#WHAT DOES THIS MEAN . what do you mean the russia one you mean Lightbulb or Lampchka right . help

[nances]

So why Will?

Writing out some thoughts and analysis on this matter, if you can call it that. This turned out way longer than intended, and it was supposed to be solely about Vecna, but I’m putting this out there nevertheless.

Starting out

I just want to know how tf is Vecna able to appear in this shot? Does this mean he’s always been able to shift between realities, it’s just that he wanted to open a gate solely for the upside down & the Mind Flayer to seep through into the real hawkins?

We can see here that he’s followed Will through the forest, instead of taking a head start through the Upside Down

Seems to be utilizing telekinetic powers here

Yet, in this shot, the background noises sound like those of the Demogorgan’s rather than the growl more characteristic to Vecna. We do see a dark figure looming right behind Will prior to this shot

Why couldn’t he take Will right then and there on the road? Was fear a factor? Will initially appears startled, but as he runs home and dials 911, he grows more afraid as the scene progresses. Perhaps, in order to form a “powerful psychic connection” he needed the boy to be scared out of his mind

Will is taken to the other side in a blip. The lightbulb showcases a spike of energy, in a similar fashion to the way the party’s flashlights bursted when Patrick was killed.

Later, when Hopper and then the laboratory men investigate this shed, it appears as though a portal has been opened here. Yet, season 4 demonstrates Vecna psychologically torturing and killing his victims brutally before ripping a hole in the fabric of time and space.

As far as we know, in season two the mothergate remains open. This means the portal that opened in the shed has remained there ever since. There’s no mention of this, however, when Will’s loved ones tie him up to a chair in order to reach him. Is this a plot hole? Or does this mean that when the Mind Flayer summons the demodogs, this is the gate they run through? The gang swiftly barricades itself in Joyce’s house, so this essentially happens off-screen.

So what exactly happens in season 1?

I think at this point, in the year of 1983, Vecna hasn’t yet fully tapped into his potential. He’s been recovering from the fallout of his and Eleven’s stand off for four years. He might have been probing for a way to reach our world for a while, without success. November 6th is the day Eleven unintentionally opens the mothergate.

Later that day, Will is taken.

So what is the takeaway?

Perhaps here Vecna realized that there’s a gate now. Perhaps the reason why the Upside Down looks like Hawkins is because that is where the gate was opened. The russians arrive in Hawkins because they’re unable to open a proper gate in their home country. Perhaps this factors into it in one way or another? Up until this point, the upside down was this sort of a vacuum, and unspoiled realm that existed in Henry’s mind. The second that the gate opened, Hawkins’ layout was replicated. We know for a fact one person alone wouldn’t be able to get every single detail down to Nancy’s shoebox and study cards right, so this must have been happening on some sort of transcendental level. We know there’s the multiverse theory, according to which there are countless replicas of our own universe, and perhaps we saw one of those created from scratch, except it’s rotten and spoiled by the twisted mindspace of Henry Creel. Perhaps the Upside down is still a vacuum, everywhere but Hawkins though. Perhaps this is the reason why a connection couldn’t be made in Russia. There was no child with psychokinetic powers to make tangible contact with the other side, they were solely operating by generating massive amounts of energy.

I’m going to be frank, I don’t believe Will has ever been involved with the laboratory, nor have his parents. That’d be one massive plot hole. Everything that is happening with the lab seems new, alien to Joyce. Lonnie never brings up anything pertaining to such a thing. Will isn’t a number.

Will is a traumatized little boy, that grew up in a broken family, is dealing with the scary realization, and i quote “that he doesn’t fit into the 1980s definition of normal” and he’s gotten his fair share of abuse from his father, presumably both psychological and physical.

We know that he is also “sweet” and “sensitive” and based on what Joyce tells us in season 2, he’s demonstrated complete and utmost selflessness throughout his life.

He is the complete opposite of Henry Creel, who’s been apathetic, sadistic and demonstrated borderline psychopathic behavior ever since he was a little child.

It must have made sense for Vecna to use his little Charles Xavier ability and latch onto this pure, innocent little child that has had so much trauma on his plate already. He must have been looking for someone whose psyche was already wavering, and by coupling that with the fear of a scary boogie man that’s out to get you, he was successfully able to claim his first “victim”.

He must have figured out that by establishing contact with the real Hawkins, this way he’d be able to inch closer to Eleven, and a way to unleash his vengeful sentiments.

