, "even though I'm an Alpha and you're...people won't approve."

"Fuck people."

"I'd rather be fucking you."

Eddie face flames, he knows it does. He must have had plenty of blood transfusions because he's pretty certain all that blood is in his cheeks right now. Well, not all of it, half of it must go to his dick. As soon as the thought of Steve between his legs, making him wet and opening him up, catches up to him, Steve leans forward. There's a rumble coming from Steve's chest as he nuzzles his face in between Eddie's head and shoulder, rubbing and scenting against his neck.

He suckles, gently, at the skin there. It's enough to get Eddie humming with pleasure and the rest of the way hard. It's a good job he's swamped in so many blankets, otherwise it would be very obvious; not that it isn't, Steve can clearly smell it on him.

"Can I mark you?" Steve asks, hovering awkwardly over the edge of the bed to get to Eddie.

"I'd usually insist you take a girl to dinner first-"

"I'd feel better Eddie, please," there's no way he could resist Steve Harrington being so vulnerable and sincere.

And, Eddie figures, well, what's one more bruise?

#steddie headcanon #eddie munson #steddie #steve harrington #stranger things #post vecna #the party #alpha steve Harrington #beta eddie munson #a/b/o universe #a/b/o headcanon #a/b/o dynamics #local hero wayne munson

[toadallytickles]

Hosted our first tickle house party since the addition of the garage (as the play space!) tonight! It was SO AWESOME to bring our local-ish tickle community (+ some of our local non-tickle-but-kinky friends!) together again! Loved seeing everyone and catching up, and providing the space! I’d say it was super successful! Already looking forward to next time! 🥰

#It was also Clay’s birthday party~ #everyone’s left and I’m ready to zonk #but so so happy with how it turned out~! #please feel free to reblog/comment if you attended! #I really want more local events to happen- and I’m happy we can host!! #my posts #tickle community #tickles #text

[supersappho]

Teri

#shes a babygworrrl #ocs #my art tag #dnd #also part of red and serena’s party #ur local sorcerer

[t00thpasteface]

since i've gotten in the habit of sitting perfectly still to watch hermit crabs, i've developed a fascination with finding very, very small seashells...

#the shark tooth was a party favor at a local art event but i'm including it for scale! #shebbz irl #seashell #beach life #mermaidcore #malacology #shebbz shoutz