Either that, or perhaps he conflated Will with Eleven. He’s not omniscient. He operates through people’s minds. Perhaps it appeared that Will was broken on a level that resembled Eleven’s psyche in a lot of ways. Perhaps he meant to take Eleven all along, but this “powerful psychic connection” that made it possible for him to take Will weakened him to the point that he had to retreat for a while, which in turn allowed Will to hide.

He then must have realized that he got the wrong kid, and perhaps that’s when he decided he’d use Will as a vessel, as the first flayed one. It makes a lot of sense; who would be able to suspect that this sweet, timid little child is actually a spy for this hellsent entity? Hopper and Joyce essentially hinder this plan, and it seems to take Vecna a year to figure out how to start implementing it again. Will is already “contaminated” by the Upside Down, Vecna’s already got a connection to him, so it’s easier to try and arrange a full scale possession this time.

Look, I really doubt that Will has powers. Because at this point, this deep into the series, we probably should have gotten some subtle indication of that. His nape tingles seem to be more of an imprint that this vile entity left on him, even after exiting his body. Sort of like Harry Potter being the last horcrux. It’s entirely possible that he has gained some sort of abilities, “true sight” as Mike puts, as a result of this altercation.

There is the possibility of him being an indigo-child type of case in a similar fashion to Henry Creel. We know that Henry started using his powers as a tool for his sadistic behavior very early on. It seems like these powers have an element of evil to them, as they’ve been weaponised in every instance in this show. The other numbered children are programmed to be killing machines. Had Will had these sort of abilities, he probably wouldn’t have been able to tap into them, since we never see him act with any malice. It would have made sense for him to be able to use this to his defense whenever he’d been picked on by bullies or abused by his father, but at this point, introducing an element like this whether it be in the form of flashbacks or something else, would feel forced and glued on, and it would frankly feel like riverdale.

Now I really hope that they handle the actual reveal, whatever it ends up being, in a clever way, instead of having Vecna growl out another cliché, bad guy monologue for Will as a means of exposition for the audience.

These are just some thoughts I’ve been having, I could be 100% wrong about all of this but this is just a take on what makes the most sense to me within both the context of the story and a narrative standpoint. Apologies if this is incoherent, I’m typing this on my phone and frankly, am too lazy to proofread everything

Edit: I want to add that there’s a possibility there was no conflation to begin with. Perhaps finding a vessel was his plan all along. And for the reasons I’ve listed above, he chose Will.

#stranger things #will byers #stranger things season 4 #eleven #stranger things theory #joyce byers #mike wheeler #st spoilers #byler #henry creel #stranger things meta

[twdmusicboxmystery]

Revolution Theme, Part 2: War of 1812

READ PART 1 HERE

Wow! Thanks @wdway! Love all this!

You’re right that that the Crossing of the Delaware painting makes a lot more sense, now. It also made me think of the more recent pilgrim paintings we’ve seen the past few years. I think we can work those in as well. The pilgrims were somewhat revolutionary in their actions. Not so much in a massive war or battle sort of way, but they left England (yes, Britain) to find freedoms their mother country wasn’t willing to give them. Which is revolutionary in its way.

But more to the point, that was the first step that would eventually lead to a war for freedom between Britain and the American colonies. So, you could see them as the precursor to the revolution. So, it makes sense to use that painting for TF and TWD right now, because what’s been happening the last season or 2 is the precursor to the final, big revolution.

When you got into talking about 2 revolutions, that makes tons of sense as well, and I totally agree.

When you talked about the white house and library of congress being burnt in 1812, about six things came to mind, lol.

When Eugene was at the Sanctuary (which I 100% believe foreshadows the final revolution, Beth, and what Eugene’s role will be in it) he played the 1812 Overture when he did the science experiment for Negan’s wives. (Including Amber, who looked like Beth and Tanya, who had a lot of Beth’s dialogue with Eugene). I’ve kind of low-key obsessed over that song and why they used it, but other than foreshadowing a final battle with Eugene as I’ve already said, it was hard to connect anything more specific.

The 1812 Overture was not actually written about the War of 1812. It was written in celebration of Napoleon’s retreat from Russia. Basically, he tried to invade Moscow early in 1812 but failed miserably and eventually had to retreat. Not so much because of being out-fought, but more because of weather, illness, lack of supplies for the army, etc.

Now, that’s not the same thing you mentioned in the British fighting Napoleon before turning their attention to the American colonists, but the link is still there. Napoleon/Russia>1812 Overture>Napolean/Britain>Britain/American Colonies. See what I mean? So, the idea of two wars or a war on two fronts really makes sense.

I’ve been trying to find out if the 1812 Overture has a d.c. al coda in it. I don’t think it does, but I’m having a hard time finding the sheet music online. You can find it, of course, but often it’s blurry or watermarked in such a way that it’s hard to read, and that’s because they want you to buy it to remove the watermark. I’ll keep looking.

But I do know it has a coda. Maybe not a d.c. al coda, but a coda of some kind. In fact, while I’m still not sure until I can clearly see the sheet music, from what I’ve read others saying, the final, super-loud, exuberant part of the song that’s often used in U.S. Independence Day celebrations IS the coda. And it represents Russia winning the war over Napoleon. Coincidence?

So, Napoleon fought many wars on many fronts. There’s that. But as you said, the British first fought Napoleon (perhaps that will be the Commonwealth) and then turned to the American colonists. And given what was said in 5x09 about a rebel group fighting against the “republic” using what amounts to guerilla tactics, that does line up with how the American colonists fought the British during the revolution. So clearly that’s the one that will involve Beth and TF (though of course they will probably be involved, at least to some extent, in the Commonwealth bit as well).

Also, also. You talked about the LIBRARY of congress being burned. I’m not sure how, but suddenly I feel sure all the books and librarian stuff must be connected to this. To the revolution theme. I still remember watching the beginning of 6x16 and thinking it was SO significant, but I had no idea why. It’s where we see Carl lock Enid in the closet to keep her safe, and she’s yelling at him things like, “what if you don’t come back?” And he tells her, “just survive somehow.”

Meanwhile, that scene is intercut with Negan’s guys chasing the librarian they end up hanging over the bridge with an X spray painted on his chest. And then he gets…burned?

I remember thinking that just FELT like a big war that was coming, but back then, I really didn’t know how to interpret it. Of course, AOW started soon after, but the librarian group wasn’t a big part of that. If we’re honest, they really were just random side characters, which was odd because that sequence FELT so important. So, I’m betting we ought to be connecting them to this as well.

The Native American Symbols

For the record, a couple of things I’ve been trying to look into and haven’t found much (mostly because I haven’t had much time to do so yet) include what role Native American tribes played in the American revolution. Some were loyal to the British, others to colonists. As I said, I need to do more research, but little tidbits like this one are interesting:

“Their biggest contribution was as spies going to Canada and returning with news of the English plans, and attacking English coastal shipping. The Indians played a leading role in preventing an English attack on Machias by sea from being successful. “

(AL’s voice coming out of the radio in 5x09: “At least 68 citizens of the Republic have been killed in four deadly attacks along the main coastal district. The group has continued their campaign of random violence, moving across the countryside unfettered, with the Republic’s military forces in disarray.” Just saying.)

The other thing I’ve looked into is Francis Marion’s (Swamp Fox’s) connection to Native Americans of the time. During the revolution itself, I’m not finding much. But we do know that he learned a lot of his battle prowess from fighting the Cherokee Indians as a young man.

What he learned there is what made him so effective against the British. So, I’m wondering if that will translate with Beth in that she’ll fight the CRM or perhaps even in battles with the Commonwealth early on and that will give her what she needs to triumph much later in bigger battles. Or maybe they’ll connect it even earlier back to early battles with TF and what Daryl taught her. The possibilities are endless. ;D

@wdway:

If you do a search, it's quite fascinating and well worth the time to do two searches. One on the burning of the White House and then the other one on Andrew Jackson and the Battle of New Orleans.

There are things that I just did not go into like the connection with Napoleon that we've seen hints of in the past couple of seasons and didn't know why. The Cherokee Rose, which has been a symbol for so long and I do not think it was their intention in the beginning but what most people do not understand is that the Cherokee Rose has a strong connection to Andrew Jackson.

Andrew Jackson had a singular focus on driving the Native Americans (mostly the Cherokee Nation) to the West. Lightbulb moment here, but maybe that might be same of the meaning of Indian symbolism.

Jackson had a major part in the Trail of Tears, which is basically the story that Daryl tells Carol after walker Sophia was discovered. Jackson was a brilliant military soldier, but he was not known as a compassionate person. His nickname was Old Hickory (a tree reference) because the hickory tree's wood is known for its hardness.

A few years back, tptb did a promotion showing nuts that had a hard outer shell. People didn't understand what that was, but I knew because it was a hickory nut. A very hard outer shell and then inside is the actual nut. Hickory wood was the favored source for making baseball bats back in the day because they would not easily break.

The other interesting fact about Andrew Jackson was his love for his wife, Rachel. It was a legendary love. He might have been an asshole to the entire world, but Rachel was the love of his life. When she died, he did not simply bury her. He entombed her in her own little Mausoleum at his home, The Hermitage, just outside of Nashville.

Jackson fought both in the Revolutionary War and the 1812 war, in the Battle of New Orleans. He apparently had been imprisoned by the British for a time during the Revolutionary War, which fired his hatred for them.

Am I the only one thinking about the connections between him and Negan? I'm thinking of the two wars, the Commonwealth and the war against the CRM. I want to think that the Commonwealth conflict is represented by the War of 1812. The larger, more overall important conflict with a CRM will be the American Revolutionary War, with Rick replacing Washington as the leader.

I was freaking out when you mentioned the Overture of 1812. I don't care if it was written for the war led by Napoleon with Russia. If anything, that makes it even as stronger clue that we're on the right track because of the Russian satellite and Russian dictionary that little Judith got from (wait for it) the library, for Eugene.

One other thing, @twdmusicboxmystery. I thought about this earlier today when I was reading about the 1812 Overture, but I wanted to do a check before I mentioned it to you. 

Two very famous pieces of music came out of the 1812 wars. The 1812 Overture about Napoleon and Russia, and The Star-Spangled Banner, our U.S. national anthem written by Francis Scott Key about The Battle of Fort Henry. Both Fort Henry and The Battle of New Orleans were fought in 1814 but were known as being part of the War of 1812.

Can’t wait to see how it all plays out.

Definitely very interesting! Thanks for all this research @wdway! 

#beth greene #beth greene lives #beth is alive #beth is coming #td theory #td theories #team delusional #team defiance #beth is almost here #bethy

[realtalkingpoints]

What happened with FB Notifications this weekend, and why do I care…???

By Staff realtalkingpoints blog

January 27, 2020 

So what did happen with Facebook (FB) notifications this weekend?  Anything?  If you look for news coverage as I have, of a major news event involving FB, you can’t find it.  I found one or two articles referencing ‘degraded performance’ in obscure publications I’ve never heard of before, and only after searching several search engines. Two articles… on something that I’m sure affected thousands, and thousands of users.  So why did some people post about their FB notifications being blank?  Why is that even a big deal, I mean, can’t you shut those off in settings anyway? What’s the big deal?

Not everyone has seen this subtle suppression technique in action, and perhaps most who haven’t, are using social media differently than those of us who have.  To turn it back a step or two, let’s talk about conservatives complaining they are being suppressed on social media.  You’ve heard this complaint, right?  Usually one of your Trump supporter friends, who’s quickly dismissed by their liberal friends as dreaming up conspiracy theories, and just brushed off because it’s publicly acceptable to not like them, ‘cuz, Trump... So, those people.  Conservatives, claiming they are being shadow banned or deboosted or censored on social media.  

I am one of those people. I will go on social media and discuss politics, usually with people who don’t agree with me.  I will openly express support for our president, Donald Trump, and make more enemies than friends in doing so.  And I will support other ideas, movements, and policies that define conservatism, by participating in conversations initiated by politicians and news personalities all over popular social media platforms.  I’ve been doing this for years, motivated not by the argument itself, but by the concern that the conservative perspective was under-represented in these online discussions, and by the realization that these online discussions were becoming the epicenter of the political discussion itself.

At the heart of it, it’s a demographics problem.  In general, conservatives are older. Not that there aren’t young conservatives, or old liberals for that matter.  But in general, most college kids want to protest something…  And tell them that college should be free, and of course most of them will agree.  As they get older, and many achieve success in career, family and finance, many of them begin to realize the value of the conservative principles they had rebelled against.  As in the college tuition for example.  Once they have struggled through the weight of the debt, and finally paid it off, there is a sense of accomplishment, and a greater understanding of the value of the dollar.   Perhaps they still hate debt, and that’s a good thing. But they have learned through experience, that debt is a temptation dangled throughout life, that can be conquered, but must be entered into carefully, and weighed against the benefits it will afford.  There might also be the eventual realization that our banking system relies on loans and interest, and the requirement that loans be paid back, so banks can make more loans and provide liquidity to the economy.  The wisdom of these experiences has simply not been achieved by the younger, ‘why can’t it be free’ ideologues.  

Ask yourself, how many 18 year-olds don’t know how to use the internet?  The answer is basically zero.  Now ask the same question of 75 year-olds?  It’s definitely not zero.  Perhaps a large percentage over 75 is technically using the internet, but many are using it only sparingly, to do email, mail order and basic browsing. The fact is, we still have several generations who grew up, went through their education, and much of their career before the internet was even invented.  Many of them are intimidated by the internet, perhaps rightly so, but they are definitely not participating in political debates on FB.  My basic understanding of mathematics suggests that the online discussions were more heavily influenced by younger, more liberal perspectives than their conservative counterparts, based on the demographics of the participants.  And as I became more and more involved in these conversations, it seemed obvious to me that this was in fact the case.  The conservative perspective was simply not getting the same representation on these platforms.  It was probably around the same time, that I also realized the social media conversations were driving the television news cycles, not the other way around.

Consider a news anchor or TV journalist with a twitter account.  Perhaps they have a show that comes on at 8 pm.  But they get a news scoop at 11 am.  Historically, viewers would hear about it at 8pm.  Today, it’s tweeted out almost as it happens.  By 8pm showtime, the news has been tossed about by everyone who approves, disapproves or is suspicious of.  I’d theorize, that the 8pm broadcast still benefits from the social media discussion.  It’s more informed and refined, having been both challenged and expanded upon as like minded followers along with oppositional personalities weigh in on the discussion.  The conversation moves forward at the speed of the internet, as passionately informed ideologues share their best arguments in support of, or in opposition to the conflict of the day.  The argument may well be settled by 8pm, regardless of how it gets reported on the individual networks.  The conclusion for me is easy.  News travels faster on social media, than on TV news broadcasts.  And this is revolutionizing news itself.  

So what does all this have to do with notifications?  Why are some people upset about not receiving notifications, and how does it relate to conservatives who think they’ve been censored?  Notifications are what you get when someone likes, shares, or responds to your comment on social media.  Think of an account you follow, that posts discussion of news events.  It appears in your news feed, and you can interact with it. You can like it, share it on your account for your followers, or you can comment on the issue being discussed. Liking, seems to be the least consequential interaction you can engage in.  When you like a post, or a comment, the ‘author’ of that post or comment will usually get a notification that it was liked.  The more likes, the more notifications, and the author gets a sense of community approval or indifference to their thoughts.  I’m sure the biggest accounts with hundreds of thousands of followers often do turn off their notifications, because it’s a given that they will receive hundreds or thousands of interactions every time they post, and to receive notifications of every one would be overwhelming.  But for the average user, notifications of likes are a positive reinforcement to their opinions.  It lets them know that they have accomplished an understanding of the issues being discussed and have expressed something that others agree with.  So why is not getting notified of likes, such a big deal?  We haven’t got there yet…

The effect that the notification suppression has on social media is at least two fold.  Many believe that it is used as a form of punishment by social media platforms to persuade accounts away from posting about topics they don’t want on their platforms.  I remember seeing a song parody by conservative social media personality Steven Crowder. (video here)  I had already experienced the notification suppression (along with other shadow banning techniques), but had struggled to find discussions from other conservatives that this was actually happening (resulting in the all too frequent ‘you’re a conspiracy theorist’ accusations).  Thankfully, Steven Crowder had turned the song into a gripe about all the suppressions and de-platforming that his video podcast had gone through. Their parody of “Man of constant sorrow” included an adapted chorus line that went something like ‘notifications don’t work for days’.  And then I knew.  It was happening, it was real, it was on purpose, and it was a punishment for content the platform developers disagreed with.  I wasn’t crazy.  Or if I was, then so was Steven Crowder, and I was in good company.  

But the effects of suspended notifications goes beyond a superficial punishment for content the platform disapproves of.  When applied to the comments of a deep debate, it has a chilling effect on the discourse being exchanged.  Take Russia collusion for example.  Some of us who followed the developments closely, realized long ago that the claims being made by leftist liberal media about the President’s alleged treasonous Russian contacts just didn’t add up.  Imagine a social media post about Russia collusion, and a discussion took shape in the comments.  Maybe there was breaking news, and the possibilities of what it could mean were being brainstormed for the first time, right there on FB.  Crowdsourcing at it’s finest.  But it was a work day, so average Joe quickly shared his thoughts in the comments section while eating breakfast.  Joe’s thoughts sparked a lightbulb in another participant who replied to Joe’s comment with the missing link to Joe’s idea.  When Joe checked his phone at work, he got the notification, read the reply, realized the missing link, added another comment with his conclusions, and a new part of the mystery was solved.  Much of Russia collusion was unraveled just like that. The major account they were both following, absorbed the developments, polished the theory, and it was ready for the 8pm news broadcast.  The information exchange had moved ahead at the speed of the internet.

So what if, Joe never got that notification…  Joe checked his phone, but there was no indication anyone had interacted with his comment.  Maybe Joe interacts with lots of posts and doesn’t have time to circle back and check them all for replies.  He relies on the notifications to tell him when it’s happened.  The next time he went on the social media site, he interacted with other posts on other topics, and never realized the missing link to complete his theory was waiting for him in the comments section, where he had participated earlier.  He never knew, so he never looked, and the discovery was never made.  By suspending the notifications, they interrupted the conversation and curtailed the exchange of information.  Whether by accident or by design, the platform developers and admins have realized that by suspending notifications, they can suppress the exchange of ideas and content.  Interrupt the dialog, and it will at the very least, slow the development of ideas and analysis.  And notification suppression likely has effects that we have not yet realized. Remember, they have all the data. They know how notification suppression effects the entire community when used in different capacities, and they are using it more and more.

So today, Saturday January 25, 2020, my notifications page on FB went blank.  I had experienced many inconsistencies with my notifications in the past.  Times when notifications for specific conversations seemed to roll in days after the actual interactions happened (perhaps what Steven Crowder was referring to in his song parody).  Also notifications about comments that don’t show up in the thread the notifications came from.  I’m sure there’s others.  Lots of games being played by the overlords with their precious notifications.  But never had my notifications page been completely blank.  Until today. And knowing the unique importance of notifications, I became quite concerned.  I posted immediately on FB, and other social media sites.  I asked if anyone else had blank notifications pages on FB.  The answers came in rather quickly.  Yes, yes, yes.  Many friends on FB said they had similar experiences today or had seen posts from their friends that were experiencing the issue.  Other platforms generated input that it was happening on FB in the UK, and seemed like a wide scale problem.  Of course many assumed it was the usual ‘technical glitch’ that so often explains the unexplained phenomena on the internet.  Yet another friend made curious observation, that I had been suspicious of.  He said something to the effect ‘all my friends who engage in partisan politics on FB are complaining about notifications today’.  It hadn’t affected his notifications, but he felt he had noticed a correlation among those claiming they had.  He thought it was affecting those who regularly espouse their political views on the platform.  

FB has been vocal about their displeasure with the politics playing out on their platform.  They have made public commitments to crack down and dissuade certain types of political content, including political ads during the election cycle.  So was this notification suppression, a deliberate attempt to punish politicos for opining on FB?  If it was a deliberate act, their timing was likely no accident either.

Today was the beginning of the President’s legal defense arguments in the Senate impeachment hearings. Today was the first day, that the President actually got to defend himself via legal representation on national TV in the impeachment charade that’s been going on for months now.  It was right after sharing a video of his legal team delivering devastating remarks and embarrassing the Democrat hoaxers that my notifications suddenly went blank.  Was my sharing a political video embarrassing Democrats, related to my notifications disappearing?  Was this the notifications punishment that FB has used so many times before but on a bigger, more obvious scale?  Were they exercising their leverage to interrupt the conversation and curtail the flow of information?   Where are the news stories about this?  I looked and looked and found very little. Did they choose today because they knew most news outlets would be focused on impeachment and therefor unlikely to spend much time on a silly FB glitch?  Surely, there were zillions of political posts on FB in recent days, as the Democrats delivered their case to the Senate.  Did they choose today specifically to send a different message? The day that the President mounts his legal defense is the day FB decides to punish users for political content…???  

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVEkDRgytCU)

[chromecutie]

Not A Ghost - part 14

A/N - Multi-part fic. Colossus x OC where OC has come home after being wrongfully imprisoned in the Icebox. Warnings for whole fic - references and flashbacks to harsh prison environment, including various types of abuse. Takes place shortly after events in Deadpool 2. Whole thing will end up on my AO3 eventually.

Taglist: @emma-frxst  @ra-ra-rasputiin  @holamor ​  @empressme-bitch  @marvel-is-perfection  @hazilyimagine ​ @marvel-forever-17 @rovvboat @angstybadboytrash ​ @whitewitchdown ​ @master-sass-blast ​ @mori-fandom @mooleche @dandyqueen . Wanna be added or removed? Holla at me.

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Piotr looked for his wife after Wade and Cable left, and found her in their bedroom. “Ah!” His face lit when he saw her in the old velvet chair by the window, before he realized she was sulking. He lifted the hot cup he’d brought with him. “I have tea for you,” he said warmly as he crossed to sit in the other chair opposite her.

Rhonda put down the lightbulb she had been holding on the little table. She accepted the cup with a soft, “Thank you.”

They were quiet for a while, Rhonda sipping at the tea, avoiding eye contact while Piotr watched how her fingers curled around the ceramic. He noticed how she almost always kept her right hand with the missing finger obscured by her other hand, the cup, or the sleeve of her cardigan.

“Wade and Cable left,” he said.

He took another breath to add to it, but Rhonda interjected, “I’m sorry. About earlier. I’m so sorry - I don’t know how to explain it, I just…” Her brows pinched and raised in the middle, but her gaze didn’t leave her tea. Her knuckles were a little white around the mug.

Piotr remembered Cable outing her about being "scared of everyone," and wilted. “Sladkaya, nyet, nyet!” He cupped one of his hands around hers and touched her chin with one knuckle to get her to look at him. “I’m sorry. I should have told them to wait a few days, today was no good.” He swiped his thumb over her cheek - she had washed off the oval of paint from this morning, leaving the teardrop tattoos visible again. “You have nothing to apologize for,” he assured. Since she was wearing her cardigan again, he figured she had washed off the rest of the paint too.

She still wasn’t used to him being constantly armored, but his touch was still his touch and there was comfort in it. The steam was no longer curling from her tea, but it was still warm. In a few more generous sips, she finished it and set the cup on the table. Piotr had laid his hands on the surface, watching carefully as Rhonda pulled up her feet into the chair with her. There were things he didn’t understand about her now, and he wanted to fix that. Figuring out the right questions to ask and how to ask them was delicate, and it would take time.

“For what it’s worth,” he said, “they like you.”

She rolled her eyes, but couldn’t completely hide her smirk. “Captain Surly and Mr. Can’t Stop Drawing Dicks like me? Wow.”

Piotr looked away, but his smile widened. “You have always been easy to like, sladkaya,” he said softly.

Rhonda sighed, “Don’t...call me that.”

His smile died and he asked with a confused frown, “Sladk--why?”

She shook her head and somehow withdrew even further into the chair. “Because I’m not...sladkaya anymore, there’s nothing sweet about me.”

For a full minute, he didn’t even know what to say to that. Stunned, he watched her in silence, his heart pounding. Finally he simply said, “Nyet,” and scooped her into his arms.

He laid on the bed, propped against the headboard, with his wife nestled in his arms on top of him. He tried to breathe slowly, let his heart slow down so she didn’t hear the vibrating give away how bothered he was. “The way we fit together like this?” Piotr said gently, fingers sinking into her hair. “That is sladkaya. This morning, in the shower, when I armored down - how you smiled? Sladkaya.” He kissed the top of her head and let his lips linger. “The way you threw your arms around Ellie when you first saw her after you came home. How happy you were when you saw the zhostovo I painted on your arm. When you-” he paused when he heard her sniffle and felt her ribcage contract in a muted sob.

Tears stung his own eyes as Piotr eased his fingers over her hair and concluded, “I spent so long...wishing I could hold you again, just like this. I love you, Rhonda. I love you so very much. So, no. I will not stop calling you sladkaya, and I will not stop pointing out my reasons why.” He punctuated with briefly tightening his embrace.

Rhonda took a couple deep breaths before she responded in a shaky voice, “I love you too, Piotr. You’re the best.” Part of her knew he was right, but a bigger part of her just didn’t feel it. That part knew how the Icebox had forced her to compromise everything she believed in, and it was hard to shake being disgusted with herself for it.

She listened with her cheek on his chest to the muted beating of his heart, like a giant clock ticking in the distance. His arm around her back keenly felt when her breathing evened out and she had stopped crying. He thought she might have fallen asleep when she finally said, “I survived because I thought of you every day.” Rhonda lifted her head to look at him. “I had to get home to you, there was no help coming, there was no other option.” She had a moment of hesitation, before she rolled off Piotr and pulled up the left leg of her pajama pants. High on her inner thigh, there was a scar that sank inward. “This is the one fight,” she said softly, “where I really thought...this is it, I’m done. There was just...too much blood.” The scar was near her femoral artery. Piotr gingerly touched the edges of the scar, his gut in knots as if it was a fresh wound. The scar looked a few years old.

Rhonda continued, “But then I thought--if none of my letters ever got to you, you’d never know what happened. So...I dragged myself back to my cell and tied my sheets around my leg. In the morning, I woke up, and I was still alive.” She sagged against the headboard and heaved a sigh.

Piotr watched her frown deepen and he asked, “Was there something else?”

She chewed her lip and pulled her pants leg back down.

“I killed the person who did this. This was her lucky shot she got in, thinking she was gonna take me with her.” Rhonda shook her head, “Wasn’t that lucky.”

Piotr took a slow breath. His wife was willingly opening up about a few details. He knew he should feel some kind of way, but he could only focus on one fact. “You never gave up,” he said in awe. Guilt gnawed at his heart. He had.

He shifted so he could face her better, and held her hand. “I can’t say the same, and I will always regret it.”

“You mean the part where you had a funeral, or the part where you started seeing someone, while I was murdering people to stay alive?” Rhonda said it matter-of-factly, with no particular edge, but Piotr still flinched as if she had.

“I ended things with Michelle,” he said, unsure what else he should say.

Rhonda nodded, and rubbed his fingers with her thumb where their hands met. “I’m sure it wasn’t easy.”

Piotr proceeded as if he was walking on ice in the Siberian spring, “You don’t seem...as upset as I thought you might be.”

A deep breath raised her shoulders, and with it she lifted her brows in a miniscule shrug. “I don’t know what good it does to be mad about it.” She sandwiched his hand between both of hers and caressed his knuckles. “If I really had been dead...you did exactly what I would have wanted for you. You moved forward with your life and kept living. It just...” She looked into his eyes, “It is what it is.” It didn’t hurt any less, but Rhonda pushed it down anyway. She pulled him a little closer so she could rest her palm against his cheek.

He leaned into her touch and promised, “We will keep moving forward. Together.”

Rhonda smiled, and the circles under her eyes weren’t as dark. “[I love you,]” she said in Russian.

He leaned in and kissed her before returning, “[I love you too.]”

“I gotta ask, though,” she frowned and shook her head. One thing was still definitely under her skin. “Why do you let her call you Petey? Petey? Ew.” Her face scrunched in revulsion at Americanizing her Russian husband’s name.

Piotr grimaced, “Ahhh, that.” He pulled away, and his cringe brought his shoulders up to his ears, bracing himself. “When we first met, she had trouble pronouncing my name, so I told her Peter was fine. And from there she went to Petey.”

Rhonda’s jaw fell open, eyes wide. She said in that perfect accent, “Piotr Nikolaevich!” Her head pulled back and gave a little shake, “How hard was that?” Another thing hit her. “Babe? I got fluent in Russian for you, and then you dated someone who can’t even pronounce your name?”

Her husband hedged, waggling a hand, “Well, mostly fluent.”

She snapped her fingers, “When you brought me to Russia to meet your family, I understood every word of what people were saying.”

“If they spoke slowly.”

“But I got every word.” Piotr chuckled and Rhonda’s moderately offended face turned to a devilish smirk. “I remember the guy at that bar trying to get under your skin and asked you what my kiska tastes like.” She was trying to keep from laughing, “And you told him it was like bad herring, just to watch him get grossed out so he’d quit bothering us.”

Piotr erupted in a rich guffaw, clapping a hand over his mouth. “That's right! Oh, I never knew you had caught that!”

She cocked her head and raised her hands, “Fluent Russian.” Even after addressing the elephant in the room named Michelle, it felt good to laugh. When their laughter subsided, she shook her finger at him, “My point--is that next time I die, you better step it up with who you date next. How many years did you spend learning English? Don’t settle for someone who won’t do you the same respect and learn some Russian.” She playfully shoved his shoulder and stood.

Grabbing her phone and earbuds gifted by Ellie, and the lightbulb from Hank, she asked, “What’s the spare room situation these days?”

Piotr thought a moment, figuring out a room far enough from anyone’s living quarters, but repaired enough for whatever she planned on doing. “There should be something in the upper floors of the east wing,” he nodded, “I’ll walk you there.”

--

It took a few tries, but eventually they found a room that would work. The heavy drapes were full of dust, but they helped cut down on the echoing emptiness. The wiring was all fried, but that wasn’t an issue. The old wood floor had a lot of dust and small debris, which Piotr insisted he sweep up before letting his wife practice in there. “No reason to risk stepping on some shrapnel,” he chided. “Besides, this way you can dance, if you feel like it.” This part of the house was quiet--almost too quiet for Rhonda, but that didn’t matter as much once she either put in her earbuds or played music through the phone’s speakers.

Piotr asked, “Is there anything else I can help with?”

Rhonda shrugged and gave a sad smile, “What can you do?” She brandished the lightbulb. “I’m just trying to light this. Then we’ll figure out what’s next.”

“Yes we will,” Piotr kissed the top of her head and edged for the door. “If I don’t see you by dinner, I will come look for you here.”

After his footsteps faded, Rhonda started the playlist and focused on the lightbulb.

#colossus #colossus x oc #piotr rasputin x oc #piotr rasputin #angst #longfic